'People don't obey horses. Horses obey people.'
— Rose Wood
A series of young adult novels by Monica Dickens, a great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. The series was first published in 1985 by Collins.
Rose Wood is very ordinary girl who lives a very ordinary life, at least until her twelfth year. As her thirteenth birthday approaches, Rose starts to see and hear strange things that others cannot, experience events with inexplicable outcomes, and begins to realise that there's something terribly wrong with the hotel her parents own.
Upon turning thirteen, she discovers her destiny as the rider of the Great Grey Horse, a mystical stallion whose mission it is to deliver his rider — the messenger — to any place or time that requires saving from evil. Now that the clumsy but kindly Rose has been chosen, it's up to her to uncover how ancient wrongs are connected to the tragedies of the present and figure out a way to resolve them.
The series consists of four novels:
- The Messenger (1985)
- The Ballad of Favour (1985)
- Cry of a Seagull (1986)
- The Haunting of Bellamy 4 (1986)
This series provides examples of:
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: Favour is all-but-stated to have human-level intellect and reasoning ability, which is required for his role as an immortal being who chooses the heroes who will help him eradicate evil and misery. He appears to be able to manipulate a person's spatial awareness, senses, dreams, even the technology they're using to communicate, and sometimes Rose wonders if the thoughts in her head are her own or Favour communicating with her. In his original life, he was still portrayed as an unnaturally intelligent horse who was able to figure out what danger was coming to the villages and save them with some help from a thirteen year old boy. He, rather than the boy, was the one celebrated by the villages as the hero.
- Big Good: Although the main character is ostensibly Favour's human messenger, Favour is all that stands between humanity and the unending mystical consequences of terrible past wrongs. He is the original hero who defied the evil Lord of the Moor to save lives, and thus was granted the power to keep saving lives. Despite his power and intelligence, he is still a horse and therefore needs a human to help him. Part of his role is therefore to choose the humans who will help, to carry them to any place or time they need to visit to investigate curses, and to protect that messenger from being caught by the Lord of the Moor, whose evil is now as timeless as Favour.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: When Rose speculates whether it's possible to refuse to become Favour's messenger, she is told that this is impossible. No matter where someone runs or how they hide, they can never avoid their destiny. Rose receives messages in a variety of different ways such as a message from the TV that only she can hear, in a developing polaroid picture only she can see, music suddenly transforming into Favour's melody, and even in her dreams. Her very first mission consists of breaking a haunting curse on the hotel her parents own; as long as the curse exists, strange things happen, people are flooded with despair, and die either through accidents or suicide. There is no way for Rose to avoid her destiny, her very home is part of it.
- Chekhov's Skill: Rose is always learning things from Ben, some of which are useful. One of the things he teaches her turns out to be vital to the resolution of her mission later on. Ben teaching her first aid allows her to save Leonora's life and break the curse on the annexe house.
- The Chosen Many: For centuries, Favour has been choosing Messengers to ride with him and save people from evil and misery. Rose isn't the first, nor is she the last.
- The Chooser of the One: As a hero in his own right, Favour's mystical purpose is to choose a rider who will become the Messenger, a hero that can right the wrongs of the past by saving lives in the present.
- Cool Horse: Centuries ago, Favour was instrumental in defeating a terrible evil, becoming a symbol of courage, beauty and strength to the village he saved. Now he is an immortal time-traveller, appearing whenever a new hero is needed. He therefore has the appearance to match: as the most beautiful of all horses, his dappled coat has a pearlescent glow, like ice on fire, and his tail streams like the silver froth of a waterfall.
- Good Is Not Soft: Although Favour's mission is to fight evil, and he symbolises "strength without violence", he was originally bred to be a war charger. He is relentless in his demands of his messengers, and when Rose denies who she is to someone who used to be a messenger, she is knocked off her feet by a powerful gust of wind and feels the sensation of a horse galloping over her body — Favour's punishment for denying him. If a Messenger ever uses their abilities for selfish or evil ends, Favour himself will turn on them. It's implied that if a messenger's relationship with Favour ends badly, the rest of their life will be cursed.
- Haunted House: The guest house and annexe that Rose's parents own is reputed to be haunted. Doors stick or open without warning, there are strange musty smells with no cause in the cupboards, a floor stain that won't disappear no matter what cleaning agents are used, and feelings of despair and dread that descend upon people without warning. Rose's first mission with Favour is to find out why the house is haunted and break its curse.
- Invisible to Normals: Only a select few can see Favour, or the valley in which he dwells. As a result, there are very few people with whom a messenger can share the secret. Even former messengers aren't guaranteed to be able to see the Great Grey Horse. On one occasion, Rose is photographed as the polaroid picture develops, Rose sees Favour appear in the picture, looking directly at her. However, everyone else just thinks the picture is suffering from a bit of over-exposure. Once he vanishes from the picture and Rose's sight, the picture no longer looks over-exposed, and everyone just thinks it took a few moments to finish developing properly.
- Mental Time Travel: Although Rose often meets Favour on the moor, or wakes up from her adventures there, she doesn't physically travel into the past. She travels into the bodies of the people there, and has to find clues to help her unravel the mystery of the past wrong that she needs to fix.
- Only the Chosen May Ride: Only the current Messenger is allowed to ride Favour, and only because he permits it. The first time Rose approached Favour, she didn't realise what was going on and she speculated about whether he belonged to someone or whether he could be tamed. She is driven to her knees before him in fear and shame for having such thoughts about him. He, not his riders, is the one in control.
- Place Beyond Time: There is a valley that is reached from the moor where Favour dwells, and is reached via a rocky descent through fog. It exists out of time and, within the fog, the Lord of the Moor's servants attempt to prevent messengers from reaching Favour. As long as a messenger is loyal to Favour, the Lord's evil will not reach them. From this valley, Favour can take his messengers to any place and time.
- Refusal of the Call: Discussed. When Rose speculates about what would happen if a messenger didn't want to be found or chosen by Favour, she is told that it's impossible. Favour will find his chosen one no matter what they do to try and avoid him. Rose herself is initially afraid of the call and reluctant to heed it. By the end of her first mission, she is a changed person and ready for more.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: A messenger's duty is to follow the threads of a terrible legacy that's haunting the present time back into the past until they can find the cause and resolve it. The resolution isn't necessarily to stop the original event that happened, but the discovery of that event allows them to right the wrong that will end the curse. In her first mission, learning what Roger did is what allows her to reach Leonora through space and time to save her life, thereby ending the curse of the annexe house.
- Significant Birth Date: It is the age of 13 that makes a person eligible to chosen by Favour, as it is the age of the boy who originally rode him to defeat evil. The chosen will begin to experience strange, inexplicable events in the days and weeks running up to their birthday as a sign of what is to come. The story therefore begins with Rose turning 13 and being chosen by the Great Grey Horse to become the next Messenger.
- Time Travel for Fun and Profit: In the past, one messenger allowed themselves to be exploited for money, using their powers as a successful medium. When Favour found out, she was stripped of her abilities.
'Not this one.'
