The Dark is Rising Sequence
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Dark is Rising is the name of a five-book series by Susan Cooper, as well as the name of the second of the five books. The series tells of a fantastic struggle between the forces of good, called The Light, and the forces of evil, called The Dark. In chronological order, the books are Over Sea, Under Stone, The Dark Is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King, and Silver on the Tree.
In The Dark Is Rising, this struggle begins with Will, an eleven-year-old boy who learns that he is an Old One, destined to wield the powers of The Light in an ancient struggle with The Dark.
His task is to find and join the pieces of one of the Things of Power before the forces of The Dark can stop him. Throughout the other novels, other characters are introduced, both members of The Light and The Dark and also humans, who have agreed to be bound with these forces and assist them in this struggle, the struggle for the fate of mankind.
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Glossary
Characters
Simon, Jane and Barney Drew: The main characters of the first novel, the Drew siblings are human children who have known Merriman as their Great Uncle Merry for years, and now get caught up in the battle between The Light and The Dark and the search for the Things of Power.
Will Stanton: The main character of the second novel, he is the seventh son of a seventh son. His eleventh birthday marks the beginning of his rise to power as an Old One. The Dark is Rising is the story of how he comes to power and joins the six signs of the Old Ones to fight The Dark back in order to maintain the calm.
Merriman Lyon: Merriman is the first Old One. He and Will Stanton have a special bond as each of them is one end of the long line of Old Ones. It is said that with the birth and coming to power of Will Stanton, the circle of Old Ones is complete.
Old Ones: Ancient and immortal, the Old Ones must serve The Light and wage war against The Dark. The struggle is to determine the destiny of mankind: while The Light fights for freedom and free will, The Dark fights for chaos and confusion and the subversion of man's free will.
The Lady: The Lady is a powerful creature, a being of the Old Magic. The Lady has befriended Merriman and although she cannot help The Light directly, she shows that she is sympathetic to their cause. During a critical time in the book, Will Stanton makes a critical mistake and finds that it severely weakens The Lady.
The Rider: A servant and lord of The Dark, The Rider becomes Will Stanton's archenemy. He acts as a lord of The Dark in this series as Merriman acts as a lord of The Light.
The Walker: A human being who agrees to serve Merriman in an old time, The Walker provides The Dark with critical access to innocent people. His betrayal of Merriman seems largely due to his anger at Merriman's use of him in protecting The Book of Grammarye. He was also chosen by the Old Ones to bear the Sign of Bronze until such time as Will Stanton comes to claim it.
The Sleepers: Ancient knights who served during the time of King Arthur who are awakened by the Harp in The Grey King and who serve as a force to battle the dark during the last battle in Silver on the Tree.
Pendragon: Another name for King Arthur, in this series, the person who is predestined and wields the sword that is used to cut The Midsummer's Tree. Bran Davies is his name. Wil meets him in Wales during The Grey King
Rook: The rooks are servants of The Dark and attract their forces wherever they are seen.
Farmer Dawson: An Old One who lives near Will Stanton and presents him with his first Sign.
Artifacts
The Signs: A circle quartered (divided evenly in four sections) by a cross. There are six signs joined together, each made of a different material and representing a different element: wood, bronze, iron, water, fire, and stone.
Things of Power: The Old Ones have four Things of Power that will be used in the final battle which will allow them to defeat The Dark: the circle of Signs, The Grail, The Harp, and The Sword. The sword is obtained in Silver on the Tree. Over Sea, Under Stone and Greenwitch tell of the grail. The Grey King is the story of the harp.
The Book of Grammarye: An ancient book, it teaches Old Ones about their powers and through it they actually experience the use of them. This book is protected by a device that if touched, will detonate and destroy any human that attempts to gain access to the book. This powerful book is further protected in that it is written in a language that only an Old One can read and understand.
The Grail: Presumably the source of the Holy Grail legend, it is an artifact of power used by The Light. There are markings on it in a language called Og, which is long lost, but the Old Ones can read it because of their gift of tongues.
The Sword: An ancient sword, used by the heir of King Arthur to cut the ripe branch of the midsummer's tree. It is named Eirias.
The Harp (The Harp of Gold): A harp that is obtained by The Light in The Grey King in order to wake the Sleepers in preparation for the final battle.
The Magics
Old Magic: A powerful magic and more ancient than The Light or The Dark, only the Old Magic has the strength that is required to end the struggle permanently. In the final battle that is described in Silver on the Tree, the Old Magic is used.
Wild Magic: A powerful magic, but not as strong as the Old Magic, it first is used in the The Dark Is Rising to provide strength to the forces of The Light in the book's final battle between The Light and The Dark.
High Magic: A strong magic, a spell of this type is used by the Old Ones in Greenwitch to be able to communicate with her and plead for The Grail.
Miscellaneous
Old Speech: This is the spoken form of the ancient language of the Old Ones. When an Old One comes to power, this language is used instinctively by the Old One when speaking to members of The Light or The Dark. Will Stanton begins to do this without even realizing it. When an Old One speaks the Old Speech in front of a normal human, it will sound like gibberish. Some agents of the Dark, such as The Rider can also speak Old Speech, but with a distinctive accent which gives them away to the Old Ones.
Rhymes
Small rhyming prophecies serve to guide the protagonists throughout the series.
This is one, which is often quoted in parts as they become relevant to the story:
When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.
Iron for the birthday, bronze carried long;
Wood from the burning, stone out of song;
Fire in the candle-ring, water from the thaw;
Six Signs the circle, and the grail gone before.
Fire on the mountain shall find the harp of gold
Played to wake the Sleepers, oldest of the old;
Power from the green witch, lost beneath the sea;
All shall find the light at last, silver on the tree.
This second rhyme only references events in The Grey King and Silver on the Tree:
On the day of the dead, when the year too dies,
Must the youngest open the oldest hills
Through the door of the birds, where the breeze breaks.
There fire shall fly from the raven boy,
And the silver eyes that see the wind,
And the light shall have the harp of gold.
By the pleasant lake the Sleepers lie,
On Cadfan’s Way where the kestrels call;
Though grim from the Grey King shadows fall,
Yet singing the golden harp shall guide
To break their sleep and bid them ride.
When light from the lost land shall return,
Six Sleepers shall ride, six Signs shall burn,
And where the midsummer tree grows tall
By Pendragon’s sword the Dark shall fall.
Y maent yr mynyddoedd yn canu,
ac y mae’r arglwyddes yn dod.
(The last two lines are in Welsh and translate into English as "The mountains are singing / and the lady comes".)
Works in the series
Over Sea, Under Stone
The characters in this book are younger than those in the rest of the series, and the issues are presented as less cosmic. Overall the book is aimed at younger readers than the other four books in the series.
In this tale, Susan Cooper introduces us to Merriman, a pivotal character for the forces of the Light and also ties him with three young mortal children in a quest by the sea which will lead them over sea and under stone to find a grail of legend to help the Light in its struggle against the Dark.
The Dark Is Rising
In this book, a boy begins to have strange experiences on his eleventh birthday, just before Christmas. He is one of the Old Ones, a guardian and warrior for The Light. He learns that he must find an ancient Things of Power for The Light in order to battle the forces of The Dark.
This book is the key book for the main character, Will Stanton. It is in this book that he joins one of the Things of Power, the circle of Signs, and uses it to ward off the forces of The Dark.
Greenwitch
This story returns to the charwacters introduced in Over Sea, Under Stone and involves a quest for magic from beneqath the sea.
The Grey King
The Grey King was awarded the 1976 Newberry Medal.
Welsh folklore is an important point in the book. Here are some descriptions of the characters
- Will Stanton is a young boy who is just recovering from hepatitis at the beginning of the book. He is under strict orders from the doctor that he can’t go to school for at least a month, so his mother sends him to Wales to recover with his uncle, David Evans. Will is actually an “elder.”
- Bran Davies, the raven boy, is an albino boy of about the same age as Will. Bran is a loner. He has no friends at school and he is not allowed to go out after school. King Bran Fendigaid (the Blessed) was a Celtic God known from both Welsh and Irish mythology who was later mortalized into a monarch of North Wales. He is a bridge to the unknown. He is a giant whose stride spans the sea, a strong and generous king. Bran’s severed head entertained his companions for eighty years, and in that time they had no cares. When the feast was ended, they carried his head to London and buried it under the White Mound, where the Tower of London now stands. There it protected Britain from all invaders. Even today his ravens remain there.
- Owen Davies is Bran’s “father.” Bran’s real birth mother, Gwen, had showed up on Clwyd farm with a baby in her arms. Owen took her in and took care of her. Owen fell in love with Gwen and proposed, but the next day she was gone. She left the baby in the care of Owen. Later he legally adopted the baby. Owen doesn’t want to lose Bran like Gwen so he is very protective of him.
- The Brenin Llwyd, or The Grey King, is the evil lord opposing the light side. His breath is the low hanging fog that covers the mountains sometimes. The Grey king is very powerful, but he has limitations. He is not allowed to break the laws of The High Magic.
- Milgwn: "The Breath of the Grey King" is spoken of with dread in the mountains- a thick fog that descends in the space of a few heartbeats; it drives unwary travelers to their deaths, by hiding the edges of precipices and scree slopes. More terrifying than this fog are the Milgwn, huge grey foxes, which he has bent to his will, known to attack in situations where no normal fox would. They are creatures of the in between times, things which are not of this world, although they walk upon it. It is said they can walk through his mist in secret, with no footprint visible to even the best of trackers. Most mortals cannot see the Milgwn. Bran however, is privileged and can see them. Will is not a mortal and so he can see them.
- Caradog Prichard is a corrupted man who unknowingly helps The Grey King. Caradog is a bitter and mean man who is always trying to ruin people’s lives. There is a legend that if someone spends the night on top of the mountain, then in the morning, they would either be a poet or crazy. Caradog wanted to be a poet when he was younger and he spent the night on the mountain. It looks like he got the raw end of the deal.
Silver on the Tree
All of the main characters from the other books in the sequence come together in this book, some meeting each other for the first time. The current struggle between the Light and the Dark is resolved.
External links
- The Lost Land - Further information on the series (http://www.thelostland.com/)
- The Dark is Rising Sequence - Reviews (http://www.greenmanreview.com/dark_is_rising.html)
