How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I will tell you only this: that you are one of the Old Ones, the first to have been born for five hundred years, and the last. And like all such, you are bound by nature to devote yourself to the long conflict between the Light and the Dark." (3.59)
Cue the dramatic music. Merriman tells Will that there is an epic battle being waged all around him, regardless of what he can see. Before long, Will finds this to indeed be true, and even goes head-to-head with the ringleader of the Dark, the Rider.
Quote #2
For the Dark, the Dark is rising. The Walker is abroad, the Rider is riding; they have woken, the Dark is rising. And the last of the Circle is come to claim his own, and the circles must now all be joined. The white horse must go to the Hunter, and the river take the valley; there must be fire on the mountain, fire under the stone, fire over the sea. Fire to burn away the Dark, for the Dark, the Dark is rising! (3.60)
We could have guessed that the Dark was rising just from the title, but here we get more details about why. It turns out that the Old Ones have to unite the Signs and band together to fight against the Dark. Otherwise, the whole earth will face eventual doom. It doesn't get more epic than that.
Quote #3
And the Book taught Will here the patterns of survival against malevolence, and the spells of sea and river and stream, lake and beck and fjord, and showed him how water was the one element that could in some measure defy all magic; for moving water would tolerate no magic whether for evil or good, but would wash it away as if it had never been made. (7.8)
This is an important lesson for Will because it helps him later on when he is facing the Rider. Without this knowledge, Will couldn't survive fighting the Rider for his sister Mary. It's also interesting to think about the fact that water somehow cancels out good and evil forces. Yay swimming.
Quote #4
Each wave of men in turn grew peaceful as it grew to know and love the land, so that the Light flourished again. But always the Dark was there, swelling and waning, gaining a new Lord of the Dark whenever a man deliberately chose to be changed into something more dread and powerful than his fellows. Such creatures were not born to their doom, like the Old Ones, but chose it. (7.11)
The Book of Gramarye tells Will that Dark is always around, just like the Light. Here's the catch: The people who follow the Dark chose that path. They weren't given it like the Old Ones were. In fact, we get to see what happens when someone goes down the other path with Hawkin—and it ain't pretty.
Quote #5
"The Dark and the Rider are kinder masters than the Light," Maggie Barnes said softly in his ear, as the first part of the dance ended. Hawkin stood still again and stared at her, until she glanced round and said clearly, "I need a cool drink, I believe." And Hawkin jumped and led her away, so that now, with his attention caught and a chance to talk to him privately, the girl of the Dark would have a willing hearer. (7.91)
When tricking Hawkin to join the Dark, Maggie Barnes plays on his anger at Merriman. Hey, we agree that people shouldn't lie, but she's actually the one whose nose is growing in this chapter. Too bad for Hawkin—the Dark plays dirty.
Quote #6
He could feel the force now very strong, very close, all around, the air was thick with it; outside the church was destruction and chaos, the heart of the Dark, and he could think of nothing that he could do to turn it aside. (8.112)
In the church, the Dark is so strong that even the humans who aren't Old Ones can feel it. Yikes. Of course they don't quite understand it, though. Will knows that only he can save his family and friends from being destroyed by the Dark. Which is a pretty big task for an eleven-year-old.
Quote #7
"The hawk is in the Dark…You can drive us from here no longer. Not with flame, nor force, nor conjoined power. We shall break your Sign of Fire before it can be released, and your Circle will never be joined. It will break in the cold, my lord, in the Dark and the cold." (10.79)
Once Hawkin joins the bad guys, things don't go so well for Will and his posse for a while. They no longer have a helper in Hawkin and they have a tough time withstanding the growing chilly temps the Dark is creating for everyone.
Quote #8
But then a sudden terrible silence like suffocation came, blotting out all sound of the storm. In the moment of its last desperate chance, breaking across the barrier that had been holding it at bay, the Dark came for Will. Shutting out the sky and the earth, the deadly spinning pillar came at him, dreadful in its furious whirling energy and utter quiet. There was no time for fear. Will stood alone. (12.56)
As Will prepares for the Hunter to fight the Rider, he feels much stronger than before; he can't help but feel secure in knowing that he's on the right side—the side of the Light, or good. Check out how the power of Dark and Light are described here as some big spinning pillar.
Quote #9
"The Dark is vanquished, at last, in this encounter. Nothing may outface the Wild Hunt. And Herne and his hounds hunt their quarry as far as they may, to the very ends of the earth. So at the ends of the earth the Lords of the Dark must skulk now, awaiting their next time of chance." (12.71)
Yay. The Dark is finally destroyed—for now. We can't help but wonder how long it will be before the Dark rises again. It's not a matter of if, after all, but when according to Merriman. Fasten your seatbelts, Shmoopers.
Quote #10
There was a dreadful, desolate hopelessness in the lined face now. Hawkin looked full at Merriman. "I am lost," he said. "I know it. Will you make me live on, with the worst suffering of all now come? The last right of a man is to die. You prevented it all this time; you made me live on through the centuries when often I longed for death. And all for a betrayal that I fell into because I had not the wit of an Old One…" The grief and longing in his voice were intolerable. (12.89)
Hawkin shares what it's like to be in the Dark. He didn't realize when he signed up for the bad guys that it was going to be a tough gig. In fact, he is in pain just thinking about the suffering that's to come. Yep, we definitely want to side with the Light.