How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Make no mistake about that. Any great gift or power or talent is a burden, and this more than any, and you will often long to be free of it. But there is nothing to be done. If you were born with the gift, then you must serve it, and nothing in this world or out of it may stand in the way of that service, because that is why you were born and that is the Law." (3.58)
Bad news: Being able to travel through time and having magical abilities isn't all it's cracked up to be. Merriman and the Lady make sure to explain to Will—in no uncertain terms—just what a burden all that power can be. Before long, Will has first-hand experience with what they mean.
Quote #2
"Your birth, Will, completed a circle that has been growing for four thousand years in every oldest part of this land: the circle of the Old Ones. Now that you have come into your power, your task is to make that circle indestructible." (3.59)
Merriman is never one to sugarcoat it. He's all business, so when he tells Will about his power as an Old One, he makes sure to inform the guy of what this all means for the rest of them, too. Now that Will has power, he needs to learn how to use it properly so the rest of them can gain momentum, too.
Quote #3
Then as the rector and Paul turned to walk through the nave, he saw both of them pause in the same instant, and their heads go up like the heads of wild deer on the alert. It was too late now; the voice of the Dark was so loud that even humans could sense its power. (8.112)
In the church, even the humans can sense the Dark's power; it's so powerful that people are aware of its presence even if they don't know what it is. That's pretty powerful.
Quote #4
"We must do something to protect those two, Will, or their minds will bend. They cannot stand the pressure, the Dark will send them mad. You have the power, and the rest of us do not." (8.120)
For an eleven-year-old, Will is under a lot of pressure. Farmer Dawson tells him in the church that Will has more power than the other Old Ones, so he has to be the one to defeat the Dark. Hey, no one said it would be easy for the Sign-Seeker.
Quote #5
The room was misery and chaos: small babies wailing, parents huddling their bodies round their children to keep them warm enough to breathe. Will rubbed his chill hands together, and tried to feel his feet and his face through the numbness of cold. The room was becoming colder and colder, and from the freezing world outside there was no sound even of the wind. (10.49)
The powers of the Dark bring a huge chill, and freeze everyone in their places. It's a very other-worldly presence that is super overwhelming to everyone. It instills a helplessness that's just plain creepy, sad (small crying babies!), and deserving of an apocalyptic movie.
Quote #6
"It is one of the oldest," Merriman said. "And the most powerful. Now that you have it, they lose their power over Mary forever—that spell is dead. Come, we must go." (11.134)
The Sign on the ship contains so much power that Mary will be released from the Rider's grip. Phew. Will was worried about his sister. Now that he has the Sign, he has more command than ever before, especially since the Dark can no longer use his sister against him. Ha.
Quote #7
He began to feel, too, that they were no longer alone. Twice already he had heard again that strange, high yelping in the sky, but now there was more. Beings of his own kind were about here, somewhere, in the tree-thronged Park. And he felt, too, that the grey-massed sky was no longer empty of life, but peopled with creatures neither of the Dark nor of the Light, moving to and fro, clustering and separating, holding great power. (12.6)
Before the Hunter and the Rider fight in the woods, Will senses their power, and it's so palpable to him that he could almost reach out and touch it. Notice how he experiences it with many of his senses? He doesn't just feel the power; he can hear and see it, too.
Quote #8
And he saw then a scene like nothing he had ever seen before, nor ever saw again. Half the sky was thick and dreadful with the silent raging of the Dark and its whirling tornado power; but now riding towards it, out of the west with the speed of dropping stones, came Herne and the Wild Hunt. At the peak of their power now, in full cry, they came roaring out of the great dark thundercloud, through streaking lightning and grey-purple clouds, riding on the storm. (12.62)
When the Hunter and the Rider are fighting, there's so much power flowing between them that they seem like an epic storm. Pretty cool.
Quote #9
"But for the next time, we are this much stronger, by the completed Circle and the Six Signs and the Gift of Gramarye. We are made stronger by your completed quest, Will Stanton, and closer to gaining the last victory, at the very end." (12.71)
Pass around the cake because it's time for a party. The Old Ones defeat the Dark, all thanks to Will. His savvy ability as Sign-Seeker gives the team so much more power than they've ever had before.
Quote #10
"No power of the Dark or of the Light can make a man more than a man, once any supernatural role he may have had to play comes to an end. But no power of the Dark or the Light may take away his rights as a man, either. If the Black Rider told you so, he lied." (12.89)
Despite being incredibly powerful, the power of the Old Ones and the Dark is ultimately limited. They can't change an ordinary person into a magical one, nor can they make a person follow one side or the other.