The Dark Is Rising Time Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

"Every hundred years we have remade it, in the way that we were first taught. And now this will be the last time, because when your own century comes you will take it out for all time, for the joining, and there need be no more renewing then." (6.6)

The Lady tells Will that the Sign of Wood has to be renewed every hundred years because wood doesn't last forever. The Old Ones can live forever, but even the elements (wood, iron, metal) deteriorate over time.

Quote #5

And into Will's mind, whirling him up on a wind blowing through and around the whole of Time, came the story of the Old Ones. He saw them from the beginning when magic was at large in the world; magic that was the power of rocks and fire and water and living things, so that the first men lived in it and with it, as a fish lives in the water. (7.11)

Notice how time is capitalized here ("Time"). That's because we're not just talking about what time it is right now, but the concept of time in general. Will thinks a lot about Time as a big whirlpool of events mashed up together—once he learns that it isn't linear, endless possibilities open up.

Quote #6

"Oh no, Will Stanton," he said easily. "That won't do. You cannot use weapons of that kind here, not unless you wish to blast your whole family out beyond Time." He glanced pointedly at Mary, who stood unmoving next to him, her mouth half-open, caught out of life in the middle of saying something to her father. "That would be a pity," the Rider said. (8.62)

As the Rider sneakily visits the Stantons' house on Christmas, he threatens Will not-so-secretively. The guy has the nerve to tell Will that his whole family could be lost in time, never able to find their way again. Uh, Happy Christmas to you, too?