The Dark Is Rising

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.

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.

• Will Stanton, at the start of this book, is recovering from hepatitis. 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. It is here that he meets Bran and their adventures begin.


• 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. His name means 'raven' in Welsh, and is possibly named for King Bran Fendigaid (the Blessed), who was a Celtic God known from both Welsh and Irish Mythology and who was later mortalized into a monarch of North Wales. He is a bridge to the unknown. Bran has a white dog, Cafall, who is able to see the wind.


• 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.

• The Lost Land - Further information on the series


• The Dark is Rising Sequence - Reviews