The Dark Is Rising

The Dark Is Rising (1973) by Susan Cooper is a contemporary fantasy novel for middle grade and young adult readers. It is the second book in her series The Dark Is Rising. The book was nominated for a Newbery Award, and the series has been continuously in print for close to 50 years. It was adapted as a feature film, The Seeker, in 2007, but the film was widely panned by critics and fans of the series; Cooper herself objected to changes in the character of Will. The story has also inspired a 2022 BBC podcast series.

Page numbers in this guide refer to the 2001 Kindle edition.

Plot Summary

Will Stanton is the youngest of nine children; his family lives in rural England. On the day before his 11th birthday, Will goes with his next oldest brother, James, to collect hay from the neighboring farm. They encounter an old tramp in ragged clothes. Will mentions the tramp to the neighbor, Dawson, who murmurs that the “Walker” is abroad. The farmer gives Will an iron ornament—a circle quartered by a cross—and tells him to wear it all the time.

Snow begins to fall in the afternoon. Will wakes the morning of his birthday and tries to rouse his family, but they sleep as if they cannot hear him. Will feels drawn out into the snowy world. He walks down the road to a smithy that wasn’t there before. At the smithy stands a beautiful black horse being shod by a man, John, whom Will recognizes as the son of Old George, who works on the Dawsons’ farm.

The horse’s rider arrives at the smithy. The rider tries to persuade Will to break bread with him and then to mount the black horse with him, but Will instinctively fears the Rider and refuses both offers. The Rider tries to snatch Will, but the smith saves him, and the Rider departs down the road.

A riderless white mare comes to the smithy. The smith tells Will that if he mounts the mare, she will take him anywhere he wants to go. Will tells the smith that he must go on foot to find the Walker, realizing only as he says it that it is true. Will departs the smithy and encounters the tramp, whom he now recognizes as the Walker. The Walker asks Will to show him the “Sign” he wears on his belt, but before Will can do so, the black Rider appears and tries to seize Will.

The white mare arrives in time to carry Will away. She brings him to a pair of ancient doors standing alone on a hill. Will passes through and finds himself in a great hall, where two people are waiting for him. They introduce themselves as Merriman and the Lady and tell him that he is the last of the great Old Ones: immortals tasked with opposing the Dark. They show him some of his powers—the ability to pass thoughts and images from mind to mind and to command fire. Will’s task as an Old One is to seek and unite the six Signs of the light. He already has one: the iron cross and circle that farmer Dawson gave him. The forces of the Dark then attack the hall and trick Will into opening the doors. The Lady defeats them but is diminished in the process and must retreat to recover herself. Merriman returns Will to his own time. Will’s next task is to get the second Sign from the Walker.

A few days later, Will is tempted to test his new powers and commands fire to appear on a fallen branch. The fire attracts the Walker. Will instructs the Walker to give him the second Sign. When he does, the Dawsons’ dairy maid, Maggie, arrives and immobilizes Will. She takes both Signs from him. Merriman appears and drives the “witch-girl” away, recovering the two Signs.

On Christmas Eve, Will goes caroling with his family. They finish at Huntercombe Manor to visit the lady who lives there, Miss Greythorne. Miss Greythorne’s usual butler is gone, and Merriman has taken his place. As Will is singing with his family, Merriman stops time and transports Will back 100 years to a party at the Manor, where Will learns where the Sign of wood is hidden.

Merriman also introduces Will to Hawkin, Merriman’s liege man and adopted son from the 13th century. Merriman has brought him forward in time to aid in retrieving the “Book of Gramarye” from its hiding place. In order to retrieve the book, Merriman must have one hand on Hawkin. If Merriman were somehow compromised by the Dark, Hawkin could be killed to protect the book. When Will has finished reading the book of Gramarye, Merriman destroys it: Will is the last of the Old Ones, and the book will never be needed again. Asked about Hawkin’s whereabouts, Merriman explains that Hawkin only now realized the full danger Merriman had placed him in. As a result, Merriman says, he will turn to the Dark.

When Merriman returns Will to his own time, Will retrieves the Sign of wood from its hiding place behind a panel in the Manor wall.

Before church on Christmas morning, Will opens his first present: a papier-mâché carnival head—half man with the antlers of a stag—from his oldest brother, Stephen. The enclosed letter says an old man in Jamaica gave Stephen the head with instructions to give it to Will. The rest of the family is opening their presents when a visitor arrives—the Rider. Will’s father introduces the Rider as Mr. Mitothin, a gem dealer. The writer plucks a hair from Will’s sister Mary’s sleeve.

Will attends church with his brothers James and Paul, sister Mary, and their mother. It is snowing heavily again. After the service, Will feels the Dark gathering. The Old Ones also gather. Will takes the three signs he has found and holds them up against the Dark, driving it back. With the Dark repelled, the signs guide Will to the fourth Sign—the Sign of stone.

As Will and his brothers return home, Will finds an old man lying in the snow and recognizes him as the Walker. His brother Paul insists on taking the tramp home and caring for him.

The snow continues to fall for days. People start running out of fuel and food. Miss Greythorne invites everyone to the Manor for shelter. Will’s father declines to go, but Will uses the Signs of Light to upset the Walker, which persuades Will’s father to take the old man to the doctor at the Manor. There, Merriman transports Will to the great hall where he first encountered the Lady. She has recovered from her last battle with the Dark and tells Will that his next task is to recover the Sign of fire.

Will returns to the present day, where the Walker calls the lords of the Dark into the hall. When the Walker sees Merriman he recoils. Will recognizes him as Hawkin. The Dark calls up the nine candles of winter, and the cold of the Dark closes over the hall, threatening to freeze everyone. The doctor gives the Walker a sedative, and when he loses consciousness, the Dark can no longer enter the house. The candles disappear, leaving in their place the Sign of fire. The hall suddenly becomes warm again. Will’s brother Max pounds on the door of the hall: Will’s mother has fallen down the stairs and broken her leg.

When the Stantons return home, Mary has disappeared. Will goes out looking for her. He encounters one of the Old Ones—Old George from Dawson’s farm. Old George tells Will he must take the white horse to the “Hunter” while Old George gathers the “Wild Hunt.”

The white horse comes to Will and carries him to an island in the Thames. Hawkin is there. He tells Will he must trade the Signs for his sister Mary. Will refuses. A column of black mist covers the island, and the Rider stands before him. Mary sits atop his black horse. Will still refuses to hand over the Signs. The black horse leaps into the air and throws Mary off its back, but she is saved by Merriman riding the white mare.

Hawkin and the Rider disappear. An ancient Viking longship rises from the ground. A king lies under a canopy holding the Sign of water, which Will takes. Merriman takes Will up on the white horse. Pursued by the black storm of the Dark, they race to Herne’s Oak, where the Hunter waits. Old George meets them, carrying the carnival head. The white mare goes to the Hunter, and Will hands him the carnival head. The Hunter puts on the carnival head and calls his hounds. The Wild Hunt pursues the Dark across the sky. Will sees the Rider for just a moment as he throws Hawkin down from his horse and flees. The Dark is routed for now.

At the smithy, John Smith joins the six Signs with a gold chain that Will can wear around his neck. Will and Merriman return to Will’s time; then Merriman passes through the great Doors of Time and disappears.