History Literature / TheMoonOfGomrath

* MagicalForeignWords: In the end-notes, Garner explains that the spells he puts into the mouth of his Witch are genuine ones, extracts taken from mediaeval magical treatises, but that to be on the safe side, the Latin used represents only partial extracts from those source texts.

* PowerAtAPrice: When Angharad Goldenhand gives Susan the horn Anghalac, she warns that it is only to be used when all else is lost, because once it is sounded you will never know peace again for the rest of your life. At the end, when it is used, this is stated to be its effect on Colin.

To ease the surrender of the Weirdstone in ''Literature/TheWeirdstoneOfBrisingamen'', Susan was given a magical bracelet by Angharad Goldenhand. Her assumption of this bracelet has launched Susan unwittingly on a destiny connected with the cycles of the moon, and hence the older wilder powers of the world (perceived in a rather chauvanistic way as being unbiddable and female). ''The Moon of Gomrath'' begins when the elves (''lios-alfar'') borrow the bracelet, with her consent, to see if its power can be directed by them to battle an unknown evil power in their own lands in Sinadon. However while unprotected by the bracelet, Susan is possessed by the Brollachan, an ancient evil released after an old pit is broken open during building work. The wizard Cadellin, guardian of the sleeping knights in The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, cannot restore Susan after the Brollachan has been driven out of her body; instead perceiving that her spirit has been driven to voyage in other spiritual dimensions analagous to Heaven and Hell, unreachable with ordinary means. It is Colin's true-hearted heroic love and need for his sister which provides the answer; as he tooresponds to the older powers of the world. He therefore comes to seek the Mothan, a mythical plant which grows on the [[LeyLine Old Straight Track]], by moonlight. This is a motif inspired by the book of the same name, which is part of the Old Magic, in contrast to Cadellin's High Magic. Susan is dramatically restored to her own body.

While they are trying to undo what they have done, the Morrigan, acting through an evil Dwarf working for the Dark Side, captures Colin and imprisons him in Errwood Hall, a ruin in this plane of existance which her magic restores into its full glory. However, when not bathed in moonlight, the interior of the Hall exists only in a lightless magic realm. This sets up the denouement, a pitched battle between the forces of the Morrigan (goblin-like bodachs and wildcat palugs) and Susan's allies (the lios-alfar, the dwarf Uthecar, and man Albanac), both willing and unwilling. Although Colin is rescued, Albanac is killed. When the elves withdraw their support as a lost cause, the Morrigan finally releases the Brollachan, focusing it on Susan to destroy her growing potential as a force for good. Colin blows a horn, his gift from Angharad Goldenhand, which saves the day and the Old Magic is set free forever. susan glimpses the Daughters of the Moon riding into the stars with the soul of Albanac and yearns to ride with them, but is pulled back into the human world (for now) by the intervention of Angharad, who promises her that one day the time will come when she may ride with the sisters.

Continued in ''Literature/{{Boneland}}'' (2013)

* AllWitchesHaveCats: [[CrazyCatLady the Morrigan]] takes this to extremes. It is clear that the palugs, the pack of killer wildcats, love and adore her and want nothing more than to be by her side.

* FirearmsAreCowardly: Facing an attack by palugs and bodachs, Uthecar disagrees strongly with Colin's suggestion that they'd be better off with guns - he thinks killing at a distance means you don't apppreciate the cost of each death, and isn't particularly happy even with the bows and arrows the elves use.