History YMMV / TheDarkIsRising

* TearJerker: The redemptive death of Hawkin. The Greenwitch giving the secret scroll to Jane: "My secret is important to you? Then here, take it...[[TheHeart You made a wish that was for me, not for yourself]]. [[TheWoobie No one has ever done that]]. I give you my secret in return."

* MagnificentBastard: The Black Rider.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: In a kind of a sort of a way. The books are awfully feudal. Which in many cases is historically accurate. But the themes of people who are born to great power and privilege and other people who are derelict in their duty if they do not serve them can be rather jarring. Jane, in the 1970s, spots Bran and instantly feels that he has "great rank...high natural degree" and has an impulse to curtsey.

* TearJerker: The redemptive death of Hawkin. The Greenwitch giving the secret scroll to Jane: "My secret is important to you? Then here, take it...[[TheHeart You made a wish that was for me, not for yourself]]. [[TheWoobie No one has ever done that]]. I give you my secret in return." The death of [[spoiler:Cafall]]. The drowning of the Lost Land. John Rowlands denying [[spoiler:his wife]]. The ending of the series.

** It is quite possible to start reading from the second book of the sequence and miss out on ''Over Sea, Under Stone'' altogether. It leaves no obvious gaps in the story background, and there are no callbacks to events there. The only significant plot element coming out of it is the manner in which the scroll box ended up in the sea - something that isn't really dwelt on in ''Greenwitch''.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: The people of the Lost Land all banding together and telling their king that, despite the consequences from the Dark, he should make the crystal sword.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Bran teaching Will how to pronounce Welsh.
** Caradog Prichard's two flat tires.
-->"Imagine his face," Will gasped, "when he goes tearing off in the van, and ''poof,'' the tyre goes, and he gets out furious and changes it, and goes tearing off again, and ''poof -''"

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Even if she wasn't completely herself when she did it, Jane telling off Bran for acting so full of himself at Carn March Arthur was easily her finest moment, other than her obtaining the secret scroll from the Greenwitch.

* TheWoobie: The Walker, for about the first half of ''The Dark Is Rising''. Once it's revealed he's really Hawkin, and he chooses [[ChronicVillainy to ally himself again]] with the Dark, he becomes a JerkassWoobie.

!!YMMV regarding the film:
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: They try to explain that it is the fact that he is an Old One, but the skeleton scene was just plain weird.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Creator/ChristopherEccleston as the Black Rider. Turns into a [[{{Narm}} downright hilarious]], probably unintentional ActorAllusion considering the Rider's alter ego is the village ''[[Series/DoctorWho doctor]]''. And Ian [=McShane=] as Merriman.
* TheyJustDidntCare: The screenwriter said that the book was "a slog" and didn't even finish reading through it. Why they didn't just find a screenwriter who actually ''liked'' the book is a mystery for the ages.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Bran teaching Will how to pronounce Welsh. Also, Caradog Prichard's two flat tires.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Even if she wasn't completely herself when she did it, Jane telling off Bran for acting so full of himself at Carn March Arthur was easily her finest moment.

* SequelDisplacement: ''The Dark Is Rising'' is the ''second'' book in the 'Dark Is Rising Sequence'. The first, ''Over Sea, Under Stone'', was written as a standalone children's story and published in 1965, and it took eight years for the TropeNamer to appear – during which time Susan Cooper {{retcon}}ned some of the first book's elements into aspects of a deeper story that then played out over four further volumes. Some fans argue the sequence can be read without the first instalment; certainly ''The Dark Is Rising'' is the source of many of the series' defining features listed here, its best-known volume, and came to lend its name to the sequence as a whole.
** It is quite possible to start reading from the second book of the sequence and miss out ''Over Sea, Under Stone'' altogether. It leaves no obvious gaps in the story background, and there are no callbacks to events there. The only significant plot element coming out of it is the manner in which the scroll box ended up in the sea - something that isn't really dwelt on in ''Greenwitch''.

* NightmareFuel: The Mari Llwyd in the final book, at least to Bran (and possibly any reader with a fear of DemBones). Also, the fate of the painter in book three is literally this, since the Wild Magic the Greenwitch unleashes upon Trewissick is to resurrect the ghosts, dreams, and nightmares of the past so as to haunt the town, and they end up dragging the painter away in the place of a supposed traitor who had doomed the ship ''Lottery''. (One wonders if SusanCooper had read Shirley Jackson...)

* HeyItsThatGuy: ChristopherEccleston as the Black Rider. Turns into a [[{{Narm}} downright hilarious]], probably unintentional ActorAllusion considering the Rider's alter ego is the village ''[[Series/DoctorWho doctor]]''. And Ian [=McShane=] as Merriman.

* TearJerker: The redemptive death of Hawkin. The death of [[spoiler:Cafall]]. The drowning of the Lost Land. John Rowlands denying [[spoiler:his wife]]. The ending of the series.

* OnceAcceptableTargets: The racist and his son in ''Silver on the Tree'', targeting Pakistanis (and the child and family in question [[DidNotDoTheResearch was actually from India]]). The fact his views and hatred are portrayed as being of the Dark, or at least the sort of thing that the Dark would promote and encourage, but at the same time Merriman later says that even without the Dark, "good men will still be killed by bad, or even other good men, and there will still be...anger and hate", does a very good job of relating mythic evil to the more everyday evil we find in the world. May create a great deal of discomfort in the reader thanks to ValuesDissonance, but that's precisely the point.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Even if she wasn't completely herself when she did it, Jane telling off Bran for acting so full of himself at Carn March Arthur was easily her finest moment.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: In a kind of a sort of a way. The books are awfully feudal. Which in many cases is historically accurate. But the themes of people who are born to great power and privilege and other people who are derelict in their duty if they do not serve them can be rather jarring. Jane, in the 1970s, spots Bran and instantly feels that he has "great rank...high natural degree" and has an impulse to curtsey.

* HoYay: Will and Bran. Possibly Will and Merriman too, given that Cooper originally intended ''King of Shadows'' to be about a love affair between WilliamShakespeare and a boy actor. Note in ''Silver on the Tree'', where Bran comments on the prettiness of Jane Drew, which Will as an Old One seems completely oblivious to. This could be seen, however, as the author throwing in a HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday moment to discourage such thinking. It should also be noted that by the time of the last books, Will has very much settled into his role as Will the Watchman of the Light, with his humanity openly acknowledged as more protective coloration by this point. Poor Bran seemed very delighted to meet mortal kids in the last book. Being an Old One's best friend=not easy.

** The ''afanc'' attempts to be this for Jane, but once the Drews realize courtesy of Bran's display of power that all it is is noise and ugliness but little else, it ends up becoming an in-story example of NightmareRetardant.

* HeyItsThatGuy: ChristopherEccleston as the Black Rider. Turns into a [[{{Narm}} downright hilarious]], probably unintentional ActorAllusion considering the Rider's alter ego is the village ''[[Series/DoctorWho doctor]]''. And Ian [=McShane=] as Merriman.

'''NOTE:''' the film version of the book attracts its share of YourMileageMayVary, which belongs on this article, not the main one.

* SequelDisplacement: ''The Dark Is Rising'' is the ''second'' book in the 'Dark Is Rising Sequence'. The first, ''Over Sea, Under Stone'', was written as a standalone children's story and published in 1965, and it took eight years for the TropeNamer to appear – during which time Susan Cooper {{retcon}}ned some of the first book's elements into aspects of a deeper story that then played out over four further volumes. Some fans argue the sequence can be read without the first instalment; certainly ''The Dark Is Rising'' is the source of many of the series' defining features listed here, its best-known volume, and came to lend its name to the sequence as a whole.

* SequelDisplacement: ''The Dark Is Rising'' is the ''second'' book in the 'Dark Is Rising Sequence'. The first, ''Over Sea, Under Stone'', was written as a standalone children's story and published in 1965, and it took eight years for the TropeNamer to appear – during which time Susan Cooper {{retcon}}ned some of the first book's elements into aspects of a deeper story that then played out over four further volumes. Some fans argue the sequence can be read without the first instalment; certainly ''The Dark Is Rising'' is the source of many of the series' defining features listed here, its best-known volume, and came to lend its name to the sequence as a whole.

* {{Hatedom}}: An impressive one. Bring it up among fans of the books at your own peril.
* [=~Hey, It's That Guy!~=]: ChristopherEccleston as the Black Rider. Turns into a [[{{Narm}} downright hilarious]], probably unintentional ActorAllusion considering the Rider's alter ego is the village ''[[Series/DoctorWho doctor]]''. And Ian [=McShane=] as Merriman.

'''NOTE:''' Given its substantial {{Hatedom}}, the film version of the book attracts its share of YourMileageMayVary, which belongs on this article, not the main one. It should also be noted the "hatred" is in most cases less about the quality of the movie itself and more how little it resembled the source material, to the point that one wonders why the makers didn't just create their own movie without any reference to the books at all.

* InNameOnly: Possibly one of the worst cases ever seen. A joke amongst journalists is that they only changed one thing for the movie - ''Everything''. To summarize - all of the European mythology has been cut out, Will is a YouSuck teenager who only cares about girls and showing off with his magic, Merlin is no longer Merlin, Will's brother [[strike: gets superpowers]] knows kung fu, the whole Stanton family become [[{{Americanitis}} Americans]], and one of the 30-year old villains has been changed into Will's teenage girlfriend.

* {{Hatedom}}: The film was... [[{{Understatement}} not well received]]. Though for some it may less be 'hate' and more 'disappointment' or even HypeAversion.

* {{Narm}}: When the blizzard starts getting serious, it destroys a container of plastic balls. The film shows them bouncing down the street. In slow motion. While dramatic music plays.

* [=~Hey, It's That Guy!~=]: ChristopherEccleston as the Black Rider. Turns into a [[{{Narm}} downright hilarious]], probably unintentional ActorAllusion considering the Rider's alter ego is the village ''[[DoctorWho doctor]]''. And Ian [=McShane=] as Merriman.

* BrokenAesop: In a kind of a sort of a way. The books are awfully feudal. Which in many cases is historically accurate. But the themes of people who are born to great power and privilege and other people who are derelict in their duty if they do not serve them can be rather jarring. Jane, in the 1970s, spots Bran and instantly feels that he has "great rank...high natural degree" and has an impulse to curtsey.

* AdaptationDecay: Possibly one of the worst cases ever seen. A joke amongst journalists is that they only changed one thing for the movie - ''Everything''. To summarize - all of the European mythology has been cut out, Will is a YouSuck teenager who only cares about girls and showing off with his magic, Merlin is no longer Merlin, Will's brother [[strike: gets superpowers]] knows kung fu, the whole Stanton family become [[{{Americanitis}} Americans]], and one of the 30-year old villains has been changed into Will's teenage girlfriend. [[TheyJustDidntCare The screenwriter said that the book was "a slog" and didn't even finish reading through it]]. Why they didn't just find a screenwriter who actually ''liked'' the book is a mystery for the ages. (If it's any consolation, the movie completely bombed at the box office.)
** Susan Cooper or her estate (was she still alive at the time?) presumably gave permission to adapt it. One wonders why they haven't sued to have the name removed (as Michael Ende tried to do for ''TheNeverEndingStory''), or if they still might at some point... Judging by those TheyJustDidntCare comments, the makers clearly had so sense of respect or understanding for the source material. Given their obvious lack of respect for it (and the resultant hatred of the entire fan base), one has to wonder how they thought it would ever make any money.
*** She is still alive, and she's [[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14783609 not happy]] about what they did to it.
*** One fandom [[WildMassGuessing theory]] is that they were trying to pull the same stunt as the characters in ''TheProducers'': make a film so terrible it was guaranteed to bomb. Given how easily that could have been avoided, had they any respect for the source material, it might not be too far out there. Perhaps unwittingly, they created an almost textbook example of how not to adapt a book.

* SoBadItsHorrible: Bad acting + TheyJustDidntCare = a box office flop.
* TheyJustDidntCare: One of the worst examples in film history, being said to look more like HarryPotter than the books in question.
** Oddly, with this in mind, this film can be said to be a very accurate demonstration of [[WhatCouldHaveBeen what could have happened]] to the ''Harry Potter'' film series had saner heads not prevailed. (An Americanized Harry, ect.
* YourMileageMayVary: Taken on its own merits, particularly by those who haven't read the books, the movie can come off as entertaining and [[SoOkayItsAverage not that bad at all]]. But for those who have read the books, the AdaptationDecay seems obvious. Whether this is a case of expectations being raised too high, or the fandom wanting something closer to the source material, it is still fairly clear that the movie made a ''[[{{Understatement}} lot]]'' of changes from the books. [[TheyJustDidntCare And the comments made by the screenwriter and director]] could explain why so many fans are enraged or at least disappointed, and why it performed so poorly in the box office.

** Oddly, with this in mind, this film can be said to be a very accurate demonstration of [[WhatCouldHaveBeen what could have happened]] to the ''Harry Potter'' film series had saner heads not prevailed. (An Americanized Harry, ect.

** Susan Cooper or her estate (was she still alive at the time?) presumably gave permission to adapt it. One wonders why they haven't sued to have the name removed (as Michael Ende tried to do for ''TheNeverEndingStory''), or if they still might at some point... Judging by those TheyJustDidntCare comments, the makers clearly had so sense of respect or understanding for the source material.

** Oddly, with this in mind, this film can be said to be a very accurate demonstration of [[WhatCouldHaveBeen what could have happened]] to the ''Harry Potter'' film series had saner heads not prevailed. (An Americanized Harry, ect.)

'''NOTE:''' Given its substantial {{Hatedom}}, the film version of the book attracts its share of YourMileageMayVary, which belongs on this article, not the main one.