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matt_doyleThe Dark Is Rising is a series that really bothers me. I enjoy the tone, and I enjoy Will's character, and some of the imagery fascinates me. People have talked about how the books are just a series of extended MacGuffin Hunts and I don't in any way disagree, but it isn't the repetitive plot that I find problematic.
The main thing that bothers me is the arrogance and invasiveness of the Light. They're total douchebags to pretty much everyone all the time - the Walker betrays them because they put his life at risk without asking consent or informing him, and when he, y'know, almost dies, they do not even thank him or let him know they value and care about him as a person rather than a tool (Merriman says they do, but...). They cavalierly make choices for 'normal people' and fuck with their memories and expect their behavior to be unremarkable for no better reason than that they are arbitrarily the Good Guys. Re-reading the books, the Dark behaves on about the same level, but they are much less hypocritical and self-righteous about it. Mostly they seem to be the Bad Guys because they are called The Dark.
I think I'm overstating my case a little here, and I haven't re-read them recently enough to cite more specifics, so if you think I'm way off base I'd welcome dissent. But in the end I think it's much more Predestination vs. Free Will than Light vs. Dark, and I'm just not a Calvinist.
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Date: 2010-09-26 12:29 pm (UTC)So yeah. The Old Ones on the side of the Light: not nice guys. The servants of the Dark: actually somewhat worse.
One of the characters at one point compares both sides to fanatics, and points out that fanatical devotion to any principle is bad for regular people.
I don't agree at all that it's predestination vs. free will. They got caught in a time loop with Hawkin, and wound up stuck with their poor choices, because of Merriman's time travel. It would've caused a paradox (and they do seem to be susceptible to those) to change it once they knew about it, so they couldn't, especially because they also knew that ultimately Hawkin would serve a purpose as the Walker. But Hawkin was there in the first place because he had chosen to become involved in the plans of the Old Ones. People who never became involved always had free will, and even people who became involved had quite a lot of it, it was just that the Old Ones were kind of stuck with things as they were.
I dunno, I actually think the Light and Dark of TDIR are rather like the current political parties in the US: one is likely to do very little to actively help the average person, but also very little to hurt them, while the other is very likely to hurt them while saying they're helping.
And they don't expect their behavior to be unremarkable. Merriman makes it plain that they don't always like what they do, and the awfulness of the choices the Old Ones make (and the ones that are made for them) comes up repeatedly.
I dunno. Not very coherent. I've been up for much too long and am much too tired. My point is, basically, that while yes, the Light does nasty awful things and meddles and messes with people, that isn't actually quite as glossed past as you seem to think, and it's a point that's discussed repeatedly, and not necessarily in a way that's flattering to the Light. I'm sure many teens miss that fact, but it was not lost on me, and honestly I think TDIR is one of the things that influenced me away from an understanding of the world that included absolute Good and Evil.
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Date: 2010-09-26 12:55 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-09-26 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-26 05:05 pm (UTC)It is, of course, discussed somewhat superficially from an adult perspective -- they're written for children and young adults, not grown ups -- but the discussion is there.
What is ambiguous about Hawkin's story is whether Merriman had any choice about his treatment of Hawkin the first time around. But it's fairly plain that Merriman holds himself personally responsible for much of Hawkins fate, despite having had to condemn him for it, and that he acknowledges his own behavior as harsh and awful. He says that he put more trust in Hawkin than he has strength to take, a mistake he learned not to make centuries ago, but that in foolishness he made it, and that there is nothing that can be done to put it right, all there is to do is to stand and watch the result. But he explains the reason it was done, and says, "This is a cold battle we are in, Will, and in it we must sometimes do cold things." Oh, he speaks of the doom Hawkin will bring upon himself by his actions, but he still clearly holds himself responsible for putting Hawkin in that position.
I don't think it's a matter of reading too much into it, but of not reading enough of it. You're missing bits that are relevant to your objection.
The Old Ones in TDIR are arrogant, and they do do horrible things, I'm not disagreeing with that, and neither does the text. But you're missing where the text says that they know that, too, and consider it what must be done to protect mortals from far worse things. They say, over and over again, that the Light is harsh, and places heavy burdens, and that it burns. It's why the Old Ones all have to leave once the Dark is defeated -- all but Will, who is young enough that he can relearn how to act like a human being. Their job is done, and they are poorly suited to the world other than for the purposes of their duty.
Really, I suggest you read them again, at least the books where Will is the focus character (the Drew children books have less of this, because the Drews are less directly involved in these kinds of decisions and actions, at least in any way where they can see them, although they are themselves sort of Hawkins). This comes up again and again, in the story of Hawkin, that of Bran's past and his adoptive father's, and in the relationship of the Rowlands. It really isn't as unconsidered in the text as you seem to think.
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