Oily black stone

[Illyrio Mo'Parties]

I've noticed a connection between the mysterious oily black stone that crops up a few times in our story, and the works of H.P. Lovecraft. What interesting things could this portend?

[Therae]

Deep ones and mad poets?

Aie! Ftagn! Ftagn! Cthulhu! 
Cosmic horror coming to you,
The Old Ones are back now with a view to
Sucking out your brains.

(Maleficarian Army Marching Song ganked from Jonathan L. Howard)

[40 Thousand Skeletons]

I think the most important aspect of the oily black stone connection is the nature of the stone that the Bloodstone Emperor started worshipping when he became the first high priest of the Curch of Starry Wisdom. The Church of Starry wisdom is taken from Lovecraft, and they worshipped the Shining Trapezohedron, which could summon the Haunter of the Dark. So the question I ask is, what did the BSE use his mysterious stone for, and how similar was it to the Shining Trapezohedron? Does it also summon something? If it does "summon" anything I would have to guess the red comet is actually the Volcryn from Nightflyers and it summons the Volcryn.

The Haunter of the Dark can only travel in the dark and is therefore constrained to a tower even by night because of the city lights. The city then loses power in a storm, and the Haunter is able to leave the tower and kill the protagonist who summoned it. Interestingly, the appearance of the black stone in asoiaf also coincides with darkness, that darkness being the Long Night of course. And in the LN, demons came forth and killed people. So while it's hard to say exactly what the black stone was used for, it's safe to say it was fully inspired by the Shining Trapezohedron.

[Lollygag]

Oily black stone has always made me think of coal. Coal is found in the fields near where grew up. It's not oily to touch as in greasy, but it does have a different texture to it than a normal stone, and "oily" does makes sense as a descriptor term. Sorry, but I can't describe it well.

Given how coal is made, it makes sense that it's found near the Ironborn. It's used for creating fires, so that could be something.

From the Wikipedia "Coal"

At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests^[8] in low-lying wetland areas. Due to natural processes such as flooding, these forests were buried underneath soil. As more and more soil deposited over them, they were compressed. The temperature also rose as they sank deeper and deeper. As the process continued the plant matter was protected from biodegradation and oxidation, usually by mud or acidic water. This trapped the carbon in immense peat bogs that were eventually covered and deeply buried by sediments. Under high pressure and high temperature, dead vegetation was slowly converted to coal. As coal contains mainly carbon, the conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonization.^[9]

The wide, shallow seas of the Carboniferous Period provided ideal conditions for coal formation, although coal is known from most geological periods. The exception is the coal gap in the Permian–Triassic extinction event, where coal is rare. Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants — this coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae.

I rather doubt the oily black stone is actually coal, but maybe some clues as to its origin and purpose in-story can be found in researching coal.

[Ser Frasier of House Crane]

I've heard it hypothesized that the oily black stone is actually plastic, and that Planetos is essentially set in the farthest-flung future where everything has regressed to a stagnant agrarian society a la McCaffrey's Pern series. I do think that the series is set on a distant planet in that time, but I like the idea of the origin of the oily black stone to be something alien entirely, and that it was there long before the settlers of Planetos ever set foot on it.

As for what the relevance of the stone is in-story, probably nothing, as it is seldom remarked upon in the actual novels themselves. It's just flavor in the world--a delicious flavor, one which I crave to see more, but which I don't think we'll get more than a morsel of in the text. I've been craving a one-shot story from George of a curious Targaryen king sending a party of knights to Sothoryos and going full-on Joseph Conrad/H.P. Lovecraft as they approach Yeen for years.

[Dorian Martell's son]

4 hours ago, Illyrio Mo'Parties said:

I've noticed a connection between the mysterious oily black stone that crops up a few times in our story, and the works of H.P. Lovecraft. What interesting things could this portend?

It doesn't portend anything. It is a bit of afterthought plot added to the world to flesh it out a tad. It will have zero bearing on the story and the readers will never find out the mystery behind it 

[The Lord of the Crossing]

34 minutes ago, Ser Frasier of House Crane said:

I've heard it hypothesized that the oily black stone is actually plastic, and that Planetos is essentially set in the farthest-flung future where everything has regressed to a stagnant agrarian society a la McCaffrey's Pern series. I do think that the series is set on a distant planet in that time, but I like the idea of the origin of the oily black stone to be something alien entirely, and that it was there long before the settlers of Planetos ever set foot on it.

As for what the relevance of the stone is in-story, probably nothing, as it is seldom remarked upon in the actual novels themselves. It's just flavor in the world--a delicious flavor, one which I crave to see more, but which I don't think we'll get more than a morsel of in the text. I've been craving a one-shot story from George of a curious Targaryen king sending a party of knights to Sothoryos and going full-on Joseph Conrad/H.P. Lovecraft as they approach Yeen for years.

I believe so as well.  This is GM making his world deeper and richer, giving it more dimension. 

Real world, there exists a stone called soapstone that supposedly has a slippery feel.

[40 Thousand Skeletons]

15 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

It doesn't portend anything. It is a bit of afterthought plot added to the world to flesh it out a tad. It will have zero bearing on the story and the readers will never find out the mystery behind it 

Proof please.  

[Dorian Martell's son]

18 minutes ago, 40 Thousand Skeletons said:

Proof please.  

I don't need to provide any. Nothing has come up because of the stone and until something does, I am right. If this is shown to be part of the gemstone empire and it is shown to the reader, feel free to come back and gloat. but until then I am correct. Besides,  it is only mentioned once in the man novels and it is mostly featured in a world book that wasn't even authored by GRRM. 

[40 Thousand Skeletons]

Just now, Dorian Martell's son said:

I don't need to provide any. Nothing has come up because of the stone and until something does, I am right. If this is shown to be part of the gemstone empire and it is shown to the reader, feel free to come back and gloat. but until then I am correct. Besides,  it is only featured in a world book that wasn't even authored by GRRM. 

Wow, I wish I was right until proven wrong about things. Must be nice for you.

I am not gloating, or even making an argument. I am just humorously pointing out that you seem to have supreme confidence in your viewpoint. And GRRM wrote a lot of the material in TWOIAF.

[Lollygag]

2 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

I don't need to provide any. Nothing has come up because of the stone and until something does, I am right. If this is shown to be part of the gemstone empire and it is shown to the reader, feel free to come back and gloat. but until then I am correct. Besides,  it is only featured in a world book that wasn't even authored by GRRM. 

ACOK Theon II:

Neither the dancers nor the drinkers took much note of Theon Greyjoy as he strode to the dais. Lord Balon occupied the Seastone Chair, carved in the shape of a great kraken from an immense block of oily black stone. Legend said that the First Men had found it standing on the shore of Old Wyk when they came to the Iron Islands.

[Dorian Martell's son]

3 minutes ago, 40 Thousand Skeletons said:

Wow, I wish I was right until proven wrong about things. Must be nice for you.

I am not gloating, or even making an argument. I am just humorously pointing out that you seem to have supreme confidence in your viewpoint. And GRRM wrote a lot of the material in TWOIAF.

I do have extreme confidence in my viewpoint. So far, the oily black stone has not played any role in the story unlike say, the wall, or weirwood trees, or wildfire, or greyscale or any pile of other tidbits that have already been written. And while GRRM had to approve what was written, the purveyors of this forum are the authors of that book 

[Dorian Martell's son]

2 minutes ago, Lollygag said:

ACOK Theon II:

Neither the dancers nor the drinkers took much note of Theon Greyjoy as he strode to the dais. Lord Balon occupied the Seastone Chair, carved in the shape of a great kraken from an immense block of oily black stone. Legend said that the First Men had found it standing on the shore of Old Wyk when they came to the Iron Islands.

touché, but it still has no role to play aside from being a chair 

[Lollygag]

The stone itself may or may not be important, but because GRRM decided to add the line about an immense weird stone being randomly found on a beach, I take it that he wants the reader to wonder how it got there.

It doesn't sound like it's part of cliff rock which has broken off, and an immense piece of rock is too heavy to just wash ashore. So how did it get there, and why?

[House Beaudreau]

What about Plastic..... Plastic is oil based and would be stone like to someone who has no idea what plastic is. The Majority of plastic ends up in the ocean.  the sea stone chair is a chair not a throne. It could be a captian's chair from a space ship, or just a huge chunk of plastic that was carved into a seat.  

This only makes sense if you can believe Planetos is part of the 1000 worlds universe that GRRM has created, and Planetos is in an interregnum due to nuclear war.   

[Lollygag]

The one time we do see oily black stone in-text, it's in the shape of a Kraken as Balon's throne. Safe to assume that the stone only looks oily, or Balon would always be walking about with a grease spot on his ass.

Since the stone is seen in the shape of a Kraken, I did some research on Krakens in myth. They are up to a mile wide, and thus they are associated with islands and emerging islands. They stay at the bottom of the ocean unless disturbed. Earthquakes and volcanic activity in the ocean would certainly qualify as a disturbance for a Kraken. As such, they are associated with volcanic activity. The oily black stone may be a type of volcanic rock, and geologically, there may be something special about the iron islands.

My newest wish for the books is for the Iron Islands to actually be built on the back of stone Krakens. It's especially interesting given that Mel is trying to wake dragons from stone.

 

[Dorian Martell's son]

21 hours ago, Lollygag said:

The stone itself may or may not be important, but because GRRM decided to add the line about an immense weird stone being randomly found on a beach, I take it that he wants the reader to wonder how it got there.

It doesn't sound like it's part of cliff rock which has broken off, and an immense piece of rock is too heavy to just wash ashore. So how did it get there, and why?

I am willing to bet that the highlighted question will never be answered since the story is about ice demons, dragons, not-elves and magical people with magical pets 

[Lollygag]

14 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

I am willing to bet that the highlighted question will never be answered since the story is about ice demons, dragons, not-elves and magical people with magical pets 

You've said that already, actually 5 times now, and have yet to present a convincing argument for it.

[40 Thousand Skeletons]

On 4/6/2017 at 6:24 PM, Dorian Martell's son said:

I do have extreme confidence in my viewpoint. So far, the oily black stone has not played any role in the story unlike say, the wall, or weirwood trees, or wildfire, or greyscale or any pile of other tidbits that have already been written. And while GRRM had to approve what was written, the purveyors of this forum are the authors of that book 

No. Anything that was completely new material was written by GRRM. See this quote from his blog:

Elio and Linda went through all the published novels, the Dunk & Egg stories, etc, pulled out the historical references, legends, and such, organized all of that into a chronology, and wrote a first draft. Then I stepped in, revising their draft, filling the holes, answering questions, resolving contradictions, and adding new material where little or none existed in the published books. Of course, as with the novels, "the tale(s) grew in the telling," and I ended up adding a LOT... so much that in the end we had to rip out more than two hundred thousand words of it (which will eventually appear in the GRRMarillion). In the cases where I wrote way, way, way too much, Elio and Linda then went back in and produced a severely abridged version.

For instance, the full account of the Dance of the Dragons ran to 80,000 words, a novel all by itself. Gardner Dozois trimmed that to 30,000 words for DANGEROUS WOMEN, producing "The Princess and the Queen." Elio and Linda produced an entirely DIFFERENT abridgement (even shorter, I believe) for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE, working from the same text. For the full version, you will need to wait...

You can't discount text just because it is from TWOIAF instead of the main books.

[Dorian Martell's son]

2 minutes ago, 40 Thousand Skeletons said:

No. Anything that was completely new material was written by GRRM. See this quote from his blog:

Elio and Linda went through all the published novels, the Dunk & Egg stories, etc, pulled out the historical references, legends, and such, organized all of that into a chronology, and wrote a first draft. Then I stepped in, revising their draft, filling the holes, answering questions, resolving contradictions, and adding new material where little or none existed in the published books. Of course, as with the novels, "the tale(s) grew in the telling," and I ended up adding a LOT... so much that in the end we had to rip out more than two hundred thousand words of it (which will eventually appear in the GRRMarillion). In the cases where I wrote way, way, way too much, Elio and Linda then went back in and produced a severely abridged version.

For instance, the full account of the Dance of the Dragons ran to 80,000 words, a novel all by itself. Gardner Dozois trimmed that to 30,000 words for DANGEROUS WOMEN, producing "The Princess and the Queen." Elio and Linda produced an entirely DIFFERENT abridgement (even shorter, I believe) for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE, working from the same text. For the full version, you will need to wait...

You can't discount text just because it is from TWOIAF instead of the main books.

the fact that he abridged their draft has zero to do with the fact that the oily black stone is merely a footnote in a story that has nothing to do with it. Oily black stone plays an adjunct role in three POV stories, Theon, Asha and Vic.  It is so minor even if it was erased from the story, those POVs would not change a single bit. That is what I mean. It is an interesting side note, but nothing more, except for fans who love writing their own story