Who built the gargoyles?

[Bobity.]

The fused stone gargoyles of Dragonstone are attributed to the Valyrians, but examples made of regular stone make it complicated. I have noticed that the term gargoyles and grotesques are used interchangeably. Both Maester Cressen and Davos blend the terms when describing the thousand fused stone gargoyles on the walls of Dragonstone.

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“In place of merlons, a thousand grotesques and gargoyles looked down on him, each different from all the others; wyverns, griffins, demons, manticores, minotaurs, basilisks, hellhounds, cockatrices” A Storm of Swords - Davos V

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“Their droppings speckled the gargoyles that rose twelve feet tall on either side of him, a hellhound and a wyvern, two of the thousand that brooded over the walls of the ancient fortress. When first he came to Dragonstone, the army of stone grotesques had made him uneasy, but as the years passed he had grown used to them.” - A Clash of Kings - Prologue

Based on this synonymous use of the terms, I suggest that the two remaining grotesques on Standfast would also be considered gargoyles. 

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“Standfast was a castle only by courtesy. Though it stood bravely atop a rocky hill and could be seen for leagues around, it was no more than a towerhouse. A partial collapse a few centuries ago had required some rebuilding, so the north and west faces were pale gray stone above the windows, and the old black stone below. Turrets had been added to the roofline during the repair, but only on the sides that were rebuilt; at the other two corners crouched ancient stone grotesques, so badly abraded by wind and weather that it was hard to say what they had been.” - Sworn Sword

There are also two other locations with identified gargoyles.  The weathered little inn on Dragonstone Island where Salladhor Saan told the legend of Lightbringer, and the gargoyles on the ruins of the First Keep of Winterfell.

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“A weathered little inn sat on the end of the stone pier...out front squatted a waist-high gargoyle, so eroded by rain and salt that his features were all but obliterated.” A Clash of Kings - Davos I

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“Bran could perch for hours among the shapeless, rain-worn gargoyles that brooded over the First Keep” - A Game of Thrones - Bran II

Compare the similarities in physical conditions between these examples of gargoyle architecture.

“so eroded by rain and salt that his features were all but obliterated.” - Weathered Inn
“so badly abraded by wind and weather that it was hard to say what they had been” - Standfast
“shapeless, rain-worn” - Winterfell First Keep

I personally see a pattern, they appear to have been equally eroded by the elements disfiguring their details and I believe share a common cultural origin in the ancient past. Let's start comparing.

Both the First Keep of Winterfell and Standfast share similar stories of aging into ruin, the only difference is that Standfast was partially rebuilt and renovated with modern features, while Winterfell's First Keep was left abandoned to rot with the crows.  The gargoyle that Davos placed his hand on for luck was not on the weathered inn, but on the ground out front.  I suggest that the gargoyle is a remnant of a local ruin placed before the inn, similar in condition to the gargoyles at Winterfell First Keep after the fire.

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“Rubble was strewn all about it: great chunks of shattered masonry, burned beams, broken gargoyles. The falling snow had covered almost all of it, but part of one gargoyle still poked above the drift, its grotesque face snarling sightless at the sky.” - A Dance with Dragons - The Turncloak

The number of gargoyles vary greatly between the First Keep and Standfast, based on its original design the Standfast tower had a total of four gargoyles on each corner, while Bran could move along the edge of the First Keep by swinging from gargoyle to gargoyle.  This brings the First Keep closer in resemblance to Dragonstone, where a thousand merlons were replaced with gargoyles on the walls. A big difference between the First Keep and Standfast however is the design, Standfast displays the First Men architecture of square corners and the First Keep was a drum. It is noted that drum towers were unheard of among the First Men, the exception being Bran the Builder who is attributed to having built both Winterfell and the drumed Storms End.  Bran the Builder being a prominent Age of Heroes figure.

Could Standfast date back to the Age of Heroes?  Woven into the Dunk POV of the Sworn Sword which featured Standfast is the history of House Osgrey.  House Osgrey were once the Marshals of the Northmarch, liege to House Gardener who were descendants of Garth Greenhand, also a prominent Age of Heroes figure. The local Chequy River is named after the Osgrey chequy lion sigil, which puts the family back to the naming of local geographic features. I believe House Osgrey predates the Andal migration/invasion and the Long Night.

As per Eustance Osgrey:

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“For a thousand years before the Conquest, we were the Marshalls of the Northmarch. A score of lesser lordlings did us fealty, and a hundred landed knights. We had four castles then, and watchtowers on the hills to warn of the coming of our enemies. Coldmoat was the greatest of our seats. Lord Perwyn Osgrey raised it. Perwyn the Proud, they called him.”

As Perwyn Osgrey was not acknowledged as the families founder, the Osgrey name would be older than Coldmoat itself.  Standfast sounds to be one of the referenced watchtower on a hill and is older than Coldmoat, from an earlier quote.“Standfast...stood bravely atop a rocky hill..no more than a towerhouse”

However, it's Eustance Osgrey who points a direct line between House Osgrey and the Age of Heroes with his reference to ancient green king customs as a diplomatic option.

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"It comes to me that in days gone by, when the green kings ruled, you could pay a man a blood price if you had slain one of his animals or peasants."

The offer was not well received.

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"The blood price?" She laughed. "He is an old man, I know, but I had not realized that he was so old as that. Does he think we are living in the Age of Heroes, when a man's life was reckoned to be worth no more than a sack of silver?

I feel confident that Standfast dates back to the Age of Heroes based on the physical deterioration resulting in a partial collapse and history of the local old blood nobility.

Now we enter what many will classify as the tinfoil section of this analysis.

So if Standfast and Winterfell can trace gargoyle construction back to the Age of Heroes, what was happening on Dragonstone Island then?  The waist high gargoyle sounds to be placed on the ground, not attached to the weathered inn.  There is no indication that inn is anything other than old, the only connection with the Age of Heroes is the Nissa Nissa sacrifice story told within. However, the existence of an obliterated gargoyle on Dragonstone comparable to other examples of Westeros gargoyle architecture with links to the Age of Heroes does run counter to the narrative that the fused stone gargoyles of Dragonstone Castle was only created in the past 600 years, after the arrival of the Valyrians. Thing is, fused stone construction like Dragonstone and the base level of the Hightower are all but impossible to date by looking at them, as they do not erode.

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“seamless walls of fused black dragonstone, harder than steel or diamond” - The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Volantis

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“Unlike the muddy tracks that passed for roads in the Seven Kingdoms, the Valyrian roads were wide enough for three wagons to pass abreast, and neither time nor traffic marred them. They still endured, unchanging, four centuries after Valyria itself had met its Doom. He looked for ruts and cracks but found only a pile of warm dung deposited by one of the horses.” - A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion II

It's very hard to accurately date Dragonstone by looking at it.  Just saying.  Lets visit Essos for a moment and look at the accents of a fused stone project.

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The gateway to the Long Bridge was a black stone arch carved with sphinxes, manticores, dragons, and creatures stranger still. Beyond the arch stretched the great span that the Valyrians had built at the height of their glory, its fused stone roadway supported by massive piers. - A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion VII

“sphinxes, manticores, dragons, and creatures stranger still.” 

Certainly sounds similar to Davos’s description of Dragonstone gargoyles.

“each different from all the others; wyverns, griffins, demons, manticores, minotaurs, basilisks, hellhounds, cockatrice”

I think that GRRM was having a little fun, Tyrion oft described as a gargoyle unable to identify an example.  Even if the carvings were not meant to represent gargoyles, what puzzles me is why was the Long Bridge arch not shaped with fused stone? Fused stone is not carved, but shaped.  

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“The dragonlords of Valryia, as is well-known, possessed the art of turning stone to liquid with dragonflame, shaping it as they would, then fusing it harder than iron, steel, or granite.” - The World of Ice and Fire - The Reach: Oldtown

The description of the bridge was quite clear that the roadway was the only component built of fused stone, why not do the archway as well?  If the Valyrians created Dragonstone with a thousand twelve foot fused stone statues, what was holding them back at the Long Bridge at the “height of their glory”?

In fact, a review of Valyrian fused stone achievements, while awesome in scale, are in effect acts of paving roads and poured walls at Volantis,Tyrosh and Naath.  Exception is Dragonstone where fused stone architectural accents are everywhere.

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“The kitchens were a dragon curled up in a ball, with the smoke and steam of the ovens vented through its nostrils. The towers were dragons hunched above the walls or poised for flight; the Windwyrm seemed to scream defiance, while Sea Dragon Tower gazed serenely out across the waves. Smaller dragons framed the gates. Dragon claws emerged from walls to grasp at torches, great stone wings enfolded the smith and armory, and tails formed arches, bridges, and exterior stairs.” - A Storm of Swords - Davos V

Dragonstone is the most incredible artistic structure in Westeros, hands down and its all made in fused stone! Check out the backdrop on pages 60,140-141 and 338 in F&B, that is some incredible artistic detail and is only visual hints of the castle as a whole. And yet, 200 years after arriving on Dragonstone the Valyrian dragonlords packed up and left, abandoning a fused stone marvel to be a refuge for a self exiled dragonlord family, scorned as cowards. The Valyrian empire's quickly faded interest in Dragonstone doesn’t make sense considering the effort to create one thousand unique twelve foot statues in fused stone and towers shaped as dragons. Unless…...when the Valyrians arrived at Dragonstone 600 years past Dragonstone was already there, unchanged fused stone built in the Age of Heroes with all the other examples of gargoyle architecture in Westeros. The Valyrians were slaver’s and conquers, I also contend that they are purple eyed liars regarding their own history….they were never shepherds.

Who built the gargoyles?  What really happened during the Age of Heroes in Westeros?

Extra Fun Fact! -  How many Valyrian Sphinx statues are described on Dragonstone?  Answer - None, not one example of the signature Valyrian architectural style is described on Dragonstone, almost like it was not a thing when it was built...

[Springwatch]

Nice work!

2 hours ago, Bobity. said:

Tyrion oft described as a gargoyle unable to identify an example

Sounds right. Off the top of my head - he did sit above a doorway in Winterfell, a good place for a gargoyle to be. And grotesque/grotesquerie has definitely been used throughout. 'Gargoyle' sounds like something Cersei would say.

ETA

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Dragonstone is the most incredible artistic structure in Westeros, hands down and its all made in fused stone! Check out the backdrop on pages 60,140-141 and 338 in F&B, that is some incredible artistic detail and is only visual hints of the castle as a whole. And yet, 200 years after arriving on Dragonstone the Valyrian dragonlords packed up and left, abandoning a fused stone marvel to be a refuge for a self exiled dragonlord family, scorned as cowards. The Valyrian empire's quickly faded interest in Dragonstone doesn’t make sense considering the effort to create one thousand unique twelve foot statues in fused stone and towers shaped as dragons. Unless…...when the Valyrians arrived at Dragonstone 600 years past Dragonstone was already there, unchanged fused stone built in the Age of Heroes with all the other examples of gargoyle architecture in Westeros.

Dragonstone is built over a volcano - maybe fire magic is easier around volcanoes. Just like home.

The gargoyle at the inn can't be fused stone, because it eroded. You could assume it's a normal normal carving in volcanic rock and make a guess how long it would take to be severely eroded. (I think that puts excessive trust in realism thought.)

[James Fenimore Cooper XXII]

They came from the minds of the creative artists and architects.  Creativity is limitless.  The design of Dragonstone is over the top elaborate.  The opposite of minimalist.  Whoever was the architect allowed his or her imagination run wild.  The builders turned that dream into the fortress.

[R2D]

Dragonstone don't make no sense.