Mysteries of Moat Cailin and Black Stone

[Aebram]

A recent thread about Moat Cailin got me thinking about that place. The text tells us that it was built by the First Men. But is that correct? The history of those times is inaccurate and incomplete. I've noticed some things that make me think there's more to its story. 

For the TL;DR crowd, I'll give my conclusions first:

 1. Moat Cailin was not built by the First Men. They built the wooden keep, but the curtain wall and towers were already there when they arrived. Like the base of the Hightower and the Seastone Chair, its true origin is unknown, and it seems likely that magic was involved. 
 2. All the mysterious black stone described in the various books is actually basalt. There's something about it that makes it better than other types of rock at absorbing or holding magical energy, so it became the building material of choice for those who built with magic.
 3. When basalt is "charged" with magical energy, its appearance becomes shiny, as if coated with water or oil.

In ASOIAF the Moat is a ruin, consisting of three towers in poor condition, a few scraps of wall that still stand, and some scattered blocks of stone as big as cottages. We have read that at one time, it consisted of a wooden keep surrounded by a stone curtain wall with 20 towers. But the two don't seem to go together.  That is a colossal achievement! 20 towers, and blocks as big as cottages: it seems impossible without the use of magic. Is it likely that people who were capable of such massive stonework would want to live in a wooden keep? 

The ruins are described as being made of shiny black basalt. Throughout the books, there are many other mentions of structures made of black stone that has a wet or shiny appearance. Most of them have some association with magic, or at least are shrouded in mystery.  The ones in Westeros are extremely old, probably built before the arrival of the First Men.

The wiki divides the various black stone edifices into three categories: oily black stone, fused black stone, and basalt.  That makes sense from the descriptions given in the various books. Of the three, basalt seems to be the most mundane, the one with the least connection to magic or mystery. But perhaps there is a case of mistaken identity here. After all, medieval geology was not an exact science.

In case you didn't know, basalt is a real type of rock here on Earth. It's volcanic in origin, of the type geologists call igneous. According to Wikipedia, "More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt." Britannica says that "some basalts are quite glassy" in appearance.

The word "igneous" caught my eye, because it's spelled similarly to "ignition." So I looked it up in Oxford's, and found three definitions.

 - (of rock) having solidified from lava or magma.
 - relating to or involving volcanic processes.
 - (rarely) of fire; fiery.

This is a bit of a stretch, since the word "igneous" doesn't appear anywhere in the books; but it hints at some connection between basalt and fire magic.

Besides the Moat, there are two other castles in Westeros that are made of basalt: Harrenhal and Blackhaven. Harrenhal, of course, is well associated with sorcery. Blackhaven, not so much; but there is one thing. According to the wiki, Blackhaven has "a dry moat said to be bottomless."  That's impossible of course; but what would cause people to believe such a thing? Suppose the moat is imbued with a spell, so that anything and anyone that falls into it can never be retrieved. Over the centuries, people might forget about the spell; and for people with no background in physics, a bottomless moat would seem like a plausible explanation.

My third conclusion -- that magical energy makes the stone shiny -- is admittedly the most speculative.  I was looking for some pattern or rule that would encompass all these different types of stone, and that came to mind.  The oiliest stone of all is in Asshai, the most magical and mysteripus place in the Known World. It's described as having "a greasy or unpleasant feel."  The fused black stone is not shiny.  Magic was used to fuse it, but it may not have any spells cast upon it that remain afterwards.

[Aebram]

180 views, and no comments .... Was it something I said?

[Moiraine Sedai]

There are ruins in central and south America where the later additions seem to inferior workmanship. The foundation structure fit better and stones dressed better. Additions to the structure were built by less-advanced people. We know who built the additions but not the people who built the foundations.  The technology went backwards. Martin is doing the same thing. An advanced people of whom we know nothing about built the foundations.  It gives age and scale to the world of ice and fire. 

[Mourning Star]

There are a lot of theories floating around about the various structures made from black stone, both fused and oily. I do think the distinction is important. We see the Valyrians building with fused black stone, but the oily black stone appears far older.

Meanwhile Moat Cailin appears to be neither oily nor fused, but built of basalt.

It seems that the Singers called down the Hammer of the Water from the "Children's Tower", which is about as powerful of magic as we have heard tell of. Now whether this was the same incident that caused the breaking of the arm of Dorne, or whether the Children used the Hammer of the Waters twice is unclear. Either way, I do not think this supports the magic making the stone oily theory you proposed.

I would suggest that Moat Calin was built by giants... but there isn't a ton of evidence to support the claim. We haven't gotten many clues about how the giants fit into the picture, but they do pop up in stories at very interesting times. From Brandon the Builder, to Joramun and the horn of winter, to the Last Hero, to Ser Merwyn of the Mirror Shield saving a very Valyrian sounding Daeryssa a long time before Targaryens came to Westeros. Notably, Giants were not included in The Pact between Singers and Men.

If I had to guess, giants may not have always been as primitive as they are made out to be by this point in Westeros, in fact it's even possible that we haven't seen a "true" giant at all but only part giant part men offspring, and it's even possible that the great mountain giants (for lack of a better term) are truly extinct.

Quote

She remembered a story Old Nan had told once, about a man imprisoned in a dark castle by evil giants. He was very brave and smart and he tricked the giants and escaped . . . but no sooner was he outside the castle than the Others took him, and drank his hot red blood.

A Clash of Kings - Arya III

And if I had to guess, the story above is about Moat Cailin.

But, we really don't have much to work with, I mean, can we even tell if the towers of Moat Cailin are round or square?

[Daeron the Daring]

16 hours ago, Aebram said:

180 views, and no comments .... Was it something I said?

It's just that many people don't really have an opinion about this, or regarding anything that is hidden so deep in the lore (which obviously isn't a problem).

On 4/3/2021 at 10:09 PM, Aebram said:

The ruins are described as being made of shiny black basalt. Throughout the books, there are many other mentions of structures made of black stone that has a wet or shiny appearance. Most of them have some association with magic, or at least are shrouded in mystery.  The ones in Westeros are extremely old, probably built before the arrival of the First Men.

The wiki divides the various black stone edifices into three categories: oily black stone, fused black stone, and basalt.  That makes sense from the descriptions given in the various books. Of the three, basalt seems to be the most mundane, the one with the least connection to magic or mystery. But perhaps there is a case of mistaken identity here. After all, medieval geology was not an exact science.

It might be that each culture (we talk about here) worked with basalt, but some did better, others not so much. People weren't really advanced back then regarding scientific advancements or geology, but we are told magic had a greater presence than nowadays and was is said to had been a daily thing seen. We don't know the potentials of earlier (dissapeared) cultures, we can only guess. The children are magical cultures, yet they've lost against the First Men and never got to be socially or architeturally so advanced as humans.