Moat Cailin, Pyke and the Seastone Chair – why?
Sept 10, 2016 1:36:34 GMT
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Post by arrysfleas on Sept 10, 2016 1:36:34 GMT
In this post I will attempt to shed some light on two mysterious westerosi constructions, Pyke and the Moat Cailin curtain wall, as well as the Seastone Chair.
How will this help with the deep mysteries of the Song of Ice and Fire?
Text from wikipedia otherwise stated.
The Iron islands and the Neck.
Let's start with a map so we can see where things are.
1. Moat Cailin
Here I will discuss the curtain wall; I will leave the towers for some other time (maybe).
Moat Cailin: what's in a name?
So does Moat Cailin mean 'Maiden's furrow'? The 'key to the kingdom'?
Source text
The Moat Cailin wall is made of blocks of black basalt. If they look like oily black stones, it is either due to the morning sunlight shining on the wet stones or the writer's obsession. There is most likely more imagery there if you look for it.
The blocks look like children wooden blocks or abandoned toys; very clearly just blocks, no more, no less, the same blocks as you played with when you were a toddler, just a wee bit bigger.
'The wall stood as high as Winterfell's'. As the wall is collapsed, that must be an old tale. That is high but not that high, the walls of Winterfell are: 'the outer wall stood eighty feet high, the inner more than a hundred (Clash, Theon IV)'. The Black Walls of Old Volantis are 200 feet, the Ice Wall is 700 feet, the Five Forts are 1000 feet.
So let's assume 100 feet which is 30 meters. If the blocks are 2m high, then that is 15 blocks high.
Moat Cailin's blocks size
The blocks are said to be immense, the size of a crofters cottage. Just how big is this?
As there are no crofters cottage in my neighbourhood, I have lifted a couple of pics from the net:
Here is a bit of arithmetic (I will use the metric system as calculations in Imperial measurements are devilish):
That is quite heavy; heavy enough to require a hundred men to lift. Actually, 90T / 100 = 900kg. That is a lot for one 'ordinary' man.
Where do we find such stone blocks on Earth?
In the pyramids of Egypt.
Giza - The largest granite stones in the pyramid, found in the "King's" chamber, weigh 25 to 80 tonnes and were transported from Aswan, more than 800km away.
The Pyramid Temple, which stood on the east side of the pyramid and measured 52.2 metres north to south and 40 metres east to west, has almost entirely disappeared apart from the black basalt paving.
Cyclopean block construction has also been found in the Inca empire.
A different style of wall construction is seen in some of the palaces built for each Inka ruler-- the famed "cyclopean" walls of oddly shaped blocks cut like jigsaw puzzle pieces and fitted together to astounding precision with no mortar.
In the case of the Sacsayhuaman fortress above Cusco, cyclopean walls contain individual blocks estimated to weigh over 100 tons.
Cyclopean construction usually means massive boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and no use of mortar.
The astounding precision describing the fit of the Sacsayhuaman fortress blocks actually reminds me of the 'cunningly fitted' stones of the Storm's End curtain wall, but that is another story.
If the ancient Egyptians could handle 80T blocks and the Incas 100T blocks, could the early Westerosi do so?
Now that we have worked out the size of the blocks, let's find out where they may have come from.
Black basalt
It is the most common volcanic rock type on Earth, being a key component of oceanic crust as well as the principal volcanic rock in many mid-oceanic islands, including Iceland, Réunion and the islands of Hawaii. Basalt commonly features a very fine-grained or glassy matrix interspersed with visible mineral grains.
A flood basalt is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that coats large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava.
Columnar basalt
During the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or fractures form. If a flow cools relatively rapidly, significant contraction forces build up. While a flow can shrink in the vertical dimension without fracturing, it can't easily accommodate shrinking in the horizontal direction unless cracks form; the extensive fracture network that develops results in the formation of columns.
These structures are predominantly hexagonal in cross-section, but polygons with three to twelve or more sides can be observed. The size of the columns depends loosely on the rate of cooling; very rapid cooling may result in very small columns, while slow cooling is more likely to produce large columns.
Some examples of basalt columns
As you can see from the pics, we have a suitable and ready-made building material: very large black stone blocks. Just need to quary and cart them.
The Giant's Causeway
According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by an Irish giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool)
In overall Irish mythology, Fionn mac Cumhaill is not a giant but a hero with supernatural abilities. In Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) it is noted that, over time, "the pagan gods of Ireland [...] grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination, until they turned into the fairies; the pagan heroes grew bigger and bigger, until they turned into the giants".
There are no surviving pre-Christian stories about the Giant's Causeway, but it may have originally been associated with the Fomorians (Fomhóraigh); the Irish name Clochán na bhFomhóraigh or Clochán na bhFomhórach means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh". The Fomhóraigh are a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology who were sometimes described as giants and who may have originally been part of a pre-Christian pantheon
The Giant's causeway is the most well known example of columnar basalt in the anglo-saxon world. Its mythology is fascinating and if you can get passed the unpronounceable Irish names, you will notice that it was built by a giant.
I have thrown-in the pagan gods turning into fairies and the pagan heroes turning into giants just for a tease.
The Iron Islands ancient history
Having looked at the ironborn legend of the Grey King and of his elder brother, it is my opinion that the Iron Islands, the remnants of a volcano caldera, where subjected to at least one, if not two, tidal waves, otherwise known as 'hammer of the waters'.
Summary
Now that we have our building blocks, so-to-speak, we can construct, and sink, the Moat Cailin wall.
I suggest that an initial tidal wave picked up collapsed black columnar basalt blocks from the Iron Islands, perhaps from the island of Blacktyde, and deposited them at the location now called Moat Cailin. The Neck is not far at all from the archipelago and tsunamis are very, very powerful.
As per the Giant's Causeway legend, the curtain wall was built by Westerosi giants either under incentive or coercion (read 'abomination') from the children of the forest who wanted to block the Neck from southern invaders, 'the key to the kingdom', or protect themselves from further natural calamities.
It would not surprise me if man was involved in giving general building directions and scaffolding tips, but blocks are blocks and given the right manpower they can be stacked. After all, the Moat Cailin wall blocks are no bigger than what the Egyptians and Incas handled and, as far as we know, they had no giants to help them out.
Nevertheless, it is still a mighty construction: heaving 100T blocks and stacking them 10 or 15 high! Enough to make your head spin!
At some later date, either a subsequent tidal wave came crashing through the Neck, or an earthquake happened there, liquefying the ground and causing land subsidence. The end result being a collapse of the wall and a sinking of the blocks; imagine dropping a rock in a (lemon) sponge cake.
A miscalculation by the greenseers? Mayhaps.
We are not told how long ago the curtain wall started sinking. We are told that the crannogmen Marsh Kings held the Moat but not if that was before or after the collapse. My guess is that the collapse happened during the Long Night.
2. Pike
Pyke, in the Iron Islands, is a castle very much in keeping with westerosi castles. Several keeps and other amenities. It does have a few peculiarities though.
Source text
No one knows when the castle was built, its origins are lost, although Theon thinks it is a Greyjoy fortress. The breaking of the land has not happened in recent memory but it appears a small hammer of waters is at work on the rock stacks.
The castle side of the island is sharp rocks and angry cliffs, a very good defensive position. Three keeps, towers, outbuildings and a tall round tower: whilst this makes for a reasonable castle, it is not large 'Pyke is neither the largest nor the grandest castle on the Iron Islands' (WIF) .
The Sea Tower is round like the First Keep of Winterfell and Storm's End drum tower. It is well placed so as to look towards the centre of the archipelago and east towards Ironman's Bay.
The Sea Tower is winking at the symbolists, being of white, green and black colours, the colours of Dany's dragons.
There is a 'great stone bridge that leaps from the clifftop to the largest islet' and 'arched bridges of carved stone'; this is an unusual feature which must require ingenious techniques. It also points to the castle being built in situ, that is with the rock stacks already separated. If not, the bridge and arches are still a high achievement.
Stone bridges and arches are few and far between; some are found in Chroyane, the dead city of the Rhoynar, in particular the Bridge of Dream where stone men attacked the Shy Maid.
We also find stone bridges the heart of Old Volantis:
Bridges within a labyrinth of palaces and courtyards are likely archways as no waterways are mentioned. Fused stones are quoted but I just cannot see a military outpost needing such enormous walls. I suggest the Black Walls must have been built long before Valyria, by other earlier dragonlords.
There are rope and wood bridges which may indicate that the ironborn are not able to build new or repair damaged stone archways.
The castle takes its name from the island because the island is shaped like a pike, which is 'a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear' and the castle location is described in this way: 'the point of land ... had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean'.
Summary
Pyke can look much like any westerosi castles: no fused dragon stone, no oily or greasy black rocks, no cunningly fitted hewn stones, no gargoyles. So what makes it so special?
For one its most ancient tower is round, so it pre-dates the First Men's castles (First Men only built square towers).
It is also extremely tough. Thousands of years of ocean pounding. This is similar to Storm's End, except that Storm's End is probably farther from the waves ('perched on towering cliffs') and has an enormous curtain wall to protect it from the pounding.
There is an absence of evidence of direct dragonlord influence in the castle's architecture (fused stones, gargoyles, grotesques). But like the Hightower base or the walls of Old Volantis, fused dragonstone is not always adorned.
However, the great stone bridge and the carved arched bridges are very reminiscent of ancient Essosi architecture.
Theon says that the Greyjoys raised the fortress; he may be right but I doubt the early Greyjoys built the stone bridge and archways and they would not have built the round Sea Tower.
So who built it?
Difficult to say as Pyke is rather unique; its location does suggest mariners though. Mariners from an ancient mighty empire which would have had distant ports with serviceable, easy to defend castles.
The crannogmen are renowned for their poisons, one good reason for Asshai'i to come and trade this way. Perhaps even heading east through the Saffron Straits?
This trade apparently stopped before the (ironborn) First Men arrived as they found the castle empty.
The Seastone Chair was not found on Pyke when the ironborn took residency, so I suggest the two are not related.
3. The Seastone Chair
Before we tackle the Seastone chair, lets have a quick look at it alter ego.
The Toad Stone.
The Toad Stone is big, more than 10m, and its carving is not of high workmanship. It appears to have some semblance with a toad, but it is anyone's guess as to what it looks like.
It is made of the ubiquitous greasy black stone material so dear to GRRM.
Let's have a look at some webbed people.
Davos finds that the lord of Sweetsister has a sort of webbing but limited to some fingers of one hand. Sansa observes that the three Sunderlands, the ruling House of the Three Sisters, have no such webbing on their hands and we know that of the two frog eating crannogmen we are familiar with, Meera and Jojen, neither have webbing, else Bran would have surely noticed!
So, the inhabitants of Toad Islands may not have webbed hands or feet either and quite possibly have nothing to do with the origins of the Toad Stone.
Now, to the Seastone Chair.
Source text.
This monolith is probably of similar dimensions to the Toad Stone, the carving is probably not of a high quality else it would be mentioned, but it is not said to be crudely carved either.
Unlike the Toad Stone, it is made from an oily black stone, not a greasy one.
It was already on Old Wyk when the ironborn arrived, so it was left there earlier. Left by visitors, or settlers, - or otherwise.
The chair is now located on a dais in the Great Hall of the Great Keep of Pyke. This means that even though it is immense, the ironborn were able to transport it across land and see.
Maester Theron's view
A certain likeness says Maester Theron, however the black stones of the Hightower square base are not described as oily or shiny by anyone else.
Nevertheless... Let's petition for a reprint of this publication, Strange Stone; the 'disturbing' illustrations alone must be worth it.
As far as the text is concerned, we can assume that it could neither be more impenetrable than our own Song of Ice and Fire and nor, for that matter, more inchoate (we are still missing two books and have lost innumerable characters).
Certainly, the collection of black stones of Planetos, fused or hewn, oily or greasy, stacked in blocks or carved of a single stone, have driven a few readers to distraction (including me!). We need all the help we can get.
I propose three theories for the origins of the Seastone Chair. But first lets learn a little from the wiki.
What is a kraken?
The Kraken is a legendary sea monster of giant size that is said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland. A number of authors over the years have postulated that the legend originated from sightings of giant squids that may grow to 12–15 meters in length...
Tales of giant squid have been common among mariners since ancient times, and may have led to the Norse legend of the kraken, a tentacled sea monster as large as an island capable of engulfing and sinking any ship.
Giant squids
Like all other cephalopods, squids have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squids, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles.
The giant squid is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. Giant squids can grow to a tremendous size due to deep-sea gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at 13m for females from the posterior fins to the tip of the two long tentacles.
The colossal squid, sometimes called the Antarctic or giant cranch squid, is even bigger.
The only known predators of adult giant squid are sperm whales.
A giant kraken is indeed a big creature although I suspect the Norsemen tend to exaggerate.
This last line is interesting, no? If you fear krakens, do not kill whales. Just like the ironborn, who do not hunt whales.
What does a kraken look like?
An elongated spear-head-shaped mantle finishing in flares, two large eyes at its base, long tentacles.
It is hard to see how you can get a chair shape from these pictures, unless it is naturally half folded mid mantle or carved.
One more thing to consider: the Seastone Chair is carved from an oily black stone. What does oily mean in this context? I would not think it is to be taken literally as it would be rather inconvenient to sit on something oily since you would have to degrease your clothes after each sitting, so I think we should think about its lustre: oily looking, i.e. shiny.
Theory 1. A meteorite
Achondrites are stony meteorites that contain no chondrules [inclusions]. Scientists believe that some of these meteorites originated on the surface of the Moon or Mars, while others may have originated on the Asteroids Vesta, Angelina, Nysa and others.
HED meteorites are a clan (subgroup) of achondrite meteorites. HED stands for "howardite–eucrite–diogenite". ... the fusion crust of Eucrites and Howardites will be shiny and black unlike chondrite fusion crusts.
Puerto Lápice is a brecciated eucrite (achondrite). The meteorite was tracked by the Spanish Fireball Network and fell in and around an olive grove in Ciudad Real, Castilla-La-Mancha. To date, over 25 pieces, totaling approximately 500 grams, have been recovered. The Puerto Lápice specimens are notable for their very shiny fusion crusts.
OK, so these shiny black stones are very small, but not all meteorites are small. Below are some bigger ones:
Mbozi - left - is an iron meteorite found in Tanzania. It is is 3 m long, 1 m high, and weighs an estimated 16 metric tons.
The Willamette Meteorite – right - is an iron-nickel meteorite discovered in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the largest meteorite found in North America and the sixth largest in the world.
The meteorite was venerated by the Clackamas tribe inhabiting the area where it was found.
A shiny black stone coming from asteroid Nysa sounds interesting (I know the spelling is not Nissa, but one cannot be too fussy).
Theory 2. An argillite/black slate carving
Argillite is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles.
Haida Argillite Carvings - "Black slate"
The Haida carvings of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia are notable aboriginal art treasures created from a type of a hard, fine black silt argillite, sometimes called "black slate".
Some pictures:
Black, shiny, carveable, indigenous to North America...just quite the right thing to inspire GRRM. The one on the right even looks like a toad.
Theory 3. A fossilised kraken
Orthoceras and black limestone
Like the giant squid, orthoceras are cephalopods. Ancestors to ammonites, orthoceras are extinct sea creatures dating from the lower Ordovician to Triassic ages (500 to 190 million years ago)... Their shells fell to the floor of the ocean when they died, where the shells were covered in sediment. Here they eventually became stone and are preserved in black limestone.
Ashford Black Marble is the name given to a dark limestone, quarried from mines near Ashford-in-the-Water, in Derbyshire, England. Once cut, turned and polished, its shiny black surface is highly decorative. Ashford Black Marble is a very fine-grained sedimentary rock, and is not a true marble in the geological sense.
These fossils certainly look black and oily.
The Seastone chair could be a kraken, bent in half by a whale's tail killing blow, sunk to the ocean floor and fossilised in black limestone, then lifted by an undersea current or large wave and deposited on the shores of Old Wyk.
Incidentally, I found this interesting piece about the Metaphysical Healing Properties of orthoceras fossils, at jewelexi.com (abridged):
Nice collection of properties which the ironborn or other Westerosi can do with.
Summary
The Seastone Chair could well have originated from asteroid Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth, or more topically from the asteroid Nysa, its fusion crust giving it its shiny black appearance. Later to be carved into a kraken shape.
Considering that there is another large stone idol on the Isle of Toads, the meteorite theory seems to fit well Planetos wise.
Argillite carvings have an indigenous north american origin, something which I think would appeal to Martin.
However, I think a fossilised kraken risen from the ocean's depth is more in keeping with the story of the Ironborn. It does not require the intervention of any earlier inhabitants of the islands prior to the arrival of the Goodbrothers and their kin. Nor does it need to relate to castle Pyke.
So, my pick goes to the Deep Ones as the originators of the Seastone Chair; Maester Theron was right after all!
Besides, a sea stone is a stone from the sea, not the heavens nor the land.
What do you think? Any other suggestions?
And just to confuse everyone, of course when one thinks about oily looking black stones, one should not forget obsidian. Although one would think that learned Westerosi maesters know obsidian when they see it.
Conclusion
Going back to my intro, does this post help with the deep mysteries of the Song of Ice and Fire?
The end.
How will this help with the deep mysteries of the Song of Ice and Fire?
- For the Seastone Chair, probably very little
- For Moat Cailin, perhaps some
- For Pyke, if it helps us work out something about Winterfell, then quite a lot. Because in the archaeology of Westeros, Winterfell's origins remain the biggest prize.
Text from wikipedia otherwise stated.
The Iron islands and the Neck.
Let's start with a map so we can see where things are.
1. Moat Cailin
Here I will discuss the curtain wall; I will leave the towers for some other time (maybe).
Moat Cailin: what's in a name?
- from Medieval Latin mota "mound, fortified height”
- old French mote "mound, hillock, embankment; castle built on a hill"
- old English word "mote", meaning a moat, a wide channel constructed to act as a defensive fortification around a stronghold
- Cailin means child in Scottish
- Cailin means young girl, unmarried woman in Irish
- Virgo - according to Babylonian astrology, this constellation was known as "The Furrow"
- 'The Neck is the key to the kingdom'(Clash Theon II)
So does Moat Cailin mean 'Maiden's furrow'? The 'key to the kingdom'?
Source text
A Game of Thrones - Catelyn VIII
Just beyond, through the mists, she glimpsed the walls and towers of Moat Cailin … or what remained of them. Immense blocks of black basalt, each as large as a crofter's cottage, lay scattered and tumbled like a child's wooden blocks, half-sunk in the soft boggy soil. Nothing else remained of a curtain wall that had once stood as high as Winterfell's.
A Clash of Kings - Theon II
You should meet small opposition as you sail up Saltspear and the Fever River. At the headwaters, you will be less than twenty miles from Moat Cailin. The Neck is the key to the kingdom. Already we command the western seas. Once we hold Moat Cailin, the pup will not be able to win back to the north . . . and if he is fool enough to try, his enemies will seal the south end of the causeway behind him, and Robb the boy will find himself caught like a rat in a bottle."
A Dance with Dragons - Reek II
The air was wet and heavy, and shallow pools of water dotted the ground. Reek picked his way between them carefully, following the remnants of the log-and-plank road that Robb Stark's vanguard had laid down across the soft ground to speed the passage of his host. Where once a mighty curtain wall had stood, only scattered stones remained, blocks of black basalt so large it must once have taken a hundred men to hoist them into place. Some had sunk so deep into the bog that only a corner showed; others lay strewn about like some god's abandoned toys, cracked and crumbling, spotted with lichen. Last night's rain had left the huge stones wet and glistening, and the morning sunlight made them look as if they were coated in some fine black oil.
Just beyond, through the mists, she glimpsed the walls and towers of Moat Cailin … or what remained of them. Immense blocks of black basalt, each as large as a crofter's cottage, lay scattered and tumbled like a child's wooden blocks, half-sunk in the soft boggy soil. Nothing else remained of a curtain wall that had once stood as high as Winterfell's.
A Clash of Kings - Theon II
You should meet small opposition as you sail up Saltspear and the Fever River. At the headwaters, you will be less than twenty miles from Moat Cailin. The Neck is the key to the kingdom. Already we command the western seas. Once we hold Moat Cailin, the pup will not be able to win back to the north . . . and if he is fool enough to try, his enemies will seal the south end of the causeway behind him, and Robb the boy will find himself caught like a rat in a bottle."
A Dance with Dragons - Reek II
The air was wet and heavy, and shallow pools of water dotted the ground. Reek picked his way between them carefully, following the remnants of the log-and-plank road that Robb Stark's vanguard had laid down across the soft ground to speed the passage of his host. Where once a mighty curtain wall had stood, only scattered stones remained, blocks of black basalt so large it must once have taken a hundred men to hoist them into place. Some had sunk so deep into the bog that only a corner showed; others lay strewn about like some god's abandoned toys, cracked and crumbling, spotted with lichen. Last night's rain had left the huge stones wet and glistening, and the morning sunlight made them look as if they were coated in some fine black oil.
The Moat Cailin wall is made of blocks of black basalt. If they look like oily black stones, it is either due to the morning sunlight shining on the wet stones or the writer's obsession. There is most likely more imagery there if you look for it.
The blocks look like children wooden blocks or abandoned toys; very clearly just blocks, no more, no less, the same blocks as you played with when you were a toddler, just a wee bit bigger.
'The wall stood as high as Winterfell's'. As the wall is collapsed, that must be an old tale. That is high but not that high, the walls of Winterfell are: 'the outer wall stood eighty feet high, the inner more than a hundred (Clash, Theon IV)'. The Black Walls of Old Volantis are 200 feet, the Ice Wall is 700 feet, the Five Forts are 1000 feet.
So let's assume 100 feet which is 30 meters. If the blocks are 2m high, then that is 15 blocks high.
Moat Cailin's blocks size
The blocks are said to be immense, the size of a crofters cottage. Just how big is this?
As there are no crofters cottage in my neighbourhood, I have lifted a couple of pics from the net:
Here is a bit of arithmetic (I will use the metric system as calculations in Imperial measurements are devilish):
- Basalt is the most common volcanic rock type on Earth … its average density is 3
- Average size of a crofters cottage in early Westeros would be about 5m * 3m = 15m2
- Volume is 15m2 * 2m height = 30m3
- Weight of 1 cubic metre of water is 1T; 30m3 of water = 30T
- 30m3 of basalt = 90T
That is quite heavy; heavy enough to require a hundred men to lift. Actually, 90T / 100 = 900kg. That is a lot for one 'ordinary' man.
Where do we find such stone blocks on Earth?
In the pyramids of Egypt.
Giza - The largest granite stones in the pyramid, found in the "King's" chamber, weigh 25 to 80 tonnes and were transported from Aswan, more than 800km away.
The Pyramid Temple, which stood on the east side of the pyramid and measured 52.2 metres north to south and 40 metres east to west, has almost entirely disappeared apart from the black basalt paving.
Cyclopean block construction has also been found in the Inca empire.
A different style of wall construction is seen in some of the palaces built for each Inka ruler-- the famed "cyclopean" walls of oddly shaped blocks cut like jigsaw puzzle pieces and fitted together to astounding precision with no mortar.
In the case of the Sacsayhuaman fortress above Cusco, cyclopean walls contain individual blocks estimated to weigh over 100 tons.
Cyclopean construction usually means massive boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and no use of mortar.
The astounding precision describing the fit of the Sacsayhuaman fortress blocks actually reminds me of the 'cunningly fitted' stones of the Storm's End curtain wall, but that is another story.
If the ancient Egyptians could handle 80T blocks and the Incas 100T blocks, could the early Westerosi do so?
Now that we have worked out the size of the blocks, let's find out where they may have come from.
Black basalt
It is the most common volcanic rock type on Earth, being a key component of oceanic crust as well as the principal volcanic rock in many mid-oceanic islands, including Iceland, Réunion and the islands of Hawaii. Basalt commonly features a very fine-grained or glassy matrix interspersed with visible mineral grains.
A flood basalt is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that coats large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava.
Columnar basalt
During the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or fractures form. If a flow cools relatively rapidly, significant contraction forces build up. While a flow can shrink in the vertical dimension without fracturing, it can't easily accommodate shrinking in the horizontal direction unless cracks form; the extensive fracture network that develops results in the formation of columns.
These structures are predominantly hexagonal in cross-section, but polygons with three to twelve or more sides can be observed. The size of the columns depends loosely on the rate of cooling; very rapid cooling may result in very small columns, while slow cooling is more likely to produce large columns.
Some examples of basalt columns
As you can see from the pics, we have a suitable and ready-made building material: very large black stone blocks. Just need to quary and cart them.
The Giant's Causeway
According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by an Irish giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool)
In overall Irish mythology, Fionn mac Cumhaill is not a giant but a hero with supernatural abilities. In Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) it is noted that, over time, "the pagan gods of Ireland [...] grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination, until they turned into the fairies; the pagan heroes grew bigger and bigger, until they turned into the giants".
There are no surviving pre-Christian stories about the Giant's Causeway, but it may have originally been associated with the Fomorians (Fomhóraigh); the Irish name Clochán na bhFomhóraigh or Clochán na bhFomhórach means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh". The Fomhóraigh are a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology who were sometimes described as giants and who may have originally been part of a pre-Christian pantheon
The Giant's causeway is the most well known example of columnar basalt in the anglo-saxon world. Its mythology is fascinating and if you can get passed the unpronounceable Irish names, you will notice that it was built by a giant.
I have thrown-in the pagan gods turning into fairies and the pagan heroes turning into giants just for a tease.
The Iron Islands ancient history
Having looked at the ironborn legend of the Grey King and of his elder brother, it is my opinion that the Iron Islands, the remnants of a volcano caldera, where subjected to at least one, if not two, tidal waves, otherwise known as 'hammer of the waters'.
Summary
Now that we have our building blocks, so-to-speak, we can construct, and sink, the Moat Cailin wall.
I suggest that an initial tidal wave picked up collapsed black columnar basalt blocks from the Iron Islands, perhaps from the island of Blacktyde, and deposited them at the location now called Moat Cailin. The Neck is not far at all from the archipelago and tsunamis are very, very powerful.
As per the Giant's Causeway legend, the curtain wall was built by Westerosi giants either under incentive or coercion (read 'abomination') from the children of the forest who wanted to block the Neck from southern invaders, 'the key to the kingdom', or protect themselves from further natural calamities.
It would not surprise me if man was involved in giving general building directions and scaffolding tips, but blocks are blocks and given the right manpower they can be stacked. After all, the Moat Cailin wall blocks are no bigger than what the Egyptians and Incas handled and, as far as we know, they had no giants to help them out.
Nevertheless, it is still a mighty construction: heaving 100T blocks and stacking them 10 or 15 high! Enough to make your head spin!
At some later date, either a subsequent tidal wave came crashing through the Neck, or an earthquake happened there, liquefying the ground and causing land subsidence. The end result being a collapse of the wall and a sinking of the blocks; imagine dropping a rock in a (lemon) sponge cake.
A miscalculation by the greenseers? Mayhaps.
We are not told how long ago the curtain wall started sinking. We are told that the crannogmen Marsh Kings held the Moat but not if that was before or after the collapse. My guess is that the collapse happened during the Long Night.
2. Pike
Pyke, in the Iron Islands, is a castle very much in keeping with westerosi castles. Several keeps and other amenities. It does have a few peculiarities though.
Source text
The World of Ice and Fire - The Iron Islands: Pyke
Pyke is so ancient that no one can say with certainty when it was built, nor name the lord who built it. Like the Seastone Chair, its origins are lost in mystery.
The World of Ice and Fire - Ancient History: The Coming of First Men
It is likelier that the inundation of the Neck and the breaking of the Arm were natural events, possibly caused by a natural sinking of the land. What became of Valyria is well-known, and in the Iron Islands, the castle of Pyke sits on stacks of stone that were once part of the greater island before segments of it crumbled into the sea.
A Feast for Crows - The Prophet
Bridges knotted Pyke together; arched bridges of carved stone and swaying spans of hempen rope and wooden planks.
A Clash of Kings - Theon I
The shore was all sharp rocks and glowering cliffs, and the castle seemed one with the rest, its towers and walls and bridges quarried from the same grey-black stone...
The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
Drear, dark, forbidding, Pyke stood atop those islands and pillars, almost a part of them, its curtain wall closing off the headland around the foot of the great stone bridge that leapt from the clifftop to the largest islet, dominated by the massive bulk of the Great Keep. Farther out were the Kitchen Keep and the Bloody Keep, each on its own island. Towers and outbuildings clung to the stacks beyond, linked to each other by covered archways when the pillars stood close, by long swaying walks of wood and rope when they did not.
The Sea Tower rose from the outmost island at the point of the broken sword, the oldest part of the castle, round and tall, the sheer-sided pillar on which it stood half-eaten through by the endless battering of the waves. The base of the tower was white from centuries of salt spray, the upper stories green from the lichen that crawled over it like a thick blanket, the jagged crown black with soot from its nightly watchfire.
Pyke is so ancient that no one can say with certainty when it was built, nor name the lord who built it. Like the Seastone Chair, its origins are lost in mystery.
The World of Ice and Fire - Ancient History: The Coming of First Men
It is likelier that the inundation of the Neck and the breaking of the Arm were natural events, possibly caused by a natural sinking of the land. What became of Valyria is well-known, and in the Iron Islands, the castle of Pyke sits on stacks of stone that were once part of the greater island before segments of it crumbled into the sea.
A Feast for Crows - The Prophet
Bridges knotted Pyke together; arched bridges of carved stone and swaying spans of hempen rope and wooden planks.
A Clash of Kings - Theon I
The shore was all sharp rocks and glowering cliffs, and the castle seemed one with the rest, its towers and walls and bridges quarried from the same grey-black stone...
The point of land on which the Greyjoys had raised their fortress had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean, but the waves had hammered at it day and night until the land broke and shattered, thousands of years past. All that remained were three bare and barren islands and a dozen towering stacks of rock that rose from the water like the pillars of some sea god's temple, while the angry waves foamed and crashed among them.
Drear, dark, forbidding, Pyke stood atop those islands and pillars, almost a part of them, its curtain wall closing off the headland around the foot of the great stone bridge that leapt from the clifftop to the largest islet, dominated by the massive bulk of the Great Keep. Farther out were the Kitchen Keep and the Bloody Keep, each on its own island. Towers and outbuildings clung to the stacks beyond, linked to each other by covered archways when the pillars stood close, by long swaying walks of wood and rope when they did not.
The Sea Tower rose from the outmost island at the point of the broken sword, the oldest part of the castle, round and tall, the sheer-sided pillar on which it stood half-eaten through by the endless battering of the waves. The base of the tower was white from centuries of salt spray, the upper stories green from the lichen that crawled over it like a thick blanket, the jagged crown black with soot from its nightly watchfire.
No one knows when the castle was built, its origins are lost, although Theon thinks it is a Greyjoy fortress. The breaking of the land has not happened in recent memory but it appears a small hammer of waters is at work on the rock stacks.
The castle side of the island is sharp rocks and angry cliffs, a very good defensive position. Three keeps, towers, outbuildings and a tall round tower: whilst this makes for a reasonable castle, it is not large 'Pyke is neither the largest nor the grandest castle on the Iron Islands' (WIF) .
The Sea Tower is round like the First Keep of Winterfell and Storm's End drum tower. It is well placed so as to look towards the centre of the archipelago and east towards Ironman's Bay.
The Sea Tower is winking at the symbolists, being of white, green and black colours, the colours of Dany's dragons.
There is a 'great stone bridge that leaps from the clifftop to the largest islet' and 'arched bridges of carved stone'; this is an unusual feature which must require ingenious techniques. It also points to the castle being built in situ, that is with the rock stacks already separated. If not, the bridge and arches are still a high achievement.
Stone bridges and arches are few and far between; some are found in Chroyane, the dead city of the Rhoynar, in particular the Bridge of Dream where stone men attacked the Shy Maid.
We also find stone bridges the heart of Old Volantis:
The World of Ice and Fire - The Free Cities: Volantis
The heart of Old Volantis is the city-within-the-city—an immense labyrinth of ancient palaces, courtyards, towers, temples, cloisters, bridges, and cellars, all contained within the great oval of the Black Walls raised by the Freehold of Valyria in the first flush of its youthful expansion. Two hundred feet tall, and so thick that six four-horse chariots can race along their battlements side by side (as they do each year to celebrate the founding of the city), these seamless walls of fused black dragonstone, harder than steel or diamond, stand in mute testimony to Volantis's origins as a military outpost.
The heart of Old Volantis is the city-within-the-city—an immense labyrinth of ancient palaces, courtyards, towers, temples, cloisters, bridges, and cellars, all contained within the great oval of the Black Walls raised by the Freehold of Valyria in the first flush of its youthful expansion. Two hundred feet tall, and so thick that six four-horse chariots can race along their battlements side by side (as they do each year to celebrate the founding of the city), these seamless walls of fused black dragonstone, harder than steel or diamond, stand in mute testimony to Volantis's origins as a military outpost.
Bridges within a labyrinth of palaces and courtyards are likely archways as no waterways are mentioned. Fused stones are quoted but I just cannot see a military outpost needing such enormous walls. I suggest the Black Walls must have been built long before Valyria, by other earlier dragonlords.
There are rope and wood bridges which may indicate that the ironborn are not able to build new or repair damaged stone archways.
WIF - … it is from there that the lords of House Greyjoy rule the ironborn. It has long been their contention that the isle of Pyke takes its name from the castle; the smallfolk of the islands insist the opposite is true.
The castle takes its name from the island because the island is shaped like a pike, which is 'a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear' and the castle location is described in this way: 'the point of land ... had once thrust like a sword into the bowels of the ocean'.
Summary
Pyke can look much like any westerosi castles: no fused dragon stone, no oily or greasy black rocks, no cunningly fitted hewn stones, no gargoyles. So what makes it so special?
For one its most ancient tower is round, so it pre-dates the First Men's castles (First Men only built square towers).
It is also extremely tough. Thousands of years of ocean pounding. This is similar to Storm's End, except that Storm's End is probably farther from the waves ('perched on towering cliffs') and has an enormous curtain wall to protect it from the pounding.
There is an absence of evidence of direct dragonlord influence in the castle's architecture (fused stones, gargoyles, grotesques). But like the Hightower base or the walls of Old Volantis, fused dragonstone is not always adorned.
However, the great stone bridge and the carved arched bridges are very reminiscent of ancient Essosi architecture.
Theon says that the Greyjoys raised the fortress; he may be right but I doubt the early Greyjoys built the stone bridge and archways and they would not have built the round Sea Tower.
So who built it?
Difficult to say as Pyke is rather unique; its location does suggest mariners though. Mariners from an ancient mighty empire which would have had distant ports with serviceable, easy to defend castles.
The crannogmen are renowned for their poisons, one good reason for Asshai'i to come and trade this way. Perhaps even heading east through the Saffron Straits?
This trade apparently stopped before the (ironborn) First Men arrived as they found the castle empty.
The Seastone Chair was not found on Pyke when the ironborn took residency, so I suggest the two are not related.
3. The Seastone Chair
Before we tackle the Seastone chair, lets have a quick look at it alter ego.
The Toad Stone.
WIF - The Basilisk Isles - the Toad Stone
On the Isle of Toads can be found an ancient idol, a greasy black stone crudely carved into the semblance of a gigantic toad of malignant aspect, some forty feet high. The people of this isle are believed by some to be descended from those who carved the Toad Stone, for there is an unpleasant fishlike aspect to their faces, and many have webbed hands and feet. If so, they are the sole surviving remnant of this forgotten race.
On the Isle of Toads can be found an ancient idol, a greasy black stone crudely carved into the semblance of a gigantic toad of malignant aspect, some forty feet high. The people of this isle are believed by some to be descended from those who carved the Toad Stone, for there is an unpleasant fishlike aspect to their faces, and many have webbed hands and feet. If so, they are the sole surviving remnant of this forgotten race.
The Toad Stone is big, more than 10m, and its carving is not of high workmanship. It appears to have some semblance with a toad, but it is anyone's guess as to what it looks like.
It is made of the ubiquitous greasy black stone material so dear to GRRM.
Let's have a look at some webbed people.
A Dance with Dragons - Davos I
The lord [Godric Borrell, Lord of Sweetsister ]... he had a sort of webbing between the three middle fingers of his right hand. Davos had heard that some of the lords of the Three Sisters had webbed hands and feet, but he had always put that down as just another sailor's story.
The Winds of Winter - Alayne I
She danced with all three Sunderlands, none of whom had webs between their fingers, though she could not vouch for their toes.
The World of Ice and Fire - The North: The Crannogmen of the Neck
South of the Neck, the riverfolk whose lands adjoin their own say that the crannogmen breathe water, have webbed hands and feet like frogs...
The lord [Godric Borrell, Lord of Sweetsister ]... he had a sort of webbing between the three middle fingers of his right hand. Davos had heard that some of the lords of the Three Sisters had webbed hands and feet, but he had always put that down as just another sailor's story.
The Winds of Winter - Alayne I
She danced with all three Sunderlands, none of whom had webs between their fingers, though she could not vouch for their toes.
The World of Ice and Fire - The North: The Crannogmen of the Neck
South of the Neck, the riverfolk whose lands adjoin their own say that the crannogmen breathe water, have webbed hands and feet like frogs...
Davos finds that the lord of Sweetsister has a sort of webbing but limited to some fingers of one hand. Sansa observes that the three Sunderlands, the ruling House of the Three Sisters, have no such webbing on their hands and we know that of the two frog eating crannogmen we are familiar with, Meera and Jojen, neither have webbing, else Bran would have surely noticed!
So, the inhabitants of Toad Islands may not have webbed hands or feet either and quite possibly have nothing to do with the origins of the Toad Stone.
Now, to the Seastone Chair.
Source text.
A Clash of Kings - Theon II
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.
WIF - Ancient History: The Dawn Age
Maester Kirth in his collection of ironborn legends, Songs the Drowned Men Sing, has suggested that the chair was left by visitors from across the Sunset Sea, but there is no evidence for this, only speculation
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.
WIF - Ancient History: The Dawn Age
Maester Kirth in his collection of ironborn legends, Songs the Drowned Men Sing, has suggested that the chair was left by visitors from across the Sunset Sea, but there is no evidence for this, only speculation
This monolith is probably of similar dimensions to the Toad Stone, the carving is probably not of a high quality else it would be mentioned, but it is not said to be crudely carved either.
Unlike the Toad Stone, it is made from an oily black stone, not a greasy one.
It was already on Old Wyk when the ironborn arrived, so it was left there earlier. Left by visitors, or settlers, - or otherwise.
The chair is now located on a dais in the Great Hall of the Great Keep of Pyke. This means that even though it is immense, the ironborn were able to transport it across land and see.
Maester Theron's view
The World of Ice and Fire - The Reach: Oldtown
… An even more fanciful possibility was put forth a century ago by Maester Theron. Born a bastard on the Iron Islands, Theron noted a certain likeness between the black stone of the ancient fortress and that of the Seastone Chair, the high seat of House Greyjoy of Pyke, whose origins are similarly ancient and mysterious.
Theron's rather inchoate manuscript Strange Stone postulates that both fortress and seat might be the work of a queer, misshapen race of half men sired by creatures of the salt seas upon human women. These Deep Ones, as he names them, are the seed from which our legends of merlings have grown, he argues, whilst their terrible fathers are the truth behind the Drowned God of the ironborn.
The lavish, detailed, and somewhat disturbing illustrations included in Strange Stone make this rare volume fascinating to peruse, but the text is impenetrable in parts...
… An even more fanciful possibility was put forth a century ago by Maester Theron. Born a bastard on the Iron Islands, Theron noted a certain likeness between the black stone of the ancient fortress and that of the Seastone Chair, the high seat of House Greyjoy of Pyke, whose origins are similarly ancient and mysterious.
Theron's rather inchoate manuscript Strange Stone postulates that both fortress and seat might be the work of a queer, misshapen race of half men sired by creatures of the salt seas upon human women. These Deep Ones, as he names them, are the seed from which our legends of merlings have grown, he argues, whilst their terrible fathers are the truth behind the Drowned God of the ironborn.
The lavish, detailed, and somewhat disturbing illustrations included in Strange Stone make this rare volume fascinating to peruse, but the text is impenetrable in parts...
A certain likeness says Maester Theron, however the black stones of the Hightower square base are not described as oily or shiny by anyone else.
Nevertheless... Let's petition for a reprint of this publication, Strange Stone; the 'disturbing' illustrations alone must be worth it.
As far as the text is concerned, we can assume that it could neither be more impenetrable than our own Song of Ice and Fire and nor, for that matter, more inchoate (we are still missing two books and have lost innumerable characters).
Certainly, the collection of black stones of Planetos, fused or hewn, oily or greasy, stacked in blocks or carved of a single stone, have driven a few readers to distraction (including me!). We need all the help we can get.
I propose three theories for the origins of the Seastone Chair. But first lets learn a little from the wiki.
What is a kraken?
The Kraken is a legendary sea monster of giant size that is said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland. A number of authors over the years have postulated that the legend originated from sightings of giant squids that may grow to 12–15 meters in length...
Tales of giant squid have been common among mariners since ancient times, and may have led to the Norse legend of the kraken, a tentacled sea monster as large as an island capable of engulfing and sinking any ship.
Giant squids
Like all other cephalopods, squids have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squids, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles.
The giant squid is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. Giant squids can grow to a tremendous size due to deep-sea gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at 13m for females from the posterior fins to the tip of the two long tentacles.
The colossal squid, sometimes called the Antarctic or giant cranch squid, is even bigger.
The only known predators of adult giant squid are sperm whales.
A giant kraken is indeed a big creature although I suspect the Norsemen tend to exaggerate.
This last line is interesting, no? If you fear krakens, do not kill whales. Just like the ironborn, who do not hunt whales.
What does a kraken look like?
An elongated spear-head-shaped mantle finishing in flares, two large eyes at its base, long tentacles.
It is hard to see how you can get a chair shape from these pictures, unless it is naturally half folded mid mantle or carved.
One more thing to consider: the Seastone Chair is carved from an oily black stone. What does oily mean in this context? I would not think it is to be taken literally as it would be rather inconvenient to sit on something oily since you would have to degrease your clothes after each sitting, so I think we should think about its lustre: oily looking, i.e. shiny.
Theory 1. A meteorite
Achondrites are stony meteorites that contain no chondrules [inclusions]. Scientists believe that some of these meteorites originated on the surface of the Moon or Mars, while others may have originated on the Asteroids Vesta, Angelina, Nysa and others.
HED meteorites are a clan (subgroup) of achondrite meteorites. HED stands for "howardite–eucrite–diogenite". ... the fusion crust of Eucrites and Howardites will be shiny and black unlike chondrite fusion crusts.
Puerto Lápice is a brecciated eucrite (achondrite). The meteorite was tracked by the Spanish Fireball Network and fell in and around an olive grove in Ciudad Real, Castilla-La-Mancha. To date, over 25 pieces, totaling approximately 500 grams, have been recovered. The Puerto Lápice specimens are notable for their very shiny fusion crusts.
OK, so these shiny black stones are very small, but not all meteorites are small. Below are some bigger ones:
Mbozi - left - is an iron meteorite found in Tanzania. It is is 3 m long, 1 m high, and weighs an estimated 16 metric tons.
The Willamette Meteorite – right - is an iron-nickel meteorite discovered in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the largest meteorite found in North America and the sixth largest in the world.
The meteorite was venerated by the Clackamas tribe inhabiting the area where it was found.
A shiny black stone coming from asteroid Nysa sounds interesting (I know the spelling is not Nissa, but one cannot be too fussy).
Theory 2. An argillite/black slate carving
Argillite is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles.
Haida Argillite Carvings - "Black slate"
The Haida carvings of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia are notable aboriginal art treasures created from a type of a hard, fine black silt argillite, sometimes called "black slate".
Some pictures:
Black, shiny, carveable, indigenous to North America...just quite the right thing to inspire GRRM. The one on the right even looks like a toad.
Theory 3. A fossilised kraken
Orthoceras and black limestone
Like the giant squid, orthoceras are cephalopods. Ancestors to ammonites, orthoceras are extinct sea creatures dating from the lower Ordovician to Triassic ages (500 to 190 million years ago)... Their shells fell to the floor of the ocean when they died, where the shells were covered in sediment. Here they eventually became stone and are preserved in black limestone.
Ashford Black Marble is the name given to a dark limestone, quarried from mines near Ashford-in-the-Water, in Derbyshire, England. Once cut, turned and polished, its shiny black surface is highly decorative. Ashford Black Marble is a very fine-grained sedimentary rock, and is not a true marble in the geological sense.
These fossils certainly look black and oily.
The Seastone chair could be a kraken, bent in half by a whale's tail killing blow, sunk to the ocean floor and fossilised in black limestone, then lifted by an undersea current or large wave and deposited on the shores of Old Wyk.
Incidentally, I found this interesting piece about the Metaphysical Healing Properties of orthoceras fossils, at jewelexi.com (abridged):
- Use to access past life information
- Can be used to enhance telepathy and stimulate the mind
- Aids in overcoming fears generated in the past or during childhood
- Just as a fossil is an animal that died and sunk deep into the earth into the dark, it reminds people that in the darkness changes can occur so they can be reborn when they chose to change and come back to the light of day.
Nice collection of properties which the ironborn or other Westerosi can do with.
- Is it why Euron wants to sit on the Seastone Chair?
- Is it why Aeron venerates it?
Summary
The Seastone Chair could well have originated from asteroid Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth, or more topically from the asteroid Nysa, its fusion crust giving it its shiny black appearance. Later to be carved into a kraken shape.
Considering that there is another large stone idol on the Isle of Toads, the meteorite theory seems to fit well Planetos wise.
Argillite carvings have an indigenous north american origin, something which I think would appeal to Martin.
However, I think a fossilised kraken risen from the ocean's depth is more in keeping with the story of the Ironborn. It does not require the intervention of any earlier inhabitants of the islands prior to the arrival of the Goodbrothers and their kin. Nor does it need to relate to castle Pyke.
So, my pick goes to the Deep Ones as the originators of the Seastone Chair; Maester Theron was right after all!
Besides, a sea stone is a stone from the sea, not the heavens nor the land.
What do you think? Any other suggestions?
And just to confuse everyone, of course when one thinks about oily looking black stones, one should not forget obsidian. Although one would think that learned Westerosi maesters know obsidian when they see it.
Conclusion
Going back to my intro, does this post help with the deep mysteries of the Song of Ice and Fire?
- For the Seastone Chair: at least, I can attribute something to the Deep Ones!
- For Moat Cailin: perhaps have I exposed how the giants could be used as manual labour, which can give us something to chew on when considering the Wall.
- For Pyke: there is definitely a whiff of Essosi culture in the construction. I think the same can be said of Winterfell and its gargoyles. However, Winterfell is not on the coast, but it is not out of question that it once was; Jojen did have a dream that 'the sea was lapping all around Winterfell'.
The end.