What actually is the mysterious Black Stone?

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[falgalhutkinsmarzcal]

It never dawned on me the psychological warfare that the Valyrians were engaging in by having so many dragon statues carved and showcased around their residences. It would be like carving statues of nukes today and adorning your official buildings with them.

[devinphillips]

Heh. Now I’m picturing early Valyrian road crews - sorcerers and dragons with orange safety vests, goggles, and hard hats 😂

[dougdupont]

An implication that I've never considered about drinking Shade of the Evening, and those trees being the opposite of wierwoods is that Bran, theoretically, drinks from a weirwood for a similar purpose. This would strengthen the parallels between them.

[typacsk]

It's a secret message from Martin: "I'm a big fan of Lovecraft and the concept of Mysterious Precursors from an Unknowable Abyssal Past" ;)

[jrmv]

It nullifies the warp and prevents...wait wrong setting

[ran]

This guy pumps out quality content. Thanks

[yeffwy]

What struck me while watching this is the quote about the roads of Valyria being half a foot off the ground so rain and SNOW would slough off the shoulders. Valyria was pretty far south to be worrying about snow, unless they were particularly worried about a Long Winter amount of cold and snow coming for them. I wonder if dragonstone (the material) shares any properties with dragonglass. Perhaps the stone of the roads had an added property of being something The Others can’t cross or touch.

[draconity]

The oily black stone has another thing in common: its locations are found low, sometimes below sea level. The Wall took enough water that it easily could have lowered the ocean levels on Planetos; it’s an artificial glacier. Places like Asshai used to be under water, and we can probably see how far that extended by seeing where ghost grass grows. Bioluminescence is rare in land life but more common than not in ocean life. And don’t forget the weird glowing fish in Asshai’s river ~

I think these are just places that belonged to the deep ones.

[Kurinth]

I love details like these in stories, even though they arent really impactful in the story directly, they show the breadth of the world, and how they link together, it tells a story within the story of the background of how the world came to be where it is now and I love that.

[aronjanssonnordberg]

The Valyrian roads are definitely inspired by Roman roads in our own history. Very high quality engineering that was not continued after Rome collapsed.

[dstripedape]

The Disputed Lands YouTube video "the secret origin of dragons pt. 3" has become my headcanon for ancient Valyria

[ThommyofThenn]

The whole shade tree being mutant/"anti-weirwoods" is fascinating. And the use of the "so dark it drank the light" must needs be noted. Both due to the phrase's use describing other key items, and the concept of something being drunk or consumed. For instance, when someone is slain in front of a Weirwood, the earth is described as drinking the lifesblood. Another, perhaps more memorable example being when Berric duels against the Hound. When Beric is slain in the Weirwood adjacent "hollow hill, " again the earth drinks the blood of a mortal wound.

[jackcoogan]

I think the theorist who came up with the Shade of the Evening Trees is spot on! Never eleven thought of that

[Steve-bswx]

Interesting theory about the oily black stone, but one would think that wooden structures would be most commonly made of planks or logs, not blocks of wood. Also, some of the blocks are enormous, and while it's possible that shade of the evening trees were larger in antiquity, we don't see trees of that size now, nor their weirwood counterparts being that large.

[EmperorCaligula_EC]

Tolkien: taking 3 pages to describe trees. Martin: There was a tall keep and it was black.

[jeffcordova]

It's in Sorthoryos

It's in Ashaii

The Base at Old town

The iron Isalnds

I have no idea who made them but I'm fascinated to hear your take on it lord Robert!!

[opensourceanglers]

Haven't read any of Martin's work but I'm guessing he was a fan of Robert E. Howard.

The Black Stone is one of the most disquieting stories I've ever read and is easily one of the best Lovecraftian stories ever penned, rivaling even most of those by HP himself.

The Black Stone is an absolutely spectacular story. Very unsettling and effecting. Trust me, check it out...

[jamesonbetts]

Can you talk of the history of Moat Cailin?

[Forsworcen]

I would love to get a Silmarillion style book of the world, Yi Ti and Asshai sound like super interesting concepts and places that have barely been mentioned like the Southern Continent would be fun to really explore.

[dylanwysocki]

Absolute banger content. Been binging all your videos lately and was pleased to see a new one