This is probably just something RJ thought of when he was conceiving the BT. The may or may not have ever thought of a use for any special properties, but it is the kind of thing that one would think of when brainstorming the creation.
I am sure his notes (compiled over 20+ years) are full of irelevent little details (such a character's favorite color or lucky number) that have no way of making it into a story, but flesh out the world solely for the author's writing process.
I am sure his notes (compiled over 20+ years) are full of irelevent little details (such a character's favorite color or lucky number) that have no way of making it into a story, but flesh out the world solely for the author's writing process.
As much as he played up the idea of everything in Shayol Ghul being permeated with the Dark Ones foul essence, it is difficult to imagine surrounding the BT with huge slabs of stone from the place without it having some effect. It is equally difficult to imagine that effect being trivial, given whom and what else is located there.
It doesn't mean it's totally irrelevant, so much as the fact giving us a confirmation those rocks are from SG may not give us any huge clue about the relevance of that detail. If it's tied to a prophecy, the revelation in itself would be a huge spoiler. It for instance it merely extends the DO's powers in another location beside SG, or increased Shaidar Haran's powers to act there/in Caemlyn, it's not a spoiler since we currently don't know of any property anything brought from SG might have and everything is thus purely speculative. As I said above, that those black rocks have been brought from SG has long been suspected.
Simply confirming their origin does not really give us much insight into their purpose, apart from the fact it is a malevolent one (an atmosphere ominously surrounding them from their first appearance back in LoC.) The most logical explanation for needed rocks specifically from SG, however, is that they somehow extend SG, at least partially, to include whater location they occupy/surround. That opens up a wealth of possibilities we can only guess.
However, something like that is almost certainly non-trivial, bringing me back to my confusion over why Sanderson would needlessly tip his hand (or rather, Jordans.) It sets in motion many mental gears he should not want turning.
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Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!
LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
So apparently the palace at the Black Tower is made of Shayol Ghul stone...
- 23/05/2012 12:57:37 AM
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Maybe Shaidar Haran's physical limitation to SG can be bypassed by moving tainted rocks elsewhere? *NM*
- 23/05/2012 03:10:59 AM
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Not the palace...
- 23/05/2012 03:32:59 AM
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That is good logic, but the flip side is: Why would RJ bother to specify that if it were minutiae?
- 23/05/2012 11:22:24 AM
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Wouldn't have taken any time away from creating the ending.
- 23/05/2012 02:58:32 PM
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It just seems an odd thing to mention purely as background color.
- 23/05/2012 08:17:45 PM
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Re: It just seems an odd thing to mention purely as background color.
- 23/05/2012 08:42:09 PM
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Yeah, my bet is it is something more like that.
- 23/05/2012 09:14:24 PM
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Re: Yeah, my bet is it is something more like that.
- 24/05/2012 02:23:54 AM
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His response certainly seem to raise more questions than it answers, perhaps deliberately.
- 25/05/2012 01:38:30 AM
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Re: His response certainly seem to raise more questions than it answers, perhaps deliberately.
- 27/05/2012 04:32:24 PM
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Re: His response certainly seem to raise more questions than it answers, perhaps deliberately.
- 03/06/2012 08:44:57 AM
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Forgive me if I missed it, but I think the most obvious points haven't been discussed:
- 22/06/2012 10:59:02 PM
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Be'laim FTW, but technically half the Andoran nobility is Rands blood.
- 22/06/2012 11:15:12 PM
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Re: Why would RJ bother to specify that if it were minutiae?
- 23/05/2012 07:58:50 PM
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The way RJ played up everything in the Blight (especially Shayol Ghul) being subsumed in the DO...
- 23/05/2012 09:07:31 PM
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Re: So apparently the palace at the Black Tower is made of Shayol Ghul stone...
- 23/05/2012 05:52:12 PM
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Re: So apparently the palace at the Black Tower is made of Shayol Ghul stone...
- 23/05/2012 08:51:36 PM
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If SG rocks have special properties...
- 28/05/2012 01:28:28 AM
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Blightfortress, Towers of Midnight, etc.
- 18/06/2012 12:31:48 PM
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Re: Blightfortress, Towers of Midnight, etc.
- 19/06/2012 05:42:21 AM
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Re: Blightfortress, Towers of Midnight, etc.
- 19/06/2012 06:51:02 AM
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