The Long Night and Starry Wisdom
The Bloodstone Emperor is remembered in Yi-Ti myth as causing the Long Night because of his betrayal (and usurpation of her throne) of his sister, the Amythest Empress. This evil emperor, who married a tiger woman, ate human flesh, performed necromancy, and worshiped a black stone that fell from the sky, was the founder and first High Priest of the Church of Starry Wisdom.
The Church of Starry Wisdom is still present in the main story- Arya hears their priests singing in Braavos, for instance.This “church” comes from an H.P. Lovecraft story, the Haunter of the Dark, where the Church cultists worshipped a black stone that fell from the sky (sent by the Mi-gos, aliens from Pluto). The black stone is known as the Shining Trapezohedron.
In the Lovecraft story, the cultists call Nyarlathotep in his terrifying form of The Haunter of the Dark. To do so, they perform blood sacrifice rituals to the Shining Trapezohedron, in exchange for limitless knowledge about the universe. Also, the Haunter, once called, can only wander ‘abroad’ in darkness - its evil is contained by light.
“1846—3 disappearances—first mention of Shining Trapezohedron.” “7 disappearances 1848—stories of blood sacrifice begin.” “Investigation 1853 comes to nothing—stories of sounds.” “Fr. O’Malley tells of devil-worship with box found in great Egyptian ruins—says they call up something that can’t exist in light. Flees a little light, and banished by strong light. Then has to be summoned again. Probably got this from deathbed confession of Francis X. Feeney, who had joined Starry Wisdom in ’49. These people say the Shining Trapezohedron shews them heaven & other worlds, & that the Haunter of the Dark tells them secrets in some way.”
When the Bloodstone Emperor is said to have worshipped a black stone and was the first High Priest of the Church of Starry Wisdom -and that he caused the Long Night with this worship- it has implications for the background and for the main story. Most importantly, because of the connection between the Church and the Shining Trapezohedron, the black stone he was worshipping was not just a meteor: it is the evil Shining Trapezohedron.
Many-Faced God, Faceless God
Whether the Bloodstone Emperor creates the Long Night, or unleashes it, is hard to tell. But the darkness directly benefits the Haunter of the Dark (Nyarlathotep), who is free to roam abroad, bringing evil and death. This is probably the root of the stories of the Lion of Night in The World of Ice and Fire, whom The Faceless Men believe is another name of the Many-Faced God.
Nyarlathotep differs from the other deities in the Mythos in a number of ways. Most of the Outer Gods are exiled to the stars, like Yog-Sothoth and Azathoth, and most of the Great Old Ones are sleeping and dreaming like Cthulhu; Nyarlathotep, however, is active and frequently walks the Earth in the guise of a human being, usually a tall, slim, joyous man. He has “a thousand” other forms and manifestations, most reputed to be quite horrific and sanity-blasting.
Much like the Many-Faced God, Nyarlathotep is known by many names:
The Crawling Chaos, Ahtu, The Black Man, The Black Pharaoh, The Black Wind, The Bloated Woman, the Crawling Mist, The Dark Demon, The Black Demon, The Dark One, The Dweller in Darkness, The Faceless God, The Floating Horror, The Haunter of the Dark, Face Eater, Father of All Bats, Dark Wing, Sand Bat, Fly-The-Light, the Howler in the Dark, the God of the Bloody Tongue, or the Bloody Tongue, L'rog'g (also Lrogg), the Bat God of L'gy'hx, Messenger of the Old Ones (also Messenger of the Great Old Ones), Mr. Skin, Randall Flagg, Shugoran, Thing in the Yellow Mask, The White Man, The Skinless One, The Masked Messenger, The Moon Presence
ASOIAF has lots of Lovecraft allusions, of course, as GRRM is a big fan. But the incorporation of the Shining Trapezehedron and the Church of Starry Wisdom is different. The worship of the stone by the Church is the cause of the greatest evil known in the story - the Long Night.
While the Others may benefit from the Long Night, as Old Nan’s tales spell out, it doesn’t mean that they cause the Long Night. Perhaps it is created some other way, that ties into the worship of the Shining Trapezohedron, using blood sacrifice. It could be that the killing of the Amethyst Empress was a blood sacrifice, performed to call the Haunter of the Dark/Lion of Night, in exchange for ultimate power and knowledge.
If the myth is correct, and the Bloodstone Emperor caused the Long Night by killing his sister and worshiping the Shining Trapazohedron, using blood magic, than will a current character repeat this betrayal? Perhaps if the now-returned Aegon is able to kill Dany, it will be the realization of a prophecy, causing a new Long Night.
Or perhaps Euron’s desire to reduce the world to ashes will be the spark - maybe he finds the Shining Trapazohedron in Oldtown, and performs a blood sacrifice to gain ultimate power and knowledge. Maybe the dragon horn will be used to capture and sacrifice a dragon (or Dragon?) to the black stone. Remembering that Battle Isle is incredibly old, and at its base is a fortress built of black stone that is very old and dark, there may be a tie to the eponymous battle that happened on that isle in the Dawn Ages.
It will be interesting to find out.
Where could the Shining Trapezohedron be now?
What role will it play in the next Long Night?
What role will the Church of Starry Wisdom play?
Will the new Bloodstone Emperor (Euron? Aegon?) make blood sacrifices & call the Lion of Night (Haunter of the Dark)?
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