Striated Clouds

[Samwise_Terminator]

I've always wondered why the sky above SG when seen from a distance looks normal, but when in the Pit of Doom there are "Striated Clouds".

I mean, one can vaguely say the Pattern is thin there and strange things happen in SG, but are there any specific explanations for why the sky looks different?

[FarShainMael]

The DO can alter Its immediate environment - consider the tunnel down which Moghedien crawls in ACoS 25, 'ceilinged in stone daggers like knives'. Although this particular trip seemed at first to be a dream, she had 'made this downward journey' many times since she made her vows to the DO:

 

Things could be done here that could be done nowhere else. Things could happen here that could happen nowhere else.

 

Indeed, she notices that the spikes brush her hair - and they get even closer - but Shaidar Haran, taller than her by more than head and shoulders, has plenty of headroom.

 

Then she notes:

 

Reality was clay to the Dark Lord here, and he often made his displeasure known so.

 

So I'd suggest that the DO likes those cloud patterns.. or perhaps they indicate Its state of, er, mind.

[rand4747]

the inside of shayol ghul isn't really in the real world as is mentioned the sky inside is not the same sky as outside. Think perhaps of how the myrdral exist, sorta out of sync with the pattern which is how they can vanish from one place and appear another. Although not necessarily the same

 

Can explain to alot of the occurrences around the world of things changing and all because their "reality" is being taken away and they are being forced into this half dimension. (sorta in the real world but not quite stuff doesn't work properly in it) The bubbles of evil and later how things change in places like the tower and the stone and the ghosts and even the spoiling of food and failing of wards maybe.

[Terez]

The sky outside isn't exactly normal either, despite not being the same.

 

Demandred stepped out onto the black slopes of Shayol Ghul, and the gateway, a hole in reality’s fabric, winked out of existence. Above, roiling gray clouds hid the sky, an inverted sea of sluggish ashen waves crashing around the mountain’s hidden peak.

[Samwise_Terminator]

Thanks for the explanations, guys. From its description, SG is a dormant volcano, isn't it?

So the DO's nearby presence can affect things that defy logic, like the stalactites.

Of course it's spreading everywhere else like with the bubbles of evil.

I kind of knew this already, but knowing how it happens is what interests me.

 

What a transformation from "an idyllic island in a cool sea".

[rand4747]

its not dormant, its very active just like dragonmount is. Just hasn't been doing any exploding.

[jedman67]

The inside of Shayol Gul is not in the same place in reality. I don't have the exact quotes, but essentially the inside of SG is a "doorway" to the Bore, there is a "thinness" to the pattern that allows him to reach out and affect the environment far more easily than where the pattern is intact.