Arakano

There is a mention somewhere that Baelor the Blessed made peace with Dorne by "walking the Boneway barefoot", or something like that. Maybe a reference to (or inspired by) Emperor Heinrich at Canossa? ;)

In the Wildling attack on the Wall. A wooden construction to protect their ram=an immense turtle.

Probably mentioned a dozen times before, but just so nice... The Young Dragon's account of his war in Dorne, the "Conquest of Dorne" is obviously a reference to Julius Caesar's "Gallic Wars". Especially because he starts with the three kinds of Dornishmen, just as Caesar starts with the famous "Gallia omnia est divisa in partes tres" (or something like that, excuse my rusty latin ;) ).

Ok, we all noted the parallels between Tywin Lannister and Edward I. Longshanks, I guess, but there is ANOTHER nobleman of real history reminiscent in some aspects of Tywin - an ancestor of Edward I., William X. of Aquitaine. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_X_of_Aquitaine"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_X_of_Aquitaine[/url] First of all, check out the Coat of Arms. Yeah. What about that, huh? ;) Secondly, note the following part: "Even inside his borders, William faced an alliance of the Lusignans and the Parthenays against him, an issue resolved with total destruction of the enemies." Castamere and Tarbeck Hall, anyone? ;) William's daughter was the famous/infamous Eleanor of Aquitaine, a permanent source of scandals, alleged to have had an incestous relationship (with her uncle), always trying her best to rule on her own as much as possible, and playing out her sons against their father. She was married to both the King of France and the King of England, who were rivals (the first seed of the 100 years war) - not THAT much similarity to Cersei, but she WAS promised to Raegar in a way, and later married Robert instead. That's about it, I am afraid. Mind you, I am not saying Tywin is a carbon-copy of William, there is too much Edward I. in Tywin for that, AND too much of stuff Martin inserted of his own into his creation. Still, I see parallels - I hope you do too. :)

I would not say that Tywin Lannister is based on Arthur, though. ;) He is based on Edward I. "Longshanks" of England: A cunning, cold, ruthless, yet charismatic and efficient ruler, who was forced to mature early because of his weak father, who was occasionaly bossed around by his own nobles - something Edward ended by crushing the mightiest of said nobles when he was barely an adult. He later conquered Wales and led many wars against the Scots (yes, Braveheart, that's him), with some success and some losses, until he finally dies and his son is defeated by Robert (!) Bruce, who due to his noble ancestry and his victories in the field is made king of Scotland. His wife, whom he dearly loved, died before him, which left him grieving (although I should add they had more than 3 children - 16, in fact, but even Martin has limits on his numbres of characters... :D) Oh, and Edward later married a french princess, as did his son, thus allying himself with France. If we accept the rough nation-house-equations (with Westerlands=England, North=Scotland, Reach=France), as I agree we should, than the similarities are more than obvious. I believe that Martin even admitted the inspiration somewhere. And I am also sure that someone already posted it, so I don't claim any laurels... :D

I think the similarities between Dorne and medieval spain have already been noted. But I just read about something interesting: When the king of Aragon had only a daughter instead of a male heir, he married her to the count of Barcelona, naming him his heir. However, the bridegroom decided against crowning himself king, instead taking the title of prince, in order to avoid offending his royal neighbours who might have taken offense in someone becoming king by marriage instead of birth... ;)

When Richard III. had his nephews, the Princes in the Tower, murdered (supposed this really happened), a ruthless nobleman named James Tyrell commited the deed... When the Lancasters took two famous knights of the Yorkists captive, the queen Margaret (despite her name more a Cersei than a Margaery) asked her young son what should happen with them, and he ordered them beheaded. Before his execution, one of the knights exclaimed: "May the wrath of God come over those who taught a child to speak such words!". This cruel young prince, Eduard, died with 17 - in battle, but still, similar to Joff, don´t you think? ;)

"at least tolkien's casual racism doesn't seem to exist in martin, though strange things tend to be afoot when we're talking about some black folks in all these books." - I just stumbled upon this sentence, and as always when I read sentences like that, I want to ask: "Care to explain?". I dislike the attempts to shove Tolkien into the rascism-corner. But, back to topic: The way Viserys dies reminds me of the death of the roman politican Crassus. He was the third man in the first triumpherate with Caesar and Pompey. Envying the glory from their military campaigns Caesar and Pompey enjoyed, he tried to beat the feared Parthian Empire, which was the heir of ancient Persia and had an cavalry army, mainly mounted archers. Crassus lost, was captured, and then killed. The parthians executed him by pouring molten gold down his throat - a reference to Crassus status as the richest man of Rome.