Ulthosian Stark

That's what I mean, he simply had inspiration by the name. You can link back most of his regional names to actual places, the culture could be inspired by something else but the name itself might of been inspired by Dorn. The similarities between Mediterranean cultures are pretty plentiful, it seems his regions mostly model on a general culture then a very specific one. Dothraki = Mongol hordes, yi ti = far east/orient etc Which is also why he hesitates about pinning it, saying well I guess you could say Spain under the Moors. Dorn was pretty small for most of its life so I'd say its more like a sub region, like the stony dornish or Dornish marches regions, in comparison to Spain, its also near an ocean gapping it, to some islands, to a dark and stormy continent called Sothoryos/Africa nobody knows much about at the time. I have a personal, strong attraction to boats and water, large bodies which I attribute to my Med side vs small amount of Polish, which the Rhoynar voyage honestly sounds like the influx of Muslim refugees after peace during the crusades.. If it wasnt thought of while writing this I'd be surprised if he really knows his shit which I know he does. Women, children, elderly flee from war. Just like today in Syria and the area ISIL is terrorizing for non-Islamics in their current occupied territory.

That's what I mean, he simply had inspiration by the name. You can link back most of his regional names to actual places, the culture could be inspired by something else but the name itself might of been inspired by Dorn. The similarities between Mediterranean cultures are pretty plentiful, it seems his regions mostly model on a general culture then a very specific one. Dothraki = Mongol hordes, yi ti = far east/orient etc

Never heard it, but he must of known about Dorn, and just added an e

This isn't to literature, but Dorne may have been inspired by the region of Dorn (now known mostly as Macedonia, which I'm 50%), its situated on the coast of a similar sea (the Mediterranean), it has a diverse population, being situated between the Baltic and Asia Minor, accounting for salty, sandy, and stony Dornish on both sides. The Muslim population as sandy, the coastal people as salty, the inland majority stony.

Oh I didn't see it as copying, I quite liked the idea he separated the names but mixing them yielding vermithrax, I'm aware of the whole Celtic -ax thing but figured him incorporating both like that may be a reference

Anyone remember the old, and pretty dark Disney film Dragonslayer? I just realized the dragons name is Vermithrax. And then we have in ASOIAF, Vermithor, Meraxes, Vermax, Arrax, Tyraxes, Urrax. Vermithor+Vermax=Vermithrax

There also is a bit of a better parallel with the 300 Unsullied standing against the might of 3 Khalasars and fending them off Qohor

Wouldn't that insinuate he's going to kill a dragon? That's what the Dovas do lol, plus I think Grrm would have already written that before skyrim came out

Yeah he really wasn't, your right about the sigil being an eagle not wolf I think the wolf was associated with the swordmasters though? Someone who's allied or under the command of House Atreides at least I seem to recall. The Bene Tielax remind me of the Children somewhat also, as they're small and non threatening in appearance but the difference is the Bene Tielax for sure did that to not seem like a threat, the Cotf we aren't quite sure of their own motivations yet. Yeah that was the first thing I thought of when I read of the Warlocks the first time since I read Dune in middle school for the first time. Even more so with the glamour though, the Face Dancers were beings engineered by the Bene Tielax that could take on the total appearance of a human. Very much like a sci fi glamour haha. Or the Faceless Men, since they usually killed the person and took their place, VERY similar to the quite obvious notion of Pate being taken out and replaced by a Faceless. If Dany morphs into a half dragon half human it'll be God Empress of Westeros hahaha

From Dune- The conflict between the Starks and Lannisters reflects the conflict between House Atreides and House Harkennon. The character of each house, with the Starks/Atreides being more noble and the Lanns/Harks being so up their own asses about financials is similar, not to mention the sigil of Atreides is a wolfs head, just like on the GoT show. Furthermore, a trusted power calls the head of House Atreides to take over the spice operation on Dune (or Arrakis, or Rakis), just as Robert calls Ned to KL to be his Hand. Only difference would be the trusted power in Dune did betray them and good ol Bobby B would never do that to Ned. Arya is sort of reflecting the training Paul Atreides got with the Fremen, with getting training from Braavosii (Forel, the Faceless), both very skilled in blades. Along with taking drugs (melange for Paul, blind milk for Arya) in the training. Bit of a creepy thing, the Fremen have glowing blue eyes... Like the wights. Mayhaps the Faceless Men are going to somehow help the wights. Perhaps not even intentionally. I could go on for a bit about more similarities that could be considered references/homages, but you get the picture lol. Recently re-read the first Dune, forgot how good it is

Ah! I recall the plateaus of Leng in one of his short stories also, good catch

Like the post above I don't know if its already been mentioned but there is a city in the shadowlands called K'Dath, possible nod to HP Lovecraft (I LOVE HP, been addicted to his shirt stories since middle school) another HP nod may be the Drowned God, as he is an old god just like Cthulu, I picture a cthulu looking beast as the DG Also he used the name Lorien on earlier Lannister ancestors, possible nod to lothlorien of LOTR Another is Dorne. My grandma actually pointed it out to me when me and my cousins put GOT on at a family dinner a few weeks ago. She noted the similarities to Mediterranean culture, specifically eastern Med, and there is an area in northern Macedonia that used to be referred to as Dorn, same thing but without the E lol. Edit, the counter part to GRRMs Kdath is HPs short story called the Dream Quest of Kaddath