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References and Homages


Ran
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-Sellswords from Free Cities look like straight ASOIAF version of italians Condottieri's mercenary companies during Renassaince in Italy



-While Bravos is Venice, Tyrosh remind me a mix of Genoa and Florence


Some points common of both like mercenaries, bankers, artisans


Sailors definitely Genoa


Avarice/greed again Genoa, is a very common sterotype here in Italy


That strong artistic influence remind me Florence, in particular the thing of artisan specialized in animal/bird helmets and ingenious devices sound like straight hints at Leonardo Da Vinci


http://wa2.www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/v2/jpg/LEH04346.jpg



-the rivalry of bravos swordsmen with each other remind a lot the one there was during renassaince between italian schools of fencing (wich of course lead to a lot of duels and call outs)



-Bravos name is took almost the same from "Bravi",from wiki


Bravi (sing. bravo; sometimes translated as ‘bravoes’) were a species of coarse soldiery employed by the rural lordlings (or dons) of northern Italy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to protect their interests. The word derives, probably, from the Latin pravus (bad, wicked, evil) via the Spanish bravo, in the sense of violent, savage and impulsive.


Their fame—and their reputation as frightening and domineering bullies—rests in part on their striking presence in Alessandro Manzoni’s historical novel The Betrothed, which became one of the best-known Italian works of fiction of the nineteenth century and which opens with an extended description of the phenomenon. They were not, however, a fictional invention: his research into local history enabled Manzoni to ascertain from the dates of publication of various proclamations against the bravi that they had been present in Italy from at least 1583 and until at least 1632.




-Daario remind me a less negative, good looking (and younger?) version of Bluebeard



BB as name suggest have a blue beard, is a rich aristocrat, he's feared and have a passion for women, collecting many wives.


His current young wife have three brothers who sworn to protect her



Daario got a blue beard, he's probably kinda rich, no aristocrat but love his fancy style clothes/jewels, he's feared and have a passion for women, collecting many fucks


Daenerys got Barristan, Jorah and Gray Worm



Of course, BB is a serial killer of his own wives, and on that point the two characters definitely split... but i'm more talk about kind of image/character


Also will be interesting see how thing go on, if Daario betray or even threat Daenerys, the character inspiration may be even closer



In the fable when BB is going to kill his young wife, she call her three brothers who quickly arrive, kill BB and rescue her


Now imagine if Daario threat Daenerys and Barristan, Jorah, and Gray Worm save her killing Daario :D



"Bluebeard" (French: La Barbe bleue) is a French folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault "


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard


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Yes, i've think the Yezzan/Jabba resemblance too



Also Yezzan remind me that Dune obese dude, Vladimir Harkonnen



-He's rich


-he have slaves


-he's super obese(over 440 lbs) to the point that he can't stand


-suffer from disease that sfigure him and smell like shit


Edited by DamoDega
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And both are clearly homosexual. Well spotted. What I've remarked on here myself is the similarity of his menagerie to the folly of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, who devoted so much of his time and energy into building an army of supertall men, who he never risked in battle because they seemed to fulfil for him a real fetish. He stated once that he'd never really felt desire for a woman, but found nothing more beautiful than a very tall man. The Potsdam Giants, as they were called, were often kidnapped into his service, and were as much as seven feet tall. This also is clearly referenced in the giant men in stilts The Little Pigeon keeps in his service. So that's a double reference.


Edited by The Killer Snark
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Unsullied are definitely Jannissarries.


A variation at least.


Jannissaries were boys that were picked up and converted to Islam and then trained to be perfect soldiers and personal guards of the Sultan and Prince etc.


The conversion required the circumcision of the boys...Martin simply went a step further there.

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I do not know if this is an actual reference, or just a coincidence....


In ADWD, Jorah gets a helmet with ram horns. If ADWD wasn't some monts older than Skyrim, I'd say Jorah might be sort of Dovahkiin in the future.


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I do not know if this is an actual reference, or just a coincidence....

In ADWD, Jorah gets a helmet with ram horns. If ADWD wasn't some monts older than Skyrim, I'd say Jorah might be sort of Dovahkiin in the future.

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
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a helmet with horns being linked to a guy from another franchise...by only that vague detail?


I think no.



helmets with all kinds of animal horns and antlers and whatnot are pretty common stuff.





the example of Mance and Arminius only works perfectly because they have the same exact stories and then even have the same exact helmets.








But would be a cool thing, Jorah trying to kill a dragon. And die.


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"Beware the Ides of March"



Melisandre trying to save Jon from the daggers telling him her vision but get ignored, resulting Jon get stabbed in his own headquarters, by his own subordinates/allies



You can just change Melisandre with Spurinna and Jon with Julius Caesar

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"Beware the Ides of March"

Melisandre trying to save Jon from the daggers telling him her vision but get ignored, resulting Jon get stabbed in his own headquarters, by his own subordinates/allies

You can just change Melisandre with Spurinna and Jon with Julius Caesar

I posted this in a discussion about Jon's last chapter...

The multple daggers used in the assassination of a leader was not the only allusion to the assassination of Julius Caesar. Just as Wick barely grazed Jon's neck with the first dagger, Casca was the first to cut Ceaser with a glancing cut to the neck. Just as Caesar caught Casca by the arm, Jon caught Wick's wrist. Just as Wick retreated and put his arms up, Casca was frighted and shouted for help. That Jon understood this to mean that Wick was denying involvement was very curious. I'm not sure what to make of that other than he might have been mistaken. That Bowen Marsh wept and claimed to be doing it for the Watch clearly alluded to Brutus...

"Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully; Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds:"

And Brutus expected his fellow Romans to be glad, going so far as to persuade his fellow conspirators to ignore Marcus Antonius. Given the strong allusion to the assassination of Julius Caesar I'm assuming that Bowen will expect his brothers to be glad. I don't think he has a plan. And much like Brutus was forced to flee Rome in short order I think Bowen is in a very, very tight spot.

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Very good read, thanks!



I was going to add other "replace x with y" adding Bowen-Bruto... they even share the same initials: BM (Marsh and Marco) :D



But i did'nt seen at all that Wick-Casca wich imho is the coolest part, is not even "inspiration", GRRM straight used his character as actors to replicate the scene


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  • 2 weeks later...

I'd just like to say that I've been listening to AFfC on CD (the original one read by John Lee) and when I came to the line about "Thuderbolts, Blue Beetles and Green Arrows" I cracked up laughing. I had to scan back and listen to it three times to make sure I hadn't imagined it.



As for the thunderbolts, I don't know if this has been mentioned already (I looked, but can't be sure I didn't miss it), but I think it is in reference to Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt, who (like Blue Beetle) was published by Charlton Comics in the 1960s. Martin was a known Charlton reader, having had at least one letter published in their comics.



Anyway, I thought it as awesome.


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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

This is probably just a coincidence but he mentions that King Aerys's fingernails grew to be nine inches long. Is it a stretch to think he might be a Trent Reznor fan? Probably. Also if you watch the old 80's movie Dragonslayer you will find a lot of the characters have ASOIAF names like Tyrion and Valyria and so forth. There are my high-fallutin literary references.

More likely a reference to the last days of Howard Hughes, who was also noted for a descent into poor mental health in his declining years.

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