Bennings

In The Forsaken, Harlon Greyjoy is unable to scream for help because his mouth is covered in greyscale. This to me reads as an obvious reference to I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream and its author Harlan Ellison. GRRM knew Ellison in real life; he helped him edit a story and they met at cons several times. There's no way that he wouldn't have heard of Ellison's most famous story. And similarly, no way that a character with no mouth trying to scream named Harlon isn't a direct reference to it.