DornishPartisan

Tolkien parallels are inevitable since both he and Martin are drawing on lots of Celtic-Germanic-Romance styles in world-constructing; hence, very similar styles of naming. But "inevitable" doesn't mean that they might not be important from time to time. It's tricky, though: Tolkien was writing Romance (the old genre, not the 20th century one), but Martin is writing something considerably closer to Satire (which, after all, isn't always particularly funny). It might be most useful, when looking for Tolkien/Martin parallels, to favor the ones that have the ironic twists.

I looked through all 29 pages to make sure, so unless I was too distracted by my cats to notice, this hasn't been mentioned: Tyrion shows lots of parallels (and interesting divergences) with Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan, another brilliant, mouthy dwarf making his way in a seriously inhospitable society. I became convinced this was deliberate while reading ADWD, when Tyrion mentioned having acquired an expert knowledge of drains & sewer systems—a notable feature in several of the Vorkosigan adventures.