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GRRM swears fealty to Tolkien in this ASOIAF Easter Egg


The Map Guy

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Hi everyone, I want to share something fun again in the maps.

If you haven't read the first one, "Rhaegar's Metaphorical Rubies", please read it first or you will be confused.

 

It requires an open mind and a very very unconventional analysis of ASOIAF.

Let's say that post is "Map Theory 101", this post is "Map Theory 102"
 
And you will automatically hate this post if you haven't read 101 yet.
 
A summary from 101:  Given a blank piece of paper to draw a map, would GRRM really randomize all his lines, points and names? Or is it another opportunity to hide secret messages in his work?
 
Before I start, I want to say deciphering this was harder than 101. And you will need elements of the map, wordplay and history for this.
 
Let's begin:
 
From 101, I have demonstrated that "The Twins" (seat of House Frey, but has nothing to do with the family) is a wordplay. The Trident splits there to Greywater Watch and points to Winterfell...symbolizing twins were separated to Winterfell & Greywater Watch. 
 
From 101, Riverrun (nothing to do with House Tully) did the same thing for the theoretical Lannister-Targaryen twins...but Riverrun had a different word-play.
 
To start, you will need a map with the most details, with all the FULL names of all the towns in Westeros.
The UK-version of the map in ASOS is good. The US version won't show it. (How poetic for Tolkien!)
 
The answer:
 
Riverrun is part of the water system of the Trident. Riverrun is also part of the RiveRRoad. (Something GRRM & JRRT have in common? lol)
 
What are the two places adjacent to Riverrun along the RiveRRoad?
 
Golden Tooth, Riverrun, Inn of the Kneeling Man
 
Now the secret code for this map is:
First of the first, Middle in the middle, Last of the last. Don't ask me why, it just is. 
 
(G)olden Tooth, Rive(RR)un, Inn of the Kneeling (M)an
 
GRRM initials are decoded in the Westeros map! And his initials are in the vicinity of the Rhaegar Ruby Map too!
 
 
How is Tolkien involved?
Before I answer that, why is "The Inn of the Kneeling Man"'s name is so odd and so damn long? 
It sticks out so much in the UK map.
 
Since we are playing around with letters anyways, lets play with letters in the IOTKM, without "Man" (saving that for later):
(I)nn (O)f (T)he (K)(N)(E)e(L)ing = Tolkien
 
You guys calling BS? Calling coincidence?
 
Let me explain why not.

IOTKM: This name is oddly long and sticks out on the map. It is the location where King ToRRheN Stark bent the knee to Aegon Targaryen after hearing the tales of Harrenhal, the Field of Fire and his dragons.

What is a better name for this location that we can all probably agree on? ...Inn of the Kneeling King
You want customers right? You need a catchy name!
We wouldn't call Jaime Lannister the Man-Slayer if he killed a king...right?

Why not use "King", but use "Man"? ....to force-fit his GRR(M) initials in this Easter Egg.

What does all this symbolize? It's up for debate.
To me...GRR(M) as the (M)an, bends the knee to Tolkien...no arguments needed after hearing all his tales.

Some GRRM Trolling:
Guess who first narrates the history behind this Inn? ...Jaime.
In this Jaime ASOS chapter, he first brings up the history of this Inn after he laughs about it. Later in the chapter, Jaime recalls his story of why he is called the Kingslayer.
Perhaps if Jaime recalls his Kingslayer story first, and then mentions the Inn of the Kneeling Man, readers may suspect why it's not named the Inn of the Kneeling King

.....sneaky GRRM.

Fun Fact:
In the book TWOIAF, the back cover contains two artwork:
- Rhaegar Targaryen at the Trident, with his rubies in his armor
- King Torrhen Stark bending the knee to Aegon Targaryen
.....both incidents involving my map theories
 
Coincidence?
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13 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:
Now the secret code for this map is:
First of the first, Middle in the middle, Last of the last. Don't ask me why, it just is. 
 
(G)olden Tooth, Rive(RR)un, Inn of the Kneeling (M)an

It still seems like a stretch, because if you apply your 'rule' exactly:

First of the first: G - yes, fits

Middle of the middle: is ER, not RR

And last of the last: is n, not the M.

 

When you declare a pattern, then have to hand wave over the bits it doesn't fit, I tend to consider it 'pattern broken'. And a broken pattern is not a pattern.

18 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:
Since we are playing around with letters anyways, lets play with letters in the IOTKM, without "Man" (saving that for later):
(I)nn (O)f (T)he (K)(N)(E)e(L)ing = Tolkien
You guys calling BS? Calling coincidence?

An anagram is a lot more impressive when you don't have to remove one word and a random subset of the letters to make it fit. What does the unused 'nnfheeingman' signify? And where on the map is the missing J that would complete the JRR Tolkien?

If this is what GRRM was doing, is this really the best he could do???

Humans are a pattern-seeking species, that's what makes Rorschach images so useful. And at the moment this looks more like a Rorschach projection than a high-fidelity crafted artwork. I'm afraid it doesn't snap into focus for me at all. That's why you need people to buy into it to see it.

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40 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

From 101, I have demonstrated that "The Twins" (seat of House Frey, but has nothing to do with the family) is a wordplay. The Trident splits there to Greywater Watch and points to Winterfell...symbolizing twins were separated to Winterfell & Greywater Watch. 

It does not and you have not, look at the map. If anything it point's to White Harbor. 

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33 minutes ago, Rufus Snow said:

It still seems like a stretch, because if you apply your 'rule' exactly:

First of the first: G - yes, fits

Middle of the middle: is ER, not RR

And last of the last: is n, not the M.

 

When you declare a pattern, then have to hand wave over the bits it doesn't fit, I tend to consider it 'pattern broken'. And a broken pattern is not a pattern.

An anagram is a lot more impressive when you don't have to remove one word and a random subset of the letters to make it fit. What does the unused 'nnfheeingman' signify? And where on the map is the missing J that would complete the JRR Tolkien?

If this is what GRRM was doing, is this really the best he could do???

Humans are a pattern-seeking species, that's what makes Rorschach images so useful. And at the moment this looks more like a Rorschach projection than a high-fidelity crafted artwork. I'm afraid it doesn't snap into focus for me at all. That's why you need people to buy into it to see it.

"Middle of the middle: is ER, not RR"

Wow you guys demand perfection from a imperfect author in a imperfect fantasy story............in a map.

"And last of the last: is n, not the M"

The 'n' is not significant. The "M" in Man = Martin

 

The clue to spark interest was why its not called "Inn of the Kneeling King"

 

"If this is what GRRM was doing, is this really the best he could do???"

I think its pretty good already, i dare you to do a better perfect anagram....in a map, with symbolic history...with a clue to spark interest

 

 

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26 minutes ago, SirArthur said:

It does not and you have not, look at the map. If anything it point's to White Harbor. 

The "pointing" does not apply to Greywater Watch. The river already finished there.

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3 hours ago, The Map Guy said:

Let's say that post is "Map Theory 101", this post is "Map Theory 102"

Great ideas - even if they're not true, I'm hoping something like them is. :)

I will say: it is odd that the Inn of the Kneeling Man appears on a map of continental scale. No other inns do. It's very odd.

And if GRRM is going to choose to put himself on the map (and why not?) - then Riverrun is exactly the place for him. It's the heart of the Riverlands, in a story where time is a river. Where else would a storyteller be?

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4 hours ago, The Map Guy said:


In the book TWOIAF, the back cover contains two artwork:

- Rhaegar Targaryen at the Trident, with his rubies in his armor
- King Torrhen Stark bending the knee to Aegon Targaryen
.....both incidents involving my map theories
 
Coincidence?

Yes. I can say this with 100% certainty, it's coincidence.

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1 hour ago, Ran said:

Yes. I can say this with 100% certainty, it's coincidence.

Maybe.

 

But what if:

Publisher: GRRM, what artworks you want in the inside covers of TWOIAF?

GRRM: I thought we were putting maps there, like we always do?

Publisher: No, we need to sell books. No maps, pick two artworks.

GRRM: No maps huh? How about a picture of Rhaegar at the Trident (the starting point of the Ruby Map Theory), and a picture of Dragonstone (the confirmation point of the Ruby Map Theory)

Publisher: Cool, now what do you want in the back outside cover? No maps again.

GRRM: No maps again huh? 

*thinks about how he can say thank you to Tolkien...secretly, symbolically and publicly*

GRRM: I want a picture of King Torrhen Stark bending the knee to Aegon Targaryen.

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1 hour ago, The Map Guy said:

Maybe.

If you look on the front of your copy of The World of Ice and Fire, you will see the names George R. R. Martin, Elio M. Garcia, Jr. and Linda Antonsson on the top of the front cover. This comment:

3 hours ago, Ran said:

Yes. I can say this with 100% certainty, it's coincidence.

was written by one of those three people. So you can rely on it more thoroughly than the imaginary conversation you propose.

By the way, I played around a little with your challenge:

7 hours ago, The Map Guy said:

. . . i dare you to do a better perfect anagram....in a map, with symbolic history...with a clue to spark interest

It takes a long time to perfect the solution to an anagram, and I'm not even sure if GRRM always uses every letter when he plays word games. If you work a little bit with the letters in the name "The Inn of the Kneeling Man," one set of clues seems to point to Theon and Ralf Kenning. Of course, I may be reading a lot into that because I already see a link between Theon kneeling for his symbolic "re-drowning" ceremony with his uncle Aeron Greyjoy and the kneeling of Torrhen Stark before Aegon the Conqueror.

Of course, there are many other anagram possibilities involving knight, night, king, lemon, theme, motif, lemon, knife, helm, hangmen and lots of other relevant elements from the books.

As I hope my comments have shown, I'm not out to slam the door on you - I love the wordplay in the books and I realize that some of my own flights of fancy about symbols and puns may be off the mark. I will grant you this: the famous house Falling Water in Pennsylvania is often described as the masterpiece of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. People have theorized that he named the house after himself: FaLLing Water. So your idea about the Inn of the Kneeling Man has a precedent.

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17 hours ago, Seams said:

If you look on the front of your copy of The World of Ice and Fire, you will see the names George R. R. Martin, Elio M. Garcia, Jr. and Linda Antonsson on the top of the front cover. This comment:

was written by one of those three people. So you can rely on it more thoroughly than the imaginary conversation you propose.

By the way, I played around a little with your challenge:

It takes a long time to perfect the solution to an anagram, and I'm not even sure if GRRM always uses every letter when he plays word games. If you work a little bit with the letters in the name "The Inn of the Kneeling Man," one set of clues seems to point to Theon and Ralf Kenning. Of course, I may be reading a lot into that because I already see a link between Theon kneeling for his symbolic "re-drowning" ceremony with his uncle Aeron Greyjoy and the kneeling of Torrhen Stark before Aegon the Conqueror.

Of course, there are many other anagram possibilities involving knight, night, king, lemon, theme, motif, lemon, knife, helm, hangmen and lots of other relevant elements from the books.

As I hope my comments have shown, I'm not out to slam the door on you - I love the wordplay in the books and I realize that some of my own flights of fancy about symbols and puns may be off the mark. I will grant you this: the famous house Falling Water in Pennsylvania is often described as the masterpiece of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. People have theorized that he named the house after himself: FaLLing Water. So your idea about the Inn of the Kneeling Man has a precedent.

HAHAHA...I'm still new here. I didn't know the TWIOAF gods were among us here.

Seams...nice try catch with Theon and Torrhen parallel.

And thanks for the backup with the anagram. Seems like the cleverest people still can't do a perfect anagram with meaningful content.

 

In regards to the TWOIAF book cover coincidence, that is a BIG coincidence then.

My map theories involve the locations of:

The Trident, The Twins, Greywater Watch, Winterfell, Riverrun, Casterly Rock, Dragonstone, Inn of the Kneeling Man/King, and Golden Tooth.

If I had to pick three locations as the flag bearers to my theory...it would be the Trident, Dragonstone & IOTKM.

 

In TWOIAF, with "170" images to chose from....choose the same three....to be on the hard covers of the book...where sometimes in other books, maps are displayed.

Quite a coincidence.......... 

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  • 3 months later...

Very interesting catch on the name of the Inn.  It seems like it should be King and not Man.  I'd like the theory more if you could apply your pattern and come up with Tolkien or JRRT.  Perhaps something else happened in history at that inn, or near it, to cause that specific name to be used.  It seems like a northman would be the one to remember if it was something ancient.  

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On 11/26/2018 at 11:36 AM, The WolfSpider said:

Very interesting catch on the name of the Inn.  It seems like it should be King and not Man.  I'd like the theory more if you could apply your pattern and come up with Tolkien or JRRT.  Perhaps something else happened in history at that inn, or near it, to cause that specific name to be used.  It seems like a northman would be the one to remember if it was something ancient.  

Golden Tooth, RiveRRun, Inn of the Kneeling Man = GRRM

Man = M = Martin ... The Man is kneeling = Martin is kneeling

[I][N]n [O]f [T]h[E] [K]nee[L]ing is the imperfect wordplay of "Tolkien"

Logically, the Inn should be either named the "Inn of the Kneeling King" or the "Inn of the Kneeling Lord"

The Kingslayer narrated the history of the inn in ASOS. Later in the same chapter, Jaime explains his side of the story of how he was given the name 'Kingslayer.' Sneaky GRRM intentionally did this in this particular order so the reader would forget to ask "how come this inn is not named 'Kneeling King'?"

Lord Harroway's Town is the next town over ... another sneaky map move from GRRM. This should of prompted map readers to ask why that Inn is not named "Kneeling Lord"

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1 hour ago, The Map Guy said:

Golden Tooth, RiveRRun, Inn of the Kneeling Man = GRRM

Man = M = Martin ... The Man is kneeling = Martin is kneeling

[I][N]n [O]f [T]h[E] [K]nee[L]ing is the imperfect wordplay of "Tolkien"

Logically, the Inn should be either named the "Inn of the Kneeling King" or the "Inn of the Kneeling Lord"

The Kingslayer narrated the history of the inn in ASOS. Later in the same chapter, Jaime explains his side of the story of how he was given the name 'Kingslayer.' Sneaky GRRM intentionally did this in this particular order so the reader would forget to ask "how come this inn is not named 'Kneeling King'?"

Lord Harroway's Town is the next town over ... another sneaky map move from GRRM. This should of prompted map readers to ask why that Inn is not named "Kneeling Lord"

I read all that the first time but once you get into imperfect wordplay, i.e. hey look I can make this word, it loses cohesion dude. I love the idea and it sounds like something he would do, though for the life of me I don't get it. Tolkien is very overrated IMO.

I don't get what you're saying about Lord Harroway's Town. Oh I see because Lord is in the title.  I want it to be real but it's just not there IMO. 

It's probably a coincidence but this is near Darry whose sigil is the black plowman and of course Schwarzenegger means black plowman so maybe there's a tie in to your other theory somehow. 

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1 hour ago, The WolfSpider said:

I read all that the first time but once you get into imperfect wordplay, i.e. hey look I can make this word, it loses cohesion dude.

Well its "imperfect" for a reason.

Let's say you are playing Scramble:

You have N, E, I, K, L, O, T

Make me a seven letter word from that, and it can't be TOLKIEN ... also it needs to have a historical reference to cite from.

 

1 hour ago, The WolfSpider said:

It's probably a coincidence but this is near Darry whose sigil is the black plowman and of course Schwarzenegger means black plowman so maybe there's a tie in to your other theory somehow. 

OMG I just got this joke haha. Yes, I found the link too ... I'll add it to R+L=J&M Part V thread for no spoilers here.

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12 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

Well its "imperfect" for a reason.

Let's say you are playing Scramble:

You have N, E, I, K, L, O, T

Make me a seven letter word from that, and it can't be TOLKIEN ... also it needs to have a historical reference.

Lot. From the bible. Admittedly it's imperfect,  there's letters leftover but that's the point. 

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