Links to other GRRM Stories - just Easter Eggs or proof that ASIOAF is part of a wider universe?

[Craving Peaches]

There are quite a few things in the books which feature in GRRM's earlier stories (found these by looking through the Thousand Worlds wiki):

• Robb and Lyanna are the names of the two (main?) characters in A Song for Lya
• The Blue Winter Roses seem to appear in Bitterblooms, and the planet in the same story has years-long winters like Westeros
• The God Bakkalon is worshipped by a sect in And Seven Times Never Kill Man! and in another GRRM story, The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr (not sure if this is part of the 'Thousand Worlds series)
• The God Saagael features in Only Kids are Afraid of the Dark (I don't think this is part of the 'Thousand Worlds' series but I could be wrong)
• Body Swapping similar to the warging and faceless men magics appears in The Glass Flower
• One of the Planets in the 'Thousand Worlds' series is called Greywater (Men of Greywater Station)
• The Sandkings in Sandkings bear a vague resemblance to the Manticore Daenerys sees - an insect with a human face
• The Weirwood Tree Network is similar to the Greeshka in A Song for Lya and the Damoosh wisdompools in The Stone City
• The planet Ymir also has years-long Winters like Westeros
• The period following the collapse of the Federal Empire has many planets regressing in technology, Westeros could potentially be one of these
• Etc.

Are these supposed to suggest the world that Westeros and Essos is on is part of the same universe as these other works, or are they just easter eggs or GRRM reusing names?

[Ran]

They are easter eggs and just concepts and namesthat George likes to explore. He has explicitly denied that ASoIaF is a science fiction universe or part of the Thousand Worlds.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Ran

[Craving Peaches]

1 minute ago, Ran said:

They are easter eggs and just concepts and namesthat George likes to explore. He has explicitly denied that ASoIaF is a science fiction universe or part of the Thousand Worlds.

This should put to rest the 'Westeros is Earth in the Future' theory then?

[Ran]

2 minutes ago, Craving Peaches said:

This should put to rest the 'Westeros is Earth in the Future' theory then?

Yes. It's not Earth. In fact, George imagines the planet is larger than our Earth (though he compared it to  Vance's Big Planet from the titular novel, which is stupendously gigantic, and probably way too large).

[Nathan Stark]

1 hour ago, Ran said:

Yes. It's not Earth. In fact, George imagines the planet is larger than our Earth (though he compared it to  Vance's Big Planet from the titular novel, which is stupendously gigantic, and probably way too large).

Then there must be a magical reason for why gravity is Earthlike in the story. 

[csuszka1948]

Yes, they are just Easter Eggs. GRRM admittedly re-uses many ideas from his previous books (just like any writer):

"From George’s 2001 AOL chat where he states he reworks and reuses his past characters/archetype"s:

HOST BKPG Shark: Mr. Martin. In your story ‘Dying of the Light, the main Character, Dirk t’Larien seemed out of his element. Was there a purpose to that?

GRRM: Dirk was out of his element… an essentially modern man in a very alien culture. Actually, when I look back on DOTL, I think Dirk is the novel’s biggest flaw.

HOST BKPG Shark: Very much so.

GRRM: And Bretan Braith… who is an ancestor of both Sandor Clegane and Loras Tyrell, in a way."

[kissdbyfire]

My totally unnecessary reply at this point is: Easter eggs. 

[Aebram]

13 hours ago, Nathan Stark said:

Then there must be a magical reason for why gravity is Earthlike in the story. 

Planetos is hollow!   :^)

[Nathan Stark]

11 hours ago, Aebram said:

Planetos is hollow!   :^)

Just how deep do those cave systems go anyway?

[Craving Peaches]

11 hours ago, Aebram said:

Planetos is hollow!   :^)

Or flat???

That is why Brandon the Shipwright never returned - he sailed off the edge!

[Nathan Stark]

59 minutes ago, Craving Peaches said:

Or flat???

That is why Brandon the Shipwright never returned - he sailed off the edge!

Planetos was on the back of a giant turtle the whole time!

[Sandy Clegg]

On 8/15/2023 at 6:24 PM, Craving Peaches said:

Are these supposed to suggest the world that Westeros and Essos is on is part of the same universe as these other works, or are they just easter eggs or GRRM reusing names?

George is a tricksy fellow and I don't know that he thinks simply in terms of 'Easter eggs', so perhaps neither should we. He likes to echo themes from previous books, for sure. And while the worlds are distinctly separate, some of those themes may still point to in-world clues or foreshadowing in a roundabout 'GRRM' way. 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Sandy Clegg

[MatikTheSeventh]

As a worldbuilding hobbyist and a dungeon master, I constantly reuse names and sometimes even characters in my stories and adventures. But that doesn't mean that these worlds are connected (especially now since I abandoned my original worlds, and we play D&D or The Witcher in their respective original universes). These are just nods, lil bits of familiarity for people who can say “I've been there when that player character was just created” when I introduce some old hero as an NPC.

[Phylum of Alexandria]

I wrote this a little while ago to chew on, as long as you don't mind some spoilers:

 

[Lord of Raventree Hall]

On 8/16/2023 at 4:18 AM, Nathan Stark said:

Then there must be a magical reason for why gravity is Earthlike in the story. 

Couldn’t it be less dense than Earth to explain that? Also how do we know what gravity is like? lol. We technicaly don’t. There bodies might be made of different stuff than our for all we know lol, 

[MatikTheSeventh]

58 minutes ago, Lord of Raventree Hall said:

Couldn’t it be less dense than Earth to explain that? Also how do we know what gravity is like? lol. We technicaly don’t. There bodies might be made of different stuff than our for all we know lol, 

Also: *magic*.

[Sandy Clegg]

1 hour ago, MatikTheSeventh said:

As a worldbuilding hobbyist and a dungeon master, I constantly reuse names and sometimes even characters in my stories and adventures. But that doesn't mean that these worlds are connected (especially now since I abandoned my original worlds, and we play D&D or The Witcher in their respective original universes). These are just nods, lil bits of familiarity for people who can say “I've been there when that player character was just created” when I introduce some old hero as an NPC.

George is also a D&D player I believe so this is probably an instinct that he has played on as well. As a writer who likes to embed mysteries and puzzles in his work, however, I think he'd have no qualms in also exploiting these nods for further purposes. Let's not forget GRRM is on record claiming that he uses misdirection and 'narrative sleight of hand' in ASOIAF so we should never rule out anything as a clue, no matter how 'Easter Eggy' it may seem. For instance, it was once assumed that the Tully 'muppet names' were just an Easter Egg but there are actually some pretty good theories out there as to how their colour-coding may have some hidden relevance.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Sandy Clegg

[SaffronLady]

I think at least one aspect of his works has bled into ASOIAF.