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References and Homages


Ran
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Another one,historical...

In the late 15th early16th century(can't remember exactly and am too lazy to check on modern history book),one nephew to pope Alexander the 6th(Borgia pope) ,Cesar Borgia calle The Valentin,invited all the nobles opposing his expansionistic desires to one feast,and while they were eating,had them all slaughtered by his sellswords.If I'm not uncorrect Vlad Tepes 3rd,the great impaler,son of the Dragon(yeah,Dracula...the real one,not the one from Stoker books),after returning from his fosterage with the Turks,did the same with the voivoda which had been unfaithful to his father.

This sounds very much like the Red Wedding,don't you think so?

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This is probably more an influence than a reference, and if a reference a very loose one, but the Young Dragon (Daeron I? all these Targ names get reused so many times I lose track) reminds me more than a little of Alexander the Great. "A conquest that lasted a summer" and all that. Anyway just wanted to throw that out there.
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I think there is a possible reference to the Völsunga Saga in AFfC,

SPOILER: AFfC
Sigurd lays his sword between him and Brynhild when they share a bed, in Nick Crabb's words: "Cheaper if we all shared the same bed, m'lady," Nimble Dick would say. "you could lay your sword between us."

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Another thing, is it just me or is the Night's Watch very similar to the early days of the Marine Corps? By this I mean, the Marines and Night's Watch take the outcasts and potential convicts and through rigorous training turn them into a fighting force. The dedication to your "brother" is also very similar.

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In the Roll of Arms in the Hedge Knight comic, I noticed that Ser Alyn Garner's shield shows (quoted from the Citadel, thanks Ran and Linda) "Three grey owls upon white plates on green", which is a tip of the hat to Alan Garner's "The Owl Service", a great book. Garner himself is worthy of further discussion elsewhere.

Who are the other lesser-known shields based on? Mike S. Miller and the gang are easy to pick out, but the rest I'm not sure of. I do like Ser Clarence Cargyll's goose, though.

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Ser Rymund Rychard(or however it's spelled) is GRRM himself. Those are his middle names.

EDIT: Also, I always assumed "Ser Randor the Exile" was for Ran....it's the same crest Ran uses here.

I meant to bring my copy of the comic back to school with me, but I forgot. I'm an idiot.

Edited by Ser Taron Dax
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  • 2 weeks later...

Craster always reminds me of the legend of Sawney Beane. Both were depraved, wild northern patriarchs.

Sawney Beane was a Scottish bandit and cannibal. He and his clan robbed, murdered and ate passing travellers in the 15th century. Starting from just him and his wife, the clan grew to about 50 people, all the product of incest. The legend is of doubtful veracity.

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

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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.

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I don't have page numbers (or even a concrete idea of where in the book this is) but I'm pretty sure that in aGoT, during one of the descriptions of all the house banners on the field, GRRM describes one house's banner as being a "Bantam Rooster".

This is a reference to his publishing company, Bantam, and their logo - a rooster.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't know if this counts as a Homage, but upon searching something on a map of southern Scotland I came across at least 5 cities going by names like Craster, Southshield and the like. Can't check at home alas, but maybe geography has provided much inspiration for names too.

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