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References and Homages


Ran
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I was reading the R+L=J thread and it dawned on me that when Rhaegar disappears with Lyanna he takes her to the "Tower of Joy." If I'm not mistaken this is a reference to Arthurian Legend when Lancelot and Guinevere's love becomes known King Arthur plans to try Guinevere for treason and Lancelot rescues her and takes her to the Tower of Joy (or maybe the Castle of Joy). Both of these events lead to the end of a dynasty and the tragic deaths of a number of principal characters.

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I was reading the R+L=J thread and it dawned on me that when Rhaegar disappears with Lyanna he takes her to the "Tower of Joy." If I'm not mistaken this is a reference to Arthurian Legend when Lancelot and Guinevere's love becomes known King Arthur plans to try Guinevere for treason and Lancelot rescues her and takes her to the Tower of Joy (or maybe the Castle of Joy). Both of these events lead to the end of a dynasty and the tragic deaths of a number of principal characters.

Indeed, it's called Joyous Garde, I believe.

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VISIONARIES

Both Visionaries (80's cartoon) and ASOFAI happened at a time when magic was being re-discovered.

Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light

It is a time when Magic is more powerful than Science, and only those who control the Magic, control destiny. They are the Visionairies.

Visionairies, Knights of the Magical Light, Visionairies, with Magical Powers they fight. Powers of mind, strength, skill, 'n' speed. Powers to accomplish the greatest of deeds. Visionairies, Knights of the Magical Light.

AVATAR

Just read Tarly being rescued by ravens when he was surrounded by wights reminds me of Neytiri and the animals of Pandora. Also Jon and his mission to learn something about the wildlings, like Jake learned the omaticaya's way.

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AVATAR

Just read Tarly being rescued by ravens when he was surrounded by wights reminds me of Neytiri and the animals of Pandora. Also Jon and his mission to learn something about the wildlings, like Jake learned the omaticaya's way.

Spot on!

Nota bene: This post is sarcastical in nature. I find it rather hard to believe that George wrote these scenes to reference a film that would come out nine years after he published his book. If so, however, that certainly makes Martin an incredible mind.

Edited by Bahimiron
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Dunno...the idea of magic returning after a long-dormant period is a more common theme IMO, as is the idea of infiltrating an enemy's camp for recon/ tactical data...animals to the rescue is pretty cool though, I'll admit!

I do like the "Boris the Spider" connection...

my wife is 1 FB friend away from Roger Daltry! :thumbsup:

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Indeed, it's called Joyous Garde, I believe.

Joyous Gard

Note the name change to Dolorous...Hhmmmmmm.

The castle of Lancelot, formerly called Dolorous Gard because of a sinister enchantment. Lancelot captures it and breaks the spell. When he explores the castle he comes upon a tomb with his own name upon it, and he knows that this to be his destined home and eventual resting place. The name of the castle is changed to Joyous Gard after Arthur and Guinevere visit his castle as his guests. When Guinevere is brought to Carlisle for execution, she is rescued by Lancelot who takes her to his castle. However, the tragic strife that ensues causes it to revert to its "dolorous" name. After Lancelot's death, his body is taken there for burial.

Source

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I do like the "Boris the Spider" connection...

my wife is 1 FB friend away from Roger Daltry! :thumbsup:

...and funnily enough, although it's probably the weakest claim to fame ever, my mum used to go and see The Who playing in Brighton before they made a name for themselves. Small world, innit?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wonder if Joramun could be a reference to Jormunrek, King of the Goths (AKA Ermanaric).

Now, Joramun's magic horn sounds a lot like the horn of Heimdall, called Gjallarhorn, which he will blow at the beginning of Ragnarok to alert everyone. Heimdall is the Norse god of light.

Snow fell on the four quarters of the world; icy winds blew from every side; the sun and the moon were hidden by storms. It was the Fimbul winter: no spring came and no summer; no autumn brought harvest or fruit; winter grew into winter again.

There was three years'. winter. The first was called the Winter of Winds: storms blew, and snows drove down, and frosts were mighty. The children of men might hardly keep alive in that dread winter.

The second winter was called the Winter of the Sword: those who were left alive amongst men robbed and slew for what was left to feed on; brother fell on brother and slew him; over all the world there were mighty battles.

And the third winter was called the Winter of the Wolf. Then the ancient witch who lived in the Ironwood fed the Wolf Managarm on unburied men, and on the corpses of those who fell in battle. Mightily grew and flourished the wolf that was to be the devourer of Mani, the moon. The Heroes in Valhall would find their seats splashed with the blood that Managarm dashed from his jaws; this was a sign to the Gods that the time of the last battle was approaching.

Edited by Skadhi
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Someone suggested that Margaery's situation at the end of FFC resembles Anne Boleyn's. Anne was accused of witchcraft, incest with her brother George (whose wife gave evidence against them), and adultery with one of her musicians (Mark Smeaton) and four other male courtiers.

Cersei is suspicious of a connection between Margaery and a male musician, and while I haven't seen any reason to think the Tyrell siblings are incestuous, they are quite close. Margaery has been examined and found not to be a virgin--not the same as Anne's problem, but it could lead to trouble.

Didn't Cersei try to or hope to insinuate that the Tyrell siblings were a bit too close? (Said the raven to the crow!)

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The name of the above poster put me in mind of this: popular bodies of legendary stories about Alexander the Great abounded after Pseudo-Callisthenes wrote a text in Greek about his adventures. It's not based on the classical historical materials about Alexander, and recounts mythological and fantastic adventures as he and his armies journey into the East (think pre-modern Star Trek: Next Generation). Medieval readers read this stuff ravenously.

Anyway, in those accounts, Alexander is consistently depicted as a fairly little guy, and his enemies often insult him by calling him a dwarf. While he's not a bad fighter, he's more famously praised for his trickiness and rapacious wit. And his two eyes are of different colors.

Hmm...remind you of anyone?

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There's one or two homages in this series that I've always wondered about.

Lord Horton Redfort of the Vale and later of the Lords Declarant had four sons

Two that stick out in my mind are Mychel Redfort and Creighton Redfort

Could this be loose reference to the late Michael Crichton? Sci Fi's Martin's bread and butter. I could see him being a big fan of Crichton's. (Does Redfort have anything to do with Michael Cricton's stories? I haven't got around to reading much of his works, other than the first 50 pages of Jurassic Park)

Also, when I read Winds of War by Hermann Wouk, there was a character Pug knew from the military named Red Tully. I wonder if this could be the inspiration for House Tully, for whom red hair is a common trait.

In general, Winds of War and War and Remembrance have ASoIaF elements to them, even if it's about World War II. Multiple POV's who become scattered due to WWII. Pug always reminded me of Ned as honorable and straight edge who's sent to become the naval observer at the US embassy in Nazi Germany and becomes something of a confident and envoy of FDR. The war effectively screws up Pug's perfect life (wife's messing around on him, daughter's sleeping with her boss in an age where pre-marital sex is not tolerated, ect.)

Its possible winds of war had an influence on ASoIaF, but only because given what I've read, Martin's clearly an avid reader. You could probably throw a rock in a library and hit a book that's influence ASoIaF and his other works (course you'd also get in serious trouble with the library and possibly the law, but never mind that)

Edited by Patchface12
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Just found something cool. Michael Crichton was a friend to artist Jasper Johns, whom he wrote a coffee table biography about. Lord Redfort's other two sons are incidently named Jaspar and Jon. Hmmmmmmh

Oh well, with books like Timeline and Eaters of the Dead, I guess its not a huge shock that Martin's a Crichton fan.

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I don't think anybody has mentioned this yet, but in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun (which GRRM is a huge fan of), the main character, Severian joins the Torturers' Guild, whose members wear black ( the cloak being the key article) mentioned and are not allowed to marry. Severian's main mentor is Master Palaemon, whose may not have eyes and wears lenses of some kind so that he can see (seems too similar to Maester Aemon to be coincidence). At any rate, without them, he's either blind or nearly blind. The torturers live in the Matachin Tower, which is near the Bear Tower (is Mormont, the Old Bear, an homage?). The city where these towers are is called Nessus and it's surrounded by an ancient construct called the Wall which appears to be thousands of feet high. The torturers' guild sends Severian north of the Wall early in the story. There are other similar details too, including a mysterious character named Hethor ( Hodor?). Lastly this might be really pushing it but Severian Torturer= ST = Samwell Tarly.

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I don't think anybody has mentioned this yet, but in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun (which GRRM is a huge fan of), the main character, Severian joins the Torturers' Guild, whose members wear black ( the cloak being the key article) mentioned and are not allowed to marry. Severian's main mentor is Master Palaemon, whose may not have eyes and wears lenses of some kind so that he can see (seems too similar to Maester Aemon to be coincidence). At any rate, without them, he's either blind or nearly blind. The torturers live in the Matachin Tower, which is near the Bear Tower (is Mormont, the Old Bear, an homage?). The city where these towers are is called Nessus and it's surrounded by an ancient construct called the Wall which appears to be thousands of feet high. The torturers' guild sends Severian north of the Wall early in the story. There are other similar details too, including a mysterious character named Hethor ( Hodor?). Lastly this might be really pushing it but Severian Torturer= ST = Samwell Tarly.

Also, Master Palaemon is supposed to be the oldest of the torturers.And the area of Nessus where all the aforementioned towers are is known as the Citadel. Samwell Tarly goes to Oldtown to study to be a maester at the Citadel:

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