References and Homages

[jewelybrook]

* Oberyn Martell's repeating ""You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children." when fighting against Gregor Clegane, can be a nod to Inigo Montoya's words "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" from the Princess Bride

When Joff makes a small cut on Mycah's cheek early in AGOT, it always reminds me off the six-fingered man from The Princess Bride.

Loving the Princess Bride references!

[Conmaicne Mara]

There's a slight similarity between King Roberts death and that of Diarmuid from Irish mythology.

Legendary warrior Fionn MacCumhail is married to the High Kings daughter Grainne. She doesn't like him much and runs off with one of his warriors Diarmuid. Fionn and Diarmuid are eventually reconciled and Fionn arranges for them to go on a boar hunt. While on the hunt Diarmuid is gored by a giant boar, although he managed to kill it. Fionn has the power of healing and could heal Diarmuid by letting him drink water from his cupped hands, but after taking water from a stream he let it spill through his fingers and Diarmuid dies.

Also, and this is very tenuous, Grainnes father Cormac MacAirt had 4 woves who accompanied him to battle, and who he could understand.

[Lady Tenar]

I immediately flashed on The Hobbit when Tyrion was smuggled onto a ship to Braavos packed in a barrel in ADwD.

[Teal'c]

Welcome Lady Tenar and nice catch on the dwarf in a barrel.

[The BlackBear]

There's also a Castle Rock in New Mexico...not a real castle, a landmark that looks like a castle in a mountain, I think. I remember driving by it when I lived there ten years ago. The Scotland reference may be more realistic, but Martin does live in Santa Fe.

I was under the impression Casterly Rock was based on the Rock of Gibraltar, (not quite sure where I got this from.)

[Winterlord]

Another minor one that I have not seen on this thread is Nymeria's wolf pack.

Sounds an awful lot like the "Doomsday Pack," that Sara's character accidently founds and releases as a scourge of their gaming world in Knights of the Dinner Table. It was an entertaining and important story arc for the series.

Considering the audience of that comic, it would be no surprise to me that GRRM was making at least some kind allusion to it.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Winterlord

[SeanF]

• 
  
• Marillion: The singer is a reference to the band Marillion, who in turn named themselves after J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion.
  

• I think Martin said he'd never heard of the band at the time that he wrote AGOT.
  

• 
  
• House Frey: The famously virile Lord Frey and his large family probably owe their name to Frey, a Norse god of fertility.
  

And, by a delightful coincidence, many supermarkets sell Fray Bentos pies.

[Tywinning]

No idea if this has been mentioned, but the Umbers of Last Hearth could possibly be a reference to Northumberland, the north-eastern region of England which the North in ASOIAF is partly based on.

Also, the fact that they are in the very north-east of the North and close to the Wall makes it representative of a city such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a north-eastern English city which is close to Hadrian's Wall.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Tywinning

[Teal'c]

Ramsay Snow keeps the skin of his female victims as trophies, like Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.

Edited July 2, 2012 by Teal'c

[three-eyed monkey]

38 pages in and no Mills and Boon homages yet? 'Betrothed to a Barbarian' anyone??? :bang:

But didn't GRRM say somewhere that he once lost a bet on a football game between NY and Dallas to a friend of his named Patrick, and as a result of losing the bet his friend got a charcter named after him and so we got Ser Patrek of King's Mountain with silver stars on a blue field which is a nod to the Dallas Cowboys. Funny how George's team was the Giants. Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun one wonders.

[Seasick Drake]

Sorry if this has been said before but in Game of Thrones Ned says that Tywin is "as much fox as lion", a description that matches Machiavelli's "The Prince". He is also much more feared than loved as well.

[dark sister]

I actually think House Frey is after the Norse Goddess Freya, the goddess of fertility. (Pretty sure it wasn't a god.)

[dark sister]

I think the religion of the red priests might be a reference to Zoroastrianism

No kidding :) It's pretty obvious -- no offense meant!

[SelaBela]

I don't know if I'm putting this in the right place, since its more a nod to ASOIAF from an outside source... but I just made the connection that maybe Azshara's Veil (an herb found in watery parts of World of Warcraft) is a nod to Lady Ashara Dayne, who's veil would be a watery herb if she threw herself into the ocean....!

Maybe not..

But still!

[SelaBela]

I did not see this listed yet. I get a little smile every time I read,"Brienne, Maid of Tarth".

Although the book is titled,Thuvia, Maid of Mars,she is often referred to in the story as,"Thuvia, Maid of Ptarth". Obviously she is a Cartesian heroine and has nothing much in common with Brienne. Except the huge pet lion...

Since the blasted movie came out, (John Carter) I dug out my Edgar Rice Burroughs collection. I know I thought I spotted and oblique Tarzan reference in one of GRRM's books once. I'll have to keep an eye out while I reread Burroughs.

:lmao:

am not talking about Martin being plagiatour, because I truely believe this masterpiece is one of a kind. But, even he said he has been influenced by rather many writers and hystorical events. So, I had a list of those characters who could have been inspired by some hystorical or imaginary character...

1. Robert Baratheon - his fatness, his horing and disloyalty to his wife, incompetence and impatience, it all reminds me of HENRY VIII

2. Cersei Lannister - woman who is afraid that more beautiful one is going to substitute her, well we all know that fairy tale, and that character, EVIL QUEEN from SNOW WHITE AN SEVEN DWARVES.

3. Sansa Stark - initally I think she is like fairytale princess, but Martin evolved her character quite a bit. So, ANY PRINCESS FROM FAIRYTALES

4. Targaryen demise - actually, it`s like the end of Romanov dinasty in Russia in 1918.

5. Daenerys`s and Aegon`s survival - it`s all like Anastasia Romanov, and Anna Anderson`s claim to be her

6. FAith and High Septon at the beginning - It`s all like Pope and Catholic Churc in time when Martin Luther began preaching Reformation

7. Margaery`s trial - very similar to those of Anne Boleyn`s and Catherine Howard`s for their infidelity to King Henry VIII

8. Arya Stark - her behaviour was the most similar to JOAN OF ARC

9. North`s uprising - it`s all like american revolution and their desire to free from Britsh Empire (of course it was more successful than North`s battle foor independence)

10. Sarella - throughout history, we have many examples of how women impersonated men so they could be same as their male friends

11. Rhaegar`s love towards Lyanna - It`s all like myth of Troy, when Paris and Helen fell in love and started a war for a woman

That`s for now, I will check for some more, but if you have anything, please, reply...

Which is why if you've seen the movie that just came out Snow White and the Huntsman, its like you're watching CERSEI onscreen instead of Ravenna! Charlize Theron IS Cersei Lannister to me. Forever and always.

Anna Anderson was proven to be a fraud with DNA though; there was never any doubt that Daenerys is who she says she is.

Agree with most of your post though!

[Selyse's Moustache Rides]

What about when Bran and his group cross that lake on the winding secret pathway to the tower in SoS? I thought that seemed a bit twee for GRRM's universe. Surely that is an allusion to something.

[rmholt]

What about when Bran and his group cross that lake on the winding secret pathway to the tower in SoS? I thought that seemed a bit twee for GRRM's universe. Surely that is an allusion to something.

Very similar to the route to the Quiet Isle, other than that IDK. Didnt seem odd to me but I am new to general fantasy

[Selyse's Moustache Rides]

In case no one has mentioned it (I'm not trawling through 38 pages to see if someone did), the line "useless as nipples on a breastplate" was pretty glaringly obvious. I believe that was a Tyrion line. Sure sounds like a Tyrion line.

[Lord Rickard Snow]

I was Reading the Windblown Chapter, I read a line that made me laugh out loud and left me wondering if it's a Monty Python reference

page 325 in my copy, i think Books, Beans and Dick Straw were talking about the unsullied about having to face the queens real unsullied

"....the dragon's queen has got the real item, the kind that don't break and run when you fart in their general direction" HAHAHA GOOD STUFF!!!

there's no doubt in my mind if George intentionally put that in there as a reference, just wondering if anyone else has an opinion on the matter????

This is a repost after i found the proper thread

In addition there is a character Named Hobb a cook i think, could it be a reference to Robin Hobb

[rmholt]

GRRM also recalls the god Bakkalon, from an earlier story of his