Derek of House Stark Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I dont know if it is has been posted already, but the river Blackwater has a real world counterpart with the same name and also the same course of the river. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direwienerdog Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 What about "Darkstar" from Feast? Also the name of a Grateful Dead song. If GRRM is a fan, it is certainly an homage. Or he may of just liked the name, or it could be a coincidence. Does anyone know if George likes the Dead?There is also Dark Star from Crosby, Stills and Nash. Some intriguing lyric about a relationship that never was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frey family reunion Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 GRRM has sprinkled in some very subtle references to Greek mythology especially regarding Dornish and Targaryen characters. Dany using the promise of her dragons to obtain her Unsullied army, bears a slight resemblance to Cadmus' sowing dragon's teeth into the ground from whence an army sprang forth. As a result Cadmus and his wife are ultimately turned into dragons. A similar tale is told of Jason of Jason and the Argonauts fame (who comes across Harpies in his wanderings as well). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Killer Snark Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 The term 'warg' is lifted straight from Tolkien, if no-one's brought that up before. I'm only on the second of the six LotR books at the moment ('tis not actually a trilogy), so I don't know yet if the context is the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light a wight tonight Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 The term 'warg' is lifted straight from Tolkien, if no-one's brought that up before. I'm only on the second of the six LotR books at the moment ('tis not actually a trilogy), so I don't know yet if the context is the same.Tolkien uses warg as a synonym for wolf. I think it was in The Hobbit that the line "Where the warg howls the orc prowls" appears, showing a cooperation between wolves and orcs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arya kiddin' Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 The term 'warg' is lifted straight from Tolkien, if no-one's brought that up before. I'm only on the second of the six LotR books at the moment ('tis not actually a trilogy), so I don't know yet if the context is the same.Tolkien uses warg as a synonym for wolf. I think it was in The Hobbit that the line "Where the warg howls the orc prowls" appears, showing a cooperation between wolves and orcs.Yes they are corrupted wolves that Orcs use as their steeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darynthe Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 (edited) Princess Knight a manga by Osamu Tezuka, written in the fifties and with several adaptations, is the story of the heiress to a small realm who has both male and female souls, and crossdresses as a man (and even pretends to be one, duping everyone), is the best swordsman in the realm, is level headed, competent, and fights for justice and to protect the innocent.Her name is SAPPHIRE. Known as Lady Knight.To me it looks like Brienne has references to it. Edited September 7, 2013 by darynthe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arya kiddin' Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Princess Knight a manga by Osamu Tezuka, written in the fifties and with several adaptations, is the story of the heiress to a small realm who has both male and female souls, and crossdresses as a man (and even pretends to be one, duping everyone), is the best swordsman in the realm, is level headed, competent, and fights for justice and to protect the innocent.Her name is SAPPHIRE. Known as Lady Knight.To me it looks like Brienne has references to it.Welcome to the forums darynthe. It's good to find another manga fan here :D .Just an opinion, I don't believe GRRM reads manga. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Killer Snark Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Shiera Seastar is blatantly modelled on Countess Elizabeth Bathory. I wish that Martin had fleshed her character out more beyond one reference in the somewhat variable Dunk and Egg tales; everything that's known of Shiera Seastar was actually added by proxy to her Wiki entry after finishing the last tale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direwienerdog Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 This I found while reading the summary of the chapters for WoW so I will spoiler it. The catapults used to throw the corpses of the Pale Mare victims are named The "Wicked Sisters". The reference is from the matching war hatchets used by Jean Tannen an protagonist in "The Gentleman Bastard" series by Scott Lynch. It in a Tyrion chapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light a wight tonight Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I don't think I've seen this possibility: in an Alayne chapter in Crows the Lords Declarant are coming to the Eyrie to meet with Littlefinger. Among them is Symond Templeton. Sounds very much like Simon Templar, the Saint of mystery novels. (Damn, I just googled this and found that there's also a Simon Templeton character in Runescape.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjen of the Kingsguard Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I don't know if this is the place for it, but there's a mission in the game Bordelrands 2 called "Winter is a Bloody Business". You have to find a king named Jeffery, kill his guards "Canine" and "The Molehill", then slap Jeffery a bunch of times. I thought that was pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Killer Snark Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 (edited) The way that Margaery is framed by Cersei on false accusations of adultery, and the treatment of some of the suspects afterwards (somewhat) is lifted directly from the framing of Catherine Howard, on the same trumped up charges, by the councillors of Henry VIII, because they thought after her execution if they convinced the king, he might remarry into a family that would sway his hand again to his Reformation. They picked on two handsome young men, Thomas Culpeper (whose stand-in is The Blue Bard), and a dandy sensualist who had been Catherine's friend since childhood, Francis Dereham. Prior to Queen Kate's beheading, Dereham's death was unspeakably grisly - he was traditionally drawn and quartered, hung to near-unconsciousness, then fully castrated and killed through disembowelment. His severed head and limbs were then posted to each direction of the London walls. Culpeper was spared the mutilation whilst alive and allowed to die by beheading first, because of his prior closeness to the king. Some tell of Catherine's 'adultery' differently, but it is generally agreed the whole thing was a set-up on account of her family's religious affiliations. I guess they shouldn't have let her marry in the first place the worst tyrant and monster who has ever sat the English throne.Noted: Edited to correct my prior historical inaccuracies, because I wrote my post from memory and hadn't rechecked my facts. Edited September 15, 2013 by The Killer Snark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon of the Dead Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 Apologies if this has been mentioned before, but I recently saw a German film from the 1920s called "The Golem", and the Golem, who is basically a stone giant, kills a knight called Florian for sleeping with a maiden. The Golem could be Petyr, and the knight Dontos, eventhough he didn't sleep with Sansa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Killer Snark Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 I'm not too sure about that one, but you're right about where Martin lifted the name Florian, methinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Flowers Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 Tolkien uses warg as a synonym for wolf. I think it was in The Hobbit that the line "Where the warg howls the orc prowls" appears, showing a cooperation between wolves and orcs. In Tolkein's works, wargs are evil spirits that have taken the shape of wolves. Their bodies vanish after they are slain, much like those of the Ringwraiths. This is how Gandalf identifies them following their attack on the party in Hollin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conmaicne Mara Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 Tolkien took warg from Norse mythology where vargr was a term for wolf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Killer Snark Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 What Jon Flowers said, nearing the end of Fellowship myself. Gandalf realises they came from Mordor because there isn't even blood about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Killer Snark Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 (edited) Don't know if this is coincidence, and there's certainly no relevance, but Lothlorien in LotR was originally founded near an elven city called Tirion. Plus Frodo's father was called Drogo. Edited September 22, 2013 by The Killer Snark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berkilak Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 If I recall, there's a castle or settlement called "Oakenshield," an obvious reference to the leader of the dwarven company in The Hobbit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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