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References and Homages


Ran
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I know that several Dornish houses are named after things from the works of Jack Vance, but I just started reading Lyonesse (which in and of itself is a homage - Jorah Mormont's second money-grubbing wife was named Lyonesse) and the castle of the king of Lyonesse has a tower called "The Tall Tower (sometimes called The Eyrie)"

If it wasn't Vance I'd say it was a coincidence, but George adores his works.

Edited by Odie
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Stannis' entire arc reminds me of a fantistorical remix of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"--

MELISANDRE:

S'io credesse che muia rispota fosse

A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,

Questa fiamma staria sensa piu scosse.

Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo

/Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,

Sensa tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

[...]

CRESSEN: Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;

At times indeed, almost ridiculous--

Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old... I grow old...

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Should I part my hair behind?

RENLY: Do [you] dare to eat a peach?

/I/ shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.

PATCHFACE: I have seen the mermaids singing, each to each.

STANNIS: I do not think that they will sing to me.

PATCHFACE: I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

Combing the white hair of the waves blown back

When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

DAVOS: Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Ummmm. Right. *runs away*

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  • 2 weeks later...

Barristan the Bold also make me think of Willham the Marshal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Marshal

he was a Famed tournament knight as while as the Fact he fought Richard when he rose up agist Henry II (at one point come close to killing Richard but set on Shaming him) and was one of the Last great lord loyal to John. He in a way had full loyal to the crown but not people so much

Robert Recalls Henry VIII Dashing, Hamson and a great fighter as a young man Fat and Lazy as an old man and Charles II More interested in Games hunt and women then goverment and Father up to 20 Baster Childern and no Childern by his wife (fun fact the first of the queen grandchildern inline to thone are all descended from Charles :rofl: all thought there mothers )

Edited by serdog
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There's a line about the land north of the Wall in one of Jon's chapters in which the hills rise wild, covered with trees no axe has ever felled (or something very, very, very close to that) and that line is itself taken from one of Lovecraft's stories. This lets the HPL fans among Martin's readers know that something very, very wrong is in the North.

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I haven't found any of my own yet, but I wanted to poke my head in an say awesome job so far! I'm about to start another re-read of the series so I'll keep an eye out for them. Meanwhile, I'm going to go read what everyone else's found. :)

Alright, reading over other posts (not sure if this has been said since I'm on page two right now):

My mother told me that dead men sing no songs is (to me) an obvious pirate reference to "Dead men tell no tales"

:D

Edited by Lyanna_Stark
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I've mentioned these elsewhere, but there are 2 major homages to Frank Herberts Dune series.

The warlocks Daenarys deals with bear a strong resemblance to the Mentats in the Dune books. They drink a strange potion which helps them predict the future, and they have blue stained lips.

Using face-changing for assasinations is also from the Dune books. The Tlielaxu face dancers.

Edited by Nightflyer
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These aren't really homages. Most likely, they are based on a similiar influence to Martin, and he most definitely has read Dune, but if he didn't have those books in mind when he wrote those scenes, they aren't homages. A potion that lets you see the future has been done in many stories, and the blue lips has perhaps an even older inspiration then Herbert's works.

Artanaro

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My mother told me that dead men sing no songs is (to me) an obvious pirate reference to "Dead men tell no tales"

It is, but it is also a reference to 'Songs the Dead Men Sing', the title of an anthology of GRRM's own works, and a title he's had in mind for use since even before that book. ;)

And face-changing assassins who get their abilities from a combination of genetics and training? Where do you find examples of that other than Dune and ASOIAF?

There's no indication that I can recall that Faceless Men have any genetic heritage that lets them do what they do.

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Ok I'll bite. How do you know what Martin had in mind? And what is the older inspiration for the stained blue lips of the warlocks and Mentats that you allude to? To me, these two groups of characters are far too similar in looks and future-visions for it to be mere coincidence. Why stain the lips of his warlocks blue at all, except as a nod to Herbert?
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I. The Battle of the Blackwater seems to be based on the various sieges of Constantinople:

The Golden Horn (Wikipedia)

On a related note, wildfire is based off Greek Fire, a weapon often used to defend Constantinople. No one knows what exactly Greek Fire was, as the recipe was so well-guarded. Historians have theorized, however, that it was related to napalm.

II. Gene Wolfe makes references to "dire wolves" in The Book of the New Sun, though they're never really described. We know that Martin read Wolfe, as he has a blurb on the back of the last part of The Book of the New Sun, The Citadel of the Autarch. Perhaps the name "direwolf" derives from The Book of the New Sun?

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