Martin learned many lessons from J.R.R.
Tolkien and the similarities between Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones reflect that.
This article contains spoilers for bothThe Lord of the RingsandGame of Thrones.
Tolkien andThe Lord of the Rings.
What is his tax policy?
And what did he do with all the Orcs still living in the mountains?
Real history, Martin observed, is not that simple.
So how exactly does that come through in Martins stories?
And so Martins use of Tolkiens title Evenstar probably does not mean too much.
There is another Tolkien-inspired character name that is a lot more significant, though Samwell Tarly.
Samwells name is an echo of Samwise Gamgee fromThe Lord of the Rings.
The Silmarillion and The GRRMarillion
That is another thing Tolkien and Martins novels have in common.
Both like to provide an in-universe book that their novels are supposedly a reprint of.
The Silmarillionis the history or, perhaps, mythology of the First Age of Middle-earth.
Tolkien had been creating this mythology long before he wroteThe Hobbit.
It was finally compiled, edited and published four years later by his son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien.
Its easy to see why Martin callsFire & BloodThe GRRMarillion.
Both, from their different perspectives, write about the horrors of war.
Interestingly, Martin writes in much more gory detail about battles and injuries than Tolkien does.
But both write about trauma.
Even, somewhat surprisingly, Martins favorite recurring theme of incest appears in Tolkien as well.
Its either that, or the world is doomed.
The Return of the King.
