Uncover all the hidden pop culture references in A Song of Ice and Fire

Sesame Street

Lord of the Rings references are to be expected in a fantasy epic, but Sesame Street? As it ends up, Martin did indeed name three members of the Tully family after a trio of beloved Muppets:

Readers learn about Grover Tully and his grandson Elmo in A World of Ice and Fire (they’re also mentioned in Fire & Blood). We also hear about a Kermit Tully, once a Lord of Riverrun. In Fire & Blood, it’s said that Kermit had a brother named Oscar, so it appears Martin is still going back to the Muppet well.

"Then as now, the riverlords were a fractious, quarrelsome lot. Kermit Tully, Lord of Riverrun, was their liege lord, and nominally commander of their host…but it must be remembered that his lordship was but nineteen years of age, and ‘green as summer grass,’ as the northmen might say. His brother Oscar, who had slain three men during the Muddy Mess and been knighted on the battlefield afterward, was still greener, and cursed with the sort of prickly pride so common in second sons."

It’s only a matter of time before we meet Big Bird Tully.

The Three Stooges

Pratfall-prone comedy icons Larry, Curly, and Moe were worked into A Game of Thrones as men-at-arms. They help Lady Catelyn capture the dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, who swears revenge upon all three:

"“The lady did not ask your views, dwarf,” snapped Kurleket, a great fat oaf with short-cropped hair and a pig’s face. He was one of the Brackens, a man-at-arms in the service of Lord Jonos. Tyrion had made a special effort to learn all their names, so he might thank them later for their tender treatment of him. A Lannister always paid his debts. Kurleket would learn that someday, as would his friends Lharys and Mohor…"

“A great fat oak with short-cropped hair and a pig’s face” fits Curly’s description pretty well. I’m gonna guess that Lharys was balding and Mohor had a bowl cut.