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

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Credit: Tor Books

Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time

While awaiting the arrival of Doran Martel, Pod is tasked with identifying as many Dornish sigils as he can. He gets all of the banners right, down to the last:

"Bronn scanned the ranks of the approaching Dornishmen. “The last’s a golden feather on green checks.” “A golden quill, ser. Jordayne of the Tor.”"

House Jordayne of the Tor is a reference to the late author Robert Jordan, and Tor refers to the publisher of his hugely successful Wheel of Time series.

That’s not the only Wheel of Time reference in A Song of Ice and Fire. In A Feast for Crows, we learn that an Archmaester Rigney believes that history is a wheel, repeating over and over. Jordan’s real name was James Oliver Rigney, and the many cycles of history was a long-running theme of his series. Funnily enough, Robert Jordan’s alma mater is The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina.

"“You may read it here. It is old and fragile.” He studied her, frowning. “Archmaester Rigney once wrote that history is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again, he said.”"

I wonder if Amazon will slip any references to George R.R. Martin in its upcoming Wheel of Time TV series.

DC Universe

If you look closely at a paragraph from Brienne’s journey to Maidenpool in A Feast for Crows, you’ll find two — possibly three — references of symbols from the DC Universe, corresponding to Blue Beetle, Green Arrow and possibly the Flash.

"At the portcullis they came upon a dozen guards armed with halberds. Their badges marked them for soldiers of Lord Tarly’s host, though none was Tarly’s own. She saw two centaurs, a thunderbolt, a blue beetle and a green arrow…"

The thunderbolt is up for interpretation, I say it could go either way.

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