So I just finished rereading Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun, and it occurred to me that there are a lot of striking parallels between Severian in Shadow of the Torturer and Jon Snow in George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones.
(By the way, if you’re a fan of Game of Thrones, check out my awesome interview with George R. R. Martin on the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.)
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| Belongs to fraternal order who dress in black, are much diminished from former days, and who follow ancient rituals whose origin and purpose is forgotten. | Belongs to fraternal order who dress in black, are much diminished from former days, and who follow ancient rituals whose origin and purpose is forgotten. |
| Must travel north to seek adventure beyond a giant wall, called the Wall. | Must travel north to seek adventure beyond a giant wall, called the Wall. |
| Is counseled by blind Maester Aemon. | Is counseled by near-blind Master Palaemon. |
| Doesn’t know who his mother is. | Doesn’t know who his parents are. |
| Breaks his vows by attempting to desert. The head of his order shows unexpected leniency and gives him a totally badass sword, Longclaw. | Breaks his vows by offering mercy to a prisoner. The head of his order shows unexpected leniency and gives him a totally badass sword, Teminus Est. |
| Becomes ruler of earth and travels into space to face judgment by angelic beings who might restore life to the dying sun. |
this is exactly the kind of data that would be useful for your “Pandora for fiction” idea. will be noodling over that for some time. a mechanical turk for editors might be a good start. could use isfdb as an input vector.
Good thought, was thinking exactly the same for a long time now. I think it’s very likely true, deliberate or half-deliberate.
You could also count among the similarities the “women-stories” and becoming at least a leading official after very unstraightforward paths.
In principle they’re both based on their “iconic” appearance and their corresponding role. I don’t think it’s far-fetched to assume that that is part of the starting point for GRRM. Even if it’s completely coincidental, I can almost not imagine that GRRM didn’t at least play with it on occasion. Only Jon Snow is a sane hero-figure…