Glamdring is part of the Iron Throne

[Passdagas the Brown]

This is pretty cool. It seems the Game of Thrones TV show folks have hidden a Tolkienesque Easter egg for three whole seasons before it was found. A precise replica of Glamdring from the LOTR and Hobbit films is a part of the sword-encrusted Iron Throne!

See here: http://winteriscoming.net/2014/03/quick ... -khaleesi/

I like this because Westeros reminds me of Tolkien's very brief sketch of what the Fourth Age would eventually become - a human-centric world of petty evils and very little "faery." IMO, GRRM is a far inferior writer, but the unsavory world his characters inhabit seems to fit along the "long decline" trajectory of Tolkien's Middle Earth (though it's almost a Middle Earth stood on its head - a place where magic and faery is growing rather than fading). In this sense, it's plausible that Glamdring might still be around - a relic from a forgotten time.

Mostly, though, I think it's a cool nod to the Tolkien phenomenon.

[narya]

This photo is of a rather poor imitation of the Iron Throne (call it the Plastic Throne) that GRRM brought with him to the 2010 World Con. I guess I didn't see it at the time, but there it was, the pommel anyway, just above the right corner of my 3-D glasses.

We could change this thread to cross-pollinations, if you like. Here's my contribution:

The home planet of the Minbari people in Babylon 5 is "Minbar" which looks suspiciously like "Mbar" which means "home" or "earth" in Elvish. Of course, Minbar also means pulpit for a mosque, or it could just be a coincidence.

[Smaug's voice]

A precise replica of Glamdring from the LOTR and Hobbit films is a part of the sword-encrusted Iron Throne!

Really? I see quite a bit of difference between the two. The size of the hilt-encrusted blue jewel is different and the way the metal of the hilt surrounds it differs as well. I also can't make out the engraved ruins on the hilt. The only similarity I see is the shape of the sword and hilt. Or am I missing something?

Though, I do like your statement about Westeros being a 4th age Middle-earth. It made me wish to pick up the books. Just a teeny-tiny bit only, though.

[Passdagas the Brown]

Well, there's a reason Tolkien quit writing his 4th age story. Too depressing! Another way to put it is that the 4th age is essentially our world, and Game of Thrones is perhaps more reflective of our world in the Middle Ages. To me, it's basically the War of the Roses with some dragons and wights thrown in for good measure.

I personally don't rate GRRM's books very highly (especially compared to Tolkien), but they are engaging page-turners and better than a lot of fantasy out there. Though IMO, the show is better.

On closer inspection, you're right that the sword is not an absolutely precise replica of Glamdring (probably legal reasons behind that.) But it is certainly close enough to suggest that the imitation was almost certainly deliberate.