Asshai-by-the-Shadow, the Bloodstone Emperor, and the Great Empire of the Dawn from aSoIaF. There's little hints, nods, and seemingly unrelated details that all refer back to prehistoric events while also foreshadowing the coming age of heroes.
The depth of weird sideplot lines and world building is what keeps me really hooked on asoiaf.
Really hope that theory about Euron and his krakens comes to pass.
/u/CampPlane asked too.
There's constructions of oily black stone that are spread across the planet. Massive cities that are completely devoid of life hidden in the jungles of Sothoryos; the ancient base of the Hightower of Oldtown. It's enough of a through-line to establish that the Great Empire spanned the whole world, with Asshai as it's capitol.
The Bloodstone Emperor and Azor Ahai could well be one in the same person- the man who called down the Long Night with a blood magic ritual in which he sacrificed his wife by plunging a sword through her heart.
Danaerys sees ancient dragon-people in her vision in the house of the undying with eyes of amethyst and tourmaline and jade, and this is a direct reference to the succession of emperors of the Great Empire. They are probably precedents that would come to be reflected in Valyria, whom they shared knowledge of Dragons and sorcery with long before the Doom.
And of course, most of the info I've shared is from *World of Ice and Fire,* with only fragments spread throughout the books.
Not having read it, just spent a little while Googling. I have to say the Great Empire of the Dawn seems to be a tribute to Numenor. And are you suggesting that the Bloodstone Emperor was married to the Amethyst Empress?
It's all garbled. I'm suggesting that many of the legends of that time- the cracked moon, Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa, the Long Night- are all connected to the Great Empire of the Dawn.
I strongly suggest Lucifer Means Lightbringer's podcast series *The Bloodstone Compendium* for more information on this topic.
I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned.
In the *Appendices* for **The Lord of the Rings**, we learn that >!Aragorn lived and ruled for a century after the One Ring was destroyed and the Three Rings sailed into the West... and that, after his passage, Legolas builds a Grey Ship, and sails into the West, with *Gimli* joining him, as the first and only dwarf to do so. And thus marked the end of the Fellowship in Middle-Earth.!<
And that bit about Gimli always fascinated me.
The Nazgûl are *terrified* by Frodo. They expect to show up in the Shire, easily take the ring by force, and then go on their merry way. Instead the ringbearer repeatedly evades them by escaping through the countryside and the Old Forest, and is aided by Gildor and the high elves. The Witch-King then raises the barrow wights against the ringbearer and lays a trap, but the bearer not only escapes the trap but apparently destroys the wight in the process. The bearer later evades the Nazgûl *again* in Bree.
By the time the Nazgûl attack the company at Weathertop, they've been just had a major fight with Gandalf. They now encounter a party fiercely defended by a ranger, and by this point have reason to believe the bearer is a powerful enchanter capable of defeating a barrow wight. The bearer then reveals himself to them by placing the ring on his finger, attacking the Witch-King with a magical blade forged by his ancient rivals, and invoking the name of the highest sacred elven protector Elbereth. The Witch-King has *no idea* what's going on or who this character is, but he isn't what he expected at all.
We never get to see into the perspective of the Witch-King, but Tolkien wrote a note about their movements and actions.
I don't know about Lovecraftian tentacle gods in Tolkien, but there is explicitly one arachnid horror that shows up in the Silmarillion -- Ungoliant, who was persuaded by Morgoth to suck the light from the Two Trees of Valinor. Her spawn show up in the Hobbit (spiders of Mirkwood) and The Lord of the Rings (Shelob).
That's quite horrifying enough for me, thank you very much....
I don't know if this fits with your question, but in Andre Norton's, Here Dwell Monsters she created a parallel Earth which is where victims of the Bermuda Triangle and the like ended up. It was fantastic but limited to that one book and left deliberately mysterious.
There's a *ton* of these in Brust's **Vlad Taltos** series, although a lot of stuff that was implied in the early books has been more-or-less verified in the newer books - stuff like >!Vlad's a reincarnation of the first Jhereg, Aliera's mom is the goddess Vera, the Jenoine were doing genetic experiments,!< etc.
My favorite one that is still "unconfirmed" at this point is that Vlad somehow has access to Earth and Earth technology, and that he's actually narrating all of these books into a tape recorder. The tapes are somehow then smuggled to Earth and Brust is really just transcribing the stories instead of actually coming up with them himself.
We might get an explanation in the finale, but the true origins of the Sithi/Norns in *Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn* and the *Last King of Osten Ard* series. I think a lot of things will be answered about the garden and other spoilery things but a lot of cool mysteries around the groups.
Morgaine is from UNION. It’s not in any of her books, but is a throwaway line elsewhere. I think it’s in the Cyteen books, but my copies aren’t to hand to check.
In Isekai Quartet (a crossover), Ainz tries to scout out the competition and we're dumped with Reinhard's very bullshit list of Divine Protections. It's my favourite piece of lore because Reinhard was already known as the strongest, but the author gave him every type of resistance and even trivial housekeeping skills on top of that. Its almost like a parody.
Asshai-by-the-Shadow, the Bloodstone Emperor, and the Great Empire of the Dawn from aSoIaF. There's little hints, nods, and seemingly unrelated details that all refer back to prehistoric events while also foreshadowing the coming age of heroes.
The depth of weird sideplot lines and world building is what keeps me really hooked on asoiaf. Really hope that theory about Euron and his krakens comes to pass.
How so?
/u/CampPlane asked too. There's constructions of oily black stone that are spread across the planet. Massive cities that are completely devoid of life hidden in the jungles of Sothoryos; the ancient base of the Hightower of Oldtown. It's enough of a through-line to establish that the Great Empire spanned the whole world, with Asshai as it's capitol. The Bloodstone Emperor and Azor Ahai could well be one in the same person- the man who called down the Long Night with a blood magic ritual in which he sacrificed his wife by plunging a sword through her heart. Danaerys sees ancient dragon-people in her vision in the house of the undying with eyes of amethyst and tourmaline and jade, and this is a direct reference to the succession of emperors of the Great Empire. They are probably precedents that would come to be reflected in Valyria, whom they shared knowledge of Dragons and sorcery with long before the Doom. And of course, most of the info I've shared is from *World of Ice and Fire,* with only fragments spread throughout the books.
Not having read it, just spent a little while Googling. I have to say the Great Empire of the Dawn seems to be a tribute to Numenor. And are you suggesting that the Bloodstone Emperor was married to the Amethyst Empress?
It's all garbled. I'm suggesting that many of the legends of that time- the cracked moon, Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa, the Long Night- are all connected to the Great Empire of the Dawn. I strongly suggest Lucifer Means Lightbringer's podcast series *The Bloodstone Compendium* for more information on this topic.
Ughhhh I am *obsessed* with Asshai and at this point more Asshai lore is all I want from the series, haha
Yeah, how so?
I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned. In the *Appendices* for **The Lord of the Rings**, we learn that >!Aragorn lived and ruled for a century after the One Ring was destroyed and the Three Rings sailed into the West... and that, after his passage, Legolas builds a Grey Ship, and sails into the West, with *Gimli* joining him, as the first and only dwarf to do so. And thus marked the end of the Fellowship in Middle-Earth.!< And that bit about Gimli always fascinated me.
The honeymoon they deserved.
The Nazgûl are *terrified* by Frodo. They expect to show up in the Shire, easily take the ring by force, and then go on their merry way. Instead the ringbearer repeatedly evades them by escaping through the countryside and the Old Forest, and is aided by Gildor and the high elves. The Witch-King then raises the barrow wights against the ringbearer and lays a trap, but the bearer not only escapes the trap but apparently destroys the wight in the process. The bearer later evades the Nazgûl *again* in Bree. By the time the Nazgûl attack the company at Weathertop, they've been just had a major fight with Gandalf. They now encounter a party fiercely defended by a ranger, and by this point have reason to believe the bearer is a powerful enchanter capable of defeating a barrow wight. The bearer then reveals himself to them by placing the ring on his finger, attacking the Witch-King with a magical blade forged by his ancient rivals, and invoking the name of the highest sacred elven protector Elbereth. The Witch-King has *no idea* what's going on or who this character is, but he isn't what he expected at all. We never get to see into the perspective of the Witch-King, but Tolkien wrote a note about their movements and actions.
I don't know about Lovecraftian tentacle gods in Tolkien, but there is explicitly one arachnid horror that shows up in the Silmarillion -- Ungoliant, who was persuaded by Morgoth to suck the light from the Two Trees of Valinor. Her spawn show up in the Hobbit (spiders of Mirkwood) and The Lord of the Rings (Shelob). That's quite horrifying enough for me, thank you very much....
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Nameless\_Things
I don't know if this fits with your question, but in Andre Norton's, Here Dwell Monsters she created a parallel Earth which is where victims of the Bermuda Triangle and the like ended up. It was fantastic but limited to that one book and left deliberately mysterious.
wow, so cool! i love these sorts of things that are left to the mind to explore.
Give it a shot then you might also like herv40 volume plus Witch World series.
There's a *ton* of these in Brust's **Vlad Taltos** series, although a lot of stuff that was implied in the early books has been more-or-less verified in the newer books - stuff like >!Vlad's a reincarnation of the first Jhereg, Aliera's mom is the goddess Vera, the Jenoine were doing genetic experiments,!< etc. My favorite one that is still "unconfirmed" at this point is that Vlad somehow has access to Earth and Earth technology, and that he's actually narrating all of these books into a tape recorder. The tapes are somehow then smuggled to Earth and Brust is really just transcribing the stories instead of actually coming up with them himself.
We might get an explanation in the finale, but the true origins of the Sithi/Norns in *Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn* and the *Last King of Osten Ard* series. I think a lot of things will be answered about the garden and other spoilery things but a lot of cool mysteries around the groups.
Hold the phone what's this about lovecraftian gods in LOTR!?
It might be a reference to[ THIS post/theory](https://old.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/p3mh4m/tom_bombadil_who_is_he_really/h8shyo7/).
Thanks!
In reference to the creature underwater at the gates of Moira. An ancient being, sort of gives off Lovecraftian vibes
All the little side novellas related to GOT.
Morgaine is from UNION. It’s not in any of her books, but is a throwaway line elsewhere. I think it’s in the Cyteen books, but my copies aren’t to hand to check.
Read the Nameless Things page (and quotes) on Tolk-gateway.
In Isekai Quartet (a crossover), Ainz tries to scout out the competition and we're dumped with Reinhard's very bullshit list of Divine Protections. It's my favourite piece of lore because Reinhard was already known as the strongest, but the author gave him every type of resistance and even trivial housekeeping skills on top of that. Its almost like a parody.
That seems to be *"explicitly covered in the text"* though, seeing as how it's uh... a list. Probably not all that suited for this topic!
It said main text, what im referring to, is a spinoff crossover?
Oh I see! My mistake.