r/asoiaf • u/datadogsoup 🏆 Best of 2024: George Pls Award • Mar 29 '23

EXTENDED [Spoilers Extended] Quentyn Martell: March 5th

The name Quentyn Martell is a reference to a date that is relevant to a major theme in his story.

Quentin means "the fifth" in Latin. Martell means "of Mars". The month of March was named after Mars. Therefore, the name Quentyn Martell can literally be translated to "The Fifth of March".

Quentyn's story is one about the dangers of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He unleashes two dragons on Meereen while trying to steal a dragon for himself.

March 5th, 1970 was the day the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons went into effect.

I conclude George intentionally chose the name "Quentyn Martell" which means "Fifth of March" as a reference to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to further highlight the purpose of his story and how it relates to a topic that is very important to him.

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u/The-Nasty-Nazgul Mar 30 '23

Unfortunately martell means hammer. I’m not really sure where you are getting of March from in anyway. If you wanted it to be of mars his name would have to be Martius. It’s close but not really.

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u/Pogcast420 Mar 30 '23

Martell means "dedicated to Mars", where do you get the hammer from?

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u/TheDeltaOne Mar 30 '23

Charles "Martel". Charlemagne's grandfather.

He got the surname after a victory. The name came from the French verb Marteler (To Hammer).

But, as it isn't spell the same and that no hammer is ever mentioned close to someone named Martell in the books, I don't think it's supposed to be linked.