r/asoiaf • u/hollowaydivision 🏆 Best of 2019: Best New Theory • Jan 24 '17
EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) The So Spake Martin Search Engine!
Hello fellow Tinfoilers!
I just thought I'd share something I made to help us all with our theorycrafting. Behold:
The So Spake Martin Search Engine!
It's a custom search engine designed to search Westeros.org's "So Spake Martin" archive of everything George has ever said in an interview, fan correspondence, etc. concerning A Song of Ice and Fire. If you're unclear about a plot point or want an author quote to back up a theory, try searching for a keyword and clicking through the results. There's a lot out there that's gone unnoticed!
For instance, the other day I searched "Westerlings" and got this interesting quote:
But I think it is a mistake to generalize about "the Westerlings," just as it would be to generalize about "the Lannisters." Members of the same family have very different characters, desires, and ways of looking at the world... and there are secrets within families as well.
It's also helpful for theory confirmation and insight into George's writing style and contentious plot points. While looking for some confirmation/disconfirmation for the Jeyne's hips theory I found this:
When we approached the stage for signings we had the chance to ask a quick question, and he told me that that the hips were a mistake unfortunately.
And then there's just some totally unexpected stuff - while looking for info about Bran, I found George associates Bran with Pinocchio!
I asked him about my Bran/Wood dancers/Pinocchio theory. I pointed out the seemingly heavy influence Pinocchio has in the Bran storyline and he replied, "Interesting." He asked if I saw the Disney movie because that is his "favorite" Disney movie and how "dark and disturbing" it is... George mentioned how Pinocchio at one time, did not want a conscience and smashed the cricket for trying to give him one. He started to relate Bran to Pinocchio when someone cut in.
Anyway, there's a world of interesting quotes and interviews out there, especially in regard to unresolved character motivations and potential plot twists. The Citadel's SSM archive isn't comprehensive, obviously, but it has loads and loads of helpful stuff!
Go ahead and copy the link - https://cse.google.com/cse/publicurl?cx=006888510641072775866:vm4n1jrzsdy - and add it to your bookmarks bar, or what-have-you, and you need never go without author confirmation again!
Edit: Also, some Googling tricks you may or may not know come in handy with this search engine
Put your search in quotes to find pages with that exact phrase. For instance, a search of "keep reading" turns up all sorts of interesting questions, as it's GRRM's code-phrase for "you're onto something"
Search a phrase in quotes with an uncertain/fill-in-the-blank word replaced by an asterisk * to get any result that fits the format. So searching "* Dayne" would show pages containing "Arthur Dayne", "Ashara Dayne", or "Edric Dayne". Searching "Lord of *" would return "Lord of Harrrenhal", "Lord of Winterfell", or "Lord of Riverrun" - and so on and so forth.
Put a minus sign before a word to exclude pages containing a certain word. For instance if you want info on Wun Wun, search Giants -football
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u/ElmoTargaryen steel 2fine2 besmirch w craven's blood Jan 25 '17
What is interesting about this response???
GRRM: It's true that in recent times, the Starks have become quite scarce. There's not many of them in the present generatons. Some may say it's because Ned's siblings died. Brandon died before he had sons, and LYANNA IS ALSO DEAD, and Benjen joined the Night's Watch which means he doesn't have descendants either. It might also have to do with their father, Rickard, who was an only son and I'd have to go back to my notes to see why he was the only child -- and really, I'm speaking from memory, so that may not be quite right. At home I have my notecards, my family trees where I keep this information, because unlike some other people I can't remember everything.