nentuaby:

Some literary images are repeated in oddly specific ways by authors who seem quite unilkely to be actually copying each other.

Take, for instance, The Iron Throne. Beat from the weapons of thousands
of surrendered enemies, to show the harsh majesty of an empire. Left
plenty hard on its user to remind the monarch that he must never take
his responsibility lightly.

As depicted, of course, in Mercedes Lackey’s
1994 novel Storm Warning.

What, you were thinking of that little oddity G.R.R. Martin put out in ‘96?