Some time ago I did a blog post about how George R.R. Martin seemed to have gained some of his inspiration for his A Song of Ice and Fire novels from Tad Williams's series Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Today while rereading A Clash of Kings, the second book of Martin's series, I came across a single line buried in the text that, in my opinion, was a direct homage to Tad Williams's books. It is on page 349 of the Bantam/Spectra paperback:
"Lord Willum's sons Josua and Elyas disputed heatedly about who would be first over the walls of King's Landing."
To me it doesn't get plainer than that, as the two main royal characters in Memory, Sorrow and Thorn are King Elias and his brother Josua. Taken with all the other similarities given in my old post, I don't think it can be disputed how much influence Williams had on Martin. I don't think it says anything wrong about Martin's story, as I actually enjoy A Song of Ice and Fire far more than I liked Williams's books, so Martin is certainly doing a great service to all of us who love terrific fantasy.