Welcome back to what is now becoming a recurring feature here on Kotaku.com, where we report on times that renowned author George R.R. Martin has chosen to write about the video game Elden Ring on his very old, very quaint personal blog.
The last time Martin took to his blog to talk about the game, with which he had a mysteriously brief and vague involvement, he was saying it looked “incredible.” This time around? He’s addressing the weird, and quite frankly not-actually-all-over-the-internet rumours of him somehow hiding his name’s initials in the game, as though that was a thing someone could actually do:
...there’s a weird story all over the internet about how I “hid” my initials in ELDEN RING because… ah.. some of the characters have names beginning with R, or G, or M. To which I say, “Eh? What? Really?” This was news to me. I have been writing and publishing stories since 1971, and I suspect that I have been giving characters names beginning with R and G and M since the start. Along with the other twenty-three letters of the alphabet as well Coming up with names is hard, especially since A SONG OF ICE & FIRE uses so many of them, and I am fond of giving family members and close kin names that have something in common… but really, why would I have to hide my name inside the game? My name is right there ON the game, as one of the creators. Hey, ELDEN RING is exciting enough, no need to make up stuff.
Interesting. George, now that you’re on record saying you don’t need to hide your initials in characters’ names, what have you got to say about hiding your feelings about turtles in the Turtle Pope?