George R.R. Martin Debunks a Weird Rumor about Him & Elden Ring

When you create a game as monstrously large as Elden Ring, it is going to spawn a lot of rumors, theories, and conspiracies. For instance, the world watched in horror just the other day when it was discovered that an extra room was hidden behind an extremely durable wall. That means people are going to be hitting walls in that game for the next decade, seeking out more hidden rooms. But some conspiracies about Elden Ring are just, well, stupid, and George R.R. Martin has debunked one particular rumor about the creation of Elden Ring on his blog.

Some players believe a lot of characters in Elden Ring have names that start with the letters “G,” “R,” and “M.” This has led some people to theorize that George R.R. Martin named all of these characters after himself, since his initials are GRRM. However, Martin himself has clarified that this Elden Ring rumor is nonsense, offering the following:

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.

So, yeah, Martin has put that Elden Ring rumor to bed. Recently, Martin also expressed words of congratulations and gratitude to FromSoftware on the hugely successful launch of Elden Ring. And while he doesn’t really play video games these days, last December he revealed three video games he used to play a lot.