Lord of the Rings
When the Fellowship leaves Rivendell heading towards Mordor, they need to cross the Misty Mountains. Gandalf won't chance the Gap of Rohan because it takes them too close to Isengard, and the pass of Caracas proves impassible thanks to the magic of Sauruman. Ultimately, the Fellowship decides to travel through the Mines of Moria, where Gimli says his cousin Dwalin will give them a royal welcome.
It was actually Gimli's cousin Balin who ruled Moria. When the Fellowship reaches his former halls, they find him deceased along with all the other dwarves.
Gilly does appear in the books.
While Newell Brown was drafted by the Canucks (158th overall in 1982) he never played an NHL game for the club.
The horses of Middle Earth all have very epic sounding names. Gandalf rides Shadowfax, king of all horses, Aragorn rides Roheryn, Legolas and Gimli both ride on Arod. Samwise Gamgee's horse has a somewhat less impressive name, Bill.
Bill is actually a pony. Hobbits are too small to ride horses. Bill's full name is "Bill the Pony".
"Winter is Coming" is the motto of House Stark and refers to the need to be preparing for the erratic seasons in Westeros. While time is tracked in years, seasons don't occur within the same year. When the series picks up the realm is towards the end of a long summer which lasted around 10 years, which means that the people of Westeros need to be prepared for at least a 10 year Winter.
Seasons in Westeros don't follow any specific pattern. This long summer may be followed by a long winter but there is no telling exactly how long each season will last.
Pavel Bure and the Sedin twins are the only three Canucks draft picks to go into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Canucks' jerseys. The two other Canucks' draft picks, Cam Neely and Petr Nedved, wound up in the Hall of Fame based largely on their contributions to other teams.
Petr Nedved isn't in the Hall of Fame.
When they meet in Rivendell, there is some tension between Aragorn and Boromir. Aragorn's bloodline means that he has a claim to the throne of Gondor. When Legolas brings this up in front of the council, it understandably ruffles the feathers of Boromir whose father, Denethor, has been ruling Gondor as it's Duke for 35 years.
Denethor is actually the "Steward of Gondor". The King of Gondor must be a descendent of Ellendil (which Aragorn is) and since Gondor went without a true heir for so long, the Stewards ruled for almost 1000 years.
The Game of Thrones TV show brought to life Martin's "White Walkers" as a ominous threat to all of Westeros throughout the show. The White Walkers seem pretty overpowered, they can raise armies of the dead, possess superior strength and speed, and can't be hurt by anything except dragonglass and Valeryan steel. In the books though, they are rarely called the "White Walkers" and are instead referred to as "Wights".
While White Walkers isn't Martin's most used term in the books, it isn't Wights either. The white walkers are called "Others" in the books, "Wights" refers to the zombie-like undead servants the others create.
Trevor Linden wasn't team captain when he was traded. He relinquished/was stripped of the captaincy prior to the season in favour of Mark Messier (boo) and was later traded halfway through that year.
It was actually from the elves of Lothlorien, Fangorn is the forest where Merry and Pippen meet and awaken the Ents.
The Red Wedding actually occurs in A Storm of Swords, not A Feast for Crows.
The Canucks hold the NHL record for the most visits to the finals without winning a Stanley Cup with three. The Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings both hold the sadder record of four losses in the Superbowl, and the Phoenix Suns also have three finals losses in the NBA. The Canucks however, are the only of these teams to lose in Game 7 of the finals three separate times.
The Canucks have only lost in 7 games twice (94, 2011). In 1982 they were swept 4-0 by the Islanders.
J.R.R. Tolkein drew inspiration from a great many languages, myths, and stories, including the works of William Shakespeare. There are echoes of Macbeth in Return of the King such as using same prophecy loophole that MacDuff uses to slay Macbeth (no man born of woman) is how Eowyn slays the leader of the Nazgul, the Witch King of Sigmar (I am no man), and when the Ents march on Isengard which can be seen as a reference to Birnham wood marching on Dunsinane.
His title is "The Witch King of Angmar" not of "Sigmar". Sigmar has something to do with the tabletop game Warhammer.
Viserys is the name of her brother, she names the dragon Viserion.
Vancouver nightlife has played a part in Canucks history. There is a rumour that term "cougar" referring to an older woman who dated younger men, originated in the Canucks' locker room. Also, the Canucks' home ice advantage seemed bolstered in the 2000s and early 2010s by the "Penthouse Flu", where visiting teams would perform worse after a night out on Granville Street.
The actual term is "Roxy Flu", referring to the many NHL'ers caught partying at the Roxy.