It's so fun to randomly stumble across moments in literature which likely served as the inspiration for a character name, or a title, or simply a one-off joke from something I already loved. It adds such a rich texture to the experience, even if that one moment in isolation is relatively insignificant. It hits especially hard when I didn't know it was a reference to anything beforehand!
The inspiration for this post came to me just this morning. I'm reading Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time as a book club book, and I stumbled upon this line about 2/3 of the way through the book.
The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the Devil claims the tenth scholar as his due.
The word "Scholomance" has an end note at the back of the book which says, "From Romanian folklore, a school of black magic run by the devil himself."
There's a relatively popular fantasy trilogy from the last handful of years called the Scholomance trilogy written by Naomi Novik, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I had no idea the term "Scholomance" had such history! Obviously the term predates Stoker's story as well, but I'd be willing to bet that Dracula is very likely the reason that term ever came across Novik's radar to begin with! Fun way to put a smile on my face this morning before starting work.
Another one that is a favorite of mine to remember comes from the TV show Archer. There's an episode where they go on a rescue/extraction mission to northern Africa to bring back somebody, codename "Kazak". When they arrive at their destination, they learn that Kazak is actually a dog, specifically a mastiff. This is a reference to Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan, the time/space-traveling characters Winston Niles Rumfoord and his dog, a mastiff, named Kazak!
What are some of your favorite "aha" moments where you unknowingly stumbled upon the source material for a reference/easter egg in one of your favorite shows/books/movies/etc?
by PsyferRL
8 Comments
So in literature we call this an allusion lol.
Because I’ve read the Picture of Dorian Gray, I ugly laughed when I saw [this comic](https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/s/isEI38UxX8) recently
In one of the Star trek movies they say “Second star to the right and straight on till morning.” I literally have it on a t shirt.
I read Peter pan for the first time recently, and it’s clearly taken right from there. I never would have guessed!
Dorothy L Sayers and PG Wodehouse are referenced quite often in modern books. Terry Pratchett is the master at alluding to other writers and tropes. 🙂
(Also, shout out for the Scholomance reference, such an amazing series)
[A post I made 7 years(!) ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/TVDetails/comments/cvso8a/season_2_of_legion_has_a_reference_to_moby_dick/), and still think was an amazing reference and sheer luck that I was consuming both media at the same time.
# Season 2 of LEGION has a reference to Moby Dick.
[](https://www.reddit.com/r/TVDetails/?f=flair_name%3A%22Text%22)The Shadow King infiltrates the minds of David’s friends, implanting suggestions and insanity represented by chicks made of tar. David pulls one out of a friend’s head and when someone asks him what it is, he replies “Madness.”
Excerpt from Moby Dick: Chapter 36 – The Quarter-deck.
>
Granny Weatherwax’s “I aten’t dead card featured in multiple Discworld novels vs Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan – Guthrie wrote in a card to Dylan, “I ain’t dead yet.”
Dumbledore and Hagrid’s names come from terms used in Far From the Madding Crowd.
Dumbledores are bees, hagrid refers to illness (from the much older folk belief that being ridden by a hag at night would make you sick!).
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allusion)