In the Elenium and Tamuli trilogies by David and Leigh Eddings, a major object of interest is Bhelliom, a sapphire gem carved into the shape of a rose. When spoken to by Sparhawk (the main protagonist) he refers to it as Blue-Rose. Illium and Bhelliom sound rather similar. Could Blue Rose of Illium be a reference to Bhelliom?
- With this many sci-fi nerds working together on so many tiny out-of-the-way plot threads and pieces of throwaway dialogue, you're bound to find thousands of references tucked in. On the other hand, this is one that could very simply be coincidence. Unless there's some kind of dev confirmation I don't think it warrants the trivia entry. But good catch. Also, sig please next time.Ctrl alt belief (talk) 20:53, September 23, 2012 (UTC)
It seems unlikely... "Blue Rose" has been used in such diverse places as Tennessee Williams's play, "The Glass Menagerie" (a character has pleurosis, but someone else thinks she said, "blue roses"). Women being flowers and roses is pretty common in poetry, and the Asari woman is literally blue. Additionally, Illium is merely the Greek name for Troy - lots of Greek place names get used in the ME series. Homer's "Iliad" is about the war in Illium - the Trojan War... and Marlowe's "Faust" has the line, "Is this the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Illium?" Likewise, the system where you find Liara in ME1 is Knossos, which is actually a real-world archaeologic site, considered Europe's oldest city. The other systems are Athens, Sparta, and Macedon, all ancient Greek city-states, and the stellar cluster is Artemis Tau, Artemis being a Greek goddess.
It's possible that someone at BW is a huge fan of the Eddings books, but it's more likely that, as with many BW projects - ME, DA, even back to Baldur's Gate, they're pulling all kinds of different bits and bobs from throughout history and literature. --Zbg97 (talk) 20:37, August 31, 2014 (UTC)