>>714369347 (OP)From his own description, GRRM envisioned a medieval fantasy setting similar to something like LOTR set around the martial contest of the shattering of the 'Elden Ring', and the runes that bestowed a degree of power to the Shardbearers and their respective factions. He probably substantiated at an elementary level the history, lineages, and areas of the setting, establishing the characters, their relationships, and their motives. This likely includes the names of the major players, Radahn, Malenia, Marika, Radagon, Rennala etc. and possibly even extends to DLC characters like Messmer.
In turn, From interpreted and transformed this information to create the warped, macabre, and grotesque environments and characters familiar in the game, which bear many of the design tropes that defined their previous games. Giant proliferating blue crystals being associated with magic, great ancient evil snakes, an undying populace of languishing nobles and knights so bereft of purpose and sense they now resemble zombies, primordial draconic gods, thunder being associated with piety to the orthodox faith.
It's debateable whether the underlying cosmogeny of Elden Ring, aspects of the game such as the Greater Will, Frenzy Flame, embedded titanic giants, the nature of the Primordial crucible and its associated sacrificial rituals etc. were devised by Martin or added later by Miyazaki, or perverted to such a degree that they no longer bear any similarity to Martin's original contributions. It's often suggested that the Two-Fingers for example may have simply been a title referring to shadowy human agents, rather than the parasitical fungal hive-mind that we now know is overseen by a schizophrenic falling star abomination from time immemorial.
