In William Gibson's 1993 novel Virtual Light, Hans Blix is a character that appears briefly, but has an important role in the plot of the book. Hans Blix (which may be an alias), is a courier whose job is to carry a small object of great value. Along with his name, his citizenship is somewhat questionable: he is naturalized as a Costa Rican citizen, with Costa Rican citizenship in the world of Virtual Light being something like Panamanian Registry. Blix is a shadowy figure, whose sole job seems to be to guard a pair of futuristic sunglasses while attending billionaire Cody Harwood's never-ending party. He fails at this job, by the bad chance of offending one of the novel's protagonist, who steals the object he is supposed to be guarding. This leads to his punishment through a rather grisly execution.

All of the above is just a summary of what, being a Gibson novel, would have to be read to be appreciated. And none of it is really that important, except for one reason: Hans Blix, the minor character in a William Gibson novel, shares the name of the UN Weapon Inspector who would play a large role in world politics ten years after the writing and publishing of the book. "Hans Blix" is by no means a common name, so that while reading the book, the name is very jarring. Especially if the reader is reading a Gibson novel in the right mindset, which is the mild paranoia that this could all be happening. However, I can't think of any specific connection between the historical Blix and Gibson's Blix. In fact, Gibson's Blix is an objectionable person, while Gibson would probably not find the historical Blix so. The historical Blix was already a somewhat prominent figure at the time of Virtual Light's writing, so my best guess (other than it being a true coincidence) is that Gibson read his name in a news story, and then consciously or subconsciously worked it into the book. That Blix would later become a key player in a historical event was merely a coincidence.