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The Lands of Ice and Fire: a new map book out in Oct 2012


Werthead

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I is a bit dense, is Asshai a region or a city or both? I couldn't find it on my maps but I am not at all observant.

Asshai is surrounded by Ghost grass, so I would think it is just a port city as the surrounding area is probably uninhabitable. IIRC Ghost grass is meant to kill all other grass off, so farming is probably out of the question and having any small settlements in the surrounding area. Asshai is very well placed in terms of trading routes like Qarth, which is also a trading city.

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Is anyone else annoyed by the fact that the continents in ASOIAF are all pretty much rectangular? Westeros is tall but not wide, and Essos is the opposite.

This is something I noticed as well. Westeros looks as if it has been designed specifically to fit onto a rectangular piece of paper. Not that it is particularly rectangular itself but all of its most eastern and western extremes are almost exactly parallel to one another.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So is the map to scale? For instance if, on the Westeros Map in the map book, the wall measures approximately 9cm, we can therefore conclude that 9cm=300 miles, therefore 1cm=33.3 miles. so given that on the Westeros Map, the space between Greywater Watch and and Moat Cailin measures 6cm, therefore the distance between Grey Water Watch and Moat Cailin is 199.98 miles.

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I wonder where the equator line in this world goes given that this "Earth" is slightly larger (10 percent? 20 percent?) than ours. I assume it must be somewhere in northern Sothoryos/Summer Islands.

And I guess Mussovy taken from Muscovy? Would be great to see some Slavic flavour in GRRM's world (okay, not THAT straightforward as in Warhammer's Kislev)

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If you're using the same map, I don't see why not. I'm not sure where this Wall = 300 miles came from, but people certainly seem convinced of it.

In the books, the distance from the Shadow Tower to Eastwatch is repeatedly referred to as 100 leagues. A league is 3 miles, soooo....

Pretty much all speculation about the geography of this planet (just plain Os?) is derived from this one 'fact.' It gives us a scale for the maps.

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It gives us a scale for the maps.

Yes, but we also have the distance between Volantis and Meereen "as the dragon flies" - 1500 mi.

Didn't GRRM also say that Westeros - or rather the 7 Kingdoms South of the Wall - was roughly the size of South America?

I think Mr. Martin could forget that South America is actually a very large continent, about 18 million sq km. And Westeros without Lands Beyond the Wall is about 5 million sq km if we use these maps and the length of the Wall as a measuring tool.

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If you're using the same map, I don't see why not. I'm not sure where this Wall = 300 miles came from, but people certainly seem convinced of it.

It's repeatedly mentioned in the books ;)

Of course, it's probably not 300 miles exactly, and even a variance of +/- 2 miles could have big consequences on a global scale, but it's a rough rule of the thumb that GRRM has said we can use to get at least a rough idea of distances (after spending years saying we couldn't, until he apparently realised that things 'mostly' track if you do use that distance).

And yes, GRRM says Westeros is 'the size of South America' when he means 'the length of South America'. South America is roughly 4,500 miles from north to south. Westeros is 3,000 miles from the Wall to the south coast of Dorne, and about 800 miles to the northern edge of Thenn on the ASoS/ADWD map. The continental landmass itself could extend further north for another 700-800 miles (perhaps merging with the northern polar icecap) which would make the length right. But South America is 3,000+ miles wide at its widest point, whilst Westeros is only about 900-1,000 miles wide at its absolute widest point and is frequently less than that. Its square footage, as mentioned above, is considerably less than South America.

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I wasn't doubting it, I just didn't know it's origin. I remember the mention of leagues in the books, but wasn't sure how long a league was or if I&F leagues were the same as Earth leagues.

Unless otherwise stated, which I can't think of an instance of, all units are equal between the real world and the world of ice and fire. A mile is a mile, a year is a year, a stone is a stone...

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Unless otherwise stated, which I can't think of an instance of, all units are equal between the real world and the world of ice and fire. A mile is a mile, a year is a year, a stone is a stone...

A season is a season... (Just trolling) I agree, all measurements should be considered equal unless stated otherwise. Otherwise we would have to doubt the meanings of all words.

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I agree an atlas would be far better. I don't have a place to hang those maps and they are quite awkward to view.

Still, a lot of fascinating things on them. The whole east of Essos with its mysterious names sounds great. Land of the Shrykes, whoever or whatever they are, Cthulhu mythos related Carcosa etc. I rather doubt we will get to know anything about them, though. Probably George himself doesn't, though he can make it all up if needed, of course. Also, we still didn't see the eastern shores of Essos.

I was also surprised to see no cities in the Sumemr Isles, Apparently only towns there. Seems strange, since I always imagined the ISles as highly civilized place, by Martinworld standards.

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Yea! I got the map book! Of course my parents couldn't figure out why thier 40 something yr old daughter wanted maps of a fictional world...but hey I got it!

I've only opened one map so far, but the plan is open each once and decide on the six favorites. Those will be framed. My local shop said they can make it look good as long as I don't keep folding and refolding them repeatedly. Need some decor for my apartment. Two of them will be 'The Known World' and 'Journeys'.

The only thing that would have made me happier is if they had come tubed instead of folded.

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