Fantasy maps on globes

[Werthead]

Also, sea temperature wouldn't explain why physically the days get longer and shorter along with the seasons, regardless of how long the seasons are, which is pretty much physically impossible.

But yes, the Gulf Stream does keep Britain and northern Europe - on the same latitude as Canada and Siberia! - much warmer than they really should be, and fantasy authors often neglect that.

 

ETA: Had a few people asking for Arda. The world maps we have for all of Arda come from before the Downfall of Numenor, when the world was flat, so obviously there's no point doing that. After the Downfall of Numenor we don't have any reliable maps for the shape of the world at all, although we can assume some kind of proto-America replaces Numenor's position in the world.

[The Marquis de Leech]

On 25/12/2016 at 5:48 AM, Werthead said:

If anything it should be considerably to the north of where I've put it, but that really stops the North making any kind of sense, climatically (it's getting borderline already). Sticking the Arctic Circle 300 miles north of the Wall seems to work the best all round, and also makes the treeline (the northern end of the Haunted Forest and in the valley of Thenn, both 400 miles+ north of the Wall) make sense.

The ecology of Martinworld makes absolutely no sense given the multi-year seasons (oaks growing north of the Wall, for instance). I think you're best off ignoring that, and working with the length of days instead. We know the Wall is south of the Arctic Circle, given that they don't experience 24 hour sunlight and darkness.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Also, people over estimate the extremity of the North's climate. The fact is that medieval agriculture is practiced quite successfully right next to the Wall - in the Gift. And it seems highly likely that even the Free Folk practice various forms of agriculture, else they would have no bread etc, which I'm pretty sure they do have.

The Arctic circle is therefore well North of the Wall - likely at the Northern edge of the Haunted Forest.

The misunderstanding in the fandom is based on mainly one important issue about which people need to change their perspective (because it clouds so many of these discussions). And that is the occasional summer snows that the North receives. If people accept that this is due to magical reasons - specifically, due to a brief weakening of the non-natural, magical extended Summers, which then allows the natural winter that the Northern Hemisphere of the globe is experiencing to briefly pentrate the magical Summer, the whole thing starts making perfect sense.

To put it differently, the North does not really receive regular natural summer snows as a result of its latitude. It receives natural winter snows, but these are blocked for years on end when a magical Summer is experienced. Except for occasional breaks in the magical Summer spell, which allow the natural winter snows to pierce the magical veil, and cause so called late Summer snows in the North.

If you accept this explanation, which in fact makes in-world sense, then the Wall's placing  hundreds of miles South of the Arctic circle, the relatively fertile agricultural land in the Gift and the latitudes of various points of Westeros in general, makes pretty decent sense.

EDIT

And of course you have to accept that the Wall is prevented from melting by magical spells. Which goes without saying, if crops are grown right next to it in summer.