What's the point of Ulthos?

[SerArthurHeath]

As in the last continent out there? Or in this sense it could mean the last thing to the east perhaps, giving support to the idea that this is the continent which can be seen from Lonely Light.

It's interesting even if not correct.

The last continent, thinking very Pratchett here, possibly a shout out, would imply an Australia analogue

[Patchface Stargaryen]

super far fetched crackpot theory:

so nobody knows the the southern extent of ulthos and the northern exten of the land of always winter. mayhaps, the two are connected.

Ulthos, as in ultimate, as in last.

as in the last part of northern westeros.

maybe the people of asshai started their magic to keep the ww and such at bay, and maybe such magic created the saffron strait (a la the broken arm)

so this is how dany gets her posse to westeros somewhat quickly without the need of a long ass voyage on a dickload of ships.

quaithe said she had to pass under the shadow idc what martin says i want to see her go to asshai

[Ser Not Appearing]

Ulthos is sohtlu backwards. Think about it.

You're all welcome.

[The Kinkslayer]

NON PLUS ULTHOS: the land of the one true god.

Coming soon as a new series: A song of teats and wine.

[GrandPoobah]

To quote A Wiki of Ice and Fire (and Martin himself):

As George R.R. Martin explained, basically the entire point of Ulthos is to highlight that people from Westeros do not know much about the world east of Qarth and south of the Summer Sea. Asshai itself is half-legendary and only known of through hazy traveler's tales. All that men from Westeros know about Ulthos are secondhand reports from travelers to Asshai which describe it as on the north shore of the Saffron Straits, and opposite from a landmass called Ulthos on the southern side - and these reports did not specify whether Ulthos is an entirely new continent, a large island like Great Moraq, or a subcontinent/extension of Essos or Sothoryos. Therefore the status of Ulthos as a "continent" or not is deliberately ambiguous, to highlight the limited knowledge of even the maesters of the Citadel about the wider world.

In Martin's words:

"Some of that is, Here there be dragons," Martin cautioned. "It's beyond the world they know." Of the other continents yet to be explored, Martin said he "deliberately" kept Sothoryos mysterious, to echo real-life history: "Even though Africa was known to Europe from the earliest days of ancient Greece,” he said, “we knew relatively little about sub-Saharan Africa."

He chuckles at the complaints he gets from fans about the lack of boundaries on his maps: "What's this Ulthos thing over here? Is it just a big island? Or is it another continent?"

[The silver dragon]

so tectonic plate's work?

[A guy]

It's there so that Dany can establish a nice comfy foothold on the west coast of Westeros.

[Luddagain]

Ulthos is just made so Planetos resembles the earth as we know it.

Westeros is really the UK/France/Ireland/Scandinavia with the rest of Europe and the Middle East found in Essos. (Braavos = Venice, Pentos =Athens, Slavers bay=Tunisia, Morocco Valyria=Rome, Volantis=Constantinople) , Yi-Tin =China and Southeros=Africa. Utheros I assume is meant to vaguely refer to Australia and perhaps South America ie great Southern hemisphere continents, about which those in medieval Europe knew nothing at all.

[Avlonnic]

Posted 03 May 2013 - 01:20 PM

'The Mother of The Others', on 03 May 2013 - 1:16 PM, said:

Yolkboy's next post will be the 666th!

Qyburn is AA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was appropriate for your 666th post. Creeepy!

[Renee Sansa]

Some kind of Australia or Latin America, in my opinion; I think we'll never actually 'go' there (apart from stories or dreams). The main reason is probably creating a more mysterious appeal and for the sake of world building. It would be cool if it were some land of magic or land of the dead or land of the Gods ... Maybe he does have some plans of future stories happening there, in his mind, but I don't see it becoming a reality.

[oursisthefury69]

Lota people just giving the "eh worldbuilidng" or "who knows" answer, which obviously is and isnt the case for most of these far-off places.

I thought the OP was going to touch on something I've found curious however, where Ulthos is like East/South of Asshai, which I thought would always have the additional significance of being the furthest East, and like a border/end of land the way the Lands of Always Winter are. It seems like a lot of the crazier.unexplored parts of Ashai are really in the mountain pass, but still i found it striking odd he went out of his way to put something further than Asshai

[BRANDON GREYSTARK]

The cats of Ulthos( Ulthar)

H.P. Lovecraft Lives

[Ser Joe the Unknighted]

To OP: filler, expanding the world, as George might say, building more iceberg under the water

[Minkowski]

hodor is AA

 

also who cares about ulthos. just another place for the other to conquer