Flying in circle's theory: Jaenara Belaerys trying to explore Sothorys

[Waters Gate]

"Jaenara Belaerys was a woman from Valyria, who flew her dragon Terrax farther south of Sothoryos than anyone had ever gone before. She returned after three years, but found only endless jungle, deserts and mountains. Jaenara declared that Sothoryos was as large as Essos and "a land without end"

Just a small theory of mine. While i believe Sothoryos is probably rather large, i cast my doubt about Jaenara Belaerys her claims or i believe she flew in circle's, or would have had if even she flew very far or long over this continent because it's kinda also weird that she found her way back.

The reason for this is the difficulty's of navigation along the equatorial region that appears as a huge landmass for a person of this age with limited means for navigation.

What would you think Jaenara would have navigated by. The Sun? The pole star? a Compass?

I don't think compasses exist though maybe Valyria had those. the polestar at times can be impossible to view when being on the southern hemisphere so that might prove difficult too. The sun is there and likely to be used, but the position of the sun is likely to make the navigator over this large landmass confused.

There is a difference for what regards the position of the sun in the northern and the southern hemisphere. In the north the Sun is to be seen in the south at noon, whereas in the south the sun is to be seen in the north at noon. For what regaards the equator, the sun might move rather right overhead by norm, but the thing is that due to the procession of the earth (its axial tilt) that right at the equator you will haev 6 months where the sun moves "more" along the north and 6 months where it mves "more" along the south. This tends to change graduatly over the year depending on where you are relative to the equator and it has also some effect on where the sun rises in the "east" and sets in the "west" Because due to axial tilt usually either in th north or south hemisphere the sun will gruaduatly rise and set in a somewhat different location on the horizon, the more you go north or south, the lower one would see the sun pass along the horizon and the more south-east or south-west sunrise and sunset would appear. At the equator, because the sun moves from south to north depending the season, so do sunrise and sunset move more south or north depending on the season, for ex. if the sun is in the north along the equator then sunrise would be more northeast while when the sun appears in the south along the equator then sunrise would appear to be more southeast.

Confused? because Jaenara should be if she's flying along the equator over a span of 3 years. She is in a location where she hardly can navigate by other means than the sun, and the sun might shift along the horizon during the seasons. Indeed she could be flying in circle's given slow enough process by flying constantly in one direction along the equator. like South-South-East/west or North-North-east/west, i guess.

And once have been flying circle's for a few years, how do you find youre way back? Going north constantly, with other words keeping the sun in noon behind you? She's lucky for not having needed to fly over the south pole and come back to the world she knew by the lands of ever winter and whatever is in between.

Spare yourself the bother. It's a good story as excuse for having been away for 3 years and having done stuff that should not have seen the light of day and apparently didn't, and if my Daughtr had done such a thing i'd praise it to a legend too as fatherly lord rather than allude to shame, one can just aswell make the best of it.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Well how did Hanno the Navigator sail down all the way to the Equator along Africa's Atlantic Seaboard? He managed to navigate pretty well, and this was around 500 BC.

So the simplest, most rudimentary option is that Jaenara followed the coast of Sothoryos. But I'm pretty sure that the Valyrians had technology and magic far more advanced than that of the ancient Carthaginians in the real world. So either they had better navigational instruments, or their sorcery made navigation relatively easy.

If you have a glass candle that can communicate directly with Valyria, like a two way radio, I don't see much problem in having a little crystal on a string that always points in the direction of Valyria either.

I'm pretty sure that she wasn't flying around in circles, therefore.

The 3 year round trip does not mean that she flew non-stop for that period. Rather, in order to explore an area, she no doubt spent a lot of time in one place, letting her dragon hunt for food, rest and recuperate, or follow rivers to their source etc out of curiosity or to map the interior for scholarly purposes.

Maybe a dragon gets tired if you fly it too far on too many consecutive days, much like a horse. And it then has to rest up and feed to restore its energy, in between legs of the journey. Resulting in her having to spend a lot of time camped out in one spot before embarking on the next stage of her exploration.

[naseridrl]

I always got the impression that she explored Sothoryos as she was going. The dragon can't have flown non stop for 3 years. It must have stopped and fed and I imagine she explored the place its not like she was without a bodyguard that breathed fire. She had to have stopped to feed herself and such so she probably explored and looked for settlements both from above and on the land itself.

I find it hard to believe as FNR said that she had no way to navigate. They had al sorts of magic in Valyria for making swords and roads and glass candles. I'm sure they had ways to help them navigate people have managed fine in our world without magic and little else but the natural world around them to help.

We also know very little about Valyria culture. Maybe it was expected that people went and explored a bit before taking on a role In the freehold. We know one lady went off to Yi Ti and got married there. Maybe she came fro a family of explorers. Maybe she was the Arya of her time and wanted freedom and unlike Arya she had a dragon she could jump onto and go and get away.