Differences in Worldbuilding - Deep vs Broad

[Aldarion]

I had been thinking about how worldbuilding differs in different settings. And I decided that there are basically two primary characteristics of worldbuilding: broadness and depth.

Broadness is, most simply put, amount of information that we get about the world. Basically, a canvas that author paints: broader the worldbuilding, more details there are.

Depth however depends on how that information interacts with each other. If broad worldbuilding is like a painting, then deep worldbuilding is like an icebreg: 

Harry Potter is an example of broad worldbuilding. It has an entire array of magical creatures, spells, abilities, and so on... humans, centaurs, elves... muggles and wizards... "light" and dark wizards... all of this in spite of the story being (mostly) limited to a single magical academy. Yet that worldbuilding is also incredibly shallow. Rowling just dumps stuff into the story with little thought of how that stuff will interact and what the implications are.

D.Gray Man is an example of deep worldbuilding. You have the Noahs, the Akuma, and the Black Order. That's it, that is all that matters in the story. Yet within this relatively narrow framework, there are layers upon layers of meaning, symbolism, secrets and misdirections. Even the main character himself is largely a mystery that is only slowly unraveled through the story.

Tolkien's Legendarium, of course, is both broad and deep at the same time.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Harry Potter isn't even particularly broad. It's utterly focused on Hogwarts as an institution, and beyond the school and the Ministry of Magic, there's... nothing much at all.

For something broad but not overly deep, C.S. Lewis' Narnia is a better fit.

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

Star Wars, Dune , space operas,etc  tend to be broad. I read an alternate history book called The Years of Rice and Salt which all takes place in different time periods here on earth which I think had a lot of depth in how different societies have evolved and tend to interact with each other. 

[Jerol]

I think Daniel Abraham's Dagger and Coin series is pretty deep. Plenty of history in the background, multiple races, and several nations involved. 

I stuck out Malazan for all ten books and a few tangent projects but something always felt broad about it. 

 

[Larry of the Lawn]

Bakker does it all