geography questions

[Joshua Hendrickson]

The things I love most about fantasy novels are the maps. I thrilled to THE HOBBIT'S map of Wilderland when I was a kid. I own the old Atlas of Middle Earth and the Atlas of the Land (and would love to see an Atlas of WOT). I am writing my own fantasy novel, and I've lost count of how many times I have happily drawn and revised the maps for my Rydlorypt. The single best thing about THE WORLD OF ROBERT JORDAN'S WHEEL OF TIME is that map of the global world, complete with scale grid (although, since it isn't on a Mercator projection, it has some pretty severe problems, including polar regions that are apparently 25,000 miles wide!).

 

What I am wondering is this: did Jordan ever give any specific information about the geography of the world After the Breaking in comparison to the world Before the Breaking? If he didn't, then what are the best-informed theories out there? Is Seanchan a severely cracked North and South America, or is it a flooded Eastasia and a risen Indonesia? Is the Main Continent a broken North America, or is it an Asia with Africa and Europe under the waves? I recall reading once that Shayol Ghul used to be an island in a warm sea--could that have been Iceland, in an AOL post global-warming? The vastness of the Aryth Ocean strikes me as a misleading clue, since Western Seanchan and Shara seem to be separated by, at best, a couple thousand miles of the Morenal Ocean.

 

So who knows? I'm eager to hear any and all theories and/or Jordan-supported facts.

[Terez]

lol. RJ didn't give us much info at all on pre-Breaking geography, aside from a few small details. We discussed it recently on Theoryland, though. Most of that debate was tongue-in-cheek, since it's not likely that RJ put much thought into it. I stopped paying attention somewhere toward the end when the stupid noobs showed up.

[tlburchhardt]

I personally think that the north and south poles shifted to east and west, making there earth sideways. That would mean that Randland is the United States the waste would be Canada, and Shara would be Far north Canada and Greenland. Also, with a little world breaking that would line up RJ's Two Rivers (Charleston, SC) with Randlands Two Rivers. Seanchan would be south America and Australia or a landmass under our Antarctica. The land of Madmen is the western part of Africa. As for the rest of our world, it's all covered by ice. Have you seen the ice caps on that map? They are frickin' huge. Some may say that it's to frame the picture or whatever, but I think it was intentional.

[Leyrann]

That would be great. Most with that Two Rivers.