Where on Earth

[zerachiel76]

I've been reading the thread about links to our time in WOT and it got me thinking (dangerous I know )

 

Is the Rand continent meant to be roughly in the same location as Europe with the Western edge of Tarabon and Arad Doman roughly being the same latitude as Spain and Portugal, Cairhien and Tear being roughly the same latitude as Russia with the Spine of the World being the Urals, the Aiel waste corresponding to Central Russia, the termool corresponding to Mongolia and Shara corresponding to Siberia and China and Seanchan being North America? Or is Tremalking the remnants of Spain and Portugal and Aile Somera the remnants of Eire?

 

If so this is interesting as it shows just how far thinking Robert Jordan was in setting Rand land not in his own land but in the "Old World" of Europe. It's also interesting to me in that America is the home of the free and doesn't have kings, emperors or monachies but Seanchan has all of these?

 

If this is correct it just goes to show what a brilliant author RJ was (which we all knew anyway )

 

If the landmasses do align as I've suggested above Shayol Ghul would be in somewhere in Sweden, the UK is all under water (not good for me as I'd have to be a good swimmer) and the Two Rivers would be either in the Netherlands or North West Germany. The Sea folk isles would be all that was left of India, and Africa has completely disappeared!!

 

 

Finally I've uploaded a screenshot of the Eurasian landmass and I've coloured the Urals with a Red line and the western edge of the Central Siberian Plateau in yellow to show where the Aiel Waste would be if I'm correct (which I don't know if I am).

 

Did RJ ever confirm whereabouts the Randland continent was positioned on his Earth?

[bobarose]

I am native american,icelandic and scotish canadian.where would my roots be from?

 

hoping aeil,malkier.

[zerachiel76]

I am native american,icelandic and scotish canadian.where would my roots be from?

 

hoping aeil,malkier.

 

That would be good but if my theory is correct you'd be from Seanchan from 2 of those 3 and I think Iceland is under the sea so we'd be swimming together :)

[bobarose]

nope defiently not seachin.too quick to anger,to quick to pillage,

 

too quick to drink all the guinness.

[Blackhoof]

europe seems too thin to be randland. randland is very fat.

 

it is likely randland USED to be europe, and part of asia, but the Breaking reformed eveyhting and changed the landscape immeasurably. if you look at the world map in the BWB you can see roughly what i mean.

[Agitel]

I LOVE topics like these!

 

Most because I've done a thorough analysis of this. I've yet to do Seanchan (I WILL get around to it, I swear), but I've done the primary continent + Shara.

 

http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae117/Agitel/

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/41579-the-wot-world-compared-to-the-world-of-the-first-age-our-world/page__p__1206540__hl__world__fromsearch__1#entry1206540

 

I've updated my theories a bit more since then, particularly on Seanchan.

 

But if you compare maps of the WoT-world to maps of the real world, and actually measure distances and know the distances Jordan gave, (Randland being roughly 3,500 miles across (on the southern coast, to be particular)) you can see that from the Aryth Ocean to the Morenal Ocean is nearly the same exact distance as the distance from the Atlantic to the Pacific across Eurasia. You can clearly see southeast Asia (where it crosses the equator is a clear giveaway) and you can even see the remains of the Himalayas. The western coast also clearly matches major geographical features that you can spot on a map of the globe. It's pretty remarkable.

 

I was wrong on the Land of Madmen in that topic. It's directly south of Randland, about the same distance from the southern coast as Seanchan is from the western coast.

[zerachiel76]

Thanks Agitel, your maps are awesome and far better than anything I could have done, well done. I think Randland does correspond to Eurasia as your maps show.

[Thrasymachus]

One problem with that: Shayol Ghul. Shayol Ghul is way up in the Blight, which is pretty far north, maybe inside the Arctic Circle and landlocked. But in the Age of Legends, Shayol Ghul was a tropical island paradise and popular vacation destination. So a bit (or more) of land was shifted from south of the Tropic of Cancer to north of or near to the Arctic Circle. This makes identifying bits of Randland continents as originating from bits of our continents a bit pointless; things have just changed too much thanks to the Breaking to make such an identification meaningful. Further, you have to assume that the features of the Age of Legends continents were more or less the same as our, and that there wasn't some sort of possibly more minor "breaking" between our age and the AoL. The bulk of the main continent may have come from Antarctica for all we know, or may have been lifted from the Pacific Ocean floor while the rest of the continents subsided.

 

And Seanchan's not supposed to be that big. Maybe as big as the landmass of Europe but split into several large islands. Nowhere near as big as North and South America.

 

With all this in mind, I'd like to say that I've always liked to pretend that the Mountains of Mist, which I believe pre-date the Breaking, were the American Rocky Mountains, the Spine, which was created during the Breaking, was the result of smashing Eurasia into North America pretty much turning all of Europe into the Spine, with the rest of Asia becoming the Waste, Termool and Shara. That Shayol Ghul was originally Hawaii, and when it was shunted north and then fused into northern Canada (which becomes the Blight/Borderlands), it pulled South America to the west and Australia east, where they fused, partially sank and became the Seanchan continent/islands. Latin America/Mexico sinks and gets bent around to become the Fingers of the Dragon and Tremalking. Africa partly sinks as well and becomes Isle of Madmen. This, of course, makes the assumption that the configuration of the Age of Legends continents was mostly the same as ours.

[Agitel]

One problem with that: Shayol Ghul. Shayol Ghul is way up in the Blight, which is pretty far north, maybe inside the Arctic Circle and landlocked. But in the Age of Legends, Shayol Ghul was a tropical island paradise and popular vacation destination. So a bit (or more) of land was shifted from south of the Tropic of Cancer to north of or near to the Arctic Circle. This makes identifying bits of Randland continents as originating from bits of our continents a bit pointless; things have just changed too much thanks to the Breaking to make such an identification meaningful. Further, you have to assume that the features of the Age of Legends continents were more or less the same as our, and that there wasn't some sort of possibly more minor "breaking" between our age and the AoL. The bulk of the main continent may have come from Antarctica for all we know, or may have been lifted from the Pacific Ocean floor while the rest of the continents subsided.

 

And Seanchan's not supposed to be that big. Maybe as big as the landmass of Europe but split into several large islands. Nowhere near as big as North and South America.

 

With all this in mind, I'd like to say that I've always liked to pretend that the Mountains of Mist, which I believe pre-date the Breaking, were the American Rocky Mountains, the Spine, which was created during the Breaking, was the result of smashing Eurasia into North America pretty much turning all of Europe into the Spine, with the rest of Asia becoming the Waste, Termool and Shara. That Shayol Ghul was originally Hawaii, and when it was shunted north and then fused into northern Canada (which becomes the Blight/Borderlands), it pulled South America to the west and Australia east, where they fused, partially sank and became the Seanchan continent/islands. Latin America/Mexico sinks and gets bent around to become the Fingers of the Dragon and Tremalking. Africa partly sinks as well and becomes Isle of Madmen. This, of course, makes the assumption that the configuration of the Age of Legends continents was mostly the same as ours.

 

I have to disagree with you on all accounts other than the fact that the geography of the Age of Legends was pretty much the same as ours. Land rose. Land dropped. Seas rushed in. Seas rushed out. That's it. You didn't have pieces from what part of Earth disappearing and reappearing elsewhere. That's not what the Breaking was. As for V'sain, it was not a tropical island, it was an "idyllic island in a cool sea". We also have to keep in mind that climate and weather was completely controlled in the Age of Legends, likely making northern climates more temperate. Seanchan is a massive continent, over 4,500 miles across at its widest point in the southern hemisphere. My explanation is far simpler and actually relates incredibly well to the geography today, both in terms of distances and obvious geographical features that remained nearly the same after the Breaking. Assuming such massive tectonic drift is far more complicated and completely unnecessary when a much simpler explanation fits near perfectly.

 

Additional maps for references:

 

 

[Wheel of Thyme]

At least once in the books some evidence was given that at least some part of Manetherin MAY have been California. AT least when Perrin, after he came back to the Two Rivers through the waygates, took his Telanrnrhiod jaunt through the area, came across a place where "strange angular letters two spans high had been incised across a cliff a shade too smooth and sheer" (thats chapter 28 of The Shadow Rising, page 322 in the hardcover version). That seems quite like it could be California's Hollywood Sign.

[rand4747]

the hollywood sign is not written into a clif it is attached to a hillside.

[Shawnchan]

I seem to remember RJ saying that he lived in the Two Rivers and that Manetherin was a play on Manhattan.

[Agitel]

I seem to remember RJ saying that he lived in the Two Rivers and that Manetherin was a play on Manhattan.

 

All he meant was that the Two Rivers was based on his hometown. He didn't literally mean that the location of the Two Rivers corresponded with his town in South Carolina.