tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post309947622004041766..comments2024-03-22T19:07:21.790+00:00Comments on The Wertzone: A size comparison of fantasy worldsAdam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-4739229759333733572012-11-12T17:32:06.600+00:002012-11-12T17:32:06.600+00:00This is not Middle-Earth. It's just a part of ...This is not Middle-Earth. It's just a part of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-79975784848093551242012-11-12T11:19:30.187+00:002012-11-12T11:19:30.187+00:00I'd always assumed a league was 3 miles. All t...I'd always assumed a league was 3 miles. All the old people I know (ie educated pre decimalisation) seem to agree on that. Encyclopaedia Britannica seems to say 3 miles was the standard in English speaking countries but that the distance of a mile varied a fair amount.<br /><br />Fact in, most people in medieval and post mediaeval society seldom went more than a days journey from where they lived, so the concept of a 200 league journey would be about as nonsensical as a trip to the moon.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09622441892958864311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-84719561980289579692012-11-11T10:36:38.878+00:002012-11-11T10:36:38.878+00:00Very interesting post. No surprise about small dis...Very interesting post. No surprise about small distances and time period of LOTR - the book is itself very small if compared to contemporary fantasy series. <br /><br /><br /><br />And shame, that Jo Abercrombie has no global map.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-42703587420381790562012-11-10T21:16:33.427+00:002012-11-10T21:16:33.427+00:00A league is supposedly the distance a man can walk...A league is supposedly the distance a man can walk in an hour - so perhaps Jordan assumes that the people in his world are either generally larger or more used to travelling than those in Tolkien and Martin's worlds...Saishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872701560711775019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-34011115409220707462012-11-10T16:51:40.682+00:002012-11-10T16:51:40.682+00:00It's worth remembered that Lord of the Rings a...It's worth remembered that Lord of the Rings also covers a small amount of time compared to other fantasies (six months compared to ASoIaF's 3 years so far, WoT's 2.5 years so far) etc. There's been significant analysis of the time that's passed in the WoT books and the distances people walked/rode and it does all track (although it's still all only possible due to the advent of teleportation magic halfway through the series).<br /><br />The justification for Midkemia is that the population levels of the continent are absolutely tiny. The Empire of Kesh has 5 million people according to one of the books, outnumbering the Kingdom by about 3-1, which is laughably tiny compared to medieval Europe. Why the population is so tiny is never really addressed.<br /><br />As for Malazan, Steven Erikson has never explained what the 'leagues' are on the maps that he uses. Leagues don't have a set value, with Tolkien and Martin using 3 miles = 1 league and Jordan 4 miles = 1 league, whilst real life sometimes had more than 10 miles to one league. Until Erikson clarifies that, it's not possible to compare the sizes of his continents with these other ones.Adam Whiteheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-65928717048749926762012-11-10T15:27:29.171+00:002012-11-10T15:27:29.171+00:00Any idea on how the Malazan world would compare?Any idea on how the Malazan world would compare?Toddnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-48886462039724628702012-11-10T14:26:25.298+00:002012-11-10T14:26:25.298+00:00Perhaps because Middle-Earth (or the part of it we...Perhaps because Middle-Earth (or the part of it we see) actually has realistic distances that could be travelled in the time-scales mentioned. If people actually walked at real walking pace in Randland, we'd still be halfway through the first book...<br /><br />...dear lord, the Kingdom of the Isles is ridiculously big. Social and political structures of a small medieval fiefdom, actually covers the whole of Asia... and that's not Triagia in that map, that's just the middle bit of it. There's a huge expanse south (Kesh) and north. There's a map showing the entire continent here: http://www.elvandar.com/world.htmWastrelhttp://vacuouswastrel.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-24087534973821290672012-11-10T13:57:17.752+00:002012-11-10T13:57:17.752+00:00Cool. A lot of authors have no sense of scale :)
...Cool. A lot of authors have no sense of scale :) <br /><br />Maybe add a map of Europe as a comparison?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com