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Left-Justified Fantasy Map: Difference between revisions
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Ever noticed how many [[Fantasy World Map|fantasy maps]] will detail the ocean on the left, western side? In many cases there won't even be an eastern or northern shore; however, there may be a southern shore.
There are several possible reasons for this. For European writers, the Atlantic Ocean is on the left, so this may come into play toward influencing the '''Left
The real reason for this, of course, is that [[Sturgeon's Law|ninety percent]] of fantasy settings are [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]s of [[Medieval European Fantasy|Medieval Europe]], where the ocean was, naturally, on the left - for the same reason, the North is often a [[Grim Up North|barren tundra full of barbarian tribes]] and the East a mysterious land whence [[Born in the Saddle|ride]] the [[Hordes From the East]]. Another explanation is that ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' [[Follow the Leader|did it first]]. (Note: The Frank Baum series of OZ books had maps illustrated with east and west flipped. However, the only ocean, the Nonestic, is in the far east as Oz proper is technically land-locked.)
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See also: [[Patchwork Map]]; [[Standard Fantasy Setting]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Slayers]]''{{context}}
* Inverted in ''[[Naruto]]'', where the ocean is on the East side of the map.
** Which makes perfect sense because in Asia, the ocean is on the ''East'' side.
* Entirely ignored in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', despite being set in what is obviously a European analog. Amestris is land locked, and surrounded by lots of much larger countries.
== Comic Books ==
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* ''[[Redwall]]''
** Although occasionally when we see a full map of <s>Scotland</s> the Northlands, such as in ''Martin the Warrior'', we do see a northern and eastern coast as well. It's just that the bulk of the action takes place in Mossflower, which is on the western coast of the landmass and further south - it's roughly triangular, like Great Britain, on which it's based.
* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]''. There are oceans to the west and the south, with either evil powers or mysterious desert lands in the other two principal directions.
* ''[[Shannara|The Sword Of Shannara]]''. Justified: It's actually the Pacific Northwest [[After the End]].
* ''[[Bored of the Rings]]'' (But mainly because it was aping and satirizing the style of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. The map actually has less relation to the story than to the [[Rule of Funny]].)
* Inverted in [[C. S.
* ''[[Spellsinger]]''{{context}}
* Used in the book ''Gifts'' by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]].
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* Both ''[[The Belgariad]]'' and ''[[The Elenium]]'' provide world maps like this. Interestingly, their respective sequels both take place on the then-charted lands of the far east, complete with maps. It should be noted that Eddings takes world-building very seriously.
* Avoided in ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' Pern is an earth-like planet, with oceans surrounding continents and such.
* ''[[The Riddle
* ''Literally'' inverted in ''[[The Tough Guide to Fantasyland]]''. At first glance it looks like an aversion, with the ocean on the right. But turn the book upside down...
* Subverted in the ''[[Earthsea]]'' series, where the ocean lies to the west, east, north, ''and'' south. In fact, the whole planet is ocean, aside from a dense scattering of islands.
* The Sea of Knowledge in ''[[The Phantom Tollbooth]]'' is located to the east; to the west are the Lands Beyond (i.e., our world). This is no doubt linking the Enlightenment of knowledge with the rising sun.
* Since ''Dies the Fire'' and it's squeals mostly take place on pacific coast, it also follows this trope. However, ''The Scourge of God'' takes place in the midwest, and thus has no coasts (Unless counting the Great Lakes) and then the ''Sword of the Lady'' roams from the Mississippi to the East Coast, thus avoiding the trope. Also, since it takes place on an Altenate History Earth, there do exist several maps that detail the rest of the world, at least in universe.
* While [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' is fully-designed, it started out as a left-justified fantasy map because the Hub is analogous to the North and [[The City|Ankh-Morpork]] and the Circle Sea are on the Turnwise (I.E., west-analogous) side of The Continent. Despite having created a China-esque continent surrounded by a South Pacific ocean (which is, [[The Longitude Problem|oddly enough]], the first major land mass ''turnwise'' from A.M.) and a continent which [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|in no way is intended to resemble Australia]], though it may be a bit Australia-like here and there, it remains a Left Justified Fantasy Map because the Widdershins end of The Continent has never been shown past [[
* Although the only part of the ocean anyone talks about is to the west, the land in''[[Broken Sky]]'' actually averts this, being surrounded on three sides by the ocean. This actually becomes a plot point during the [[Final Battle]]: {{spoiler|when [[Big Bad|King Macaan]] activates a device that summons (and enrages) the very, very large sea monsters inhabiting the western ocean, the device is on the eastern shore, so the monsters will have to [[Taking You with Me|trek through (and destroy) the rest of the country on the way]]. One of the biggest, and craftiest, beasties is smart enough to swim around the country and approach from the opposite direction, showing up right at the high point of the fight.}}
* Justified by Hyborian-age Earth in the original ''[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]]'' stories, as Robert E. Howard's mythos was set in a time after Atlantis sank but before known ancient civilizations had arisen, using Europe, Asia, and Africa as a model.
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* In the ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' series, the Great Journey map has the sea to the southwest.
* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', the primary setting of Westeros is the westernmost landmass. Even though the Ironmen live off that west coast and are the dominant sea-farers in that part of the world, sailing West is never even presented as an option.
== Tabletop Games ==
* The Old World in [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] is a not-very-subtle version of Europe (and beyond), so the layout is much the same as a real-world map. As the primary focus is on the Empire (Germany), Bretonnia (France) and the frozen, inhospitable wastelands only inhabited by desperate, drunk and brutal deformed humans (Scandinavia), that's what most of the maps show. If you look at a map of the whole world, it looks no less familiar (you just get approximations of the other continents as well).
* [[Exalted]]'s map works like this. In fact, there's literally nothing beyond the western border these days except the "Elemental Pole of Water" and primordial chaos.
* The ''[[Dungeons
** Faerûn's east coast at the Great Ice Sea does appear on some maps as well, although it generally fulfills the trope. Later maps do show the entire planet, however, so it's more a case that the Faerûnian continent 'traditional map' fulfills the trope, but the actual world and setting does not.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Paratext]]
[[Category:Left
[[Category:Map Tropes]]
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