Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,510
edits
Left-Justified Fantasy Map: Difference between revisions
→Anime
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (removed Category:Left Justified Fantasy Map; added Category:Left-Justified Fantasy Map using HotCat) |
(→Anime) |
||
| (2 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
Line 4:
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.)
Line 11:
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 ==
Line 30:
* ''[[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]].
Line 57:
* 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 ==
| |||