Geography of Fantasyland

It seems to be that lately I've been neglecting the "Dungeons" part of this blog! I shall rectify this oversight.

This is a two part post. This one will deal with the subject of Geography in the Fantasy novel, and the second post will be on the subject of Demography where I'll write concerning species, cultures, and history. The next post might be later this week or next Sunday, I have not decided which.

One key item to any fantasy story is the subject of geography; Who lives where, what are the distances involved, how does weather act, and a host of other questions. In fact one of the staples of the Fantasy genre has been the inclusion of a map at the beginning of a novel. One unfortunate result of the map tendency has been the story's reliance on the map in place of comprehensive description within the prose itself. Or rather, a dependency on using the map for understanding physical elements in the story. Should a map play such an important role in a novel? Or should the story alone be able to stand independent from such a physical representation. Furthermore, the less hard properties of climate often lack any sort of realism in a fantasy novel (for instance you might find deserts in places where they shouldn't be, tropical areas that seem out of place, or mountain ranges that appear coincidentally to the story etc.).

On my first point of geography I'll use Tolkien as an example of what I believe is one correct way to use maps. As practically everyone knows Tolkien is the main progenitor of the fantasy novel, and of course included a map of Middle Earth. While his map was useful for understanding the travels of the Fellowship, the reader could in fact read the trilogy in its entirety without so much as glancing at the map. Indeed the map served as a simple enhancement to what was written on the pages. If reading carefully a person could easily understand what direction a party was traveling in, how long it would take to get to place to place, and where places were roughly located. Furthermore the descriptions of these physical geographic characteristics in the Lord of the Rings was handled in a very entertaining and poetic way (I would point to the sections describing the Fellowship's journey south to Moria, the description of Lothlorien, and the section describing Minas Tirith and the surrounding countryside). While other books do try to describe travels the same way, often they just do the bare minimum of making sure the reader knows where everything is located and expect the Map to be used rather than as a point of interest. There is a sense that the map is supposed to occupy a key plot point. I can only say that even Tolkien took time to describe the portions of the map that were relevant; if there was a key plot point, it had it's place within the prose of the work. Examples of maps being used in a typical way would include the Dragonlance books and Eregon. Other examples where I feel maps have been used to great effect would be McCaffery's Pern books, R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series, Salvatore's Drizzt books, and of course topping all bout be Terry Pratchet's work.

Now I'll turn to the other part of geography, that of climate. As I pointed out I've read many fantasy books where there are misplaced terrains. Now there isn't exactly a reason why a jungle might be located in particular area it's just that there is no pattern as there is on Earth. I do agree that in a novel that has magic as a key point that certain areas can be magically induced (Lothlorien or Mordor for example) but I would expect that there would be certain patterns that occur; wind patterns, ocean currents, tectonic movement etc. Again to reference Tolkien, he had much of Middle Earth's climate explained by assuming that it was based in northwestern Europe (approximately). Another stunning example of the use of climate in a story would be R.R. Martin's work. "A Song of Ice and Fire" is heavily involved by the unique climate of the world and the terrain actually does follow some sort of pattern. The reader can then expect certain kinds of weather, obstacles, and events in a given area or a reader can guess where a scene is located by the description.

Now what does this say about the use of a map in a fantasy novel? Well it must be said that the use of a map has become cliche to some extent. But I feel that a map can be used in certain circumstances. A map should not be used as an 'accurate' depiction of the world, but more of an approximation. Markers for terrain can be given but always be sure to let there be enough room in interpretation so that the reader can create their own idea of the place described. A map is a tool to give an idea of the boundary and scope of the lands involved. In this way then the map is actually a supplement to the story itself instead of a page that must be constantly flipped back to in order to understand what is going on.