{"id":4860,"date":"2017-09-27T14:57:39","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T18:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=4860"},"modified":"2020-09-13T13:52:35","modified_gmt":"2020-09-13T17:52:35","slug":"the-territory-is-not-the-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/09\/the-territory-is-not-the-map\/","title":{"rendered":"The Territory Is Not the Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>here’s something I’ve noticed<\/span> about the recent round of debates about fantasy maps, something I’ve been noticing about discussions of fantasy maps in general. They don’t talk about fantasy maps in terms of their cartographic merit. That is to say, they don’t judge fantasy maps as maps<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When Alex Acks vents about fantasy maps<\/a>, it’s because the mountain ranges in Middle-earth don’t make sense<\/a>, not because the cartography of Pauline Baynes or Christopher Tolkien wasn’t up to the task. It’s more that the territory is shaped to fit the story rather than the other way around, less that the maps of said territory frequently lack a scale. When Boing Boing<\/em>\u2019s Rob Beschizza says<\/a> that “Game of Thrones<\/em> has such a terrible map it could be presented as a parody of bad fantasy maps,” he’s not saying that the cartography of the various Song of Ice and Fire<\/em> mapmakers, such as Jonathan Roberts (The Lands of Ice and Fire<\/em><\/a>), James Sinclair (books one through four) or Jeffrey L. Ward (A Dance with Dragons<\/em>), is deficient. He’s saying that the Game of Thrones<\/em> geography is terrible.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Fantasy maps,” writes Adrian Daub<\/a>, “are invented, but not all that inventive. Virtually all of them repeat certain features. The way coastlines, mountain ranges, and islands are arranged follows rules. For instance: a surprising number of fantasy worlds contain vast landmasses in the east, but only an endless ocean to the west.”<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

They’re not critiquing the map, they’re critiquing the territory.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen this before. When people talk about their favourite fantasy maps, they’re not actually talking about their favourite work of cartography; they’re talking about a map of their favourite fantasy place. Harry Potter fans like the Marauder’s Map<\/a> because it’s a Harry Potter map, not because it’s a particularly fine example of fantasy cartography.<\/p>\n

And if in certain critical circles the fantasy map has a rather bad reputation, it’s not because of the quality of the cartography. It’s because fantasy novels are expected<\/em> to come with maps<\/a>. It’s become a clich\u00e9<\/a>, thanks to multi-volume epic fantasy series that are basically derivative Tolkien clones: Tolkien had maps, so they have to as well. The presence of a map at the front of a fantasy novel signifies that this fantasy novel is the kind that comes with a map, i.e., an epic fantasy series. Whether you like or dislike fantasy maps often comes down to whether you like or dislike those kinds of books.<\/p>\n

In all of this the question of the maps themselves gets elided a bit. If fantasy maps are bad because they’re ubiquitous<\/em>, because they’re often unnecessary<\/em>, or because they depict a risibly unconvincing terrain, are they also bad because of their design? As I said earlier, we’ve conflated the map with the territory, in a way that real-world cartographers would find confusing: your opinion of a map of Italy doesn’t depend on whether the Boot is a convincing example of a peninsula.<\/p>\n

This is an example of a bad fantasy map:<\/p>\n

\"\"
Terry Goodkind, Wizard’s First Rule<\/i><\/a> (New York: Tor, 1994).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But why<\/em> is it a bad fantasy map? Is it bad because the terrain is so ridiculously, implausibly mountainous? Or is it bad because the cartography is so poor? The map is drowning in undifferentiated hill signs: is that a fault of the author’s cartography or of his geography?<\/p>\n

Which brings up the question of fantasy map design. “What does a fantasy map look like?”\u2014or more to the point, “What is a fantasy map supposed<\/em> to look like?”\u2014is a question I get a lot, especially from beginner fantasy writers who want to Get It Right. I always demur, partly because I don’t want to set myself up as the judge of such things, partly because I don’t want to perpetuate fantasy clich\u00e9s, and partly because I’m not actually sure. Because it turns out that for the most part, fantasy map design is unexplored territory.<\/p>\n

In his study of fantasy maps and settings, Here Be Dragons<\/em><\/a>, Stefan Ekman talks a little bit about it: using a sample of fantasy maps, he explores whether and how often various cartographic elements, like hill signs or cartouches, are present. His study allowed him to make the following remarks about the “typical” fantasy map:<\/p>\n

In brief, a typical fantasy map portrays a secondary world, a compass rose or similar device showing its orientation with north at the top. It is not set in any given hemisphere (not necessarily in a spherical world at all), although there are reasons to believe that clues in the text would indicate north as the direction of colder climates. Apart from topographical map elements such as rivers, bays, islands, and mountains, such a map would also contain towns and other artificial constructions. The hill signs used are typically pre-Enlightenment (either profile or oblique).<\/p>\n

Even this brief list reveals the mixture of modern and historical map features. Like much high fantasy, the secondary-world maps follow a pseudomedieval aesthetic according to which dashes of pre-Enlightenment mapping conventions are rather routinely added to a mostly modern creation. Whether this is because of careless research, genre conformity, lack of imagination, or a desire to give the reader the easiest possible access to the map and the world it portrays is hard to say.<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the end, it’s tautological: fantasy maps are designed to look like fantasy maps. An endless series of variations on a single theme: as the inadvertent holotype for maps of derivative fantasy worlds, Christopher Tolkien’s original map of Middle-earth has a lot to answer for. We talk about fantasy map geography<\/em>\u2014the territory\u2014because insofar as the cartography<\/em> is concerned, there’s very little to say.<\/p>\n

Because what a fantasy map looks like is received wisdom. And more to the point, that received wisdom is accepted without question or second thought. For an example of this, consider the many examples of real-world maps done “in the style of fantasy maps.” An incomplete list would include Samuel Fisher’s maps of Australia<\/a>, Great Britain<\/a>, Iceland<\/a> and the United States<\/a> on Reddit; Callum Ogden’s map of Europe<\/a> “in a Fantasy Tolkien Style”; and map prints sold at Etsy stores like CartoArt<\/a>, Mapsburgh<\/a> and Parnasium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We know these are done in the fantasy map style because, like obscenity, we know it when we see it. The trouble is that we don’t seem to be able to enunciate what that style is, where it comes from, or what the rules are. There’s a design language here, but the rules are understood, sometimes a bit subconsciously, rather than perceived.<\/p>\n

Read Callum Ogden’s article on how he created the Lord of the Rings<\/em>-style map of Scotland<\/a> and you realize that what’s going on here is mimicry: the quality of the map depends on skill of the mimic and the quality of the original being mimicked. The problem there is that sometimes the original is itself a copy. Like an extruded-product fantasy trilogy based on a warmed-over D&D campaign, the final result is just a few too many steps away from anything vaguely resembling original source material.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>If you want an example of how this can happen, consider a book that ought<\/em> to be about fantasy map design, but isn’t: Jared Blando’s How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Impact<\/a>, 2015) is about fantasy map execution<\/em>. That important difference means that Blando’s book operates on the shared assumptions behind the default fantasy map design, but does not define, explain or interrogate them. Rather, this is a book that will hold the hand of people who want to make their maps look like fantasy maps\u2014the people asking me to tell them what their map should look like will find in this book the answer they’re looking for, but not necessarily the answer they need.<\/p>\n

Lavishly illustrated, How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps<\/em> is not a manual for professional artists or cartographers; the intended audience is signalled in the book’s subtitle: Step by Step Cartography for Gamers and Fans<\/em>. (To be honest, my study of fantasy maps has ignored the vast quantities of mapmaking done for role-playing games, both published and homebrewed. I had to draw the line somewhere.) As a guide to mapmaking it’s less useful than you might expect. Blando’s method is to start with the blank page and add, one after the other, the various elements until the map is finished. Start with the basic shape of the continent<\/a>, then refine the coastline. Add detail like lakes, islands and bays. Trace the line of the mountain range, then add detail. Start with a basic drawing, then add detail. It’s the fantasy map equivalent of drawing everything by starting with a bunch of circles.<\/p>\n

While the book assumes a shared understanding of what a fantasy map ought to look like, within those parameters it isn’t prescriptivist. The author does not lay down rules: elements are described as fun, a great way of adding something to the map, and so forth.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> It’s really up to you. And in the context of a private D&D campaign, there’s really nothing wrong with this approach: Blando is basically giving gamers a list of elements to include on the maps of their campaigns, and getting out of their way.<\/p>\n

But the fantasy map method is not limited to role-playing games: there’s plenty of genetic exchange between game worlds and novel worlds. Games have become novels, and vice versa. With the short shrift given to landforms in Blando’s guide, it’s easy to see where critiques of fantasy geographies like Acks’s can come from: a map whose creation started with “draw a simple shape” is only going to result in a geologically or geographically plausible continent by accident.<\/p>\n

In other words, it’s not the map that’s the problem, it’s the mapmaking process. It’s not the cartography, it’s the act of creation.<\/p>\n

We can’t expect Blando’s beginner-level drawing guide to serve as a primer for fantasy cartography. But it offers a possible explanation as to how the fantasy map making process<\/em> yields a map that ends up being called terrible: as an example of how fantasy map shibboleths are invisibly received and propagated, and of what fantasy mapmakers don’t<\/em> think about, it is, ironically, quite revealing.<\/p>\n

(Featured image: Impact Books<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Critiques of fantasy maps have more to do with the shortcomings of fantasy worlds than the maps that depict them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[30,87,31,1475],"class_list":["post-4860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-maps-and-literature","tag-books","tag-fantasy-map-design","tag-fantasy-maps","tag-toujfeat"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/blando-example.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1811454,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/01\/new-fantasy-novel-the-map-and-the-territory\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":0},"title":"New Fantasy Novel: The Map and the Territory","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"12 January 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"I\u2019m always interested in fantasy novels in which maps play a role beyond the endpapers\u2014where maps or mapmakers are a key element of the story. So I\u2019m noting for future reference The Map and the Territory by A. M. Tuomala (Candlemark and Gleam, Dec. 2022), which has a wizard and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Book cover: The Map and the Territory by A. M. Tuomala","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tuomala-map-territory-99x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6023,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2015\/09\/real-world-vs-fantasy-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":1},"title":"Real World vs. Fantasy Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"19 September 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"In my study of fantasy maps, one thing I'm particularly interested in is the difference between fantasy maps and their real-world counterparts. Those differences can be substantial; at some point I hope to go into a bit more depth about them. Meanwhile, James Hinton's guest post at The Worldbuilding School\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787906,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/10\/a-fantasy-maps-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":2},"title":"A Fantasy Maps Update","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 October 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"It\u2019s been a while since my last post. That\u2019s because I spent most of last week with my head down, working on a presentation about fantasy maps for a science fiction\/fantasy convention that took place over the weekend. The presentation was called \u201cThe Territory Is Not the Map: Exploring the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1789658,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-more-real-world-fantasy-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":3},"title":"Lord of Maps: More Real-World Fantasy Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 November 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Here\u2019s another map artist who draws maps of real-world places in the style of fantasy maps: Isaac of Lord of Maps has around 30 maps\u2014mostly of U.S. states, but also a few countries and one city\u2014available for sale as prints of various sizes. Style-wise they\u2019re dead ringers for Christopher Tolkien\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-ky-1024x499.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-ky-1024x499.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-ky-1024x499.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-ky-1024x499.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5187,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/10\/the-perplexing-river-systems-of-middle-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":4},"title":"‘The Perplexing River Systems of Middle-earth’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 October 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Having ruffled fannish feathers with a post critiquing Middle-earth's mountains and another admitting that\u00a0they don't like fantasy maps, Alex Acks returns with a Tor.com post about the problems with Middle-earth's river systems. Specifically, the Anduin, which breaks all kinds of hydrological rules: it cuts across mountain ranges (and parallels the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2289,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/06\/a-fantasy-map-of-north-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":4860,"position":5},"title":"A Fantasy Map of North America","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 June 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The latest map of the real world done in the style of fantasy maps (remember: fantasy maps have a distinct style), at least that I've encountered, is this map of North America offered by Etsy seller Aoraki Maps. (They also have one of the southeastern U.S.) The style is very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"aoraki-fantasy-north-america","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/aoraki-fantasy-north-america-1024x734.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/aoraki-fantasy-north-america-1024x734.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/aoraki-fantasy-north-america-1024x734.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/aoraki-fantasy-north-america-1024x734.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4860"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1789278,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4860\/revisions\/1789278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}