Westeros is now included in the map collection of MapChart, split into the territories of all the Houses in the universe of Game of Thrones and the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R.R. Martin. You can find it here.
A short introduction first:
Around March 2011, I read an article on IGN that detailed a new, upcoming show from HBO, set in the universe of a not-so-well-known at the time fantasy novel series. Being a long-time LotR fan and an avid role-playing videogames player, I was immediately curious. Especially since I saw that it featured a medieval setting with castles, dragons and magical wolves. So, long story short, I watched the first pilot episode, which got me so hooked that the next day I bought the first book (Game of Thrones) and went on to read all four books available at the time before the first season even ended!
From then on, I have read almost all the material released from GRRM, delved into every theory available on the various forums and subreddits, and rambled on about them to my friends for a long time. I also played the table-top game and spent over 100 hours on the Europa Universalis Game of Thrones mod. The disappointment from the last two seasons’ writing may have been immense, but I am still a believer that we will get a satisfying ending to match our expectations (and not just subvert them 😉 ).
So, as you may understand, it is only natural that Westeros is the first fantasy map included in my other passion, the MapChart website!
I will get into the details of how the map was designed in a future post. It involved many steps and it should be helpful for people that want to learn more about designing their own maps. For now, some details about the new Westeros map:
I) It features:
- 172 territories of all the Houses of Westeros
- 9 major cities (capitals of the Kingdoms plus King’s Landing)
- 111 secondary cities, as well as some important story locations (Land of Always Winter, Tower of Joy, Harrenhal, God’s Eye, and others)
- Switches at the left-hand side to show/hide the cities and their name labels
II) The borders of the territories and the locations of the cities are based on pre-existing fan maps, as well as the aSoIaF wiki. They show the situation in Westeros at the start of the show/first book (year 298 AC). Since there is no official map available that shows this accurately, some of them may be a bit arbitrary.
III) Essos will be included into the map in a future update. The borders there are even harder to get right, but I will try to work on it in time.
IV) I am considering some additions, like adding House sigils, but I need first to check if it makes the map too convoluted.
Having said that, this new Game of Thrones map will let you create your own Westeros map easily and for free. It can also serve as a reference to visualize the various regions and cities.
Here are some example Westeros maps that I created for fun:
The map that shows the extent of the various Kingdoms in A Song of Ice and Fire, which you can check at the start of this post.
A map that shows the locations of the main POV characters at the start of the first book:
A choropleth map that shows the military power statistics for each major Game of Thrones House:
Finally, my favourite one, an alternative War of The Five Kings map:
On the last map, you can see the possible situation after Stannis comes out victorious from the Battle of the Blackwater. Having secured the Crownlands and large swathes of the Riverlands, Stormlands and Westerlands regions, he is now facing Dorne at the South and Robb Stark’s Forces that are coming from the North. Meanwhile, the defeated Lannisters struggle to keep their main fortresses at the west. The more powerful houses of the Reach are still loyal to Renly Baratheon, while the plan of the Ironborn to target Winterfell is underway.
Feel free to visit the new Westeros map on MapChart, to make your own Game of Thrones map with the best detail and accuracy. Make your own alternate scenarios, show statistics, and explore the geography and politics of Westeros with this simple, free tool!