Randland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Randland is a name adopted by fans to refer to the imaginary world of The Wheel of Time fantasy book series by Robert Jordan, and is derived from the name of the central character Rand al'Thor.
More specifically, it often refers to The Westlands, the main area of Randland's main continent between the Aryth Ocean and the Spine of the World---although forgotten places are mentioned in the east. Like many other writers, Robert Jordan never officially names his world, so in lieu of another name Randland has come into accepted common usage so fans have something to call it.
Although no scale appeared on the maps in the books themselves, a scale did appear on the world map (page 146) of the guidebook accompanying the series, The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. The scale on this map suggests that the distance from the edge of the continent on the west to The Spine of the World in the east is approximately 3,500 miles. This concurs broadly with the designers who worked on The Wheel of Time roleplaying game, who suggested a scale of 1"=400 miles on the colour endpaper maps in the hardback editions of the books. Thus, by their calculations as well, Randland measures roughly 3,500 miles from the west coast to the Spine of the World.
A reliable way of measuring the maps was produced in the prequel novel New Spring, which gave the straight-line distance from Tar Valon to the sea south of Tear as 400 leagues (1,600 miles).
[edit] See also
Places in the Wheel of Time series
