Help!

[gmtaslash]

Narnia has not been mapped to anyone's satisfaction, it appears. Every map of Narnia either makes no sense or directly contradicts events in either the books or the movies. So, because without a decent base map to work from I cannot really do my geological map, I might as well have a bash at making a base map.

I'm thinking of working bookverse because the books have extra bits of info that the films have left out etc etc. It appears that the rivers are the main problem on all of these maps; no map appears to have them in places that explain the movements of the characters throughout the stories.

I'm going to start with working out the journeys people took. If anyone can add details, suggest distances or any other kind of mapping help, I'd be really really stoked. I want this map to be as good and as *logical* as it can be. The info I'm working from is summarised below.

In LWW:

Peter, Susan and Lucy travel from the Beavers', along the riverbank, uphill to a cave, then out (meet Father Christmas) along the river some more (this is described as 'the big river' - Great River?) and then turning off south to get to the Stone Table, which is at the top of a steepish rise/flat-topped hill, to the east of which is the Sea, and which is surrounded by forest. Cair Paravel described as being at the mouth of the Great River.

Edmund goes north from the Beavers' to the Witch's House, via a tributary of the Great River(?) which flows through a gorge. The Witch's House stands on a plain between two hills. Edmund and the Witch and co then travel in an unspecified direction until they abandon the sleigh. They then continue on foot, and while meltwater is described as coursing all around them, it is mentioned that they actually cross a stream at some point. This may or may not be a mappable permanent stream. The Witch then, after some more time, calls a halt in a valley. No water course is mentioned as being in this valley. Here Edmund is rescued by the Narnians, so it appears that the Witch's camp can't have been too far from the Stone Table.

In PC:

Caspian travels southwards from Miraz's castle to Trufflehunter's den through a forest towards the mountains of Archenland. It appears that the Bulgy Bears' den (and the haunts of most of the Old Narnians) is in the mountain passes between Narnia and Archenland. Dancing Lawn seems to be quite close to this, although there is a region where Men dwell that they had to skirt to get from A to B. From Dancing Lawn they march for what I would guess is less than ten hours to Aslan's How (Stone Table), which is described as being a hill on top of another hill. This is in the Great Woods, which Miraz's men are afraid of entering. No-one has had to cross any rivers yet. Lantern Waste is described as up-river (presumably the Great River) and west of Beaversdam (presumably the same site as the Beavers' dam of LWW).

Trumpkin heads out from Aslan's How (presumably east, as the Sea is east of everywhere) through woods to the mouth of the Great River. Presumably he is following the River, as he describes cutting across country to avoid a big loop in the river.

The Pevensies and Trumpkin row south until they hit Glasswater, and then up Glasswater for an unspecified distance. They then hop into the woods. Edmund says to go northwest until they hit the Rush, which joins the Great River at Beruna. Aslan's How (Stone Table) is 'uphill' from there. When they do hit the Rush, it flows through a gorge, and they go downstream to attempt to find the Great River at the confluence and Beruna. However they are forced to go back upstream, and eventually Aslan leads them up the gorge to within half a mile of the Stone Table.

So. Anyone got anything helpful to add? I'm all tangled up in cartography!

ETA: Stuff on Lone Islands and Ettinsmoor coming later when I don't have to hide from the flatmates - I retreated to bed with the laptop and realised I didn't bring Dawn Treader or Silver Chair with me; silly Trojie!

Comments

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

oooh, that's about all I know. nice work, though :D

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

Mainly what I'm getting is that the Great River is pretty central to everything, the Glasswater is the southern-most watercourse, the Rush is a tributary of the Great River (with a confluence AND ford at Beruna, which is... beyond spasticated, actually, but no matter), and that the How/Stone Table lies west of Beruna, presumably in the V shaped wedge of land between the Rush and the Great River (i.e. south of the GR and north of the Rush).

Miraz's castle must also be south of the GR but north of the Rush, but the Rush can't extend far enough west to block Caspian's path from Miraz's castle to the passes of Archenland, so I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that they source of the Rush is in Archenland somewhere.

Beaversdam must lie on the GR to the west of the How, and Lantern Waste and Tumnus's cave to the west of Beaversdamn.

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

I like your logic!

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Methinks that tomorrow will be spent with pencil and paper trying to get a basic framework down, which can then be scanned and posted for people to poke and prod at.

[ansela-jonla.livejournal.com]

Trojie, has anyone ever told you that you're both insane and obsessed?

That said, go for it. This should be interesting, especially if/when you figure out that Narnian geography makes no sense.

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

I'm frequently told that I'm both. And the geography makes NO sense (there's a place that's both a confluence of rivers and a ford, wtf). But I shall soldier on.

[ansela-jonla.livejournal.com]

Also, I have located a map of Narnia just before the Prince Caspian part of my Chronicles of Narnia complete edition. Do you want a copy, if I can ever figure out how to work the scanner?

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

That would be raaaather spiffy if you could! My edition has no map.

[ansela-jonla.livejournal.com]

Okay. I'll do that when there's someone home who knows the password to the downstair's computer, because that's where the scanner is.

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

Score. I owe you, dude.

[ansela-jonla.livejournal.com]

That's just turned into someone who knows the password and how to keep the damned piece of shit computer from turning itself off mid-use.

Do you want it emailed or uploaded to an image hosting site?

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

Whichever suits you best, I'm not fussed.

[xxlucyferxx.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I approve. Very, very much. I have spent HOURS poring over various copies of the Narnia map and none of them make a jot of sense...it's horribly depressing and complicated.

If I have time in between work and the assignments I'm currently putting off, I'll do some research and see if I can dig up anything useful for you.

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that'd be really helpful :)

[tea-fiend.livejournal.com]

"The Glasswater" sounds like you think it's a river. It's not. It's an English style creek, not an American style one.

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

I dunno what either of those really is; a creek here is a smallish watercourse, generally small enough to, if not step over, at least walk through without getting much of your legs wet, until winter, that is, when they tend to get a bit bigger and faster depending on how much rain we've had. In summer they may dry up to a trickle.

However, it was big enough to row a boat containing four children and a dwarf up, which makes me suspect that it's a bit bigger than an NZ creek usually is.