Game of Thrones Map Problems

As I mentioned in the intro I also like to do analsys of maps from fantasy, places that never were. One problem is that they could probably have never existed drawn up as they are.

Yes, this is a nitpick. Let me state that I did like Game of Thrones, and I quite liked the first episode of the adaptation being shown on HBO (only one thus far as I write this).

Alright. The maps of westeros are... somewhat problematic. They look like something someone drew up on two dimensions without thinking things through fully in three-dimensional or hydrological terms. Specifically the map has a tendency to have rivers that cross like 95% of the landmass (still don't think it is quite continent-sized) to get close to the other shore. Now while that does indeed happen in places (e.g., the Amazon's source is near the Pacific Ocean... but this means there must be sufficient elevation as rivers do not flow uphill. The Andes Mountains provide this. This is a key point in my issue.

Starting with the Southern section of Westeros:

Click on image for a larger version

okay, so the Mander River which flows out in to the west, crosses most of the reach and rises in the woods near Storm's End near the Blackwater Rush. This means, therefore the divide between the east and west coasts must pass between here. THis also means that this particular location must be higher in elevation than any point further downstream on the Mander... despite it being so close to the other coast. One would expect hills or even mountains (ala the Andes for the Amazon) but there are none depicted. Therefore we must conclude that the reach of westeros is rather flat, so the difference in elevation, while significant, is not great. This would suggest a slow-moving river.. and indeed the name, "Mander" suggests this might be the case, as in "meander".

Okay, but we're just starting. The Blackwater Rush one might imagine to be a swifter-flowing river, with a greater elevation change resulting in a swifter river. It at least is shown to rise near mountains. So our divide must make a sharp turn west to get around the Blackwater (I write it as if it is the divide, moving to accommodate the rivers, but of course it is the other way around). Moving north, that brings us to the rivers of the trident. The Red Fork and Tumblestone are shown having headwaters in mountains, all good. But then we get the Blue and Green Forks, and here it gets bad. Both of them almost reach the other coast. Both of them are shown as rising in swamps. If we are to accept this... then we must surmise high sea cliffs, with swamps atop them, all so our rivers can descend from these high swamps and flow eastward. Our continental divide thus must hug the west coast all the way up the neck. We are told that these coasts are ones raided the viking-like folk from the Iron Islands, however, to the point of having a bay named after them ("Ironman's Bay"). Its either that or a reference to a long-lost Stark brother named Tony.

If we proceed to the north, we see that the very same swamp the Green Fork rises in also gives rise to a river which flows into the western coast, into a bay named Saltspear. I presume this to be a fjord, because of the cliffs (and because vikings and fjords go together. as to why vikings and iron do... well, descendants of vikings settled in Minnesota, which has a lot of iron. but I digress). So this swamp must somehow encompass both sides of our subcontinental divide. Whatever change in elevation is taken by the Green Fork, it is duplicated by this short, unnamed river flowing into the Saltspear, albeit in maybe one fiftieth of the distance. Its not a river, it is a waterfall.

This problem is hardly unique... if you look at the world of greyhawk you'll see a three rivers, the Dulsii, the Black Water and the Opicm that all rise in the Cold Marshes that border the Icy Sea. The waters of these marshes, rather than flow into the icy sea, instead takes a marathon route into Whysetil Lake, down another river into the Nyr Dyv, and finally down another two rivers (the Nyr Div having two completely different outlets to the sea is hard enough to accept as it is) to the sea. So this means these cold marshes are higher than any of these points in this southerly route. And from there it has to somehow descend down to sea level.