Whether you're reading a fantasy novel or playing a game, it's crucial to understand where your characters are on their journeys. That's why the fantasy map has become a genre of its own. Here are some of the most outstanding and classic maps of imaginary worlds.


Beautiful Video Game World Maps World maps in video games are usually pretty great. We love world maps! You can use them to track… Read more

The Land of Oz


This map of the Land of Oz first appeared in Tik Tok of Oz, and was one of the first maps to be included with a fantasy novel. Note the directions east and west have been switched. Because — Oz!

Map of The Lands Beyond from The Phantom Tollbooth

This is the land that our hero Milo visits in The Phantom Tollbooth after building a strange tollbooth that comes in the mail, driving through it in a toy car, and finding himself in a bizarre land of puns, games, and incredible drawings (including this map) by Jules Pfeiffer.

World of Greyhawk from Dungeons and Dragons


This map came with the World of Greyhawk Dungeons & Dragons module, and was poster-sized so that all the young D&D fans like myself could pin it to our walls next to posters of our favorite bands.

Myst


Here is the classic view of Myst island from the first game, which came out in the 1990s on CD-ROM. This game is still famous for its gorgeous design and maps.


Often you needed to understand these kinds of maps before solving the puzzles and brain teasers that highlighted the gameplay.


These are just a few of the many, many beautiful maps that came out of the Myst universe.

Westeros and Essos from Game of Thrones

The Game of Thrones TV series showed its dedication to the fantasy genre by turning the all-important map at the front of the novels into the series' opening credits. The credits change over each season, bringing new regions into play. This is an extended version of the credits from seasons 1 and 2, showing all the castles.

And here are the latest credits, with new castles!


Above is an incredible map by Redditors serMountainGoat and PrivateMajor of all the journeys taken in the novels.


Realms of Thought from Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge


Though Vernor Vinge's novel A Fire Upon the Deep (followed by prequel A Deepness in the Sky and sequel Children of the Sky) is science fiction, there is a somewhat fantastical element to the series. Vinge suggests that different regions of the galaxy have different physical laws which he dubs the "zones of thought": in the Beyond, we have faster-than-light travel, as well as hyperintelligent computers; in the Slow Zone, ship speeds are limited and AI sucks; and nobody knows what's going on in the Unthinking Depths, but we're guessing it's probably not good. All advanced civilizations live at the edges of the galaxy's volume in the Beyond.


Middle Earth, from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings


Like the Wizard of Oz, Lord of the Rings was a turning point in the history of fantasy map-making. J.R.R. Tolkien was a master world-builder, creating several conlangs (constructed languages) for his races as well as a world so detailed that many, many people have created their own maps of it over the decades. This map, which shows regions important to the action in Lord of the Rings, was created by NLopezArt and is available on Etsy.


And here's a more complete map of Middle Earth and Undying Lands via Gamereplays

Alternate Europe and Middle East, from the Kushiel series by Jaqueline Carey


In Jaqueline Carey's Kushiel series, our heroes wander across a region that is an alternate history version of Europe and the Middle East. This is a typical way to fashion fantasy maps, but is particularly well-realized in this series of nine novels. As one fan helpfully notes on the Terre D'Ange proboards, there is a simple one-to-one correspondence between these places and the actual regions:

Countries The Flatlands- The Benelux, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium.

Skaldia -Germany, Russia and Scandinavia

Terre D'Ange - France

Alba - Great Britain

Eire - Ireland

Aragonia - Spain

Caerdicca Unitas - Italy

Kriti - Crete

Hellas - Greece

Carthage - Northen Africa

Nubia -Sudan

The Umaiyyat - Saudi Arabia

Menekhet - Egypt

Bhodistani- India

The Chowat- Romania, Ukraine...etc.

Ephesus - Hungary

Saba - Possibly Zaire.

Drujan - Syria, Iran and Iraq Cities and places La Serenissima - In the Renaissance period, Venice(Italy) was called 'La Serenissima'

Marsilikos - Possibly Marseille

Tiberium -The Tiber is a river running to Rome. But Tiberium was a Roman Emperor

Milazza - Milano/Milan

Epidauro - Constanople

Nineveh - Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire

Meroe - The kingdom of Meroe existed in 1,200 years, only to continue in the shape of the kingdom of Nubia

Iskandria - Iskander was the old name for Alexander the Great.

Tyre - An old island city, with also settlement on the mainland. Phoenician Tyre was queen of the seas, an island city of unprecedented splendor.


Earthsea from the Earthsea Chronicles by Ursula K. LeGuin

This image was lost some time after publication, but you can still view it here


Here's the map that appears in A Wizard of Earthsea, the first book in the Earthsea series. It's about a world made up of a series of islands, where magic is a fact of life, the land of the dead is a real place, and young women are sometimes dragons. The series began as a set of young adult novels, but the later books are more like adult fantasy novels.


This slightly more detailed map is from Ursula K. LeGuin's website.

Azeroth from World of Warcraft


There are a lot of beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) maps of Azeroth out there, but few give you a sense of the world as a planet, the way Brazilian fan artist Joâo Marques' globe does.


Here it is in more detail.

City Map of Luccini for a Role Playing Game


This gorgeous map was created for a role-playing game by artist Paolo Manzini. Any time a GM is willing to make something this lovely and detailed, you know the game is going to rule.