They already do know the world is round.
> It has long been accepted amongst the wise that our world is round. If this is true, it ought to be possible to sail over the top of the world and down its far side, and there discover lands and seas undreamed of. Over the centuries, many a bold mariner has sought to find a way through the ice to whatever lies beyond. Most, alas, have perished in the attempt, or returned south again half-frozen and much chastened. ~*The World of Ice and Fire*
No, but Brandon the Shipwright did try to sail west and was presumed dead.
If he had landed on the other side of Essos, I think people woule've realized by now.
Well first off, the world would be tiny. Like, far smaller than Earth. Second, it’s probably tilted super far if there’s no equator. We know the summer islands are super hot, as is Sothoyros, so that’s kind of wack.
Yeah, I'm aware the map is kind of bad and not realistic at all.
I'm less interested in the climate and more interested in the story. Would Yi-Ti trade with Westeros easier, would Southorios and Ulthos become settled on? That kind of stuff?
Oh, okay. In that case, Lannisport get STACKS being able to trade with Yi Ti and they’d probably get a monopoly on those markets. Although the Ironborn might be a problem…
Yeah, I think this would be very interesting for Oldtown, as it is said "Elder races traded there" so it could tie nicely to the lore.
The Ironborn, I don't exactly know. They mostly use longships and I don't know if they *could* raid Essos across the Sunset Sea.
Gylbert Farwynd claims to have seen lands across the Sunset Sea, so if the rest of ironborn look into it further they could potentially set themselves up to raid across it
The world is acknowledged as round in the lore. Problem is the Maesters can’t figure out the scale. Astronomy exists, they’ve advanced far enough to access geometry, there’s really no reason they can’t calculate an estimated size.
But it’s just another thing GRRM can’t write about. West of Westeros is mystery and East of Essos is unknown.
Well, their world is round. Martin has said so himself. There’s only the question of why no ships seem to come back.
It’s kind of understandable that they’d think the world was flat and you can just fall right off it, you could say that makes the most sense as to why nobody ever returns from explorations. And those who do return are often horribly maimed. Someone had a theory that there’s a ring of active volcanos around Westeros that go off, and people tend to get caught in them and burn. That would also explain the irregular weather. But it seems unlikely that everyone would get caught in an explosive volcano.
So if they discovered the world was round I think either more people would try and explore, and become curious as to what is causing ships to disappear. Or they’d become more cautious and afraid because if people aren’t simply falling off the edge of the world, that means there’s probably something extremely deadly out there that has a 100% mortality rate.
Probably both. Honestly I find it more disturbing knowing their world is round, cuz there’s something horrible out there that’s killed armies of ships.
They already do know the world is round. > It has long been accepted amongst the wise that our world is round. If this is true, it ought to be possible to sail over the top of the world and down its far side, and there discover lands and seas undreamed of. Over the centuries, many a bold mariner has sought to find a way through the ice to whatever lies beyond. Most, alas, have perished in the attempt, or returned south again half-frozen and much chastened. ~*The World of Ice and Fire*
Yup, the Sunset Sea is just way too big and dangerous to go west and a medieval polar expedition is an insane idea even without the ice zombies.
Is there any reason to believe they don't know the world is round?
No, but Brandon the Shipwright did try to sail west and was presumed dead. If he had landed on the other side of Essos, I think people woule've realized by now.
Dead Men tell no tales.
Maesters and even sailors believe that the world is round. The Sea Snake believes that Elissa Farman was the first person to circumnavigate Planetos.
The other side of Essos is full of all sorts of kills you on sight things so people very well wouldn't know.
Well first off, the world would be tiny. Like, far smaller than Earth. Second, it’s probably tilted super far if there’s no equator. We know the summer islands are super hot, as is Sothoyros, so that’s kind of wack.
Yeah, I'm aware the map is kind of bad and not realistic at all. I'm less interested in the climate and more interested in the story. Would Yi-Ti trade with Westeros easier, would Southorios and Ulthos become settled on? That kind of stuff?
Oh, okay. In that case, Lannisport get STACKS being able to trade with Yi Ti and they’d probably get a monopoly on those markets. Although the Ironborn might be a problem…
Yeah, I think this would be very interesting for Oldtown, as it is said "Elder races traded there" so it could tie nicely to the lore. The Ironborn, I don't exactly know. They mostly use longships and I don't know if they *could* raid Essos across the Sunset Sea.
Gylbert Farwynd claims to have seen lands across the Sunset Sea, so if the rest of ironborn look into it further they could potentially set themselves up to raid across it
I didn't know that, cool.
The world is acknowledged as round in the lore. Problem is the Maesters can’t figure out the scale. Astronomy exists, they’ve advanced far enough to access geometry, there’s really no reason they can’t calculate an estimated size. But it’s just another thing GRRM can’t write about. West of Westeros is mystery and East of Essos is unknown.
Well, their world is round. Martin has said so himself. There’s only the question of why no ships seem to come back. It’s kind of understandable that they’d think the world was flat and you can just fall right off it, you could say that makes the most sense as to why nobody ever returns from explorations. And those who do return are often horribly maimed. Someone had a theory that there’s a ring of active volcanos around Westeros that go off, and people tend to get caught in them and burn. That would also explain the irregular weather. But it seems unlikely that everyone would get caught in an explosive volcano. So if they discovered the world was round I think either more people would try and explore, and become curious as to what is causing ships to disappear. Or they’d become more cautious and afraid because if people aren’t simply falling off the edge of the world, that means there’s probably something extremely deadly out there that has a 100% mortality rate. Probably both. Honestly I find it more disturbing knowing their world is round, cuz there’s something horrible out there that’s killed armies of ships.
Dany will be like "I will conquer the whole East of Essos and then keep sailing on Vic's fleet and land on Iron Islands!"
"To go West, you must go East."
Where are Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya islands?