Most of what people search for about the geography of The Wheel of Time comes down to a handful of questions. Where is Tar Valon? Where are the Two Rivers? Where does the whole story take place? Here are short answers to each, with a link to the place on the map.
Everything below is geography. None of it says what happens anywhere, so it is safe to read wherever you are in the books.
Where does The Wheel of Time take place?
Mostly in the Westlands: the lands between the Aryth Ocean in the west and the Spine of the World, the mountain range that closes them off in the east. Most of the kingdoms in the books are here. East of the Spine lies the Aiel Waste, and across the far north runs the Great Blight.
Where is Tar Valon?
In the north-east of the Westlands, on an island in the River Erinin, where five roads meet. Tar Valon is the city of the Aes Sedai, home to the White Tower and the Amyrlin Seat.
Where is the White Tower?
In Tar Valon. The Tower is the seat of the Aes Sedai, so you will find it inside their city rather than as a place of its own on the map.
Where is Dragonmount?
Dragonmount is a lone mountain rising out of the plains near the Erinin, within sight of Tar Valon.
Where are the Two Rivers?
In the far west of Andor, on the border with Ghealdan. The Two Rivers is a remote, isolated region, and it is where the story starts: Rand al'Thor, Mat Cauthon and Perrin Aybara all come from there.
Where is Emond's Field?
In the west of the Two Rivers, on the Winespring Water. Emond's Field sits on the North Road, the Old Road and the Quarry Road, and Baerlon lies to the north.
Where is Andor, and what is its capital?
Andor is in the heart of the Westlands. Its capital is Caemlyn, in the east of the kingdom, on the Caemlyn Road and the Erinin Road. Andor borders Altara, Arad Doman and Cairhien, among others.
Where is Baerlon?
Baerlon is a mining city in the north-west of Andor, on both the Caemlyn Road and the North Road.
Where was Manetheren?
Its ruins lie in the west of Andor, south-west of Baerlon. Manetheren is marked on the map as a ruin.
Where is the Blight?
Across the far north of the map. The Great Blight is a corrupted wilderness, and the Borderland kingdoms of Saldaea, Kandor, Arafel and Shienar stand between it and the rest of the Westlands. Malkier, a Borderland kingdom of old, now lies within it.
Where is Fal Dara?
In the north of Shienar, north-east of the capital, Fal Moran. Fal Dara is a fortress city that guards the way into the Blight.
Where is Shayol Ghul?
At the far north of the Great Blight, in the Blasted Lands. Shayol Ghul is a mountain.
Where is the Aiel Waste?
East of the Spine of the World. The Aiel Waste is a vast, arid land that borders Cairhien on one side and Shara on the other.
How I made the map
I traced it by hand in QGIS from the endpaper maps printed in the books. With the rest of the site, it has taken me close to six months so far.
The hardest part was scale: laying the world of the books over a real-world map so that the distances hold up. A city map drawn at one scale and a continent drawn at another do not fit together on their own. The official map of Tar Valon has a scale bar, and by it the island is about 12.7 miles long and 4.3 miles wide. Getting cities like that to sit right on the continent took longer than anything else.
Why I built it
I like going through maps as I read, to check where our heroes are in this book, at this chapter. The maps in the books cannot show that, and most maps online show everything at once, including places you have not reached yet.
So this map follows the characters chapter by chapter. You tell it where you are in your reading, and it shows what you have read and keeps the rest hidden. I have finished every book myself, New Spring included.
Found something wrong?
Please tell me. Sign in, open the map, and use Suggest (the quill button) to send a correction. I read every one, and other readers can weigh in on it too. Readers whose corrections make it onto the map are listed on the Contributors page.
If you have not opened it yet, start with the Westlands and set where you are in the books.