History Main / LeftJustifiedFantasyMap

* Andrzej Sapkowski never delivered an official map of Franchise/{{the Witcher}}land. The various maps that have been created, however, are left-justified.

The main reason for this is the popularity of MedievalEuropeanFantasy. A {{Fantasy Counterpart Culture}} of Medieval Europe will naturally imitate the geography of Europe: ocean to the west and vast stretches of land to the east. For the same reason, the north is often a [[GrimUpNorth harsh tundra full of barbarian tribes]], the orient a mysterious land whence [[BornInTheSaddle ride]] the HordesFromTheEast, and the south a [[TheSavageSouth hot land of jungles, tropical islands, and savages]].

This trope often leads to an EastwardEndeavor, or sometimes to a QuestToTheWest if the characters are interested in crossing the sea.

* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' core setting. Avoided in almost all other settings: In ''TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}'', ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}'', and the ''Kara-Tur'' and ''Maztica'' ''[=FR=]'' [[ExpansionPackWorld supplements]], the ocean is on the right (which is only natural in the case of the latter two: [[FarEast Kara-Tur]] is on the far eastern edge of the Realms' supercontinent while [[{{Mayincatec}} Maztica]] is another continent across the ocean to the west); while in ''Red Steel'' (a spinoff of ''Mystara''), the ocean is on the south; and in ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}'', ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'', and ''Al-Qadim'', the map shows both coasts (Technically speaking all four in Eberron's case, since Khorvaire is an island continent ala Australia). ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' in its original release features an ocean on its western side, though in a later edition the Mists that surround it expand out to reveal an ocean on the eastern shore. Somewhat justified in that ''Ravenloft'' is an artificial demiplane whose geography is subject to change, alteration, or erasure by the Dark Powers at the drop of a hat. ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'''s [[TheMultiverse primary setting]] has no maps.

* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' core setting. Avoided in almost all other settings: In ''TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}'', ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}'', and the ''Kara-Tur'' and ''Maztica'' ''[=FR=]'' [[ExpansionPackWorld supplements]], the ocean is on the right (which is only natural in the case of the latter two: [[FarEast Kara-Tur]] is on the far eastern edge of the Realms' supercontinent while [[{{Mayincatec}} Maztica]] is another continent across the ocean to the west); while in ''Red Steel'' (a spinoff of ''Mystara''), the ocean is on the south; and in ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}'', ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'', ''Al-Qadim'', and ''TabletopGame/{{Birthright}}'', the map shows both coasts (Technically speaking all four in Eberron's case, since Khorvaire is an island continent ala Australia). ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' in its original release features an ocean on its western side, though in a later edition the Mists that surround it expand out to reveal an ocean on the eastern shore. Somewhat justified in that ''Ravenloft'' is an artificial demiplane whose geography is subject to change, alteration, or erasure by the Dark Powers at the drop of a hat. ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'''s [[TheMultiverse primary setting]] has no maps.

* The Old World in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' is a not-very-subtle version of Europe (and beyond), so the layout is much the same as a real-world map. As the primary focus is on the Empire (Germany), Bretonnia (France), and the frozen, inhospitable wastelands only inhabited by desperate, drunk, and brutal deformed humans (Scandinavia), that's what most of the maps show. If you look at a map of the whole world, it looks no less familiar (you just get approximations of the other continents as well).

SAY YES TO MAPs!

** ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' takes this concept (like so many other concepts from plain ol' fantasy ''Warhammer'') and launches it [[RecycledInSpace into space]]. No noticeable geographic features, obviously, and exceptions apply, but the galaxy of ''40k'' is divided into Segmentum including, for example, Obscurus (up "north", featuring Fenris, planet of the space Vikings and Vostroya, the planet of space Russians) and Ultima (out "east", featuring the {{Animesque}} Tau and Mongol White Scars).

* While Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' is fully-designed, it started out as a left-justified fantasy map because the Hub is analogous to the North and [[TheCity Ankh-Morpork]] and the Circle Sea are on the Turnwise (I.E., west-analogous) side of The Continent. Despite having created a China-esque continent surrounded by a South Pacific ocean (which is, [[UsefulNotes/TheLongitudeProblem oddly enough]], the first major land-mass ''turnwise'' from A.M.) and a continent which [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial in no way is intended to resemble Australia]], though it may be a bit Australia-like here and there, it remains a Left-Justified Fantasy Map because the Widdershins end of The Continent has never been shown past {{Uberwald}}. [[AffectionateParody The use of this trope is likely intentional]].

** That conception became less clear as time went on, so that some believe that by his death Tolkien no longer intended Middle Earth to be in any way related to the real world. Besides that, he had maps that showed the rest of Middle Earth; it's just that the events of both ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' take place in the west, at least partly because it was closer to the Blessed Realm and Númenor and because that was where the Kingdoms of the Noldor and of Thingol were.

*** Two things worth remembering; Tolkien was writing at a time when Plate Tectonics was very poorly understood, and thus it was conceivable that the landmasses depicted in his maps could be formed into the modern day continents within the span of a few thousand years. And secondly, the world of Middle Earth is very explicitly the result of intelligent design, and therefore not necessarily subject to the same rules that govern real world mountain formation.

* Since ''Dies the Fire'' and its sequels mostly take place on pacific coast, it also follows this trope. However, ''The Scourge of God'' takes place in the Midwest, and thus has no coasts (Unless counting the Great Lakes) and then the ''Sword of the Lady'' roams from the Mississippi to the East Coast, thus avoiding the trope. Also, since it takes place on an Alternate History Earth, there do exist several maps that detail the rest of the world, at least in universe.

* While Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' is fully-designed, it started out as a left-justified fantasy map because the Hub is analogous to the North and [[TheCity Ankh-Morpork]] and the Circle Sea are on the Turnwise (I.E., west-analogous) side of The Continent. Despite having created a China-esque continent surrounded by a South Pacific ocean (which is, [[UsefulNotes/TheLongitudeProblem oddly enough]], the first major land mass ''turnwise'' from A.M.) and a continent which [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial in no way is intended to resemble Australia]], though it may be a bit Australia-like here and there, it remains a Left-Justified Fantasy Map because the Widdershins end of The Continent has never been shown past {{Uberwald}}. [[AffectionateParody The use of this trope is likely intentional]].

* The Old World in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' is a not-very-subtle version of Europe (and beyond), so the layout is much the same as a real-world map. As the primary focus is on the Empire (Germany), Bretonnia (France) and the frozen, inhospitable wastelands only inhabited by desperate, drunk and brutal deformed humans (Scandinavia), that's what most of the maps show. If you look at a map of the whole world, it looks no less familiar (you just get approximations of the other continents as well).

** Faerûn's east coast at the Great Ice Sea does appear on some maps as well, although it generally fulfils the trope. Later maps do show the entire planet, however, so it's more a case that the Faerûnian continent 'traditional map' fulfils the trope, but the actual world and setting does not.

* In ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'', while Aventuria is bordered by ocean on all sides except northeast, the more prominent (and earlier fleshed out) settings are located on the western part of the continent. Justified in-universe, as the settlers of the now dominant nations first landed there.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VI'': the ocean is on the east side of the map. Also avoided in ''Might and Magic VII'' and ''VIII'', as there are oceans on both sides in the former case, and on the south of the map in the latter case. In fact, ''all'' of the RPG games either avert or invert this trope -- beyond the ones already mentioned, I, II and IV/V showed the world from end to end (they took place on flat worlds), III was surrounded by water, and IX had water north, east and south.

** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' avoids the issue entirely by not being set in an area where an ocean is easily reachable, and the only noteworthy body of water is a river that cuts through the center of the map from from northwest to southeast.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' has the continent of [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/legendofdragoon/images/6/64/Endiness_map.png/revision/latest?cb=20130322011201 Endiness]]. Along its eastern border is an unidentified landmass, so it appears to be peninsula of sorts similar to Europe.

* While the first ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' game showed the realm of Nosgoth to be land-locked - it was in fact very unclear whether Nosgoth was meant to be the name of the country or the whole world, and further it was unclear as to whether or not the world was meant to be a globe at all - the fourth game in the series revealed that Nosgoth did in fact have a south-western coastline had had been just slightly further than previous maps had shown.

* ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors'' takes place in an area based off of Northern California, with deserts to the south, rain forests to the north, mountains to the east and ocean to the west. In fact, it ''is'' California, but far into the future and after the landscape has changed due to a magical disaster.

** Two things worth remembering; Tolkien was writing at a time when Plate Tectonics was very poorly understood, and thus it was conceivable that the landmasses depicted in his maps could be formed into the modern day continents within the span of a few thousand years. And secondly, the world of Middle Earth is very explicitly the result of intelligent design, and therefore not necessarily subject to the same rules that govern real world mountain formation.

* Mostly averted and oftentimes inverted in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' regions. [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Kanto]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Unova]] have oceans to the south and east; [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Johto]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Fiore]] mostly have southern coastlines; [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Hoenn]] is a large island with numerous smaller islands to the east; [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Sinnoh]] is a roughly diamond-shaped island or peninsula with oceans on all four corners of the map and east as the only cardinal direction with a coastline; [[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Almia]] is mostly a south-pointing peninsula; and [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Alola]] is a chain of Hawaii-inspired islands. The only regions to play it straight are [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Kalos]], which, fitting the trope description, is based on a European country (France), and [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Orre]], which oddly enough is based on Arizona.

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%%* ''{{Slayers}}''

** Bottom justification happens on Dwarven maps such as the one in ''Literature/TheHobbit'', dwarves preferring the east as the chief direction as mentioned above.

*** And in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'', where the ocean is '''everywhere'''.

* {{Inverted}} in ''Franchise/DragonAge'': see the world map [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonage/images/8/80/ThedasMap.jpg here]] (quite ''literally'' inverted: if you rotate and/or flip it, you'll arrive to a map that looks suspiciously like the Middle Ages Europe). Also notable for everything being set in the southern hemisphere, rather than the traditional northern one. Not that it has much impact on the generic MedievalEuropeanFantasy setting, but still.
* Mostly averted and oftentimes inverted in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' regions. [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Kanto]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Unova]] have oceans to the south and east, [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Johto]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Fiore]] mostly have southern coastlines, [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Hoenn]] has water and numerous islands to the east, [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Sinnoh]] is a roughly diamond-shaped island or peninsula with oceans on all four corners of the map and east as the only cardinal direction with a coastline, [[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Almia]] is mostly a south-pointing peninsula, and [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Alola]] is a chain of Hawaii-inspired islands. The only regions to play it straight are [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Kalos]], which, fitting the trope description, is based on a European country (France), and [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Orre]], which oddly enough is based on Arizona.

** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' avoids the issue entirely by not being set in an area where an ocean is easily reachable, and the only noteworthy body of water is a river that cuts through the center of the map.

* Maps of Mid World from Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/The Dark Tower'' series place a lot of emphasis on the West. Though the eponymous Tower is set in the southeast, known as End World, major locations such as the Western Sea, Gilead, Tull, the Way Station, Hambry, Mejis, the Cyclopean Mountains, and Shardic's Lair are all in the western half.
** The Clean Sea is a body of water to the south, making the land vaguely horseshoe-shaped.

* Titan, the (main) ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' world, has the majority of adventures take place on the West Coast of Allansia, particularly "[[WretchedHive Port Blacksand]]". Averted for those gamebooks taking place on the other two continents, the Old World (which mostly feature the kingdoms near the northern and eastern coast) and Khûl (which usually take place near the southern coast).

* Played straight in ''Myth: The Fallen Lords'' who's map also looks very similar to that of Litterature/TheSilmarillion.

* Titan, the (main) ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' world, has the majority of adventures take place on the West Coast of Allansia, particularly "[[WretchedHive Port Blacksand]]". Averted for those gamebooks taking place on the other two continents, the Old World (which mostly feature the kingdoms near the northern and eastern coast) and Khûl (which usually take place near the southern coast).

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'s default Inner Sea setting is also like this, being that it's also a fantasy Europe and Northern Africa equivalent. Like the Forgotten Realms, maps of the whole world have been made, and they of course avert the trope (although there are some interesting divergences from both Toril and Earth).

* ''ComicBook/ElfesEtNains'' features Arran, a world inspiring itself like most fantasy stories from Europe, and the map is dominated by the eastern sea with various archipelagoes scattered in the middle of it.

* Titan, the (main) ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' world, has the majority of adventures take place on the West Coast of Allansia, particularly "[[WretchedHive Port Blacksand]]".

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' could have started this phenomenon. Creator/JRRTolkien had set out to create a mythology for Europe and especially England (the available myths, such as [[KingArthur Camelot]] (which is really French) and Literature/{{Beowulf}} (which is Anglo-Saxon and set in Scandinavia), being alien to the modern English culture) and thus, in the context of the fantasy, Middle-earth is supposed to be western Europe as it was in the extremely distant past.

* Justified by Hyborian-age Earth in the original ''[[Literature/ConanTheBarbarian Conan]]'' stories, as Robert E. Howard's mythos was set in a time after Atlantis sank but before known ancient civilizations had arisen, using Europe, Asia, and Africa as a model.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' by Robert Jordan: {{Grim Up North}}? Check. {{Hordes From The East}}? Check. Ocean on the left? Check. [[TheSavageSouth Hot jungles at south]]? Che-oh wait, no jungles. There is, however, a swampy southern shore. The series plays with the convention in two ways, though: the protagonists spend a fair amount of time off the eastern edge of the map, in what turns out to be a harsh desert. Maps of this area are never shown, and there's another country even further east that is never explored. Secondly, although there are several factions that could qualify as HordesFromTheEast, the ones who do the most damage throughout the series actually come from the ''west'', over the sea. ''Nobody'' sees this coming.

* Played straight in ''Myth: The Fallen Lords'' who's map also looks very similar to that of Silmarillion.

* Mostly averted and oftentimes inverted in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' regions. [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Kanto]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Unova]] have oceans to the south and east, [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Johto]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Fiore]] mostly have southern coastlines, [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Hoenn]] has water and numerous islands to the east, [[PokemonDiamondAndPearl Sinnoh]] is a roughly diamond-shaped island or peninsula with oceans on all four corners of the map with east as the only cardinal direction with a coastline, [[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Almia]] is mostly a south-pointing peninsula, and [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Alola]] is a chain of Hawaii-inspired islands. The only regions to play it straight are [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Kalos]], which, fitting the trope description, is based on a European country (France), and [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Orre]], which oddly enough is based on Arizona.

** ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'' is also set in the southern hemisphere, with the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture very Inuit]] Boreal Dwarves coming from the [[GrimUpNorth Grim Down South.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'', being set in a future southern California and future northern California and southern Oregon, respectively, have maps justified like this.

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* Inverted twice in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''; Focan is on the east coast of Ketafa, and Ta'akan is on the Shining (east) Coast of Baravada. (The west coast of Baravada is known as the Rust Coast.)

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** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' takes this concept (like so many other concepts from plain ol' fantasy ''Warhammer'') and launches it [[RecycledInSpace into space]]. No noticeable geographic features, obviously, and exceptions apply, but the galaxy of ''40k'' is divided into Segmentum including, for example, Obscurus (up "north", featuring Fenris, planet of the space Vikings and Vostroya, the planet of space Russians) and Ultima (out "east", featuring the {{Animesque}} Tau and Mongol White Scars).

* ''Titan'', the (main) {{Fighting Fantasy}} world has the majority of adventures take place on the West Coast of Allansia, particularly "[[WretchedHive Port Blacksand]]".

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* Andrzej Sapkowski never delivered an official map of {{the Witcher}}land. The various maps that have been created, however, are left-justified.

* Seemingly played straight so far in ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'', though it is actually a slight twist on the trope. Eir Glanfath is basically Eora's North America equivalent, being a "New World" discovered and colonized by older cultures, who came from across the sea to the west and south.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Westeros is the westernmost landmass in the world. It is the fantasy equivalent of the British Isles, though continent-sized and contains equivalents to other parts of Europe. The western sea is called the Sunset Sea, and there is no known land in that direction (Beyond the point where it wraps around to Essos' eastern shore, of course). Lord Gylbert Farwynd of the Lonely Light, the Westernmost of the Iron Islands and point of land, claims there is a paradise-like land to the West. Many of the Iron Islanders don't believe him and think him mad. Westeros sits off the western shore of Essos, which is the fantasy equivalent of Eurasia. Essos extends beyond the eastern limits of all official maps, so its eastern shores are never seen. The limitations in the maps are meant to reflect the limitations of Medieval maps. An equivalent of Africa also exists, though it's never been visited yet in the books, and its reaches are unmapped.