I have been theorizing for a long time about a few geographic issues I have had with the Wheel of Time series. I have been a fan of medieval fantasy and sword and sorcery for quite some time, and the cartographic and geographic elements of those stories have been some of my favourite topics. As such, I have noticed an issue I would like to clear up, i.e. what is the size of the land that the Wheel of Time takes place? This area, known as the "Westlands" by some, and by "Randland" by others, or by many other names, is defined for the remainder of this article as the land between the Spine of the World and the Aryth Ocean, and the land between the Mountains of Dhoom the Sea of Storms. I will refer to this area as the "Westlands" here out. When describing distances, I will be using miles. When referring to "Distance North/South", I refer to the distance (in miles) from The Sea of Storms south of Illian to the base of the Mountains of Dhoom. When referring to "Distance East/West" (in miles), I refer to the distance between the center of Kinslayer's Dagger, to Bandar Eban. My theory is that current ideas and measurements listed by various sources are inaccurate, and the measurements of the Westlands as depicted in the two most reliable sources available "The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time" and "New Spring", can not be taken as fact. I will also propose my own system of measurement for the size of the Westlands. The first text under my scrutiny is "The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time" which is often seen as accurate, though it has had noted flaws and cannot be seen as purely canon, for it is not written by Robert Jordan himself. To quote the Wheel of Time Wiki, the text is: "considered broadly canonical and Robert Jordan provided substantial amounts of never-before-seen information for it". However, it should be noted that: "Jordan's intent was for the book to have been written by a historian of Rand al'Thor's time (albeit an extremely well-informed one) and he wished to ensure that the book would be prone to some of the problems of bias and guesswork that afflict 'real' history as well". In this sense, anything that is not expressly stated within Jordan's novels themselves or expressly approved by Robert Jordan himself cannot be taken as fact. However, in the prequel New Spring which is written by Robert Jordan, measurements that are more direct and distinct are given concerning the Westlands. “A reliable way of measuring the maps was produced in the novel New Spring, which gave the straight-line distance from Tar Valon to the sea south of Tear as 400 leagues (1,600 miles). Other distances in the novels include 600 miles for Cairhien to Caemlyn, 100 miles for Emond's Field to Baerlon, 900 from Tear to Aringill, 800 miles for the length of coastline between Ebou Dar and Illian and 1,500 miles for Cairhien to southern Ghealdan (although another distance is given of 500 leages - 2,000 miles - for Kinslayer's Dagger to northern Amadicia).” These measurements, when marked on a straight-edge and then applied to the entirety of the Westlands, provides a very simple measurement, which is confirmed by TWoRJWoT. This measurement, which I will refer to from here on out as “Classic Dimension”, lists the height of the Westlands as approximately 2000 miles, and the distance North/South as approximately 3000 miles. Typically, I would be satisfied with such a measurement, but evidence suggests to me that these measurements are incorrect. These measurements have the Westlands physically around the size of the United States. This in itself is not disconcerting; however, taking into account the Aiel Waste and Shara to the East, along with an unidentifiably long stretch of Blight to the North, the world of the Wheel of Time quickly seems to be on a supercontinent larger then Eurasia. This, once more, is not necessarily a problem, but does present itself as such when we look at the climate of the Wheel of Time. If we look at the Two Rivers, which has snow in the winter, we realize it is only about one thousand miles north of the Sea of Storms, using Classic Dimension. Strangely, locations that far south were described as “never having seen snow” by Rand al’Thor and other characters. While this is not impossible (Areas in Europe or America see snow during the winter while locations only a thousand miles south may never see snow), it becomes confusing when looking north of those locations. Geographically, if the Two Rivers is colder than the Sea of Storms, then the Westlands must be located in the Northern Hemisphere of a planet. This means that locations more North of the Two Rivers must be colder than that location, which means that places such as Shienar should logically be covered in snow almost all year (it lies an additional thousand miles north of the Two Rivers in latitude). This is not the case. There are only two logical possibilities that could explain such a climactic phenomenon, besides a simple “magic” solution. The first, and the less likely, is that the Westlands is located on a planet considerably larger than ours, while also having the correct atmosphere, rotation, tilt, and distance from its sun to have similar climate patterns as ours. The second and considerably more likely option and the one I will sustain for the rest of this document, and try to defend, is the idea that a “mile” in the Wheel of Time is not equal to an Earth “mile”. Additionally, other smaller, though more direct, pieces of evidence seem to claim that the Westlands are smaller than The World of, and it comes from New Spring, and Lord of Chaos. Firstly, we can revisit the measurements given within New Spring. In all of the measurements given, except two, the rough size of the Westlands can be estimated as being 3500 miles East/West, and 2000 miles North/South, except in two measurements: The distance from Tear to Aringall, as put forth by New Spring, is 900 miles, which would mean that the Westlands East/West distance is a massive 4800 miles, and it’s size Noth/South is 2700 miles. This is a considerably large difference in size from the previous series of measurements, and normally would be thrown out as simple error by the person providing the measurement. This is the exact thing my theory needs. If it is possible even within New Spring, that measurements can be wrong, then all measurements in the actual texts cannot be seen as purely canonical. We must then decide which the most accurate measurement is provided, and use it. The second measurement in this list that is different from the others is the most interesting to me, it is the statement the distance from Emond’s Field to Baerlon is 100 miles. When worked out, this makes the East/West size of the Westlands only 2000 miles, and the North/South distance 1300 miles. I am inclined to use this measurement, for it provides a more sufficient system when taking climate into account, but also because the distance from Emond’s Field to Baerlon is the smallest physical distance measured in New Spring, which means, logically, it may be the most accurate due to the nations limited technology. I understand that these ideas do not a proven theory get; however, it provides a basis for my challenge, and my upcoming question. When looking at Lord of Chaos, the sixth book in the series, and the most canon of all the texts discussed within this article, something very helpful comes up. Matrim Cauthon states when moving his armies from camp to assault the Forsaken in Illian, that it would take “more than a month” to travel from Maerone to Tear. Mat also states that he wanted to travel 35 miles a day. This is a basis we can use to judge difference, if we use a month as 30 days, and then calculate basic walking speed. The normal walking speed of an adult human is 3.2 miles per hour, though Mat was moving on horseback, which will be addressed. If we assume that travels every day, and only rests to allow 8 hours of sleep for the men (the biological need), and don’t worry about rests, et cetera, then we can find a simple calculation to see how fast he travels. 35 miles a day over 16 hours of travel means that Mat is moving 2.1 mph, a bit slower than walking speed. If Mat moves from sunup to sundown (12 hours), then Mat is moving 3 mph, which is much more realistic. Maerone is stated to be directly across the river from Aringill, which now provides the biggest argument. If Mat completes the trip from Maerone to Tear in only 30 days (though he says it will take more than a month), at 35 miles a day, the distance from Maerone to Tear is 1050 miles. This is a 100+ mile difference from the Aringill to Tear estimate which made the country way too large, and is also only assumed if the trip takes 30 days. Assuming (more than a month) means a month and a half (50 days), the distance is 1750 miles, which would make the North/South distance of the Westlands over 3000 miles, and the East/West distance considerably larger. So, by Mats measurements, the Westlands is a considerably larger continent than any of the measurements in New Spring, which makes the Westlands simply impossible as far as climate is concerned, and would make the Aiel Waste and Shara, tacked onto the Westlands most likely the width of an entire planet. The only logical explanation I can see for this is that a mile in the Wheel of Time is not equal to a mile in Earth. I recommend those reading this to find their own measurements and examples, and help decide exactly how large the Westlands are.