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Randland

A map of Randland.

Randland is a name adopted by fans to refer to the world where The Wheel of Time series takes place, and is derived from the name of the central character, Rand al'Thor.

More specifically, it often refers to the Westlands, the main area of Randland's main continent between the Aryth Ocean and the Spine of the World; although forgotten places are mentioned in the east. Like many other writers, Robert Jordan never officially names his world, so in lieu of another name Randland has come into accepted common usage so that fans have something to call it. It is possible that it is still called Earth as Lan Mandragoran refers to Malkier as being "wiped off the face of the earth".

Although no scale appeared on the maps in the books themselves, a scale did appear on the world map on page 146 of the guidebook accompanying the series, The World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. The scale on this map suggests that the distance from the edge of the continent on the west to The Spine of the World in the east is approximately 3,000 miles. This concurs broadly with the designers who worked on The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game, who suggested a scale of 1"=400 miles on the color endpaper maps in the hardback editions of the books. By their calculations, the Westlands therefore measures roughly 3,500 miles from the west coast to the Spine of the World, making it approximately the size of the United States of America.

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). Additionally, Caemlyn is roughly 800 miles north of the plains at the border of Tear, thereby providing a scale of approximately 530 miles to 1 inch for the maps provided in the paperback editions (Lord of Chaos).

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