Fantasy
Fantasy maps are rarely innocent. The useful ones tell the truth about distance, danger and where the river actually goes. The better ones also lie a little, which is where things get interesting.
What gets left out says as much as what gets drawn. A name changed to sound older. A border made neat because the mess would spoil the page. A mountain reduced to a bump, because nobody wants the awkward fact that the kingdom is built around something much larger than it admits.
That feels more revealing than accuracy on its own.
What gets left out says as much as what gets drawn. A name changed to sound older. A border made neat because the mess would spoil the page. A mountain reduced to a bump, because nobody wants the awkward fact that the kingdom is built around something much larger than it admits.
That feels more revealing than accuracy on its own.
Maps can also be propaganda in a very practical sense. Not just what they omit, but what they make easy to notice. A road drawn boldly becomes “the way”, even if it’s the route the tax collector prefers. In fantasy, that matters more than people sometimes admit. A map can tell you who expects to be obeyed.