Locating the Sardar Mountains

By Hersius

Introduction

The Sardar Mountains, as everyone knows, are home to the Priest-Kings. The very word, “Sardar” means “Priest-Kings.” The mountains are apparently volcanic and contain lava tubes within which the Prist-Kings have built their headquarters. Cold and barren but for snow and protected by an energy field which disorients animals, the place is considered sacred, and people do not enter into it except to die. Regional fairs are held seasonally at their base, to which people make pilgrimages, and one name for the human race is the “Men Below the Mountains” in reference to their holiness. The mountains are not otherwise as impressive as the Voltai and the Thentis ranges. Book 1 Pages 29-31, 215; Book 2 Pages 45, 47-48, 173, 179-183, 192, 211, 245; Book 3; Book 5 Page 95; Book 12 Pages 44-45, 47. A previous article surmised that the inspiration for the name came from the ruins of Sardis in Turkey. TGV Oct 2003.

The problem, however, is their location. Online maps have placed them variously south of the Vosk just east of the Vosk Delta (following the map published in the German version of Norman’s series) to right at the edge of the Northern Forests slightly west of the northern part of the Thentis Mountains. There is therefore no concensus in fandom as to whether they are in the extreme west or the extreme east of the northern plains.

This article will place them closer to the center of the northern plains, slightly above the Vosk close to Ar’s Station.

Background

The Sardar Mountains are the magnetic pole of the planet. The compass always points to them. Book 2 Page 179. We are used to thinking of magnetic poles as being near the axial poles, but astronomers are saying that planets and other types of planetary bodies can have magnetic poles at other places as well. Norman never clarifies whether the placement of the magnetic pole is natural or artificial, but the fact that the Sardar is the magnetic pole should not limit its placement on the map.

The cardinal directions use the Sardar mountains as their reference point. Book 4 Page 3. It is more logical to have the center of directions be more centrally located than to be in either the extreme east or west. To have it otherwise would be to have many of the cardinal directions more ornamental than practical.

The Sardar Mountains have to be north of the Vosk. This is shown by Cabot’s travels.

The Thentis Mountains are located north of the Voltai and just south of the Northern Forests. TGV Mar 2003. In Book 2, Cabot sees the Thentis Mountains as a smudge and travels to the northwest to reach Ko-ro-ba. At that point, he was only about a day’s walk from Ko-ro-ba. Book 2 Pages 20, 24-25, 32. Since Thentis is a mountain city, Ko-ro-ba thus becomes the northeasternmost city of any size in the plains, although towns along the Vosk and the Olni rivers are east of it. It is therefore fitting that, as the regional city where the light of dawn first reaches, Ko-ro-ba is known by the poetic title, “Towers of the Morning.” Book 2 Pages 39, 64. From Ko-ro-ba, Tarl “set out in the direction of the Sardar Mountains.” Book 2 Page 45. To get there, he went to Tharna, where he hoped to get a tarn and thereby shorten his trip by weeks. Book 2 Page 50. He walked to Tharna with no mention of crossing the Vosk. From a pillar near Tharna, he recovered his tarn from Book 1 and sighted the Sardar after 4 days of flying, presumably resting at night, with no mention of crossing the Vosk. Book 2 Pages 177-179.

The northern location of the Sardar is also shown by its position in relation to Venna. Venna is some 200 pasangs north of Ar but south of the Vosk, as it is situated at the end of a dusty road along the Viktel Aria. Book 14 Pages 172, 201; Book 16 Pages 184-185; Book 21 Page 338; Book 23 Page 21. Tharna is far to the north of Venna. Note that Norman states that it is northeast of Venna; it may be that he meant northwest. Book 22 Page 385. At any rate, Tharna and, following the logic of the above paragraph, the Sardar must also be north of the Vosk.

Finally, the location of the Sardar is shown by reference to nearby places that are, in turn, near to Ar’s Station. The Woods of Clearchus are some 200 pasangs west of the Sardar. The towns of Harfax, Esalinus, and Besnit are all within 100 pasangs of the Woods of Clearchus. Book 20 Pages 100, 194. Refugees from Harfax and Besnit fled to Ar’s Station.

The combination of the above places the Sardar north of the Vosk and only a few hundred pasangs northeast of Ar’s Station. A previous article located Ar’s Station at around 37 degrees west longitude. TGV Aug 2005. This placement accords well with the reference points that Ko-ro-ba is more than 1,000 pasangs from the Sardar and that Tharna is far from the Sardar. Book 2 Pages 47, 150.