Westeros and Essos aren't the only continents on Game of Thrones' map. South of Essos, not too far from Valyria, there is a vast continent, full of riches and dangers, far more deadly than Westeros and Essos: here's what we know about Sothoryos according to A Song of Ice and Fire book series and The World of Ice and Fire.
Jungles and ruins
"Men have known of the existence of the vast, savage land to the south since the first of them took to the sea in ships, for only the width of the Summer Sea separates Sothoryos from the ancient civilizations and great cities of Essos and Westeros.
[...] Yet we cannot claim to know Sothoryos well" (The World of Ice and Fire).
Sothoryos is as large as the Seven Kingdoms' continent according to the Ghiscari, as large as Essos according to Jaenara Belaerys. This huge land it's covered in jungle and features a lot of ancient citiesrumoured to be haunted, ruins and abandoned towns. In Sothoryos can be found gold and gems, exotic woods, exotic fruits, spices and pelts, but the environment is quite "hostile".
A thousand ways to die
North of Sothoryos lies the Summer Sea, east lies the Jade Sea, and the continent is located south of Essos. Why is it largely unexplored? Because Sothoryos is a deadly place. Its lands are full of diseases: the red death, the greyscale, the green fever, the dancing plague, the yellowgum, the bronze pate and many more.
In The World of Ice and Fire is also reportedthat even a splash in the Zamoyos river could be deadly, since the river is infested with carnivorous fishes...
A thousand ways to die: animals
In Sothoryos huge crocodiles lurk beneath the surface of the Zamoyos, there are stinging flies, deadly snakes, wasps and basilisks of all sizes, some twice the size of a lion.
According to some tales, in the forests that lie south of Yeen live apes far larger than giants.
Farther south, in the regions known as the Green Hell, according to the stories there are white vampire bats, tattooed lizards and wyverns, who can grow up to 30 feet long. As many reported, dragon bones can be found in Sothoryos' jungles.
Sothoryos' men
As reported in The World of Ice and Fire, "The Sothoryi are big-boned creatures, massively muscled, with long arms, sloped foreheads, hugesquare teeth, heavy jaws, and coarse black hair". It is also rumoured that the southern Sothoryos' inhabitants are cannibals who worship dark gods with obscene rites.
Ulthos
In the Game of Thrones' world, a landmass far east known as Ulthosmay be another continent. Nobody knows how wide this land is. As Martin once wrote, Westeros' men know very little of the world east of Qarth. According to The World of Ice and Fire, "the Citadel’s knowledge grows thinner the farther we travel from the lands that the men of the east call the Sunset Kingdoms, for congress with the more distant realms of Essos has ever been sparse. We know even less about the southern reaches of Sothoryos and far Ulthos, and nothing at all about whatever lands may lie beyond the Last Light and across the Sunset Sea".
