Considering that the eighth season of "Game of Thrones" isn't going to air anytime soon, this is a good time to learn something new about the Known World. In the "Game of Thrones"' historical guide titled "The World of Ice And Fire", written by George R.R. Martin, Elio Garcia, and Linda Antonsson, we're told about the mysterious, deadly and fascinating continent of Sothoryos. Yes, you read well: Westeros and Essos aren't the only continents in the world of our favorite fantasy series.
Where is it?
As reported in the historical guide of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series, "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." Sothoryos lies to the southeast of Westeros and is south of Essos across the Summer Sea.
What does it look like?
Imagine a huge continent covered in jungles, with ruins of ancient cities full of ghosts hidden throughout the woods. Zamettar, the walled city established there by the Ghiscari, the only colony that lasted more than a generation, is now another haunted ruin reclaimed by the jungle. The southern continent of the Known World's air is full of miasmas. The few small trade towns on its northern shores are "towns of mud and blood [...] were and humid and full of misery." According to the tales, Sothoryos is full of riches like gold, gems, spices and exotic woods.
Sothoryi, also known as the Brindled Men, can't breed with women from Essos and Westeros. The southern inhabitants of the continent are also known to be cannibals who worship dark gods.
Moreover, if the tales are to be trusted, there are caverns on Sothoryos full of withe vampire bats that can drain a human in a few minutes.
How can one get killed in Sothoryos?
There's a lot of ways in which you can die if you adventure in this dark, mystical land. There are huge crocodiles which can overturn boats in the rivers.
You can be eaten up by a swarm of carnivorous fish. Sothoryos is also full of basilisks of any size, as well as wyverns. Wyverns look like dragons, except they can't breathe fire, and there are brindled, swamp and brownbellies wyverns of Sothoryos. If you're not already dead by disease, you can be killed by the "the shadow-wing, a nocturnal monster whose black scales and wings make him all but invisible . . . until he descends out of the darkness to tear apart his prey."
We think it's clear why the people from Westeros and Essos aren't that willing to take a trip to Sothoryos.
