Meet the scientist who made the beautiful maps for The Lands of Ice and Fire

Ever wonder who makes those gorgeous maps for the A Song of Ice and Fire series companion tome, The Lands of Ice and Fire? Meet Jonathan Roberts, age 36. He’s a theoretical particle physicist. No, we’re not kidding. Roberts has a Bachelor’s and Master’s in philosophy and physics from Oxford, and a Ph.D. in theoretical high energy physics from Southampton University.

He’s the perfect guy to fake maps, right? He does have a solid fantasy pedigree. Growing up in a 1,000-year-old farmhouse in Scotland, Roberts has been drawing fantasy maps since childhood. Sequestered in his ancient home, he fashioned treasure maps in his garden and designed huge, intricate maps and worlds for games of Dungeons & Dragons with his friends.

Roberts works as the chief innovation officer at dotdash.com (formerly about.com) and has long posted his maps online. Five years ago, he received an email from Random House. George R.R. Martin had seen his work and wanted him to create 12 maps for his upcoming Lands of Ice and Fire book. It was an offer Roberts couldn’t refuse, as he revealed to Crain’s.

"It was a dream opportunity. In great fantasy sagas, the world is its own character. It defines the action, the possibilities and the decisions of the characters. Understanding the world is usually key to understanding the plot, and that requires a map."

There was only one hitch: Martin needed all 12 maps completed in 12 weeks. Jonathan got to work. “I mapped the whole world on a MacBook Pro at 300% zoom,” he says. The huge expansion of scale blew each map up to a wall-sized, six by nine-foot digital canvas, allowing him to dive deep into every detail. “If you’re not careful,” Roberts warns, “you can illustrate that small piece beautifully but have it look totally different from the rest of the map.”

Although fantasy cartography and the science of theoretical particle physics may seem to have little in common, Roberts feels a profound connection between his interests. “Science communication is the exercise of mapping your understanding of the world in a way that others can understand.”

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“I think of maps as infographics,” he said. “They allow you to reason about parts of the world the author may never visit.” Those of us who become invested in fantasy novels know how important that world map in the book is, so Roberts’ work is appreciated.