Has anybody ever seen or attempted to create a map of the Pride Lands? The movies provide some clues. In the TLK:SE commentary the directors mention something about getting the direction of the jungle mixed up and having to reverse the image in certain places, but other than that, there is minimal information.

One can only infer based on the relation of certain scenes to one another.

So, if my logic (albeit loose) is correct, the Pride Lands might look something like the picture in this ZIP file:

http://www.freewebs.com/ericblack/map.zip

(You can also view the pic about a dozen posts down)


THE DARK & FUZZY LOGIC

* In TLK3 Timon, walking away from the meerkat colony, sees Pride Rock. Its tip (stage? runway?) is pointing left.

* As Timon and Pumbaa walk toward Pride Rock for the presentation of Simba, the sun is rising to the back of the screen (EAST) as they walk to the right. Therefore they are walking SOUTH, and Pride Rock also faces EAST.

*. In TLK Simba asks, "What about that shadowy place?" referring to the elephant graveyard. He is pointing to the right. Therefore, the elephant graveyard must be SOUTHEAST of Pride Rock.

* After Mufasa dies and Scar advises him to run, Simba runs from inside the gorge into the elephant graveyard and out into a barren rocky land which is just outside the jungle (which is where Timon and Pumbaa discover him). Since the elephant graveyard is SOUTHEAST to Pride Rock, the gorge must be (approx.) just SOUTH of Pride Rock, and the jungle should be somewhere in the SOUTHEASTERN direction from PR. (though probably quite distant). In addition, the gorge may run through the elephant graveyard (what exactly were the hyenas marching through during "Be Prepared"?)

* When Mufasa and Simba are looking out at the Pride Lands from PR ("Everything the light touches") you can clearly see a river heading off to the EAST, with a small tributary pointing NORTHWARD. The river likely heads to the Jungle, as it is moving in that general direction.

* In TLK2 smoke from the Outlands can be seen to the left as Simba watches from Pride Rock, making the Outlands NORTHEAST.

* Rafiki's tree must be somewhere in the general direction of the meerkat colony (NORTH of PR), since it's hard to imagine that he would have arbitrarily decided to go visit Timon and tell him to, "Look beyond what you see." (Otherwise, it would seem Rafiki would be the deus ex machina spinning the wheels behind the entire series.)

(Congratulations if you've gotten this far into the post and are still somewhat awake. Time for a food break? Muffin? Banana nut? That's a good muffin.)

* INCONSISTENCIES: In TLK3 there is a cave with a pool of water (the "lovely water feature"). Timon and Pumbaa are awoken by the sound of "I Just Can't Wait to be King". So have they found Simba and Nala's water hole? Assuming all of the above is true, and based on where the location of the water hole in TLK3 (NORTHWEST, according to all of the above), it is in the complete opposite direction of the elephant graveyard, which Simba and Nala tricked Zazu into letting them see. (Maybe Simba and Nala did make a U-turn and headed back past PR to the SOUTHEAST while Zazu was incapacitated).

* CONCESSIONS: There may never have been a master map, and it is possible that even if there was one the artists on TLK3 may not have followed it. This is, after all, an animated children's movie, not Lord of the Rings.

* UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:
- Where did the hyenas come from? They are seen hunting meerkats in TLK3, yet the elephant graveyard is south of PR. Did the hyenas come from the NORTH, and gradually move in to the elephant graveyard after aligning with Scar? (This is actually a concession of my fan fiction.)

- Is the gorge/canyon somehow a distant relative of the river? Do they merge at some point?

- What is to the west and further to the south?

I was thinking about all of this because the characters in my fan fiction seemed to be running around in circles until I thought of where everything was relative to each other.

So, if any of you might have more information, clarifications, or you want to just post a message saying, "DarkFuzzy, you've done it again, you obsessive, verbose hack," that would be much appreciated. The TLK fan fiction world may one day thank us =)

* Thanks to SimbaTheMighty for helping me sort this all out and for giving me some info about TLK2 which I haven't seen yet (hopefully arriving in the mail soon).