A complete map of Jorvik, with a semi-accurate scale to measure any distance on the island. I’m really proud of it! There is, however, one glaring problem with this map.
WHY IS JORVIK CITY SO SMALL????
I’m sorry but Jorviks capital should not be smaller than middle-of-nowhere ranger town Dundull. The generally accepted minimum population requirements for a city are 50 000 residents. Following the canon map, Jorvik city would need to fit at least 50 000 people in what looks like 2,25 square miles. That would mean Jorvik city houses 22 222 people per square mile, making it the 24th most densely populated city in the WORLD.
Possible? Sure. Likely? Considering the clear inspiration from the way less dense Stockholm, the lack of giant apartment complexes or slum neigbourhoods, which would imply that people live closely together, I’m gonna have to say no.
So how big should Jorvik city be, if the map size is inaccurate? Kind of hard to tell since we can’t see places like Governors Fall or Aideens Plaza on the map.
But there is one place we CAN see.
And if we can use this map, we can measure how long it takes to cross it.
I am very normal about the horse game.
From the barracks to the pier, it takes 38 seconds to cross the map. On a similarly flat surface on Jorvik, we can measure how long Pier 13 actually is, giving us this comparison.
Now, I’m going to show two theories on how big Jorvik City is based on these measurements.
The first one is the most canon-compliant, but also the most ridiculous. By comparing pier 13 to the area outside jorvik stables, we know that pier 13 is ~1 km long. Yes, this is an absolutely massive pier don’t worry about it. Looking at the jorvik city map, we can see that this smaller pier is meant to be to represent Pier 13, and we can do the math from there. Jorvik gets an area of 340 square km, and if we use Stockholms population density as a guide, Jorvik City has about 1,8 million citizens. Cool! One problem though.
You can’t fit it on the map. A city this big would take up almost one fourth of Jorvik, and you’d need to redraw the entire map to make it fit.
So my other option shifts the canon a bit to make the maps fit together. If we go against canon and assume that Pier 13 is actually the larger pier, that downsizes Jorvik City to ~47,5 square kilometres, with a population of around 250 000. This makes Jorvik more comparable to a more densely populated Reykjavik; smaller in area but with double the amount of people. And while it still messes with the coastline a bit, it at least fits into Central Bay.
Personally I think both theories work, but for consistency’s sake, I’m leaning more towards the second theory.
