# Are there any maps of Hyperion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294 "2011-08-27T15:54:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/1 "2011-08-27T15:54:05Z")
Referring to the fictional planet in the _Hyperion Cantos_ tetralogy by Dan Simmons. The geography (planetography?) of Hyperion is an important aspect of the story, with frequent references to continents, archipelagos, mountain chains, deserts, rivers, jungles, valleys. A lot of the plot is concerned with the spatial relationships between various geographical features. At many points in the novels I’ve wished to look at a map to see how everything is placed in relation to everything else. I used Google image search but found nothing. I was expecting some fanboy or fangirl had already mapped Hyperion. The Cantos are one of the most prominent award-winning works of SF in recent years. I assumed it would have an enthusiastic fan base of the sort that develops background reference sources like maps. Ursula LeGuin included maps of both planets in _The Dispossessed_, in which geography plays some role, but not as centrally as in the _Hyperion Cantos_. The references to geography are mostly brief and scattered throughout the books, so that to bring together all the information becomes one of those obsessive tasks that fans excel at. I’m not a “fan,” I just like to read. I just think the Hyperion novels, more than most novels, are seriously crying out for a little mapping. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/2 "2011-08-29T23:27:07Z")
I’m currently in the middle of the third novel (_Endymion_). All along I’ve kept seeing references to the three continents that are named after the animals their outlines resemble. I’ve been visualizing Equus in the northern hemisphere to the west, Aquila in the southern hemisphere, and Ursus somewhere to the east of the other two. The Nine Tails archipelago in the sea somewhere between southern Equus and northern Aquila. The horse shape of Equus has its head in the northeast, facing east, and the Valley of the Time Tombs is just north of the Bridle Range, so it’s somewhere (I’m imagining) between the horse’s neck and where its ear would go. Keats is on the east coast of Equus, farther south, maybe on the horse’s chest. As for locations on Aquila, as with Equus the bird’s anatomy is used to describe where things are, except I haven’t been able to figure out how the bird is arranged. For that matter, the Valley of the Time Tombs needs a map of its own, because so much of the action in the novels is focused there, and the shape of the valley and the spatial layout of all the buildings in it are given lots of emphasis. Descriptions of this are fairly detailed and repeated in each book. ---
**Author:** ![LynnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@LynnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LynnM)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/3 "2011-09-01T14:27:05Z")
You might consider posting your Qs on the Dan Simmons forum: [http://forum.dansimmons.com/ubbthreads/](http://forum.dansimmons.com/ubbthreads/) ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/4 "2011-09-01T14:46:46Z")
Don’t have my copy here, but I would have sworn that my copy of Hyperion had a map. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/5 "2011-09-01T19:24:25Z")
> [@LynnM](#): > > You might consider posting your Qs on the Dan Simmons forum: > > [http://forum.dansimmons.com/ubbthreads/](http://forum.dansimmons.com/ubbthreads/) Thanks… I had thought of that and looked there… but you know how before asking a question at SDMB you’re supposed to search to find out whether the question has already been asked? That forum has no search function. Simmons is pretty good at dreaming up future technology and describing it… but installing and operating real technology is another matter altogether… Guess I’ll try there and brace myself for the likely chorus of “Where’ve you been? Noob, we covered this already lots of times!” Edit-- They’re not accepting new user registrations. Great, no search, no join, no dice. ---
**Author:** ![LynnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@LynnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LynnM)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/6 "2011-09-01T19:48:54Z")
Johanna: “Edit-- They’re not accepting new user registrations. Great, no search, no join, no dice.” Didn’t know that. At the bottom-right on the forum pages, there’s a “Contact Us” link–maybe if you emailed to request membership? ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/7 "2011-09-01T19:58:24Z")
The forums are Google-searchable. I just tried. No one seems to have asked about maps of Hyperion, though. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/8 "2011-09-01T20:02:54Z")
[Here](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hyperion+wastewater+treatment+plant&client=safari&oe=UTF-8&fb=1&gl=us&cid=0,0,13789481919022185877&t=h&z=16&vpsrc=0&iwloc=A)? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/9 "2026-05-14T03:09:07Z")
My link earned a ‘popular link’ badge, but 15 years later, it doesn’t seem to be where I would have linked to. So here is a link to the [Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hyperion+Water+Reclamation+Plant/@33.9243072,-118.4338148,940m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x80c2b106a33baf27:0x4675bfaf17953cdb!8m2!3d33.9243072!4d-118.4312399!16s%2Fg%2F11c1pgk9vd?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDUxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) in L.A. Not sure a joke is worth a click. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/10 "2026-05-14T10:08:33Z")
I was sure this was about the moon of Saturn. It was visited by Cassini in 2005, so high-res maps are now available. > **[Saturn's Battered Moon Hyperion - NASA Science](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/saturns-battered-moon-hyperion/)** > > A stunning false-color view of Saturn's moon Hyperion. > **[Hyperion - NASA Science](https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/moons/hyperion/)** > > William Lassell discovered Hyperion in 1848. That same year William Cranch Bond, with his son George Phillips Bond, independently discovered the moon. All ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/11 "2026-05-14T12:47:08Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I was sure this was about the moon of Saturn. In Cafe Society? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/12 "2026-05-14T12:53:50Z")
It would look good in a coffee-table book! ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/13 "2026-05-14T14:47:12Z")
I was hoping we were going to talk about the sunny and pleasant home of the Titanides on Gaea, in John Varley’s Gaea trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/14 "2026-05-15T02:12:56Z")
This Reddit thread was created some years after the original post here, but it has a fan rendition of the continents in question: > **[Reddit - Please wait for verification](https://www.reddit.com/r/Hyperion/s/072lDdjfMi)** ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/15 "2026-05-15T02:17:21Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > All along I’ve kept seeing references to the three continents that are named after the animals their outlines resemble. Also, when I first read this part, I misread it, and thought that the continents were named after the body shape the native animals on that continent resembled - so like, Equus would have an ecosystem where most of the animals resemble horses in shape. Once I saw the maps I linked above I realized my mistake, but I do think that’s a good idea for a scifi setting. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/16 "2026-05-15T04:54:17Z")
Thanks! I’d given up looking. Although I was sure the horse was facing east instead of northwest. Also, I’d thought Keats was on the east coast instead of the west coast. Who’s right? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-maps-of-hyperion/594294/17 "2026-05-15T18:37:47Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Also, I’d thought Keats was on the east coast instead of the west coast. Who’s right? I can’t answer your question because I haven’t actually read these books, but I did see that the mapmaker discussed some of these questions in the comments: > [@](#): > > Another confusing topic was the location of Keats, which has to be near the Mane, which is on the east coast, but then Keats also has to be near an ocean to the west. I wound up solving that one by giving Equus a peninsula, so the Mane can extend as far south as it needs to, but Keats can still be near an ocean on both sides 🙂