Climate Models as a Retroactive and Exploratory World-building Tool

Literary world-building allows authors to experiment with their creation, changing features of imaginary worlds to contrast with the real world. In this sense, fictional world-building is a literary analogue to scientific models – simplified representations of the world. Merging the disparate disciplines of literary world-building and climate modelling, we present case studies of participatory culture, simulating the imaginary worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, George R. R. Martin, and Robert Jordan, comparing our simulations to the original authors’ depictions. We also show how a climate model of an in-development fantasy world can guide world-building of new imaginary worlds, facilitating narrative immersion. Combining fantasy world-building and climate modeling offers the opportunity to fill gaps in imaginary worlds and draw pedagogical attention to the science of climate models, particularly in a classroom setting.