The world of Aerwiar began with two very confused people waking up. They were fully clothed, able to speak, and were instantly fond of one another. One was a man, the other was a woman. Their names were Dwayne and Gladys, probably because the Maker liked the way the letter “Y” made their names look a little exotic on paper even as they sounded a little silly.
They looked at one another and said, “Here we are.” Those were the first words ever spoken in this clean new world. Later, they would remember it and laugh at how funny the words sounded, how surprised they were to find that they had anything at all to say, since they were only a few seconds old. The story of “Here we are” was repeated over dinner tables and in the fields for hundreds of years, until those first three words morphed into one: “Aerwiar.”
It was the Hollish historian and inventor Shaybus O’Pally who pieced together the writings of the First Books with the folk tales and rediscovered the forgotten origin of the word “Aerwiar,” at last convincing the academic community of his time that his hypothesis was true. (O’Pally’s credibility was in question because of a number of failed inventions in which he tried to combine food with more practical devices, such as oars.)
I digress. The point is, Aerwiar is a vast and mysterious world, and has yet to have been fully explored. The places beyond the edges of the known maps are called “The Places Beyond the Maps”, and are viewed with an ache for adventure by some and fear by others.
In the following pages you’ll find several hand-drawn maps, produced by an unknown and less-than-amateur cartographer. He is clearly unable to depict the sweeps of this great land with his pencil and/or ink. Still, these maps were the best we could find.
finaly, after weeks of waiting I receive my Wingfeather shirt
The King OF All My Shirts!!!!!
I have just finished monster in the hollows and it is AMAZING!!! BEST BOOKS EVER!!
BEST BOOKS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I love the ”here we are”and Aerwair
idea.By the way whats with the candy clock?and where in the world did you find the name leeil?
I would love to eat that clock.
-Kal
Me too!
Janner has a First Book. Leeli has a great whistleharp. I have my father’s sketchbook. And Oskar has a squishy belly.
Sorry, didn’t mean to post that, me and Janner were trying to make each other laugh, and I didn’t know this was recording. Please don’t tell Oskar I said it.
-Kalmar Wingfeather
Is Kalmar rude or what Oskar does not have a squishy belly (or maybe a little squishy) But don’t call him that
I was about to read “The Monster in the Hollows” again for maybe the millionth time (exaggeration) but decided to look at the maps first. I was looking at the one showing Ban Rona and saw that there was a square marked “Eric’s House”. I had noticed it before but thought that Andrew Peterson had made the map before he wrote the book and was intending to have someone named Eric in the story but never did. Since, this time around, I have this website, I can ask the experts, “Why is ‘Eric’s House’ on the map of Ban Rona?”
–Noelle
That’s a great question! And it’s an Easter egg I’m surprised more people haven’t asked about. I was drawing that map at a place called Sam & Zoe’s in Nashville, next door to the old Rabbit Room offices, and Eric Peters (www.ericpeters.net) was hanging out with me. I added it on a whim just to make him laugh, and it made it into the final.
What was Aerwiar called before it was morphed into “Aerwiar”?
In the book “On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness” it has a brief introduction to the world of Aerwiar, and it said it came from Dwayne, the first man, saying “well, here we are.”
Andrew Peterson I used to love NARNIA and the Hobbit but now I think your books are by far the best books I have ever read by far!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD has given you such a gift !
I think that I’d really have to agree
That was so clever to think of “Here we are” “Aerwiar (:
Interesting!~~~A Candy Clock would be yummy!!!
whats with the “giant candy clock?”
No clue.