Locating the Great Valley

[action9000]

I decided to start a discussion on How the LBT dinosaurs were able to locate the Great Valley.

First of all, we know what the Narrator tells the audience at the beginning of LBT 1.
"Set out toward the West, searching for the Great Valley."

Next, consider what Littlefoot's Mother mentions to Littlefoot about where they are going:
"that is why we must walk as far as we can each day until we reach the Great Valley....and we must follow it each day to where it touches the ground."

The problems?
The Sun, as far as Science can say, has always risen on on side of the sky (the east) and fallen on the other (the west).  If the dinosaurs were to always follow the Great Circle, they would end up walking back and forth in a rather humourous fashion.

Also, if the Sun is Due West (in the evening) of wherever a being is located, that would mean that the starting location is essential for this to work.  If I were to start at point A and walk West, and you were to start at a significantly different Point B and walk West, we would not end up at the same destination.
for this reason, I feel that everyone who started on this "follow the bright circle quest" started from the same location.  This explains partly why there are only so many dinosaurs in the Great valley; only those who were in the right location for this due West journey to take them there ended up there.  Dinosaurs in other locations either didn't make the journey or ended up somewhere completely different.

This being said, were Littlefoot and his friends and family just lucky?  Where did the Great Valley legend come from?  How did they know that the Bright Circle would lead them there?  

[Lain_EX]

Dinosaurs were animals. It was their instinct that guided 'em to da Great Valley y'know.

[Malte279]

The describtion of the way to the Great Valley does include two other points however. The rock that looks like a longneck (a location that could easily be missed) and the mountains that burn (a location not quite as easy to miss provided that there is a longer chain of burning mountains). Now this is speculation, but what Littlefoot's mother says is that past the mountains that burn; past the mountains that burn not beyond or right through them (the route Cera attempted). If we assume the mountains that burn to be a longer mountain chain dinosaurs who follow that chain until they reach the point where they can pass them might end up at a place close enough to the Great Valley to find it.
The natural instinct Lain_EX pointed out is also mentioned in the movie (and in our new GOF banner which looks very nice to me ): Some things you see with your eyes, others you see with your heart.
There is yet another speculation (mere speculation as there is not a point in the movie that would confirm the theory). It is a bit difficult for me to imagine herds of threehorns on their way trying to find the rock that looks like a longneck. It seems more likely to me that there are other landmarks on the way to the Great Valley which might be more acceptable to other species.

If the dinosaurs were to always follow the Great Circle, they would end up walking back and forth in a rather humourous fashion. 

I guess we must assume they realized the bright circle had to be in their backs in the morning. If they didn't, they would have probably gone either north or south (depending on which side of the equator they were) in rather long winded S shaped trails.

[action9000]

I do believe that this is one of the most difficult discussions in the entire LBT series because of the supernatural (using this term loosely) nature of what happened to allow the dinosaurs to find the Great Valley.

In the world that we know and see around us, the idea of following the sun to a flourishing location seems illogical unless you had already been there or have been given directions by someone who knows the way, and those directions instruct you to follow the sun starting from a certain location, proceed to a certain landmark and continue until you reach the destination.

We need to remember that the LBT universe is Not the real-world universe.  Rules are a little bit different.  After all, Littlefoot's mother appears to him in his treestar and in the clouds, with encouraging words and feelings from his heart, presented in a more literal way (a voice speaking to him and a cloud floating above him).  

We generally accept the epic journey to the Great Valley as part of how that world works.  Justifying it in our world using knowledge, reason and science is difficult, if not impossible.  What, then, can we decide?  What's left?

How did it work in Their world?
How did Littlefoot's Mother and the other dinosaurs know where to find the valley?
Perhaps their ancestors were actually from the valley, when a disaster hit it.  The dinosaurs were forced to evacuate and find a new home.  They survived there for many generations until this land began to perish.  Thankfully the spirit of the valley lived within the later generations who were able to recall this valley when they reached a mature age (which is why Littlefoot was still confused on where the Great Valley was and how his Mother knew it existed).  It was in all of their hearts but it took time to be able to interpret it.

[NewOrder]

Perhaps their ancestors were actually from the valley, when a disaster hit it.  The dinosaurs were forced to evacuate and find a new home.  They survived there for many generations until this land began to perish.  Thankfully the spirit of the valley lived within the later generations who were able to recall this valley when they reached a mature age (which is why Littlefoot was still confused on where the Great Valley was and how his Mother knew it existed).  It was in all of their hearts but it took time to be able to interpret it.

I was just thinking of that. Wouldn't a place like the great valley already be inhabitted before the herds from LBT find it? We have no knowledge of dinosaurs who lived in the great valley before this great migration. Where did they go? Did they leave for some reason? Did something drive them away, and if so what? Are the current dinosaurs of the GV doomed to leave it?
Maybe the GV suffered some sort of cataclismic event long before Littlefoot and the gang was even born, and when the rest of the Planet started to suffer the other dinosaurs thought that the GV might have already healed itself from such an event.

[Malte279]

The tales of Mr. Thicknose from LBT 8 and the legend of the Lone Dinosaur both suggest that the Great Valley has been populated all along. In fact LBT 6, in disaccordance with the original movie where there is no suggestion that Littlefoot's mother has any more tangible knowledge about the Great Valley than what she sees with her heart, claims that Littlefoot's grandpa was told about the legend by his grandpa, which suggests that Littlefoot's grandpa's grandpa probably lived in the Great Valley and maybe even Littlefoot's grandpa himself.
Maybe the knowledge about the Great Valley is more tangible than seeing with your heart after all. It may be kind of sad , but it does sound slightly unlikely that the voice of the heart gives as precise instructions as to find a rock the looks like a longneck and then get past the Mountains that burn to find the Great Valley. By itself the mere Paradise image of the Great Valley seems to be easier to be "transmitted" this way. Gee, using such technical terms in respect to one of the most beautiful statements from the original movie is kind of depressing

[action9000]

The tales of Mr. Thicknose from LBT 8 and the legend of the Lone Dinosaur both suggest that the Great Valley has been populated all along. In fact LBT 6, in disaccordance with the original movie where there is no suggestion that Littlefoot's mother has any more tangible knowledge about the Great Valley than what she sees with her heart, claims that Littlefoot's grandpa was told about the legend by his grandpa, which suggests that Littlefoot's grandpa's grandpa probably lived in the Great Valley and maybe even Littlefoot's grandpa himself.

Very true, but 'ancestors' could very well be before Grandpa's Grandpa.  Who's to say?  Unlikely I suppose, but say ancestors from 1000 years ago or more lived in the valley when disaster struck it.  For many generations, they survived outside the valley until this land became uninhabitable. 1000 or even 10,000 years isn't very long in the grand history of the dinosaurs.  the world didn't advance as quickly then as it does now, with technology.

So I suppose it's almost like an "instinct of the heart" that led this future generation to the Valley, embedded thousands of years ago from such a traumatic event.

[Malte279]

I'm not really certain there must have been anything so far in the past. I don't presume Littlefoot or even his grandpa to know anything about ancestors who lived a 1000 years ago. Does any of you? Even if we assume dinosaurs to live considerably longer than dinosaurs (some species did) I don't suppose that Littlefoot's grandpa could tell much about the grandpa of his grandpa's grandpa.
My point; tales from the Great Valley may not have been passed on to Littlefoot's family by direct ancestors, but by other dinosaurs (not necessarily other species) as well. All this reminds me of the closing line of the original movie  

[lbt/cty_lover]

What Malte says makes sense. Also, the S-shaped trails would only appear on a scale of months, not days. The sun does change in position slightly each day, but it is almost unnoticeable. I also agree with instinct.

[landbeforetimelover]

When I was 2 when I first got the original movie, I wanted to follow these instructions when I grew up and find the great valley.

[Kor]

It does make sense, like someone said above, that the great valley may have gone through a disaster.  It did happen in several movies.  The herds may have left and the great beyond may have been much more lush then in the first movie so some herds and individuals may have chose not to return but did tell the stories to their kids and others.  

Also the far walkers who have visited the valley likely told others they came across who have never been to the great valley and how to get there.    Also likely only within a certain distance would folks have heard of the great valley.  I took some of these ideas into account when I made up the backstory of my oc Mim.

[AvestheForumFox]

Simply put, the Great Valley ended up becoming Atlantis! A lush and beautiful island empire 3000 years before the Greek and Roman democracy.

And if those goofball scientists and archaeologists would study the original LBT movie and the text by Plato, then they will surely find it!

oh, and something of interest: http://www.thegreatvalley.com/default1.asp

[Kor]

SO, the great valley is in California?    

[Manny Cav]

I refuse to believe that.

[AvestheForumFox]

so then... who wants to migrate to California?

by the way, Arnold Shwartzenagor rules it all!