History Main / UnreliableCanon

** The timeline is not helped by the fact that, for most of pre-human history, time didn't exist. Major events of creation and destruction, including the creation of the world and innumerable wars, are impossible to fit into a proper timeline until a convention of gods decided it was all a bit much and that they should probably invent time and causality. Even after this, [[TimeCrash Dragon Breaks]] occur alarmingly often, where Akatosh, Dragon God of Time, basically decides he's had enough and goes on holiday.

* [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros Mario]] doesn't technically have a canon, but it can be very confusing to try and chart out a map of Mario's world when the games can't agree with each other.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Even before the Classic Series ended in 1989, the show saw all the effects of being run by committee with a constant circulation of production teams and writers. Many writers were uninterested in creating or maintaining a coherent "universe," resulting in numerous {{retcon}}s, {{Continuity Snarl}}s, and large doses of DependingOnTheWriter at best. Furthermore, decades of unconnected ExpandedUniverse works in different mediums resulted in writers frequently clashing with each other, deliberately making their works [[SpiritualAntithesis Spiritual Antitheses]] to one another. The Revival Series eventually shrugged and embraced the nebulous nature of the show's canon, helped along by the number of {{Promoted Fan|boy}}s throwing in oodles of nods to the stuff they grew up with, even if it results in further self-contradictions. Former showrunner Creator/StevenMoffat openly stated that consistency was impossible in a show about time travel.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. Even before the cancellation of the original series in 1989, the series showed all the effects of being run by a succession of different production teams and writers, many of whom simply saw the series as a succession of barely-connected serials and had absolutely no interest in creating or maintaining a coherent "universe". This led to casual {{Retcon}} at the slightest provocation, several notorious {{Continuity Snarl}}s, and large doses of DependingOnTheWriter at best. Then add a decade-and-a-half of multiple unconnected ExpandedUniverse series in different media, some of whose creators openly and [[ArmedWithCanon aggressively]] disagreed on the basic nature (and, especially, tone) of the franchise and deliberately made their works [[SpiritualAntithesis Spiritual Antitheses]] to one another. Now add another two decades of new TV show, with two successive showrunners who have both openly declared that they only treat past material as "canon" if it works with what they want to do at that precise moment, a third who's not known to have said it but has a similar approach, and a horde of PromotedFanboy (and Fangirl) creators in both the main series and Expanded Universe who love throwing in references to the past stories they like (even if they come from incompatible subcontinuities) and trying to contradict or FixFic the ones they don't. Anybody who seriously wants to try to make everything fit together has either stormed off in a rage or [[GoMadFromTheRevelation embraced insanity as the path to wisdom]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. Even before the cancellation of the original series in 1989, the series showed all the effects of being run by a succession of different production teams and writers, many of whom simply saw the series as a succession of barely-connected serials and had absolutely no interest in creating or maintaining a coherent "universe". This led to casual {{Retcon}} at the slightest provocation, several notorious {{Continuity Snarl}}s, and large doses of DependingOnTheWriter at best. Then add a decade-and-a-half of multiple unconnected ExpandedUniverse series in different media, some of whose creators openly and [[ArmedWithCanon aggressively]] disagreed on the basic nature (and, especially, tone) of the franchise and deliberately made their works [[SpiritualAntithesis Spiritual Antitheses]] to one another. Now add another decade of new TV show, created by two successive showrunners who have both openly declared that they only treat past material as "canon" if it works with what they want to do at that precise moment, and a horde of PromotedFanboy (and Fangirl) creators in both the main series and Expanded Universe who love throwing in references to the past stories they like (even if they come from incompatible subcontinuities) and trying to contradict or FixFic the ones they don't. Anybody who seriously wants to try to make everything fit together has either stormed off in a rage or [[GoMadFromTheRevelation embraced insanity as the path to wisdom]].

** The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse was official canon (conflicts are decided case by case, but generally novels are ranked highest, comics next, then video games, then RPG sourcebooks). But yeah, Lucas doesn't care about it, causing no end of problems in retconning the EU to match up with G-canon (the movies and any materials directly connected, such as the novelizations, Visual Dictionaries, and Incredible Cross-Sections). The continuity problems are one reason Karen Traviss quit (Mandalorians with a completely different culture than had been shown before appearing on the animated show rendered her series non-canonical when she was several books in for one thing).
** After the buyout by Disney, all old material besides the films and cartoons was declared non-canon to make way for a whole new set of canon spin-off material, which this time is more closely controlled.

* In the second edition of ''DungeonsAndDragons'', the original kit rules from the Complete Fighter's Handbook of 1989 explicitly disallowed multi-class characters from having kits. Then, the Complete Book of Elves coming out in 1992 allowed them. However, the 1994 reprint of the Complete Fighter's Handbook still disallowed multiclass kits.

* Due to frequent {{retcon}}ning to tie in with [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse the movies]], the Marvel Animated Universe is looking rather weird. ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' is a reboot of ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', yet is also its sequel as evidenced in a flashback in the former depicting the characters in the artstyle of the latter. The Guardians of the Galaxy were later introduced, though their depiction was contradictory to their appearance in ''Earth's Mightiest Heroes'' (most notably, the line-up; ''Assemble'' and ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' replaced Quasar and Adam Warlock with Gamora and Drax to fit in with the then-upcoming ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' movie). And then the Guardians were {{retcon}}ned ''again'' to be carbon-copies of their film versions so that their [[WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015 own show]] would act like a sequel to the first film. ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' would also be replaced by ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'', said to take place in a different continuity... and then the Spider-Man from the latter series crosses over with the Guardians from the new series, meaning that it really ''is'' in the same continuity? But ''Marvel's Spider-Man'' would also have Peter meet Miles for the first time despite meeting him for the first time in ''Ultimate'', and then Iron Man shows up in ''Marvel's Spider-Man''? Also, ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'' takes place in the same universe as ''Earth's Mightiest Heroes''.

* Done deliberately in the Wiki/SCPFoundation, since it's built on a crowdsourcing model, and allows for multiple interpretations (i.e. Dr. Clef as an abrasive researcher / a RealityWarper / Satan himself or the Foundation as a [[TheMenInBlack Men in Black]] organization trying to save the world or control it). It doesn't help that the site is occasionally subject to large-scale edits and one of the more prolific early writers took all his stories with him when he was banned, shattering what little consistency there had been. The site actually [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/canon-hub provides a section]] just for keeping the multiple possible canons straight. The general mantra is "there is no canon."

* Another case of constant {{retcon}}ning is ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', so much that the show has undergone soft reboots twice that retargeted the show to younger audiences (dumbing it down more and more). The series had originally three seasons planned plus a movie to wrap the plot up. Due to its massive success, a fourth season was produced, exploiting the question of "Were there fairies on Earth (magicless as of the start )?" but leaving a few plot holes in its trail -- glaringly, that the Enchantix is not the final fairy transformation, that the Ethereal Fairies have always existed (kind of conflicting Arcadia is introduced as the first fairy in season three), and that WritersCannotDoMath. Like the "Elephants Balancing" song, when the creators saw the show was still such a wonderful stunt, they began working on another season, and another. One of the new transformations is the Bloomix, born from the Dragon's Flame, a magical source repeatedly stated and shown as the most powerful InUniverse. It'd be logical for it to be the final and most potent transformation, right? Well, the very profitable doll-producing market begs to differ. Also, Bloom's sister turned out to have never been killed and is just wished back to life, while Musa's mother remains dead. Oh, and all of Stella's and Riven's {{Character Development}}s are just sent to hell. And the Winx girls are still Alfea students despite graduating in season three. Things got worse with the second soft reboot -- the eighth season brings Valtor back to life, makes the Trix sister not be actual sisters, and gives Icy a backstory identical to Bloom and Roxy. Add to all of that the fact the dubs are inconsistent (there are four of them just in English) and that ''Winx Club'' has spawned several novelizations, a plethora of official comics, and a LiveAction show. All three kinds of derivative works frequently contradicting the previously established canon.

** In-universe, Bethesda refuses to invalidate your choices about [[FeaturelessProtagonist who your character is]] and [[WideOpenSandbox what he/she does]]. Therefore, there is no definitive version of the Nerevarine/Champion/Dragonborn, etc. and very few canonized events (the main quest line usually being an exception.) Additionally, lore is generally not clear-cut. Reasons for this range from [[UnreliableNarrator biased]] in-universe sources intentionally only giving you only one side of a story, to in-universe sources [[CriticalResearchFailure lacking critical information]] or working from [[BlatantLies false information]], to the implication that AllMythsAreTrue, despite the contradictions, or that at least all myths are MetaphoricallyTrue. Out-of-game developer supplemental texts (frequently referred to as "Obscure Texts" by the lore community) are more trustworthy, but are frequently left [[LooseCanon unofficial]] and sometimes later contradicted. Because of this, it is entirely possible for two contradictory statements in the lore to ''both'' be true. (And due to frequent events in-universe that [[TimeCrash alter the timeline]], both may become ''literally'' be true in-universe.)

* Another case of constant {{retcon}}ning is ''Franchise/WinxClub'', so much that the show has undergone soft reboots twice that retargeted the show to younger audiences (dumbing it down more and more). The series had originally three seasons planned plus a movie to wrap the plot up. Due to its massive success, a fourth season was produced, exploiting the question of "Were there fairies on Earth (magicless as of the start )?" but leaving a few plot holes in its trail -- glaringly, that the Enchantix is not the final fairy transformation, that the Ethereal Fairies have always existed (kind of conflicting Arcadia is introduced as the first fairy in season three), and that WritersCannotDoMath. Like the "Elephants Balancing" song, when the creators saw the show was still such a wonderful stunt, they began working on another season, and another. One of the new transformations is the Bloomix, born from the Dragon's Flame, a magical source repeatedly stated and shown as the most powerful InUniverse. It'd be logical for it to be the final and most potent transformation, right? Well, the very profitable doll-producing market begs to differ. Also, Bloom's sister turned out to have never been killed and is just wished back to life, while Musa's mother remains dead. Oh, and all of Stella's and Riven's {{Character Development}}s are just sent to hell. And the Winx girls are still Alfea students despite graduating in season three. Things got worse with the second soft reboot -- the eighth season brings Valtor back to life, makes the Trix sister not be actual sisters, and gives Icy a backstory identical to Bloom and Roxy. Add to all of that the fact the dubs are inconsistent (there are four of them just in English) and that ''Winx Club'' has spawned several novelizations, a plethora of official comics, and a LiveAction show. All three kinds of derivative works frequently contradicting the previously established canon.