Line #103 Main/Canon


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[VisualPun https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TsarCannon350_2182.jpg]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350: "A cannon can be used to ''[[ArmedWithCanon reinforce]]'' canon".]]
6
7	->''"'''Warning:''' The game you are about to play is canon."''
8	-->-- ''VideoGame/BarkleyShutUpAndJamGaiden''
9
10	That which counts, in terms of {{continuity}}.
11
12	Canonicity, as it applies to television series, is substantially different from its literary counterpart. For example, there is no question of which ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' stories (the first non-[[Literature/TheBible biblical]] literary works to which the term was applied) are canonical: those written by Doyle are, everything else isn't.
13
14	Television canonicity works much differently, as there are many authors involved. Works not officially sanctioned are generally outside of canonicity, but what remains inside is more nebulous. Officially licensed material, novelizations and tie-in novels are not usually considered canonical. Even broadcast material can be excluded from the canon when decreed by WordOfGod.
15
16	The primary issue is that canons for completed works (especially with a single author) are ''descriptive'', whereas fans' attempts to define canonicity for ongoing works are ''prescriptive''. If a fact is canonical, you are not allowed to contradict it.
17
18	The concept of canonicity is almost entirely an invention of {{fandom}}. The writers will [[CanonDiscontinuity ignore]], [[ContinuityNod include]], or [[{{Retcon}} change]] whatever facts they damned well like. This is not to say that the writers totally lack a sense of {{continuity}}, but it is a much weaker concept than "canonicity" as presented by fan communities. Writers can tweak continuity quite a lot without actually breaking it by using BroadStrokes.
19
20	In fan communities based on very loose continuities, what is "canonical" can sometimes boil down to "[[{{Fanon}} the bits we like]]". Fans will attempt to find any excuse to [[FanonDiscontinuity "de-canonize"]] facts that they personally find inconvenient.
21
22	A related term is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuterocanonical_books Deuterocanon]] (known here on Website/TVTropes as WordOfDante), which in this context refers to those persons, places and/or events which are not explicitly shown on-screen, but which are considered "official" or close to it. For canonicity that comes not from the source material but from pronouncements by the creator, see WordOfGod. For the contrary idea that something is canonical ''only if'' it appears in the source material (external opinions of the creator, DummiedOut content, and {{Deleted Scene}}s ''not'' included), see DeathOfTheAuthor.
23
24	{{Continuity}} is another related, but very distinct term. While canonicity refers to what works do and don't count, continuity is the story groups themselves: [[LongRunner long-running]] franchises may tell many stories which all have their own considerations of what's canonical to them. For example, ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' has [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers the 1984 cartoon]], the ''Anime/UnicronTrilogy'', [[WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated Animated]], and more that all have similar elements, but aren't connected to each other despite being part of the same franchise.
25
26	The concept of canonicity is related to the literary term used to describe a body of work that is considered the foremost in quality and significance. For example, if one refers to the English-language literary canon, it is understood that one is speaking of books such as ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' by Creator/CharlesDickens, ''Literature/MobyDick'' by Herman Melville, ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' by Creator/JaneAusten, and ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' by Creator/JosephConrad--in other words, most of the books you read in HighSchool are part of the English-language canon.
27
28	Many video games (and especially {{Visual Novel}}s) have the problem of the StoryBranching into MultipleEndings, thus creating a number of mutually exclusive but canonical happenings. This becomes particularly relevant when the source material is adapted to a linear medium like a TV series and [[CuttingOffTheBranches one of the paths has to be chosen]], adding "extra canonicity" to it. The same applies to sequels. Choose wrong, and the original fans will be up in arms; and there likely is no right answer. See ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' for an example. Most frequently, [[NoCanonForTheWicked the "good" ending is the one chosen]] (because the "bad" ones usually [[EveryoneDiesEnding leave too many of the principals dead]]).
29
30	Canonicity should not be confused with {{Fanon}}, but everyone [[WordOfDante does it all the time]]. See FanonDiscontinuity for when people decide ''en masse'' to disregard actual canonicity, and CanonDiscontinuity when the writers do it. Alternatively, see the ContinuityTropes index for all related concepts. OfficialFanSubmittedContent is when the creators ask the fans to add to the canon.
31
32	Not to be confused with the VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', or the camera company Canon, or with singer/songwriter K'naan, or with Music/PachelbelsCanon, or the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' BigBad Ganon, or with [[UsefulNotes/ModernBattlefieldWeapons actual cannons]].
33
34	----
35	!!Examples of canons in fiction
36
37	[[foldercontrol]]
38
39	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
40	* When it comes to the Franchise/{{Gundam}} franchise, the official word from Creator/{{Sunrise}} is that all works that appeared in official releases count as being canonical unless stated otherwise. Even if they try their hardest to line up with continuity and get appearances in crossover media like ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', this still creates quite a lot of problems. Most of the time they act more like written guides are the most canonical, anime is more of a film/movie adaptation of what actually happened, yet much more canonical than manga and novels, and games are all non-canonical, unless retconned by any previous mentioned media and with no contradiction with the guides.
41	* ''Franchise/DragonBall'' is a tricky beast because after several decades of adaptations and additional stories, what is canonical is a ''very'' open question. Not helping matters is that there's no word for canon in Japanese[[note]]Toei often use "takes place in an alternate universe", which doesn't accurately convey the concept[[/note]], and Creator/{{Toei\|Company}} [[ShrugOfGod prefers not to say]] in case they torpedo popular ''GT'' merch. For most fans, canonicity is SeriousBusiness, and plenty a FlameWar has erupted over what is and isn't canonical. Complicating this is that many properties (plus a ''lot'' of {{Filler}}) have been developed without Creator/AkiraToriyama's direct influence, and many of the franchises' [[EnsembleDarkhorse beloved characters]] either weren't thought up him or plain don't fit in anywhere. There are also many [[FanDumb fans]] who feel the need to [[StopHavingFunGuys explicitly tell other fans]] what parts of the series they are ''allowed'' to "count" and what parts not, to the point where they insist that separate ''scenes'' in an episode should be disregarded. In the more reasonable parts of the fandom, it's generally agreed that there are several "categories" of canonicity with a sort of pyramid arrangement:
42	** Manga Canonicity: anything that has the involvement of Akira Toriyama, and the "absolute" canon: the [[Manga/DragonBall original manga]], additionally with ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'', ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' and ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''. ''Super'' adapts the two aforementioned movies with [[BroadStrokes some minor differences]], with the version being "truly" canonical being up to fan preference as none of these differences have any bearing on the long-term plot. There is also a [[Anime/DragonBallYoSonGokuAndHisFriendsReturn 2008 OVA special]] that was confirmed to be canonical in ''Battle of Gods''. ''Dragon Ball Super'' also has [[Manga/DragonBallSuper a manga]] drawn by Creator/{{Toyotaro}} that does cause some issues in that later arcs that are wholly original to it, alongside other minor differences to the anime. WordOfGod is usually considered canonical as well, but due to Toriyama's forgetful and sometimes self-contradictory nature some fans take this with a grain of salt.
43	** Anime Canonicity: All of the anime-exclusive Filler and [[NonSerialMovie Non-Serial Movies]] that don't contradict the manga or have small plotholes that are easily explained away. They aren't canonical to the manga and thus will never be referenced in those materials, but you could be excused for "counting" them. Examples include the Ginyu-takes-over-Bulma subplot (which was actually referenced in ''Super''), antics during the 10-day wait for the Cell games, the driving episode, ''Anime/DragonBallZCoolersRevenge'', ''Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan'', and ''Anime/DragonBallZBojackUnbound''. The Other World Tournament used to count as well, but has since been demoted as ''Resurrection F'' explicitly retconned all scenes in hell.
44	*** The Anime can also be split into "Classic" and "Modern" canons. The former would include works like ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' from the 80s and 90s, while the latter would include only modern additions like ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'' and ''[[Anime/DragonBallSuper Super]]'', the latter of which contradicts ''GT'' the more it goes on.
45	** Non-Canonicity: All anime-exclusive materials that contradict the manga, all unique video game plots (many of which are What-if's anyway), and all non-Toriyama or non-Toyotaro manga. Examples include ''Anime/DragonBallZTheTreeOfMight'' and ''Anime/DragonBallEpisodeOfBardock''; in fact the movies [[NonSerialMovie contradict the anime so much]] that some find it easier to put it in its own canon altogether.
46	* ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'':
47	** ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', like ''Dragon Ball'', is another LongRunner with a lot of {{Filler}}, as such the majority of the fandom hold the claim that "If it was written by Creator/MasashiKishimoto, it's canonical"; officially though what's also considered canonical by WordOfGod are the ''Literature/NarutoHiden'' novels (some of which were adapted in the ''Shippudden'' anime, and some of their [[CanonImmigrant filler villains and characters even appearing briefly in the manga]] during the Fourth Ninja War). For the movies, while ''Anime/NarutoTheMovieRoadToNinja'' was made with the author's involvement it is not considered part of the Canon since [[NonSerialMovie it doesn't fit in any part of the continuity]] and because of the author's own admission. The next movie ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'', on the other hand was the first movie to be explicitly stated to be part of the manga continuity, and had Kishimoto directly involved as a story supervisor.
48	** For the SpinOffspring SequelSeries, ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'', things have become a little...complicated to say the least: at first ''Anime/BorutoNarutoTheMovie'' was considered absolutely canonical since it was also written by Kishimoto, but then the ''Boruto'' manga series came out and started by adapting the events of the movie with some significant differences, then the anime came out starting from a chronological point before that with it's own story arcs which were considered {{Filler}} by most of the fandom...until the manga started [[ContinuityNod referencing]] the anime only arcs; adding to the confusion there's the fact that Kishimoto acts as a story supervisor and editor for both the ''Boruto'' manga and anime. To this date, WordOfGod has confirmed that both the anime and manga are canonical and it's becoming more and more apparent that the aforementioned ''Boruto'' movie was in reality the PilotMovie for the new series.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Comic Books]]
52	* Superhero comics have wildly fluctuating levels of canonicity with generally the most popular stories written by currently established writers being considered canonical, often even if they weren't originally. For example, ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', originally an Creator/{{Elseworlds}} story, was eventually retconned to be the official future of the DC Universe (and later retconned to be one of the Fifty Two earths with the Superman of that universe interacting with his mainstream universe counterpart.) Often after a major retcon or reboot, classic stories are considered canonical until proven otherwise by new canonicity. ''[[ComicBook/SupermanBirthright Birthright]]'' was considered ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s origin story even after ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' until Johns wrote ''ComicBook/SupermanSecretOrigin''.
53	* [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse Marvel]] tends to be very inclusive with their canon; many works are included thanks to their utilisation of more than one AlternateUniverse.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Film - Animated]]
57	* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'' had two short novels that came out with the film, to help explain the two main characters' pasts and motivations, as well as the world in which it is set.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
61	* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' canon had a tiered rank of canonicity, with the films at the top, ''The Clone Wars'' below that, their novelizations below that, and then most of the books and other works subordinate to that, with each tier being named (G-Canon for films and film novels, T-Canon for ''The Clone Wars'', and C-canon for the rest), and there was also a grouping for non-canonical materials. Since the Disney purchase, most of the old EU material has been deemed non-canonical (except for the six theatrical films and ''The Clone Wars''), with all the newly produced materials being functionally equivalent to the old T-Canon (though the term hasn't been used in connection with the new canon).
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Literature]]
65	* ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' fans regard the stories written by Margaret Weis and/or Tracy Hickman as being the official canon, but attitudes towards the books written by other authors range widely.
66	* The Franchise/CthulhuMythos canon is sometimes only the work of Creator/HPLovecraft, but sometimes also the work of August Derleth. Fans argue, especially with the changes in character Derleth created. In fairness, the mythos is all about horrors beyond our comprehension, so its natural that different writers would have different interpretations of the material.
67	* There's some argument over what is and what isn't canonical in the works of Creator/JRRTolkien as they relate to Middle-Earth; he made many, MANY changes to his works over the course of his lifetime. ''Literature/TheHobbit'' is sometimes considered non-canonical because it was not originally created as part of Middle-Earth, despite the fact that the widest-known book in the setting, ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', was meant as a sequel to it.
68	* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and the Appendices to ''Lord of the Rings'' are accepted as the most canonical accounts of the pre-''Hobbit'' history of Middle Earth but for events not covered in them one has to delve into writings unpublished during Tolkien's lifetime, which are much less organized. The ''History of Middle Earth'' series published by his son is ''12 volumes'' devoted to documenting the evolution of Tolkien's ideas and manuscripts and STILL didn't exhaust the known body of manuscripts left behind at his death. This is further complicated by the fact that Tolkien was himself a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philology philologist]] and wrote a complex DirectLineToTheAuthor aspect into canonicity explaining how he obtained a manuscript of the Red Book of Westmarch, Frodo and Bilbo's first-hand acount of their journeys. Tolkien's preferred way of dealing with apparent inconsistencies in canonicity was to attribute them to a story having been handed down in more than one form before reaching his ears or to the personal biases of those involved in the transmission of the story.
69	* In ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' fandom, the original works penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are the primary canon, with different spinoff 'verses having their own subsidiary canons. However, what facts are and are not canonical is made less clear by DirectLineToTheAuthor, where Doyle is merely John Watson's literary agent and the stories are all first-person accounts penned by Watson (and in a few aberrant cases by Holmes himself). Watson refers repeatedly to Doyle editing parts of his stories--and in turn Holmes regularly accuses Watson of "re-imagining" cases to be more exciting and trope-tastic--but Watson also edits himself, alluding to cases still too dangerous or controversial to publish. There even seems to be some {{Retcon}} involved around Moriarty, with stories published after "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House" suggesting that Watson WAS involved in the long cat-and-mouse game leading up to the destruction of Moriarty's crime network but suppressed that fact in order to protect the ongoing investigation.
70	* In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fandom, it is, of course, widely accepted that [[Literature/HarryPotter the books]] take precedence over [[Film/HarryPotter the movies]]. The Harry Potter Lexicon and the Harry Potter Wiki have two different approaches to this. The Lexicon believes that the canon consists only of the things Creator/JKRowling has said or written, ergo the films are non-canonical unless it can be proved that a particular detail was provided by Rowling herself. The Harry Potter Wiki, on the other hand, has a "canon tier" system which regards the films as canonical in the places where they don't conflict with the books. The practical effect of this is shifting the burden of proof, i.e. the Lexicon says movie details have to prove canonicity while the Wiki says they have to be proven ''not'' canonical. Also, the Wiki places the ''VideoGame/HarryPotter'' video games on a third tier, below the films.[[note]]Except for the original 101 Wizard Card descriptions: as they were written by Rowling herself, they are considered first tier canonicity[[/note]] And then there are the fans who disregard [[DeathOfTheAuthor statements from Rowling]] and/or [[FanonDiscontinuity whole books]], mostly because they don't like that [[KilledOffForReal a certain character died]] or [[OfficialCouple a certain ship became official]].
71	* ''Literature/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'': According to a note in the afterword of volume 6, author Dojyomaru considers the published LightNovel volumes the canon version of the property, rather than the original WebSerialNovel or the anime and manga adaptations.
72	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': The novels are the primary canon. The TV shows and video games are non canonical (the [[VideoGame/{{Discworld}} first]] [[VideoGame/DiscworldII two]] video games in particular are a mash-up of things that happened in different books). [[TabletopGame/DiscworldRolePlayingGame The RPG]] tries to be ''consistent'' with canon but, as it was published when Creator/TerryPratchett was alive, specifically states that he was free to contradict it at any point. The literary spin-offs (the Mapps, ''Nanny Ogg's Cookbook'', ''The Discworld Almanack'' etc), are generally considered to be "sort of canon" with their canonicity on a sliding scale based on how involved it appears Sir Terry was.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
76	* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has no official policy from above on what is or isn't canonical. Being a show about time travel and history being altered, this probably makes sense. The closest thing to an official "canon policy" is that, due to the BBC having a public service remit, no TV episode is permitted to be so strongly related to a spin-off work as to make it inaccessible to viewers who didn't buy the spin-off (although, especially in the 21st-century show, there have been a number of casual ContinuityNod references to events in spin-off works).
77	--> Why all this fuss about canonicity - and, indeed, continuity - in a show about a man who changes history for a living? Creator/StevenMoffat ([[https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.drwho/browse_thread/thread/3e98be7340dd173c/78dcc19f05381668?pli=1#78dcc19f05381668 link]])
78	* Creator/{{Paramount}} maintains that only elements depicted or referenced to onscreen in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' are canonical. This technically includes the film series beginning with the [[Film/StarTrek2009 "reboot"]], which features a few characters from after ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' in the "prime universe". ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' is generally not considered canonical (with the possible exception of the episode "Yesteryear", according to the authors of the ''Star Trek Encyclopedia''), though the official status does seem to change from year to year, considering how many writers worked on both that show and [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]]. Currently, Paramount's policy is that the canon consists of the movies, the live-action shows, ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', and TAS.
79	* Like ''Star Wars'', ''Series/BabylonFive'' also has canonical licensed tie-in media.
80	* ''Series/{{Lost}}'''s {{Alternate Reality Game}}s and tie-in video game have mixed canonicity, and the showrunners have used the podcast to declare what can be taken as canonical and what cannot.
81	* In terms of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', in addition to the seven seasons of the TV show, all the Season 8 and later Dark Horse comics have been declared officially canonical by [[WordOfGod Joss Whedon]]. All other Dark Horse comics produced before the Season 8+ comics, however, are not considered canonical, with the exception of the "Origin" arc, which was adapted from [[EarlyDraftTieIn Whedon's favoured script draft]] for the movie before the studio, director and actors got their hands on it and is officially canonical.
82	* As far as the Franchise/StargateVerse is concerned: its canon consists of the BroadStrokes of the [[Film/{{Stargate}} original movie]], ''Series/StargateSG1'' (plus its two [[Film/StargateTheArkOfTruth follow-up]] [[Film/StargateContinuum movies]]), ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', ''Series/StargateUniverse'', and ''Series/StargateOrigins''. The ''Atlantis'' continuation novels [[http://forum.gateworld.net/threads/49104-stargate-atlantis-novels/page10?p=12463850#post12463850 are also canonical]].
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
86	* Religion, which is in fact the [[UrExample origin of this concept]], also has its share of both canonicity and {{Fanon}}. In addition to Literature/TheBible, for instance, Jews have Literature/TheTalmud and many old Jewish legends besides, and Christians have works from various Jewish and Roman historians such as Josephus, Gnostic cults, and certain popular contemporary legends as well. Note that true believers do not necessarily automatically disregard all of these apocryphal works as wholly false; in fact, Jews and Christians will often borrow from these works to interpolate from the canonical works when adapting various parts of the Bible to television and movies. They just don't require anyone to believe in these "supplementary" writings in order to be a believer.
87	* Note that the Christian Bible has been officially and permanently fixed since the 300's. Before this many smaller groups of religious sects argued over which Gospels were in fact true to the canon of Jesus. For example, you might be surprised to hear that there was a Gospel of Peter. It's not in your local Bible, though. If the early compilers had the information we do now, what became canonical would probably have been very different. Just one example: early Christians believed that the John mentioned as Jesus' disciple, the author of the Gospel of John, the author of the 3 Letters of John and the author of Revelation were all the same person. They're now widely considered to have been at least three different people (most historians would still say that the Gospel and the Letters probably had the same author, but the other two are undeniably different), which casts doubts on whether it was right to include those books.
88	* In Islam, there's Literature/TheQuran, the Word of God, and the Hadith, things said by Muhammad that aren't part of the Koran. The Hadith have their own hierarchy of canon, based on how reliably the chain of transmission can be traced back to Muhammad, how well they cohere with other Hadith, and so on. The main categories are: Sahih (authentic, authoritative), Hasan (good, acceptable) and Da'if (weak, almost never quoted in isolation but only in conjunction with superior Hadith). Unfortunately due to the various [[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hadith_terminology sub-categories]], things get a bit more complicated than that.
89	** The Koran assumed readers are already familiar with the events described in the Bible, especially the Old Testament. However, the Koran also makes it clear that the Bible is a distorted, not always reliable version of these events, and in many places gives a slightly different narrative than the Biblical one.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
93	* Per WordOfGod, only the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' comic strip is canonical, not the animated TV specials, TV series and movies.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
97	* Ordinarily Wizards of the Coast takes the position that any video game adaptations aren't canonical. But then the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' novel and sourcebook writers chose to make canonical several plot points from the Creator/BioWare games. For example, the whole Bhaalspawn plot from the ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' series was referenced in the 3.5E sourcebook ''Lost Empires of Faerûn'', and other material mentions the Wailing Death in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights''. By the ordinary standards the ''Baldur's Gate'' novelizations would have been more canonical than the games, but references in various materials in the run-up to 5E, plus a new comic book series, made clear that while the canonical protagonist was the one from the novels (or at least had the same name, race and gender), the events he was involved in and his companions during them were closer to those of the games.
98	* Catalyst Game Labs has a tiered view of canon for ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''. The main source of canon consists of the sourcebooks and novels [[note]]though there is a gradiation of canon here due to the UnreliableNarrator tendencies of the sourcebooks, which are almost always presented as in-universe documents from [=ComStar=] or other powers and so reflect the biases or incomplete information of the in-universe author -- and in some Jihad-era books, out-and-out in-universe lies known as "canon rumors". [[{{Retcon}} This has proved very convenient to the various developers when changes had to be made to canon or when two sources conflict]]. Conversely, Catalyst has said that information related in a novel is unimpeachable canon unless explicitly retconned. With one exception: due to a variety of reasons mostly revolving around licensing snags that have made reprinting the novel impossible as well as some EarlyInstallmentWierdness, the events of the early novel ''The Sword and the Dragon'' are considered BroadStrokes in terms of canonicity -- Hanse Davion was replaced by a body double, and this still is one of his ''casus belli'' for launching the Fourth Succession War, but otherwise the novel's events are not often referenced and the novel itself is [[MissingEpisode not counted in the official list]] of ''Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse'' novels.[[/note]], and materials supporting the click-base miniature spinoff ''[=MechWarrior=]: Dark Age'' and ''[=MechWarrior=]: Age of Destruction'' games. A secondary tier exists with the computer games. Both due to their more open nature and due to the licensing issues surrounding the split intellectual property[[note]]Topps owns the tabletop game rights which they license to Catalyst, Microsoft owns the computer and video-game rights[[/note]], the canonicity is BroadStrokes, in that events of the games generally ''happened'', but it may not be in the exact way that any player experienced it in their own playthrough of the game and the characters created for the games may or may not exist in canon[[note]]notable CanonImmigrants from the video games include the Crescent Hawks mercenary company from ''The Crescent Hawks' Inception'' and ''The Crescent Hawks' Revenge'', and the entirety of the Aurigan Coalition from ''VideoGame/BattleTech2018''[[/note]]. The ''WesternAnimation/BattleTech1994'' cartoon, the various comic books, and official magazines with the possible exception of the currently-running ''Shrapnel'' magazine, also fall into this tier[[note]] for instance, the cartoon is not canon, but Adam Steiner, Nicolai Malthus and many of the other characters [[CanonImmigrant are]]. It's just that the events in the cartoon ([[WordOfGod officially]] a PropagandaPiece WartimeCartoon created by the Lyran Alliance in-universe) do not always match up with what actually occurred in canon[[/note]].
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Toys]]
102	* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', with all its spin-offs, is a massive [[ContinuitySnarl canonicity snarl]]. [[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 Generation 1]] and 2, ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' and ''Beast Machines'' are the main canon, sort of, but there's also Robots in Disguise, the Anime/UnicronTrilogy, the live-action movies and the new ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. Linnaean taxonomy has nothing on [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Continuity_family Transformers continuity families]] of multiple micro-continuities, including conflicting stuff like toys' "tech spec" bios and the kiddie cartoon shows. And then the "Universe" comics seem to have made it all a Marvel/DC-style ''[[TheMultiverse multiverse]]'', where characters pop in and out of continuities with alarming frequency.
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Video Games]]
106	* In the games ''VideoGame/WingCommander III'' and ''VideoGame/WingCommander IV'', which also had novelizations contracted out by Origin, you are given several choices as to an action path to take, as part of the "interactive movie" feature of those games. Origin (later bought by Creator/ElectronicArts) has declared that the choices taken in the novels are the official history of the in-character universe. [[DepopulationBomb Sorry, Locanda IV.]]
107	* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' has two endings, one in which Snake's love interest Meryl dies and another in which she survives. Initially, the creators decided to handle the issue by simply ignoring it; ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Metal Gear Solid 2]]'''s story neither contradicts nor confirms either ending, making them both possible. It wasn't until the fourth game that we found out that [[spoiler: Meryl lived.]]
108	* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer'' assumes (not unreasonably) that the [[PlayerCharacter Knight-Captain]] defeated the King of Shadows [[spoiler:instead of pulling a FaceHeelTurn]].
109	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
110	** For the series in general, the canon (known to the fandom as "lore") is generally not clear-cut. Reasons for this range from nearly every source being implicitly [[UnreliableNarrator biased]] due to all information being given by a character InUniverse, to sources lacking critical information or working from [[BlatantLies false information]], to the implication that AllMythsAreTrue - or that at least MetaphoricallyTrue. [[WordOfGod Out-of-game developer supplemental texts]] (referred to as "Obscure Texts" by the lore community) are seen as more trustworthy, but even those can be later contradicted, since frequent events in-universe [[TimeCrash alter the timeline]]. Because of this, it is entirely possible for two contradictory statements in-universe to ''both'' be true.
111	** Most prolific of the Obscure Text writers is former developer Michael Kirkbride, who still does some freelance work for the series. Most of what he writes about are the more obscure aspects of universe's cosmology which don't get expanded on in the games, as well as lore figures the games never touch upon or that Bethesda is simply finished with (like Vivec). As of ''Skyrim'', some of the concepts in his works have been officially referenced in game (the idea of "[[ViciousCycle kalpas]]," [[LongDeadBadass Ysgramor]] and his [[BadassArmy 500 companions]], and some of the motivations of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]]), moving them to full CanonImmigrant status.
112	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'' has [[MultipleEndings seven mutually exclusive endings]]. However, later works starting with ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', reveal that [[MergingTheBranches all of the endings happened]] due a CosmicRetcon[=/=]TimeCrash known as the "Warp in the West". However, [[BroadStrokes none occurred to the same extent they would have individually]]. For example, instead of one political power dominating the region, the dozens of city states merged into four with all still under the banner of the Empire. Mannimarco successfully [[DeityOfHumanOrigin ascended to godhood]], but in a rather minor station,[[note]]Some texts even claim that he was later restored to mortality[[/note]] while also [[LiteralSplitPersonalities leaving a "mortal" version behind]] who leads the cult that worships the god version. [[HumongousMecha Numidium]] doesn't go on a Tamriel-destroying rampage, but is rendered forever non-functional through unexplained means.
113	** The series has [[Literature/TheElderScrolls two novels]] set between ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' and '' Skyrim'' (''Lord of Souls'' and ''The Infernal City'' by Greg Keyes), both of which are established as canonical.
114	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' implies, via [[MadGod Sheogorath]]'s Daedric quest, that the canonical version of the Champion of Cyrodiil (the ''Oblivion'' PlayerCharacter) joined the ThievesGuild and [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]] in that game. The series otherwise avoids getting into the specifics of previous player characters, so as not to invalidate anyone's play-throughs.
115	* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' has been subject to multiple canonicity revisions, first with series lead IGA cutting out certain stories from the canon, then later adding most of them back, then we get ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsofShadow Lords of Shadow]]'' which ditched previous continuity altogether.
116	* {{Fighting Game}}s have their own problems when they introduce an actual narrative into the mix; usually they involve some kind of tournament or BigBad that every single character (often more than a dozen!) is trying to triumph over, each with his or her own ending for doing so. When a sequel rolls around, it can be a Herculean task to figure out who won the previous game, which other characters had endings that could play out even if they ''didn't'' win, and which have been relegated to what-if scenarios.
117	* This is especially a problem in games such as ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', where the game varies slightly by which character you choose as Soul Mate for the main character. And thus begin the Shipping Wars.
118	* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', all 20 flagship games are canonical (and not [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames the games by Phillips]], SpinOff games like ''VideoGame/LinksCrossbowTraining'' or ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', or the games released on Platform/{{Satellaview}}), albeit in three {{Alternate Timeline}}s that diverge at ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'', according to the 25th anniversary encyclopedia ''[[AllThereInTheManual Hyrule Historia]]''. These games include multiple people named Link and Zelda (about ten each).
119	* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}''. In the bad ending of ''VideoGame/Pikmin2001'', Olimar fails in collecting all the ship parts and doesn't make it home. This obviously isn't canonical because in ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'' he lands on Hocotate and it is requested that he go back.
120	* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'':
121	** This also happens in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn''. The game assumes that you got the most perfect ending possible in the predecessor, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance''. This means that you would have had all possible characters recruited and alive, as well as having defeated [[spoiler: The Black Knight, a boss battle you could escape]]. This makes less sense as ''Radiant Dawn'' offers you to transfer your game save from ''Path of Radiance'' to draw from it and alter things in the game. On the other hand, the story of ''Radiant Dawn'' would be somewhat boring if all characters had died in ''Path of Radiance''.
122	** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' not only makes every game canonical to the same verse, but potentially ''every save file ever made'' as well, due to the [[AlternateUniverse various worlds]] accessible through the [[TheMultiverse Outrealm Gate]]. That said, there may be a world where everyone did die in ''Path of Radiance'', but [[AlternateTimeline that's not the world that]] ''Radiant Dawn'' takes place in.
123	* The ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series has about half a dozen novels set in it, and has an encyclopedia designed to be the official explanations for everything. Unfortunately, [[WritersCannotDoMath an apparent chronological error]] in said encyclopedia leaves a bit of confusion surrounding the Second Terraformer War.
124	* Officially, the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' canonicity policy is that if there's a conflict between new material and old material, [[{{Retcon}} the new material wins]] unless directly stated otherwise. Some players got very angry that various details of ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' didn't match up with the earlier-published novel ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach''.
125	* The ''Franchise/DragonAge'' ExtendedUniverse has what is referred to as the "Creator/BioWare canon". Rather than creating stories that avoid CuttingOffTheBranches of players' choices as with the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' EU, the ''Dragon Age'' EU establishes a canon of the games for its stories. WordOfGod has said that, should a player have made different choices in their own playthroughs, the events in the EU would have transpired differently or never happened at all.
126	* One of the most noticeable traits of Nintendo's most succesful franchise, ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', is its very loose canon. Any game endorsed by Nintendo (which means ''over 200'' of them) is part of this overarching canon, and it's all about players having fun with them without worrying about whatever order in which the events of said games occur. There ''are'' some {{Continuity Nod}}s between certain games, but they're largely unimportant.
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Webcomics]]
130	* For ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'', there's been some discussion about what is canonical and what is not, though not everything has been covered. Obviously the regular stuff by the author Pete Abrams is assumed to be canonical, though some bits feature an UnreliableNarrator and brief moments of BreakingTheFourthWall never have any implications of the characters knowing they're fictional. Stick-figure filler is equally obviously not canonical. Pete has also declared Ian [=McDonal's=] "Meanwhile in the Dimension of Pain [or elsewhere]" Saturday fillers strips to be "mostly" canonical, meaning not necessarily in exact detail, whereas its successor "The Bikini Suicide Frisbee Days" by Clay Yount, set in the strip's past, was declared non-canonical from the start to avoid problems. The status of other {{guest strip}}s has usually not been commented on -- some of them seem like they would fit in the canon, others not -- though Creator/PhilFoglio's was explained as a [[BizarroEpisode weird]] [[AllJustADream dream]].
131	* For ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', almost everything in the main comic is canonical except the first introductory storyline, the Q&A sessions, any other appearances of the cast of the FourthWallMailSlot, AprilFoolsDay comics, and {{Guest Strip}}s. There are also some special cases.
132	** The "Squirrel Diplomacy" storyline is ambiguous as even ''Dan'' is [[ShrugOfGod not entirely sure how canonical it is]] aside from [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=308 Grace being able to speak to animals]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1343 using her antennae]].
133	** The existence of [[OldShame Matt and Rat]] can be considered a CanonDiscontinuity as Dan [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=130 refuses to acknowledge]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=131 any panels]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=154 containing them]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=155 to exist]] nor [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=132 any reference to them]].
134	** For the EGS:NP section, most storylines can be assumed to be non-canonical unless they are referred to in the main storyline or have a [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=201 dedicated graphic]] of Grace firing a cannon in [[TheRant the commentary]] for the first comic of the storyline.
135	** The Sketchbook/Filler section is intended to be composed of entirely non-canonical strips (unless they consist of part of an already canonical strip) but at least [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php?id=81 one sketchbook strip]] has somehow found its way into being part of a [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-07-22 main comic strip]] which Dan [[LampshadeHanging comments on]] in [[TheRant the commentary]] but [[ShrugOfGod does not explain]].
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder:Western Animation]]
139	* The ''Ultimate Alien'' episode "Ben 10,000 Returns" establishes that only the three shows ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'', ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' (excluding WhatIf episodes), and ''Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix'' build up the canon of the Ben 10 franchise up to that point. Everything else takes place in separate {{Alternate Timeline}}s.
140	** The movie ''Film/Ben10AlienSwarm'' was later made canonical however, with the episodes "Revenge of the Swarm" and "The Perfect Girlfriend", which acted as sequels to the movie and explained many unanswered questions.
141	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' [[LiveActionAdaptation Live-Action]] [[TheMovie movie]] ''Film/AFairlyOddMovieGrowUpTimmyTurner'' takes place in the future and shows that the Tootie/Timmy shippers won out in the end, as Timmy gives up his fairies for Tootie, [[spoiler:but a loophole in the rules allows him to keep his fairies, so long as he uses them for unselfish purposes. Tootie also is allowed to learn of the fairies.]] Although the movie is not the finale of the series itself, it seems to set the events of the future in stone.
142	* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'' jokes about this in one of the videos done as part of Creator/DisneyChannel's "[[HostileShowTakeover Theme Song Takeover]]" series. Halfway through [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGsJ4apSUjo Libby's video]], Molly compliments her friend's amazing singing voice, before recalling that the show proper has an entire episode dedicated Libby being an absolutely horrid singer. Libby eases a confused Molly's concerns by pointing out that these videos are out-of-continuity gag shorts.
143	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': The show is the main canon. [[Franchise/MyLittlePonyGeneration4 Everything else]] is a bit less clear. While many of the spinoff works don't contradict the show, the show intentionally refuses to reference things that originate in the comics, chapter books, etc. to prevent ContinuityLockOut. The fandom generally holds material created by the show's writers (such as the ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]]'' SpinOff) as closer to canonicity than other works, but for the most part everything is considered unofficial until it's shown in the show itself.
144	* The ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' {{crossover}} with ''WesternAnimation/UncleGrandpa'' states [[BreakingTheFourthWall out loud]] that it's non-canonical.
145	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / Canon