Canon (fiction)
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- This article is not about literary canons of "the best" works of fiction, but about the concept of a canon within the world of a particular fictional series or franchise.
In the context of a fictional universe, the canon comprises those novels, stories, films, et cetera, that are considered to be genuine or officially sanctioned, and those events, characters, settings, et cetera, that are considered to have existence within the fictional universe. In order for a setting to appear cohesive, especially in fictions that contain multiple parts, both creators and audiences sometimes find it useful to define what has and has not "actually happened" in that universe. Items that are considered canon usually come from the original source or author of the fictional universe, while non-canon material comes from adaptations, spin-offs or unofficial items, often in different media. Fan fiction is usually an example of non-canonical fiction.
The word "canon" originally meant the books which the Catholic Church officially chose to be included in the Bible; by extension, it means the authoritative "holy writ" of a fictional universe. However, the practice of defining a "canon" within a fictional world derived from the concept of a literary canon, a specified collection of works considered to be both representative and the best of a particular form, genre or culture. In that more common use of the word, works forming a canon do not have to bear any relation to each other other than their high quality or historical influence.
The use of "canon" to describe the degree to which a work adheres to the standards of its fictional world, appears to have originated amongst devotees of the Sherlock Holmes stories, as a way to distinguish between the original works of Arthur Conan Doyle and adaptions of those works or original works by other writers utilising related characters and settings. However, much of the interest in and controversy over issues of canonicity have appeared in recent decades in the fan followings of films and television shows, such as science fiction franchises Star Wars and Star Trek.
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[edit] Nature of fictional canons
Canonicity of fiction is a distinctly modern idea. In addition to the modern concepts of genre fiction and fictional universes, the notion of intellectual property (IP) distinguishes between "official" and "unofficial" sources of stories. However, whereas IP laws are designed to dictate where the revenue generated by a story goes, they do not necessarily confer the right to determine canonicity.
No actual industry label exists for definitively designating published works as canonical. Canonicity is largely a subjective notion, referring to a shared understanding that exists between the published works in a fictional series and the level of acceptance by a vocal but otherwise accepting wide audience. As such, the word canon can simultaneously refer to the considerations of the publishers of a fictional series as well as what the fanbase chooses to consider as authentic. Generally, "Expanded Universes" are not considered canonical, though there are exceptions which are considered near-canon, or in the case of Star Wars, the Expanded Universe is considered fully canonical. By analogy with the idea of a canon of Scripture, things which are not canonical are considered "apocryphal". (See Biblical canon.)
The fact that a majority of fans of a fictional setting view certain things as non-canonical, or even an official statement to that effect from its creators, does not oblige everyone to agree. In addition, a story can belong to two overlapping canons. One of the most obvious examples of this is Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton family. Some (but not all) of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Doc Savage, etc. are canonical in the Wold Newton setting. This does not mean that the events of Farmer's books are canonical from a Sherlockian perspective. Similarly, fans of Laurie R. King's novels of Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell consider all the Holmes stories to be canonical in King's setting.
The difference can be even less clear-cut than this. Current Star Trek novels maintain a tight continuity with each other, and avoid contradicting the television series. When a Lost Era novel set between the movies and The Next Generation features a younger version of a character introduced in a Deep Space Nine novel, it's obvious there's some sort of "canonical" novel-setting, even if the TV series is not obliged to conform to it. This is where fanon and canon often collide, especially when a TV series, movie or other officially canonical source contradicts it. An example is the Trek novel Starfleet: Year One, which appeared in print before the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise was announced, but was completely invalidated by the series; there are some Trek fans who prefer the Starfleet: Year One version of events as canon, rejecting the TV series. Generally, though, in the case of televised fiction, only facts which appear in the as-originally-aired version of a program are considered canonical (including scenes cut from re-runs, but not including such things as deleted scenes and scenes from unaired pilots and other such material that 'leaks out' over the Internet).
Furthermore, the issue is also complicated when the definition of a canon changes well after the fictional universe is established. As an example, in the 1970s and 1980s, there were a number of reference works published by Franz Joseph and FASA Corporation for Star Trek. These books were considered canonical at the time (some even made with the explicit approval of Gene Roddenberry), sanctioned by Paramount Pictures, and were used almost universally by novel and comic book authors, as well as the production staff of the earlier Star Trek movies (information from these manuals appeared as background dialogue in some scenes, and many diagrams were used as computer displays). However, in 1988, as part of the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry and Paramount Pictures changed their policies regarding canonicity and stripped these books of their canonical status, as the new series quickly made many changes and revelations which openly contradicted earlier canonical books. Thus, a book that would be considered completely canonical in 1985 like The Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, would be considered non-canonical in 1995.
In some fictional universes, interviews and other communications from authors are also considered canonical — like the letters of J. R. R. Tolkien with relation to Middle-earth; also items such as interviews, Internet chat sessions, and websites (e.g., the website of J. K. Rowling in relation to the Harry Potter series). This usually only happens in cases where all works in the universe have the same author.
In almost all cases, fan fiction is not considered canonical, as fan fiction is usually produced by amateurs. Sometimes, however, events or characterizations portrayed in fan fiction can become so influential that they are respected in fiction written by many different authors, and may be mistaken for canonical facts by fans. This is referred to as "fanon". The use of fan fiction to fill gaps or continuity errors in a canon is derisively called "fanwanking," or "fanwank." (The terms "fanon" and "fanwank" can apply to officially-licensed works, as well.) A intentional inversion of the exclusion of fan fiction came in Eric Flint's 1632 universe; in February 2000, fans and other established authors were invited on the Internet forum Baen's Bar to shape the multiverse, and the fan-fic, once vetted, is itself published in the various Grantville Gazettes, themselves under the direct editorial control of Flint and a [[1632 editorial board]]. This is an ongoing process that apparently will continue indefinitely, as the series continues to burgeon in popularity.
[edit] Examples of fictional canons
[edit] Babylon 5
Unique to the Babylon 5 universe among virtually all other shared universes is the sanctioned canonicity of many of its offshoot novels and comic book stories; nearly all of the Babylon 5 novels and novelizations to date having been based on outlines written directly by J. Michael Straczynski. The later Del Rey books are considered to be more canonical than some of the earlier Dell ones, although – per Straczynski's own remarks – canonical elements exist in every single book published to date; Straczynski's deeper involvement in the novel-publishing program from 1996 onward having ensured a greater level of canonicity within such works.
[edit] Buffyverse
The Buffyverse canon consists of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, as well as the comics Fray, Tales of the Vampires, and Tales of the Slayers. All of the tie-in novels and video games, along with most of the comics, are largely considered either non-canon or apocrypha. Some of the comics are written by members of Mutant Enemy writing staff; the canonical status of these materials is still unclear.
[edit] DC Universe
Most, but not all, comic books published by DC Comics take place in a shared world known as the DC Universe. The canon of this world comprises all the post-Crisis comics not stated to be set in an alternate universe, except those specifically contradicted by later stories following Zero Hour (most notably, Batman: Year Two, Batman: Son of the Demon and the Action Comics Weekly strip featuring Captain Marvel). The events may not have occurred exactly as shown, however, owing to the floating timeline.
Appearances of the DC Comics characters in other media are not considered canon; however, the appearance of a Marvel Comics character, Jigsaw, during a Marvel/DC comics publishing crossover, is apparently considered a piece of canon for the adventures of Jean-Paul Valley, aka Azrael, who at one point took up the role of The Batman. Jigsaw was an enemy of Frank Castle, a Marvel Comics character called The Punisher.
Some discrepancies in the DC Universe's canon may be accounted for by the concept of Hypertime. Others may be addressed in an anticipated continuity revision stemming from the current crossover series Infinite Crisis.
[edit] Doctor Who
There has never been an "official" statement on what is canonical Doctor Who. Doctor Who has never had a single author or authority, and it is apparent that the BBC, which owns the series, has generally not cared about the matter. The many creators of Doctor Who have always treated the concept of continuity loosely. Fans run a spectrum between those who consider only the television series canonical and those who consider all Doctor Who canonical. Within that spectrum many view the licensed novels and audio plays as at least near-canonical, and some of those would also include the Doctor Who Magazine comic strips. It is generally assumed that all televised Doctor Who episodes from 1963 to 1989, the 1981 spin-off K-9 and Company, the 1996 telemovie, and the new series, which started in 2005, are canonical, including a 1965 episode in which the First Doctor breaks the fourth wall to wish viewers a Merry Christmas ("The Feast of Steven", episode 7 of The Daleks' Master Plan).
Generally, the canonical status of all Doctor Who spin-off media outside of what has been presented on screen (bar obvious spoofs) is debatable, including the BBC radio dramas and webcasts based upon the show. There have also been several professionally-produced films featuring characters and alien races created for Doctor Who that have been licensed directly from the writers who originated them, a loophole that allows the creation of Doctor Who spin-offs that do not reference the Doctor; the canonicity of these productions also falls into a "grey area" in terms of canon.
The two theatrical films based upon the series in the 1960s, starring Peter Cushing, are not generally considered canonical, due to their fundamental differences from the TV series continuity, nor is the considerable background information contained in the role-playing game — produced by FASA in the 1980s — considered canon, due to the many contradictions therein.
Many of the short stories in the BBC anthology Short Trips and Side Steps have settings generally considered non-canonical; for instance, one story features the Cushing Doctor, while another is set between the Children in Need EastEnders crossover Dimensions in Time and the Doctor's appearance in the schools' programme Search Out Science.
The comic strips (Ground Zero, DWM #238-242), Eighth Doctor Adventures (Sometime Never... by Justin Richards) and the Big Finish Productions audio plays (Zagreus) have all attempted to provide an in-continuity explanation for discrepancies by suggesting that their respective continuities take place in separate parallel universes.
A series of novels based upon the current Doctor Who series is in release. The television series has referred to these (most notably in Boom Town, in which Rose Tyler mentioned a trip to the planet Justicia, depicted in the New Series Adventures novel The Monsters Inside). Other episodes also made oblique references to the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip ("kronkburgers" in The Long Game) and the Virgin New Adventures (the planet Lucifer, mentioned in Bad Wolf, and the Doctor's title "The Oncoming Storm", mentioned in The Parting Of The Ways), but these are most likely playful tributes, rather than deliberate attempts to dictate a Doctor Who canon (several scriptwriters for the current TV series — including producer Russell T. Davies himself— have previously written licensed novels, audio dramas, and comic strips based upon the series). Still, these references are innovations peculiar to the current series; the original 1963–1989 series never referred to adventures published in other media, although certain terms and concepts that were eventually incorporated into the television series first surfaced there (most notably the term "chameleon circuit" to describe the TARDIS' ability to change shape).
The question of the canonicity of Doctor Who novels is expected to heat up with the announcement that Human Nature, an episode of the series scheduled to air in 2007 and featuring the Tenth Doctor, is an adaptation of Human Nature, an original Doctor Who novel that had originally featured the Seventh Doctor.[1]
[edit] Dungeons & Dragons
The concept of canon plays an important role in the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Over the years, a number of campaign settings have been published for D&D, each detailing a world or worlds that provide a setting in which the game can be played. There are two types of canon issues that arise from this situation.
The first issue is intra-setting canon, which deals with the backstory, locations and gameplay dynamics considered to be canon within a specific setting. Because D&D generally falls into the fantasy sub-genre of sword-and-sorcery, canon discrepancies can arise beyond just the typical issues in fiction of history, plot and character. For example, debates regarding canon within a given setting may include such arcana as the source of various magical powers and how they operate within the setting. Theological issues related to the various deities that may exist within the setting occur, as do disagreements regarding the canon cosmology of the setting's universe.
The second type of canon problem that arises in D&D is inter-setting canon, concerned primarily with the relationships between different settings. Many D&D publications have discussed how the various settings are related to each other within the D&D multiverse of various planes of existence, although these relationships are debated or even denied by some fans of the game.
There is no single "official" canon for D&D. From the very beginnings of the game in the 1970s through to the present, the issue of canon has been left up to each individual Dungeon Master, who runs the game session for the other players. The Dungeon Master is free to determine which published materials (adventure modules, novels, sourcebooks, video games, comic books, etc.) are canonical in his or her own campaign, and how the various D&D rules apply to that campaign.
Nevertheless, D&D players often move between games managed by different Dungeon Masters, and many also congregate for gaming tournaments, play in shared living campaigns, or play the game online with different participants than in their normal gaming sessions. In order to achieve even a basic level of continuity among these various game instances, D&D fans must therefore confront the issue of canon.
To achieve the desired level of continuity, various mechanisms are employed to manage D&D "canon." The organizers of gaming tournaments, for example, will often specify which sets of rules and conventions are "in force" for tournament gameplay. Living campaigns may attempt to develop a more comprehensive set of canon materials and sourcebooks, such as the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer for the Living Greyhawk campaign. And for individually-run games, it is common for Dungeon Masters to briefly discuss their own vision of D&D canon with each new player who joins his or her campaign.
Finally, following the emergence of the World Wide Web, a number of websites have arisen that enable players to discuss canon issues and work toward (or reject) canonical norms. These include the website of Wizards of the Coast[2], the intellectual property rights holder and publisher for D&D, as well as fan-run sites such as EN World[3] and Canonfire![4].
[edit] Marvel Universe
Most, but not all, comic books published by Marvel Comics are set in a shared world known as the Marvel Universe. The canon for this world comprises all the comics not stated to be set in an alternate universe, except those specifically contradicted by later stories. The events may not have occurred exactly as shown, however, owing to the floating timeline (For instance, during the 1960s, Ben Grimm said he had fought in World War II alongside Nick Fury; during the 2000s, Grimm himself considered that the idea of him fighting in World War II was ridiculous, as he would be much older).
Alternate universes in Marvel Comics include, for example, the "Ultimate" line of Marvel comics, which have their own canon independent of the core Marvel universe.
Appearances of the Marvel Comics characters in other media are not considered canon. One of the few exceptions is the video game version of Ultimate Spider-Man, which was made with the intention of being canon.
[edit] Middle-earth
Defining the Middle-earth canon is difficult, because many key writings were not published by J. R. R. Tolkien before his death. A considerable number of Tolkien fans do not believe that a canon can be defined at all, preferring to observe the evolution of Tolkien's stories in the many versions and drafts published posthumously in The History of Middle-earth series. Most, however, agree that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are canon, and also include a substantial amount of material published in The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and other posthumous books, as well as information from Tolkien's letters. Works outside of canon include fan fiction (like Nick Perumov's "Ring of Darkness"), art books (except for the collections of Tolkien's own art) and video games; the Lord of the Rings movies by Ralph Bakshi and Peter Jackson are generally considered non-canonical, as well.
[edit] Sherlock Holmes
The Sherlock Holmes canon consists of the stories and novels written by Arthur Conan Doyle. This was decided by the Baker Street Irregulars, a group of Holmes enthusiasts, to distinguish the original stories from the pastiches that followed Holmes' retirement, and is probably the first use of the word in this context. However certain Conan Doyle items were disregarded for other reasons and additions to the current canon of sixty mysteries has been discussed.
[edit] Star Trek
The Star Trek canon consists of the television series Star Trek (the original series), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, and the ten Star Trek movies. Originally, there was little official policy on canon, and Star Trek: The Animated Series and some books like The Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual were apparently canonical (and excerpts from them were even used onscreen in the early movies). However, circa 1987, when Star Trek: The Next Generation was debuting, Gene Roddenberry and Paramount Pictures agreed on a new canon policy that made Star Trek: The Animated Series non-canonical, as well as removing the canon status of all technical manuals and novels. Gene Roddenberry further stated that some elements from the films Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country were "slightly apocryphal". The writers and production staff of Star Trek have also said in interviews and DVD commentaries that they unofficially struck the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Threshold" from canon, and made no references to the events of that episode after it was made; officially, however, being an onscreen, televised story, it remains canonical.
The canonicity of the various reference books such as The Star Trek Encyclopedia and various companions accompanying the series is still debated. Many consider such reference works to be canon, while others do not; there is currently no clear answer solving this problem. It should be noted that most of the information from the The Star Trek Encyclopedia and The Star Trek Chronology comes directly from the television series and movies, which themselves are canon, and the books were written by people who worked on the production staff, and sometimes were used as internal references. A similar problem exists with trading cards cataloging information from the series.
Paramount has made a formal comment on its website about precisely what items are considered canon.
[edit] Star Wars
The Star Wars canon is a complex issue, and Lucas Licensing has devised a four-level system called the Holocron continuity database to keep track of the Star Wars canon. The purpose of this database is to chronicle all Star Wars stories, and settle any disputes that may arise within the various productions. The basic rule, however, is that the Star Wars canon comprises the six Star Wars films, along with all officially licensed Star Wars stories not contradicting the films.
The DK Guide to the entire universe utilizes many spin-offs to help describe the six films. Derivative works such as the Star Wars books have aimed to be completely in continuity with each other and with the Star Wars movies.
