Halopedia:Canon policy: Difference between revisions

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{{Policies}}
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==What is Canon?==
This page details the wiki's stance on the issue of canon in the Halo franchise.
''Canon'' is defined as characters, locations, and details that are considered to be genuine (or "official"), and those events, characters, settings, etc. that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe. [[Halopedia]] operates strictly as a collection of ''[[Halo Universe|Halo]]'' canon information. "Official" ''Halo'' canon can only be created by developers of the ''Halo'' universe. Therefore, any material added to Halopedia ''must'' be official, sanctioned canon that can be [[Help:Ref|cited]] from a work created or sanctioned by ''Halo'''s creators, [[Bungie Studios]] and 343 Industries. Better put, [[Halopedia: What Halopedia is not|Halopedia is '''not''' a site for fanfiction]].


The general rule of the canon policy is fairly simple, as explored in the canonical case of [[i love bees]], that ''"the content should be considered canonical unless contradicted by more authoritative sources"''.
== What is canon? ==
''Canon'' is defined as characters, locations, and details that are considered to be genuine (or "official"), and those events, characters, settings, etc. that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe. "Official" ''Halo'' canon can only be created by developers of the ''Halo'' universe. Therefore, any material added to Halopedia, which seeks to document the ''Halo'' universe, ''must'' be official sanctioned canon that can be [[Help:Ref|cited]] from a work created or sanctioned by ''Halo'''s creators, [[Bungie]] and [[343 Industries]]. Better put, [[Halopedia: What Halopedia is not|Halopedia is '''not''' a site for fanfiction]].


==The Hierarchy of Canon==
[[Halopedia]] seeks to operate strictly as a collection of ''[[Halo universe|Halo]]'' canon information. The general rule of its canon policy is fairly simple, as explored in the case of [[i love bees]], that ''"the content should be considered canonical unless contradicted by more authoritative sources"''. For weighing each source's authority, there is the [[#Hierarchy_of_canon|hierarchy of canon]], which is covered below. But it is only one tool in discerning the canon from the non-canon, and oftentimes the relationships of authority may overlap or not be clear. In vague cases like those, determining which contradicting fact should be posted on Halopedia may come down to the editors' interpretation. For this, one must know how to interpret that canon.
The editors of Halopedia work tirelessly to present facts of the Halo Universe in the best possible light: these Halopedians strive by interpreting canon in a way that makes the most sense in the context and causes the least problems and allowing readers to thrive with the interpreted information. As such, the wiki often gets criticized for not able to present the information as the ''officials'' intended it to be.


Often times, one source of canon may say something different than other sources. There are many reasons why this may be so; ranging from a typo to a line taken out of context. Therefore, a policy of "superior canon" is in act to make sure that the content of Halopedia reflects the most accurate canon of the Halo universe. Thus, a "ladder" of canon sources exists, with the sources higher on the ladder having "superior canon" which is considered more "official" than the sources below them. Illustrated below are the two tiers of canon along with descriptions to explain how Halopedia's Canon Policy works:
== How do we interpret the canon? ==
{{Quote|When a painter starts, they have an idea. They sketch, they doodle, they make strokes on canvas and paper with pencil, pen, brush, charcoal, whatever... Until the painting is finished, any previous stroke of the brush can be covered by a later one, altering the position of a tree, the color of the sky, a reflection in the water, the placement of a person, the existence of anything.... until the artist says "fin", it is not up to others to determine what is "so" and what is an "alteration".|Recon Number 54<ref name="quote">[http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=64821913&postRepeater1-p=1#64846806 '''Bungie.net''': ''What is Canon in this Situation?'']</ref>}}
There are various ways of interpreting canon but in most cases, they will typically refer to two modes of interpretation: Watsonian and Doylist. The most common approach in most fanbase would be from a Watsonian perspective, that is to interpret the information from the standpoint of the text. This is sometimes called an in-universe perspective. The Doylist approach refers to the real world perspective. As Fanlore puts it, ''"[t]hings that happen in canon happen because of decisions made by the author or TPTB; inconsistencies are probably authorial error. These explanations will sometimes be written right into the canon."''


;Bungie-canon (Tier 1)
A Watsonian perspective seeks to amend canonical inconsistencies by presenting an in-universe plausible explanation. To do this, they will examine the available canonical information about the subject, look at other similar cases in the canon, and put themselves in the minds of any characters involved to guess their decisions. For instance, a Watsonian would look at the varying appearances of the MJOLNIR Mark IV and say "My theory is that the varying appearances are different armor plating variants. We see from [[armor permutations]] that the Mark V and Mark VI were highly modular, therefore it's likely the Mark IV could also have its appearance changed, even dramatically, while the underlying hardware remained the same." A Watsonian perspective is very helpful to solve inconsistencies, but can risk veering into fanfiction, and without an official source behind it cannot be considered to be on the same authority as canon.
:Though [[Bungie Studios]] is no longer an active party of the Halo franchise, it is still appropriate to recognise their efforts and contributions throughout their 10 years of involvement in building and expanding the Halo franchise. With that said, only contributions made in those 10 years are of canon value.<ref name="ign0">[http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/112/1126799p3.html '''IGN''': ''Beyond the Ring: Bungie's Renegade Development of Halo's Fiction''] ('''Joseph Staten''': ''""Bungie was maintaining creative oversight over all these initiatives -- we really did have a lot of control over what stories got told. Historically, over the decade of Halo storytelling, Bungie would maintain creative ownership and direction of these various projects." "'')</ref>
:The following is a simple list of sources of canon:
:*The Halo Trilogy
:*Halo 3: ODST
:*Halo: Reach
:'''Note''': Bungie's involvement in the Halo franchise began in 1999 and ended in 2010.
:'''Note''': The novels were part of Microsoft franchise-expansion project headed by Microsoft Development Team (now known as 343i) since 2001, and Bungie was a passive party throughout the course of the project, whose roles were to supervise and provide suggestions to improve content.<ref name="ign">[http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/112/1126799p3.html '''IGN''': ''Beyond the Ring: Bungie's Renegade Development of Halo's Fiction''] ('''Frank O'Connor''': ''"It's pretty fair to say that the Fall of Reach novel was considered a Microsoft project rather than a Bungie project -- I don't think anyone would argue with that..."'')</ref><ref name="ign2">[http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/112/1126799p3.html '''IGN''': ''Beyond the Ring: Bungie's Renegade Development of Halo's Fiction''] ('''Joseph Staten''': ''"We wanted to, as a studio, stay focused on making great games. The novels were great '''[for Bungie]''' because we knew we had created this universe that had the possibility for lots of different stories. But we, Bungie, simply didn't have the bandwidth, and honestly the talent, necessarily, to do things like novels or comic books, et cetera."'')</ref>
;Microsoft-canon (Tier 2)
:Microsoft-canon, also known as 343i-canon, is the continuity/expanded project of the Halo Universe. 343i, approved by Microsoft, would be the primary source under Microsoft-canon and anything released by them will be considered as official canon. Anything created by Microsoft and its affiliates would have been considered as being approved automatically by Bungie, thus making them canon.
:Under Microsoft-canon, it would have a secondary canon hierarchy; the ''games would be superior'', followed by the novels, other literatures, the marketing campaigns and other promotional items, in that exact order. Because Halo is essentially a game franchise, game titles would be the superior source of canon in each category.


{| width="300px" align="center"
But a Doylist perspective handles canonical inconsistencies by an explanation of what the creators were likely thinking. They will examine from an authorial point-of-view, read up on behind-the-scenes information, seek for story meaning, try to put themselves into the minds of the authors, and keep in mind that human creators are often fallible. A Doylist would address the same issue of the MJOLNIR Mark IV's appearances with "Likely the authors just wanted the suit to look cool. The Mark VI appearance of the Chief in ''[[Halo 3]]'' sold really well and looks iconic, so they made it look similar in ''[[Halo Wars]]'' so it'd sell more. They don't intend it to be realistic, and ''The Cole Protocol'' version of the suit looks more realistic and was drawn by [[Isaac Hannaford|a Bungie employee]], so that's probably what the Mark IV actually looks like." Doylist perspectives ground the work in the real world and let us see what the authors may have been thinking, but it too can often involve just as much guesswork as Watsonian theories and sometimes is misused as a platform for complaining about the story direction.
| style="padding:10px; -moz-border-radius: 0.5em; text-align:center; font-family:Century Gothic; color:#fff;" class="opacity70" |
'''Bungie-canon''' (''Tier I'')


As such, editors can use these perspectives to determine which elements remain part of the canon framework and which elements could be discarded to accommodate it. But the path to the outcome is rarely simple, and there is no guarantee that the inconsistency will be amended by the creators at a later date. Only with the community's participation can each theory be weighed, so as to ensure Halopedia continues displaying the most accurate and consistent of ''Halo'' information, and not a fan's platform.


'''Microsoft/343i-canon''' (''Tier II'')<br>
== Hierarchy of canon ==
'''343i games'''
Here in Halopedia, the editors work tirelessly to present information in the best possible light: these Halopedians strive by interpreting canon in a way that makes the most sense in the context and causes the least problems and allowing readers to thrive with the interpreted information. As such, the wiki often gets criticized for not able to present the information as the officials intended it to be.


↓↓
Often times, one source of canon may say something different than other sources. There are many reasons why this may be so; ranging from a typo to a line taken out of context. Therefore, a policy of "superior canon" is in act to make sure that the content of Halopedia reflects the most accurate canon of the Halo universe. Thus, a "ladder" of canon sources exists, with the sources higher on the ladder having "superior canon" which is considered more "official" than the sources below them. The hierarchy of canon can be presented as such: the games would be superior, followed by the novels, other literature, the marketing campaigns and other promotional items, in that exact order. Because Halo is essentially a game franchise, game titles would be the superior source of canon in each category.


'''Novels'''
{| style="margin:0 auto; border-radius:6px; -o-border-radius:6px; -ms-border-radius:6px; -moz-border-radius:6px; -webkit-border-radius:6px; background:rgba(20,20,20,.7); text-align:center; width:200px; color:#FFF;"
|Games
|-
|↓
|-
|Print and film works
|-
|↓
|-
|Promotional materials
|}


↓↓
== What are sources of canon? ==
As the Halo franchise is ever expanding, it is impossible to list out all of the sources of canon. The easiest way of knowing what would identify whether the content was released by an official party of the franchise. Thus, for example, any content released by Bungie throughout their contribution to the franchise from 1999 to 2010 will be considered as sources of canon.


'''Comics and other media'''
The following is a simple list of sources that are sources of Halo canon, and thus any material from these sources is content that can and should be added to Halopedia. Do note that this list does not present the entirety of sources of canon, but simply a general overview of sources of canon.


↓↓
{{col-begin}}
 
{{col-2}}
'''Marketing content'''
;Video games
|}
 
==What are the sources for Halo Canon?==
Below is a simple list of sources that are sources of Halo canon, and thus any material from these sources is content that can and should be added to Halopedia. Do note that this list does not present the entirety of sources of canon, but simply a general overview of sources of canon.
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-2}}
===Bungie-canon===
;Video Games
*''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''
*''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''
**''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''
*''[[Halo 2]]''
*''[[Halo 2]]''
**''[[Halo 2 Anniversary]]''
*''[[Halo 3]]''
*''[[Halo 3]]''
:*''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''
*''[[Halo Reach]]''
;Literature
*''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]''<ref name="HGN">'''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]''', ''Editor's Notes''</ref><ref group="note">Halo Graphic Novel was a stand-alone project led by the Art Team of Bungie Studios with the approval of Microsoft and publishing support of Marvel. With the success of HGN, Microsoft soon took charge over Bungie and played an active role in the literature project</ref>
;References
*''[[The Art of Halo]]''
*''[[The Art of Halo 3]]''
;Miscellaneous
*[[ViDoc]]s
{{Col-2}}
===Microsoft-canon/343i-canon===
;Video Games
*''[[Halo Wars]]''
*''[[Halo Wars]]''
*''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''
*''[[Halo: Reach]]''
*''[[Halo 4]]''
*''[[Halo: Spartan Assault]]''
*''[[Halo: Spartan Strike]]''
*''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]''


;Novels
;Novels <ref group="note">The literature project was under Microsoft Game Studios Franchise Development Group (FDG) with some creative control/supervision under Bungie Studios. The literature project was designed for wider audience apart from the general fanbase, and to establish an expanded universe for future content. For more, see [[User:Subtank/Archive|"MGS Development Group Expands" (Archived)]]</ref>
*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''
*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''
*''[[Halo: The Flood]]''
*''[[Halo: The Flood]]''
Line 81: Line 65:
*''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]''
*''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]''
*''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''
*''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''
*''[[Forerunner Saga]]''
*''[[The Forerunner Saga]]''
**''[[Halo: Cryptum]]''
*''[[Kilo-Five Trilogy]]''
 
*''[[Halo: Broken Circle]]''
{{col-2}}
;Comics
;Comics
*''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]''
*''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]'' <ref name="HGN">'''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]''', ''Editor's Notes''</ref><ref group="note">Halo Graphic Novel was a stand-alone project led by the Art Team of Bungie Studios with the approval of Microsoft and publishing support of Marvel. With the success of HGN, Microsoft soon took charge over Bungie's creative control and played an active role in the literature project.</ref>
*''[[Halo: Uprising]]''
*''[[Halo Wars: Genesis]]''
*''[[Halo Wars: Genesis]]''
*''[[Halo: Uprising]]''
*''[[Halo: Helljumper]]''
*''[[Halo: Helljumper]]''
*''[[Halo: Blood Line]]''
*''[[Halo: Blood Line]]''
*''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''
*''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp|Boot Camp]]''
*''[[Halo: Initiation]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Covenant|Covenant]]''
*''[[Halo: Escalation]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Pillar of Autumn|Pillar of Autumn]]''
;Films and television
*''[[Halo Legends]]'' <ref group="note">The ''Legends'' short film ''[[Odd One Out]]'' is a satirical interpretation of the ''Halo'' universe and has been confirmed as a non-canon entity by 343 Industries.</ref>
*''[[Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn]]''
*''[[Halo: Nightfall]]''
*''[[Halo: The Television Series]]''


;Animation
;Live-action trailers
*''[[Halo Legends]]''
 
;Marketing
*''[[Halo: Landfall]]''
*''[[Halo: Landfall]]''
*''[[The Life]]''
*''[[Birth of a Spartan]]''
*''[[Remember Reach]]''
*''[[The Commissioning]]''
*''[[Scanned]]''


;References
;Reference books
*''[[The Art of Halo]]''
*''[[The Art of Halo 3]]''
*''[[Halo Encyclopedia]]''
*''[[Halo Encyclopedia]]''
 
*''[[Halo: The Essential Visual Guide]]''
;Miscellaneous
*''[[Halo: The Great Journey: The Art of Building Worlds]]''
*[[Action figures]]
*''[[Awakening: The Art of Halo 4]]''
*''[[ilovebees]]''
*''[[Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide]]''
*[[Iris]]
*[[ViDoc]]s
{{col-end}}
{{col-end}}


==Notes==
== Notes ==
<references group="note"/>
<references group="note"/>


==Sources==
== Sources ==
<references/>
<references/>


==See also==
== See also ==
*[[List of Inconsistencies in Halo]]
=== Development of canon ===
*[[:Category:Letters of Canon|Letters of Canon]]
*<span class="plainlinks">[http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/112/1126799p3.html '''IGN''': ''Beyond the Ring: Bungie's Renegade Development of Halo's Fiction'']</span>
*[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive28.pl?read=847640 Comments by Joseph Staten] on Bungie's internal canon policies
*[[List of inconsistencies in the Halo series]]
*[http://nathanpgibson.com/guide-to-canon-in-the-halo-universe/ Guide to Canon in the Halo Universe]
*[[:Category:Letters of Canon|Halopedia's Letters of Canon]]
*[[:Category:Halopedia Canon|List of canon debates on Halopedia]] (closed)
 
=== Interpreting canon ===
*<span class="plainlinks">[http://fanlore.org/wiki/Watsonian_vs._Doylist '''Fanlore''': ''Watsonian vs. Doylist'']</span>
*<span class="plainlinks">[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WatsonianVersusDoylist '''TvTropes''': ''Watsonian vs. Doylist'']</span>


[[Category:Help|Canon Policy]]
[[Category:Help|Canon Policy]]

Revision as of 10:06, December 14, 2014

Template:Shortcut

Main-Forerunner.png
This page is an official Halopedia policy
Please read through the policy below to familiarize yourself with our common practices and rules.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or complaints, please post them on the talk page.

Template:Policies This page details the wiki's stance on the issue of canon in the Halo franchise.

What is canon?

Canon is defined as characters, locations, and details that are considered to be genuine (or "official"), and those events, characters, settings, etc. that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe. "Official" Halo canon can only be created by developers of the Halo universe. Therefore, any material added to Halopedia, which seeks to document the Halo universe, must be official sanctioned canon that can be cited from a work created or sanctioned by Halo's creators, Bungie and 343 Industries. Better put, Halopedia is not a site for fanfiction.

Halopedia seeks to operate strictly as a collection of Halo canon information. The general rule of its canon policy is fairly simple, as explored in the case of i love bees, that "the content should be considered canonical unless contradicted by more authoritative sources". For weighing each source's authority, there is the hierarchy of canon, which is covered below. But it is only one tool in discerning the canon from the non-canon, and oftentimes the relationships of authority may overlap or not be clear. In vague cases like those, determining which contradicting fact should be posted on Halopedia may come down to the editors' interpretation. For this, one must know how to interpret that canon.

How do we interpret the canon?

"When a painter starts, they have an idea. They sketch, they doodle, they make strokes on canvas and paper with pencil, pen, brush, charcoal, whatever... Until the painting is finished, any previous stroke of the brush can be covered by a later one, altering the position of a tree, the color of the sky, a reflection in the water, the placement of a person, the existence of anything.... until the artist says "fin", it is not up to others to determine what is "so" and what is an "alteration"."
— Recon Number 54[1]

There are various ways of interpreting canon but in most cases, they will typically refer to two modes of interpretation: Watsonian and Doylist. The most common approach in most fanbase would be from a Watsonian perspective, that is to interpret the information from the standpoint of the text. This is sometimes called an in-universe perspective. The Doylist approach refers to the real world perspective. As Fanlore puts it, "[t]hings that happen in canon happen because of decisions made by the author or TPTB; inconsistencies are probably authorial error. These explanations will sometimes be written right into the canon."

A Watsonian perspective seeks to amend canonical inconsistencies by presenting an in-universe plausible explanation. To do this, they will examine the available canonical information about the subject, look at other similar cases in the canon, and put themselves in the minds of any characters involved to guess their decisions. For instance, a Watsonian would look at the varying appearances of the MJOLNIR Mark IV and say "My theory is that the varying appearances are different armor plating variants. We see from armor permutations that the Mark V and Mark VI were highly modular, therefore it's likely the Mark IV could also have its appearance changed, even dramatically, while the underlying hardware remained the same." A Watsonian perspective is very helpful to solve inconsistencies, but can risk veering into fanfiction, and without an official source behind it cannot be considered to be on the same authority as canon.

But a Doylist perspective handles canonical inconsistencies by an explanation of what the creators were likely thinking. They will examine from an authorial point-of-view, read up on behind-the-scenes information, seek for story meaning, try to put themselves into the minds of the authors, and keep in mind that human creators are often fallible. A Doylist would address the same issue of the MJOLNIR Mark IV's appearances with "Likely the authors just wanted the suit to look cool. The Mark VI appearance of the Chief in Halo 3 sold really well and looks iconic, so they made it look similar in Halo Wars so it'd sell more. They don't intend it to be realistic, and The Cole Protocol version of the suit looks more realistic and was drawn by a Bungie employee, so that's probably what the Mark IV actually looks like." Doylist perspectives ground the work in the real world and let us see what the authors may have been thinking, but it too can often involve just as much guesswork as Watsonian theories and sometimes is misused as a platform for complaining about the story direction.

As such, editors can use these perspectives to determine which elements remain part of the canon framework and which elements could be discarded to accommodate it. But the path to the outcome is rarely simple, and there is no guarantee that the inconsistency will be amended by the creators at a later date. Only with the community's participation can each theory be weighed, so as to ensure Halopedia continues displaying the most accurate and consistent of Halo information, and not a fan's platform.

Hierarchy of canon

Here in Halopedia, the editors work tirelessly to present information in the best possible light: these Halopedians strive by interpreting canon in a way that makes the most sense in the context and causes the least problems and allowing readers to thrive with the interpreted information. As such, the wiki often gets criticized for not able to present the information as the officials intended it to be.

Often times, one source of canon may say something different than other sources. There are many reasons why this may be so; ranging from a typo to a line taken out of context. Therefore, a policy of "superior canon" is in act to make sure that the content of Halopedia reflects the most accurate canon of the Halo universe. Thus, a "ladder" of canon sources exists, with the sources higher on the ladder having "superior canon" which is considered more "official" than the sources below them. The hierarchy of canon can be presented as such: the games would be superior, followed by the novels, other literature, the marketing campaigns and other promotional items, in that exact order. Because Halo is essentially a game franchise, game titles would be the superior source of canon in each category.

Games
Print and film works
Promotional materials

What are sources of canon?

As the Halo franchise is ever expanding, it is impossible to list out all of the sources of canon. The easiest way of knowing what would identify whether the content was released by an official party of the franchise. Thus, for example, any content released by Bungie throughout their contribution to the franchise from 1999 to 2010 will be considered as sources of canon.

The following is a simple list of sources that are sources of Halo canon, and thus any material from these sources is content that can and should be added to Halopedia. Do note that this list does not present the entirety of sources of canon, but simply a general overview of sources of canon.

Video games
Novels [note 1]
Comics
Films and television
Live-action trailers
Reference books

Notes

  1. ^ The literature project was under Microsoft Game Studios Franchise Development Group (FDG) with some creative control/supervision under Bungie Studios. The literature project was designed for wider audience apart from the general fanbase, and to establish an expanded universe for future content. For more, see "MGS Development Group Expands" (Archived)
  2. ^ Halo Graphic Novel was a stand-alone project led by the Art Team of Bungie Studios with the approval of Microsoft and publishing support of Marvel. With the success of HGN, Microsoft soon took charge over Bungie's creative control and played an active role in the literature project.
  3. ^ The Legends short film Odd One Out is a satirical interpretation of the Halo universe and has been confirmed as a non-canon entity by 343 Industries.

Sources

See also

Development of canon

Interpreting canon