Forum:Updating policies, guidelines and the wiki/Canon: Difference between revisions

''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:References|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]].

[[Halopedia]] seeks to operates 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.

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 [[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.

*''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''

**''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''

*''[[Halo 2]]''

*''[[Halo 3]]''

*''[[Halo Wars]]''

*''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''

*''[[Halo: Reach]]''

*''[[Halo 4]]''

;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 Flood]]''

*''[[Halo: First Strike]]''

*''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''

*''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''

*''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]''

*''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''

*''[[The Forerunner Saga]]''

*''[[Kilo-Five Trilogy]]''

*''[[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: Helljumper]]''

*''[[Halo: Blood Line]]''

*''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''

*''[[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: Landfall]]''

*''[[The Life]]''

*''[[Birth of a Spartan]]''

*''[[Remember Reach]]''

*''[[The Art of Halo]]''

*''[[The Art of Halo 3]]''

*''[[Halo Encyclopedia]]''

*''[[Halo: The Essential Visual Guide]]''

*''[[Halo: The Great Journey: The Art of Building Worlds]]''

*''[[Awakening: The Art of Halo 4]]''

*[[List of Inconsistencies in Halo]]

*[[:Category:Letters of Canon|Letters of Canon]]

*[[:Category:Halopedia Canon|List of canon debates in Halopedia]]