Halopedia:Canon policy
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
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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. |
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.
Halopedia operates strictly as a collection of 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 cited from a work created or sanctioned by Halo's creators, Bungie Studios. Better put, Halopedia is not a site for fanfiction.
What are the sources for Halo Canon?
Here is a list of sources that (currently) are sources of Halo canon, and thus any material from these sources is content that can and should be added to Halopedia:
Video Games
Books
- Halo: The Fall of Reach
- Halo: The Flood
- Halo: First Strike
- Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
- Halo: Contact Harvest
- Halo Graphic Novel
- The Art of Halo
Trailers*
Other Media
Soundtracks
Superior Canon
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 concept of superior canon is as follows:
Current Bungie Employees are the highest source of Canon. They design, authorize, and sanction every detail about Halo that is revealed to the public. Their statements take the highest authority among Halo canon because, obviously, they created it all.
Bungie Affiliates are just below Bungie employees. This group includes companies and people who work on Halo products but are not part of Bungie studios. This group includes 4orty2wo Entertainment employees, Joyride Studios employees, and Halo novelists like Eric Nylund and William C. Dietz.
Halo Games are, with certain exceptions, the most elaborate of the Halo works and, as they come directly from the producers of Bungie, they are the largest creations of the Halo universe. The information in the video games was produced by Bungie employees directly. This gives them the most credit as canon sources.
Halo Books, Soundtracks, and Other Halo Media are below the games as sources of canon for various reasons. Some of this media is presented by Bungie Affiliates and thus not direct canon from the studio, and some is for promotional purposes or Halo ideas that were released in incomplete development. Bungie studios has given great creative lisence to its affiliates as long as their material falls within basic guidelines, and may not be what Bungie itself wanted for the Halo universe.
*Announcement Trailers are usually considered not to be canon, as details in an announcement trailer are usually a very early draft of the storyline, and do not necessarily contain content that made it into the final game. Thus, Trailers are considered to be canon until the official game is released.
Halopedia Canon The lowest form of Canon, Halopedia Canon is the result of heated debate amoung the Halopedia community to arrive at conclusion and decision on said piece of Halo Universe. Halopedia Canon is trumped by all other higher Canon unless it is determined that the a mistake by Bungie has been made. Some example of "mistakes" be found here