the.com/canon
The stuff that counts, decided by committees, fandoms, and one stubborn author's Twitter.
means The officially accepted body of works, rules, or facts that a group agrees actually happened or actually matters — everything else is 'fanon' or heresy.
from From Greek 'kanon,' a straight rod or measuring rule, which became Latin 'canon' — a standard to measure things by. The Church borrowed it first for canon law and the canon of scripture (the books declared authentic), and from there it spread to art, music, and literature as the list of works judged essential or authentic. Fandom just picked up a very old word for 'the ruler we measure truth against' and pointed it at Star Wars.
- origin
- Greek kanon meant measuring rod, not scripture
- retcon power
- canon can be rewritten, memory cannot
- fandom twist
- headcanon is fan fiction demanding respect
- star wars chaos
- disney erased decades of canon in one memo