this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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Is it clear which works are considered canon and which ones are not?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's very binary in the Disney era. All the theatrical movies, the 2008 Clone Wars TV show, Rebels, and all the rest of the Disney-era TV shows are canon, as are all of the novels, comics, games etc released during the Disney era. Everything else is non-canon. Lucasfilm maintains a tight grip on canon and that's a big part of what Pablo Hidalgo's job is all about.

Before the Disney-era, the concept of canon in the Star Wars Expanded Universe was more complicated and fluid, and relied on 'tiers' of canon with the movies at the top, the TV shows next, certain novels next, etc. The idea of canon back then was that anything in the one of the lower tiers could be canon as long as it wasn't contradicted by something in a higher tier. For example, if somebody wrote an EU novel that said that Anakin loved sand, that would be non-canon because it's directly contradicted by Attack of the Clones; but if they wrote a novel that said Padme loved sand, that might be canon if there's nothing in the higher tiers of canon to contradict it.

[–] Varyk 2 points 1 year ago

That's very illuminating. Thank you for the explanation.

I didn't know about any of the old expanded universe

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wookieepedia classifies things as canon or legend. I'm not sure how authoritative it is, but it is comprehensive and is good about citing references.

[–] Varyk 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh that's a good point. I know about Wookiepedia but I haven't visited it yet. I will.

Thank you

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Disney would have the list. They decanonised all but the movies and other properties they got with lucasfilms. They have expanded the list, but I haven't looked at it.

[–] Varyk 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Oh they have an actual list. Interesting. Thank you

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Going to piggyback. When Disney got the rights and wiped out the old Expanded Universe, what was left were the original trilogy, the prequels, and the Clone Wars (the 3D one) cartoon. Everything else was decanonized.

Under Disney, there was a promise to make every story produced under their control of rights to be canon, and equally canon rather than the tiered system of the old Expanded Universe. There have already been canon conflicts, but generally speaking if it was freshly made after 2014, it is canon.

The old EU works that are being reprinted are labeled “Legends”.

[–] Varyk 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh, I was wondering what Legends referred to. Thank you.

So all of the comics and everything before 2012 is just considered legends. That's really interesting, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yes although a slight correction to myself. Disney bought Star Wars in 2012, but only made the Legends change in 2014.