Fanon

Fanon is a portmanteau of 'fan' and 'canon.' Essentially, it is exactly what it sounds like: fan-created canon. This can be good, bad, or just neutral.

The more people follow a fanon, the less refined or complex it usually is.

Following BAD fanon is a charge, but following good fanon is not, and following inconsequential fanon really isn't worth caring about.

Although the PPC supports canon and reviles bad fanon, those who also have a hatred for logical, interesting, or minor fanon theories really should just relax.

Good Fanon

Sometimes, fanon fills the gap where canon leaves off. There are continua who leave things up to interpretation, or only hint and imply certain events or outcomes. When this happens, sometimes fans will assume what happened, and if logic and respect for canon is used, this fanon can meld seamlessly into the canon and coexist happily. Sometimes this fanon only applies as one author's interpretation of events and the author will re-use this in-house fanon for many stories... which can be great if it is goodfic. Other times, a whole fandom can agree (or as close to agreement as a fandom can ever come) as to what happened and settle on a common piece of good fanon that explains away a vagueness or plothole.

A trademark of good fanon is that it is always fed by clues and hints the real canon gives, and is simply elaboration or expansion. It is not trivial or dumb and may even be thoughtful. It never replaces canonical elements but merely unites or interprets them to infer other story elements unmentioned in canon.

Good fanon is usually marked as not canon, especially when it's one author's personal fanon and they are writing goodfic. In fact, good fanon is far more likely to be personal than bad fanon, as the ideas are often more complex and harder for masses to fully grasp. Often it's written for a small audience and can be thought of as an elaborate but intriguing AU.

Bad Fanon

Many people would prefer to think of Snape as an appealing guy, and thus you have a whole legion of fans who automatically assume he is like this. Art by Arabel.

Bad fanon does not fill gaps in canon. It merely adds tidbits that are usually stupid. Shipping wars can be said to be conflicts between different fangroups' fanons, and sometimes really terrible examples of bad fanon crop up when people write fanfic using the fanon created in someone else's fanfiction. This may be because bad fanon may contain 'easy' plot ideas that a lazy or unimaginative writer can easily steal: avoiding plagiarism only by citing that 'everybody in fandom has this idea!'

Bad Fanon can also refer to a common misconception, such as that Azula's awkwardness in dealing with boys makes her a lesbian, Marth, Roy, and Ike are from the same world, Thranduil is abusive or Elves are immune to the cold. They are spread around until people who don't know much about the fandom just assume that they're canon.

Bad Fanon is almost never supported by in-canon clues or hints. Half of the time it is confusion between different'verses' and the other half of the time it can follow 'but I like it better this way' logic. When creators give a 'sure, why not' to bad fanon and make it canon, much drama is had.

Bad fanon is often duplicitous and only exists to bring about some other goal such as supporting a pairing, bashing a character, or Canon Sueing a canon character.

Bad Fanon is purely memetic, never marked, and is the source of much badfic.

Inconsequential Fanon

Creators leave things out, and the things people make up to fill it in sometimes are neither good or bad but simply minor. For example, some names in canon are never said, or ages are never elaborated on, or other trivial details are never explained. Often there are fan standards for these names to prevent confusion.

Many of these details may become canon later, especially due to their harmless nature. For example, Captain Barbossa's first name was made 'Hector' in fanon due to comments in a DVD extra-- and later he was actually named Hector in subsequent movies. The background elf in the LOTR movieverse now known as Figwit was named by fans, and even got a fandom nod in the form of a single line in the movie.

Knowledge of minor fanon is preferable for agents going into stories, because it is important to know if an uncanon name or minor factoid adheres to popular fanon, if it is ascended fanon and can be considered canon, or if it is just junk made up by the author.

Fanon and Canon

Many fans forget what is canon and what is fanon. Much internet rage can be had from a show, new book installment, comic update, or other things shattering or contradicting fanon.

Sequels usually outdate fanon by exploring elements the fanon previously covered.

This is what creators think the vast majority of fanon looks like sometimes. And they are absolutely right.

A mature fan can deal with their particular fanon or interpretation being out-dated and may even continue to write their own fanon for their existing audience. Indeed, they may even tweak their own fanon to nod at the new canon and respect it. An immature tantruming fan will re-write whole seasons of shows or movies to make their now-debunked fanon the star of the show.

In older, or more complete canons, fanon is less acceptable than younger or still-in-progress canons. Fanon of Lord of the Rings is far less acceptable than fanon of a still-airing TV show or a book series still incomplete.

Outdated fanon written before the canon was released (such as PoTC fics written before the second and third movies were even announced) should not be made fun of unless it's really stupid.

Many creators of canon like to play with their fandom and make fun of established fanon by overturning it or satirizing it. Joss Whedon is famous for this, as well as the infamous episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender The Ember Island Players.

In some cases of the canon being really stupid or terrible (sometimes due to a series jumping the shark, a change in writing staff, or other shenanigans) there are times when some fanon can be said to be 'better' than canon, or 'more canon than the new canon'-- usually in the case of goodfic juxtaposed with a really terrible canon release or a brand-new Canon Sue. Unfortunately, it is the PPC's duty to protect ALL canon, even stupid canon, no matter the opinion of the agents in question.

Expanded Universe Writers and Fanon

It can be said that Expanded Universe writers create fanon-- especially when the creation of the work was not heavily overseen by the creators of the canon. These ascended fanwriters may make up their own 'canon' and because it's released under the franchise it really does become canon, despite it being created by a fan and not the creators of the continuum universe.

The canonical value of expanded universe writing varies from canon to canon: for World of Warcraft, it's often released as supplemental story and is almost entirely considered to be canonical (for better or worse) but for Star Wars the EU material bears less weight than the movies. The particulars of each canon's value in Expanded Universe material should be known by all agents before they take on a mission.

See Also:

• Movieverse

• Bookverse

• AU

• Fandom