Canon? Official? Apocrypha?

I

Iceberg

Spaceman
As far as I can tell, this is the canon order for WC:

CANON: The games. These cannot be contradicted by any other source.

OFFICIAL: The novels and the movie. These have the effective status of canon when not directly contradicted by the games, but must be discarded in favor of the game footage where contradictions between the official material and the canon games exist (but only on the point where a contradiction exists).

APOCRYPHAL: Other material (i.e. fan fiction). These have no bearing on the mainstream universe, and can be safely ignored.

Any problems with this?
 
Sounds fair to me... but wait for Bandit's opinion.

I have a question though.
If we come across details that do not necessarily contradict the game, but add "weird" or "unusual" details to the characters' traits, such Blair's drinking problem, or Maniac's love life... how are we supposed to deal with that?
 
this is a good list except for the fact that some people accept the books more so (EW with Lance vs Dragon :) ) but I must agree with you. <g>
 
Considering that there's as much reasons to belive it's called a Lance as there is to calling it a Dragon, no Earthworm doesn't take the books over games.
 
Back when they had people who commented on such things publically, Origin's stance was that anything licensed by them was 'canon', and anything else was apocr... that other thing.

As for Blair's drinking -- the WCIV script actually talks about this... a scene with Rachel/Flint was originally planned for the start that would have them leave him via holo-message (it was cut because they couldn't afford to bring the actresses back for one scene).

And as for Maniac... do you honestly believe that Maniac *never* gets a girl (G)? It's just the running joke in WCIII...
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF

And as for Maniac... do you honestly believe that Maniac *never* gets a girl (G)? It's just the running joke in WCIII...
Click to expand...

Well, it certainly doesn't hurt the funny side of the WC plot :)
 
well Blairs drinking problem is discribed VERY well in Vondoom's Death And Copying, ya'll should read it.
 
Iceberg, you beat me. I just wanted to open a thread after I wrote a post at another thread but you were faster ( or I was too slow). Your list sounds perfect to me.
So if the WC4 novel states that Maniac becomes a Colonel and in WCP he is still a Major the novel is to ignore? Ok, that clears it up for me.
But what if official game materials contadict each other. My most popular example is: The Claw Marks timeline says that on 2634 the Kilrathi attacked McAuliffe and on 2639 they attacked Enyo. Now in any further timeline it is only McAuliffe that is attacked, both in 2634 and in 2639. Which one is to believe?
Someone said (in another thread) that the newest source should be trusted but I disagree on that. I think you should consider the first statement that was made as true.
What do you think about it?
 
Originally posted by Mekt-Hakkikt
So if the WC4 novel states that Maniac becomes a Colonel and in WCP he is still a Major the novel is to ignore? Ok, that clears it up for me.
Click to expand...
Maniac does become a Colonel, and is obvioiusly demoted before Prophecy (which considering Maniacs character isn't hard to belive).
 
Wilford was a Vice Admiral in WC4 and a Captain in P, was he demoted or is the captain with the rank of vice admiral??
 
Originally posted by Ghost
Wilford was a Vice Admiral in WC4 and a Captain in P, was he demoted or is the captain with the rank of vice admiral??
Click to expand...

Wilford was a Vice Admiral in the Border Worlds fleet, but he only held Captain's rank in Confed. No contradiction.
 
Originally posted by Ghost
mmmmmm..... i don´think so, why a vice in border worlds and a captain in the confed ???
Click to expand...

Because the Border Worlds needed him as an Admiral, so they gave him the rank of Vice Admiral. However, his commission in Confed was at the rank of Captain, so when he came out of retirement and got his commission reactivated, he returned to service at his last active rank - Captain.
 
Originally posted by Mekt-Hakkikt

So if the WC4 novel states that Maniac becomes a Colonel and in WCP he is still a Major the novel is to ignore?
But what if official game materials contadict each other?
Someone said (in another thread) that the newest source should be trusted but I disagree on that. I think you should consider the first statement that was made as true.
What do you think about it?
Click to expand...

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, trust the games...

I read half of the Price of Freedom novel and BOY, there are some many differences in the story development that I consider it as a whole different version of the plot.

There are many examples of this, the fact that Blair an Maniac don't have that training fight just after taking off from Nephele, the fact that the destruction of the Pirate Frigate is brought after a reconnaissance patrol from Blair and Catscratch IN THE SAME MISSION, whereas there are two different missions for that in the game, one where you find its coordinates, another where you destroy it YOURSELF...
Also, the fact that Blair sees the scene of Seether's arrival on the Lexington from his cockpit, and not from behind some crates like in the game, the episode of that pilot recovery and Seether executing him, which NEVER happens in the game, the fact that when Blair finally decides to defect, it's after fighting in a Thunderbolt with Seether, and joining the Border Worlds by going through the jump point DIRECTLY and not by landing on the Intrepid before...

Lots of details, and I'm sorry Bandit if you disagree, but these differences are too many for the novels and the games to co-exist...

Therefore, OFFICIALLY speaking, the "true" (if you can call it that way) story to be trusted is the one from the games.
The novels offer a different perspective, altering some details, and are overall pretty interesting to read, as they allow you to understand the motivations of some characters in the game, but as for the COURSE OF EVENTS matters, the games should be given priority! :)
 
The Game's story comes first, the books just are there to add to it. The Enyo/Mcalliuf argument is a good one, I for one say that perhaps the planet is named Macalliuf (i realize i am butchering the name) and the system is the enyo system, thus that allows for the two to coexist
 
Originally posted by mpanty
the episode of that pilot recovery and Seether executing him, which NEVER happens in the game,
Click to expand...
Does too happen, if you don't defect at the first opportunity (like Blair in the novel).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top