A Note on Ancillary Canons
by Agent Norlossë, Division of Applied-and-theoretical Multiversal Physics

The PPC traditionally divides works of fiction into two categories: those which were written or authorised by the creator/owner of a given verse are 'canon', while everything else is 'fanfic'. Within the 'fanfic' category, we recognise a great many distinctions, including the key one between goodfic and badfic. Canon, however, has simply been called canon.

The Spectrum of Integrated Canon Hierarchies (name under dispute) aims to change that. Using it, we divide canon worlds into 4 categories:

1/ Canon Verses. These are what we usually recognise as canon - the works of the creator, or things accepted as being extensions and part of them.

2/ Canon AUs. This covers alternate universes and timelines which are recognised as such either by the canon, or by the media in which it is set. Something like the Star Trek Mirror Universe falls into this group, as do most of Doctor Who's alternate timelines, and I'd class alternate endings to video games in the same way. There's some disagreement over whether those three classes of universe should be separated out as sub-categories.

3/ EUs. Expanded Universes are bodies of work authorised by the canon's creator, but not explicitly made a part of the main canon. In some cases, the creator specifically says that their canon can override the EU if they ever come into conflict. Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who all have massive EUs, though in the case of the Star Wars one, there's a major ongoing discussion about it (see below).

4/ Ancillary Canons. These are split into two subcategories:

4a/ Overwritten Ancillaries. These are worlds which were once canon - they were created with the intent that they would be canon - but no longer are. The classic example (and one very close to my heart) is the Book of Lost Tales - a nearly-complete work by J.R.R. Tolkien which was superceded by his later interpretation of Middle-earth.

The other big-name example right now is the Star Wars EU/Legends-verse. Since it's been disavowed as canon, but was always an EU and not a class 1 Canon Verse, we've got a big argument going on as to whether it's a class 4a, a class 3 still, a class 2 (since it's officially an AU, but not recognised as such in canon), or something else entirely. Fun times all round.

4b/ Encapsulated Ancillaries. These don't entirely exist. They're those worlds which exists as books-within-books and the like. World One readers can only experience the portion of them that makes it into the full canon story, but readers in the canon can discover the whole thing.

There are a few quirky borderline cases where Encapsulated Ancillaries have been published in World One in their own right. The works of crime-writer Richard Castle are a prominent example, as is the novel Bad Twin, by a character from Lost. Whether these are class 4bs or fully-fledged class 1s is - you guessed it - being debated at length.

~

Yup, this is what Norlossë's ended up doing.

hS