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The preceding paragraph is all stuff I just made up. But it's canonical now. — Sarah Monette
A statement regarding a controversy in a series. The Word Of God is considered inarguable because it comes from someone thought to be the ultimate authority, usually a creator or executive producer. Such edicts can even go against events as were broadcast, due to someone (a director, most likely, or a bullpen writer) having got it wrong. Can lead to Creative Differences.
On a similar note, the term Bible is sometimes used for the definitive guidelines for writing an episode of a TV series. Where a show might have a lot of details, there can sometimes be a book which contains rules about the show, backstory, forbidden interactions, etc. that book is referred to as the show's Bible.
In the case of Adaptation Decay, fans look for the Word Of God to settle Fanon disputes, but the Authority may have moved on and doesn't care to respond.
Note that many people reject the notion of Word Of God, considering something to be canon only if it appeared in the original source material, and that if the creator wanted a certain fact to be canon that s/he should have included it in the work to begin with. Some people go even further, considering the uncertainty and ambiguity of canon to be a good thing and decry the Word Of God as shackling the imagination and interpretations of the fans — a belief supported by some modern literary criticism, notably in Wimstatt and Beardsley's "The Intentional Fallacy" and Barthes' Death Of The Author essay, both of which argue that the author has no right to control what other people think of his or her work.
If a work has more than one creator and the they disagree with each other on a crucial point, you'll likely see fans embrace conflicting statements. What happens when multiple fans are equipped with the Word Of God?
Bible fight!
See also Re Vision, Dis Continuity, Creator Worship. When the word does not come from the original creators but over time is still treated as such it is Word Of Dante. Contrast Lying Creator, Flip Flop Of God, Shrug Of God, and What Could Have Been. Word Of Gay is a subtrope.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Eiichiro Oda, creator of One Piece jokes with this explaining that Zoro can speak with a sword in his mouth because "it is his heart that allows him to speak."
- In an interview in the How To Read volume of "Death Note", Tsugumi Ohba expressly states that the random girl at the very end is not in fact Misa Amane and is just stuck in there for the sake of something pretty. Many, including this troper, actively ignore this for the sole reason that they think that's how it should be. Whatever floats your boat, dude.
- Any time an anime based on a manga changes or contradicts the manga but mostly follows the same path (animes that vary significantly from the manga do not fall into this, and are instead viewed as more of an Alternate Continuity), fans treat the manga as the authoritative source. Naturally, this is only the case when the manga comes first.
- The author of the Sailor Moon manga has affirmed that the characters of Haruka Tenou (Sailor Uranus) and Michiru Kaiou (Sailor Neptune) were intended as a lesbian couple. This is heavily hinted at in both the anime and manga, but never stated outright and occasionally a point of contention among some fans.
- Ironically, her husband, the creator of Yu Yu Hakusho, has stated that Sensui and Itsuki are a gay male couple. He experiences as much backlash as she does, because the only open affection shown is on Itsuki's part.
- Masaki Kajishima, the original creator of Tenchi Muyo and the main writer for tje Ryo-Oh-Ki OVAs (even called "Kajishima canon" in Japan) is very fond of releasing tie-in novels, factbooks, doujinshis and other infodumps, where he explain his 'verse in more depth — mainly because he couldn't readily obtain funding for the next series, but still has something to say. These infodumps are generally treated as canon by Japanese fans, but tended not to appear in the West, which, for example, made third series a Wall Banger for many fans, as it derailed years of Fanon.
- Apparently, Cloverfield's odd little manga, with monsters being controllable by people, a cult, and Slusho.
Video Games
- The Metal Gear Solid series contains a great number of mysteries, many of which are introduced in one game, with potential answers hinted at in that game or its sequels, only for the true (and completely different) answers to be revealed in even later games. To this end, in the voice credits for Metal Gear Solid 4, the final game which answers all important questions, Hideo Kojima (the series' longtime writer/director) is credited as the "Voice of God".
- The Japan-only video game Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 had a set of unlockable files, supposedly based on those of the shadowy organization SEELE and revealing the deep secrets of the series, based on a series of interviews with the show's creator, Hideaki Anno. These include such never-revealed-in-the-anime facts as Yui Ikari being the daughter of a member of SEELE, Asuka's mother's soul being split in two, the maternal part of which was inside EVA-02, and the Moons actually being terraforming agents left behind by a Precursor race. The White Moon and the Black were examples of two different seeds of life (Angels and Humans respectively) which were never intended to exist on the same world, with both crashing on Earth by pure accident. This extra information might not allow NGE to make complete sense, but it certainly does help...
- Shigeru Miyamoto made a statement in an interview regarding the timeline of the Legend Of Zelda series which contradicted game canon such as in-game text, fueling the ongoing conflict about the chronology of the games.
- Then again said comment was made before the creation of 4 swords and The Minish cap.
- You've got real trouble when one Word Of God contradicts another. The Mega Man Zero series ran into this with the character of Harpuia, who was supposed to be male but looked and sounded rather girly — girly enough, apparently, to fool Capcom of America, who said the character was female. Capcom of Japan corrected this, and later games helped by using pronouns for him more often.
- The Super Smash Bros. Dojo includes a lot of clarifying information about the storyline of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, since all the characters are Heroic Mimes.
- And a major framing scene was cut for time... and because most of the story is reserved until after the end of the mode by hiding it in trophies.
Live Action TV
- In later seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, questions not answered in the actual show tended to be addressed only in Joss Whedon's interviews. Some fans considered anything Joss said in an interview to be canon, while others did not and were annoyed by this practice.
- The Doctor Who episode "The Brain of Morbius" shows the faces of several actors who, depending on your interpretation of the scene, may be Doctors predating the canonical first Doctor. Despite the fact that the canon is very clear on the fact that the Doctor's lives are all accounted for, some people on the production staff have affirmed that they intended the faces to be earlier Doctors. For some fans, this makes it gospel. For others, not. In any case, it has been enough to prompt most fans to prefer wild theories to the very simple and valid obvious alternative explanation that the faces belonged to someone else.
- Responding to a message board request, Coupling creator (and sole writer) Stephen Moffat wrote a breakdown of the characters' lives several years after the fourth and final season. This gave Moffat the chance to write an "ending" for the character of Jeff, despite actor Richard Coyle leaving the previous year.
- The new Battlestar Galactica has occasionally relied on this, such as producer Mark Verheiden confirming that Six was released from prison as part of President Lee Adama's amnesty in the episode Revelations, explaining why she appears in famous final shot of nuked-out Earth.
- However, the Word of God has occasionally not been helpful. In the episode Hero it is revealed that Tigh and Adama served on the battlestar Valkyrie one year before the series begins and been moved to Galactica as punishment after a vital mission failed, contradicting multiple statements that Adama had commanded Galactica for 2-3 years prior to the series. A document seen on-screen in the very same episode suggested he'd actually been in command of Galactica for six years. When asked about the problem, producer Ronald D. Moore said there wasn't a problem, they'd worked it out behind the scenes and it all tracked, but didn't share this explanation with fans, leaving the situation unresolved.
- In weekly podcasts, the producers of Lost have occasionally clarified plot points, such as confirming Jae Lee's death in "The Glass Ballerina" was a suicide. However, they are not always to be taken at their word: before season 3, in a long list of things we wouldn't see, they named "time travel" and "Desmond running naked through the jungle." Both were seen.
- Nearly two decades after the series finale of Family Ties, and after a couple years of speculation from fans, Gary David Goldberg (the creator of the sitcom) has finally given his own input on Alex P. Keaton's current political leanings. Quite naturally, his response has managed to alienate certain fans of the show. The speculations have arose during the 2006 US elections, where Michael J. Fox (who played Alex P. Keaton) was lobbying for the legalization of ESCR. Furthermore, Michael J. Fox has also given his input on Alex P. Keaton's current political leanings (and place of residence).
Western Animation
- The creators of Kim Possible, Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, have stated on numerous occasions that Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable will be together forever and that they were always meant to get together from the very beginning of the series. The Director Steve Loter has said that the alien villains died, and that Shego and Drakken are definitely dating, at the end of Graduation.
- Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman split with Disney and later cited Creative Differences at a third season made without his input. Greg himself has addressed many obscure questions otherwise unanswered by show material and is considered the authoritative source, to the point most fans do not consider the last season canon.
- The creators of Hey Arnold! have purportedly stated that Helga's mother is an alcoholic, although they knew that saying so directly would never fly on Nickelodeon.
- The creators of The Simpsons often explain the "real meaning" of various episodes on DVD commentary—such as "Homer's Enemy" being about how a "normal" person couldn't survive in Springfield, or (more recently) "The Principal and the Pauper" being a jab at the Jonas Quinn idea.
- Christy Marx, the head writer for Jem And The Holograms, interfaces frequently with the fans.
- Dwayne McDuffie, creator of Static Shock, has stated that Richie, Static's sidekick and best friend, is in fact gay, as is his comic book counterpart. When asked if Static knew, he replied "Not yet."
- Butch Hartman stated in an interview that the ghosts in Danny Phantom are really monsters from a different dimension, that is the Ghost Zone. Explains why they can have offspring and apparently age, but doesn't explain why some were once human to begin with.
- Danny's mom once described them as something like "ectoplasmic manifestations of post-human consciousnenss", which implies that they simply monster that think they're dead humans.
- Regarding the Avatar The Last Airbender Ship To Ship Combat and the subsequent Zutara Ship Sinking, Bryan and Mike have said multiple times that Aang and Katara were always meant to be the Official Couple as far back as when season one was still coming out. Apparently they were just having fun with Ship Tease in Book 3...
- They have also divulged that Aang does, in fact, have a tattoo there.
Literature
- A famous literary example is J.R.R. Tolkien, who was notorious for constantly reworking ideas and being disorganized, especially considering the scope of his work. Much of what is commonly "known" about The Lord Of The Rings is actually gleaned from Tolkien's authorial notes and letters to others, leading to the oft paraphrased quote that he could spend whole pages describing trees, but never mention that elves have pointy ears.
- Much of the information regarding what happens to the characters after the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has come from interviews with J.K. Rowling. Among the "highlights": Ginny's career as a professional Quidditch player; Harry and Ron being high-level Aurors; Luna Lovegood's eventual marriage to a character never even mentioned in the books; Dolores Umbridge being thrown in prison for crimes against Muggle-borns (rather than inadvertently killed by Hermione Granger, as many fans speculated); who killed Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin (Antonin Dolohov and Bellatrix Lestrange, respectively); and that Dumbledore was gay. J.K. Rowling is also writing a Harry Potter encyclopedia which will contain background information which never made it into the novels, providing further Word Of God when it's published.
- The Dragonriders of Pern fandom could be considered a subversion. Several Word Of God proclamations from Anne McCaffrey herself have been worked around or outright ignored in fanworks: most notably her proclamation that all Blue riders and all male Green riders were gay (born or made that way).
- The Dresden Files: "Justin's dead! D-E-D dead!", frequent reply of the author to fan theories that Harry Dresden's Evil Mentor (whom, canonically, Harry burned to death) may somehow still be alive, and involved in the events of the various novels.
- This might be because the TV series did bring Justin back... sort of, it's a Xanatos Gambit or similar plan he set up before his death. However, the books and TV series both inhabit their own separate continuities, so if Jim Butcher says that Justin's dead, then then he's not coming back, people.
- David Weber, writer of (among other things) the Honor Harrington series, occasionally makes proclamations on points of confusion by fans, on the newsgroup featuring him (alt.books.david-weber) and the Baen Bar, a forum maintained by the publisher of many Science Fiction and Fantasy works. These are occasionally collected, and posted here for perusal by those not reading the forums and/or newsgroup, maintained by Joe Buckley (who's a regular Red Shirt in various Baen-published novels; the Honorverse has had several Buckleys killed in and of itself).
- In the Wheel of Time book series, many fans speculated that Demandred was disguised as Mazrim Taim. This theory persisted until Robert Jordan himself discredited it.
- Neil Gaiman has said in interviews that he intended Silas from The Graveyard Book to be a vampire. On the other hand, he also said "If you miss it, that's fine. You'll just get a slightly different book."
- Aaron Allston, writer of part of the X Wing Series, in his faq posits what he thinks happened to his characters in the twenty or so years between Wraith Squadron and the Vong War, as well as some details that never made it into the books, like ship names.
Tabletop Games
- The CCG Yu-Gi-Oh game has what's known as "BKSS - Because Konami Said So", a phenomena where certain cards are given rulings that make no sense whatsoever, but are rendered iron-clad enforcable, because Konami - the game's creator - said that's how it went. This has become painfully obvious after UDE, the English Yu-Gi-Oh distributer, refused to administer a ruling on the card "Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster" that completely contradicted the card's text itself; when this discrepancy was pointed out to them, even Konami themselves admitted that the ruling was in error, yet still refused to change it.
- Collectible Card Games are a kind of shaky ground, as they're part board game and part tournament game. Magic The Gathering has a seasonally-updated database that updates the wording of every card in the game, to the point that year-old cards already have official wordings that differ from what is printed on the cards.
- While these changes do not usually affect how the cards work, every so often the game is given a major overhaul that changes many things at once. (Changes to timing rules with the advent of 6th Edition, and the Grand Creature Type Update of 2007 come to mind)
Newspaper Comics
- The creator of Krazy Kat, George Herriman, officially stated that the title character was "something like a sprite, an elf. They have no sex. So that Kat can't be a he or a she." Despite this, the 1962 animated series made Krazy explicitly female, to avoid controversy.
- Charles Schulz of Peanuts stated that Linus' belief in the Great Pumpkin is not and was never intended to be a metaphor for faith. There's no reason to think he was that secular... or religious for that matter.
Other
- Bionicle story writer Greg Farshtey keeps a good relationship with the fan community. Not only does Greg provide Word of God for any question a fan might have, but he sometimes distributes advance information and occasionally allows fans to influence minor details. (Word of Fans?)
Web Comics
Web Original
- Tales Of MU has a lot of this, possibly driven by the blog format.
Film
- The film Sunshine has tons of backstory that appears nowhere in the film itself, including the reason why the sun is burning out five billion years ahead of schedule.
- It also explains why the Sun is "Burning out" instead of "Burning up", that's what supposed to happen to the Sun.
- It also explains why such questionable characters for the Mission, such as Harvey and Searle. The former aparently was a Jack-of-All-Trades who could substitute pretty much any of the other members of the tripulation, AND cheated his way into the mission at a psychological exam. Searle on the other hand was the one that (correctly) theorised that the first mission failed because of a psychological reason and thus was sent to keep the psychological state of the crew in check, except that he then was shown to be a bit too excentric to really keep the crew mind as a high priority.
- Ridley Scott has been very clear in interviews in stating that, in his film Blade Runner, Deckard himself was a replicant. The only clue that this might be true in the movie, though, was the origami unicorn created by Gaff (Edward James Olmos) after Deckard dreamed of a unicorn. Unfortunately for anyone who saw the film in theaters and was trying to add up the clues, the unicorn dream was one of the victims of the Executive Meddling that the film underwent after leaving Scott's hands.
- The 2007 Transformers movie left plenty of questions in the movie and a few Sequel Hooks, and with Transformer fans being who they are have asked a lot of questions. One in particular was whether or not Starscream took part in the F-22 assault on Megatron hiding in his alternate form. It would certainly be in tradition and the writers have said Sure Why Not so far. Another question was the disappearance of Barricade from the final battle. The comic book depicted him being killed by Optimus, but the writers said they did it deliberately as a plot point in the sequel.
- There's an interesting twist on this in Star Wars. Pretty much every character to appear in the Cantina Scenes in ANH and the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special has his or her own species and backstory. Some of this came about through various authors, some of it was composed by fans and put on the databank. Of course, most of this will never be used.
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