Changes: LOTR:Canon

Revision as of 22:05, 2 February 2020

This page is considered an official policy on the Lord of the Rings Wiki. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that everyone should follow. Except for minor edits, please make use of the discussion page to propose changes to this policy.

It is sometimes difficult to speak of what is "true" in the context of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, or what texts should be considered canonical.

There are various reasons for the matter of what is authoritative to be confusing:

Tolkien worked on Middle-earth over the course of decades, making substantial changes. Readers may remember, for example, the differences between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with regard to Gandalf and the Elves. Moreover, toward the end of his life the focus of his writing shifted from pure storytelling to more philosophical concerns, which rendered a shift in tone and content.

Tolkien's writing is laden with details and hints, which can be contradictory, especially in posthumously published works. Such information should not take precedence over more explicit statements elsewhere, but it can help to flesh out one's understanding of Middle-earth even if confusing. In general, the revised versions of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are considered canon, but with The Silmarillion and other posthumous texts the matter is more complex.
In The History of Middle-earth and Unfinished Tales, Christopher Tolkien admits in hindsight that some content of The Silmarillion were his or Guy Gavriel Kay's inventions, and not wholly Tolkien's ideas. He occasionally discusses some things he would have done differently if editing the book a second time. Certain materials which he 'ignored' or tossed out he realized in hindsight would have been fairly easy to manage.

In some cases, Tolkien had even intentionally left some gaps in his works. In one of his letters (#144) he provided both an explanation and an example of this, writing concerning Tom Bombadil that "even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)." Giving an incomplete picture in this way can be frustrating, but it also makes the invented world feel more natural.

I am doubtful myself about the undertaking. Part of the attraction of The Lord of the Rings is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background: an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed. Also many of the older legends are purely 'mythological', and nearly all are grim and tragic: a long account of the disasters that destroyed the beauty of the Ancient World, from the Darkening of Valinor to the Downfall of Númenor and the flight of Elendil.

- from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 247

For the purposes of this wiki, "canon" is defined as anything pertaining to Middle-earth that was written/invented by J.R.R. Tolkien, and coherent with the material of his major publications The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. Articles pertaining solely to information that is not from Tolkien's works, but from other official Middle-earth adaptations such as films and games, must clearly be categorized as non-canon, and labeled so with the "NonCanon" template, and categorized under any appropriate Non-canon subcategories.

Non-canon, "precanon", disputed canon, and external mythologies

On this wiki, if an article's topic is non-canonical from the start, the article will be categorized and labeled as such. The same goes for topics of Middle-earth lore that are here considered not non-canonical but "precanonical" - for example, any topics indigenous to the story of Eriol, a seminal character who originates from a real location (England), or the villain Tevildo, the distinct yet equivalent forerunner to the character of Sauron in the Lost Tales. Articles solely about characters, places, things, or concepts that were replaced (not merely renamed) or discarded by Tolkien later are to be labeled with the "PreCanon" template, and categorized somewhere under Category:Precanonical topics.

Some topics, while written by Tolkien, are neither clear forerunners to another idea nor seemingly consistent with later versions of the legendarium. Though the precise terms of identifying these topics must by nature remain ambiguous, such characters and locations that can be agreed to fall within this definition will be classified as being of uncertain, or disputed, canonicity. Examples of disputed canon include Eltas and the Mewlips, which are categorized under Category:Disputed canonicity.

The book Finn and Hengest is not considered precanonical or non-canonical. It is a study, narration, and interpretation by Tolkien of two characters who appear in two different Old English poems. The same goes for The Story of Kullervo, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, and The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, other works published under Tolkien's name that contain narratives directly originating from Norse mythology and Middle English literature, respectively. No variant of the "canon" label is applicable to these.

Most, but not all lore, discussed on articles under a section labeled "Earlier (or Other) versions of the legendarium" concern precanonical events or story-lines. As signified by that section heading, precanonical topics are still counted as part of the legendarium, whereas non-canonical topics are not.

Wiki categories

The root categories containing all articles qualified as precanon or non-canon are Precanonical Topics and Non-canonical topics.

On this wiki, there is no category exclusively for all things that are canon. With the three exceptions of Wiki policies, all writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, and all other Real World topics (Real people, secondary literature, websites, games, etc.), informative articles on this Wiki that have no categories with the word "canon" in them are canonical, and pertain to the conventional "true" history of Middle-earth.

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+{{Policy}}It is sometimes difficult to speak of what is "true" in the context of [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s [[Middle-earth]] [[Tolkien Mythology|legendarium]], or what texts should be considered '''canonical'''.
-{{Policy proposed}}
-{{quote|I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched. The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama.|J.R.R. Tolkien}}
-It is difficult to speak of what is "true" in the context of [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s [[Middle-earth]] [[Tolkien Mythology|legendarium]], or what texts should be considered '''canon'''; some readers do not believe that any clear canon exists at all. Others argue that a legendarium for its very nature does not need any kind of canon.
 There are various reasons for the matter of what is authoritative to be confusing:
-* Tolkien worked on Middle-earth over the course of decades, making substantial changes. Readers may remember, for example, the differences between ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' with regard to [[Gandalf]] and the [[Elves]]. Moreover, toward the end of his life the focus of his writing shifted from pure story telling to more philosophical concerns, which led to a considerable shift in tone and content.
+* Tolkien worked on Middle-earth over the course of decades, making substantial changes. Readers may remember, for example, the differences between ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' with regard to [[Gandalf]] and the [[Elves]]. Moreover, toward the end of his life the focus of his writing shifted from pure storytelling to more philosophical concerns, which rendered a shift in tone and content.
-* Tolkien's writing is laden with details and hints, which can be contradictory, especially in the posthumously published work. Such information should not take precedence over more explicit statements elsewhere, but it can help to flesh out our understanding of Middle-earth (even if it does at times add confusion). In general, the '''revised''' versions of ''The Hobbit'' and the ''Lord of the Rings'' are considered canon, but with ''The Silmarillion'' and other posthumous texts the matter is more complex.
+* Tolkien's writing is laden with details and hints, which can be contradictory, especially in posthumously published works. Such information should not take precedence over more explicit statements elsewhere, but it can help to flesh out one's understanding of Middle-earth even if confusing. In general, the '''revised''' versions of ''The Hobbit'' and the ''Lord of the Rings'' are considered canon, but with ''The Silmarillion'' and other posthumous texts the matter is more complex.
+* In ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]'' and ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', [[Christopher Tolkien]] admits in hindsight that some content of ''The Silmarillion'' were his or [[Guy Gavriel Kay]]'s inventions, and not wholly Tolkien's ideas. He occasionally discusses some things he would have done differently if editing the book a second time. Certain materials which he 'ignored' or tossed out he realized in hindsight would have been fairly easy to manage.
-* To add to the confusion, in some cases, Tolkien intentionally left some gaps in his works. In one of his [[The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien|letters]] (#144) he provided both an explanation and an example of this, writing concerning [[Tom Bombadil]] that ''"even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)."'' Giving an incomplete picture in this way can be frustrating, but it also makes the invented world feel more natural.
+* In some cases, Tolkien had even intentionally left some gaps in his works. In one of his [[The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien|letters]] (#[[Letter 144|144]]) he provided both an explanation and an example of this, writing concerning [[Tom Bombadil]] that ''"even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)."'' Giving an incomplete picture in this way can be frustrating, but it also makes the invented world feel more natural.
 : ''I am doubtful myself about the undertaking. Part of the attraction of The Lord of the Rings is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background: an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed. Also many of the older legends are purely 'mythological', and nearly all are grim and tragic: a long account of the disasters that destroyed the beauty of the Ancient World, from the Darkening of Valinor to the Downfall of Númenor and the flight of Elendil.''
-: - from [[The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien|''The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien'']],  letter 247
+: - from [[The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien|''The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien'']], [[Letter 247]]
-For the purposes of this wiki, '''canon''' will be defined as anything pertaining to Middle-earth that was written/invented by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] or developed under license from [[Tolkien Enterprises]]. Although elements of the latter will be regarded as non-canon relative to Tolkien's works, they are both officially approved by his estate and internally consistent with themselves and any other directly related works. For example, the three films comprising the [[Lord of the Rings film trilogy|Jackson trilogy]] are internally consistent with each other and licensed by Tolkien Enterprises, so they may be included if the information from these films is clearly indicated to be derived from [[Peter Jackson|Jackson]]'s work as opposed to Tolkien's work by being placed under the "Portrayal in Adaptations" section. Should some element of an adaptation be ''unique'' to that adaptation, however, and not found in Tolkien's works, it is still permitted, but is considered and must clearly be categorised as '''non-canon''', and labeled so with the [[Template:NonCanon|"NonCanon" template]].
+For the purposes of this wiki, "'''canon'''" is defined as anything pertaining to Middle-earth that was written/invented by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], and coherent with the material of his major publications ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. Articles pertaining solely to information that is not from Tolkien's works, but from other official Middle-earth adaptations such as [[:Category:Films|films]] and [[:Category:Games|games]], must clearly be categorized as '''non-canon''', and labeled so with the [[Template:NonCanon|"NonCanon" template]], and categorized under any appropriate [[:en:Category:Non-canonical_topics|Non-canon subcategories]].
+=== Non-canon, "precanon", disputed canon, and external mythologies ===
+On this wiki, if an article's topic is non-canonical from the start, the article will be categorized and labeled as such. The same goes for topics of Middle-earth lore that are here considered not non-canonical but "'''precanonical'''" - for example, any topics indigenous to the story of [[Eriol]], a seminal character who originates from a real location ([[England]]), or the villain [[Tevildo]], the distinct yet equivalent forerunner to the character of [[Sauron]] in the ''[[Lost Tales]]''. Articles solely about characters, places, things, or concepts that were replaced (not merely renamed) or discarded by Tolkien later are to be labeled with the [[Template:PreCanon|"PreCanon" template]], and categorized somewhere under [[:Category:Precanonical topics]].
+Some topics, while written by Tolkien, are neither clear forerunners to another idea nor seemingly consistent with later versions of the legendarium. Though the precise terms of identifying these topics must by nature remain ambiguous, such characters and locations that can be agreed to fall within this definition will be classified as being of '''uncertain, or disputed, canonicity'''. Examples of disputed canon include [[Eltas]] and the [[Mewlips]], which are categorized under [[:Category:Disputed canonicity]].
-=== Non-canon vs. "Precanon" vs. External Mythologies ===
-If the topic of an article here is non-canonical ''from the start'', it will be categorized and labelled as such. The same goes for few topics of Middle-earth lore that are here considered not non-canonical but ''precanonical'' - for example, any topics indigenous to the story of [[Eriol]], a character who originates from a real location (England) and is thus only semi-invented, or such as the villain [[Tevildo]], the forerunning character to [[Sauron]] who therefore is not truly canonical if the character of Sauron is, or such as [[Kullervo]], a character who originates from Finnish Mythology and yet in the publication summary to ''[[The Story of Kullervo]]'' is referred to as "..the darkest and most tragic ''of all Tolkien's characters''."
-Unlike the case of the English and Finnish mythological elements mentioned above, the book ''[[Finn and Hengest]] ''is '''not''' here considered precanonical, nor is it associated with non-canon. It is merely a study, narration, and interpretation by Tolkien of two characters who appear in two different Old English poems. The same goes for ''[[The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún]]'', another work published under Tolkien's name'' ''that contains narrative directly originating from [[Norse mythology|Norse Mythology]].
+The book ''[[Finn and Hengest]] ''is '''not''' considered precanonical or non-canonical. It is a study, narration, and interpretation by Tolkien of two characters who appear in two different Old English poems. The same goes for ''[[The Story of Kullervo]]'', ''[[The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún]]'','' ''and ''[[The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun]]'', other works published under Tolkien's name'' ''that contain narratives directly originating from [[Norse mythology|Norse mythology]] and Middle English literature, respectively. No variant of the "canon" label is applicable to these.
-Most but not all lore discussed on articles in a section labeled "Earlier Versions of the Legendarium" concern precanonical events, story-lines, or events. As signified by that section heading used, topics that are precanonical do still fall under the umbrella of the "Legendarium", or mythology of Tolkien. Non-canonical topics that do not, as they by definition are invented outside of any version of legendarium. Relative to canon and precanon, non-canonical topics can be described as truly "fictional".
+Most, but not all lore, discussed on articles under a section labeled "Earlier (or Other) versions of the legendarium" concern precanonical events or story-lines. As signified by that section heading, precanonical topics are still counted as part of the [[Tolkien Mythology|legendarium]], whereas non-canonical topics are not.
-=== Wiki Categories ===
+=== Wiki categories ===
-The '''root categories''' of all articles that fall under the qualifiers ''precanon'' or ''non-canon'' are [[:Category:Precanonical topics|Precanonical Topics]] and [[:Category:Non-canonical topics|Non-canonical Topics]].
+The root categories containing all articles qualified as ''precanon'' or ''non-canon'' are [[:Category:Precanonical topics|Precanonical Topics]] and [[:Category:Non-canonical topics|Non-canonical topics]].
-On this wiki, there is no category exclusively for all things that are ''canon'', for those make up the main space of the encyclopedia. With the three exceptions of Wiki policies, all writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, and all other [[:Category:Real World|Real World topics]] (Real people, books, websites, games, etc.), informative articles on this Wiki that ''have no categories with the word "canon" in them'' are canonical, and pertain to the predominant and "true" (or final) version of the legendarium of Middle-earth.[[ja:中つ国の正典]]
+On this wiki, there is no category exclusively for all things that are ''canon''. With the three exceptions of Wiki policies, all writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, and all other [[:Category:Real World|Real World topics]] (Real people, secondary literature, websites, games, etc.), informative articles on this Wiki that ''have no categories with the word "canon" in them'' are canonical, and pertain to the conventional "true" history of Middle-earth.[[ja:中つ国の正典]]
 [[nl:Canon]]
 [[Category:Policies on LOTR]]
+__FORCETOC__