Word of Dante: Difference between revisions

[[Word of God]] is stuff the creators have said is true about their universe, even though it's not in the actual work.

 

 

 

This is especially likely to happen if there is no one who can unambiguously provide [[Word of God]]. Without [[Word of God]], Word Of Dante is the strongest authority you have on how to interpret the canon. Often created when an [[Expanded Universe]] claims to be "official" and thus canon, but is ignored by the primary canon. If there ''is'' a [[Word of God]], however, then what Word Of Dante does get produced is just as likely as [[Fanon]] to be [[Jossed]] at some point.

 

Also related is the [[Death of the Author]], a concept from the field of literary criticism which states that all theories about a work (regardless of [[Word of God|their]] [[Fanon|source]]) can be equally valid. See also [[God Never Said That]].

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* Quite a few ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' fans (including some on this Wiki) believe that the name of Lunch's blond gun-crazy alter ego is "Kushami". The name was coined by an American translator in the mid-1990s in order to distinguish between "Good Lunch" and "Bad Lunch", using the Japanese word for "sneeze".

** Most fans treat the "Toriyama intended to end the series at the Freeza saga, but [[Executive Meddling|his editors stopped him]]" rumor as unquestionable fact. Many fans do the same to the "Toriyama abandoned his plan to make Gohan the hero of the Boo saga because he was sent death threats by Goku fans" rumor. In actuality, both of these rumors were started and perpetuated by fans, and they have never received official confirmation.

* At no point in ''[[Code Geass]]'' canon is it ever stated that Lamperouge (the last name Lelouch and Nunnaly take after faking their deaths) was Marianne's maiden name.

** [[Action Girl]] Kallen Kouzuki goes by her Britannian father's surname "Stadtfeld" when in public due to the social stigma against Japanese. Fans often assume that she also "westernizes" her first name to "Karen" at the same time, or occasionally that she really ''is'' named Karen, and "Kallen" is her attempt to reject her "slave name". None of this reflects on canon; in fact, characters who only know her in her Stadtfeld identity still call her "Kallen".

* Recently, some pre-Sainthood "real names" for the main cast of [[Saint Seiya]] have been popping up in fics, particularly the last name "Amamiya" for Ikki and Shun. This in spite of the fact that only their constellation-based Saint titles have ever been used in the series proper.

* The [[FUNimation]] dub of ''[[Soul Eater]]'' uses male pronouns to refer to the character [[Ambiguous Gender|Crona]], leading many who watched the anime to believe that Crona is officially male. At the same time, an early online fan translation of a ''Soul Eater'' chapter refers to Crona as Medusa's "daughter" causing many of those who read the manga to believe that Crona is officially a girl. Unfortunately, neither is right. [[FUNimation]] had to settle with male pronouns by default and the translation in the manga is wrong. Crona, in both the original anime and manga, is referred to using genderless pronouns and as Medusa's "child". There is no definite answer to his/her gender as of yet.

* The ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' fandom has more or less unanimously decided that Homura is [[Conveniently an Orphan]], given that there is no indication that she has any sort of parent or caretaker. It is also an absurdly common piece of fanon that {{spoiler|[[Ensemble Darkhorse|Char]][[Knight of Cerebus|lotte]] was a [[Ill Girl|cancer patient]].}}

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' fandom has ''tons'' of these, partly because of [[Real Life]] being something of an alternative source material, partly because the webcomic is scattered between the site, the author's blog and—in some cases—only on fansites because strips were removed or lost from the main site. And let's not even get to the [[scanlation]]s with often questionable quality translations, although they have been easier to find as of late. You can find examples in the [[Fanon]] page.

* In ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', an early online manga translation translates the character Yajima's name as "Shitou", for whatever reason. Subsequent chapters call him "Yajima", leading people to believe he is actually called "Shitou Yajima". Seriously, it's ''everywhere''; he's even credited as "Shitou" in the English credits of the [[FUNimation]] dub of the anime. The thing is, the chapter that gives his name in the collected manga volume calls him "Yajima", not "Shitou". The only logical explanation is that the original version of the chapter called him "Shitou", but the author changed it to "Yajima" for the manga volume. But because a the original Japanese version of the chapter likely doesn't exist online, the issue may never be clarified.

** Similarly, it's generally accepted these days to present Mycroft Holmes and the Diogenes Club as some sort of cover organisation or outpost of the British secret service. This is largely an invention of later pastiches; aside from a few hints that Mycroft's job in the British government is a bit more extensive than he likes to admit ("on certain occasions he ''is'' the British government"), it's never really suggested in the original canon that either the club nor Mycroft are anything other than what they appear to be (a near-silent club for reclusive eccentrics and a [[Brilliant but Lazy]] civil servant respectively).

** Holmes' relationship with "''The'' Woman", Irene Adler, has largely been expanded from a healthy respect for the one person we ever see outsmarting Holmes to a [[Dating Catwoman]]-like [[UST]] situation at the very least, thanks more or less to this trope combined with [[Promoted to Love Interest]].

*** And there's the fact that he only has any contact with her once (briefly) when he's casing her house under an assumed identity. The closest that they come to even having a conversation is when Irene leaves an extended letter for Holmes ''after'' she's already escaped.

* Tolkien never explicitly stated that Elves in''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' and related works had pointy ears—in fact, no special physical traits are given except that they seem to be more slender, more elegant, and taller than men (thus implying that they might, apart from that, look more or less alike).

** He made the connection in some ''very'' early works, mainly to explain the similarity of "ear" and "leaf" in the Elven language. The pointy-ear thing actually goes back to fairy stories, though.

** It's also widely accepted in Tolkien fandom that Smaug was the last dragon. In fact, this is never stated anywhere in the books, and indeed some of Gandalf's dialogue with Frodo implies that there ''are'' still dragons out there—Smaug was merely the greatest of his age.

** [[World War II]] in ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'' is simply there to get the Pevensies where they need to go. The live-action film pushed what was implied to the foreground, reminding people that you ''can't'' ignore that war if you have been in the warzone. Fanfic post-film reflects this, and is likely to include Mr. Pevensie at war rather than at university (which ''[[Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]'' implied). The second film similarly reminded writers that the war had not stopped during the intervening year.

** Lots of people think Caspian/Susan is canon, when actually they barely talk to each other in the ''Prince Caspian'' book. The movie, however, did make it canon.

** There are quite a few ''Trek'' examples, leading to cases where newer ''Trek''—particularly ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]''—was accused by many of being "inaccurate". Many aspects of fanon were confused with canon. Whether ''Enterprise'' did or did not deviate from established canon (and keeping in mind ''Trek'' has never been ''100%'' consistent anyway, simply by virtue of how big it is), many of the more frequent claims were in fact based on widely-accepted but non-canonical fan assumptions. Among the biggest Word of Dante was the whole "Spock was the first Vulcan in Starfleet" idea. Another is the "2218 Klingon First Contact". Neither was canonical, but were widely accepted along Word of Dante principles for years. In these two aspects at least, ''Enterprise'' didn't deviate from canon.

** Of course, since Enterprise's major first arcs involved [[Timey-Wimey Ball|large scale time-fuckery]] ''anyway,'' you have to wonder how valid the claims would have been in the first place.

 

== Music ==

* The second movement of [[Ludwig Van Beethoven]]'s 8th Symphony allegedly originated as a canon honoring Johann Nepomuk Maelzel for his invention of the metronome. This canon (WoO 162) is now considered non-canonical, merely one of Anton Schindler's more elaborate fabrications about Beethoven's life.

* The common myth that [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] and Antonio Salieri were enemies, or that Salieri killed Mozart, originates with the 1830 verse drama ''Mozart and Salieri'' by Alexander Pushkin, though most people know it from the film ''[[Amadeus]]''. In real life, Mozart and Salieri stood on amicable terms, but a lot of people who should know better still discuss Salieri's supposed ill will toward Mozart as though it were historical fact.

* Thanks to Revo's [[Shrug of God|complete refusal to clear up any ambiguities in the albums]], most [[Sound Horizon]] "canon" is really just a large swath of widely-accepted fan theories.

== Mythology & Religion ==

* Dante Alighieri's ''[[The Divine Comedy|Divine Comedy]]'' is the [[Trope Namer]], and the most famous example. Pretty much anything you think you know about Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory was probably popularized by Dante, though much of it was based off actual Church positions. There are also some [[Real Life]] people (such as Francesca da Rimini and Count Ugolino) that we only know of through Dante's work and the early commentaries explaining it. Note that many of them, especially the souls found in the ''Inferno'', could probably have gone without being mentioned. (Many among that group had wronged Dante in some way, and the general consensus among modern critics of Inferno is that Dante included them for [[Take That|personal reasons]]. There are so many of these people that Inferno is 40-50% political satire and requires extensive knowledge of current Italian politics to understand.)

** "Apocrypha" has a specific meaning in terms of biblical studies; it refers to Old Testament books present in Greek sources (such as the Septuagint) that aren't present in the Hebrew Tanakh.

* These are only a few examples related to [[The Bible]]:

** ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' is like this for the entire book, especially [[Satan]]. Satan only gets a few lines in the Bible, and not much that you could use to establish a sympathetic character.

** Lots of retellings of the nativity story shows us Jesus in a stable. The Bible never mentions any stable.

** "...and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7.

** The names and number of Wise Men who visited Jesus were not mentioned in the Bible; they come from 6th to 8th century sources.

*** What's more, they likely did not visit Jesus on the day of His birth or twelve days after. It could have been up to two years.

** Mary Magdalene is [[wikipedia:Mary Magdalen|often identified]] with other females from the Gospels, including Mary the sister of Martha, the woman who washes Jesus' feet with her tears, and the woman caught in adultery. That is, she is considered to be one or more of them. However, there is no support in the Gospels themselves for these. Some of them are Church tradition, though. The originator of this idea is the sixth century Pope Gregory the Great, also the man responsible for the [[Seven Deadly Sins]] (before him, there were eight).

** Similarly, the Antichrist, who is mentioned only in the first epistle of John in the context of "many antichrists" (who are more likely general oppressors and heretics rather than specific apocalyptic enemies), is often identified with various apocalyptic figures, such as the Beast from the Sea from Revelation, the Man of Sin/Lawlessness from Second Thessalonians, and the Little Horn from Daniel.

** Nowhere in the Garden of Eden story does the Bible mention the name of the forbidden fruit, commonly accepted as an apple by people who aren't Biblical scholars. In fact, Jewish sources debate five or six possibilities, which include everything from fig to grapes to ''wheat'', but no apple.

** Jonah never spent time in the belly of a whale in [[The Bible]]; it is simply described as a big fish. At the time the story was written there was no specific Hebrew word for whale, apart from various words for large fish. The metamorphosis into a whale comes from translations. In some languages, "big fish" is a term used to refer to both whales and sharks, with little or no distinction. In later mentions of Jonah's story in the New Testament, the Greek word used for the big fish was literally "sea monster", a term often applied then to whales. The King James Version, among others, decided that a whale made more sense than just a big fish, since no known ordinary fish is ''that'' big. (That whales aren't actually fish is another, [[You Fail Biology Forever|unrelated issue]].)

*** In fact, in many early paintings he's represented as a goat that walks on his hind legs.

** There is only a single, fairly cryptic mention of "Lilith" (Isaiah 34:14). The idea of Lilith being the first woman before Eve comes from medieval Judaism.

*** Some traditions also hold that Lilith then had children of her own, from whom Cain's wife (also a bit of an explanatory difficulty) came.

** Naturally, ''[[Cracked.com]]'' has [http://www.cracked.com/article_18757_5-things-you-wont-believe-arent-in-bible.html an entire list of this trope for Christianity]. Along with those already mentioned is the entire concept of any of the fallen angels ruling Hell, as Hell is just as much a prison for them as it is for the sinners.

* [[Virgil]]'s ''[[The Aeneid|Aeneid]]'' and [[Ovid]]'s ''[[The Metamorphoses|Metamorphoses]]'' are like this for Greco-Roman myths. Ovid cobbled together different Greek sources and added his own imaginative touches to create the definitive versions of most of the Greco-Roman myths we have today. The ''Aeneid'' standardized the story of Aeneas, which had previously existed in a bunch of variations and hadn't been as popular as, say, Romulus and Remus.

* The modern perception of [[Norse Mythology]] and religious practices is mainly based on Christian or Muslim sources, such as the chronicle of Adam of Bremen from the 11th century, Ibn Fadlan's brief depiction of life among the Norse in Russia, or various texts by Icelandic skalds in the 13th century (such as [[Snorri Sturluson]]'s manuals on how to write poetry).

* The more fundamental differences between the sects of most major religions are largely due to separated groups coming to consider Word of Dante as [[Word of God]] due to prolonged lack of contact or as a deliberate decision.

 

== Theme Parks ==

* The "back story" of ''[[The Haunted Mansion]]'' at [[Disney Theme Parks]] is officially [[Multiple Choice Past|whatever the Cast Members that day decide it is]]. Still, a lot of it is mistaken for pure canon. A lot of it became [[Ascended Fanon]] through [[The Haunted Mansion (film)|the film]], though.

 

== Videogames ==

** It has recently (sort of) become [[Ascended Fanon]] by constantly appearing in official release notes. Herobrine has now been removed several times from the game and "all ghost entities under the command of Lord Herobrine" have been removed.

* ''[[Touhou]]'' ''runs'' on Word of Dante. A character can say something ''once'' and have it become their [[Catch Phrase]]. Several of the [[Fan Vid]]s and [[Fanfic]] spawn [[Alternative Character Interpretation]] that has little to no canonical basis. The biggest example of how prevalent Word of Dante is in ''Touhou'' is probably the two nameless mid-bosses from ''The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'': Fans were the ones responsible for giving them names and distinctive appearances. Their [[Fan Nickname]]s were then [[Ascended Fanon|acknowledged by the author, and the fan depictions of them seem to have made cameos in supplementary material]].

** ''Hisoutensoku'', the third fighting game in the series (numbered 12.3) had no official English title, a first for the series. For a few months after its release (and intermittently afterwards) the game was referred to as ''Unthinkable Natural Law'', after a loose translation of its Japanese title.

* ''[[8-Bit Theater]]'' has led to ''many'' people assuming characterizations and personalities in the comic are canon to the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games. In particular, that [[White Magician Girl|White Mage is a girl]] (though many people already assumed this long before ''8-Bit Theater'' existed), to the chagrin of male White Mage cosplayers everywhere. Or that black mages in general are psychopathic murderers, which is hinted at in ''[[Captain SNES]]'', even though no appearances of playable black mages in the rest of the series have portrayed them as anything even close (worst would probably be Palom, who was a little bit rude, but definitely not evil). And no, despite his ears, Thief is ''not'' an elf.

** Among the fandom, there's the notion that Sheogorath is the only person in the Shivering Isles allowed to grow a beard, which is generally agreed upon to the point where it was ''stated on the wiki''. The evidence for this one comes from the fact that Sheogorath has a beard and that if the player goes to the place Sheogorath teleports you to when you try to attack him, where he drops criminals from multiple feet in the sky, there's a body with a note saying that the man was executed for having a beard. However, the note doesn't specify anything other than that he ''had'' a beard - for all we know, the crime could be that it was ''longer'' than Sheogorath's, not that it was ''there'' in the first place. [[Mad God|This being Sheogorath]], he might just have made up a random baseless excuse to kill the guy.

* People who found ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' through ''[[Bob and George]]'' are often confused by the fan-character "Ran", usually asking which game he came from. A lot of this has to do with the fact that, for a while, Ran's creator let just about anyone who asked use the character, meaning he showed up ''everywhere''. This (and the very large sprite-sheet leading to him having as many or more poses as game characters) led people to believe so ubiquitous a character ''must'' have come from the games.

 

== Web Original ==

 

 

** "Presto" being short for Preston. This one is probably because of elegance—making a double meaning, making the nickname a [[Line-of-Sight Name]], and explaining why ''everyone'' uses it when names are used in true [[Canon]]. The main reminder that this ''isn't'' canon is there still being disagreement on whether Preston is a given name or surname...

* ''[[Total Drama Comeback]]'' gets this often for [[Total Drama Island|the Total Drama series]]. However, whether the creators are acknowledging (a "TDC" logo appeared in the second-season special) or subverting it (Ezekiel and Bridgette's personalities third season and their {{spoiler|early eliminations}}) it is still unknown.

 

 

*** This isn't to say that judicial review was created out of thin air by the Supreme Court: the Constitution is (obviously and by its own admission<ref>The Supremacy Clause, or Article VI, Section 2, which states that "This Constitution...shall be the supreme ''law'' of the land.... (Emphasis added)</ref>) a law, and laws have always been subject to judicial interpretation under [[The Common Law]], which the US follows. ''Marbury'' is simply the Supreme Court (or rather John Marshall) explaining the consequences of that system interacting with an entrenched, written constitution.<ref>In a nutshell: The common law says that the judiciary gets to decide what the law means; when laws conflict, they get to decide which law trumps which. Because Britain has no written, entrenched constitution, all laws can be changed by a simple majority vote in Parliament: if a Statute A passed in 1789 seems to abrogate Statute B passed in 1779, then Statute A trumps Statute B (generally speaking). However, the Constitution is a law that cannot be changed by a majority vote in the legislature--the bar is ''way'' higher. This means that a statute that conflicts with the Constitution cannot be valid, because Congress alone cannot change the Constitution. And since the judiciary decides what laws mean--including the Constitution and statutes--and the Supreme Court is the highest organ of the judiciary, the Court gets final say on what laws are valid and invalid.</ref> So subverted in a way.

** The interesting thing is that the Supreme Court does, in fact, rely on these papers for a hint on how to interpret the Constitution, and that in [[The Common Law]] tradition, this is perfectly acceptable. ''The Federalist''/''The Federalist Papers'' is considered particularly persuasive. These have no real standing but being written by the same men that wrote the Constitution itself can be considered a meaningful window on their intent, and therefore how pieces of it should be interpreted.

** And Shakespeare got much of that from earlier Dantes who had an equal disregard for reality.

** The first Tudor, Henry VII, beat Richard III for the throne; to make himself look good, he put out a lot of propaganda to make Richard III seem like an evil bastard. It had become so entrenched by Shakespeare's time that he wouldn't've been able to get away with writing anything ''good'' about him. As an example of the sort of thing invented in propaganda: The Duke of Somerset, who Richard III killed in Shakespeare's play, died when Richard III was ''three years old.''

 

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[[Category:Trivia Trope]]

[[Category:Continuity Tropes]]

[[Category:Word of Dante]]