Word of God: Difference between revisions

|'''Light Yagami,''' ''[[Death Note]]''}}

 

 

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 [[Universe Bible|Bible]].

Not to be read as [[World of Goo]]. See also [[Revision]], [[Canon Discontinuity]], [[Creator Worship]], [[Broken Base]]. When the word does not come from the creator himself but from someone involved in some ancillary role in production, that's [[Word of Saint Paul]]. When the word does not come from the original creators but over time is still treated as such it is [[Word of Dante]]. Not always ends up giving fans the answers they were looking for, such as in the case of a [[Flip-Flop of God]] or a [[Shrug of God]]. Contrast [[Death of the Author]], [[What Could Have Been]] and [[God Never Said That]]. [[Word of Gay]] is a subtrope. One way that a theory can be [[Jossed]]. For actual scripture, see "Religion" under [[Useful Notes]].

 

* One way to do is to utilise the [[Line to God]] trope to search for citation sources known to be linked to that creator, since most creators will link to any interview the perform on their own websites too.

 

 

{{examples}}

==Examples with sources cited==

When or where this example can be found is included.

=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===

* Eiichiro Oda, creator of ''[[One Piece]]'', runs a column in the collected volumes of his work, devoted to Word of God explanations of various ''One Piece'' minutia. He is delightfully laid back about it, sometimes making explanations up on the spot, or even [[Ascended Fanon|allowing fans to write the canon for him]]:

=== [[Fan Works]] ===

* The author of ''[[Kira Is Justice]]'' uses Author's Notes often to elaborate about facts in the story, and is always happy to give Word of God.

* Sometimes used in ''[[White Devil of the Moon]]'' to address matters such as Nanoha's reactions to her past life as Serenity, and how four Inner Senshi are able to defeat six trained Bureau operatives despite being less well-trained and not having Usagi/Nanoha's leadership.

* The character's corner and author's note in ''[[The Tainted Grimoire]]'' have both clarified a few things, such as reasons for making one thing the way it is. Also, through private messaging, cuttingmoon57 revealed him/herself to be a fan of [[TV Tropes]].

 

=== [[Literature]] ===

** The strength of Word of God in the Harry Potter fandom seems unusual compared to many other literature fandoms, possibly because of the sheer amount of interview material given by Rowling. The massive success of the series made her very powerful, to the point that most people in the fandom have read a great number of interviews, and everything she says gets archived and treated as gospel truth (even though she sometimes contradicts herself or changes things later on). It's nearly impossible to find a Harry Potter roleplay or fandom community that doesn't treat interview material as equally important as the content of the actual series, and individuals who try to theorize about or play characters based solely on the book content will find themselves attacked for [[Did Not Do the Research|not knowing enough]] about the character.

** This is partially due to the attitude of Mugglenet, probably the most influential Harry Potter site. Staff routinely apply their codes of conduct selectively, take sides in arguments, and sometimes ban members who do not accept Word of God. Fanfiction writer forums such as Fiction Alley and Dark Lord Potter are usually more accepting of divergent opinions, at least in this regard. Roleplaying sites want to play and not argue, so they tend to go along with the Word of God people to avoid arguments.

 

=== [[Newspaper Comics]] ===

{{quote|"I don't know. I fooled around with it once; began to think the Kat is a girl, even drew up some strips with her being pregnant. It wasn't the Kat any more. Then I realized Krazy was something like a sprite, an elf. They have no sex. So the Kat can't be a he or a she. The Kat's a spirit- a pixie- free to butt into anything. See what I mean?"}}

** Despite this, the 1962 animated series made Krazy explicitly female, to avoid controversy.

* After going "it's only the most popular theory" for dozens of books, in the Gehenna book [[White Wolf]] make it very clear: [[Vampire: The Masquerade|Caine was the first vampire.]]

* The writers for ''[[Exalted]]'' appear regularly on both the White Wolf forums and rpgnet and say a great deal...or, more often, offer a few tidbits for a forthcoming release while giggling and waving non-disclosure agreements. [http://exalted.xi.co.nz/wiki/WriterQuotes Here] and [http://nobilis.me/quotes-exalted here] are collections of said Words, the latter skewing more towards the current writing team.

 

=== [[Theatre]] ===

 

=== [[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. The extra information might not allow ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' to make complete sense, but it certainly does help...

* 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 Mime]]s.

* Back in the old days of ''Fallout 2'', there was much confusion regarding Super Mutant sterility especially given an offhanded comment made by a certain Super Mutant. And lo', clarification was given by Chris Avellone in the Fallout Bible that said comment was indeed a poor-taste joke and that mutants ''were definitely and undeniably '''sterile''''', Despite this, the entire community ''ignored'' this and still bicker among themselves like frellin' idiots to this day. Amen.

** Look at his vault suit tatters. The seam patterns match the Male vault suit. This could have been cinched before it got out of hand. [[Epileptic Trees|Though it's likely someone who can't let it go will insist "she" was crossdressing or something.]]

* ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' featured sixteen colossi that are not named in-game. Eventually names started to pop-up with sources claiming to be from either Dengeki or Famitsu, which are usually Word Of God sources for Japanese games. Fumito Ueda eventually stated in the official artbook that none of the colossi have names—only nicknames given by the staff during development.

** So, Word of God is that Word of God is not Word of God?

* T Campbell of ''[[Penny and Aggie]]'' often responds on the forum to questions about aspects of, or incidents in, the characters' lives not covered in the comic, as long as answering wouldn't constitute a spoiler or limit his future options.

* In ''[[Mob Ties]]'', what Author Ninja says is law. Case in point: https://web.archive.org/web/20110402001453/http://www.drunkduck.com/Mob_Ties/index.php?p=418923

* Andrew Hussie, creator of ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'', has been pretty good about clarifying some of the [[Mind Screw|more vague plot points]] of the latest series, ''[[Homestuck]]''. A [[Recap Episode]] featuring his [[Author Avatar]] immediately after the one-year anniversary update particularly squashed a few misconception that were floating around the fandom.