Word of God: Difference between revisions

It's important to remember that if you disagree with the Word Of God, there's nothing wrong with writing [[Alternate Universe Fic|fan fiction that contradicts it]], just don't try to foist your preferred [[Fanon]] on fans who acknowledge the official canon or on the actual creator of the work.

 

 

[[Armed with Canon|Bible fight!]]

{{quote|'''Fan:''' I think Chopper's birthday should be December 24th!

'''Oda:''' [[Ascended Fanon|Okay]]. }}

** Ohba also states that s/he wanted it clear that {{spoiler|dead characters are dead forever and can't come back to life. Sorry, guys, [[He's Just Hiding|they're not hiding]].}}

** Other things Ohba and Obata are explicit about include the fact that {{spoiler|L lies about Light being his friend,}} and that Light, while "diabolical", genuinely loves his family and "humanity as a whole". You can imagine how this goes down with [[Die for Our Ship|some sections]] [[Never Live It Down|of fandom]].

** He also tends to update his Twitter account and online journal to point out errors in the chapters (from important points such as one character's element being labeled Ice instead of Water by mistake to trivial matters such as one character being shaded incorrectly), among other things.

* George Morikawa, the author of ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]'', named the top three boxers in chapter 361 of the manga. The strongest pound-for-pound boxer is, without a doubt, Takamura. Ranking second is Ricardo Martinez. Surprisingly, he names Miyata as the third best boxer and Ippo around the 8th place.

* Hajime Kanzaka, the writer for the original ''[[Slayers]]'' novels and head writer for the anime, often answers and confirms anything involving how the fantasy elements in the series works, or who is who and what they are.

* [[Fullmetal Alchemist]] creator Hiromu Arakawa stated in an artbook that the only reason Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye aren't married is because of the military regulations. This was implied to be the only reason, effectively validating fans' theories of their romantic involvement.

=== Comic Books ===

* A ''Wizard'' magazine interview with then-current ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]]'' writer [[Kurt Busiek]] and artist George Perez asked each one to convey a [[Word of God]] factoid that nobody else could provide. The contrast is striking: Busiek went for [[Continuity Porn|a one-sentence retcon that filled in a dangling plot thread from an obscure story from the seventies]]; Perez revealed that [[Perverse Sexual Lust|the Scarlet Witch, his favorite character, does not wear underwear]].

* Gerry Conway said in this podcast interview (about 34 minutes in) (http://wordballoon.blogspot.com/2009/06/gerry-conway-on-last-days-of-animal-man.html) that Gwen Stacy was killed because John Romita Sr. wanted to shake up Spider-Man by killing off a major character. Romita wanted to kill off Aunt May but Conway suggested killing Gwen because he thought she was a fairly standard super hero love interest and thought Mary Jane would make a more interesting love interest.

 

* The author of ''[[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]]'' uses this to clear up matters such as the size of Ronan's penis, how things work (apparently, semen can {{spoiler|restore a mutilated vagina}} in this universe) why Madara speaks in [[Ye Olde Butcherede English]] (supposedly having traveled back in time). [[Hollywood Atheist|He would object to the "God" part]].

* 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.

* Monica Gilbey-Bieber, the author of the [[Troll Fic]] ''[[One Less Lonely Gurl]]'', has a commentary of his own fanfic in [http://trollseyeview.blogspot.com his blog]. The commentary reveals interesting bits and trivia about the fanfic.

 

* In ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', though it's not actually explicitly stated, Harvey Dent/Two Face is, according to [[Christopher Nolan]], [[Killed Off for Real|dead]]. Additionally, the screenplay explicitly states that Harvey/Two Face "dies from a broken neck". Even if it’s a case of two separate personalities, that still doesn’t allow Harvey to die and Two-Face to live.

** Aaron Eckhart has also mentioned in interviews that he asked Nolan if Harvey Dent/Two Face was dead. Nolan confirmed it to Eckhart.

** At Comic Con 2010, it was announced that The Hulk will be in the ''Avengers'' film.

*** Since 'The Avengers' has hit the theaters this situation can be solved: {{spoiler|Although there is a lot of tension in the beginning and everybody treads very carefully around the Hulk, he is part of the team and drives into the sunset with Tony Stark.}}

* This trope is the reason that the Wachowskis refuse to talk about their own interpretation of the ''[[The Matrix|Matrix]]'' [[The Matrix|trilogy]]; in the introduction they wrote for the ''Ultimate Matrix Collection'', they state that they don't want their own opinions to be cited as definitive, since the blind acceptance of dogma flies in the face of the trilogy's themes.

** Another 'fact' states that director Edgar Wright's eyeballs exploded during post-production.

* In ''[[Saw]]'', the commentaries have answered a few unanswered questions, specifically in ''Saw 3D'', in which the writers have stated that {{spoiler|Hoffman does not escape the bathroom and dies there,}} and that the two {{spoiler|pig masks who helped Dr. Gordon capture him are Brad and Ryan from the opening.}}

* During the dubbing process of ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'' Soundwave's English voice actor ([[Frank Welker]]) was brought on to dub the character for the French and Italian versions (amongst others, sans Japanese and German *Considered to be sub-standard*), [http://www.newsarama.com/tv/090915-Animated-Shorts-Welker.html he described the process as very hard and that "Soundwave in French is not to be believed"].

* On the DVD commentary of "[[Sideways]]", the actors mention that according to the writer/director {{spoiler|Maya does not live there any more when Miles knocks on her door}}.

* 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]], or postings on [http://www.jkrowling.com her own website.] Many of the interviews are archived on [http://www.mugglenet.com Muggle-net] or [http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/ The Leaky Cauldron]. Rowling is also writing a ''[[Harry Potter]]'' encyclopedia which will contain background information which never made it into the novels, thus turning [[Word of God]] into [[All There in the Manual]] when it's published.

** 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.

** JK Rowling loves giving Word of God so much that she is apparently launching a [http://www.pottermore.com whole new website] just to give her fans some more.

** However, her claim about Dumbledore's sexuality could be an exception: a large part of both fandom [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/arts/29conn.html?_r=1 and critics] refuses to accept it, since it heavily changes the understanding of some of the character's motives and doesn't fit into their mental image of Dumbledore.

* [[Aaron Allston]], writer of part of the [[X Wing Series]], in his [http://www.aaronallston.com/faq.html 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.

* [[John Scalzi]] parodied the controversy over the canonicity of J.K. Rowling's [[Word of Gay]] for Dumbledore by posting a list of facts about the protagonist of ''[[Old Mans War]]'' on [http://whatever.scalzi.com/2007/10/29/things-you-didnt-know-about-john-perry/ his blog] and declaring them canonical. They included "He is allergic to blueberries" and "He is distantly related to [[Dwight Eisenhower]]".

* For a while, Lois Lowry refused to explain the [[Gainax Ending]] of ''[[The Giver]],'' which could be interpreted as either the main character's {{spoiler|triumphant escape from his dystopian society or a [[Dying Dream]] as he froze to death}}. However, after asking if anyone had any questions at the author Q&A of the 2009 National Book Festival in Washington, DC, Lowry added, {{spoiler|"Jonas is alive, by the way. You don't have to ask that one."}}

* Sir [[Terry Pratchett]] used to post regularly to the [[UseNet]] group alt.books.pratchett, giving [[Word of God]] on things like [https://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.pratchett/msg/7c0359779eeba9dd?hl=en how Rincewind's age relates to how much time has passed since CoM, how many Patricians we've seen] and [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.books.pratchett/msg/c81497c93e642e69?hl=en how the clacks was constructed].

* [[Jim Butcher]] has given so much [[Word of God]] over the years that it has been fan-dubbed the Word of Jim, most of which can be found on the [http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/ Jim Butcher Forums]. Interviews, convention panels, forum threads, you name it; if he says it, it gets written down as truth—even [http://twitter.com/longshotauthor Twitter] has been used to convey Word of Jim. There's so much Word of Jim [http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/board,43.0.html there's even a board] dedicated to archiving it.

* [[Isaac Asimov]] used to tell a story about how he once got into an argument with a literary critic--who didn't know he was speaking with the author--about the meaning of one of his stories. At the end Asimov pulled out what he thought was his trump card: "I should know; I wrote it!" to which the critic replied "[[Death of the Author|What's that got to do with it]]?" Asimov later turned this into a story with William Shakespeare (brought forward in time) flunks a class in his works.

* [[Anne McCaffrey]], starting in the mid-90s, put out several [[Word of God]] proclamations regarding The ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' series. She also responded personally to emails during the period from the early 90s through the very early 2000s, and the resulting canon arguments based on interpretations of her letters could get fierce. Now, people are more likely to just attribute things to Anne Science and move on, and in some cases even the books themselves aren't considered canon by many groups, especially those written by her son.

** Then there was [http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Tent_Peg_Statement the tent peg], full sources for which are scarce on the web a decade and a half later, but the full thing was circulated around the same time as the original Renewable Airforce memo.

* In the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' book series, many fans speculated that {{spoiler|Demandred was disguised as Mazrim Taim}}. This theory persisted until [[Jossed|Robert Jordan himself discredited it.]] [http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com/node/35\]

* TV execs had told creator Ryan Murphy he had the greenlight for season 3 of ''[[Popular]],'' which is why the season 2 season finale was a cliffhanger. After the series was cancelled, Murphy released [http://www.tv.com/popular/promblems/episode/46014/trivia.html?tag=overview;trivia;see_all_link#trivia the rough outline of season 3] that he'd already worked out.

* Dan Schneider who runs ''[[iCarly]]'' is very active in this regard. In addition to twittering, set pictures and livejournal discussion, he also posts episodic fact sheets. Some of these contain [[Word of God]] interpretations of events on the show, one example from the iFight episode is that Carly was at least a little jealous when Freddie made some comments about Shelby being hot and future wife material.

* Creator of the tragically short lived [[Pushing Daisies]] Bryan Fuller reveled how he envisioned the show ending in a TV Guide interview.

* Meanwhile, on [[Glee]]: At a convention, Ryan Murphy confirmed that Santana Lopez is a lesbian, even though, judging by the show, she seems to be bisexual. See [[Ambiguously Gay]]

** An attempt at subverting this occurred when Jeri Taylor, co-creator of ''Star Trek: Voyager'', wrote an original novel, ''Mosaic'', based upon characters she helped create. Although originally thought to be the first canonical novel, given her special status (the only other Trek creator to pen a Trek novel was Roddenberry himself when he wrote the novelization of ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture''), it was later confirmed that the non-canon rule still applied, even to Taylor's novels.

** In the opening of Voyager when the Enterprise tips its underbelly to reveal three gray patches. [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/CGI#Computer_software John Gross of Ambilin Imaging *and later Digital Muse and EdenFX* ends up confirming what should be considered a very minor] [[Special Effects Failure]] as those three gray patches are where texture should go.

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

*** Which is interesting, because several strips have characters like Offisa Pupp referring to the Kat as "he" and "him".

 

 

=== Theatre ===

* [[Samuel Beckett]]'s ''[[Waiting for Godot]]'':

** He also said numerous times that "Godot is not God".

* [[Stephen Sondheim]] has gone on record saying that [[Mad Love|Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney]] from ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (theatre)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'' DID have sex, disappointing or disgusting many fans. This appears to be averted in the movie version, where Sweeney balks from kissing her in her own fantasy sequence.

=== Video Games ===

* Most [[Word of God]] for the ''[[Half Life]]'' series is collected at the "[http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2503050 Marc Laidlaw Vault]" (named for the game's writer).

* In 2011 a ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' art book and encyclopedia called Hyrule Historia came out included with an in-game timeline section from director Eiji Aonuma. This timeline is Nintendo's first complete document on the series chronology, which up until that point had been solely the realm of vague hints and fans [[Wild Mass Guessing]].

** A less timeline-centric [[Word of God]] involved confirmation that the Zora became the Rito, a fact only loosely hinted at by Medli's implied Ruto ancestry in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Wind Waker]]''.

* 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 amongst themselves like frellin' idiots to this day. Amen.

* There's still a ''[[Fallout]] 3'' fan controversy although The Word from the lead designer is: [http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=912940=140=13586107&#entry13586107 Fawkes ''is'' and ''was'' male.]

** 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.]]

* [[Resident Evil 5]] with the death of {{spoiler|Albert Wesker}}, a major plot driven and entirely important story character. This drove fans to disbelieve his fate heavily, many of which fought between each other as to the character's potential mortality. Lo and behold, Hand of God states in a paraphrase that " {{spoiler|Wesker}} will NEVER return". However, most fans have either accepted it or rejected it entirely based on different reasons. Even years afterwards, some fans still believe the word to be wrong, regardless of already being possibly replaced {{spoiler|which is hinted in the game as him having a brother who may be alive}}.

** The exact words of producer Masachika Kawata: {{spoiler|[http://ps3.ign.com/articles/100/1006931p1.html "Even if you want Albert Wesker to come back, there's no chance he's coming back from that."]}}

{{quote|"Medic is not a Nazi not because it’d offend people, but because it’d be too easy/lazy to slap that kind of label on him. They want a more dynamic character."}}

 

=== Webcomics ===

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' creator Rich Burlew has outright stated, ''several times'' that [[Villain Protagonist|Belkar]] is [[Chaotic Evil]] (and no other alignment is remotely compatible with either his observed behavior ''or'' things like the effects, or lack thereof, of various spells on him); this doesn't stop some fans [[Draco in Leather Pants|insisting]] that he is [[Chaotic Neutral]]. He's said it in the Giant In The Playground forums, he put it in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0489.html this comic], not only explicitly states that Belkar is Chaotic Evil, but [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it by making it the ''literal'' Word Of <s>God</s> Archon (angel). And if you still don't believe it (fool), Belkar even says so ''himself'' [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0610.html here]

* Tom Siddell, author of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', is very helpful about providing background info and answering fan questions. So much, in fact, that it's become necessary to [http://gunnerkrigg.wikia.com/wiki/Word_of_Tom make an index](called the Word of Tom) to keep track of it all. There were two threads on the forum (54 combined pages, and counting) consisting of nothing but Tom answering fans' questions. The forum threads have since been abandoned in favor of [http://www.formspring.me/gunnerkrigg Tom's formspring account], in which he has answered over 5000 questions at the time of this edit

* In an ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/draakslair/viewtopic.php?t=2898 forum thread]:

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': Gainax Studio, among other things, has claimed that Kamina is a virgin, Simon isn't, and Viral is a shark with feline genetics.

* The odd translation errors like "New Yark" and the "Great Canyon" from the dub of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' were not actually errors. According to one translator, [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]] himself (or "a little bald wizard," as the translator put it) requested the changes; this would not be surprising at all considering the same little bald wizard requested that one episode be taken out of the US release, for [[Off-Model|very obvious reasons.]]

* Hideaki Anno, creator of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', does not often comment on Eva unless he feels it is an important issue. The most famous of his statements is the one [[Jossed|jossing]] the theory that {{spoiler|Misato shot Kaji}}. He specified that it was a nameless security agent.

** The production team have commented on Rei as well, [[Hair Colors|such as her not being an albino]] and her weird-but-nonsexual relationship with Gendo.

* The creator of ''[[The Slayers]]'' has insisted that [[Idiot Hero]] Gourry Gabriev actually has the potential to be a sorcerer of power perhaps equal to Lina Inverse.

* The director of ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' has stated that there's Digidestined in every country. We just didn't get to see all of them because it would've expanded the series by a good hundred or so more episodes.

** Except for the fact this may be a case of the [[Shrug of God|creator not being sure himself]], if [[media:ft_screencap1.jpg|this]] is any indication.

 

* ''[[Warrior Cats]]'': Though it's only hinted at in the actual books, Word Of God has revealed that Cinderpelt and Firestar is a canon pairing... sort of. Firestar, being a complete idiot when it comes to she-cats, still thinks he and Cinderpelt were "[[Just Friends]]". The author(s) often give out Word Of God statements. Though many questions are answered with a "why, I can't tell you that" response, fans have learned such things as {{spoiler|Firestar and Scourge being half-brothers}} and {{spoiler|Leopardstar was in love with Tigerstar}}.

* In the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' series of books, it is rumored, debated, and shot down by a character, that Usha is Raistlin's daughter. The books never revealed the truth in certain terms however, and debate among readers raged for years until the authors, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman answered the question definitively: {{spoiler|That she is not Raistlin's daughter.}}

 

 

* ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' is stated to take place in an [[Alternate Universe]], separate from the other Ranger series. Good thing too, or else that would have meant all the previous Rangers and/or their descendants would have been horribly killed in the end and all their work for naught.<ref> Although with Power Rangers being [[Uncanceled|uncanceled again]], this might change.</ref> On a lighter note, Tommy really does end up marrying Kat and Kimberly eventually marries Skull, although for [[Die for Our Ship|obvious reasons]], those little tidbits are all but ignored.

** Also, ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'' had the writers explain a ''lot'' of things that had not been competently conveyed in the series itself.

* There was some speculation that the [[Father Ted]] character Father Noel Furlong, a youth group leader, was having sex with the young people in his charge and was therefore a comment on paedophillia in the Catholic Church. (The fact that the character was played by [[Graham Norton]] helped this view). The creators have confirmed that the character is actually asexual and the joke is that the character is too enthusiastic about the quite normal behaviour of the young people.

* In the 8th season finale of ''[[Scrubs]]'', the Janitor finally reveals his real name as {{spoiler|Glenn Matthews}}. Throughout the series, the Janitor has many aliases, and seconds later after he reveals his "real name", someone walking by calls him by another name. Despite this, series creator Bill Lawrence has stated that the name he gives in that episode is, in fact, the character's real name

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'':

** Mike and Bryan have divulged that Aang does, in fact, have a tattoo there.

** They've also confirmed that no, the Air Nomads as a people aren't gonna make a comeback. (which [[Adam and Eve Plot|tends to fall on deaf ears.]]) Although the continuation in ''Korra'' does at least confirm that the discipline of airbending does survive. We know Tenzin, Aang and Katara's son, survives to teach Korra, and there's no definite word yet on whether airbending was limited to Aang's descendant(s)/reincarnation.

*** Now we do. The only Air Benders are Tenzin, his children, and Korra.

* 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. Incidentally, they said in the same interview that Arnold's last name is {{spoiler|Shortman}}.

* The creators of ''[[Kim Possible]]'', Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, have said on numerous occasions that Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable will be together forever and were meant to get together from the start 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 [[Stock Series Finales|Graduation]].

 

 

[[Category:Canon Universe]]

[[Category:Word of God]]