#to rewrite canon through our fanworks to get them interacting

[nvrfearthefall]

Shadamy Week 2021: Day 3

First Meetings/ Cosmic

"How do we rewrite the stars? Say you were made to be mine?"

Whose to say they can never be? Canon??? Don't know her.

[autumnslance]

We ALL change aspects of canon for various reasons to fit ourselves and our stories. We have our own perspectives and opinions; that's part of the beauty of transformative fanworks.

However.

We all also have to keep in mind those differences when things are rewritten. Check back in the original text if necessary and keep separate canon, headcanons, and popular fanons.

Especially when trying to speculate on characters, storyarcs, and upcoming plotlines. Are you using the text, or basing your ideas and opinions on headcanons and the memes du jour? Especially if it's been awhile since you played that expac, that patch (read that book, watched those episodes, etc)?

Think how fandom flanderizes a trait or two in your favorite characters for memes and lulz while ignoring the nuances that you notice and make you love that character. Same thing happens to plot lines and storybeats. People forget, weren't paying attention, ignored it as "uninteresting" or "I don't like X" and that doesn't work when trying to figure out later lore events, interconnected characters, or possibilities; none of it stands alone, it's all interwoven and builds off each other (or should, and we're lucky to have a game that does quite frankly, even with the hiccups and missteps).

Part of what makes good analysis, speculation, and fanworks is keeping an eye on ALL aspects of the canon: good and bad, favorites and squicks.

I may dislike character X, but I cannot ignore their interactions with other characters, impact on the story, what themes the devs are giving through this figure (I may even change my mind about them at some point, by keeping that open mind!). I likely won't write them into my fics very often if at all, but I also don't have to. My ficverse is different from the canon, even for someone like me who likes to write within the lines.

I do like to rewrite for my own ficverse a different resolution to the "Trolley Duty" cuz to me it makes no sense and smells of executive meddling. But I cannot discount that in canon, Ran'jit gets away and the WoL faces him in Eulmore. My headcanon is different from the actual story. I take that into account when analyzing Ran'jit, Thancred, that story arc, etc.

People often come to me with lore and analysis questions cuz I'm one of those folks who delves in multiple times and remembers stuff, and/or knows where to find the answers. I will (try to) go by the canon in response cuz...that's our baseline in common, and the jumping off point into whatever headcanon one wants to diverge into.

Though a lot of speculation or questions I see and get aren't considering the actual lore, seen maybe once months or years ago; it's based off of fanons, "what ifs", headcanons, memes, and other fan imaginings. Which on the one hand, great! That's what transformative fandom creativity is meant to do! Give you new ideas and perspectives!

BUT we engage with this media, ostensibly because we love the actual thing itself (tho I wonder about some of y'all who seem to punish yourselves by consuming media you apparently don't enjoy), so it behooves us to actually keep in mind the work the creators put in, checking the text and valid resources (in a MMO's case, the sites that track the lore and quest text, or use New Game+) and keep our headcanons and fanons in their own brainspace for playtime and how we alter canon entirely in our fanworks.