Making Sense of Pirate Talk Part 2: headcanon

Originally, the canon of Star Wars was that Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa got married. After the wedding, Han and Leia had three children: Jacen, his twin sister Jaina, and their younger brother Anakin. These three children represented three different extremes in the force as well as proving that Leia was able to get past her hatred for her father, thereby showing great personal growth.

In December of 2015, all of that changed with the introduction of Episode 7.

So the question is, did Jacen, Jaina and Anakin Solo ever exist?

Let me respond with another question: do you want them to?

Welcome to Theory Thursday where I take an aspect of culture, art, or fandom and explain it back to you the best way I know how. Where I take the hard questions and give them an answer.

The councils got together a lot to not only add stuff but
take away a lot of stuff too.

Last time, we talked about the magic that is Canon (canon being the term for the timeline of actual events that would count towards an argument). In that article, we discussed that Canon was a word developed by the early Catholic Church when they pulled together their many councils to decide what Christian doctrine actually was. Canon then referred to the books that were predominately believed to be “actual scripture” inspired by God. So… what about everything else?

The Apocrypha is a series of writings that were almost considered scripture but are not. It is generally advised that the Apocrypha is good for reading and knowledge but to accept everything it says with a bit of salt as the stories within have been embellished over time (some of those stories though are amazing and I totally recommend that if you have the chance to read them that you do so).

In Fandom, we don’t have the problem of over embellishment happening within the franchises we follow simply because they aren’t old enough to have much embellishment. That doesn’t prevent stories from contradicting each other. It just means that we have a lot of material to pull from and consequently each franchise has an “Apocrypha” of its own. often times bigger than the canon itself. These apocryphal works include fan fiction, logical happenings and argumentive points, and even events that take place within their own canon but not the main timeline (example: Man Of Steel has it’s own timeline and Superman has his own comic timeline. Man Of Steel is apocryphal to the comics and the comics are apocryphal to the movie).

In the last article, I mentioned how Canon is usually developed in much the same way where the people in charge of a franchise will get together and discuss which projects (completed or ongoing) count as Canon. In headcanon, however, the participant becomes the head of the franchise and selects the bits and pieces that they like best.

When discussing art, it has been said that art is never complete until it is experienced by someone else, and often time’s great artists will leave their work unexplained so that the audience could create their own understanding and emotional connection to what is happening. Head Canon is a continuation of that idea.

So how do we use headcanon?

Well, let’s pick an argument. In celebration of another series on this blog, let’s go with a vs. battle between Superman and Goku.

If you were to argue these two characters, you would need to only use power instances that we see within the official canon. That means that if you read a fan fiction somewhere where Superman ripped the world apart and then put it back together just by thinking about it, that cannot be used as a basis for Superman winning. If Goku had somehow created the perfect sandwich, you would not be able to use that example either unless it took place within the official canon of Dragon Ball.

However, say you wanted to create a fan fiction in which Superman and Goku did fight. That’s when you can accept other items from the canon and use your collective headcanon to create.

Canon is used for analysis, argument, and public discussion.

Headcanon is used for private, creative, and celebratory use.

Harley ends up taking over a good chunk of the city after
Joker's supposed death. While not canon, examples like this
can be used for evidence in a what-if scenario.

That is not to say you can’t bring in ideas from out of continuity stories for case studies in what if scenarios, but for the most part, these ideas should be avoided unless relevant to the discussion. I once had a discussion with a girl about whether or not Harley was stronger than the Joker. Her argument is that Harley is so dependent on the Joker that she could never leave. The canon at the time said that was true, however, I brought up that in the out-of-universe story “Arkham Knight” Harley ended up taking over the entire gang and ruled over a good chunk of the city by herself as well as having captured Batman. In a scenario where Harley hadn’t left Joker in real continuity, bringing up an outside reference that was closely related helped cement my opinion.

I am happy to report that Harley has left the Joker and is quite effective on her own as an anti-hero, forever proving I was right J

What are some favorite bits of headcanon that you have?  What are some franchises you would like me to investigate further? Be sure to leave a comment below and like my Facebook page so you never miss another anything I write here! Have a great rest of your week!