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Re: Yes, it is.
Posted By: free <rffreeman@comcast.net>	Date: 10/16/08 3:55 p.m.
In Response To: Re: Yes, it is. (Narcogen) : A number of points there. : According to Staten's matrix ILB (canon or not) is considered a tertiary : source, as it's marketing materials, not a novel or a game. : As such, I do accept its general outline as canon where it does not conflict; : however my threshold for what I consider a conflict is lower than, say, : for the novels. : I do not say that none of the events of ILB ever occurred. What I do say is : that given its status and the distance of its story from the main one, : details in it are less useful for interpreting and predicting things in : the main story arc. : That's what I really object to. People try to argue "ILB is canon" : and then go way beyond the general outline of its plot, to suggest that : minor elements or characters in it are far more important than they are, : to suggest that those elements will soon appear in the primary sources : (the games) and clamor for those minor elements to be included, and then : are disappointed when they are not. : ILB is what I would call "flavor text"-- it gives a bit more depth : to areas the games are not concerned with, but that doesn't mean that : things that go on within its story are particularly relevant to the main : arc, and where they do relate directly to the main arc, I think they are : much less authoritative than any other source. : Also, ILB never felt to me like Halo. It felt like a bunch of people playing : make-believe that they were in Halo. Just a personal preference. Just as : people who really like the drama want it considered canonical because they : like it, I was not particularly impressed and feel better about a : Haloverse where ILB is strictly peripheral. : As an example of the above, someone came into #hbo the other day and demanded : to know why some people considered his theory about the Keep It Clean : trailer invalid. He saw the digits "S1" somewhere in the : trailer, has decided this means "Spartan 1" and since there are : Spartan 1s in ILB and ILB is canon, this must mean the ODST protagonist of : Halo 3: Recon is a Spartan 1. : This kind of thinking makes my head hurt, and it's a direct result of thining : about canonicity in terms of binary switches: something being either canon : or not canon. Spartan Is are, of course, canon. But they are peripheral. : ILB is a tertiary source full of peripheral information that people love to : drag into theories about what's going on center stage in the Haloverse, : and these theories never pan out. Some lead to expectations about the : games and gameplay that cannot and will not be met: like people thinking : the novels mean that multiple Spartans in the next game will be playable : (advanced between H1 and H2 as well as between H2 and H3) or that Spartan : Is or Spartan IIIs will be playable characters. : ILB is a Pandora's box, as it is full of peripheral information that is of : little relevance to the major events of the story, all of which get : plastered with the broad label "CANON" based on Bungie's : "approval" of its creation (that was approval of its initial : creation from Bungie materials, not review, approval, or : editing/modification of the final product, which is a BIG difference) and : then used as fuel in theories that make the Halo story appear a lot more : confusing than it really is, and I think make many fans less interested in : examining the important parts of the story at the expense of cataloguing : trivia. Cool, I feel the same way Sep7imus does about your point now as well. You're putting forth a word of caution to not get carried away speculating about future projects based on irrelevant information. I think this goes on so much in the Halo universe because it has released so little material over the span of nearly a decade. Three games and the fiction booklets they shipped with, five novels, two graphic novels (after Uprising is done), Blomkamp's shorts and two ARG's are pretty much all of the fictional sources of Halo to date. I actually really like this since its kept Halo from getting F'd out by merchandising. However, because its been kept so small, almost all of the sources have focused almost entirely on the central plot of the games. I agree that the focus on the normal civilians in ILB is peripheral information, but I don't think its any less relevant to the Halo universe just because it doesn't directly relate the main story arc. Star Wars is an excellent example of fiction that has been inundated with so many sources that its hard to keep canon elements straight. This isn't necessarily a BAD thing (it has provided a lot of entertainment for a lot of people), but it has created a HUGE universe. So big, that many stories don't relate to the central plot of the movies. Karen Traviss' first Star Wars novel, Hard Contact, is one of these. It got Lucas' stamp of approval and seriously expanded the universe with a very realistic take on the clones and the war. But it had very little to do with the main story. Not a single mention of Sith, the Skywakler family, Kenobi, or Yoda. I don't think that should make it any less canon than another book that features Anakin. I think ILB has become so confusing to fans because its really the only such side-story we've been given so far.

Message Index

H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Bryan Ojeda	10/12/08 12:16 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Vincent	10/12/08 12:24 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Dave Bergland	10/12/08 12:26 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	XMixMasterX	10/12/08 12:43 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Bryan Ojeda	10/12/08 12:47 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	The More Deluded	10/12/08 12:55 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Bry	10/12/08 1:19 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Zerowind117	10/12/08 10:33 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	elpolloguapo	10/12/08 7:23 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	343winks.	10/12/08 12:54 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	The More Deluded	10/12/08 12:57 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Bryan Ojeda	10/12/08 12:58 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	XMixMasterX	10/12/08 1:00 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	free	10/12/08 1:08 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	343winks.	10/12/08 1:34 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	The More Deluded	10/12/08 2:27 p.m.
erm.. ie differences in accuracy, damage etc. *NM*	The More Deluded	10/12/08 2:27 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Rosco-128	10/12/08 3:49 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Bryan Ojeda	10/12/08 6:10 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Cthulhu117	10/12/08 6:12 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	343winks.	10/13/08 4:10 a.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	vlad3163	10/13/08 4:59 a.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	343winks.	10/13/08 5:35 a.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Cthulhu117	10/13/08 6:22 a.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Rosco-128	10/13/08 6:29 a.m.
It's not. *NM*	UNSC_Trooper	10/13/08 10:33 a.m.
Yes, it is.	Cthulhu117	10/13/08 2:18 p.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	UNSC_Trooper	10/14/08 8:18 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	My7hos	10/14/08 8:37 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	UNSC_Trooper	10/14/08 8:45 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Louis Wu	10/14/08 8:47 a.m.
My take.	My7hos	10/14/08 9:06 a.m.
Re: My take.	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	10/14/08 9:31 a.m.
Re: My take.	My7hos	10/14/08 1:49 p.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	UNSC_Trooper	10/14/08 9:09 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Louis Wu	10/14/08 9:47 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	UNSC_Trooper	10/14/08 10:26 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Louis Wu	10/14/08 11:08 a.m.
You know if I was a Bungie employee...	Leviathan	10/14/08 6:17 p.m.
Re: You know if I was a Bungie employee...	Bryan Ojeda	10/14/08 9:59 p.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Narcogen	10/15/08 12:15 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Narcogen	10/15/08 12:06 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	free	10/15/08 1:30 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Narcogen	10/15/08 4:20 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Bry	10/15/08 3:55 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Narcogen	10/15/08 4:25 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Bry	10/15/08 5:04 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Narcogen	10/15/08 7:09 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Bry	10/15/08 10:50 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	My7hos	10/15/08 11:00 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Narcogen	10/16/08 2:53 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Bry	10/16/08 3:54 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Sep7imus [subnova]	10/15/08 6:35 p.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Narcogen	10/16/08 3:18 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Sep7imus [subnova]	10/16/08 6:33 a.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	free	10/16/08 3:55 p.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	Bry	10/16/08 5:07 p.m.
Re: Yes, it is.	free	10/16/08 6:12 p.m.
I wish I could quit you	Jillybean	10/15/08 7:43 a.m.
Re: I wish I could quit you	Narcogen	10/15/08 10:08 a.m.
Re: I wish I could quit you	My7hos	10/15/08 10:52 a.m.
Leave the Cortana Letters out of this.	Louis Wu	10/15/08 11:12 a.m.
You missed my meaning...	My7hos	10/15/08 11:17 a.m.
Sgt Johnson	Miguel Chavez	10/15/08 12:36 p.m.
Re: Sgt Johnson	Sep7imus [subnova]	10/15/08 3:40 p.m.
ditto *NM*	Jillybean	10/15/08 6:07 p.m.
Re: Sgt Johnson	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	10/15/08 6:02 p.m.
Re: Sgt Johnson	Bry	10/16/08 2:36 a.m.
Re: Sgt Johnson	Narcogen	10/16/08 3:30 a.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	UNSC_Trooper	10/13/08 10:38 a.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Vincent	10/13/08 12:07 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Rosco-128	10/13/08 6:26 a.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	Devil Mingy	10/13/08 6:28 a.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	vlad3163	10/13/08 8:32 p.m.
Re: H3:R "Dual Wielding?"	elpolloguapo	10/14/08 9:08 a.m.