10

In October 2017, Del Rey/Penguin Random House published From a Certain Point of View, a collection of short stories narrating key events in Star Wars from the perspective of minor characters.

Are these stories canonical in the Disney-owned, non-EU franchise?

Gallifreyan
  • 20,473
  • 6
  • 103
  • 164
Andrew
  • 203
  • 2
  • 7

1 Answers1

12

Most stories are almost certainly canon

Generally speaking, all officially published Star Wars material is canon unless otherwise indicated. Supporting evidence for this book:

So I see no reason to assume that From a Certain Point of View is anything but canon within the current Star Wars universe.

But individual stories may have non-canon elements or be obviously non-canon

The content of the stories may or may not be canon if they are told by unreliable narrators who are bending the truth, which Pablo Hidalgo alluded to on Twitter:

Are the 'from a certain point of view' stories canon?

Some are. Some aren't. Some might be. Some might not be. Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

@StarWarsReference (the Twitter feed representing the Star Wars Reference Reddit) says that there are some stories that are obviously non-canon:

Most of the non-canon ones are pretty blatant (The Whills, a cartoon, Shakespearean Palpatine).

I imagine that more explicit details, or even a story-by-story analysis, will be available at some point.

This anthology is similar to the Legends comic series Star Wars Tales, which was originally presented as the sort of stories that people tell in-universe. Whether the content of the stories are true or false depends on the point of view, and intentions, of the narrator. And that one also had some ridiculous non-canon stories.

It's definitely not Legends

Again from Pablo Hidalgo on Twitter:

If not then why isn't it under the Legends line? Isn't that why Legends exists in the first place, to make it clear what's canon and not?

Legends exists to keep the back catalog in print without having new readers think it gives insights into current content.

It's a reprint label, basically.

Community
  • 1
Thunderforge
  • 51,516
  • 43
  • 212
  • 431
  • 5
    It also has a short story by Pablo Hidalgo, I'd say there is very little chance that is isn't canon. Also, unreliable narrators' stories are still canon, they just tell us more about that character than about any of the events within them. – Jack Oct 05 '17 at 02:08
  • @Jack I clarified what I meant about unreliable narrators; you are right, the stories themselves are canon even if the contents are not. – Thunderforge Oct 05 '17 at 02:12
  • Relevant – Jason Baker Oct 05 '17 at 02:25
  • Fantastic answer, thanks! There's something great about the fact that Wil Wheaton writing canonical SW stuff :) – Andrew Oct 05 '17 at 02:32
  • @JasonBaker Thanks, I was looking for Pablo Hidalgo's thoughts on this earlier, but I find it so hard to search through a Twitter feed. – Thunderforge Oct 05 '17 at 02:32
  • Advanced search is your friend. Also, philosophical sidebar: what does it mean for an anthology of questionably-canon short stories to, itself, be canon? – Jason Baker Oct 05 '17 at 02:34
  • @JasonBaker As Jack said, it gives insight about the character. I haven't read the book yet, but I imagine that anything in a third-person omniscient story could be taken at face value while first-person limited stories may be tainted by the narrator's biased perceptions. So the fact that they had those thoughts is canon, but the content may or may not be. – Thunderforge Oct 05 '17 at 02:39
  • 1
    @JasonBaker Apparently, the non-canon ones are really obvious. – Thunderforge Oct 05 '17 at 02:42
  • 1
    @JasonBaker Way back when sailors would tell tall tales about their travels on the ocean. Think of it that way. The fact that they told that story in some setting is factual. Whether they were lying or not up to you. After all, Palpatine lied about many things. That doesn't make his dialogue non-canon. It just means he's telling a story that is fictitious. It's a frame story. Google it. Frame stories don't have to be true to be canon within the frame they sit within. – user64742 Oct 05 '17 at 06:32