What is the singular source of Star Wars canonization?

Question

Is the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic blessed by Lucas and considered canon? As a secondary question, has George Lucas ever officially sanctioned anything in the Star Wars expanded universe?

I guess what the real question is; once some Star Wars media is licensed by Lucas, is it considered official canon or not? Examples pro and con would be great.

UPDATE: What I really want to know is what makes something canon in the Star Wars universe, and an article in Wookieepedia or Wikipedia is great and all but not an answer.

I will leave up the previous question(s) to show the progression of the question.

Answer 1

There are levels of canonicity within the Star Wars Expanded Universe - with precedence set up such that everything is 'canon' unless specifically at odds with a higher level.

From the Wikipedia article on the Expanded Universe:

• G (George Lucas) canon is absolute canon. This category includes the final releases of the six films, the novelizations of the films, the radio dramas based on the films, the film scripts, and any material found in any other source (published or not) that comes directly from George Lucas himself. G canon outranks all other forms of canon.

• T (Television) canon, which currently comprises Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the as yet unaired live action Star Wars TV series. This level of canon is considered to take precedence over C canon (see below), possibly due to the fact that George Lucas is directly involved with these shows as executive producer, and in the case of The Clone Wars is also on the writing team. This level ignores the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars series, though the CGI series dervives many moments from that one.

• C (continuity) canon refers to the main body of EU work, and is the next most authoritative level of canon. All material published under the Star Wars label that doesn't fall into either G, T, S, or N canon is C canon and is considered authoritative as long as it isn't contradicted by G canon.

• S (secondary) canon refers to older, less accurate, or less coherent EU works, which would not ordinarily fit in the main continuity of G and C canon. For example, this includes the popular online roleplaying game Star Wars Galaxies, and certain elements of a few N-canon stories.

• N continuity material is also known as "non-canon" or "non-continuity" material. What-if stories (such as those published under the Infinities label) and anything else that cannot at all fit into continuity is placed into this category. "N-continuity" is not considered canon.

KOTOR is likely somewhere between C and S canon. However, only the light side storyline is canon, with the dark side endings probably being N-canon.

As for the ultimate source of canonicity - there is a continuity database called 'Holocron' (after the storage devices used in the universe). It is maintained by Lucas Licensing, but is not publicly available.

Answer 2

In the new era of Disney ownership of Lucasfilm, in light of the re-juggling of canonicity, the new answer is as follows:

1. The ultimate singular source of Star Wars canonization is a new Lucasfilm StoryGroup:

   Under Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy’s direction, the company for the first time ever has formed a story group to oversee and coordinate all Star Wars creative development.

   Lucasfilm's Keeper of Holocron Leland Chee will still be part of that group (tweet screenshot courtesy Wookieepedia):

   

   It is unclear as of yet if Holocron database will persist, or be changed, or retired.

2. In addition, on 2014/04/25, Disney/LucasFilm announced that they completely revamped the the old canon levels of Star Wars (excellently delineated in this answer) by introducing the following as the new rules.

   TL;DR:

   • Old G+T canon (6 films and Clone Wars TV series), and all new Disney products (film, TV, and licensed works) form a new, unified, and non-hierarchical New Canon.

   • Old licensed works (old C canon, mostly) form a new brand called "Legends", which is set in "alternative universe", still re-published, but is NOT beholden to by New Canon in any way (yet, New Canon is free to borrow any ideas/materials from Legends at will).

   • As of 12/2014, several gray areas exist that are still unclear, including specific items that may be classified as New Canon despite being C-canon before; as well as a definitive official declaration of whether Legends is a canon level akin to old C canon or not canon at all.

   Details of new canon rules:

   • The 6 Lucas films and Clone Wars TV series (basically, old G+T canon) are "immovable" part of Star Wars canon and will remain canon

   • All NEW content produced by Disney Lucasfilm under StoryGroup direction will be also part of the New Disney canon, without any hierarchical canonicity levels.

     This includes both the Disney films starting with Episode VII, TV starting with Rebels series, as well as any new officially licensed works, starting with "A New Dawn" by Miller (as well as old G+T canon).

   • Most of the old EU (C-Canon and possibly more?) is now published under "Legends" brand.

     • They are NOT automatically parts of new canon

     • They are "alternate universe".

     • Whether Legends is a separate canon level or "not canon at all" is somewhat hazy and unclear. There was one clear statement on Twitter that they are not, yet they are newly published under Disney brand and seem to be treated 100% the way C-canon was treated by LucasFilm previously otherwise.

     • Elements of Legends can (and already has - such as Inquisitors) be re-used in the New Disney Canon works; and those elements themselves thus become New Canon. However, the works producing them overall remain Legends.

     • No new Legends work is planned as of now, though the person announcing it was very careful to caveat it as "always in motion, the future is"

   • Some items still haven't been resolved/announced as far as its canonicity:

     • C-canon EU set in the pre-prequel eras (since they won't clash with Episode VII+)

     • Novelizations of G canon

     • Ongoing video games

     • Items that used to be S- and N- canon

     • Whether "Legends" is akin to what C-canon used to be, or not canon at all, (more akin to N-canon or S-canon or Star Trek's licensed books).

   • A very good summary of the latest state of the knowledge in great detail about canonicity levels is Wookieepedia canon policy page

Answer 3

edit: This answer was posted when the question was "Is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic considered canon?". It's now outdated.

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according to Wookieepedia, yes :

This is based on the canonical male light side version of the game ...

Wookieepedia entry on KOTOR

So, suggesting that's there is an canonical version of the story make it canon...

Also check Wookieepedia entry on Canon

For example the protagonist of KOTOR canonically [... For spoiler]. However, Wookieepedia articles assume that the player picks the light side choice for all scenarios; therefore, even the secondary choices and events pertaining to the dark side or triggered by relevant choices, are considered non-canon.