Canon is a funny thing. The final, end-all, be-all, cohesive narrative of a piece of work. The sum that you point at and go that. That is canon. What does that mean? Why does something have to be canon? I’ve heard it said before that things don’t count if they aren’t canon. Why? If a story is not part of the greater whole of the narrative, does this make it a worthless story? If so, then it should have never been created in the first place.

I disagree with this for a number of reasons.

The word “canon” is, as are many things, derived from the Catholics, in reference to the collection of works within the church accepted as “genuine–” to the Catholics, this means what is considered part of the greater scope of what I’ll call here as the Divine Project. The workings of God and the direct consequence of such. Dante’s Inferno is considered canon, which is a fact I hold very near and dear to my heart given the Inferno’s status as biting political satire with theological wallpaper. I digress.

Canon. What’s a worthless story?

None of them, really. Any story is a story with worth, and to say the opposite is to contribute to the capitalistic notion that art must have a purpose, i.e. to make money. So, for example, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a very delicately constructed canon, but it buries some parts of it very very deep, like the first Hulk movie. Is the first Hulk movie worthless? It’s an enjoyable, well-acted story in it’s own right, but the later fact that it doesn’t fit cleanly into the established timeline of the MCU condemns it to the unenviable fate of “non-canon.” While, yes, the first Hulk movie is technically canon, given the She-Hulk TV show, when else do we ever see it worked into the canon? When is it ever mentioned? The beauty of the first Hulk movie is that it was a standalone piece, not something constructed with a grander narrative in mind. Indeed, this was the strength of the entire first phase of the MCU. That’s a topic for another day.

Look at me, mentioning the Catholics and a movie conglomerate in the same essay. Marx would have a field day.

I find people's obsession with ‘canon’ irritating for personal reasons. But what bothers me is the extent to which I see the divide drawn between ‘canon’ and ‘non-canon.’ Canon is a fluid thing. It’s like a river. It dips into itself, around rocks and into cracks and crevasses and little streams eroded in the soil, but it flows atop a solid river bed.

It’s layered, is what I’m trying to say. There’s a central core of something that acts as the riverbed, while everything else moves in and around the riverbed as the project grows. So many things have some sort of dubious canon, or an unclear one at best. Look at Armored Core, Gundam, Devil May Cry, the entirety of DC Comics, and that’s only off the top of my head while writing. If I gave myself more time, I’m sure I could compile an entire list.

To diminish the worth of something to a mere canon/non-canon divide, or to agonize about slotting stories into a cohesive, functional canon defeats the point. A story serves itself, first and foremost. It exists to tell itself, and everything within the story exists to fulfill this purpose. Plot devices, contrivances, tropes, cliches, things that don’t happen in real life serve to push a story along, even in a way it would not happen in real life. To agonize about these details is to miss the point. 

The point of a story is to engage with it on its level. Sit down with it around a campfire, let it say what it wants to tell you. Listen to it.

You might find something.

I find the commodification of stories uncomfortable. Stories are as old as humanity itself. They do not exist to be packaged and sold, although I understand the purpose. It’s a consequence of society. Michelangelo was given apprenticeships and survived off commission, it's a tale as old as art. The current Thing about it is merely a consequence of capitalism, but this makes it no less unnerving. Especially the ways in which it’s been appearing, encroaching further and further into the territory of “Content.”

“Content.” That’ll be another essay.

I’d like to take a moment to point out what all 766 words up until this point mean in the context of THE HORLAV ARCHIVE. I don’t believe in cohesive canon. I’m a child of the SCP Foundation. Take bits and pieces, piece together a canon you believe in. The world of HORLAV is flexible, it waxes and wanes with the moon, with the growth of the Claven forest.

The HORLAV PRESS, however, is one continuous story, but it may mention other parts of the world, from time-to-time. That will be a little treat for those paying attention. 

Thanks for reading this far.

For Security and Soul.