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Probably a blurry subject but what holds as 'official canon' in the 40k universe?
The novels, the game booklets or the codexes?

http://www.boomtron.com/2011/03/grimdark-ii-loose-canon/

Here you go. Answers your question and is a good read to boot.

Everything is canon technically. If it contradicts, just remember, all information is prophaganda, rumour and religion.... more so over 10 thousand years!

Hell I still like to pretend the ultramarines are a second founding chapter who were given the number 13 to help atone for the origional 13th legions betrayal during the heresy.... and that crimson fists were a first founding chapter? Why? Because everything is true in 40k canon.

Technically everything is cannon. You just find what you like and go with that.

Just don't hold onto it too tightly, because everyone else has a different 'canon' to yours.

Cheers

Andrew

I like to use my Cannon to blow holes in other people's Cannon. :-)

 Dakka Wolf wrote:
Probably a blurry subject but what holds as 'official canon' in the 40k universe?
The novels, the game booklets or the codexes?

None of, some of, or all of the above. Unlike the pre-Disney Star Wars setting, 40k doesn't really have a canon, beyond the most basic themes of the setting.

 Ashiraya wrote:
http://www.boomtron.com/2011/03/grimdark-ii-loose-canon/

Here you go. Answers your question and is a good read to boot.

Great stuff this.

Ah... One of the great questions. What is the purpose of life? Is there a god? What is canon in 40k?

Personally I usually think of it as stuff in the rulebook, codexes and fanfics are mostly "lose canon" while FF and BL books are mostly "hard canon". Much like the meaning of life it's each to his own to find this answer for themselves.

The canon is whatever you want it to be. The official canon? Books, codexes, games (except Space Marine. It was definitely NOT canon).

 Xathrodox86 wrote:
The canon is whatever you want it to be. The official canon? Books, codexes, games (except Space Marine. It was definitely NOT canon).

Dawn of war is not canon ether (sadly)

They could well be. Everything and nothing is canon.

AFAIK, the boss editor of BL, Laurie Goulding, said the newest canon is canon. Basically, if something is contradictory, the newer canon is correct.

 ChazSexington wrote:
AFAIK, the boss editor of BL, Laurie Goulding, said the newest canon is canon. Basically, if something is contradictory, the newer canon is correct.

Source?

 Psienesis wrote:

 ChazSexington wrote:
AFAIK, the boss editor of BL, Laurie Goulding, said the newest canon is canon. Basically, if something is contradictory, the newer canon is correct.

Source?

How's this?

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/828889-.html

That said, the context is the Horus Heresy, which I feel operates under different rules regarding what's "canon."

So, just like her signature says, the context of her quote is key.

Xathrodox86 wrote:The canon is whatever you want it to be. The official canon? Books, codexes, games (except Space Marine. It was definitely NOT canon).

Mrpinkpigy wrote:
Dawn of war is not canon ether (sadly)

Unless it is specifically said that it isn't canon, it is considered official canon. Hell, the DOW series has a published book documenting the events of the second installation.

Unless something is said to no longer be considered canon, then it is official canon. Fan made stuff is subjective canon, unless it has a disclaimer saying it's not to be considered canon, such as a joke piece.

 General Annoyance wrote:

Mrpinkpigy wrote:
Dawn of war is not canon ether (sadly)

Unless it is specifically said that it isn't canon, it is considered official canon. Hell, the DOW series has a published book documenting the events of the second installation.

The original Dawn of War has a novelisation too - as does Winter Assault, sort of - both the original and II suffer from the events of the novel not matching up with the game particularly well (presumably due to being written whilst the game was still under development.


The events of the Dawn of War series were directly referenced in the Blood Ravens' Index Astartes (along with the very existence of the Blood Ravens!), and material from the Index Astartes was incorporated into Chaos Rising - which certainly seems to suggest that GW considered the games/books as cannon.

 Lord Damocles wrote:

The original Dawn of War has a novelisation too - as does Winter Assault, sort of - both the original and II suffer from the events of the novel not matching up with the game particularly well (presumably due to being written whilst the game was still under development.

I assume they don't match well due to the fact that both of those games have branching paths available to the player that have non canon endings - in fact, the existence of Angelos in DOW3 confirms that the only canon storyline in DOW2 is that of the Space Marines. All that being said, I have not read the books myself.

The events of the Dawn of War series were directly referenced in the Blood Ravens' Index Astartes (along with the very existence of the Blood Ravens!), and material from the Index Astartes was incorporated into Chaos Rising - which certainly seems to suggest that GW considered the games/books as cannon.

That's a neat little fact I didn't know; I also forgot to mention in my original post, if a piece of lore has canon conflict with another piece, one should typically consider the more recent piece as now being canon, and the old piece being outdated.

The only true canon in 40k is this:

It is the Far Future

And there is only war.


Everything else is subject to interpretation.

Thanks guys.

 Psienesis wrote:
So, just like her signature says, the context of her quote is key.

It's a dude, and it's the editor of the Horus Heresy from Black Library.

It's explained in a longer post on B&C, but the forum's down atm.