Anne of Green Gables Wiki:Canon

There have been many books, films, television series, plays and spinoffs based on the Anne of Green Gables series, some of them authorised and approved by Lucy Maud Montgomery or her heirs, some of it wholeheartedly unauthorised and unapproved. This policy is set to determine for editors on this wiki which parts of the large Anne of Green Gables series and related works are considered "canon".

Definition
Canon is a word generally used to describe what is considered "official" in a particular franchise or universe. Often the line between the original works and the adaptations becomes blurred, so this page is here to explain and enforce the canon of the Anne of Green Gables universe as used on this wiki.

Canon
In a nutshell: Anything written or stated by Lucy Maud Montgomery or authorised and declared "official" by her heirs. This includes, in full:
 * Anne of Green Gables
 * Anne of Avonlea
 * Anne of the Island
 * Anne of Windy Poplars
 * Anne's House of Dreams
 * Anne of Ingleside
 * Rainbow Valley
 * Rilla of Ingleside
 * Chronicles of Avonlea
 * Further Chronicles of Avonlea
 * The Road to Yesterday
 * Before Green Gables
 * The Blythes Are Quoted
 * Any additional information found in biographies, her autobiography, letters from the author, diaries and journals and notes by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Before Green Gables is considered canon because it is a prequel novel fully authorised and approved by Lucy Maud Montgomery's heirs.

If anything in Before Green Gables contradicts something found in the original series, what is written in the original series should be taken as canon.

If things in the original series contradict each other, such as Shirley's age, then the matter should be discussed on the appropriate talk page or the forums. The biggest discrepancies are usually found between the first six novels written (1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8) and the last two (4 and 6), which were were written considerably later. Such discrepancies should also be discussed, but generally whichever is written later is taken as canon (e.g. if something in Rilla of Ingleside contradicts something in Anne of Ingleside, what's in Anne of Ingleside is usually taken as canon). This is due to Lucy Maud Montgomery possibly noticing her earlier mistakes and "fixing" them in later books.

Adaptations
In a nutshell: Adaptations of the series, related books and writings are never considered canon on this wiki.

Think about it. Out of the numerous adaptations of the series, only two were released during Lucy Maud Montgomery's lifetime: Anne of Green Gables (1919) and Anne of Green Gables (1934). Also, the fact that as of March 2013, six books in the original series are available in the public domain in most areas of the world and the other two are available in the public domain in Australia, this means that licensing has expired on the books and people no longer have to pay royalties to produce adaptations or more editions of the books.

Even if something is revealed in an adaptation that is never stated but or contradicted in the books, it should not be considered canon. Examples of this are Mrs. Barry's first name (revealed to be "Elizabeth" in the 1985 film) and the fact that Mr. Hammond died because Anne was late with his lunch (also from the 1985 film). This kind of information should be listed in the "Behind the scenes" section of an article only, not in the "Biography" section or anywhere else. See Layout guide for more information.

Images
Images from the numerous adaptations of the series are used on this wiki,, for several reasons:
 * They add colour and life to the wiki.
 * They give faces to names.
 * They make characters and places more easily identifiable to readers (i.e. they make it easier for readers of this wiki to make the connections between things in the books to things in the adaptations).

Images from all adaptations are allowed on this wiki, including book covers and stage productions (if it is legal). However, because most readers have heard of/watched at least the first film in Kevin Sullivan's film series, images from there are preferred above all others. (For the uninitiated, Kevin Sullivan's film series consists of Anne of Green Gables (1985), Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987), Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story (2000) and Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning (2008).) Please only use images from book covers if no images taken from other adaptations, such as television series or films, are available.

Images of film-only characters should not be used on pages for the canon character the film-only character is based on. An example of this would be that a picture of Emmeline Harris should not be used as a picture of Elizabeth Grayson or Sophy Sinclair, because Emmeline Harris is a character that only appears in Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, whereas Elizabeth Grayson and Sophy Sinclair are the canon characters from Anne of Windy Poplars that Emmeline Harris is based on.

Speculation
Speculation, such as the suggestion that Josie Pye's full first name is Josephine and Gertie Pye's full first name is Gertrude, should never be considered canon without official proof from Lucy Maud Montgomery or her heirs. Speculation can be written in the "Behind the scenes" section, though it must be clearly stated to be merely speculation and not fact.

Some information, however, though never explicitly stated in the books, can be considered canon because it can be figured out. For example, we know Shirley's birthday is on 15 January because on the day of Woodrow Wilson's famous speech in January 1917, he (Shirley) says that his birthday was last Monday. This speech was a real historical event, and happened on 22 January 1917. Looking at a calendar of January 1917, we can see that Shirley's birthday must have been on 15 January, because that is the Monday before the 22nd.

If you are unsure whether or not a piece of information should be considered canon or speculation, please discuss it with other users or admins on the correct talk page or the forums.

Examples

 * Q: Teddy Phillips's name is most likely Theodore Phillips. Should the page name be changed to reflect that?
 * A: No. See our Speculation section. His name is never revealed to be Theodore in the books, so should not be assumed.
 * 'Q: In Before Green Gables it says that Anne was born at sunset, but in Anne of the Island'' it is stated that Anne was born at sunrise. Which should be taken as canon?
 * A: Anne being born at sunrise according to Anne of the Island should be taken as canon for two reasons. 1) Anne of the Island was written first and 2) Anne of the Island was written by Lucy Maud Montgomery herself, and therefore supersedes Before Green Gables, which (by contrast) is merely an authorised prequel written after Lucy Maud Montgomery's death.