J&D:CANON
The canon of the Jak and Daxter universe is the genuine, authoritative account of the franchise's in-universe events and facts. Canon is serialized through material published by the owner of the intellectual property, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and individuals and organizations with recognized authority on the topic (such as developers, studios, and licensed authors). In the context of Verifiability, these are qualified as reliable sources.
The Jak and Daxter Wiki records the canon in a systematized manner. Some sources of canon are considered more canonical than others—where there is conflict, the more reliable source is used and information from the less reliable source is abrogated.[a] Also, some sources of canon are irreversible, whereas others are only tentative. This article explains the precedence certain material is assigned over others.
The following consensus-based system is put in place to keep track of the canon and maintain order within it. However, it does not determine canon. Conflict between sources is rare and mention of it is mostly hypothetical. Conflict and ambiguity is adjudicated on a case-by-case basis and should be covered in a "Behind the scenes" section of the topic's respective article.
Precedence of sources[edit source]
The mainline[b] Jak and Daxter series—Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II, and Jak 3—is considered the foremost, immovable object of the canon. This trilogy of games establishes the core canon in a progressive manner—i.e., each game retroactively adds to or changes the canon. Where there is conflict, previous information is abrogated.
The secondmost source of canon is the first-party[c] spin-off[d] titles, as of now including only Jak X: Combat Racing. Closely following is the third-party[e] spin-off titles, Daxter and Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier.[f] Because these three games have less precedence than the mainline series, new information is abrogated where there is conflict.
All companion material and external information—developer speech, manuals, strategy guides, production materials, and promotional materials—establishes tentative canon: they hold authority where they do not conflict with the games themselves, including later releases. While canon is etched in stone only by being published through an official release, these sources can help provide supplementary information.
Unused dialogue has a unique role in relation to the canon. While it is not considered canon (as ultimately it was left on the cutting room floor, not intended for public consumption), full access to all unused dialogue has been attained and transcribed. As such, unused dialogue is usable to bolster tentative canon, or to support conclusions that are presumable or circumstantial, but not explicitly confirmed.
Adjudication[edit source]
The following instances have been previously adjudicated and are reflected here as consensus.
- PlayStation Move Heroes and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale are PlayStation games published by Sony Interactive Entertainment that involve Jak and Daxter to varying extents, as well as give them individual backstories. However, games belonging to separate franchises that merely borrow characters from others, such as the aforementioned titles, are not necessarily backported into the canon of the source material. As such, unless stated otherwise by Sony Interactive, the wiki regards those games as non-canon.
- Content from supplementary material that is patently blithe or nonsensical is considered non-canon. This includes, for example, when characters speak out-of-character as if they were an actor (as in the Jak 3 model viewer or "interviews" with a certain character), or the "Where Are They Now?" section of the Jak 3 strategy guide. However, this information should still be covered in a "Behind the scenes" section (or similar) if especially relevant.
Notes[edit source]
- ↑ Abrogation occurs when information is deemed non-canonical or less canonical, but is not entirely ignored. Instead it is covered elsewhere on the wiki, such as in a "Behind the scenes" section or within an annotation. Sometimes, discrepancies are directly referenced in-article, with distinctions made by the citations themselves. The handling of abrogated information should be determined on a case-by-case basis as is most appropriate for the topic and piece of information in question.
- ↑ Developed by the original creators, Naughty Dog, that are not spin-offs.
- ↑ Developed by the original creators, Naughty Dog.
- ↑ A game is considered a "spin-off" if it falls under any one of the following:
- Games that do not treat the central events of the series, but instead branch off into a tangent. This does not inherently include prequels or sequels so long as they follow the primary events within those timeframes.
- Games that do not follow the established gameplay style of the main series (e.g. kart racers).
- Games that are marketed by the publishers or developers as spin-offs, or expressly not installed in the main series.
- ↑ Developed by licensed developers that are not Naughty Dog.
- ↑ Developed by Ready at Dawn and High Impact Games, respectively.