Deus Ex Wiki:Canon policy

This page describes the scope of canon for purposes of articles on the Deus Ex Wiki, as well as related policies on the treatment of canon and non-canon content. The term "canon" refers to material that is accepted as part of the official narrative of a fictional franchise—in this case, the official narrative of the Deus Ex series.

Scope of canon
In general, all story-related material created or endorsed by the game developers is treated as canon unless the material is inconsistent with the narrative or the circumstances indicate that it was not necessarily intended to be canon. Sources that provide canonical material exist in a variety of media, including games, novels, comics, art books, game manuals, official strategy guides, and developer commentary. Policies on specific media types are detailed further below.

Article content
Canonicity affects the presentation and organization of content in articles on this wiki.


 * Non-canon content should not be conflated with canon content. Non-canon content should not be presented in a way that portrays them as being "true" in the canon narrative.
 * In general, article sections that report canon events, such as the "biography" section of a character article, should not contain non-canon information. For additional information on article sections, please see the manual of style.
 * The fact that something is non-canon does not mean that it is not of interest to this wiki. Rather, the non-canon content, if it is notable, would simply be documented separately from canon content, such as in a different section of an article.

Games

 * Lore content is canon. Lore content includes the backstories of games and information presented in in-game media, such as in-game emails books, and news media.
 * Required events are canon. Required events, which are those that must occur during the full course of a game, are canon. "Must occur" means that the event occurs regardless of the player's choice and that there are no alternate paths in which the event does not occur.
 * Optional events are non-canon. Events that occur only as a result of the player's choice are non-canon (unless specifically confirmed to be canon by another Deus Ex series title). Such events include optional side quests, optional mission objectives, optional character interactions, optional explorations of the game environment, and endings in a game that has multiple possible endings. However, even if an event is non-canon in the sense that it is optional, the backstory behind the event may still be canon. For example, backstory facts found in optional dialogue are canon.
 * Gameplay mechanics may be non-canon. Games frequently implement specific mechanics for purposes of gameplay that are not necessarily consistent with realism or lore. Therefore, specific features of game mechanics should not necessarily be extrapolated as being in-universe facts.

Other media types

 * Cut content. Cut content is non-canon. Even if it appears to be compatible with established canon, cut content must be treated as non-canon because the intentions of the developers in excluding certain content from the final work should not be second-guessed. The term "cut content," as used here, includes unused content, unreleased content, bugged-out content, and prerelease concepts that were not adopted in the final game. Design documents that were not officially published fall within the category of cut content.
 * Comics. Facts and events described in comics are canon. However, because it is well known that comics artists frequently take liberties in their artistic depictions, specific artistic depictions might not be canon, especially when they are inconsistent with in-game depictions.
 * Developer commentary. Developer commentary is treated as canon if it is describing an in-universe fact.
 * Real-world history. The Deus Ex series frequently references events in real-world history. However, real-world history is by default non-canon unless it has been explicitly incorporated into the lore of the Deus Ex series. In situations where real-world history is referenced in a canon source, only the explicitly mentioned facts are considered to be canon.

Specific sources
This section describes the policies on specific sources whose canonicity is sometimes called into question. It is noted that this page defines "canon" only for purposes of editing articles on this wiki. This page does not intend to document the definitions of canon in the fanbase in general.

Deus Ex Bible
Canonicity of content in the DX1 Continuity Bible (commonly known as the Deus Ex Bible) must be determined on a case-by-case basis. In general, parts that are consistent with the narrative are treated as canon, while parts that are inconsistent are treated as non-canon. If there is no clear consensus as to whether or not a particular backstory element in the Deus Ex Bible is consistent with the narrative, the preference is to address these story elements separately from content that is unquestionably canon, such as in a separate section directed solely to the story elements in the Deus Ex Bible.

The Deus Ex Bible was published by GameSpy to "summarize the key backstory information behind the Deus Ex universe." It is primarily a collection of excerpts from Deus Ex design documents along with "a few additions and modifications for the sake of maintaining consistency with the final game." Although design documents are treated as non-canon cut content on their own, the Deus Ex Bible as a whole can be regarded as a curated compilation of developer-provided information intended for publication. Nonetheless, the Deus Ex Bible does not have the consistency typically seen in more formal supplemental sources based on developer-provided information. Some parts of the Deus Ex Bible, such as the Daedalus backstory, are inconsistent even with the original Deus Ex. Furthermore, the editor's note in the Deus Ex Bible states that "the related pieces of backstory should be considered truthful and should be supported whenever possible but not necessarily with religious fervor" (emphasis added). This note can be interpreted as a disclaimer that not everything in Deus Ex Bible should be treated as canon. Thus, the canonicity of its must be determined on a case-by-case basis.

The Deus Ex Bible served as a basis for the world building of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The lead writer for Human Revolution stated that Eidos Montréal reviewed the Deus Ex Bible and "spent several months filling in some of the blanks in its timeline." Therefore, the general elements of the backstory in the Deus Ex Bible should typically be regarded as canon.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution comics
The Human Revolution comic series is considered canon for purposes of content on this wiki. The events in the comics are not referenced by any other title in the Deus Ex series. However, developer commentary from the art director for Deus Ex: Human Revolution confirmed that "main writer of the game approved everything," suggesting that the story of the comics was intended to be compatible with the narrative of the game. Since the events in the comics are not explicitly contradicted by the rest of the series, they are generally treated as canon under the inclusive policy of this wiki. However, in accordance with the general policies on comics, specific artistic depictions are not necessarily canon.

Deus Ex GO
The story of Deus Ex GO is considered canon for purposes of content on this wiki. Although the events of this game are not referenced by any other title in the Deus Ex series, developer commentary has confirmed that Deus Ex GO is "very much tied to the universe" and that "Deus Ex GO happens just before Mankind Divided," indicating an intention for the story of the game to be canon. Nonetheless, due to the unique gameplay style of Deus Ex GO, specific elements of gameplay, such as the abilities available to the protagonist, are not treated as canon.