History Main / CanonFodder

* This was and still is (though to a lesser degree) a major part of ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'' story. So much, in fact, that Franchise/{{LEGO}} actively encouraged and held contests for the fans to write their own stories to expand on previously vague plot details, and the winner entries went canon. Author-written stories also do this, as mysteries that have been lingering around for years constantly get solved (in some cases, with very surprising results) as the story progresses. However there are still many things left unanswered, as several thousand year's worth of story has only been lightly touched upon, not to mention how many unexplored places, cities, islands, planets and ''universes'' there are. The fandom, of course, speculates the hell out of every tiny detail.

* Writer of ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'', Kotaro Uchikoshi, stated in the Q&A on the game's official website that this was the main reason why he left so many points ambiguous. The same thing with the game's sequel, ''VirtuesLastReward''.

** Since ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is building on what was once an ExcusePlot, many of the dangling threads have opportunities to become fanfic bait. How did the RED Spy meet BLU Scout's mom? When were the teams formed? How did Silas Mann become a Horseless {{Headless Horseman}}n? Why are the teams so similar to each other? Are the BLU mercs their own people or clones of the RED team? The exact details of the merc's individual backstories (along with how or why they started working for Mann Co.

** Since ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is building on what was once an ExcusePlot, many of the dangling threads have opportunities to become fanfic bait. How did the RED Spy meet BLU Scout's mom? When were the teams formed? How did Silas Mann become a Horseless {{Headless Horseman}}n?

* ''Series/TheSarahConnorChronicles'' opened a couple threads in the first season mostly from when John was still attending high school - mysterious paintings around the school, mysterious behaviour from a girl John likes, something about said girl and Wichita, as well as a girl from Carlos's gang named Chola acting mysterious - all of which appear to be forgotten so far in the second season. (Chola does briefly appear in the second season, though there's no explanation of her earlier behavior.) A lot of these dropped threads were probably due to the writers' strike severely truncating the first season; that said, there are so many of them that season 2 almost qualifies as a minor {{Retool}}.

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'': There are several hints throughout the game that Arcadia may have once had a seventh Black Moon, which was either destroyed or sank below the planet's surface thousands of years before the game takes place. Needless to say, it is extremely common for the Black Moon and/or it's civilization to show up in fanfics.

** Good thing we have ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''. Who knew the ancient Martians were related to the [[Anime/MazingerZ Mikene Empire]], the [[Anime/BlueCometSPTLayzner Gradosians]] and the [[VoltesV Boazanians]]?
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Did anyone actually know what [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness SEELE's]] motives were until the movies came out? What about [[ManipulativeBastard Gendo's]]?

** There's also the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu-like]] ruler of the Dark Ocean from ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' - the Ocean itself showed up a few more times during the season, and got a loose explanation in the finale as being a place where people's dark wishes come true, but the "Dark Undersea Master" is never seen or heard of again. Making matters worse is that a larger role was originally planned for the character, but meddling from Bandai saw these abandoned.

If the creators of an active work [[{{Jossed}} take a piece of Canon Fodder and develop it contrary]] to how most of the {{Fanon}} based off that piece is going, FanDumb and related swearing at the creator can easily result. If the creators go a step further and actually use the {{Fanon}}'s answer for Canon Fodder, it's AscendedFanon.

** It's amazing all the military capabilities fans of both take for granted in the absence of a scrap of evidence. One random example, you'd think "warp strafing" would be fairly common in Star Trek the way some fans talk, when it has in fact never been used in canon. In other words, canon fodder that ''doesn't actually exist'', but still acts as a starting point.

* SkiesOfArcadia: There are several hints throughout the game that Arcadia may have once had a seventh Black Moon, which was either destroyed or sank below the planet's surface thousands of years before the game takes place. Needless to say, it is extremely common for the Black Moon and/or it's civilization to show up in fanfics.

** Good thing we have ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''. Who knew the ancient Martians were related to the [[MazingerZ Mikene Empire]], the [[Anime/BlueCometSPTLayzner Gradosians]] and the [[VoltesV Boazanians]]?

* The [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic series]] is absolutely rife with this. Other than Shadow, who had his entire backstory explored through the course of [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 two]] [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog games]] (ironically making the one character introduced as "mysterious" the one we know most about), and a few other exceptions (the Babylon Rogues, for one), anyone else's past is virtually a blank, including the title character himself. Perhaps the most glaring example of this is Knuckles, of whom we know close to nothing about, especially going by his [[LastOfHisKind status]] and his lack of any memory from before being alone on the island (SonicChronicles's canonicity notwithstanding).

* Creator/{{Valve|Software}}'s writers have gone on the record saying that they intentionally make their stories as ambiguous as possible, so they have the widest possible scope of material for future installments, and can introduce swaths of new information without needing to RetCon anything:
** In the VideoGame/HalfLife games, almost anything not stated in game is totally up in the air. How did Eli, Dr. Kleiner and Judith get from Black Mesa to City 17? Who and what is the G-Man, and what does he want? Does Gordon [[HeroicMime talk]]?

* What happened to Giovanni from ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue''? A good portion of the fanbase used to think [[spoiler:he committed suicide during the Celebi event in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Gold and Silver]]'']], though he shows up again in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2. What happened to ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire's'' Archie and Maxie? Why is Red on a mountain; was he just passing by or has he been there for months?

** Good thing we have ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''. Who knew the ancient Martians were related to the [[MazingerZ Mikene Empire]], the [[BlueCometSPTLayzner Gradosians]] and the [[VoltesV Boazanians]]?

*** The ending of Animorphs was a ''very'' tacked on prologue to a story that would never be told. Everything is all wrapped up... then we find out how everyone's lives have gone on. Then a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere [[YouWillBeAssimilated assimilates]] Ax, so the others get ready to [[RammingAlwaysWorks ram the thing]], and presumably go kaboom with it and him. TheEnd. [[FlatWhat Uh... what]]. If you just [[FanonDiscontinuity close the book]] when you get to the TimeSkip, the story suddenly has a much better ending and makes infinitely more sense in general... but definitely has ''much'' less FanficFuel. Reading the ending and the afterword, it really seemed like KA was saying "Okay, fandom, it's all yours now; have fun."

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': What happened at the beginning of the clans? What happens to [=SkyClan=] next? How did several members of the Dark Forest get there? Who was Firestar's mom? Although the [[FanNickname Er]][[ErinHunter ins]] are doing a pretty good job of tying things up recently.

* [[VideoGame/FreeSpace FreeSpace 2]] has a lot of this, due to the fact that the developers never created a FreeSpace 3 to tie up all the unresolved plot threads. Project ETAK, Admiral Bosch, reunification with Sol, and [[spoiler:Shivan actions at Capella]] all give plenty of material for user-made campaigns to work with.

Loose ends, unanswered questions, intriguing details, and {{Noodle Incident}}s left in Canon by the creators; these make good launch points for {{Fanon}} and FanFic.

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* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' reveals that [[spoiler: the [[EldritchAbomination Witches]] were actually fallen {{Magical Girl}}s]]. Fans promptly speculated on their backstories, especially [[spoiler:what they wished for]].
** Three witches are [[AllThereInTheManual mentioned on the website but never appear in the anime]]. Then there's [[spoiler: Walpurgis Night.]] AllThereInTheManual reveals it's [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname just an alias]] and it's real name [[TheUnreveal is a complete mystery]].

* Tom Siddell, author of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', is well aware of the flimsy pretenses that inspire fans to start {{Shipping}}. He {{lampshade|Hanging}}d it on [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=471 page 471]]: In the comic, Jack grabs Zimmy's arm because he's on the verge of freaking out, and Zimmy brushes him off. TheRant below simply reads:
-->[=ZimmyXJack???=] More like [=shutXup=].
** Though it should be noted that later in the comic's run, Jack is revealed to have a crush on Zimmy.

ChekhovsGun and its relations can be Canon Fodder if a sufficiently long time passes between introduction and use. {{Sequel Hook}}s are Canon Fodder by definition. {{Red Herring}}s are ''always'' potential canon fodder, especially outside of the mystery genres. Even [[CrypticBackgroundReference Cryptic Background References]] specifically intended ''not'' to become fodder usually don't last long if a story gets continued longer than the creator expected or falls OffTheRails. HufflepuffHouse is often a good source of CanonFodder as well.

The more devoted the fanbase, the smaller the detail that can become tempting CanonFodder.

* A variation of this exists in ''SoulEater'', where the author, praised for his skill in character development, actually gives us very little information about his subjects. Every ten or twenty chapters, one page of background is given for a given character, usually Soul. Because of this, a large percentage of fics are interpretive back stories.
* The author doesn't want to make a big deal of the CanonFodder, but the fans of ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' are interested in how [[WhoWantsToLiveForever the "human" aspect of a nation-tan works]], such as how they come to be (in the series, nation-tans start as children that appear out of the wilderness, and there is little other explanation). Many conversations and dramatic fanfics have been spawned from this.

** What's more, it is stated that nation-tans have parents and grandparents that preceeded them.

** UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, and, by extension, any civil wars. Was there a Confederacy-tan, and if so, what happened to him/her? Or did Alfred develop a split personality?
* In ''MartianSuccessorNadesico'', the mere existence of the Ancient Martians wasn't referenced until the last few episodes. Who they were was supposed to be explained "in the inevitable second season" (quoted from [[LittleMissSnarker Ruri]] herself)...[[StillbornFranchise which was never made]]. Also unresolved was the Jovian/Earthling conflict, Akito's whereabouts, and--if you never played the [[NoExportForYou Japan-only videogame]], ''The Blank of Three Years''--just what happened to everyone who crewed on the ''Nadesico'' before ''The Black Prince'' movie was made.

** There's also the [[CthulhuMythos Cthulhu-like]] ruler of the Dark Ocean from ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' - the Ocean itself showed up a few more times during the season, and got a loose explanation in the finale as being a place where people's dark wishes come true, but the "Dark Undersea Master" is never seen or heard of again. Making matters worse is that a larger role was originally planned for the character, but meddling from Bandai saw these abandoned.
* ''CodeGeass'' has so much it's not funny, mostly due to the fact that the plan for the second half of the series was changed massively on the way to becoming ''R2''. We still don't know what the Geass actually is, where Suzaku's "powers" come from, what C.C.'s real name and history are, or what the characters did before the series (though some novels deal with Lelouch and Suzaku's childhood just before the war, once Japan surrenders the story essentially pauses until the anime begins).

* What happened during the thirty years of [[spoiler:Alucard's post-Schrodinger absence]] between the final two chapters of ''{{Hellsing}}''?
* In ''RurouniKenshin'', the surviving members of the villainous Juppon Gatana are give secret deals from the Meiji government. Most notable is EnsembleDarkHorse Soujiro Seta, who has decided to wander around Japan for ten years much like Kenshin Himura and Makoto Shishio.

* {{Comics}} author PeterDavid has said (joked?) that he throws tons of loose ends into his stories deliberately, because he figures it's harder to fire him off a book when he has lots of story points still to resolve.
** Presumably, this is also what Creator/ChrisClaremont was up to all those years on the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'', too.
* Dormammu and the Dark Dimension in the ''Comicbook/{{Doctor Strange}}'' comics was intended to be just a {{cryptic background reference}}, but the writers had to explain it after getting a lot of fanmail asking who this Dormammu person was, resulting in Doctor Strange finally getting an {{archnemesis}}.

* ''MaximumRide'' frequently wanders off and leaves plot threads hanging -- unfortunately, most of the fandom focuses on [[RomanticPlotTumor Fang/Max shipping]] and won't even touch the missing [[MadScientist mad scientists]], Max's past in the School, Jeb's true motives...
* ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' runs on this trope.

* ''TheWheelOfTime'', according to WordOfGod, which is unsurprising considering how many plot threads are ''still'' dangling by ''book 12.''

* ''Creator/GeneWolfe'''s BookOfTheNewSun intentionally made this into a major part of enjoying the book. He lays it all out in this quote: "My definition of good literature is that which can be read by an educated reader, and reread with increased pleasure."

* Steven Brust includes {{Noodle Incident}}s in his [[{{Dragaera}} Vlad Taltos]] series to give him ideas for future books in the series.
* JimButcher is a master of this: ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' has things brought up in book ''14'' that were initially introduced in book ''3'', and ''still'' leaves them incompletely resolved.

* ''TheSarahConnorChronicles'' opened a couple threads in the first season mostly from when John was still attending high school - mysterious paintings around the school, mysterious behaviour from a girl John likes, something about said girl and Wichita, as well as a girl from Carlos's gang named Chola acting mysterious - all of which appear to be forgotten so far in the second season. (Chola does briefly appear in the second season, though there's no explanation of her earlier behavior.) A lot of these dropped threads were probably due to the writers' strike severely truncating the first season; that said, there are so many of them that season 2 almost qualifies as a minor {{Retool}}.

* This seems to be a big part of the ''{{Cats}}'' fandom. Such as follows:

* This was and still is (though to a lesser degree) a major part of ''{{Bionicle}}''' story. So much, in fact, that {{LEGO}} actively encouraged and held contests for the fans to write their own stories to expand on previously vague plot details, and the winner entries went canon. Author-written stories also do this, as mysteries that have been lingering around for years constantly get solved (in some cases, with very surprising results) as the story progresses. However there are still many things left unanswered, as several thousand year's worth of story has only been lightly touched upon, not to mention how many unexplored places, cities, islands, planets and ''universes'' there are. The fandom, of course, speculates the hell out of every tiny detail.

* Tetsuya Nomura (of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', ''KingdomHearts'', and ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' fame) is sure to leave plenty of unanswered questions in his games, in case he can't make a sequel to answer them. Speculation is more fun, apparently.
* [[Creator/{{Bungie}} Bungie Studios]], creator of the ''{{Halo}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' franchises, absolutely relishes this; every game series and the canon surrounding it is festooned with little questions, hints, and unelaborated tangents, and Bungie's own attitude towards these questions is to let the fans come up with the answers.
* ''SilentHill''. Holy crap, ''SilentHill''. While it is difficult to think ill of those that latch onto the smallest of details in a series that almost prides itself on providing as little information as possible without showing a blank screen, it becomes patently ridiculous at times. It also doesn't help that it is entirely probable the ''creators themselves'' know about as much of the series as the fans do, maybe less (see AscendedFanon and ShrugOfGod).
** For the first game, the devs basically admitted to reaching into a big grab bag of Christian mythology, leading to many references that, when interpreted properly, make no sense. Silent Hill 2 averts this by being generally well thought out and dropping the Christian mythological motif altogether and focusing more on archetypical symbolism pertaining to the protagonist's own dark past and neuroses. The third game is an AuthorsSavingThrow for the first, more or less ironing out what you should care about and what you should discard from the first game and resolving dangling plot threads.

* The {{Nasuverse}} is rife with this; despite having at least one ExpositionFairy in a single work, several events and concepts are often brought up in passing with little elaboration. [[WordOfGod Subsequent interviews]] and [[AllThereInTheManual source books]] have managed to provide more information, but also end up unveiling new information that just raise ''further'' questions.
* The [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic series]] is absolutely rife with this. Other than Shadow, who had his entire backstory explored through the course of [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 two]] [[ShadowTheHedgehog games]] (ironically making the one character introduced as "mysterious" the one we know most about), and a few other exceptions (the Babylon Rogues, for one), anyone else's past is virtually a blank, including the title character himself. Perhaps the most glaring example of this is Knuckles, of whom we know close to nothing about, especially going by his [[LastOfHisKind status]] and his lack of any memory from before being alone on the island (SonicChronicles's canonicity notwithstanding).
* ''SinsOfASolarEmpire'' is a prime example. The game has some interesting lore, but it's never really developed beyond an ExcusePlot and the opening cutscenes. This leaves a lot of unanswered questions, all of them excellent for WorldBuilding. For instance, precisely ''what'' has been chasing the Vasari across space all this time? And why did the Traders [[NoTranshumanismAllowed despised the Unity's trans-humanist society enough to ''exile them into space?'')]]
* ''ShinMegamiTensei'': Hoo boy, where to start? The story is a [[TheMultiverse Multiverse-spanning]] epic saga about the battle between [[EvilVersusEvil Law and Chaos]], and hinges on [[PlayingWithATrope playing]] GodsNeedPrayerBadly and ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve [[SuperPaperMario like two gleaming banjos on a moonlit stoop]] [[GamePlayAndStorySegregation both in and out of story]]. Between this, {{Retconjuration}} and MultipleEndings, it's difficult to tell what's canon at the best of times. Cue the fics!

* In ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'', Featherine created a lot of this when she said that anyone who knows the Golden Truth can create forgeries that are just as true as the original (not that this stops anyone who ''doesn't'' know the Golden Truth.) Then there's the whole body of omake [=TIPS=] of varying canonicity...

* Tom Siddell, author of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', is well aware of the flimsy pretenses that inspire fans to start {{Shipping}}. He {{lampshaded}} it on [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=471 page 471]]: In the comic, Jack grabs Zimmy's arm because he's on the verge of freaking out, and Zimmy brushes him off. TheRant below simply reads:

* ''RedVsBlue'' is absolutely packed with unanswered questions, that leads to loads of fan speculation. Creator Burnie Burns even commented that fans figured out entire plot twists and arcs before they are even aired. Almost everything is called back to at some point, but it can take multiple seasons to address issues, all the while raising new ones.

** The Royal Sisters. [[GodEmperor God Empresses]] or simply very powerful ponies? Caretakers or actual creators of Equestria? Appearing by themselves, or did their parents leave/die? What exactly happened to almost cause TheNightThatNeverEnds 1000 years ago? And then the introduction of [[EldritchAbomination Discord]] in season 2 basically caused all the speculation to implode in on itself and then outward again into entirely new directions. This is further complicated by "Hearth's Warming Eve", where it is shown that they weren't around for the founding of Equestria, apparently appearing later.

*** Other suggested theories: Pinkie Pie is Loki's (Norse god of trickery) great-grandaughter. Pinkie has PowerBornOfMadness and can [[BreakingTheFourthWall break the fourth wall]] because she's insane (or it made her insane), similar to {{Deadpool}}'s insanity. Pinkie is a benevolent EldritchAbomination. Pinkie is a Warner Brothers cartoon who escaped into Ponyville. The list goes on and on...The WMG page for Friendship Is Magic has an entire section just for her!
* ''{{Daria}}'' had a BizarroEpisode where an interdimensional wormhole behind a local Chinese restaraunt led to an island full of anthropomorphic holidays. While initially FanonDiscontinuity, nowadays many fans will use that wormhole for other sci-fi/fantasy stories where it can take them to a variety of other worlds.

* ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'' has its fair share. Usually either about [[spoiler: the Galactic KND and other related parts of the GrandFinale]] or whatever the incident that lead to [[EvilCounterpart the Delightful Children]] making Numbuh 1 bald and [[MyGreatestFailure the reason Numbuh 5 refuses to lead the team]] was.

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* There are entire [[http://www.theforce.net/SWTC/ web pages]] and newsgroups dedicated to this issue in regards to ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and ''StarWars''... and in many, if not most cases, ''[[http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/ both]]''

* When you get down to it, what the hell was going on during the whole Cardinal Directions arc of ''DouweDabbert''? Where did the portal cave come from, and the temples and the artifacts that are kept in it? Why did the cave overflow after Douwe's return? Worst of all, Douwe probably could have known it all - at the end of ''The Sea to the south'', he lets a vase drop to the ground and walks away - only to the reader is it revealed that the vase contained a scroll about the cave.

* The "Space Jockey" in ''Film/{{Alien}}'', which Ridley Scott will apparently be covering in two [[http://screenrant.com/ridley-scott-alien-prequel-details-sandy-64396/ prequels]] (starting with 2012's ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'').

** Did Toph ever go home to her parents?