Line #40 FanonDiscontinuity/Literature


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10	A good book series can be a treat to read, but even long-running franchises aren't immune to the dreaded FanonDiscontinuity demon, as these cases show.
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12	'''Note:''' Do not post examples of personal discontinuity. Examples should only be of groups of fandoms.
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14	* ''Literature/AlexRider'': Some fans say that [[spoiler:Alex]] died at the end of ''Scorpia'' and the other four did not happen, not because they were bad, but because some fans think surviving a bullet to the chest is [[RealityIsUnrealistic unrealistic]].
15	* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
16	** A portion of the fandom likes to disregard the series' ending and [[spoiler:Rachel]]'s death, or at least the BolivianArmyEnding finale at the end of book 54, mostly because the existence of the villain necessitating such an ending was only introduced a couple of pages before the end, and any hints at anything making such an ending necessary only a chapter or two before the end.
17	** The fandom also tends to disregard the existence of the [[Series/{{Animorphs}} TV show]] (except maybe the opening theme) due to how sucky it was; it's the same situation for the ''Animorphs Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' toys (because they succumbed to KibblesAndBits badly), which are also ignored by the ''Transformers'' fandom as well.
18	** There are one or two more individual books that get it well. ''The Experiment'' is the most notorious due to it being badly ghostwritten by an author who turned it into a pro vegetarianism rant.
19	** ''The Mutation'' is disliked due to introducing mutated humans and having little relevance to the plot.
20	** ''The Resistance'' is also disliked by many, mainly as the American Civil War flashback subplot was hard for non-Americans to connect with.
21	** ''The Separation'' is ignored by some due to how it ended and not liking how the two versions of Rachel were portrayed.
22	* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber'': Fans and Creator/RogerZelazny's friends (like Creator/GeorgeRRMartin and Creator/NeilGaiman) usually don't want to talk about John Gregory Betancourt's ''Dawn of Amber'' prequels. Setting aside the relative quality of the works, one of their reasons is that Zelazny, while having no problem with writing for SharedUniverse[[note]]He contributed to ''Literature/WildCards'' and even created one shared world himself[[/note]] had said that ''Amber'' was his and he never wanted to turn it into a franchise. After his death, the literary agent of his estate interpreted this as meaning that [[MoneyDearBoy Zelazny desperately wanted somebody else to write more Amber books]].
23	* Creator/ArthurCClarke: ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'': The sequels are generally left out of existence by anyone who happened to read them. Especially since Clarke didn't write them -- though he's given co-author credit with Gentry Lee, to whom he provided ideas and consultation, and he obviously at least ''authorized'' them.
24	%%** ''Literature/TheSpaceOdysseySeries'': The last two books, although the blame for these may fairly be laid squarely upon Clarke's shoulders as he had no collaborator in this case.
25	* ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'':
26	** Some fans ignore ''Conan the Bold'' because it does not fit in with the other stories, due to Conan crossing most of Hyboria in a short period of time.
27	** Many fans ignore the ''[[Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982 Conan the Barbarian]]'' and ''[[Film/ConanTheDestroyer Conan the Destroyer]]'' novelizations, or treat them as alternate continuities because they contain details that conflict with the other stories (notably, the films themselves take place in their own continuity separate from the books)
28	* ''Literature/ACourtOfThornsAndRoses'': A portion of the fandom prefers not to read beyond the original trilogy due to disliking the direction the later books take, in particular Feyre undergoing BadassDecay, certain characters coming off as OOC and/or becoming unlikable in these readers' eyes, Rhysand's questionable treatment of Feyre in the fifth book, and the ever-increasing number of sex scenes (which some readers find distracting more than anything).
29	* ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos'': While August Derleth's contributions can't be denied (he invented the name "Cthulhu Mythos", and helped to popularize Lovecraft's work), many people consider a plethora of the elements he added into his version of the Mythos as this trope, as they often went completely against Lovecraft's vision. For one thing, he tried to introduce the concept of good vs. evil into the Mythos (while Lovecraft himself always maintained that good and evil are concepts created by humans and cannot be applied to godlike alien beings), and his "elemental theory", in which he associated the various Great Old Ones and the Other Gods (he never realized the distinction between the two) with the four Greek elements, no matter how little sense it makes. For example, he associated Cthulhu with Water due to his octopoid appearance and underwater prison, handily forgetting that water is the only known substance that completely blocks his telepathic powers, and that he's ''trapped'' under the sea. Many fans rearrange the creatures' positions in the chart, or work with the five Chinese elements instead, or reject the entire idea of classifying beings in this way when many are not even made of matter as humans understand it.
30	%%* ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'': Many of the readers who read the last book then want to forget that Stephen King ever wrote an ending to the series. To be fair, King does warn readers not to proceed onwards.%%Explain why this is so.
31	* Some fans of ''Literature/DeanKoontzsFrankenstein'' regard only the first two books in the series as occurring. ''Dead/Alive'', ''Lost Souls'' and ''Dead Town'' did not happen.
32	* ''Literature/{{Dexter}}'': Many fans prefer to ignore ''Dexter in the Dark'' as much as possible, because [[spoiler:the Dark Passenger is revealed to be a supernatural entity, rather than a part of Dexter's mind]], which readers perceived as a weird direction for the series to take (the first two books are fairly grounded psychological thrillers with nothing overtly supernatural). Notably, the following books in the series mostly ignore this plot point too, so it appears the author agreed with the fans' assessment.
33	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Creator/TerryPratchett has [[WordOfGod stated explicitly]] that the (unnamed) Patrician in ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'' is Havelock Vetinari (although written by a [[SelfDeprecation less skilled author]]). But since a) he doesn't act much like Vetinari, b) it's a little dicey timeline-wise, and c) it's hard to believe that Vetinari could ''ever'', in ''any'' alternate timeline, have been an obese man who threw wild parties and ate candied jellyfish, many fans choose to believe that the earlier Patrician is one of Vetinari's predecessors (Snapcase or Winder).
34	* ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'':
35	** It is widely agreed that the original ''Dragonlance Chronicle Trilogy'' (''Dragons of Autumn Twilight'', ''Dragons of Winter Night'', and ''Dragons of Spring Dawning'') happened. It gets muddled after that: some refuse the ''Legends Trilogy'' completely while some acknowledge that but refuse the two Second Generation novels. Some accept the first Second Generation novel but refuse Dragons of the Summer Flame (especially since bits of it retcon many aspects of the original backstory, such as [[spoiler: Raistlin having a daughter he doesn't remember because of a [[FridgeLogic memory spell]]]]) while some accept both and say that's that. Since there are other novels adding on to the story, fans are divided on which to include and exclude.
36	** Further mention goes to the two books meant to chronicle the early days of Raistlin Majere. Opinion is widely divided on where they fit in the general continuity, if they fit in the general continuity and if they can be actually accepted to exist at all.
37	* ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'':
38	** Most fans of the series consider all Green and Blue riders heterosexual unless specified otherwise, WordOfGod on the subject be damned.[[note]]Dame [=McCaffrey=] has stated on record that she considers all-male green riders gay and all blue riders bi. The fandom tends to ignore this more on the statistical improbability of this than on the social implications.[[/note]]
39	** Many fans also dislike some of Todd [=McCaffrey=]'s books... the ones that were only written by him, to be specific.
40	** The fandom tends to treat the backstory of Masterharper Robinton revealed in ''Masterharper of Pern'' like a pizza menu: Some bits (mostly involving his father, Petiron) are mostly accepted. Some bits are accepted by some, ignored by others (his TheLostLenore wife, his relationship with Silvina) and others are near-universally ignored [[spoiler: (the fact that Camo is Robinton and Silvina's son).]]
41	** Some fans even choose to disregard everything about AIVAS. It was never discovered and Pern continued fighting Thread as usual for hundreds of years, thank you very much. Some fans are so militant as to ignore EVERYTHING written after the first two trilogies. Or the first two ''books.''
42	* Many fans of Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/{{The Dreamers\|2003}}'' series despise the ending of the final book, ''The Younger Gods'', and so just ignore the book in its entirety. The biggest issue is that the plot of the series concerns fighting an enemy that wants world domination and is constantly creating new servants in new forms. At the end of the last book, the ''real'' creator gods ([[AssPull which came out of nowhere]]) go back in time and make the enemy infertile -- which nullifies ''the entire series''. As in, once they're done, the book's events change so that while the gods remember what had happened, nobody else does, because to them, it had never happened, and everyone is back where they started. Many fans found this extremely unsatisfying and so pretend it didn't happen.
43	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
44	** ''Literature/GhostStory'': Some fans felt that the book completely and utterly destroyed the series due to the way certain characters handled [[spoiler:Harry's death]].
45	** Others feel the same way about ''Literature/{{Changes}}'' because of the way the story dealt with Susan Rodriguez's character--in particular, [[spoiler:Harry driving half-vampire Susan into a state of mind in which she killed a human, thus forcing her to transform into the newest vampire of the Red Court so that a curse affecting all in a bloodline would affect the whole Red Court]]. Since [[spoiler:Harry and Susan were, according to canon, in the truest of true love]], Harry manipulating Susan, depriving her of free choice in a horrible situation, and finally [[spoiler:murdering her so the bloodline curse would affect the Red Court instead of Harry's and Susan's daughter and all ''her'' relatives]] seemed, to some fans, to be out of character for Harry.
46	%%** [[spoiler: Many Karrin Murphy fans have thrown ''Literature/BattleGround'' into the discontinuity pile, and for good reason.]]%%ZCE, don't editorialize
47	* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'': Many fans refuse to acknowledge any books not written by Frank Herbert, despite this ending the series on a massive cliffhanger. They choose to follow Muad'Dib's philosophy, instead: "Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife -- chopping off what's incomplete and saying: 'Now, it's complete because it's ended here.'" Some go even further and ignore books after ''Literature/ChildrenOfDune'' or ''Literature/DuneMessiah'', or even accept only the original novel.
48	** It must be acknowledged that even Herbert himself [[CanonDiscontinuity broke down on continuity]] a couple of times.
49	** Some fans simply believe that Brian and Kevin [[Literature/SandwormsOfDune cannot mean to end like that]].
50	** Several fans use the non-canon (but Frank Herbert-approved) ''Literature/DuneEncyclopedia'''s take on the history of the universe because, among other reasons, it averts the cliché of the RobotWar as humans rising against robot oppressors. The original novels implied (and the Encyclopedia outright stated) that the Butlerian Jihad was purely ideological (humans who hated robots against humans who loved them).
51	** The issue with the prequels as canon is not about their quality, but more about glaring contradictions. The new authors have made it a plot point that Paul Atreides [[Literature/PreludeToDune was born on the planet Kaitain]] and had many adventures on other worlds. When the original Dune said in the very first ''sentence'' that Paul was born on Caladan and had never been anywhere else before the events of that book. There's also the whole "Leto the First's BFF is a robot-man that, at the time, would have caused Caladan to be RAZED FROM ORBIT by every other noble house due to the whole 'Machine enslaved mankind, so we don't even use calculators' mentality".
52	* ''Literature/EarthsChildren'': Many fans consider the fourth book to be the last. Given that the first four books (''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', ''The Valley of Horses'', ''The Mammoth Hunters'' and ''The Plains of Passage'') were published in 1980, 1982, 1985, and 1990, and it was not until after a lengthy SequelGap -- then another -- that books five (''The Shelters of Stone'') and six (''The Land of Painted Caves'') came out in 2002 and 2011, it's easy for long-time fans to keep thinking of the fourth book as the final one (the fact many fans believe {{Sequelitis}} kicked in hard with these installments contributes). While ''The Plains of Passage'' doesn't tie up ''every'' plot point, it does feature a happy conclusion to one of the main storylines of the first four books, ending with Ayla and Jondalar [[spoiler:arriving safely at the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, intending to get married and Ayla having learned [[BabiesEverAfter she's pregnant with Jondalar's child]]]].
53	* ''Literature/EmpireOfTheEast'' and ''Literature/BookOfSwords': ''Ardneh's Sword'' never existed for many fans of the series, since it contains several obvious and absurd {{retcon}}s.
54	* ''Literature/EndersGame'': A number of fans prefer to deny the that the series kept going after ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead''. Others ignore anything after the original, ''others'' discount the Ender-focused sequels but include the more recent [[Literature/EndersShadow Bean-focused series]], and others acknowledge the four original books but ignore the Bean-focused sequels and more recently written Ender books.
55	* ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'':
56	** There's a growing group of readers who like to pretend that the series consists of only the first book, ignoring ''Fifty Shades Darker'' and ''Fifty Shades Freed''. The book ends with Anastasia realizing that she cannot fulfill Christian's [=BDSM=] needs and leaving him, thus putting an end to their dysfunctional relationship. The first book could then potentially be viewed as a flawed yet interesting erotic drama, in a similar vein as ''Film/NineAndAHalfWeeks''. However, in the sequel Ana almost immediately take Christian back, with the rest of the trilogy chronicling the ups and downs of their romance, which largely remains highly dysfunctional and arguably abusive (though the series doesn't often treat it as such).
57	** Even some legitimate fans of ''Fifty Shades'' prefer to ignore the trilogy retelling the series from [[PerspectiveFlip Christian’s viewpoint]]; while it doesn’t really add anything new to the story (with some calling it a cash grab), the really contentious part is that the retelling makes Christian come off as extremely creepy and unhinged; while his behaviour in the original trilogy is certainly questionable, the retelling made it difficult for fans to view him as an appealing love interest at all because ''Grey'', ''Darker'' and ''Freed'' make him out to be even worse than when he’s described through Ana’s eyes. For readers who already didn't much like Christian, this trilogy often only reinforced their opinion rather than presenting him in a more sympathetic light.
58	%%ZCE * ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': Many fans of ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'' restrict the canon of the series to just that trilogy, excluding the {{Sequel}}s and {{Prequel}}s, including those of ''Literature/TheSecondFoundationTrilogy''.
59	* ''Literature/GargantuaAndPantagruel'': The Fifth Book, allegedly written by Rabelais, could be the most impressive example. People began doubting its authorship ever since its first appearance during the Renaissance. The conflict only really came to a conclusion in 1994 with the help of Mireille Huchon's annotations and arguments. However, this does not resolve all issues since this part of Gargantua's adventures seems to have been written through a totally different perspective which does not always fit too well with the saga's previous books.
60	%%ZCE * ''Literature/GoldenWitchbreed'': Fans insist that there are no sequels.
61	* ''Literature/{{Gone}}'': Fans largely tend to disregard the sequel trilogy, as it seemingly retcons the entire series and does not follow up with the characters.
62	* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': When Creator/ThreeFourThreeIndustries, the then-new owners of the franchise, announced a new series of ExpandedUniverse books written by Creator/KarenTraviss, many fans were skeptical since Traviss was pretty infamous among the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' fandom for WriterOnBoard tendencies. Sure enough, the same thing happened with the first of her books, ''Literature/HaloGlasslands'', which [[{{Demonization}} demonized]] the once-morally ambiguous character Dr. Halsey as a straight up villain and distorted nearly every 'good' character to hate her. As a result, many fans discount the book as part of the canon, and feel the same way about its sequels ''Literature/HaloTheThursdayWar'' and ''Literature/HaloMortalDictata''. Even though the ''Halo'' wiki Halopedia records the events of the book as part of the canon, it rewrites them in a particularly passive-aggressive way that allows them to reinterpret what was depicted -- just look at this excerpt from [[http://www.halopedia.org/Catherine_Halsey#Reputation the Catherine Halsey article]]:
63	-->'''Halopedia''': ''Many of those unfamiliar with the internal dynamics of ONI and the SPARTAN-II Program''[[note]](a.k.a. Karen Traviss)[[/note]]'' have come to interpret Halsey and her work in a highly negative light. [...] Such views often have their basis on information provided by the Office of Naval Intelligence''[[note]](Traviss' favored characters, Kilo-Five and Parongosky, are ONI personnel)[[/note]]'', which has frequently used highly selective or outright false information to shift the blame for some of ONI's more questionable decisions on Halsey alone.''
64	* While searching for more books featuring [[Literature/RedDragon Hannibal]] [[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Lecter]] you may come across two books called ''Hannibal'' and ''Hannibal Rising''. The vast majority of fans will assure you they are an illusion and have never existed. The [[Series/{{Hannibal}} television series]] incorporating ideas and characters from these books has only slightly softened the fandom's rejection, with many preferring to declare, for example, Margot and Mason Verger to be original to television.
65	* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': While most fans accept the series as a whole, there are fans who disregard the last book, or the last two or even three books, mostly to [[HesJustHiding save characters who meet their ends there]][[note]]Many a fan who likes to believe that [[spoiler:Sirius Black]] is living happily on a farm somewhere with [[spoiler:other animagi]] will admit the truth when pressed[[/note]] or [[DieForOurShip prevent pairings they don't like]]. For most fans, the main issue is with the [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental material]], which they argue over frequently even if Creator/JKRowling herself supplied the information. The only part of the books themselves they contest is the [[BrokenBase highly divisive]] epilogue, in which all the ships are definitively resolved with BabiesEverAfter; even some fans who didn't care about the shipping weren't fans of the epilogue (in part ''because'' it focused so much on the shipping).[[note]]In fact, many shippers consider the epilogue canon and then happily write continuation fanfics with different pairings, mostly because it gives them the opportunity to show how the canon pairings are wrong (usually with [[RonTheDeathEater the characters not being themselves]]).[[/note]] Outside of that, Rowling's extra-literary canon tends to be accepted only in limited circumstances:
66	** Some things are made "canon" because Rowling was asked about them in an interview or Q&A session and gave an answer. More often than not, such answers were [[AssPull invented on the fly]], and there's a tendency to simply align with pressure to make the series more racially, ethnically, and sexually diverse than it actually was. Some answers are almost universally ignored, such as [=McGonagall's=] retirement[[note]]only ''one'' Next-Gen fanfic acknowledges this -- and it brings her out of retirement anyway[[/note]].
67	** Some things, like [[spoiler:Lavender Brown's death]], never appeared in the books but were invented for the film series, and Rowling made them canon later anyway. Most fans prefer to ignore that and consider the books the definitive versions.
68	** A large group of fans ignores any of Rowling's proclamations that [[WritersCannotDoMath involve implausible numbers]], such as characters' ages or the number of students at Hogwarts. In some cases, they contradict what the books say (''e.g.'' the birth years of Charlie Weasley and Bellatrix Lestrange). Rowling's Black Family Tree is considered implausible, not only contradicting the books but showing characters having children as young as 13 years old.
69	** ''Pottermore'' is a contentious source of canon. Some of its "facts" were clearly invented after the fact, especially biographies of minor characters which were never even hinted at in the books. Other "facts" are considered too stupid to be canon. Americans also ignore with the descriptions of Wizarding America, which tend to betray a lack of knowledge of American culture and history[[note]]for instance, the American wizarding government was founded in Washington a century before the city's founding ''and'' before the establishment of the country it's named after; the main wizarding school Ilvermorny is an {{Expy}} of Hogwarts in the British BoardingSchool tradition that ''[[CreatorsCultureCarryover doesn't exist in America]]''; and Native American magic, if it's mentioned at all (and [[MagicalNativeAmerican it's a trope in itself for Americans]]), is treated like a monoculture rather than the very diverse groups that Native Americans really are. Plus, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "No-Maj" just sounds silly]][[/note]].
70	** When No-Maj became mainstream in ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'', fans were actually receptive to the movie. But sequel ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald'' could not be given the same courtesy between many questionable writing decisions (many of which had to be addressed in ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheSecretsOfDumbledore'').
71	** ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'' is a SpinOffspring play written nine years after the series ended as something of an "eighth book"; although Rowling didn't write the script, she did approve of it. About [[BrokenBase half of the fans like it]], but even many of them don't consider it canon and think it reads more like FanFic: its use of TimeTravel contradicts what the books establish, the villain is [[spoiler:Voldemort and Bellatrix's daughter]], and [[spoiler:[[SacrificialLion Cedric Diggory]]]] (of all people) is given the RonTheDeathEater treatment.
72	* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' lends itself to all kinds of fanon discontinuity, made easier by its very explicit TrilogyCreep and by the fact that no two adaptations of [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy the overall story]] (whether radio show, book, TV series, or film) had the same continuity. Creator/DouglasAdams approved of the contradictory continuities and in several cases even wrote them himself. Therefore, there are many ways it can shake out:
73	** Some fans accept only the first two books, claiming they said all that needed to be said. The original radio series, comprising the first two "phases", were roughly adapted to those first two books, even though the events didn't happen in the same order. Indeed, these fans claim that the radio series considered the second books' events to be the "end" of the series, even though the ending of ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse'' was based on the "Primary Phase" of the radio show ([[MindScrew it's a complicated canon]]). In any event, the subsequent books and "phases" of the radio series were only created in response to the success of the second book; ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'' in particular was hacked together from a partly completed script for ''Series/DoctorWho'' that Adams was working on, which some fans felt wasn't befitting the series.
74	** Some fans accept the first three books, claiming that the fourth book ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'' didn't feel like a ''Hitchhiker's'' book at all and shouldn't count as one, especially given its focus on Arthur at the expense of nearly every other major character from the first three books. Adams knew this wasn't what most fans wanted and actually devoted a couple of paragraphs of the book to tell the readers to [[DontLikeDontRead skip to the end]] if they wanted a bit with Marvin in it (in which [[spoiler:he dies, and actually feels happy for once]]).
75	** Some fans accept the first ''four'' books, but throw out ''Literature/MostlyHarmless''. Although it feels more like a ''Hitchhiker's'' book than ''So Long'', it was also written in the midst of Adams' ongoing CreatorBreakdown and has a massive DownerEnding. There was also an [[SequelGap eight-year break]] between the fourth and fifth books, which kind of set it apart from the others. Many people felt the characters hardly deserved the ending they got in ''Mostly Harmless'', and some editions of the ''Hitchhiker's'' series, even a quarter-century after ''Mostly Harmless'', still only include the first four books.
76	** And some fans accept all the first five, but not the sixth, ''Literature/AndAnotherThing''. Adams turned out to have regretted his DownerEnding in ''Mostly Harmless'' and started working on turning it into CanonDiscontinuity, but DiedDuringProduction and was unable to finish. After another gap, Creator/EoinColfer wrote ''And Another Thing'', with the approval of Adams' estate. Although it broadly does accomplish what Adams sought to do, there are many fans who believe OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight and accept only the first five books. And still others who previously accepted only the first four now accept all six, because now at least the series doesn't end on a DownerEnding, which was their only real concern.
77	* Pretty much everyone except for the most thorough biographers ignores the poems written in Classical Chinese by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%E1%BB%93_Xu%C3%A2n_H%C6%B0%C6%A1ng Ho Xuan Huong]]. Not only that they wildly clash with the image of her as a free spirit folk hero who elevated the status of Vietnamese as a literary language, the poems also just aren't as good and lack her signature use of [[SophisticatedAsHell sexual humor]], DoubleEntendre and [[RebelliousSpirit feistiness]] against the patriarchal and corrupt society she lived in.
78	* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'':
79	** There are many fans who choose to disregard the events of the third book entirely and come up with their own conclusions to the story, triggered by ''Mockingjay's'' [[BrokenBase arguable]] {{Wangst}} and RomanticPlotTumor.
80	** Some even bypass the second book and let the story be at the end of the first book, LeftHanging as it is.
81	** With the release of ''Literature/TheBalladOfSongbirdsAndSnakes'', some fans choose to disregard the events in the story and stick to the events in the trilogy, due to the state of the Games being very primitive compared to what's seen in the first two books.
82	* ''Literature/{{Inkheart}}'': Fans of the trilogy like to pretend that there was no ''Inkdeath'' because of Farid's derailment and treating Meggie horribly when they finally get together. This was never foreshadowed in the previous books and it feels completely jarring. Not to mention [[spoiler:Doria being introduced as Meggie's new love interest.]]
83	* ''Literature/JamesBond'': There are several fans who completely discount ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' as the final novel in the series and instead treat ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' as the finale.
84	* ''John Carter and the Giant of Mars'', the second-last story in the ''{{Literature/Barsoom}}''-series, tends to fall victim to this for multiple reasons. For starters, it most likely wasn't even written by Edgar Rice Burroughs himself but rather by his son John "Jack" Coleman Burroughs. The story is also very simple since it was originally written for the children's book series "Big Little Books", written in the third person rather than the first person narrative most Barsoom stories use, and uses English names for the Martian flora and fauna (there are other discrepancies, such as the ''ulsios''/"Martian rats" having three legs rather than the invariable description of them in the other books as "many-legged"). One notable example of fans disregarding the book: in "A Guide to Barsoom", writer John Flint Roy clearly states he does not consider this story to be a true Barsoom story, and thus didn't include any information about this story and the characters appearing in it in his guide. Due to the shortness of "Giant" compared to the other books, it's often published along with the first (and only, as the author died before he could write any more) part of "Skeleton Men of Jupiter", which ''was'' written by ERB and generally ''is'' considered canon, although incomplete.
85	* ''Literature/KnownSpace'' has a few spots some fans would like to drop. ''The Literature/{{Ringworld}} Throne'' is one fans would like to forget about. The ''Fleet of Worlds'' series coauthored with Edward M. Lerner and released in the 2000s has its detractors for attempting to tie off strings the fans would have rather left hanging.
86	* ''Literature/LandOfOz'': Some fans of the books refuse to acknowledge the existence/validity of those written by other authors after his death. This group included Jack Snow, the author of two of the later books, who included no references whatsoever in them to the works of Baum's previous successors. Even within the originals, Baum clearly thought of continuity as something that happens to other people.
87	* ''Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt'', like any long-running series, has things that some fans just won't acknowledge, and things that ''other'' fans won't acknowledge.
88	** For example, some think Salvatore should never have had Wulfgar come back from the dead, even if it meant [[ExecutiveMeddling another author doing so, and probably more poorly]], or the ''Spine Of The World'' novel never being written. Others think Wulfgar should never have died anyway.
89	** Some think that Drizzt's attitude since about ''Starless Night'' has just been a big emo joke he's played on his friends, and those that apparently believe his playful, half-crazed personality from the first trilogy was a mask he wore for the world.
90	** Some don't believe that it took something like ten years after Wulfgar's death for Catti-brie and Drizzt to go to bed together, and some think it's a trick and never happened at all, and some can't believe that either the relationship or the marriage happened so quickly. More recently, some just don't understand why [[spoiler:Salvatore would go to the trouble of putting them together and setting up a possibility for her to live a very long life--i.e. magery--only to marginalize her character for the last two books, hand her a DistressBall, use her as a plot device to put the characters where he needs them to go, [[StuffedInTheFridge and then kill her and put her in one heaven that]] ''[[FridgeLogic Drizzt won't even]]'' [[DownerEnding get to go to]].]] ''Especially'' when he could have avoided all that and just taken [[spoiler:her magic away and had her die of old age before the new era in 4th Edition TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms]].
91	* ''Literature/TheLionKingSixNewAdventures'' books introduce a character called Kopa, Simba and Nala's son. This clashes with the premise of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'', where Simba and Nala had a daughter named Kiara instead. Hundreds of fan theories, fanfics and headcanons attempting to link the two sides together have been created and debated over the years as a result of this. Numerous fans have claimed that Kopa isn't canon since he was created by a third-party publisher, writing off the 6NA books as just Disney-approved fanfiction. This often sparks unbelievable amounts of fan-rage over Kopa and those books, and how they could still fit into the movies' story. Sides are often taken in these disputes, make no mistake about that. And Simba getting a son in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' didn’t help things at all.
92	* ''Literature/MassEffectDeception'', since acquired early by many fans of the franchise, has been effective immediately dismissed by members of the Creator/BioWare Social Network forums from canonicity along with producing 456 pages of hatred and a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXVmleTSB5k book burning video]]. [=BioWare=] and ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fans are notable for rarely uniting about anything related to their beloved franchise, making this a very rare moment. Kai Leng breaking into Anderson's apartment and eating his cereal is generally considered canon though, for being hilarious and completely in character.
93	%%ZCE * ''Literature/MaximumRide'': A few fans have ignored the TrilogyCreep by deciding that only the first three books are canon.
94	* ''Literature/ModestyBlaise'': Peter O'Donnell's final contribution to the saga was an anthology of five shortish stories set over the period of his heroine's life. [[spoiler:The last story, Cobra Trap ends with her and Willy Garvin dying heroically]]. Long time fans refuse to read the last story or even admit that it exists.
95	* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': Many fans of the tie-in novels angrily disregard the final four books, which a different author wrote. The humor is far weaker (something even the author admits), the mysteries are less challenging (several have {{Recycled Plot}}s from the author's previous mystery stories), and StatusQuoIsGod gets evoked, undoing a lot of well-received elements from previous novels (like Monk's SecondLove).
96	* ''Literature/TheNightAngelTrilogy'': A few fans choose to ignore the middle and last book completely, only accepting Way of the Shadows as canon. This is mostly because of a little sloppy characterization and not one, but two cases of very annoying girlfriends.
97	* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'':
98	** Some fans choose to ignore the SequelSeries ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' in its entirety. There's even some that chose to ignore the last part of ''The Last Olympian'', choosing to end the book right after the UnderwaterKiss.
99	** On the flip side, while many fans consider ''Heroes of Olympus'' canon, some would prefer to ignore the sequel to ''that'' series, ''Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo'', and even among readers of that series, there are some who disregard [[spoiler:Jason's death in ''The Burning Maze'' and/or Reyna joining the Hunters of Artemis in ''The Tyrant's Tomb'']].
100	* Scholars believe parts of the Ramayana were not written by Valmiki and instead interpolated by later authors. Regardless, the part where Rama sends Sita into exile based on an overheard conversation after she's long since proved her fidelity by leaping through the fire, and while she is pregnant with his twins, after spending the entire plot of the epic rescuing her... didn't happen.
101	* ''Literature/RavensShadow'': A few fans pretend that [[spoiler: the being possessing Barkus at the end of the first novel was [[{{BigBad}} The Ally himself]], rather than his servant [[{{TheDragon}} The Witches' Bastard.]]]] This allows them to ignore ''Tower Lord'' and ''especially'' ''Queen of Fire'' and pretend that [[spoiler: Vaelin killed the big bad and saved the world already.]] The reasons for this are many, but the biggest ones are the poorly implemented [[{{SwitchingPOV}} Switching P.O.V.]] introduced in ''Tower Lord'' (most fans agree that Ryan failed to give each character a unique voice,) the entire character of Reva feeling unnecessary, Vaelin's BadassDecay, and Lyrna [[{{TookALevelInJerkass}} becoming even more selfish and manipulative than before.]] Most infamous however is the extremely rushed finale, where [[spoiler: Vaelin hardly gets to do anything and the BigBad is taken down extremely easily without his motivations being truly revealed or discussed at length, turning him into a GenericDoomsdayVillain.]] Many questions that have been around since the first book are also left unanswered. To say that most fans of ''Blood Song'' were disappointed is an understatement.
102	* ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'': Before Harmony Gold USA's delegation of all expanded universe material to "secondary continuity", many fans preferred to forget ''End of the Circle'' which attempted to tie up all loose ends and bring closure to the ''Robotech'' saga. Many were also in favor of forgetting ''The Zentraedi Rebellion'', ''The Masters' Gambit'', and ''Before the Invid Storm'', especially if they know that it was written by only half of the pseudonymous Jack Mckinney team, Brian Daley having passed away in 1996. James Luceno wrote those three novels solo but still using the pseudonym. Whether or not this is an indication that Daley was considered the better half of the duo, or it just didn't feel the same, is debatable since Daley was just as responsible as Luceno for ''End of the Circle''.
103	* ''Literature/SeanDillon'':
104	** It can be tempting to ignore ''Eye of the Storm'', minus one or two events that are frequently mentioned in later books, as it paints Sean in a pretty nasty light before CharacterizationMarchesOn. It also has a HappyEndingOverRide to a previous novel, ''Touch the Devil.''
105	** ''Without Mercy'' isn't a universally accepted installment due to the very poorly handled DroppedABridgeOnHim fate of main character [[spoiler:Hannah Bernstein]]. For some fans, it's also where SeasonalRot sets in, with one Amazon reviewer saying "Dillon has become less Irish, Ferguson less commanding, Billy and Harry Salter have become caricatures, the IRA has become populated with inept senior citizens, and the Russians are foiled by the most transparent sleight of hand maneuver. Gone are worthy adversaries like the Rashids or Grace Browning."
106	* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'':
107	** "The Mazarin Stone" (adapted by Arthur Conan Doyle from his play "The Crown Diamond") gets this treatment by fans, for it is one of only two stories that are narrated in third-person, breaking the long tradition of Watson as the biographer (and the rare examples of Sherlock narrating his own adventures), with an plot of trying to recover the stone -- via the Villains showing off the stolen goods ''right in the Great Detective's home'' after he switched places with a wax dummy of himself. Granted the dummy was a ChekhovsGun since "The Empty House", but still...!
108	** Many Holmesians/Sherlockians discount the Holmes-narrated ones.
109	** Some have argued that everything after 'The Final Problem' was invented by Watson. More conservative fans have argued that most of the stories in ''The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes'' never happened.
110	* ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'':
111	** Details in the Novelverse are considered apocryphal unless confirmed or contradicted by canon. For example, members of Species 8472 call themselves the Undine, but it is unknown if the same is true in the series' canon.
112	** The ''Literature/StarTrekShatnerverse'' fits in with the Novelverse, but is regarded as non-canon by fans who cannot accept some of the more outlandish events taking place, and they are not often referenced in other novels.
113	** Details from the official reference books ''Star Trek Chronology'' and ''The Star Trek Encyclopedia'' are disputed by fans. The placement of dates of and surrounding the five-year mission of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' runs counter to what some fans prefer.
114	* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': There are several people who are ignoring the third book in the ''Literature/BekaCooper'' trilogy due to varying ([[OutOfCharacterMoment mild]] to outright [[FaceHeelTurn extreme]]) levels of character chaos. One of the most popular characters in the series is Tunstall, and for good reason. He's a savvy GentleGiant who's devoted to his job, his comrades, his Puppy, and his girlfriend. He's never offended by anything, gets along well with pretty much everyone, and he likes growing miniature roses. For the first two books. In the third, ''Mastiff'', he's surly, alcoholic, terrified of magic, acts like a dickhead to everyone for no real reason, and has completely shed his savvy tag. That's not even getting into [[spoiler: his FaceHeelTurn where he murders a child and attempts to kill Beka and another child. Because he wants to become a nobleman.]] No, really.
115	* ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'':
116	** Many fans consider ''Literature/{{Eclipse\|2007}}'' the last book of the series, to the point that there's a Platform/LiveJournal community about it, due to disliking how ''Literature/BreakingDawn'' ends the story. The main issues include who gets paired with who (Team Jacob were naturally disappointed that Bella chooses Edward and even fans who didn't ship Jacob/Bella weren't too keen on him [[spoiler:imprinting on Bella and Edward's infant daughter]] because of the icky implications), the plot revolving entirely around [[spoiler:Edward and Bella having a half-vampire baby]] following the first part and the conclusion being viewed as anti-climatic.
117	** Some casual fans who like the [[Literature/Twilight2005 first book]] consider it the only book of the series (it's generally considered the best of the series due to being a fairly straight-forward teen ParanormalRomance, while the sequels get a lot more contentious, dragged-out and downright bizarre).
118	* ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'': In common with the other long-running series mentioned, very few Creator/AnneRice fans acknowledge the entire series. Just where the line gets drawn varies, but fans generally fall into two camps: those that believe the series ended with ''Literature/QueenOfTheDamned'', and those that acknowledge everything up to the point where Anne Rice started the {{Crossover}}s with the Mayfair Witches. The major point of contention seems to be when precisely Lestat became an InvincibleHero (note that "if" he did is not even brought into question). But it's worth noting that not even the most diehard fans accept ''Literature/BloodCanticle''. Speaking of the Mayfairs, an awful lot of fans pretend ''that'' series ended with ''Lasher'', and a significant minority refuses to accept anything but the first book. Tellingly, neither set of fans is happy with the VC crossovers.
119	%%** A good number of people like to pretend there was never a Queen of the Damned movie made.
120	* ''Literature/TheVampireDiaries'': A portion of the fans refuse to acknowledge anything beyond the ''Return'' trilogy as canon, due to the fact the original author Creator/LJSmith was fired by the publisher and replaced with a ghostwriter (allegedly due to Smith and the publisher disagreeing on the direction of the series).
121	* [[Creator/VCAndrews Virginia "V.C." Andrews]]: Fans are often split on books after her death.
122	** ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'' series is a pure example. The prequel was ghost written, causing some to contest it, although it was outlined by Andrews.
123	** In regards to ''Literature/GardenOfShadows'', fans differ on whether or not [[spoiler:making Christopher Sr. and Corrine ''half-siblings AND half-uncle and niece'' was a good idea.]]
124	** The more recent Diaries series is a continuation of that saga but controversial decisions have caused a lot more people to want it to be non canon or at least end with it being AllJustADream.
125	** Then ''Secret Brother'', the final installment of the ''Diary'' series, was published with promises of answering questions and wrapping up the Dollanganger saga... And promptly didn't answer a thing, not even about the previous ''Diary'' books let alone the Dollanganger books. Obviously fans were not amused, to say the least.
126	** Fans of ''Literature/MySweetAudrina'' similarly tend to ignore the ghostwritten sequel ''Literature/{{Whitefern}}'', though some find it alright if taken as a standalone story.
127	* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
128	** Some fans like to believe that the first series of six books is the only series.
129	** Others think that it stopped after the second series. The SeasonalRot of the third series and the rather... [[BrokenBase controversial]] mystical turn it took probably contributed to this.
130	** ... and some [[DracoInLeatherPants Ashfur]] fans like to believe that the series ends right before ''Long Shadows''.
131	** And some may think the whole [=SkyClan=] thing never existed.
132	** Graystripe's parents are brother and sister according to WordOfGod. This was originally accidental, but once it was noted it wasn't changed because "they're cats". Most fans ignore this because it's weird and because nothing in-series suggests that Clans would allow sibling incest.
133	** Many fans reject ''Spottedleaf's Heart'' as canon, due to its butchering of the characters of both Spottedleaf and Thistleclaw, as well as its revolting use of child sexual abuse as drama.
134	** Brindleface as Sandstorm's mother. This was mentioned as WordOfGod several arcs in and wasn't the original intent (the original arc didn't have a family tree). Many fans reject it, especially because that'd make Ashfur into Squirrelflight's uncle (despite the two never mentioned as kin in-series).
135	* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': Many fans ignore the existence of the sequel, ''Literature/{{Ward}}'', for various reasons.
136	** TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt was the finale for ''Worm'', which was already a dark story, so everything afterwards can veer into TooBleakStoppedCaring far more easily than intended.
137	** Antares is generally perceived as having weaker team dynamics than the Undersiders, and in some cases come off as totally unsympathetic ([[spoiler:which is especially impressive given that one of the Undersiders was confirmed to be a rapist and showed no remorse over said actions]]).
138	** Some fans wrote off the story once it was revealed that protagonist was an OlderAndWiser Glory Girl, as Victoria's initial showing was so poor that no one wanted to give her a chance to do better.
139	** Probably the biggest facing ''Ward'' is that ''Worm'''s ending was considered such that a sequel ''wasn't seen as necessary'' - people felt it should be open ended.

Context FanonDiscontinuity / Literature