Mimblewimble / What is Canon?

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 55790

Maria wrote:

>My CoS computer game, for example, has a 
> spell called "Mimblewimble." Should we consider it canon, then? I 
> don't think so. JKR didn't invent it.

Can you *imagine* the excitement that will reign here 
if "Mimblewimble" turns out to be a spell?  After all, it does appear 
in canon, but from the most Mugglish Muggle of them all.  If it 
turned out that Uncle Vernon spoke incantations unawares when under 
stress, we'd go nuts with speculation.

Katy wrote:

> Here's one good reason why we SHOULD accept them as fact 
> (or "canon"): so far, we've been told that JKR is only writing 7 
> Harry Potter books. SEVEN. #5 is about to come out and then only 2 
> more to go. What then? What else will we have to turn to to satiate 
> our thirst for Potter-knowledge? I'll tell you - OTHER licensed 
> sources. I don't know about you, but it would thrill me to learn 
more 
> facts after the series is complete. 

It may be thrilling, and go ahead and accept it as part of your HP 
world if it gives you pleasure, but it's not Rowling canon.  Canon 
means "the works of an author that have been accepted as authentic" 
(that's the American Heritage's opinion, anyway).  I've enjoyed non-
canonical works such as Sherlock Holmes mysteries by someone other 
than Arthur Conan Doyle, but they still aren't part of his canon.

I suppose we could have two varieties: "J. K. Rowling canon" (words 
she wrote/spoke) and "Harry Potter canon" (anything at all having to 
do with Harry Potter), though I think the word implies something a 
bit narrower than that.  The canon of Harry Potter, broadly 
conceived, would include shampoo bottles, rubber Hermione figurines, 
stories about Hogwarts written by 5th graders for a school 
assignment . . . none of these provides any facts, though it might 
provide great enjoyment to those of us who can't get enough HP.

Amy Z