‘Canonicity’: the Book or the Reader?

[Aiwendil]

Davem wrote:

To expand the question, would a fanfic which presented Sauron or Saruman as heroes, & was approving of their actions be 'canonical' as long as it stuck to the historical 'facts' of LotR, or would it be 'uncanonical' because it went against the moral values which Tolkien espoused?

Wait a minute - I think that in the strict sense, no fan fiction can be called "canonical". Tolkien left us certain texts. It is one thing to consider "canonicity" as it relates to those texts, and the relations among text, author, and reader. It is quite another to consider fan fiction. Not that I don't think both questions are valid ones - but it is important not to confound them.

As a matter of fact, I think that much of the debate comes down to a simple disagreement about how to define the word "canon", rather than to a substantive argument. We have first "canonical" = established as factual by Tolkien's texts and second "canonical" = not in conflict with facts established by Tolkien's texts. It is of course pointless to debate which of these is the "true" definition; they are simply different things.

But I suppose we come back to your question, then, which I guess we can understand as "would a story depicting Sauron or Saruman as a hero conflict with facts established by Tolkien's texts?" I would say "yes". It is a fact in Tolkien's world that Sauron is evil. It is a fact that Eru exists; it's a fact that Eru is good. It is no different to contradict these established facts than it is to contradict facts such as "Frodo was a Hobbit" or "Gandalf was imprisoned in Orthanc".

However - I would not say that this makes the author's intent the sole source of canonical validity. Bethberry said:

You keep using "Tolkien's moral/ethical position" whereas I used "espouses in the book", davem.

I think that's putting it very well. "Sauron is evil" is not a fact because Tolkien intended it to be; it is a fact because it is inherent in the text.

I also don't see how any of this leads us back toward an allegorical view of the text. The allegory/story dichotomy is a separate issue from that of determining which "facts" are valid.