> It's funny because people discard The Homestuck Epilogues as "non-canon" while they are SO FRONTALLY more relevant, sincere and brutal of a sequel than, like 90% of sequels.

I was going to make a post about this in that other thread discussing the meanings of the terms "canon", "post-canon" and et cetera but I might as well do so here.

Something I think that Beyond Canon is trying to do (and thus the Epilogues were also leading up to this) is cast doubt on the need for a "canon." At all. Because what defines our notion of canon? It couldn't be just the fact it's relevant, truthful or essential because who even gets to decide those things? What is stopping someone from just considering the Epilogues and HSBC canon?

I'll tell you what, it's the fact that an authority has determined so. The Epilogues aren't canon because canon is the comic, and the Epilogues aren't the comic, and therefore, they aren't canon. And this isn't saying that someone literally said "the comic is canon": this is more often than not for many different medias simply an implicit fact about the works.

X is written by the original author and while Y isn't, it's still official. Does that make Y canon? It differs from work to work. Some may consider Y a "non-canon sequel" while some may consider it canon despite the circumstances around it, and at the end of the day all it takes is the authority of officiality to determine that. Often times, it simply happens by association.

Going back to HSBC... My theory is that the comic is essentially a passing of the torch from Homestuck to its fans in regards to the determination of what is and isn't canon. By casting doubt onto the whole idea of canon, our notions of it are dissolved until there is none left, breaking us from whatever limit might be imposing us in our interpretations of the work and our will to create more based on it. Because when everything is canon, nothing will be. At least, that seems to be a likely direction for the Fanontinuum and how it'll play into the story. It's kind of the perfect ironic defeat for Dirk, who's trying to solidfy even further the concept of canon in Homestuck.