Fanon

What does fanon mean?

Unverified story points fans believe are canon

Superfans of fictional stories often have their own headcanons, or unverified beliefs about those stories. Headcanon ideas that are popular enough to be accepted by most fans become fanon. These beliefs aren't official canon, but to most fans, they might as well be.

For example, Harry Potter fandom largely believes the characters Remus Lupin and Sirius Black had romantic feelings for each other, and that ship has become fanon. This is despite the fact that no novel or movie confirms this belief.

Fanfic often takes fanon beliefs and runs with them, exploring the beliefs and their consequences more fully. For example, many, many Harry Potter fanfic writers have written slash fiction about Lupin and Black, a pairing that has become popular enough to be known as Wolfstar.

Example

At some point, fanon overrules an author's intentions. It's just the way pop culture crumbles
Keeping track of what's canon and what's fanon can be tough sometimes ...
Keeping track of what's canon and what's fanon can be tough sometimes ...

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Updated August 4, 2022

Fanon definition by Slang.net

This page explains what the slang term "Fanon" means. The definition, example, and related terms listed above have been written and compiled by the Slang.net team.

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