User blog:Mrcharlton/YJS books may not be canon

Alright mates, you may be aware of a series of children's books about our favorite pirate captain as a kid, and frankly, I find the idea of him being a pirate as a kid and meeting characters from the movie, too much of a good thing. I never really bothered to read any of the books and I probably never will (except for maybe PoF, but that does not count). Anyway, by browsing the wiki of YJS content, I have come to the conclusion that the series is in fact, non-canonical. In this "testimony" if you will, I will be comparing things directly stated in the movie to things that occured in the books.

Part 1: A brief introduction on POTC canon
Just about every single book or movie franchise has what you call canon (something that has been directly confirmed to of happened in a fictional universe as well as a religious or political belief: 14th century Church Canon for instance). There are three different levels of canon in each continuity, here are what they are.....

====A Canon: Anything that has been stated or shown in all four movies and/or the final say of Terry Rossio or Ted Elliot (the writers of all four films) takes first priority; if any other source contradicts what is visually shown, it is not canonical.====

====B Canon: Expanded Universe, or added material (such as books, video games, and most of the comics except for Buccaneer's Heart) classifies as B canon. If anything stated or shown in EU materials does not contradict the movies or something confirmed by the writers, it fits as B canon (for instance, some parts of the AWE game are B canon and some parts on non-canonical, as well as the COTBP game)====

====C Canon: Deleted Scenes, original screenplay drafts, and behind the scenes backstory that do not contradict movie scenes can classify as C canon. (For instance, it didn't state in the final version of COTBP that the Black Pearl was a galleon, but it did in the original draft. Because the Pearl wasn't called any other ship type, we can use this as canonical info. Same with Pintel and Ragetti being related)====

So there you have it, POTC canon levels.

Part 2: Getting down to business
Now that you have an idea on the levels of canon (correct me if I made a mistake or left anything out), the Young Jack Sparrow Novels are considered, at the moment, to be B Canon since it is Expanded Universe. I have looked through the wiki at a lot of things relating to the series and have found countless contradictions to the movies, whether through dialog, implications, or shown events. In Part 3, I will be sharing the mistakes made in the books (also, the books were written after the first 3 movies in case you were curious)

Part 3: Problems, contradictions, and mistakes
Bellow is a list of contradicted content from the books


 * In the first book, Jack Sparrow is somehow already on Pirate on Tortuga at the age of thirteen. Jack didn't become a pirate until he highjacked a shipment of slaves while in his 20's


 * Jack did not meet Tia Dalma until AFTER he highjacked the slaves


 * The mermaids are described differently than shown in OST


 * Whitecap Bay is where the last known group of Mermaids live


 * In all of the POTC movies, the Caribbean is tropical and henceforth impossible for there to be a snowy island


 * Jack Sparrow did not meet Davy Jones until their "deal" (even if they did meet, Jack and Jones had a rivalry in the book, and I doubt he would offer to raise the Wench if they had a negative history with each other)


 * James Norrington did not meet Jack until the time of COTBP (he was aware of him, but they never interacted before)
 * James Norrington was several years younger than Jack, they weren't the same age


 * Joshamee Gibbs never met Jack until after the first mutiny; they never met as children


 * Gibbs initially hated pirates and would not have saved Teague and Jack (he demonstrated in the beginning of COTBP that he believed all pirates should hang)


 * Bootstrap Bill did not meet Jack until he became a pirate as an adult


 * Bootstrap was a Merchant sailor before he turned to piracy, he was not a pirate as a kid


 * Jack did not meet Barbossa until his expedition to find the treasure of Cortes


 * Where is Angelica?


 * Jack and Barbossa were not as close as described in the book and he didn't consider Jack as a friend (he just used him to get the Pearl and find the gold for himself)


 * The Legends of the Bretheren Court books take place when Jack is roughly 25 years old, a year before he even made his deal with Jones. He would have still been employed by the EITC at this time


 * Can someone please tell me where Angelica is?


 * Lian and Park were in the LOTBC Rising in the East book, but they would have been six at this time (something tells me that Sao Feng wouldn't have little girls working for him)


 * I can't see Angelica anywhere!


 * Sumphagee was a Hindu Priest and was forbidden to love a woman (Even if he could have a lover, he is most likely a eunich anyway. For all we know, that beard could be fake too)


 * Teague was the Patriarch of the Sparrow family (also, Teague's surname probably isn't Sparrow as Teague was the family's last name. Jack's real name was probably more along the lines of Jonathan Teague)
 * Gibbs was several years older than Jack, they weren't the same age


 * Gibbs was still in the navy during the LOTBC books


 * "Where the bloody ell' be Angelica, dash it all?"

Part 4: Wrapping up
Well, there you have it. Even though I could be wrong and may have wasted all of my time doing this, I do not believe that the YJS novels or the LOTBC novels should be deemed as canon as they are full of contradictions. Feel free to share your thoughts, add additional errors, point me out on my errors, or prove me wrong. I do not doubt that the series is a good one, because I know many people on this wiki are fans and I am not trying to dis it in any way at all, but in my opinion, the books seem too much like an unrealistic fanfiction series that keeps going on and on and on. Again, I am not trying to dis the series, I am just shedding a light on a disputed portion of the POTC universe that we may want to take a closer look at. Its nothing personal with me against the series, its just good wiki business.

Mrcharlton 21:54, May 24, 2011 (UTC)