Avatar Canon

Jake Sully is confused about Avatar canon in this non-canon image

As the Avatar franchise continues to expand, the canon of the series can become increasingly confusing and murkier. It is imperative the Avatar Wiki, as well as the Avatar community, has a sensible and general idea of what is considered canonical in the universe.

Our articles, as all fan-edited wikis, are prone to changing, and can contain errors. The Avatar Wiki is actually a high target of vandalism as we also allow IP editing, and many people dislike the Avatar series, thus we appreciate those who monitor recent changes.

Defining Canon

"Canon" is a term that refers to works that are officially accepted as part of a narrative. Originally a term which referred to religious scripture, to separate which texts were accepted as doctrine by a church, the word has since been adopted in regards to fictional universes, and what is or is not accepted as part of the continuity.

In general, few franchises have rigorously defined canon, and it is rare for a studio or creator to come forward and disavow a section of their own work from continuity. The Avatar franchise does not have a standard definition for canon applied universally, as Star Wars does for example. This can make delineating canon difficult; and furthermore Avatar Wiki does not make that decision here unilaterally.

However, there have been a number of statements from Lightstorm Entertainment, the creative developers of the series, and associated entities, from which a general guideline of canon can be put together.

Canon is often always evolving and changing. What is canon in the year 2020 may not be canon in 2050. Today, our understanding of canon is primarily derived from speeches given by Joshua Izzo at OmatiCon 2023 and 2024. Earlier statements on the subject come from a 2022 Jon Landau interview.

Canon on the Avatar Wiki

• The film series: As the primary works of the franchise.
  • Avatar: Extended Collector's Edition: The 16 minutes of added scenes are considered canon (e.g. the Earth scenes, Tsu'tey's death)
  • Avatar Script: This was written by James Cameron and developed in accordance to the film. This is why our wiki considers Jake to be 22 years old during the Earth scenes, and why Neytiri is 18.
• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora: Canon according to Landau
• Avatar: Rites of Passage: Stated to be canon.
• The comic series - Every comic is considered canon according to Lightstorm.
• Toruk - The First Flight: Canon according to Landau and Izzo.
• Pandora: The World of Avatar: Lore from the theme park is considered canon, although common sense applies. Anything meant purely for merchandising and guest experiences, such as the fruity drinks served at Satu'li Canteen or the Interactive Banshee, can be disregarded as non-canon.
• Certain art books, primarily those published later:
  • Avatar: Collector's Vault 3D - We consider the Sháo Plant and Scarpaton canon
  • Avatar: The Way of Water: The Visual Dictionary
  • The World of Avatar: A Visual Exploration
• Exhibitions:
  • Avatar - The Exhibition (2011-14)
  • Avatar: The Exhibition (2016- present)
• The Pandorapedia website (in its post-2022 configuration) at https://www.avatar.com/pandorapedia/
• Na'vi Language posts from https://naviteri.org/, a blog run by the creator of the language Paul Frommer
• Statements from cast and crew. James Cameron, for example, stated Pandora started being colonized 35 years before the first film. If Tsireya's actor Bailey Bass states that Na'vi do indeed have genitalia, this information is considered canon in the wiki, unless contradicted by other information. Some common sense should be applied here, particularly to early interviews about Avatar 2 that were conducted long before the script was finished and are incongruous with later media.
• Information from Avatar social media accounts related to the production of the media formats mentioned above (e.g. Facebook posts)

Murky canon on the Avatar Wiki

• Avatar: Reckoning was a game expected for launch in 2024, but it was cancelled. According to Izzo: "Avatar Reckoning is canonical. But there's an asterisk next to it, where certain pieces of it, we might say, that's light touch." It is unknown if characters such as Lily Reese, Edmund Langford, Ro'até, etc, no longer exist within the universe, as well as the Hulanta Clan and Rey'tanu Clan.

• Pandorapedia (2009-2022): The original Pandorapedia.com website, now only accessible via archives (e.g. Wayback Machine), was a major database. A form of it also appeared in Avatar: Collector's Edition in 2023. This information should be considered secondary to newer sources as Izzo stated in 2024 that it "was mainly taken from the Activist Survival Guide, which is no longer really a viable source of material because it's outdated and a lot of information was rushed and wrong."
• The 2009 flash games. It is unclear if these are covered by Izzo's statement that 2009 games are non-canonical.
  • Pandora ROVR - This actually contributed a lot of lore to Pandora's early exploration.
  • AVTR Advanced Team
• Avatar: Warrior's Journey, an Android game with a 2015 beta launch that was cancelled before full release. Very little actually made it onto the wiki before the game was taken down, and it's not been addressed by Lightstorm since.

Non-canon on the Avatar Wiki

• James Cameron's Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide - Izzo said it is in the process of being retconned and that he hopes to release a revised copy.
• Avatar: Pandora Rising in 2019, cancelled during beta, and had some continuity errors. Izzo said it is non-canon in January 2024, but also clarified some parts of it can be brought to canon later (e.g. Katherine Hale).
• Non-final versions of media, including:
  • Project 880
  • Deleted/extended scenes that appear only in bonus features (including those restored in adaptations such as Na'vi Quest.) - Note that this does not necessarily mean they did not happen in Avatar continuity, such as Parker trying to stop C4 from being used, Neytiri's multiple stabbings on the SeaDragon, Tonowari teaching Neteyam and Lo'ak how to weave, etc. Perhaps such scenes did occur off-screen. This wiki does not treat them as if they are canon -- we are not saying they are non-canon as if it's a fact, however. This is why such material is kept in Trivia sections.
  • Concept art
• All of the 2009 Avatar games are non-canon according to Izzo, including:
  • James Cameron's Avatar: The Game - The RDA storyline was always considered non-canon.
  • Avatar: The Game (DS)
  • Avatar: The Game (Wii/PSP)
  • James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (iOS/Android)
  • Avatar: The Mobile Game - Always considered non-canon due to many continuity errors.
• Tangential media that contributes little to narrative.
  • The Pinball machine and associated documentation.

Elements that have been restored to canon

To complicate matters, some characters and elements debuted in murky/non-canon media, which were then brought into canon by appearing in a work considered part of the continuity. The character Katherine Hale debuted in Pandora Rising (non-canon) but then appeared in the comic Avatar: The Next Shadow which is considered canon. Additionally, in the canon comic Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — So'lek's Journey, the characters Entok and Syanan from Pandora Rising appeared, and Tiali appeared as well, originally intended to debut in the dubiously canon cancelled game Avatar: Reckoning. This is also true of entire Na'vi clans that debuted in the 2009 video games and were canonized by appearing in The First Flight. In these circumstances, information from non-canonical sources must be kept separate from their canonical appearances, generally with the canonical details appearing first in the page.

Resolving canon conflicts

Occasionally, there are instances where two pieces of canon media contradict one another. As per the disclaimer found on Avatar's page, the film is deemed accurate in any circumstances where conflict arises. For example, it is stated in Avatar: The Way of Water: The Visual Dictionary that the Sully family lives in a village called "Va'ru". In the film, they clearly live in Awa'atlu. The latter is taken as canon. In cases of written media contradicting one another, the dates of release of each piece of media, the publisher, and the frequency of each claim should be considered. This view, where the original films take precedence, is not dissimilar to the "tiers" system that defined Star Wars canon before Disney purchased the franchise in the 2010s.