Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Novels and Canon Settled

Over a few discussions here and on Reddit I have referenced Novels to point out specific canon for the Realms and had people claim that the novels are not canon

Well creator Ed Greenwood set the record straight. Under the original Realms agreement he signed, the novels are considered canon for the realms. This agreement cannot be altered without the express permission and renegotiation of the agreement with Ed. NO ONE has approached Ed from WotC about renegotiating that agreement. This was done during a video where he was talking about the DnD movie and referenced a novel writing by an author other than himself.

NOVELS ARE CANON!

I feel sad. I suffer from periodic blindness. Therefore I could not read this.

Oh well.

So, nice weather today, huh?

There is no Abdel Whathisface.

Ah, I see, so the novels aren't canon! Nice to know. Back to playing the Baldur's Gate series in which my choices matter and how things end is totally up to me! (I thank Bioware for the valuable experience they gave me in ignoring what other folks say happened. Never trust bards.)

WoTC's relationship with Ed and canon has been...complicated. As you say, they have their agreements, but in practice WoTC just sorta ignores him for the most part. I get the impression that whatever they agreed upon, it's of the somewhat unenforceable end of the spectrum. And of course, WOTC's own canon policy of late has been something along the lines of 'everything and nothing is canon' or somesuch murky ill-defined silliness, which doesn't really help much IMHO.

BG3 actually mocks the novelizations in a scene with Minsc and makes it very clear that Larian didn't think very much of them. (which makes me somewhat sad thinking about certain ways they diverged from the games if they had the freedom to pick and choose their canon!)

What I find weird here, though - is that Greenwood isn't the author of the Baldur's Gate novel. If he was, we wouldn't mind as much, I suspect.

Some novels are canon, sure. Just not certain ones the author himself has disavowed, and I'll die on this hill.

This. Joining the army on that hill for we are right.

Faerun's lore was changed so many times, talking about canon is pointless by now. And if we are talking about the games, they were designed (like every even official campaign) to provide different outcomes and to create a unique world for every group/individual playing. In MY games and in MY Faerun there never was any "Abdel". And never will be.

Perhaps we can agree that novels that are not the BG series novels are cannon? Abdel does not exist - just don't mention that to Greenwood