Jadusable Wiki:Canon

Canon refers to works that are considered official parts of a fictional universe. In Ben Drowned, these materials span websites and, due to the once-high frequency of fan-created content, many are confused or misinformed about which works are canon.

In broad terms, all canon information is on this wiki. If it isn't on this wiki, it isn't canon.

For the purposes of this ARG, there are three distinct levels of canon.

Levels of canon

Canon

Canon story content is any in-character material created by Alex Hall, including the video responses accepted during Moon Children. The full list of canon material:

• The Haunted Cartridge
  • Jadusable's YouTube videos and their summaries
    • Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - Rosa
    • Prototype: All Consume Kills (Warning: Extremely Graphic)
    • day four.wmv
    • BEN.wmv
    • DROWNED.wmv
    • jadusable.wmv
    • free.wmv
  • TheTruth.rtf
• Moon Children
  • Jadusable's YouTube messages
  • youshouldnthavedonethat.net
    • All content from September 17 to 5:30am on September 20
    • Guestbook posts present prior to the site's discovery
    • The Glitch
    • Downloadable files
    • Occasional bits of text (late 2010/early 2011)
  • TheLinkMissing's YouTube comments
  • Emails from Ifrit and Rosa
  • Within Hubris
    • "Tenor" user group, their profiles, and their posts
      • Jadusable
      • Hubris
      • Ryukaki
      • Alex
      • Nekko
      • Duskworld23
      • Drowned
      • BEN
      • Rosa
      • Insidiae
      • Tyler
      • Kelbris
      • Guide
      • Usekeb
    • Wayward Horizon
  • Newspaper Letter
  • The following videos:
    • fj6rt
    • InvertedSongOfTime.MOV
    • NEWWAVEBOSSANOVA.MP4
    • songofhealing.asf
    • Saviour.wmv
    • songoftime
    • ...
    • SAVING ALEX.MP4
    • continue
    • Sonata
    • huntyoudown.wmv
    • 2
    • h b i s r ea l
• Awakening
  • methodsofrevolution.com
  • eternity-project.com
  • The following videos:
    • awakening.txt
    • hubris.wmv
    • end.wmv
    • transmission.txt
    • iseeyou
    • gateway.wmv
    • sonata.wmv
    • king.txt
    • CHILDREN.wmv
    • 2018.txt
    • THE FATHER.wmv
    • baker.txt
    • Methods of Revolution [Day 1]
    • Methods of Revolution [Day 3]
    • Methods of Revolution [Day 6]
    • Methods of Revolution [Day 11]
    • Methods of Revolution [Day 21]
    • Methods of Revolution [Ben.wmv]
    • The Truth.wmv
    • Methods of Revolution [The Truth.wmv]
    • The Last Hero.wmv
    • The Moon Children.wmv
    • The Prisoner.wmv
    • The Happy Mask Salesman.wmv
    • The Dying World.wmv
    • The Predecessor.wmv
    • The Showdown.wmv
    • FOR INTERNAL CORPORATE USE ONLY - DO NOT REDISTRIBUTE
    • Eternity Project Live Transmissions
    • The Final Hours.wmv
    • The End.wmv

Ambiguous canon

Ambiguous canon contains all story content created by Kayd Hendricks from October 7 to October 9 (see Handling canon), as well a few exceptions. The full list of ambiguous material:

• Ryukaki side story
  • Sounds.wmv
  • Music.wmv
  • The Orchard.wmv
  • Orchard2.wmv
  • theconnection.wmv
  • lastwords.wmv
  • Ryukaki's MediaFire uploads
    • quickly.txt
    • must.txt
    • secret.txt
    • reveal.txt
    • last.txt
  • IRC conversations with Ryukaki, Quia, and their group
• 8/17/20 Tweet

Non-canon

Outside of the accepted video responses, any content produced by creators other than Alex Hall is not canon to the ARG. This includes fan fiction, videos, music, ARGs, and youshouldnthavedonethat.net after it was sold. In addition, the following are also not canon.

• BroGaming Twitch streams
  • luilghkddr
  • t
  • e
• Attack on Kong side story
  • king kong.wmv
  • The Epilogue
  • KING KONG 2: The Return of the King
• Alex Hall's social media
• All iterations of Within Hubris after August 8, 2011
• Versions of Ben Drowned posted anywhere outside this wiki, youshouldnthavedonethat.net, or Within Hubris
• Johnisdead (this ARG is canon to JID, however. Read about it on its own wiki!)

Handling canon

The history of this story is particularly turbulent when it comes to determining what is canon. Attempts to divert attention from the story to other, less reliable sources became common, causing confusion on a near-daily basis. There have been many notable instances, including the following:

• Guestbook posts on youshouldnthavedonethat.net from after its discovery
• YouTube videos on unrelated channels claiming to be canon
• Jadusable's YouTube hack and the destruction of WAAL's LiveJournal
• Comments from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. claiming to be canon

Though common, it has been easy for the most part to distinguish what sources can be trusted. As a general rule, if it has not been included on the wiki, it is not canon. Every facet of the story created by Alex Hall has been archived here.

Unfortunately, the canonicity of the Ryukaki story that originally took place during the Moon Children was placed in contempt after some harsh words were exchanged between Alex Hall and Kayd Hendricks. With Alex claiming that Kayd's part was no longer canon, despite having sanctioned it earlier, a complicated situation arose for his section of the story. The arguments that it is still canon could be viewed as valid due to:

• Ryukaki's introduction in mhftt.txt
• Ryukaki having a Tenor account on Within Hubris
• Direct contact between Alex and Kayd during the story

The opposite is also true:

• Alex declared that his part is no longer canon
• Several story points are contradicted in Ryukaki's story, including the username and password to The Truth, the catalyst for his story in the first place

Because of these irreconcilable differences, the wiki deems these as ambiguous canon, meaning that it's possible to consider any non-contradictory points in Ryukaki's story canon, and the rest can be explained as information being given by an unreliable narrator.