Alternative universe (fan fiction)
Encyclopedia
An alternative universe commonly abbreviated as AU, is a type or form of in which canonical
facts of setting or characterization in the universe being explored or written about are deliberately changed.
Stories that fall into this definition are usually what-ifs, where possibilities arising from different circumstances or character decisions are explored. Unlike regular fan fiction, which generally remains within the boundaries of the canon set out by the author, alternative universe fiction writers like to explore the possibilities of pivotal changes made to characters' history, motivations or environment.
The author gets an established audience for their story: the fans of the original, and then subsequently altered, universe, which they would not get if they wrote it as an original story instead of fan fiction. Some of the best fan fiction writers, who aspire to be published authors, can take advantage of this inversely by developing a loyal audience, the readers of their fan fiction, for books with original storylines that they might publish at a later date.
:
Stories in this category of AU follow the established canon before veering away at a crucial moment (similar in concept to many entries in Marvel Comics
' What If
series and DC Comics
' Elseworlds
series). An example of this is the Harry Potter
story "A Moth to the Fire", by Sera dy Relandrant, in which Ariana Dumbledore does not go out to play on the day she is attacked by muggle
children in canon, and thus does not lose control of her magic, altering the life of her brother, Albus Dumbledore
, and eventually the entire world.
Another notable example of this would be the story "Team 8", a popular Naruto
fan fiction that depicts what would have happened in the series had the main character been placed on a different team designation than he was originally.
The Pokemon series has had its fair share of alternate universe fanfictions. One notable example is "Blue Tears" a story in which the rival (Blue) gets revenge on Red after his actions on the S.S. Anne led to the death of his Raticate. Popular among fans, it is known for being spawned from a popular fan-rumor about Blue's presence at Pokemon Tower when you face him in the original games, and has gained a cult following among Pokemon fans.
Possibly the longest completed Alternate Timeline story is the Babylon 5
epic "A Dark, Distorted Mirror", by Gareth Williams. In this saga, which runs to well over a million words, Delenn
chooses a different Starfury pilot (not Jeffrey Sinclair
) to bring aboard the Minbari cruiser during the Battle of the Line
. As a result the Grey Council
do not find out about the human/Minbari soul connection, the Minbari
do not surrender, Earth is destroyed, and the war continues. However, despite the dark and desperate struggle which ensues, the eventual outcome offers hope for a better future.
Some alternate timeline stories are called "denial-fics" because they ignore certain events in canon. For example, many Harry Potter denial-fics pretend Sirius Black never died. An example is "You Don't Belong Here" by Hieirulesall; the author's notes say that the author wants Sirius alive but does not want to find a way to bring him back. Others are called "fix-it fics," because they rewrite the story so that the events in question did happen, but the fan fiction undoes the consequences. An example of this is "Extenuating Circumstances" by SarahtheBardess, in which Sirius Black is returned to life.
Others seemingly involve the twisting of the Final Battle in Deathly Hallows, returning to life characters that had formerly been killed off. Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Mad-Eyed Moody are examples of people whose death has been ignored. An example is the story "Starting Anew" by cutewolf97, in which Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks are alive and raise Teddy in a war-torn world.
These stories take the characters from a series and place them in another time, place, or situation. An example is "Welcome to Hogwarts" by AD Miller, a Glee
story that transfers the characters to Hogwarts
.
A subset of this type, called familiar contextual reassignment, takes the characters from a series and places them in a setting more familiar to the author. This type of context shift is one of the main sources of "high school fic," in which all the characters are written going to high school. An example of this is the Charmed
fan fiction "Charmingly High School" by AlwayWrittinSomethin, in which characters who never met until adulthood attend high school together.
The actors may find themselves in the fictional universe, the fictional characters may find themselves in the "real" universe, or the story may feature both sides of the swap. This type of AU has appeared in mainstream publication as well, in Star Trek short stories from the early 1970s in which the actors from the Desilu set were swapped with the "real life" Starfleet officers via the transporter. ("Visit To A Weird Planet" "Visit To A Weird Planet, Revisited"). These fan fiction stories were eventually published in official Star Trek books. This trope
has been used in other places, such as the film Galaxy Quest
.
Two fictional universes, or the real universe and a fictional universe, are placed in a situation in which they interact. Such stories sometimes involve comparisons and conflict between the combat prowess of the two universes, often involving the various strengths and weaknesses of the technology/magic of each world. An example is "A Thin Veneer" by AlbertG, in which Star Trek
characters meet Babylon 5
characters, setting off a galaxy-wide war. Sometimes these stories involve characters from one universe substituting for the characters in another universe and playing out the second universe's storyline, as in "Return of the Aurors" by Anne Walsh. The fan fiction recasts Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
with Harry Potter
characters, like 'Ron Solo', Ron Weasley
as Han Solo
, and 'N-3LO', Neville Longbottom as C-3PO
. The story is played out in a Harry Potter-themed universe, visiting, for example, Dursley the Hutt
's home on the desert planet of Quidditch
ine
. A third example would be the protagonists from multiple works of fiction uniting to stop a threat resulting from the antagonists of those same works of fiction teaming up, as in Lyoko Warriors in Space, a Code Lyoko
/The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
crossover by deviantART member human-groveback, known on Wikipedia as User:megasquid500. The story involves the Lyoko Warriors teaming up with the Heart of Gold crew to stop the Infinite Improbability Drive on the ship exploding due to Xana and h2g2 villain Humma Kavula teaming up. Crossovers like this tend involve certain characters from one work of fiction getting along best with characters from the other work of fiction.
Alternative universes can arise inadvertently in fan fiction when the source material is released in a serial form, such as a multi-season television series or a book series, so that fan works are written before further canon
arrives. For instance, much Harry Potter
fan fiction in the nearly three years between the publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
was written as "continuation" fan fiction, but became AU as soon as the new canonical material appeared. An example is Arabella and Zsenya's "After the End", made AU by Order of the Phoenix the day after the story's completion. In "After the End", Harry's fifth year ended with Albus Dumbledore
's death, which did not happen in Order of the Phoenix, but, coincidentally, did happen in the following Harry Potter book, Half-Blood Prince
.
On occasions, a fan fiction writer will create a character that is supposed to be there from the beginning and does not exist in the actual story that inspired it. Gertrude 'Danger' Granger in Anne Walsh's Harry Potter AU series, the "Dangerverse," is an example of this. It is also not uncommon for fan fiction to deliberately explore what could have happened in the original fictional universe had certain events played out differently. Changing canon can also mean taking a canon couple that was hinted at, but didn't actually happen, and expanding on it.
Another type of AU that authors and readers have problems with involves the storyline of a well-known movie or video game, played out by original characters or by characters from another series. An example is "A Different Sort of Adventure" by ImLucky, in which original characters work through two of the Pokémon
game adventures. Finally, some people have theorized that because AU authors are already radically changing the story as it is, they find it far easier to add a Mary Sue
, or, in other terms, a wish-fulfillment character.
A common mistake made by inexperienced fan fiction writers is to believe that writing an AU fan fiction means that the writer can acceptably and drastically alter the personalities of major characters; in fact, the point of AU fan fiction is that the characters' personalities remain as much the same as possible, and the only changes are those which would rationally be caused by the differences from canon.
had an alternative universe storyline which, while not integral, was revisited for another storyline. As stated above, the What If and Elseworld series have original fiction stories taking place in an alternative universe, e.g. Red Son, a Superman
graphic novel in which Superman landed in the USSR instead of the United States.
In the many Gundam
anime
series, there are six major timelines that are independent of one another, and some fan circles (especially in North America) refer to the timelines created after the original Universal Century
as "alternate universes". However, this does not truly fit the standard definition of AU, as the timelines share neither characters nor locations (aside from the solar system
itself). Tenchi Muyo!
and El-Hazard
utilize the more traditional alternative universe concept, each beginning with an OVA series and followed by a TV series that utilizes many of the same characters and locations, but with alterations made to both (some minor and some drastic).
The Star Wars: Infinities comic book series explores alternative universe fiction in a "what if?" style, diverging from the story of the original Star Wars trilogy movies at crucial moments, with a major impact on the evolving story.
The Stargate
franchise has included episodes in which characters interact with alternative versions of themselves.
In Star Trek
, several episodes make reference to a mirror universe, containing a very different history of events.
In Supernatural
, there have so far been eight AU storylines including 'What Is And What Should Never Be
', 'The End
', 'The French Mistake' and 'My Heart Will Go On'.
In the Lego Bionicle
storyline, there are many alternative universes, which are created whenever a character makes a decision or an event happens. For example, a universe was created when Toa Tuyet betrayed the city of Metru Nui and was defeated; in the alternative universe, Tuyet is aided by her comrade, Toa Nidhiki, and takes over Metru Nui, transforming the other Toa into secret police. These alternative dimensions can be visited using a mask called the Kanohi Olmak, Mask of Dimensional Gates.
Toei
's celebration of the tenth anniversary of their long standing tokusatsu
franchise Kamen Rider
was honored by the creation of their 2009 series Kamen Rider Decade
. The series describes every previous Kamen Rider series as alternative universes and worlds, as each world has its own Kamen Rider. A crossover episode with another one of Toei's famous series, Super Sentai
, was done, as Kamen Rider Decade traveled into the world of Super Sentai and teamed up with Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
.
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
facts of setting or characterization in the universe being explored or written about are deliberately changed.
Stories that fall into this definition are usually what-ifs, where possibilities arising from different circumstances or character decisions are explored. Unlike regular fan fiction, which generally remains within the boundaries of the canon set out by the author, alternative universe fiction writers like to explore the possibilities of pivotal changes made to characters' history, motivations or environment.
The author gets an established audience for their story: the fans of the original, and then subsequently altered, universe, which they would not get if they wrote it as an original story instead of fan fiction. Some of the best fan fiction writers, who aspire to be published authors, can take advantage of this inversely by developing a loyal audience, the readers of their fan fiction, for books with original storylines that they might publish at a later date.
Types of AU fiction
Authors and readers of AU fan fiction enjoy it for diverse reasons, but there are several shared impetuses that exist regardless of fandomFandom
Fandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest...
:
- Alternate timelines.
Stories in this category of AU follow the established canon before veering away at a crucial moment (similar in concept to many entries in Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' What If
What If (comics)
What If, sometimes rendered as What If...?, is the title of several comic book series published by Marvel Comics, exploring "the road not traveled" by its various characters...
series and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' Elseworlds
Elseworlds
Elseworlds is the publication imprint for a group of comic books produced by DC Comics that take place outside the company's canon. According to its tagline: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others...
series). An example of this is the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
story "A Moth to the Fire", by Sera dy Relandrant, in which Ariana Dumbledore does not go out to play on the day she is attacked by muggle
Muggle
Muggle, a term from the Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling, refers to a person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born into the magical world...
children in canon, and thus does not lose control of her magic, altering the life of her brother, Albus Dumbledore
Albus Dumbledore
Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a major character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. For most of the series, he is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts...
, and eventually the entire world.
Another notable example of this would be the story "Team 8", a popular Naruto
Naruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...
fan fiction that depicts what would have happened in the series had the main character been placed on a different team designation than he was originally.
The Pokemon series has had its fair share of alternate universe fanfictions. One notable example is "Blue Tears" a story in which the rival (Blue) gets revenge on Red after his actions on the S.S. Anne led to the death of his Raticate. Popular among fans, it is known for being spawned from a popular fan-rumor about Blue's presence at Pokemon Tower when you face him in the original games, and has gained a cult following among Pokemon fans.
Possibly the longest completed Alternate Timeline story is the Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
epic "A Dark, Distorted Mirror", by Gareth Williams. In this saga, which runs to well over a million words, Delenn
Delenn
Delenn is a fictional lead character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Mira Furlan.-Overview:Delenn, an alien ambassador and leader from the planet Minbar, is one of the pivotal characters in Babylon 5....
chooses a different Starfury pilot (not Jeffrey Sinclair
Jeffrey Sinclair
Jeffrey Sinclair is a character in the fictional universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by actor Michael O'Hare. He was a regular in the first season of the show, as Commander of the Babylon 5 station, and made a number of guest appearances afterward.-Early life and...
) to bring aboard the Minbari cruiser during the Battle of the Line
Battle of the Line
In the Babylon 5 fictional universe, the Battle of the Line was the final battle of the Earth-Minbari war. The Battle of the Line was a desperate attempt by the Earth Alliance to stop a Minbari combat fleet from attacking Earth. Over 20,000 Human defenders fought in the battle; including most of...
. As a result the Grey Council
Grey Council
In the Babylon 5 fictional universe, the Grey Council is the governing body of the Minbari Federation. Its members carry the title satai...
do not find out about the human/Minbari soul connection, the Minbari
Minbari
The Minbari are a fictional alien race featured in the television show Babylon 5. The Minbari characters of Delenn and Lennier figure prominently throughout the series; Neroon, Draal, and Dukhat are less prominent Minbari characters....
do not surrender, Earth is destroyed, and the war continues. However, despite the dark and desperate struggle which ensues, the eventual outcome offers hope for a better future.
Some alternate timeline stories are called "denial-fics" because they ignore certain events in canon. For example, many Harry Potter denial-fics pretend Sirius Black never died. An example is "You Don't Belong Here" by Hieirulesall; the author's notes say that the author wants Sirius alive but does not want to find a way to bring him back. Others are called "fix-it fics," because they rewrite the story so that the events in question did happen, but the fan fiction undoes the consequences. An example of this is "Extenuating Circumstances" by SarahtheBardess, in which Sirius Black is returned to life.
Others seemingly involve the twisting of the Final Battle in Deathly Hallows, returning to life characters that had formerly been killed off. Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Mad-Eyed Moody are examples of people whose death has been ignored. An example is the story "Starting Anew" by cutewolf97, in which Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks are alive and raise Teddy in a war-torn world.
- Contextual reassignment.
These stories take the characters from a series and place them in another time, place, or situation. An example is "Welcome to Hogwarts" by AD Miller, a Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
story that transfers the characters to Hogwarts
Hogwarts
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or simply Hogwarts is the primary setting for the first six books of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, with each book lasting the equivalent of one school year. It is a fictional boarding school of magic for witches and wizards between the ages of...
.
A subset of this type, called familiar contextual reassignment, takes the characters from a series and places them in a setting more familiar to the author. This type of context shift is one of the main sources of "high school fic," in which all the characters are written going to high school. An example of this is the Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
fan fiction "Charmingly High School" by AlwayWrittinSomethin, in which characters who never met until adulthood attend high school together.
- Swapping the characters with the actors who play them.
The actors may find themselves in the fictional universe, the fictional characters may find themselves in the "real" universe, or the story may feature both sides of the swap. This type of AU has appeared in mainstream publication as well, in Star Trek short stories from the early 1970s in which the actors from the Desilu set were swapped with the "real life" Starfleet officers via the transporter. ("Visit To A Weird Planet" "Visit To A Weird Planet, Revisited"). These fan fiction stories were eventually published in official Star Trek books. This trope
Trope (literature)
A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...
has been used in other places, such as the film Galaxy Quest
Galaxy Quest
Galaxy Quest is a 1999 science-fiction comedy parody about a troupe of human actors who defend a group of aliens against an alien warlord. It was directed by Dean Parisot and written by David Howard and Robert Gordon. Mark Johnson and Charles Newirth produced the film for DreamWorks, and David...
.
- Crossovers.
Two fictional universes, or the real universe and a fictional universe, are placed in a situation in which they interact. Such stories sometimes involve comparisons and conflict between the combat prowess of the two universes, often involving the various strengths and weaknesses of the technology/magic of each world. An example is "A Thin Veneer" by AlbertG, in which Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
characters meet Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
characters, setting off a galaxy-wide war. Sometimes these stories involve characters from one universe substituting for the characters in another universe and playing out the second universe's storyline, as in "Return of the Aurors" by Anne Walsh. The fan fiction recasts Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...
with Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
characters, like 'Ron Solo', Ron Weasley
Ron Weasley
Ronald Bilius "Ron" Weasley is a fictional character and one of the three protagonists in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. His first appearance was in the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as the best friend of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger...
as Han Solo
Han Solo
Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...
, and 'N-3LO', Neville Longbottom as C-3PO
C-3PO
C-3PO is a robot character from the Star Wars universe who appears in both the original Star Wars films and the prequel trilogy. He is also a major character in the television show Droids, and appears frequently in the series' "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games...
. The story is played out in a Harry Potter-themed universe, visiting, for example, Dursley the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt is a fictional character in George Lucas's space opera film saga Star Wars. Designed as a large, slug-like alien, his appearance has been described by film critic Roger Ebert as "Dickensian," a cross between a toad and the Cheshire Cat....
's home on the desert planet of Quidditch
Quidditch
Quidditch is a fictional sport developed by British author J. K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series of novels. It is described as an extremely rough, but very popular, semi-contact sport, played by wizards and witches around the world...
ine
Tatooine
Tatooine is a fictional planet and setting for many key scenes in the Star Wars saga, appearing in every Star Wars film except The Empire Strikes Back, although it is mentioned at the end of the movie...
. A third example would be the protagonists from multiple works of fiction uniting to stop a threat resulting from the antagonists of those same works of fiction teaming up, as in Lyoko Warriors in Space, a Code Lyoko
Code Lyoko
Code Lyoko is a French animated television series created by Thomas Romain and Tania Palumbo. The series centers on boarding school students Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd who travel to the virtual world of Lyoko to fight against multi-agent computer program XANA with Aelita, a being originally...
/The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
crossover by deviantART member human-groveback, known on Wikipedia as User:megasquid500. The story involves the Lyoko Warriors teaming up with the Heart of Gold crew to stop the Infinite Improbability Drive on the ship exploding due to Xana and h2g2 villain Humma Kavula teaming up. Crossovers like this tend involve certain characters from one work of fiction getting along best with characters from the other work of fiction.
- Predictive fiction becomes alternative universe.
Alternative universes can arise inadvertently in fan fiction when the source material is released in a serial form, such as a multi-season television series or a book series, so that fan works are written before further canon
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
arrives. For instance, much Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
fan fiction in the nearly three years between the publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling, published on 8 July 2000.The novel won a Hugo Award in 2001, the only Harry Potter novel to do so...
and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling, and was published on 21 June 2003 by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic in the United States, and Raincoast in Canada...
was written as "continuation" fan fiction, but became AU as soon as the new canonical material appeared. An example is Arabella and Zsenya's "After the End", made AU by Order of the Phoenix the day after the story's completion. In "After the End", Harry's fifth year ended with Albus Dumbledore
Albus Dumbledore
Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a major character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. For most of the series, he is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts...
's death, which did not happen in Order of the Phoenix, but, coincidentally, did happen in the following Harry Potter book, Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series by British author J. K. Rowling...
.
Changing canon
In alternative universe stories, characters' known motivations may vary considerably from their decisions in the canonical universe. The author of an alternative universe story thus can use the same characters, but send them down different paths for a different plot.On occasions, a fan fiction writer will create a character that is supposed to be there from the beginning and does not exist in the actual story that inspired it. Gertrude 'Danger' Granger in Anne Walsh's Harry Potter AU series, the "Dangerverse," is an example of this. It is also not uncommon for fan fiction to deliberately explore what could have happened in the original fictional universe had certain events played out differently. Changing canon can also mean taking a canon couple that was hinted at, but didn't actually happen, and expanding on it.
AU controversies
Many fan fiction readers and authors dislike AUs because some AU writers disregard the canon of official work by or approved of by the author. However, some authors specifically write AU fiction instead of textbook fan fiction in order to explore issues which were not fully addressed in canon, and may present a meticulously researched canon universe which then veers away from actual events in ways which logically proceed from the changes the AU author introduced.Another type of AU that authors and readers have problems with involves the storyline of a well-known movie or video game, played out by original characters or by characters from another series. An example is "A Different Sort of Adventure" by ImLucky, in which original characters work through two of the Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
game adventures. Finally, some people have theorized that because AU authors are already radically changing the story as it is, they find it far easier to add a Mary Sue
Mary Sue
A Mary Sue , in literary criticism and particularly in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author or reader...
, or, in other terms, a wish-fulfillment character.
A common mistake made by inexperienced fan fiction writers is to believe that writing an AU fan fiction means that the writer can acceptably and drastically alter the personalities of major characters; in fact, the point of AU fan fiction is that the characters' personalities remain as much the same as possible, and the only changes are those which would rationally be caused by the differences from canon.
AU in original fiction
Alternative universes are also used in original fiction works themselves, as an integral part of the storyline. The webcomic Sluggy FreelanceSluggy Freelance
Sluggy Freelance is a popular, long-running daily webcomic written and drawn by Pete Abrams. The comic has over 100,000 daily readers and premiered on August 25, 1997...
had an alternative universe storyline which, while not integral, was revisited for another storyline. As stated above, the What If and Elseworld series have original fiction stories taking place in an alternative universe, e.g. Red Son, a Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
graphic novel in which Superman landed in the USSR instead of the United States.
In the many Gundam
Gundam
The is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots called "Mobile Suits" ; usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam....
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series, there are six major timelines that are independent of one another, and some fan circles (especially in North America) refer to the timelines created after the original Universal Century
Universal Century
is the original timeline of the Gundam anime metaseries. The official English name U.C. is often used instead in recent production like MS Igloo and Master Grade model instructions and official pages is the original timeline of the Gundam anime metaseries. The official English name U.C....
as "alternate universes". However, this does not truly fit the standard definition of AU, as the timelines share neither characters nor locations (aside from the solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
itself). Tenchi Muyo!
Tenchi Muyo!
, is a Japanese anime, light novel, and manga series created by Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi.The generally accepted translation of the title is No Need for Tenchi or Useless Tenchi, though at the time of its appearance it was also translated variably as No Heaven and Earth and This Way Up...
and El-Hazard
El-Hazard
is a Japanese anime franchise written by Ryoe Tsukimura and directed by Hiroki Hayashi. The series was produced and animated by AIC.There is also a manga adaptation, which is published in English by VIZ Media. The series was formerly distributed in the U.S. by Pioneer LDC, now known as Geneon...
utilize the more traditional alternative universe concept, each beginning with an OVA series and followed by a TV series that utilizes many of the same characters and locations, but with alterations made to both (some minor and some drastic).
The Star Wars: Infinities comic book series explores alternative universe fiction in a "what if?" style, diverging from the story of the original Star Wars trilogy movies at crucial moments, with a major impact on the evolving story.
The Stargate
Stargate
Stargate is a adventure military science fiction franchise, initially conceived by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Stargate. It was originally released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, and became a hit, grossing nearly...
franchise has included episodes in which characters interact with alternative versions of themselves.
In Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, several episodes make reference to a mirror universe, containing a very different history of events.
In Supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
, there have so far been eight AU storylines including 'What Is And What Should Never Be
What Is and What Should Never Be
"What Is and What Should Never Be" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant....
', 'The End
The End
-Film:* The End , a film by Christopher Maclaine included in the Treasures from American Film Archives series* The End , a 1978 comedy directed by and starring Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise...
', 'The French Mistake' and 'My Heart Will Go On'.
In the Lego Bionicle
Bionicle
Bionicle is a line of toys by the LEGO Group marketed primarily for 5- to 16-year-olds. The line was launched on December 30, 2000 in Europe and June/July 2001 in Canada and the United States. "Bionicle" is a portmanteau constructed from the words "biological" and "chronicle"...
storyline, there are many alternative universes, which are created whenever a character makes a decision or an event happens. For example, a universe was created when Toa Tuyet betrayed the city of Metru Nui and was defeated; in the alternative universe, Tuyet is aided by her comrade, Toa Nidhiki, and takes over Metru Nui, transforming the other Toa into secret police. These alternative dimensions can be visited using a mask called the Kanohi Olmak, Mask of Dimensional Gates.
Toei
Toei Company
is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
's celebration of the tenth anniversary of their long standing tokusatsu
Tokusatsu
is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....
franchise Kamen Rider
Kamen Rider
, is a weekly science fiction story created by Japanese manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. It debuted as a tokusatsu television series on April 3, 1971 and ran until February 10, 1973, airing on the Mainichi Broadcasting System and NET TV . A manga adaptation was also featured in Shōnen Magazine...
was honored by the creation of their 2009 series Kamen Rider Decade
Kamen Rider Decade
is the title of the first of the 2009 editions of the long-running Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu dramas. Decade, as its title suggests, is the tenth of the Heisei Rider Series, having begun with Kamen Rider Kuuga in 2000...
. The series describes every previous Kamen Rider series as alternative universes and worlds, as each world has its own Kamen Rider. A crossover episode with another one of Toei's famous series, Super Sentai
Super Sentai
The is the name given to the long-running Japanese superhero team genre of shows produced by Toei Co., Ltd., Toei Agency and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi...
, was done, as Kamen Rider Decade traveled into the world of Super Sentai and teamed up with Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
is the title of Toei Company's thirty-third entry in its long-running Super Sentai Series of Japanese tokusatsu television series. It premiered on February 15, 2009, the week following the finale of Engine Sentai Go-onger, and ended on February 7, 2010...
.
See also
- Parallel universeParallel universe (fiction)A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
- Alternate history
- Expanded universeExpanded UniverseThe term Expanded Universe is generally used to denote the 'extension' of a media franchise with other media...
- Fictional universeFictional universeA fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
- Future historyFuture historyA future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors in the subgenre of speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction...
- UberficUberficUberfic is a kind of alternative universe fan fiction in which characters or events are portrayed somewhat closely to original canon but usually in a different time period, many times featuring the ancestors, descendants or reincarnations of canon characters...