Which Harry Potter works are considered canon?

Question

There are many different Harry Potter works including:

• books
• short stories
• movies
• card games
• video games
• toys
• amusement parks
• web content

Which ones are considered to be canon?

Answer 1

As Stu Wilson said, there's no "official corporate position" of JKR on the topic; so the exact hierarchy of canonicity is somewhat subjective and personal.

Having said that, I would like to offer what my personal preference is, together with objective explanation of why that order was chosen. (For other commonly accepted opinions, see @ibid's answer)

1. Pottermore.

   • This is more canonical than interviews for 3 reasons:

     A. Interviews are spur of the moment things where JKR may say something off the cuff. She made mistakes in interviews before. Pottermore is "official" content she spents time to think through.

     B. Much of Pottermore content is much newer than a vast bulk of JKR interviews.

     C. JKR officially noted in 2012 that Pottermore is currently a replacement for her originally-planned HP Encyclopedia.

   • Pottermore is also more canonical than books for the reasons B and C above.

   • Note: This only applies to Pottermore content by JKR. Pottermore content NOT known to be by JKR slides down to same level as films.

2. Original JKRowling.com website.

   I view it as Pottermore-lite, except that it was much earlier AND wasn't billed as "official encyclopedia stand-in".

   This also includes things like W.O.M.B.A.T.S. and various "gazette" type promotional materials that were at some point posted by JKR.

3. JKR interviews where JKR clearly announced that the book is wrong (or where there's no discrepancies with the books).

   This includes things like "No, Harry wasn't a Horcrux, no matter what Dumbledore said in DH".

4. JKR interviews and Wonderbook content where JKR contradicted the books but didn't actually acknowledge that the book was wrong (and the book was earlier than interview)

   But in case of conflict between books and interviews; I view the situation as more of "needs deeper digging" than easy and obvious "book is wrong" kind of dilemmas.

   Note: Wonderbook content not 100% known to come from JKR slides down to just above the films.

5. HP books 1-7

   Also on this level will be the Fantastic Beasts screenplay if it is proven conclusively to be 100% in JKR's control.

6. Supplemental JKR books (Beedle the Bard, QTTA, HP Prequel story about the bicycle, Fantastic Beasts, Daily Prophet, Wonderbook content)

   I don't have a very good reason to view main HP books as more canonical than supplementary books; so I can easily agree if someone insists on switching them in the hierarchy. As we know from this excellent asnwer, there are some discrepancies so the order may mattter.

   Also on this level is the Famous Wizard Cards from the EA games which have been confirmed to be written by JKR.

7. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne

   This has been marketed as "The Eighth Story", but wasn't written by Rowling.

8. JKR interviews where JKR contradicted them in later books

9. Wonderbook content which is NOT 100% known to come from JKR

10. Fantastic Beasts Film where not proven to be from JKR screenplay

    Higher up than the other movies as JKR exercised greater creative control.

11. HP Movies 1-8

    Personally, I don't really consider movies canon almost at all. BUT, they are marginally canonical in a sense that JKR did approve a lot of things in the movies and had feedback into them. Some people consider them to be almost as canonical as books. I consider them significantly LESS canonical.

    CAVEAT: The only case where a movie is full canon is when it's a details that's KNOWN to be approved by JKR explicitly.

12. Facts sourced from Harry Potter amusement parks and Video Games

    This is even less canon than movies but probably a shade above fanfics if there's a reasonable suspicion JKR approved of a specific fact.

13. Assorted fan fiction

    This is NOT canon at all as JKR didn't approve any of it.

High level, my hierarchy is:

1. 100% sure JKR word that is planned writing, acknowledging discrepancies with prior canon (e.g. Pottermore content by JKR, jkrowling.com). Pottermore is higher within this subgroup due to being considered an official replacement for encyclopedia
2. 100% sure JKR word that is ad-hoc (interviews/twitter), acknowledging discrepancies with prior canon
3. JKR word where there are NO discrepancies, or they aren't acknowledged, and is planned writing
4. JKR word where there are NO discrepancies, or they aren't acknowledged, and is ad-hoc
5. Books 1-7
6. Supplemental books + any material 100% authored by JKR if proven so (screenplays)
7. JKR's prior word, contradicted by LATER info in #1-6
8. Info from works that are under some level of creative control of JKR, but not proven to actually come from her fact-wise (movies #1-8; FB movie; Cursed Child). Within this, ordered by the degree of JKR control, e.g. #1-#8 are lower since she exercised less control.
9. Tertiary works (Video games, Parks)

Answer 2

Officially, there is no official position; however I would list the following as canon in this order:

• the books
• associated works written by JKR (this includes Pottermore.com)
• jkrowling.com
• Interviews

The movies I would not consider canon at all, even though they do follow the books closely, there are enough inconsistencies to merit removing them from canon.

Answer 3

Neither J.K. Rowling nor Warner Bros has made any official policy over what constitutes Harry Potter canon. (but see the end of this post)

There are differing opinions among fans.

Here are the canon policies of two of the most popular Harry Potter fansites, along with some other popular opinions: (Note: A detailed list of all of Rowling's Harry Potter writings can be found here.)

The Harry Potter Lexicon

Information which has come directly from JKR in either written or spoken form is considered canon. All other sources, including the film version from Warner Bros., are NOT considered official or canon

• Primary canon

  • The seven Harry Potter novels (Bloomsbury editions, with corrections)

• Secondary Canon

  • Other Harry Potter books by Rowling (the Scholastic editions, the companion books, the text from the Sony Wonderbook games)
  • Other writings by Rowling (including the original jkrowling.com, JKR's Pottermore writings, The Famous Wizard Cards, The Daily Prophet newsletters, The Black Family Tree, The Harry Potter Prequel & The Fantastic Beasts screenplay)
  • Anything from the movies, games, parks, play etc. which is specifically known to come from Rowling
  • Illustrations by JK Rowling

• Tertiary Canon (considered to be canon where they don’t conflict with the above sources)

  • online chat and interview transcripts where Rowling is quoted exactly (including Twitter)
  • TV Programmes on which Rowling appears (including 60 minutes, Harry Potter and Me, and A Year in the Life)
  • other interviews where Rowling is not quoted exactly, but her comments reported
  • deductions made from canon, where such deductions are self-evident or virtually certain.
• Non-Canon
  • Everything else (including Movies, Games, Parks, Plays, fanfiction, etc.)

Harry Potter Wikia

Basically put, everything is canon unless specifically contradicted by a "higher" source.

• Tier 1 - JKR (These sources come from J. K. Rowling herself. When J. K. Rowling contradicts herself, the newest source is to be taken as the "most" canon.)
  • Books (The 7 Harry Potter novels, Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Tales of Beedle the Bard)
  • Other writings by Rowling set within the Harry Potter universe, (e.g. the Harry Potter Prequel short story and the Fantastic Beasts script)
  • J. K. Rowling's Official Website
  • Pottermore
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
  • Interviews
• Tier 2 - JKR Involved (These sources do not contain information directly from the "mouth" of J. K. Rowling, yet they are projects in which she was involved.)
  • Movies (The 8 Harry Potter films, The Fantastic Beasts films, Queen's Handbag skit)
  • The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
  • Book about the films (Harry Potter Film Wizardry, Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey, Harry Potter Limited Edition)
  • Exhibitions about the films (The Making of Harry Potter, Harry Potter: The Exhibition)
• Tier 3 - JKR Licensing (These sources are where J. K. Rowling licensed the use of the Harry Potter universe to another company or individual.)
  • Video games (The 8 *Harry Potter video games, Tie-in video games, such as Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7)
  • Famous Wizard Cards
  • Harry Potter Trading Card Game
  • Other official merchandise
• Non-Canon
  • Fanfiction

The Seven Book Purists

Only the seven books themselves are canon

_{(This is a very popular opinion, but I don't know any websites that have adopted it.)}

• Canon
  • The seven Harry Potter books (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)
• Uncertain (Yes, even this policy isn't completely straightforward.)
  • Differences between the Scholastic and Bloomsbury editions
  • Corrections made in later printings of the books.
• Non-canon
  • Rowling's other Harry Potter writings (including the companion books, and Pottermore)
  • Interviews
  • Movies
  • Videogames
  • Fanfiction

The J.K. Rowling’s Canon policy

If Rowling said it’s canon, then it’s canon.

Many people have pointed to JK Rowling's tweet where she says that The Cursed Child should be considered canon. Therefore, we now have a new canon policy:

• Canon
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne
• Non-Canon
  • The Seven Harry Potter Books
  • Rowling’s various other Harry Potter writings (e.g. the companion books)
  • Pottermore
  • The Movies
  • The video games

Answer 4

At this point, I would say only the books should be considered canon.

For me, any "revelation" that JKR has made since the publication of each individual book has been irrelevant or inconsistent with the characters, and the movies made a lot of terrible mistakes. (For example, at the end of the second film, after Dobby is freed, Lucius Malfoy begins to say "avada-" and is then blasted by Dobby. It's safe to assume the next word would have been "kedavra", which is not consistent with Lucius's character, or the setting - outside of Dumbledore's office, broad daylight - .)

Additionally, JKR was a bit sloppy and didn't recheck the books for plot holes, and then made up silly excuses in interviews to cover them up (Fred and George not noticing Pettigrew!) . She has also been inconsistent with her answers (For example, when asked about the number of students at Hogwarts, her answers are all over the place.)

All in all, I personally believe after a book is published the author can't change it. If any of the sources other people mentioned here either expand the universe or clarify the books, then they are probably fine. If they attempt to change what was written, or contradict the original text, they are not canon.

Answer 5

Books:

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Tales of Beedle the Bard
• Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
• Quidditch Through The Ages
• Book of Spells
• Book of Potions

Short Stories:

• The Harry Potter prequel story 'Drumsticks'

Pottermore website

Miscellaneous information from J. K. Rowling

• Interviews
• Tweets

The movies are not considered canon as on several points they conflict with the books.

Answer 6

I left a couple of rather grumpy comments on the question suggesting that "canon" is whatever you want it to be. Even if a company, or even the author assert that a given list of works constitutes canon, there is no need to go along with it.

I suppose I should say what I want it to be, although I doubt that my opinion will be popular.

Harry Potter is primarily a series of books, and so I consider the books themselves to be canon. I don't consider derivative works, such as the films, games, etc. to be canon even if the author had some part in developing of approving them.

I will consider commentary or minor works by the author as canon provided it can believably be said to represent what the author meant at the time of writing the main books (it is possible that JKR has gone beyond this).

It isn't that I'm biased towards books. I take a similar position on franchises (such as Star Wars) that are primarily films. In that case, I would consider the films to be canon, and not derivative works, such as novelisations.