Canon

As ambiguous as the G-Man.

The canon of the Half-Life and Portal series has largely never been officially defined by Valve. Half-Life series writer Marc Laidlaw stated that the issue of canon is "something the fans came up with" and that they do not have an official stance on it. He remarked that they "do not get involved in issues of canonicity" and that "canon itself is non-canon", letting the games stand on their own. Valve also chooses not to define a precise timeline as they would only end up contradicting themselves in the future. As such, a handful of retcons have occurred throughout the series.

Regarding the Portal-themed technology demo spinoffs specifically, Portal series writer Erik Wolpaw has stated that they do consider these to be non-canon to the main Portal games.

OverWiki designations rationale

As no official definition of canon exists for most of the Half-Life and Portal series, the use of the term "canon" here on the Combine OverWiki is meant strictly for browsing convenience purposes to distinguish between sources that contribute to the series' overarching storyline and sources that do not. The following list is not official (except where explicitly cited) and should not be taken as rule.

Unofficial OverWiki list

Canon material

Half-Life cover art.

Portal 2 cover art.

Half-Life: Alyx cover art.

Half-Life games

• Half-Life
• Half-Life: Opposing Force
• Half-Life: Blue Shift
• Half-Life: Decay
• Half-Life 2
• Half-Life 2: Episode One
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two
• Half-Life: Alyx

Portal games

• Portal
• Portal 2
• Peer Review
• Perpetual Testing Initiative

Miscellaneous

• Portal 2: Lab Rat
• Turret Lullaby
• ApertureScience.com
• The Portal ARG
• The PotatoFoolsDay ARG
• Various emails and messages exchanged with developers

Official guides

• Half-Life Prima Guide
• Half-Life: Opposing Force Prima Guide
• Half-Life 2 Prima Guide
• Half-Life 2: Episode One Prima Guide
• The Orange Box Prima Guide
• Portal 2: The Official Guide (Standard and collector)

Non-canon material

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch cover art.

Bridge Constructor Portal cover art.

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast cover art.

Portal-themed tech demos

• Robot Repair
• The Lab
• Moondust
• Aperture Hand Lab
• Aperture Desk Job

Miscellaneous

• Deathmatch Classic
• Codename: Gordon
• Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
• Half-Life Deathmatch: Source
• Half-Life 2: Survivor
• Portal: The Flash Version
• Portal: Still Alive
• Portal 2 Sixense MotionPack DLC
• Lamarr Goes to the Zoo
• Portal Pinball
• Portal: The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game
• Lego Dimensions
• Bridge Constructor Portal
• The SteamVR tutorial featuring Bendies and the Virtual Reality Assistance and Education Core‎
• Every game trailer, as they often feature elements that have been changed for the game's release
• Epistle 3
• BreenGrub

Cut material

• Prospero
• Quiver (Turned into Half-Life)
• Half-Life: Hostile Takeover
• Half-Life: Uplink
• Get Your Free TVs!
• Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
• Junction Point's Half-Life 2 Episode
• Ravenholm
• F-STOP (Turned into Portal 2)
• Unannounced Half-Life project
• Borealis
• Anything related to the pre-release versions of the games (such as the leaked Half-Life Alpha and the Half-Life 2 leak)

Behind the scenes media

(Although material given in these sources that expounds specifically upon aspects in the finished games are typically regarded as canon.)

• The Final Hours of Half-Life 2
• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
• The Final Hours of Portal 2
• The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx

See also

• Retcons
• Timeline of the Half-Life and Portal universe

External links

• Canon on Wikipedia