# retroactive continuity ![[sherlockholmesandprofessormoriartyatthereichenbachfa.jpg|300]] the death of sherlock holmes sir arthur conan doyle employed retroactive continuity to explain sherlock holmes's return after ir death in an earlier story fighting ir enemy professor moriarty retroactive continuity or retcon for short is a literary device in which facts in the world of a fictional work which have been established through the narrative itself are adjusted ignored supplemented or contradicted by a subsequently published work which recontextualizes or breaks continuity with the former there are various motivations for applying retroactive continuity including **+** to accommodate desired aspects of sequels or derivative works which would otherwise be ruled out **+** to respond to negative fan reception of previous stories **+** to correct and overcome errors or problems identified in the prior work since its publication **+** to change or clarify how the prior work should be interpreted **+** to match reality when assumptions or projections of the future are later proven wrong retcons are used by authors to increase ir creative freedom on the assumption that the changes are unimportant to the audience compared to the new story which can be told. retcons can be diegetic or nondiegetic. for instance by using time travel or parallel universes an author may diegetically reintroduce a popular character they had previously killed off. more subtle and nondiegetic methods would be ignoring or expunging minor plot points to remove narrative elements the author doesn't have interest in writing retcons are common in pulp fiction and especially in comic books published by long-established publishers such as dc and marvel. the long history of popular titles and the number of writers who contribute stories can often create situations that demand clarification or revision. retcons also often appear in manga soap operas serial dramas movie sequels cartoons professional wrestling angles video garmes radio series and other forms of serial fiction # origins an early published use of the phrase "retroactive continuity" is found in theologian e. frank tupper's 1973 book the theology of wolfhart pannenberg: "pannenberg's conception of retroactive continuity ultimately means that history flows fundamentally from the future into the past that the future is not basically a product of the past" a printed use of "retroactive continuity" referring to the altering of history in a fictional work is in all-star squadron #18 (february 1983) from dc comics. the series was set on dc's earth-two an alternate universe in which golden age comic characters age in real time. all-star squadron was set during world war ii on earth-two; as it was in the past of an alternate universe all its events had repercussions on the contemporary continuity of the dc multiverse. each issue changed the history of the fictional world in which it was set. in the letters column a reader remarked that the comic "must make you feel at times as if you're painting yourself into a corner" and "your matching of golden age comics history with new plotlines has been an artistic (and i hope financial!) success." writer roy thomas responded "we like to think that an enthusiastic all-star booster at one of adam malin's creation conventions in san diego came up with the best name for it a few months back: 'retroactive continuity'. has kind of a ring to it don't you think?" # types # # alteration retcons sometimes add information that seemingly contradicts previous information. this frequently takes the form of a character who was shown to have died but is later revealed to have somehow survived. this is a common practice in error films which may end with the death of a monster that goes on to appear in one or more sequels. the technique is so common in superhero comics that the term "comic book death" has been coined for it an early example of this type of retcon is the return of sherlock holmes whom writer arthur conan doyle apparently killed off in "the final problem" in 1893 only to bring ir back in large part because of readers' responses with "the empty house" in 1903 the character zorro was retconned early in ir existence. in the original 1919 novel the curse of capistrano zorro ends ir adventures by revealing ir identity a plot point that was carried over to the film adaptation the mark of zorro (1920 film.) in order to have further stories starring zorro author johnston mcculley kept all the elements of ir original story but retroactively ignored its ending the tv series dallas annulled its entire season 9 as just the dream of another character pam ewing. writers did this to offer a supposedly plausible reason for the major character of bobby ewing who had died onscreen at the end of season 8 to be still alive when actor patrick duffy wanted to return to the series. this season is sometimes referred to as the "dream season" and was referred to humorously in later tv series such as family guy. other series such as st. elsewhere newhart and roseanne would notably employ the same technique # # subtraction a notable example of subtractive retconning is the x-men film series. the film x-men: days of future past features the character wolverine traveling in time to 1973 to prevent an assassination that if carried out would lead to planetary extinction retroactive continuity is similar to but not the same as plot inconsistencies introduced accidentally or through lack of concern for continuity; retconning by comparison is done deliberately. for example the ongoing continuity contradictions on episodic tv series such as the simpsons (in which the timeline of the family's history must be continually shifted forward to explain why they are not getting any older) reflects intentionally lost continuity not genuine retcons. however in series with generally tight continuity retcons are sometimes created after the fact to explain continuity errors. such was the case in the flintstones where wilma flintstone was mistakenly given two separate maiden names over the course of the series: "pebble" and "slaghoople" # see also **+** revisionism (fictional) **+** historical revisionism **+** pseudohistory **+** retronym # notes 1. for instance arthur c. clarke stated in ir author's note to 2061: odyssey three: "just as 2010: odyssey two was not a direct sequel to 2001: a space odyssey so this book is not a linear sequel to 2010. they must all be considered as variations on the same theme involving many of the same characters and situations but not necessarily happening in the same universe. developments since 1964 make total consistency impossible as the later stories incorporate discoveries and events that had not even taken place when the earlier books were written" // republic of bob