What if something is both non-canon and canon?

[ExodusNexus]

This may seem weird, but it's not a rhetorical question. It stems from a certain LEGO Ninjago side story called Way of the Departed. The author, who is the Ninjago co-creator and LEGO Senior Creative Manager, has stated he it for two purposes, which was to perform world building and use plot lines that were rejected for one reason or another. The events themselves have been explicitly said to be non-canon. However, he's also said that the world building and details revealed are written with the canon continuity in mind and have no contradictions. This seems a bit weird, so I decided to ask for input here, since I couldn't really figure out how to use the work. Is there a good way to go about this? This seems kind of weird.

 

[DMB_1]

To my knowledge, despite not having read/watched them, outside media such as Comics, Novels, and Shorts aren't canon (except for the guides), even when written by the authors.

However, what I think he's doing is simply giving a preview of possible future world-building of the main show through the novel, which he may develop later in the story.

To be fair, it's not the first time he one of the authors did this: a few times, things revealed by WoG were later confirmed in the show itself, and even the non-confirmed stuff didn't contradict anything, hence why I tend to trust WoG by the authors when it comes to Ninjago (except by Lego.com).

 

[ExodusNexus]

I believe some outside media is canon. Not all of it, but st least a few of the shorts.

 

[Corgi_the_Gen_Z_God]

I mean how else Cole changed back into being mortal again?

 

[DMB_1]

He did it in "Day of the Departed", by crossing a Rift made by the Yin Blade.

 

[Corgi_the_Gen_Z_God]

He did it in "Day of the Departed", by crossing a Rift made by the Yin Blade.

I said "How else"