The Map Is Not the Territory. Bible and Canon in the Transmedial World of HALO

Abstract

Building on Henry Jenkins’ definition of transmedia storytelling as »the art of worldmaking« (JENKINS 2006: 114), which puts the world at the center of storytelling, this article focuses on two tools for the apprehension of a transmedial world from a perspective which takes into account the specificity of media and production: the transmedial ›bible‹ and the ›canon‹. For this purpose, I use as an example the entertainment franchise HALO (343i), which originated in the videogame HALO. COMBAT EVOLVED (2001).