Wiktionary:Criteria for inclusion/Fictional universes

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These are examples of the criteria for inclusion as applied to terms originating in fictional universes such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Dungeons and Dragons. Examples below include lightsaber, protocol droid, Darth Vader, and Vulcan.

Such terms which have three citations in separate works, but which do not have three citations that are independent of reference to that universe, may be included only in appendices of words from that universe, and not in the main dictionary space.

By way of example, the following three references to "protocol droid" would suffice to permit the phrase to be included in a Star Wars appendix, but not in the main dictionary space:

• 2000, Elizabeth B. Davis, Myth and Identity in the Epic of Imperial Spain, University of Missouri Press, →ISBN, page 216,

  Perhaps it is no accident that one of the most poignant moments in the whole Star Wars trilogy is the scene in Return of the Jedi where the protocol droid C-3PO relates the story of the Galactic Civil War for the assembled Ewoks in a language only they can understand.

• 2002, Pamela Rice Hahn and Jesse Flores, Journey to the Center of the Internet, Syngress, →ISBN, page 59,

  “But moving right along, let’s talk about protocols,” Dr. F. continued.

  Finally, a movie reference I understood! Finally, something I could get excited about! “Like C-3PO!” I shouted. “He was a protocol droid!”

• 2004, William Sims Bainbridge (ed.), National Science Foundation, Berkshire Encyclopedia Of Human–Computer Interaction: When Science Fiction Becomes Science Fact, Berkshire Publishing Group LLC, →ISBN, page 469,

  C-3PO is a protocol droid, or translator, whose function is to help humans communicate with aliens and machines.

By contrast, the following three references to "lightsaber" would suffice to permit the word to be included in the main dictionary space:

• 2004, Rob N. Hood, Beyond the Wind, p. 1:

  Wielding his flashlight like a lightsaber, Kyle sent golden shafts slicing through the swirling vapors.

• 2004, Les Pardew, Game Design for Teens, p. 71:

  With some of the modifications , you can even play with a lightsaber, thus showing how one idea can branch into many others.

• 2006, Maddy B., The Haunter of the Loch, p. 41:

  Brian being Brian, his first thought was of a lightsaber.

For purposes of defining a single work, a series of books, films, or television episodes by the same author, documenting the exploits of a common set of characters in a fictional universe (e.g. the Harry Potter books, Tolkien's Middle Earth books, the Star Wars films), shall be considered a single work in multiple parts.

With respect to names of persons or places from fictional universes, they shall not be included unless they are used out of context in an attributive sense, for example:

• 2004, Robert Whiting, The Meaning of Ichiro: The New Wave from Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime, p. 130:

  Irabu had hired Nomura, a man with whom he obviously had a great deal in common, and, who, as we have seen, was rapidly becoming the Darth Vader of Japanese baseball.

• 1998, Harriet Goldhor Lerner, The Mother Dance: How Children Change Your Life, p. 159:

  Steve and I explained the new program to our children, who looked at us as if we had just announced that we were from the planet Vulcan.