User blog comment:Commdor/Vote for ME3's Female Shepard/@comment-84037-20110725013111/@comment-737801-20110725040212

Yet again, canon comes from the source, and since BioWare hasn't set a canon Shepard, then there isn't one. Nothing is considered canon because there is no canon to compare to. Shepard is whatever you want to make him or her. Shepard is literally a clean slate, and you can do what you want. Canon is defined in this case by BioWare, and since they will not set a canon Shepard, then NOTHING is considered canon. Yes the DEFAULT male Shepard is used in ads, but that in no way shape or form makes it canon. Canon is left up to each individual who plays the Mass Effect Series and that's it. There is no canon, Shepard can be female or male, a Soldier or a Vanguard, a Spacer kid or someone who ran with a gang on Earth, among other factors. Nothing about Shepard is canon, apart from the fact they are Lt. Commander in the Alliance Military, they recruited a team in 2183 (which in of itself is variable), killed the traitor Saren, and saved the Citadel from Reaper attack. Then they died and was resurrected by Cerberus, recruited another team (again variable), and stopped the Collectors. That, in a nutshell, is canon. Literally everything else about Shepard is left up to the player. There is no canon, and looking up the definitions of canon and default will prove that as they don't remotely mean the same thing, because that is exactly what you are saying. The default is canon despite the fact BioWare says it isn't. Again, bottom line, there is no canon Shepard, and there won't be until BioWare changes their position on it.