Fanon versus Canon
When it comes to Weiss Kreuz, I can't claim to be the most well-educated fan. I started writing fanfiction without seeing a single episode, and I survived primarily on what's known as 'fanon': information about characters and plots invented by fans that becomes imbedded in the general fandom. Unfortunately, some of this varies wildly from actual canon, and some are assumptions made by a single author that gets picked up on and assumed to be canon.
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Originally this section included differences between the anime and the manga, but the manga has officially been excluded from canon now, and in theory the characters should always appear as they do in Gluhen. Not only that, but certain aspects of the history, such as how Aya joined Weiss (and when) have been completely altered. However, some things remain unchanged, such as Nagi's past and Schuldig's real name. There are a great many myths surrounding various aspects of the canon, and, being the helpful soul that I am, I wanted to do the fandom a favour and keep those pesky errors from cropping up time and again in apparently canonical fics.
Just a note: the pic at the top of this page comes from one of the rare artbooks. I found it in a gallery, and there's is reasonable evidence to suggest that it may originally have come from 'The Crossroads', one of Yuki Scorpio's sites. See the bottom of the page for the link. She has access to most of the canon works, so it's definitely worth checking out both of her sites.
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Character Appearance
Rather than list the changes in canon here, as I have done previously, I'm sticking to differences in the characters' appearances, since the variations can make a fic appear incorrect, when it just happens to be based on a different medium.
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Manga
Yohji: Dark brown hair, green eyes
Ken: Brunette, brown eyes
Ran: Red hair, lilac eyes
Omi: Light blond, blue eyes
Farfarello: Red hair, red eye
Schuldig: Chlorine green hair, gold eyes
Brad: Black hair, blue eyes
Nagi: Brunette, brown eyes
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Original Anime
Yohji: Blond/brown hair, green eyes
Ken: Brunette, blue eyes (occasionally green, in some screenshots)
Ran: Red hair, lilac eyes
Omi: Darker blond / light brown hair, blue eyes
Farfarello: White hair, gold eye
Schuldig: Orange hair, blue eyes
Brad: Black hair, brown eyes
Nagi: Brunette, blue eyes
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Gluhen
Yohji: White blond hair, green eyes
Ken: Brunette, blue eyes
Ran: Purple hair, lilac eyes
Omi: Darker blond, blue eyes
Farfarello: Blond hair, blue/grey eyes
Schuldig: Orange/brown (auburn?) hair, blue eyes
Brad: Black hair, brown eyes
Nagi: Brunette, blue eyes
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Fanon vs Canon
My sources for this include Teufel and bradcrawford.org. For links see the bottom of this page. Possibly unsurprisingly, Schwarz suffer most from fanon errors, since less is known about them.
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1) Names
Crawford's first name is Brad. Not Bradley or Bradford or anything else. I'm guilty of this one too, but it certainly bears mention.
Schuldig's first name is not known. No, honest. It's not Christian. Or Johann. Or rather, it could be, but there's no canon to suggest it. Both of the above names can be found in very popular fanfics, and have been picked up by other fans. I've done the same.
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2) Schuldig's eyes
Schuldig's eyes are not green. At least, not for most of the time. Apparently they're supposed to be either blue or gold, but this seems to vary from scene to scene in the anime, and from anime to manga, and they do occasionally turn up green. Like Ken (and various other characters), there's some odd continuity when it comes to colouring Schu's eyes, so it's not unusual to turn up the odd screen cap in which they're green.
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3) Places of origin
This can be found in the book 'all that Weiss'. Brad is American, enough said. However, Farfarello is 'from Ireland' and Schuldig is 'from Germany'. Judging by the phrasing, this could even be taken to imply they're not actually German or Irish, but it's reasonable to assume that 'from X' and 'Xan' or 'Xish' are basically the same.
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4) Schwarz's pasts
There is no canon evidence for Crawford or Schuldig's past, and any possibilities you may find are entirely fanon. Those who have only seen the animes may also believe the same of Nagi, but his history is actually covered in one of the drama CDs. Nagi killed his mother when he was less than five years old and repressed the memory. He lives at an orphanage run by a nun, which Ken has also spent time at during his parent's divorce (Ken's past is also usually treated as an enigma, but fewer fics focus on it). Rather than spoil the CD, I'll just say it eventually ends with Nagi going to Rosenkreuz with Crawford.
Crawford and Schuldig are more quickly dealt with. Schuldig was not a prostitute. That is entirely fanon. And while Crawford uses boxing stances throughout the original anime, there is nothing else to suggest he was a boxer.
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5) Character portrayal
The problem with characterisation is it mostly depends on who is writing the fic. In the animes Schwarz don't get the same amount of screen time as Weiss, of course, so their characters are not as fully developed. The original manga (which, to reiterate, is no longer part of the canonical timeline) has rather more of Schwarz in. They exchange jokes and sarcastic comments. They play practical jokes on each other. At that point they lack the kind of group bond you see later in Gluhen. The main errors in characterisation are truly fanon. There is no canonical evidence to support any of the following:.
~ Crawford is a bastard, arsehole, cruel, etc - there is evidence to suggest he does have a sense of humour. even if he isn't exactly a nice man. Hell, they're evil assassins. None of them are nice
~ Nagi is anorexic - I'm not sure where this came from. He's small, and we don't see him eat. We don't see most of the characters eat.
~ Schuldig is a slut - No, really, he isn't. People just assume he's like Yohji. We never see him in any kind of relationship, either long term or casual.
~ Farfarello is manic in his insanity - He's a zealot, and probably psychotic, but he doesn't actually go around shrieking "hurt god!" and bouncing off the walls, as he often gets written. The only time we truly see him fly off the wall is when Ruth in there, which is understandable. During the Drama CDs he falls in love with a witch called Sally, who has the ability to restore his ability to feel. Anyway, that's why he's not actually present in Gluhen. He's pursuing a married life. Not manic.
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6) Spelling
This is neither fanon nor canon, really. If you watch the subs, you get some wonderful variations sometimes. According to the Character Sheets, the organisation is SS (ß), but you'll also see Estet, Esset, Eztet, Ezset, Etet... Estet is probably the most commonly used in fanfiction. There is evidence to suggest that the actual name ß only really applies to the three old people, and the rest of the organisation is Rosenkreuz (a name generally association in the fandom with the training facility). I do believe that the ß symbol ought to be used whenever writing Weiß, but like most people I can't be bothered, not really. I usually stick to 'ss'. Anyone who uses a B is, quite frankly, wrong.
There are two problems with the other names in the series. One is pronounciation, and the other is the fact that the Japanese characters don't always translate literally into the roman alphabet. Schuldig suffers from pronounciation problems, and Yohji from spelling. Schuldig literally translates as 'guilty' in German, but translations from the Japanese tend to come up with a selection of spellings, including Schuldich, Schulderich, Schuldip, Schuldrich and several containing a selection of 'j's. Schuldich is probably the most commonly used in fanfics, though I prefer Schuldig, and it is the name given in the official material. I've only seen three versions of Yohji: Yohji, Yoji and Youji. I've also seen Kuhdo as Kudo, Kudoh and Kudou. I have it on good authority (thank you Kami-chan!) that it ought to be spelt 'Kudoh', due to the pronunciation in the anime.
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Useful Links
Manga translations
Aya no Weiss Kreuz Corner - An Assassin and a White Shaman is scanned, other mangas are simply translated.
Shakenetsu no Honoo - Has translations for some of Weiss Side B (see below)
The far shore glowing - A shrine to Weiss Side B (post Gluhen manga)
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Drama CD translations and summaries
Sequential Tart Archives - It's a news site aimed at women, I think... (And look, I've even already searched for you, all you have to do is pick the right reviews. Summaries only)
Teufel - One CD translated, the other neatly summarised
Weiss Kreuz (Sakurachan's page) - brief summaries of the CDs
Florists by Day, Assassins by Night - A slightly muddled but otherwise informative summary of the Dramatic Precious CDs.
The Crossroads - Yuki Scorpio has recently added a translations section. All of the DP CDs, plus some of the others. Definitely worth reading.
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Gluhen Screencaps
Shakenetsu no Honoo - Lots of Gluhen Picks! And a section of Gluhen links, most of which I can't be bothered to copy just now.
Weiss Kreuz Gluhen Image Gallery - It's all in the name, really.
Shattered Crosses - purely Gluhen site.
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Misc
The Crossroads - Yuki Scorpio's site, which has a great deal of Weiss miscellany on it. You can find the pic on this page there, though I suspect I originally found it on another site, belonging to someone else who had taken the time to scan it in. But since I can't remember which site, and there's a fair chance they borrowed it from Yuki anyway, Yuki can have the credit ^_^
Bradcrawford.org - Another of Yuki's sites This has more Schwarz information than you can shake a stick at, especially all those niggly bits of canon that you only know about if you've got, well, everything. I never knew Nagi had a history. Turns out it's complicated one. Oh, and Farf does 'soul-body detachment', which you finally see in Gluhen.