Teen Star Wars fan secretly fluent in French, instantly decodes fanfic villain’s hidden identity: '[The author] had a good laugh and said she didn’t think her readership would catch that'

Back in the early 2000s, online fandoms were basically the Wild West. If you were a kid, you had to be extra careful because while you just wanted to write about Jedi romances and galactic betrayals, there was always that lurking fear of Stranger Danger.

One fan grew up in a French-speaking region, but when they joined the Star Wars fanfiction community as a tween, they hid everything about their real life, including the fact that they spoke fluent French. Nobody knew. Not even their closest fanfic buddies.

Then, one day, another writer introduced a mysterious villain called Darth Fils. If you speak French, you’re already laughing, because “fils” means “son.” Our undercover fan immediately knew this was code for Luke Skywalker’s dark side alter ego and couldn’t help but spill the theory.
The author admitted she didn’t expect her mostly American readers to catch it, but one secret Francophone did. She later made sure the villains had names with Latin roots, which turned out to be much harder to crack than the French one.
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"Busted a fanfic writer…"

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