Author Jason Fry Shines Light on a Long-Hidden Star Wars Easter Egg
Star Wars author Jason Fry unearthed a long-hidden easter egg of his own creation on Twitter this morning, and it’s kind of blowing our minds. The easter egg was born from the extended ending in the special edition of Return of the Jedi where we see a celebration montage after the fall of the Empire. As it turns out, one of the shouted lines from a Coruscant citizen means more than you know, and Jason admits that he’s a little sad that this little gem has gone unnoticed until now.
Although most of the lines were barely audible, Jason points out that one line in particular attracted a lot of attention, and fans began speculating what was actually being said. Some heard “the time has come”, while others heard “long live the Republic”. One theory however, was that the line viewers were hearing was actually “The Son of Suns”, which was a subtle reference to the Chosen One prophecy that Lucas would later include in the prequel films.
Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo showed an apparent interest in this theory and contacted sound engineer Matt Wood to obtain the original audio recording of the line. It was decided that the line was actually a made-up Huttese (the native language of the sluglike Hutt species) phrase with no meaning attached to it. So much for the Chosen One reference theory. But wait, there’s more.
Jason reveals that the spoken phrase was “Gi Shatta Gasha”, and that when he got the opportunity to do something about it, he decided to retroactively assign real meaning to this phrase in the most subtle, sneaky way possible.
In his book Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy, an adaptation of the Maul/Mandalore episodes of the Clone Wars series, he casually dropped a line explaining that Tatooine’s twin suns were called “Gi Dopa Gasha” in Huttese. Later, when he got the chance to update the Episode I Visual Dictionary for DK for the 3-D release of the movie, he included an alias for bounty hunter Aurra Sing that helps explain the rest of the phrase.
Aurra Sing’s mother was named Aunuanna, so he refers to Sing as “Shatta Aunuanna”, which came to mean “daughter of Aunuanna” in Huttese. So now we come back to the phrase “Gi Shatta Gasha” from Return of the Jedi, and we see that the phrase literally means “The Daughter of the Suns”. But couple that with the knowledge that in Legends, the Hutt species were hermaphrodites, and the gender restriction for the word no longer applies.
Jason Fry effortlessly and seamlessly created an amazing Star Wars easter egg that was so subtle that it has gone unnoticed by the most attentive and conspiratorial fans to this day. After years of waiting for someone to pick up on it, the author finally decided to take it upon himself to reveal the connection.
While this revelation will not dramatically alter your view on Star Wars in any way, this is the kind of stuff that we love about the Star Wars universe. Like the Force that connects and binds everything together, the spirit of cohesion among Star Wars authors and creators is almost tangible. It’s truly incredible how connected everything is, and seeing little things like this come to light after all this time still brings a smile to our faces and makes us wonder, what else have we missed along the way?
Check out Jason’s original Tweets before you go:
So here’s a little story about a #StarWars Easter egg that worked so well that it didn’t work at all. Warning: the dorkery gets high octane here. Protective equipment is advised.
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
At the end of the ROTJ special edition, we see citizens of Coruscant celebrating the Empire’s fall. (Yeah yeah, I know. Stay on target.) There are a lot of “wild lines” vaguely audible. One attracted particular attention. Was it “The time has come”? Or “long live the Republic”?
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
Maybe. But there was also an Internet fan theory that what we were hearing was “The Son of the Suns!” And this was supposedly a sneaky reference to a prophecy noted in an earlier draft of A New Hope. An early version of the Chosen One idea, basically.
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
Pablo dug into this, chatting with Matt Wood and obtaining audio of the recording session. The verdict: the line was “Gi Shatta Gasha!” and a bit of made-up Huttese that meant … nothing. https://t.co/4IUstbY3uC
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
(Ah crud that link didn’t work. Run it through the Wayback Machine or something. It’s a fun piece. Let’s move on.)
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
I couldn’t leave well enough alone, and thought I saw a chance for some supremely geeky mischief. (Or may have swiped the idea from Pablo. It was years ago.) To amuse myself further, I decided this should be a two-part maneuver.
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
Oh! Here’s the working link. https://t.co/bCWpS8oc46 Thanks @jonas1015119!
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
Step 1: In “Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy,” my Scholastic adaptation of the Maul/Mandalore Clone Wars episodes, I dropped in a line that Tatooine’s twin suns were called “Gi Dopa Gasha” in Huttese. pic.twitter.com/FFwibtrJIS
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
I was also updating the Episode I Visual Dictionary for DK, tied into the 3-D release. In that one, I noted that Aurra Sing’s aliases included Nastah and Shatta Aunuanna. “Nashtah” tied in with the Legacy of the Force novels. But what about that other mess of letters? pic.twitter.com/hL8FPv9Piz
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
Aunuanna was introduced in the Dark Horse series Emissaries to Malastare. She’s Aurra Sing’s mother.
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
So put that together. “Gi Gasha” means “The Suns” and “Shatta” means … “Daughter.” BUT in Legends Hutts were hermaphrodites. So maybe “Shatta” isn’t so restrictive in what it means.
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
Maybe “Gi Shatta Gasha” means “The Son of the Suns.”
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
I waited eagerly for fan conniptions and conspiracy theories. I calibrated how coy I would be. And then … no one noticed. Fandom had moved on from overanalyzing a single wild line from the Special Editions. And on some level I have been sad ever since. FIN.
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) September 17, 2018
Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.