"The Rise of the Dark Falls"

Ok. Before this is locked, as I'm sure it will be, I have a question. Now I know that this is not a real story, (though there are a few who trhink it is).

My question is this: Who started this whole deal? I mean there's the "cover" image as well as a fake story outline. But where did all of this originate? Who made it up?

I've tried to do a little research on the topic, but was not able to find out anything concrete.

Thanks in advance.

MF11

 

Once upon a time, this thread happened.

"lolwut," quoth Lit. Then 000 revealed its masterpiece of a front cover.

A legend was born.

 

Thanks for the info

OK. So as far as we know:
1) A poster calling themselves "aw_heel_naw" came up with the whole idea.
2) He claimed that a guy named "Derek J Reda" wrote it back in the 80's,
3) The "book" supposedly goes into "Bib Fortuna's life and is a complicated look at the politics behind the wars of Star Wars."
4) There is no ISBN# because "aw_heel_naw" had the only preview copy available in existense and then at some point....
5)"000" helped perpetuate the hoax by creating a false cover.

Hence beginning the legend of this lost EU masterpiece?

Is that the gist of it?

Also, do we know if "aw_heel_naw" was actually an alternate identity for another member of the boards?


Would it be possible for the mods to add this info to the "New to the EU? What to Read? Where to Start? What's That Mean? Questions Answered Here!" thread so as to explain this phenomenon/hoax to new posters?


MF11

 

Oh man! I made typos 5 years ago and now they're back to haunt me. Dear me of five years ago: "explaines" isn't a word, and "THat" just looks stupid.

But yeah, marvelfett, you've got the gist of it.

 

Something like that. Later, Wookieepedians made BFATROTDF a Featured Article. (For an April Fools joke, IIRC.)

aw_heel_naw was a sock. I can't give out details on who it was, but it's not anyone currently active in Lit. Just a problem user trolling Lit. I doubt most people would even recognize the name.

I can edit something into the Lit FAQ thread, though it's not really a topic that comes up very often...

 

That actually might not be a horrible idea - maybe an "in-jokes" section of the FAQ.

BTW, Trip wasn't really perpetuating the hoax - he made the fake cover half for the fun of it and half to try and trap the guy in a lie. That's why he tells everybody to PM him.

 

Right. That's how I read it too. Sorry to Trip if it sounded like I was inferring otherwise.

As for an "In jokes" section. That would be a great Idea. They could also mention "Supershadow."

 

Hah!! That original thread was hilarious.

 

Hmhm. Haha. Hahaha. Bwahahaha. MWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA....

 

I agree, I'm glad to see this thread, I now know what this Dark Falls business is all about, I've never been able to get a straight answer out of anyone. So it's basically a hoax, a joke, with no actual book about it, just a ficitonal document that people like to joke about?

 

Correct.
Sometimes pretending that it's a real story has been a form of newbie "hazing" if you will.

 

I am confirmed that it does in fact exist.

 

Where did "Some kind of Viper" come into play though?

 

you think every EU book makes sense?

 

From the original thread:

 

It is only half funny until you see Trips cover. The cover is what sells it.

 

It actually began on Wookieepedia about three months before that thread, when an anonymous user made a page for "Rise of the Dark Falls". This was the text:

This was added to the Bib Fortuna page by the same user:

After a brief, confused vote for deletion, the RotDF page was deleted. A couple months later, ah_heel_naw?probably the same person?made the TFN thread, which lead to Trip's famous cover and spiraled out from there.

About a week after the Rise of the Dark Falls page was made, someone with another IP address, but possibly the same person (since he would later go on to recreate the RotDF page), made RotDF's forgotten sibling page, The Search for Chewbacca's Gold:

[image=http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/4439/themoreyouknow2.jpg]

Edit: Hm, looking over it, the Bib Fortuna additions include at least one TFN in-joke, a reference to the "Is my Jar Jar coloring book canon?" thread. It may have its roots with someone here after all.

 

Is that Latin for "yay?"

 

Oh, duh.

It's coming together, bit by bit...

 

Thanks for finally revealing this. I always wondered whether this guy was a troll, or some extremely clueless but stubborn young'un who was sold a poorly made fanfic as a long-lost masterpiece, along with three magic beans and a bridge in southeast Brooklyn.

 

Don't forget about the can of snakeoil.