Fascists on Twitter—also called X, the everything app—have been furiously posting memes about Anakin Skywalker. They have even deluded themselves into thinking that this will turn the tide of the midterms where things are looking pretty bad for them so far. Clearly, that’s all ridiculous—they’re just recreating fandom from first principles.
The origins of fandom and fanfic are usually traced back to Star Trek fan zines in the 1960s. The general spirit of fandom is to take an established work and read into its margins, then make a home for yourself in that story. Fanfiction and other transformative works have even turned into their own distinct works, such as E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey, which started as a Twilight fanfic.
The way that the freaks on Twitter are treating Anakin Skywalker from the Star Wars series isn’t all that different from this, and the longer it goes on the more familiar it all feels. It started with an alternative reading of Anakin’s arc in the story, originating from a post from terrible human being Elon Musk:
This is what they stole from us pic.twitter.com/q1GnpjF394
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2026
Now, this reading of Anakin’s story—that he is a victim, that he was right about the Jedi, that his outlook wasn’t entirely wrong and he was only further radicalized by the people trying to steer him away from it—is not unsupported by the story itself. In fact, if you ask any of the people who wear a shirt with Anakin’s face on it with the caption “I can fix him” you’ll probably hear some of the same commentary. Anakin was separated from his mother as a nine-year-old and he was treated with mistrust by the Jedi, and their efforts to steer him away from the dark side did lead him further toward it. This isn’t necessarily a matter of media literacy. It’s a successful reading, just one that ignores everything that happens after Anakin gets his dick burned off in a volcano.
>grew up poor
>liberal gf
>rotting political system expects him to defend itAnd you wonder why Anakin Skywalker is so popular among Zoomers pic.twitter.com/JxjE5NOABI
— Templarpilled (@Templarpilled) October 25, 2026
This is now a symbol Anakin skywalker pic.twitter.com/f36cIrc8Ka
— Anakin On Ethereum (@Anakinethereum) November 2, 2026
George Lucas may have made , albeit unintentionally, the most prophetic and effective far right propaganda in existence. Anakin is the millennial and zoomerwaffen. We sympathize with him, not the republic. pic.twitter.com/oglK016Lvn
— Marty (@Son_of_Mars_III) October 25, 2026
Fandom is built out of alternative readings of a text. It’s what convinced me for years that Harry Potter character Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were in love with each other, before I and the rest of the world discovered that J.K. Rowling is an odious transphobe who would never write a narrative that so explicitly portrayed the humanity of queer people of any stripe.
Right now, Anakin posting on Twitter is barely indistinguishable from scrolling through the hashtag for the character on Tumblr. They are making their own image edits and gif sets, the bread and butter of any fandom, as well as posting their own fan theories. The only real difference is the political slant—right wing rather than left wing. They have even, to my utter shock, started their own ship for the character.
The creation of “Malfoid,” a gender swapped Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter, is honestly too stupid to fully accept as reality. Just like with fascist Anakin posting, Malfoid was created with the intention to “own the libs,” as a way of taking something from liberal culture and making it their own. I don’t think anyone really cares about Malfoid—I have seen so many gender swapped Potter characters at this point that it doesn’t phase me at all, plus anyone who cares about Harry Potter as an adult likely has a parasite in their brain. But what is interesting to me is that the trend of Anakin posting has taken a new turn, with posters shipping Anakin and Malfoid together.
— Shall ⚡🎧 (@shallntbe) November 2, 2026
Anakin + Malfoid 🥹🖤 pic.twitter.com/6njznNmKTB
— Huff (@Huff4Congress) November 1, 2026
Shipping is often the central activity for any fandom, the locus around which fandom content is made. Let me be clear: this is not the weirdest ship I have ever seen. This isn’t the weirdest ship I’ve seen in the past month. Shipping characters from different pieces of fiction is such a cliche that thisbad MS Paint drawing of Mordecai from the cartoon Regular Show and Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a prolific meme. This is just fascists acting in the same way that a fandom does, by taking a text and transforming it into something new, something that they can call their own.
This trend is amusing but also truly inconsequential. The polls have not yet closed, but things are not looking good for the Republican Party this midterm election. The idea that they can meme magic their way into a red sweep by posting about Anakin Skywalker a lot is pure desperation. If there’s anything to take away from this, it’s to understand that fandom and transformative works largely exist for people who do not see themselves reflected in the fiction around them. When I was shipping Remus/Sirius, it was because I longed to see representation of openly queer people in the fiction I was reading. The Anakin/Malfoid shippers are experiencing the same thing. Their values have been rejected by popular culture at large, and they are now resigned to exist in the margins.
