Glup Shitto: Star Wars' Famous Meme Character Explained
If you're even a casual "Star Wars" fan, you probably know the name Glup Shitto. But who is this famous galactic character really? If you're not already in the know, you may be let down to discover that Glup Shitto isn't a real character at all — or maybe, given the name, that's not actually too surprising. Rather, it's a meme that's practically developed self-awareness, poking fun at a certain aspect of the more ardent "Star Wars" community.
The origins of Glup Shitto can be traced back to a Tumblr post from September 3, 2020, in which user gomjabbar wrote, "every time a new Star War movie or show is announced all the fans are like "OMG Glup Shitto is back," followed by a series of celebratory crying emojis. It's a succinct and hilarious sum-up of the franchise's endless self-referencing — the Easter egg hunting that's become an entire cottage industry within the "Star Wars" fandom. Over the years, the meme has grown and become a bizarrely integral part of "Star Wars" discourse, and it's frequently referenced when new trailers or stories drop, as you might expect.
Glup Shitto is just a random name, but it encapsulates the distinctly goofy naming conventions of the "Star Wars" universe so well that it couldn't help but catch on. Equally silly and close enough to be an actual character in the franchise, Glup Shitto is now a galactic enterprise all their own.
The growth of Glup Shitto, galactic icon
After the original Tumblr post from gomjabbar, Glup Shitto kept popping up in memes across the internet. The onrush of "Star Wars" streaming content released by Disney in recent years presented the perfect opportunity, with plenty of trailers and Disney+ episodes getting dissected by eagle-eyed viewers on Twitter and elsewhere. Prior to Grogu receiving his canonical name in "The Mandalorian" Season 2, he was affectionately dubbed Glup Shitto by a vocal portion of the fanbase. It's still, arguably, a better name.
The Disney era has also been prime territory for so-called Glup Shitto sightings because of the franchise's modern reliance on callbacks and Easter eggs. Whether it's old Expanded Universe characters being brought back into the modern canon or some Starkiller armor hiding in an antique shop in "Andor" (yes, even "Andor" has its Glup Shitto moments), the recent years of "Star Wars" have delivered plenty of background cameos for deep-lore fans to jump on.
Max Rebo; Roos Tarpals; Gasgano; Lobot; Babu Frik; Salacious B. Crumb. These are all real names of real "Star Wars" characters — and not even ones from some obscure comics or Legends timeline novels. Nope, every single name listed above belongs to a character from a core, numbered "Star Wars" movie. So you'll understand how Glup Shitto has so easily wormed their nonexistent self into the lore of the series.
The deeper meaning of Glup Shitto
Glup Shitto is a joke. They're a made-up character in a massive franchise with way too many goofy characters to keep track of. But that's just the thing — we do keep track of them. "Star Wars" fans pride themselves on knowing every single minor character, most of whom have had a stray comic or short story published over the years. Oh, you don't know Dengar's backstory? You've never read up on Saesee Tiin? What about Nuvo Vindi? What about Gardulla the Hutt?
Laying these names back-to-back sounds incredibly silly, yet they're a big part of the "Star Wars" fandom — a community that's frequently gatekept on the grounds of random, extraneous knowledge, like what planet Ben Quadinaros is from (it's Tund). This fixation is trivial in both senses — largely unimportant and the "I know this one" board game. But it's now become such a huge part of how "Star Wars" is covered and discussed that some people care more about Glup Shitto spottings than actual storytelling or interesting themes.
Perhaps that's the real beauty of Glup Shitto. It's a meme that lets everyone in on the joke, poking fun at a fandom that's grown too big to fail while also embracing its lovable quirks. Anyone can be Glup Shitto, and indeed, everyone is. But perhaps the real Glup Shittos are the friends we made along the way.