Star Wars: The Last Jedi subtitles may reveal who Luke and Snoke are *really* talking to

The Taiwanese subtitles for Star Wars: The Last Jedi may hold the key to whom Luke and Snoke are really talking to in that new trailer, if one fan's interpretation is correct. And yes, you're absolutely right - it is pretty much just like when international posters for The Last Jedi seemed to reveal whether the word "Jedi" was singular or plural.

Over on r/SequelMemes, Reddit user SleepingAran writes that when Snoke says, "When I found you," the "you" is feminine. SleepingAran also notes that when Snoke says "fulfill your destiny" and Luke says "the way you think," the subtitles indicate the person they're speaking to is male.

Basically what this boils down to is that English doesn't use gendered nouns as much as others. When we say "you," we rely on context to know if we're addressing one person, several people of the same gender, or several people of mixed gender. Taiwan, however, would use the character "妳" if someone were written speaking specifically to a woman. Meanwhile, the character seen used when Snoke says his second line and Luke issues his warning ("你") can be read as masculine or neutral. The more you know.

If SleepingAran's interpretation is correct, this would mean that when Snoke opens the trailer with "When I found you, I saw raw, untamed power," he's talking to a woman (and therefore probably Rey), and when he says "Fulfill your destiny," he's speaking to a man. This would also mean that when Luke says, "This is not going to go the way you think," the person he's speaking to is male.

Now, I advise you take all of this with a great big heap o' salt. For one, translation is not a simple word-for-word swap. Sometimes nuance and alternate meanings get lost or gained moving from one language to another. Remember those international posters I mentioned earlier? Those indicated "Jedi" was plural, but director Rian Johnson has said it's singular.

So either translations can be wrong, Johnson is lying, or Disney is manipulating the whole thing from the shadows to keep everyone guessing. Take your pick.

Sam Prell

Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.

Latest in Star Wars Movies
Darth Vader in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars fans have ignited an age-old debate, and there are some seriously hot takes
The Mandalorian and Grogu
The Mandalorian and Grogu has the lowest budget of any theatrical Star Wars movie since Disney bought Lucasfilm
The Mandalorian
Bo-Katan's actor may have accidentally answered whether she is appearing in The Mandalorian and Grogu movie with this cryptic response
John Boyega as Finn in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
John Boyega reveals Tom Cruise actually helped him get cast in Star Wars
Watto in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars confirms Watto isn’t dead after all in new comic, and fans are celebrating his miraculous survival
The Rise of Skywalker
Despite those retirement reports, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy is "very involved" in the Rey Star Wars movie, according to Daisy Ridley
Latest in News
A screenshot from MindsEye showing a character leaning out of a car, shooting another car with a gun.
GTA veteran says the games industry needs to "get smarter" about what people actually want: "There are so many games, and I think we're starting to feel the effects"
Posing with a rifle in the Fallout 76 Ghoul update
Fallout 76's art director "had to fight really hard" so Bethesda would make the MMO's map bigger than Skyrim's
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Yasuke looking over the water to a shrine during sunset in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has an entire island stuffed with adorable kittens you need to check out, and it's based on an actual Japanese cat paradise
phase zero key art showing zombies in a hallway
Former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs reveal their Resident Evil homage, complete with PS1-style fixed cameras
Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System was only created because WB Games wanted something to combat Batman Arkham Asylum's second-hand sales, exec says