Revenge of the Fifth

About

Revenge of the Fifth refers to the unofficial fan holiday celebrated on May 5th, the day after Star Wars Day (May 4th). In addition to celebrating the villians of the Star Wars film series, fans use the fifth as a tongue-cheek inverse holiday to celebrate the kitschier side of Star Wars.

Origin

Much like the nickname for Star Wars Day, "May the 4th be with you," the name "Revenge of the Fifth" is based on a rhyme, pulling from the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith because the words "fifth" and "Sith" sound alike.

Online, the earliest known usage of "Revenge of the Fifth" occured on the messageboard of the website Heroscaper. On May 5th, 2010, in the thread "Happy Star Wars Day," in which people frequently wished each other "May the 4th be with you," user Obsidian responded, "Does that mean that today is Revenge of the 5th!"^[1]

Spread

In 2012, Revenge of the Fifth took more of a step toward fan acceptance when Victor Medina and Eric Shirley launched RevengeOfThe5th.net.^[2] Based on a joke Medina's nephew told him, the site's creator insists that the holiday is meant to be a "tongue-in-cheek companion to Star Wars Day,"^[3] celebrating the frequently-mocked or dismissed pieces of Star Wars mythology, such as the Star Wars Holiday Special and the Ewok Adventure films (shown below).

Talking to Inverse, Medina said, “We thought the whole idea for ‘Revenge of the Fifth' would cover the flipside of the Star Wars universe, with all the really goofy, funny stuff…Everything that’s not necessarily canon or part of the original trilogy, but celebrates the fandom on the fringes of it.”

Since the holiday shares the same day as Cinco de Mayo, many of the jokes and memes that involve Revenge of the Sith, also feature references to Cinco de Mayo.^[4]

On May 5th, 2015, Redditor dbgt616 posted a picture of Cinco de Mayo-inspired Darth Vader t-shirt (shown below) in the thread "The perfect shirt for both Cinco De Mayo and Revenge of the Fifth."^[6] The post received more than 4,400 points (87% upvoted) and 100 comments.

There has been some debate regarding the correct date for the anti-Star Wars Holiday, arguing that the 6th would be a better day because "sith" and "sixth" are a closer rhyme. On May 7th, 2014, Redditor SchlitzTheCat asked the /r/StarWars subreddit "Wouldn't 'revenge of the 6th' make a little more sense (20% to be exact). I mean sixth is a more similar to Sith than fifth is, isn't it?"^[5] The post received more than 100 points (81% upvoted) and 30 comments.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References