Enoby, Evony, Egogy, and Tara

Trollfic, as pop culture-annotation site "TV Tropes" would call it, spans many years and many genres: wherever there were fans, there was room for stories that spurned all laws of grammar, character building, and canon in order to rile those fans up. But 2006 would prove a turning point: it was the year of Harry Potter fan fiction "My Immortal," written by a teenager named Tara Gilesbie. Tara was a self-described "goff" who liked My Chemical Romance, Hot Topic, and Evanescence — the latter so much that she named her story after one of their songs. She also seemed to be in the midst of an extremely awkward adolescence.

The struggle between good and evil in the wizarding world became a pitched battle between "goffs" and "preps"

In Gilesbie’s less-than-capable hands, the struggle between good and evil in the wizarding world became a pitched battle between "goffs" and "preps," frequently interrupted by detailed physical descriptions of protagonist Ebony (variously called Enoby, Evony, Egogy, and Tara.) But the real star of "My Immortal" was its author. From the beginning, Tara was telling insufficiently gothic readers to "get da hell out," and she soon started using copious author’s notes to defend her spelling, dialogue, and bizarre reworkings of major characters.

On the night of the concert I put on my black lace-up boots with high heels. Underneath them were ripped red fishnets. Then I put on a black leather minidress with all this corset stuff on the back and front. I put on matching fishnet on my arms. I straightened my hair and made it look all spiky. I felt a little depressed then, so I slit one of my wrists. I read a depressing book while I waited for it to stop bleeding and I listened to some GC. I painted my nails black and put on TONS of black eyeliner. Then I put on some black lipstick. I didn’t put on foundation because I was pale anyway. I drank some human blood so I was ready to go to the concert. I went outside. Draco was waiting there in front of his flying car. He was wearing a Simple Plan t-shirt (they would play at the show too), baggy black skater pants, black nail polish and a little eyeliner (AN: A lot fo kewl boiz wer it ok!). "Hi Draco!" I said in a depressed voice. "Hi Ebony." he said back. We walked into his flying black Mercedes-Benz (the license plate said 666) and flew to the place with the concert. On the way we listened excitedly to Good Charlotte and Marilyn Manson. We both smoked cigarettes and drugs. When we got there, we both hopped out of the car. We went to the mosh pit at the front of the stage and jumped up and down as we listened to Good Charlotte.

The story was "edited" by Tara’s friend Raven, who shared her dark world view and love of My Chemical Romance. Tara created an in-story alter-ego for Raven and thanked her effusively before every segment. Then, in Chapter 12, everything changed: author’s notes indicate that Raven flaked out on reading a chapter and stole Tara’s sweater, setting off a fight that would see Ebony’s middle name changed from "Raven" to "Tara," Raven’s in-story doppelganger killed, and the prose quality go from bad to worse — even after the two rekindled their friendship, it never recovered.

With the story now pulled from FanFiction.net, it’s hard to say exactly how many views it got. Anecdotally, its popularity skyrocked quickly, with around 8,000 angry reviewers flaming Gilesbie, and Gilesbie striking back with equal vitriol. As it did, readers started asking the obvious question: was Tara Gilesbie for real?

There were some indications "My Immortal" could have been genuine. Keeping track of Tara’s social media presence, writing the story, and writing even more terrible fiction on Raven’s own FanFiction.net account would show serious dedication for a troll, and it wasn’t as if Tara was the only bad writer on the site.

The story, though, just seemed too over the top to be real. "Tara" couldn’t keep her protagonist’s name straight for more than a few words, but she made oddly obscure references to Tom Bombadil and Socrates. Her author’s notes started repeating, while the prose and story got progressively surreal, culminating in Ebony and Marty McFly time-traveling to an anachronistic version of the 1980s where Tara implores her readers to ignore references to Marilyn Manson and 2002 horror film The Ring. Even the most dedicated mall goth probably wouldn’t have her protagonist gleefully pull out a Hot Topic loyalty card.

If you subscribe to the troll theory, "My Immortal" isn’t just an alternate take on Harry Potter or even a poorly written mess, it’s a satire on the teenage search for identity. Ebony is a staunch "nonconformist" in a school where half the students are just like her, claiming to be dark and misunderstood while watching whimsical Tim Burton films and enjoying the attentions of almost every male character. Her clothing descriptions are like a goth version of the ridiculous outfits in American Psycho. Tara herself moons over bisexual boys, but lashes out at critics with homophobic slurs. Instead of an unreliable narrator like Holden Caulfield, we’re getting an unreliable author, denouncing preps instead of phonies.

In fact, My Immortal resonates with me more than I’d like. I laugh at it now, but my teenage iteration spent years picking the perfect depressing button at Hot Topic, deriding more popular kids for their highlighted hair and Abercrombie and Fitch shirts, thinking myself a rebel for making Korn and Metallica logos in Rhino 3D. I wrote my own self-insert characters, who wore black vinyl and MC’d for rock bands in the dismal future. Sure, I spelled their names right every time, but it was the same fantasy, and just as silly.

Tara’s story would never be finished. After almost 40 chapters, a hacker broke into her account and posted a fake coda, killing off Ebony and sending her to a preppy hell. Once she’d reclaimed her account, Ebony posted a few more instalments, then announced she was "leeving dubya [possibly Dubai]", promising another chapter when she was settled. She would never return.

Was the hacker real, or just another character? It’s still not really clear. Either way, her, Raven’s, and Tara’s identities remain a mystery. On the off chance Tara exists, she’s likely in her late teens or early 20s today. Look for her online, and you’ll find Facebook profiles, DeviantArt accounts, MySpace pages, and a full sequel to "My Immortal." Nearly all have been confirmed fake.