Do you think a character is just a character? Think again. Some take up multiple code points, others refuse to be counted properly, and a few can crash your app. In this talk, we’ll unravel the complexities of Unicode, character encoding, and text processing pitfalls. You’ll learn how Unicode works, why some characters behave unpredictably, and how different encoding formats like UTF-8 and UTF-16 impact string operations. We’ll explore grapheme clusters, invisible characters, and emoji composition, uncovering why text can break unexpectedly across platforms and programming languages. Whether you are working with multi-language apps or emojis or just want to avoid the dreaded �, this session will help you handle text correctly, manipulate strings properly, and prevent encoding bugs from causing unexpected issues. You might even pick up some surprising Unicode trivia along the way.