Deligne-Lusztig theory is like when you play dress-up and pretend to be a different person. In math, we also use make-believe to understand things better.
Some people in math like to study groups, which are like big teams of numbers that play by certain rules. But these groups are sometimes hard to understand, so we need to pretend they are dressed up as simpler groups.
Deligne-Lusztig theory helps us understand how these pretend groups relate to the BIG groups. It's like saying, "If you pretend to be a firefighter, what does that have to do with who you really are?"
This way of understanding groups can be very helpful in solving math problems. It's like having a map to get to your friend's house. Deligne-Lusztig theory helps us navigate the big, complicated world of math groups.