The 'Dawn Of The Final Day' Meme's Origin Explained

It's November 5th, 2024, and for no particular reason, we felt it might be a good time to explain the origin of an image that says in pure white text over a black background, "Dawn of The Final Day: 24 Hours Remain."

For many, particularly those who were about 10 years old in the year 2000, it's a meme whose origin they can't remember not knowing, but if you're not a millennial who owned a Nintendo 64 console (or DS), it might be a total mystery.

Here's where the meme comes from, as well as how it's still used online all these years later.

Where Does The 'Dawn of the Final Day' Meme Come From?

The meme comes from the 2000 action-adventure video game The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. The famously darker follow-up to Ocarina of Time features a fascinating gameplay quirk: The game's world is stuck in a time loop that continually resets after 72 in-game hours (because at the end of 72 hours, the moon crashes into the earth. It's a pretty macabre game).

At the start of each day in the loop, a card appears on screen letting the player know how much time they have to complete their objective before the world resets.

Thus, when there are 24 "hours" to go in the loop, a title card appears reading "Dawn of The Final Day: 24 Hours Remain."

How Has 'Dawn of The Final Day' Been Used As A Meme?

The Dawn of The Final Day meme usually shows up online when a specific date that's been highly anticipated (or dreaded) for weeks or months finally arrives, such as a rapture prediction or Doomsday prediction.

Nowadays, you might see it used for less fatalistic but no less anxiety-inducing current events — which is probably why it sees spikes in interest and usage whenever there's a consequential political election.

For the full history of Dawn of the Final Day, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.