About

It's a Peaceful Life, also known as Really? Man Of Your Talents?, is a reaction image and image macro meme format using a scene from the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in which the character Galen Erso (played by actor Mads Mikkelsen) tells Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), "It's a peaceful life," after Krennic expresses pitiful shock that Erso is a farmer. The meme first started appearing online as early as 2017 and was popularized, especially on subreddits like /r/PrequelMemes, through memes that alter the context of the scene to promote a given subject as aiding in a peaceful life. Recaption memes using Krennic's line, "Farming? Really? Man of your talents?" as the phrasal template "X? Really? Y of your talents?" also appeared online as the format spread.

Origin

In 2016, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a prequel to Star Wars: Episode IV, was released in theaters. In one scene at the start of the movie, Orson Krennic, part of the Imperials, approaches Galen Erso, a scientist who fled from his work with the Imperials and the Death Star, and expresses shock that he's a farmer, saying, "Farming? Really? Man of your talents?" Erso answers, "It's a peaceful life."

On July 28th, 2017, Redditor u/dentastic posted a long meme based on the scene to the /r/PrequelMemes^[1] subreddit, garnering roughly 20 upvotes in eight years. This is the earliest known example of the meme.

Spread

The meme continued to be popularized over the following years, both in and outside of the /r/PrequelMemes subreddit.

For example, on May 30th, 2019, Redditor u/Anime_nerd_O7 posted a version of the meme to the /r/memes^[2] subreddit about Minecraft, garnering over 8,000 upvotes in six years.

On May 10th, 2023, Redditor u/SamirZero posted a meme to the /r/starwarsmemes^[3] subreddit about playing single-player games being "a peaceful life," garnering over 10,000 upvotes in two years.

On August 14th, 2025, Redditor u/Makoto_Kurume posted a meme to the /r/Animemes^[4] subreddit about enjoying "battle shounen" anime series, garnering over 3,300 upvotes in a month.

On August 28th, X^[5] user @ShitpostGate posted a version of the meme that garnered over 7,000 likes in a week.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References