Noun Verbed / Soulslike Image Macros

About

Noun Verbed is a phrasal format used for in-game messages in Dark Souls, Elden Ring and other Soulsike games developed by the Japanese company FromSoftware. The best known examples of the original use of the format are You Died and Humanity Restored messages, both notable meme formats in their own right. In 2018, image macros parodying the messages started started spreading online, and after in June 2022 a FromSoftware Image Macro Creator web app was launched, the format achieved major popularity online.

Origin

On February 5th, 2009, action role-playing video game Demon's Souls, developed by FromSoftware, was released for PlayStation 3.^[1] Upon many events in the game a stylized notification message appears on the screen, paired with a special sound effect. For example, upon player's death, a message reading "YOU DIED" appears (video shown below).

In-game messages like "You Died," "Humanity Restored," "Ember Restored," "Bonfire Lit" etc. appeared in more Soulslike games released by FromSoftware in the following decades, including Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring.

The earliest known instance of a custom message replacing the text is a mod submitted by Nexus Mods^[2] user BreakieHelmet on May 13th, 2013. The mod replaced the "You Died" message with the phrase "THANKS OBAMA," a popular meme at that time (shown below).

On July 13th, 2018, Tumblr^[3] user slicethepi posted a Dark Souls meme in which the "Humanity Restored" message was recaptioned "Foreskin Restored" (shown below, left). On August 10th, 2018, Tumblr^[4] user jammy-dodgers replied with a similar edit in which the "You Died" message was recaptioned "Circumcised" (shown below, right) The exchange garnered over 50,000 likes and reblogs in six years.

Spread

"Foreskin Restored" and "Circumcised" versions saw viral spread in the following years: for example, January 10th, 2019, repost by Redditor^[5] EqualsEqualsEquals and September 17th, 2019, repost by iFunny^[6] user egg_souls garnered over 9,400 upvotes and 36,900 likes, respectively.

In May 2019, gimmick X / Twitter^[7] account Noun Verbed (@nounverbed) was created. The automated account posted combinations of nouns and verbs that followed the format, initially simply text on a black background and later overlayed over Dark Souls screenshots. On November 24th and December 2nd, 2019, the account posted two of its earliest notable Noun Verbed memes. The posts (shown below, left and right) received over 90 reposts and 220 likes and 1,600 reposts and 3,900 likes on X^[8][9] in four years.

Following the viral popularity of the original edits and the gimmick account, users on X, Facebook, Tumblr and other sites posted humorous versions of the meme. For example, on December 23rd, 2020, X^[10] user @gaysex420 posted a macro captioned "Slur Reclaimed" that garned over 2,100 reposts and 29,200 likes prior to being removed (shown below, left). On April 1st, 2022, Tumblr^[11] user flinkelinks posted an edit that received over 34,900 reblogs and 39,900 likes in two years (shown below, right).

FromSoftware Image Macro Creator

On June 10th, 2022, developer Rezuaq launched FromSoftware Image Macro Creator,^[11] a dedicated tool for creating Soulslike image macros that imitate in-game messages. The site is able to customize and generate transparent PNG with the text and full macros if a background image is provided.

The launch of the website was followed by a surge in popularity of the format online. For example, on September 6th, 2022, Tumblr^[12] user felix posted several image macros created with the tool, also humorously responding to an inquiry about how to make them. The thread (shown below) received over 124,000 likes and reblogs on Tumblr in one year.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References