The Rot Consumes

Submission 23,389

Part of a series on Catchphrases. [View Related Entries]

About

The Rot Consumes, also known as The Rot Consumes Us All, is a catchphrase that signifies nihilism and the end of days, proclaiming that the biological matter of humankind, and everything else on Earth, will rot and be "consumed." Its usage was inspired by the game Elden Ring, specifically based on the boss character Malenia, Goddess of Rot who says, "Let your flesh be consumed by the Scarlet Rot." The creepy phrase was often used as a text caption in memes. The most prominent iteration showed a shrugging emoji. Thereafter, many of the memes satirically portrayed a nonchalant attitude about the rot consuming. Other iterations portrayed the phrase's utterance as a dire realization. The meme trended on iFunny, Reddit and Instagram, among other platforms, in 2022 and 2023.

Origin

In November 2014, the phrase "the rot consumes" was used in a non-viral tweet posted by Twitter^[1] user @BlkSaberFaction. On May 17th, 2015, three Twitter^[2]^[3]^[4] users tweeted the phrase, "The rot consumes those who are destined to be obliterated." The origin of this phrase and the reason for its synchronized posting is currently unknown.

In February 2022, the video game Elden Ring was released. In one of the game's boss fights, the player fights Malenia, Goddess of Rot who inflicts Scarlet Rot on them. When she is fighting, Malenia often says, "Let your flesh be consumed by the scarlet rot" (YouTube^[5] upload shown below).

In April 2022, Malenia's catchphrase was referenced in non-viral posts to /r/Eldenring.^[6] On March 15th, 2022, Tumblr^[7] user coughloop (formerly known as pruane2) posted a meme with a shrugging emoji (similar to the Sup Son ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ emoticon) that had a top and bottom caption reading, "THE ROT CONSUMES / US ALL" (shown below). In one year, the post gained roughly 69,800 notes (shown below).

Spread

After Tumblr^[7] user coughloop's post went viral, the image was reposted elsewhere, such as to Instagram.^[8] New iterations of the meme appeared on iFunny, such as a post shared by iFunnier^[9] @Chief____Beef on July 3rd, 2022, which gained over 100 smiles in one year (shown below, left). On September 2nd, 2022, Tumblr^[10] user teathattast posted a meme with a screaming hamster, reading, "i will not let the rot consume me." The post gained roughly 72,700 notes in 10 months (shown below, right).

On August 23rd, 2022, iFunnier^[11] @BenjaMillion posted a cropped version of the original meme, causing it to only read, "THE ROT CONSUMES," gaining over 70 smiles in 11 months. The cropped image was later posted by Redditor DustWorlds to /r/Nurgle^[12] on November 6th, 2022, where it gained over 380 upvotes. A screenshot of DustWorlds' Reddit post went viral when it was posted by the Twitter^[13] account @GoodReddit on November 7th, 2022, gaining roughly 17,100 likes in nine months (shown below).

Going into late 2022 and early 2023, memes using the phrase "the rot consumes" continued to trend on iFunny^[14] and Instagram.^[15]