What Is The 'Noun Verbed' Meme? How To Make 'Dark Souls' Font Image Macro Memes Explained

Dark Souls inspired image macro memes have been popular on the internet for nearly as long as the games themselves have, from the evergreen video of a baby swallowing you whole, revealing a You Died message, to the countless Humanity Restored edits that all use the distinct FromSoftware font.

These iconic Dark Souls quotes have given rise to their own genre of meme that plays on the Noun Verbed templates these messages generally take the form of. The popularity of these memes has, in turn, popularised the use of software to perfect the font, haze, and shadows these messages generally take. Here's how you can mimic the Soulslike Image Macro meme yourself.

What Is The 'Soulslike Image Macro' Meme?

In February of 2009, game developers FromSoftware released the action role-playing game Demon's Souls for PlayStation 3. The game featured various in-game messages like "YOU DIED," "HUMANITY RESTORED," "BONFIRE LIT," etc. This trend was repeated in subsequent FromSoftware games including Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring as well.

The earliest known instance of the Soulslike Image Macro parody is a text mod for FromSoftware games submitted by Nexus Mods user BreakieHelmet in May 2013. The mod changed the text "YOU DIED" to THANKS OBAMA, a popular meme at the time.

When Did The 'Noun Verbed' Meme Format Grow Popular?

The Soulslike Image Macro meme format continued to gain popularity through the 2010s, with the gimmick X / Twitter account @NounVerbed being created in May 2019. The automated account posted random combinations of nouns and verbs using Soulslike fonts and either dark backgrounds or Dark Souls screenshots.

How Can I Make FromSoftware Image Macro Memes?

You aren't the only person looking for a convenient way to convert your favourite Noun-Verb comment into a Soulslike meme, with Tumblr users felix and courtofthevampireking enjoying a humorous back and forth back in 2022 discussing how one can make these images.

Felix pointed his clueless friend to the FromSoftware Image Macro Creator, created by developer Rezuaq in June 2022. The site allows one to create customized and transparent PNGs, as well as full macros if the background image is provided.

For the full history of the Noun Verbed / Soulslike Image Macro meme, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.