I Have No Enemies

About

I Have No Enemies is a catchphrase used in a series of memes referencing the Vinland Saga quote, "You have no enemies," spoken by Thors to his son Thorfinn as a way to emphasize peace over violence. The phrase has been referenced in memes since as early as 2021, but became popularized in memes and skits on TikTok in late April 2023 that show people acting comedically peacefully in violent situations rather than violently under the phrase.

Origin

Several times throughout the manga series Vinland Saga, a scene where Thors tells his son Thorfinn, "you have no enemies" is depicted. The phrase is meant to convey to Thorfinn that peace is always an option rather than violence. The scene is first shown in chapter seven^[1] (shown below, left) then as a flashback in chapter 70^[2] (shown below, center) and finally, in chapter 96,^[3] Thorfinn says the line, "I have no enemies" when facing a battle (shown below, right).

One of the earliest known memes to reference the scene and use the phrase is a they don't know meme posted to /r/VinlandSaga^[4] on September 21st, 2021, garnering over 460 upvotes in two years (shown below).

Spread

The quote became the subject of further memes over the following years. On May 14th, 2022, Redditor simidan posted a version of the Petting My Cat Before the Nuclear Blast meme using the quote to /r/VinlandSaga,^[5] garnering over 540 upvotes in a year (shown below).

On March 26th, 2023, TikToker^[6] @burnoutoriginal posted a meme captioned, "how mfs feel after saying 'I have no enemies,'" showing Michael Jackson lowering a soldier's gun, garnering over 13,000 views in just over a month (shown below). On March 27th, TikToker^[7] @sonkero posted a similar meme using the Coca-Cola GTA Ad format, garnering over 15,000 views in the same rough span of time.

Memes using variations of the quote became increasingly popular throughout April 2023 on TikTok. On April 7th, TikTokers^[8][9] @__75letterusername and @whoscollinn posted videos about the quote, the latter posting a skit about a "no enemies mf" breaking, garnering over 1.1 million views and 1.3 million views respectively in a month (shown below, left and right).

On April 23rd, TikToker^[10] @.theanimemen posted a skit about a man embodying the "no enemies" quote, garnering over 14 million views in a week (shown below, left). They posted a sequel to the skit to TikTok^[11] the next day, garnering over 16 million views (shown below, right).

On May 1st, Instagram^[14] user non_haeretici_coalition posted an image macro that references the quote, garnering over 1,000 likes in three days (shown below). On May 2nd, the Facebook^[12] page A Lonely Guy With Good Taste In Pretty Much Everything posted the panel from Vinland Saga chapter 96, garnering over 1,700 shares and 4,800 reactions in two days. On the same day, Instagram^[13] user raeraerandy reposted a version of the "no enemies" meme from TikTok, garnering over 55,600 likes in two days. On May 4th, Lessons in Meme Culture posted a video to YouTube^[15] about the meme.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References