About

Me Jogue Aos Lobos Que Voltarei Liderando a Matilha or Throw Me to The Wolves and I Will Return Leading the Pack is a catchphrase and quote said by Ancient Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Often combined with image macros, the phrase began seeing use in various ironic memes (particularly in Brazilian internet circles) around 2019 and the early 2020s. The memes generally feature an image of a wolf or several wolves accompanied by a recaptioned version of the catchphrase, occasionally distorted through text overlays, satirizing the original meaning of the philosopher's quote.

Origin

Lucius Annaeus Seneca,^[1] often simply known as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome and an author of several epic quotes between 4 B.C. and 65 A.D. One of the most famous quotes (shown below) is an English metaphorical idiom related to a pack of wolves as a way to sacrifice someone, especially so as to benefit oneself or one's group.

“Throw me to the wolves and I will return leading the pack.”

One of the earliest uses of the phrase alongside a picture of a wolf to create an image macro was uploaded on December 12th, 2013, by Twitter^[2] user @RyronGracie. The post (shown below) garnered 37 likes and 47 retweets in roughly a decade.

Spread

On May 7th, 2019, an unknown user uploaded an ironic meme about the philosopher's quote on the Dopl3r^[3] website. The meme (shown below) features a Brazilian brand mascot photoshopped as a girl taking a selfie in a bathroom mirror with the Portuguese text overlay, "Me jogue aos lobos que voltarei liderando a matilha" (Eng. "throw me to the wolves and I will return leading the pack").

One of the most viral versions of the meme in Brazil was then uploaded by iFunny^[4] user @zueraobrs on November 15th, 2020. The image (shown below) features a staring wolf and the recaptioned phrase "Me jogue aos lobos e eu ai ai ai, o lobo me mordeu." The post garnered over 1,400 reactions and 30 comments in three years.

An English version of the meme was posted on iFunny^[5] by user Neco_Arc on November 11th, 2022. The image (shown below, left) depicts a pack of wolves paired with the caption "Throw me to the wolves and I'll come back pregnant." The post garnered over 1,100 reactions and 125 comments in eight months. On September 8th, Facebook^[6] user @annekasvenskaofficial posted another ironic meme showing how an example of a pack of distorted wolves. The post (shown below, right) received over 770 likes and 60 shares in a year.

Various Examples

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External References