Plin Plin Plon
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About
Plin Plin Plon is an onomatopoeic nickname given to a three-note passage from the musical composition "Gwyn, Lord of Cinder" from the soundtrack of the 2011 video game Dark Souls. The composition and the passage became a popular reference among the fans of the series, with the track often presented as one of the saddest musical compositions ever created.
Origin
On September 22nd, 2011, action role-playing video game Dark Souls, developed by FromSoftware, was released.[1] The game soundtrack, composed by Motoi Sakuraba, features a composition "Gwyn, Lord of Cinder," named after the final boss of the game. In the composition, a three-note piano passage repeats multiple times.
The song did not see a significant presence in memes until August 2019. On August 18th, 2019, Facebook[2] user Hal Morgan posted a Crying Cat meme which referred to the three-note passage as "Plin Plin Plon" to Dark Souls Seathposting Facebook group. The meme received over 1,100 reactions and 230 shares in seven months (shown below).
Spread
In the following days, the image received viral spread in Dark Souls fan communities online. On August 19th, Redditor[3] SuperMekaKaiju reposted the image to /r/shittydarksouls subreddit, where it received over 1,500 upvotes in six months. On the same day, Facebook[4] group "Memes feos de darksouls con sabor a frasco estus." posted a version of the meme translated to Spanish that received over 450 reactions and 250 shares.
In the following days, the memes referencing the piano passage as "Plin Plin Plon" and describing the "Gwyn, Lord of Cinder" as a very sad, tearjerking composition gained significant popularity in Dark Souls fan communities such as Dark Souls Sifposting and Dark Souls Seathposting on Facebook and /r/shittydarksouls on Reddit. For example, an August 21st, 2019, meme posted by Facebook[5] user Luke Gallagher received over 360 reactions (shown below, left). An August 23rd meme posted by Facebook[6] user Naveen Yedavally received over 760 reactions (shown below, right).
On December 31st, 2019, YouTube[7] user Tundrarich posted a remix of the composition titled "Gwyn's theme but every time there is a Plin Plin Plon it becomes sadder." The video accumulated over 490,000 views in three months.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Dark Souls
[2] Facebook – Hal Morgan
[3] Reddit – Now that's what I call music, dog
[4] Facebook – Memes feos de darksouls con sabor a frasco estus.
[5] Facebook – Luke Gallaher
[6] Facebook – Naveen Yedavally
[7] YouTube – Gwyn's theme but every time there is a Plin Plin Plon it becomes sadder
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Top Comments
rubexbox
Mar 12, 2020 at 09:36AM EDT
David "Garsedj" Touchdown
Mar 12, 2020 at 03:58PM EDT