About

Press Y to Shame refers to a still image from the video game Middle-earth: Shadow of War, in which a ghostly figure sits with the word "shame" next to him with a "Y" button prompt. The still became a reaction image akin to Press X to Doubt on Reddt.

Origin

In Shadow of War, the player can interact with orcs and either shame them to reduce their level, battle them, or recruit them. The prompt used in memes is the "Shame" prompt (shown below).

Spread

On December 11th, 2017, Redditor^[6] Jaman posted the image of the character. The post 460 points (985 upvoted) and 25 comments in less than two years (shown below).

On November 11th, 2018, Reddit user lordac3^[1] published a still from the game with the "shame" prompt with the caption, "when no one is making shadow of war memes," gaining over 3,600 points (shown below, left). Redditor mishft^[2] posted an example to /r/MemeEconomy^[2] by the end of that day, gaining over 600 points (shown below, right).

The trend saw less activity over the winter, but picked up again in the Spring of 2019. On June 2nd, 2019, Redditor^[3] Thehw1854 posted an example, gaining over 26,000 points (shown below, left). On June 3rd, Redditor rhymeswithjen^[4] posted an example to /r/teenagers that gained over 11,000 likes (shown below, right). The meme was covered by the Meme Wiki.^[5]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References