Stand Together, Die Together

Editor's Note: This entry contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; read at your own caution.

About

"Stand Together, Die Together" is a memorable quote uttered by the character "Emperor Palpatine in the 2020 science fiction action film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The phrase has been used online as a reaction image macro to express disdain for an unlikely couple.

Origin

On December 16th, 2020, Disney and Lucasfilm premiered the film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. ^[1] In the film's conclusion, the character Rey and Kylo Ren joined forces to fight Emperor Palpatine (portrayed by Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver and Ian McDiarmid, respectively) to which Palpatin said, "Stand together, die together" (clip below).

The following day, an image of the scene was published on the /r/StarWarsLeaks subreddit by Redditor^[2] kissyoursister. The post received more than 860 points (98% upvoted) and 300 comments in less than two months (shown below).

Spread

Two weeks later, Redditor^[3] Asoziales-Netzwerk shared the meme with the caption "Stand together, die together!" as a reaction to a news headline "Neflix and Nickelodeon team up to take on Disney+." The post received more than 190 points (97% upvoted) in less than two months (shown below, left).

On January 10th, 2020, Redditor^[4] DinoRider101 shared a variation of the meme comparing the quote to one from the film Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones. The post received more than 20,000 points (94% upvoted) and 290 comments in less than one month (shown below, center).

Later that month, Redditor^[5] PUSSAYYSLAYER shared a variation about a collaboration between Fortnite and TikTok. The post received more than 33,000 points (91% upvoted) and 390 comments in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

External References