About

The Hero Reads a Most Unsettling Passage refers to a series of memes based on a gameplay interaction from 2016 role-playing video game Darkest Dungeon. Starting in 2015, screenshots of the game interaction have been circulated as exploitables.

Origin

On January 30th, 2015, role-playing video game Darkest Dungeon was released in Steam's early access.^[1] The game allowed the player to take control over a family estate which surrounding lands have become plagued by monsters. The player must recruit adventurers and mount expeditions into the monster-infested territories.

During expeditions, adventures can interact with various curios scattered found in the locations. One such interaction leads to an increase in stress level due to "reading a most unsettling passage".

On February 3rd, 2015, Eternal Crusade^[2] forum user Policnaut posted a three-panel fanart referring to the interaction. The said passage, indiscernible in the game, was replaced with an image of a Dick Butt. The original author of the comic is unknown.

Spread

On February 17th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan^[3] user launched a /v/ thread dedicated to the game. In the thread, an anonymous user posted a screenshot of a game character Plague Doctor mid-interaction,^[4] prompting others to suggest what she might have read. Multiple users replied with humorous suggestions.^[5][6]

On January 19th, 2016, Darkest Dungeon was released or Microsoft Windows and OS X. On February 15th, 2016, Redditor^[7] Pyromann reposted a fanart referring to /r/gaming subreddit, where it gained over 500 upvotes in six months, with a repost^[8] to /r/darkestdungeon subreddit gaining additional 500 upvotes.

In the following years, the macro appeared on various subreddits, including /r/darkestdungeon^[9], /r/DDLC^[10] and /r/animemes^[11], with edits often expanded by an additional panel showing a character entering an Afflicted state such as Hopeless, Abusive or Fearful.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References