Use The Power Of Friendship To Kill God

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About

Use The Power Of Friendship To Kill God is a cliché associated with JRPG video games in which a player's party progresses through the story and ultimately band together to face a deity-like final boss, overcoming them through "the power of friendship." Since the term was coined by Yahtzee Crowshaw in 2014, the catchphrase has been retroactively applied in joking analyses of JRPG video games.

Origin

On July 23rd, 2014, Yahtzee Croshaw reviewed Earthbound for Zero Punctuation and while defining a "JRPG," he joked that to him, a game with turn-based combat and an adventure story doesn't feel like a true "JRPG" unless "it ends with teenagers using the power of friendship to kill god."

The phrase combines a common trope in which heroes seem to find strength through friendship to overcome obstacles^[1] and a trope in JRPGs about the final boss being a deity.

Spread

After the catchphrase was coined, it was jokingly discussed across the internet over the following several years. In August 2015, user Stilts of the Penny Arcade forums^[2] joked about the phrase, noting it applies to games in the Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei and Tales series (example from Final Fantasy VI shown below).

On July 6th, 2017, Tumblr^[3] user drkandraz applied the phrase to Persona 5. Essays about the trope have appeared on blogs including Uppercutcrit^[4] and Drybonestruth.^[5] In July of 2023, Sportskeeda^[6] wrote that while some JRPGs do feature this trope, it's an exaggeration to say all JRPGs end with "killing god."

The phrase has inspired some memes on social media. For example, on October 3rd, 2019, Redditor thebeardoger1 posted a Dogelore meme about the trope, gaining over 10,000 points in four years on /r/dogelore.^[7] On February 2nd, 2023, 9gag^[8] user turtleduck2 used the phrase in a meme about Persona 5 (shown below, right).