Medieval Knight with Arrow In Eye Slot

About

Medieval Knight with Arrow In Eye Slot is a two-panel image macro meme featuring a painting of a knight with an arrow in the occularium, an eye slot in the armor. The meme expresses the feeling of being unlucky despite being supposedly prepared.

Origin

On October 17th, 2011, DeviantArt ^[1] user AilinStock shared a stock photograph of a medieval knight with a sword on their shoulder. The post received more than 17,000 views in less than nine years (shown below, left).

The following year, on September 17th, 2012, DeviantArt^[2] shared a painting of the knight, which would later be used in the meme. The post received more than 3,000 views in less than eight years (shown below, right).

On Febary 18th, 2018, the Facebook ^[3] group DNDmemes published a variation of the painting with an arrow in the occularium. The post received more than 20,000 likes, 15,000 shares and 3,200 comments in less than three years (shown below).

Spread

Over the next two years, the image appeared in various memes to express feelings of not being lucky. For example, on November 3rd, 2018, Twitter^[4] user @danishmohd999 shared the image with the caption, "Me: I am ready and well prepared for exams" (shown below, left).

In 2020, many used the meme to express feelings of being unprepared for the year's many trials. On June 1st, 2020, Imgur ^[5] user HopeFunny shared a variation of the meme that said, "Me being prepared for 2020." The post received more than 2,100 views in less than three months (shown below, center).

On August 30th, 2020, Redditor ItzAceByTheWay shared an object labeled variation of the meme in the /r/dankmemes^[6] subreddit. The post received more than 17,000 points (97% upvoted) and 170 comments in less than two days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

Not available.

External References