GagBase Logo Explore

When the author becomes the final boss

This is a two-panel Wojak-style meme referencing George R.R. Martin, author of the *A Song of Ice and Fire* fantasy series. The first panel features a confident, 'Chad' style illustration of Martin, paired with text explaining he created a gritty fantasy world where any character can die, political stakes are high, and no protagonist is safe. The second panel shows a disheveled, crying Wojak version of Martin, with text noting he has spent 14 years writing the next installment of the series (*The Winds of Winter*) while fans of the franchise grow increasingly frustrated and impatient waiting for its release. The joke frames Martin as the 'final boss' fans have to outlast to get the conclusion of the story they love.
Make

Dialogue

Creates a fantasy world where anyone can die, politics matter, and no one is safe
Spends 14 years writing the next book while fans slowly lose their minds

Overview

This is a two-panel Wojak-style meme referencing George R.R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. The first panel features a confident, 'Chad' style illustration of Martin, paired with text explaining he created a gritty fantasy world where any character can die, political stakes are high, and no protagonist is safe. The second panel shows a disheveled, crying Wojak version of Martin, with text noting he has spent 14 years writing the next installment of the series (The Winds of Winter) while fans of the franchise grow increasingly frustrated and impatient waiting for its release. The joke frames Martin as the 'final boss' fans have to outlast to get the conclusion of the story they love.

Origin notes

This meme was sourced from the RSS feed of the Reddit r/Meme subreddit. It plays off the long-running internet joke about the extreme delay of The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, which has been in development for more than 14 years as of 2024, leading to widespread memes and jokes about the author's slow writing pace among fans of the books and the Game of Thrones TV adaptation.

Similar memes

A four-panel meme featuring a man in a blue 'p pcopy' apron standing in a busy copy shop. The top text reads 'Fantasy authors answering why 30% of their worlds’ population doesn’t get magic powers:'. Panel 1: The man looks confused with large yellow text 'WHY?'. Panel 2: He waves his hand dismissively with text '‘CAUSE'. Panels 3-4: He gestures emphatically with text '‘CAUSE FUCK 'EM, THAT’S WHY!' repeated, humorously implying fantasy authors use no logical reason beyond indifference.

Fantasy Authors' Honest Reason for Magic Exclusion

A four-panel meme featuring a…

This satirical meme contrasts mid-20th century futuristic expectations with modern reality. The top text states that people in the 1950s predicted there would be advanced technology like flying cars by 2026. The lower section, labeled 2026, features the popular 'masked Wojak' meme format: a smug, smiling outer mask hides a distressed, pained inner face, placed next to text of a person saying 'I can justify why my favourite trillionaire deserves more money!'. The joke highlights disappointment that instead of the advanced, utopian technology predicted decades ago, modern society is plagued by wealth inequality and people exhibiting cognitive dissonance to defend ultra-rich people hoarding wealth.

Peak Civilisation

This satirical meme contrasts…

A four-panel meme featuring Peter Griffin from Family Guy, each panel showing him in a straitjacket sitting on a couch with the same text overlay: 'Book readers after their favorite character goes through the most darkest, soul shattering, mind breaking thing ever imaginable then dies out of nowhere.' Peter displays a sequence of distressed expressions and agitated movements, including opening his mouth wide, slumping, and convulsing, humorously depicting the emotional breakdown of a book reader reacting to their favorite character's tragic and unexpected death.

Book Readers' Devastation Over Favorite Character's Tragic Death

A four-panel meme featuring P…

This meme uses a canonical scene from the animated series The Simpsons, where Lisa Simpson stands on a stage in front of a projection screen presenting to a seated audience. The projection screen displays the text "Politics have always influenced fiction, and anyone saying otherwise is dumb". The meme leverages Lisa's established character trait as a highly intelligent, outspoken, and fact-focused figure to frame the stated claim as an obvious, self-evident truth that people should not argue against.

Lisa Simpson Explains Politics Have Always Influenced Fiction

This meme uses a canonical sc…

This meme is split into two contrasting sections: 1. **Top Section (DOOMER NORMIES):** Features two crying Doomer Wojak characters reacting to real-world news events by drawing parallels to classic dystopian fiction. The left Wojak references George Orwell's *1984* alongside a news headline about Zuckerberg accusing Biden of censorship, while the right Wojak argues the events align with Margaret Atwood's *The Handmaid's Tale*, paired with a news photo about a 2025 project to end 'childlessness'. 2. **Bottom Section (ENLIGHTENED GAMERS):** Uses a Gigachad-style Wojak (inspired by *Metal Gear Solid*) to react to a 2023 news story about U.S. Marines outwitting an AI security camera by hiding in a cardboard box and pretending to be trees. The left gamer exclaims in excitement, drawing a direct parallel to the iconic *Metal Gear Solid* gameplay mechanic where players hide in cardboard boxes to avoid detection, while the right gamer calmly agrees. The meme humorously contrasts how different groups interpret real-world events: normies see dystopian literary parallels, while gamers recognize a reference to a beloved gaming franchise.

Doomer Normies vs Enlightened Gamers: We Live in a Metal Gear Plot

This meme is split into two c…

This is a two-panel side-by-side comparison meme featuring the same cartoon bald, bearded man with glasses. The left panel is labeled "People a few years ago", where the character points at text on his shirt reading "Japan is literally paradise". The right panel is labeled "People now", where the same character has the same pose and expression, but the text on his shirt reads "Japan is literally hell". The meme satirizes the dramatic shift in popular public perception of Japan among internet users over recent years, from idealized positive views to critical negative views as more downsides of living/visiting Japan become widely discussed online.

How opinions on Japan change over time

This is a two-panel side-by-s…

A meme illustrating how nostalgia distorts our perception of the past. The top of the image reads 'Nostalgia be like:' followed by a creepy, humanoid figure with hollow eyes labeled '2014:'. Below it is the same figure labeled '2022:' with a speech bubble containing a small, colorful, simplistic drawing of a person with a sunset background, also labeled '2014:'. The visual joke demonstrates how we remember the past (2014) as more positive and idealized than it actually was.

Nostalgia Be Like: How We Remember the Past vs Reality

A meme illustrating how nosta…

This is a two-panel meme using the popular soyjak vs Nordic Chad template. The left panel features an angry, crying soyjak character with glasses, red bloodshot eyes, and tears streaming down his face, yelling the text above him: 'You can't finish the game with 97 unused potions!'. The right panel features a calm, stoic blonde bearded Chad character responding with the text above him: 'I might need them later'. The joke references the extremely relatable common gamer behavior of hoarding healing consumables like potions throughout an entire playthrough, refusing to use them even when needed, out of irrational fear that they will be required for a harder final boss later, often ending the game with dozens of unused items.

Saving them for the final-final boss

This is a two-panel meme usin…

This is a single-panel comparison meme using the standard Wojak line-up format. The top header text reads "Years since your board game has included suicide as a game mechanic". Three Wojak figures representing the popular board games Candy Land, Clue, and Monopoly have unamused, disapproving expressions as they look toward the fourth Wojak at the end of the line. This final Wojak represents the board game The Game of Life, has a smug, self-satisfied expression, and has the text "166 years" above its head, referencing that the original 1860 version of the game (called The Checkered Game of Life) included suicide as a playable mechanic.

The Game of Life is the last mainstream board game to include suicide as an official mechanic

This is a single-panel compar…

This is a two-panel comparison meme. The top panel features a Wojak character styled as Harry Potter standing against a Hogwarts castle background, labeled 'Wizards in movies', with text explaining that fictional movie wizards attend magic school, learn spells, and work fighting dark magic. The bottom panel features a Wojak character styled as a medieval monk against a generic medieval village background, labeled 'Wizards in reality', with text explaining that historically, educated people who lived in monasteries, copied books, and knew Latin were called wizards by local villagers, referencing the original definition of 'wizard' as a wise or learned person rather than a magic user.

Wizards in movies vs historical reality meme

This is a two-panel compariso…

A two-panel meme featuring Luigi from the Super Mario franchise. The top panel shows Luigi sitting casually on a couch, holding a book with a calm expression, accompanied by the text 'casually reading a book'. The bottom panel shows Luigi with a shocked, distressed expression (wearing sunglasses), holding the book open, with the text 'realising you have been reading with your eyes instead of your brain so you have to restart'. The meme humorously captures the relatable experience of mindlessly reading and having to restart because one wasn't mentally engaged.

Luigi Realizing He Read with Eyes Instead of Brain

A two-panel meme featuring Lu…

This two-panel meme uses popular internet archetype characters to satirize class dynamics and the power of collective action. **Top Panel**: A single, bearded working-class-style character (a variant of the 'Chad' meme archetype) declares *'We Want Justice'*. Opposite him, a wealthy, top-hat-clad character (a distorted 'soyjak' meme figure) leans over two stacks of green cash, wheezing with exaggerated laughter, and replies *'LMAO, nice joke buddy'*. This panel illustrates how the wealthy elite dismiss individual pleas for justice as trivial and humorous. **Bottom Panel**: The same working-class character is now part of an angry, unified mob holding pitchforks and a lit torch, repeating *'We Want Justice'*. The wealthy character now has wide, terrified eyes and a shocked expression, showing that when marginalized people organize collectively, the elite can no longer ignore or mock their demands. The meme's humor comes from the stark contrast between the elite's reaction to an individual versus a group, highlighting the shift in power when people unite for a common cause.

When the Mob Demands Justice (The Rich Stop Laughing)

This two-panel meme uses popu…