Darth Vaders Noooooooooooo

2005catchphraseclassic

Darth Vader's 'Nooooo!' is the long, anguished scream from the final scene of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released in May 2005. The internet turned the clip into one of its earliest exploitable audio memes, spawning YTMND pages, YouTube Poops, single-serving sites, and reaction GIFs.

star warsaudio memesytmnd memessingle serving site memesmovie quote memes

Overview

Darth Vader's 'Nooooo!' is the drawn-out scream from the closing minutes of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, delivered by Vader after Emperor Palpatine tells him Padmé Amidala is dead1. On the internet, the clip became a foundational exploitable audio meme, remixed into YouTube Poops, reaction GIFs, and image macros for the better part of two decades3.

The line is played completely straight in the film, but the delivery, the mirrored black helmet, and George Lucas's decision to end a tragic sequence on a single shouted syllable made it read as unintentionally funny almost immediately. Lucas later doubled down by splicing the same 'Nooooo!' into the 2011 Blu-ray re-release of Return of the Jedi, right before Vader throws the Emperor down the reactor shaft, which reignited the joke for a second generation3.

How It Spread

More YTMND remixes followed through the mid-2000s, including 'Vader Coaster', 'Vader Chapstick', and 'Vader turns on the lights'3. On December 1st, 2009, the single-serving site nooooooooooooooo.com launched with exactly one feature: a big button that fires the Vader scream on demand, which turned the audio into a one-click office reaction tool4.

Editor mashups kept the audio in rotation. On September 10th, 2011, YouTuber CineWeekly cut Vader's yell into a montage of dramatic movie scenes and pulled close to 400,000 views3. A French-dubbed cut of the scream uploaded by Nathan Dubuc on January 4th, 2017 broke out even harder and passed 7.5 million views5.

The scene picked up a parallel life through 'Do Not Want', the bootleg Chinese subtitle version of Revenge of the Sith documented by blogger Jeremy Winterson on June 7th, 2005, where Vader's 'Nooooo!' was translated as 'Do not want'7. On October 5th, 2015, Reddit user spikesya posted an in-universe defense of the scene in r/FanTheories that cleared 1,700 upvotes at 91% before being archived6.

How to Use This Meme

Typical usage is audio-first. People drop the isolated 'Nooooo!' clip over a video of any mildly bad outcome for comic overreaction, whether that's someone missing a shot, a sports team losing, or a character in another film dying. A common convention is to sync the scream to the exact frame of the disappointment. As a text reply, users often just type 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO' with an escalating number of Os, and pointing someone at nooooooooooooooo.com is still a shorthand for 'this deserves the Vader response'4.

Frequently Asked Questions

Darth Vaders Noooooooooooo

2005catchphraseclassic

Darth Vader's 'Nooooo!' is the long, anguished scream from the final scene of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released in May 2005. The internet turned the clip into one of its earliest exploitable audio memes, spawning YTMND pages, YouTube Poops, single-serving sites, and reaction GIFs.

star wars audio memes ytmnd memes single serving site memes movie quote memes

Overview

Darth Vader's 'Nooooo!' is the drawn-out scream from the closing minutes of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, delivered by Vader after Emperor Palpatine tells him Padmé Amidala is dead1. On the internet, the clip became a foundational exploitable audio meme, remixed into YouTube Poops, reaction GIFs, and image macros for the better part of two decades3.

The line is played completely straight in the film, but the delivery, the mirrored black helmet, and George Lucas's decision to end a tragic sequence on a single shouted syllable made it read as unintentionally funny almost immediately. Lucas later doubled down by splicing the same 'Nooooo!' into the 2011 Blu-ray re-release of Return of the Jedi, right before Vader throws the Emperor down the reactor shaft, which reignited the joke for a second generation3.

How It Spread

More YTMND remixes followed through the mid-2000s, including 'Vader Coaster', 'Vader Chapstick', and 'Vader turns on the lights'3. On December 1st, 2009, the single-serving site nooooooooooooooo.com launched with exactly one feature: a big button that fires the Vader scream on demand, which turned the audio into a one-click office reaction tool4.

Editor mashups kept the audio in rotation. On September 10th, 2011, YouTuber CineWeekly cut Vader's yell into a montage of dramatic movie scenes and pulled close to 400,000 views3. A French-dubbed cut of the scream uploaded by Nathan Dubuc on January 4th, 2017 broke out even harder and passed 7.5 million views5.

The scene picked up a parallel life through 'Do Not Want', the bootleg Chinese subtitle version of Revenge of the Sith documented by blogger Jeremy Winterson on June 7th, 2005, where Vader's 'Nooooo!' was translated as 'Do not want'7. On October 5th, 2015, Reddit user spikesya posted an in-universe defense of the scene in r/FanTheories that cleared 1,700 upvotes at 91% before being archived6.

How to Use This Meme

Typical usage is audio-first. People drop the isolated 'Nooooo!' clip over a video of any mildly bad outcome for comic overreaction, whether that's someone missing a shot, a sports team losing, or a character in another film dying. A common convention is to sync the scream to the exact frame of the disappointment. As a text reply, users often just type 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO' with an escalating number of Os, and pointing someone at nooooooooooooooo.com is still a shorthand for 'this deserves the Vader response'4.

Frequently Asked Questions