Pot Boy Pot Friend — A direct in-game screenshot from Elden Ring showing an iconic Living Jar enemy with golden-brown ceramic vessel and red runic markings.

Pot Boy Pot Friend

2021Fan art / reaction image / character memesemi-active

Published March 24, 2026

Also known as: Pot Goblin · Living Jar · Pot Boi

Pot Boy, also called Pot Friend, is a fan nickname for the walking pot creatures in FromSoftware's 2022 action RPG *Elden Ring*. The characters first appeared in the game's June 2021 gameplay reveal trailer and instantly won over the community, spawning a wave of fan art, memes, and the affectionate early nickname "Pot Goblin"1. The name "Pot Friend" was later coined by Geoff Keighley at the 2021 Game Awards, while "Pot Boy" emerged organically from social media2.

elden ring memes soulsborne memes fan art memes wholesome memes character design memes

Overview

The Pot Boy meme centers on a specific enemy design from *Elden Ring*: a large clay pot with stubby legs and long, lanky arms that walks around the game world1. These creatures, officially called Living Jars in-game, look absurd next to the dark fantasy setting FromSoftware is known for. That contrast between the grim world and the goofy pot with limbs is exactly what made the internet latch onto them so hard.

The meme expanded further when players discovered Iron Fist Alexander, a friendly NPC who is himself a sentient pot. Alexander gets stuck in the ground at various points in the story and needs the player to whack him free2. Between the enemy Living Jars and the lovable Alexander, the pot characters became some of the most beloved figures in the entire *Elden Ring* fandom.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (fan reaction), YouTube (gameplay trailer)
Key People
Unknown, Geoff Keighley
Date
2021

On June 10, 2021, FromSoftware released the gameplay reveal trailer for *Elden Ring*2. The trailer included a brief shot of two walking pot enemies, and the internet lost it. Within hours, fans on Twitter were posting reactions and fan art. User @VladaDraws shared fan art of the pot enemy that day, picking up over 470 retweets and 2,400 likes2.

The community's first instinct was to name the creature. Early Twitter reactions latched onto "Pot Goblin," which Windows Central's Brendan Lowry called "downright hilarious"1. Multiple artists, including @Lumensflower, @ericcarpe_, @wildarrowart, @MakoDoodles, and @KoriKoritas, posted fan art within the first 24 hours of the trailer dropping1.

By June 11, 2021, the name "potboy" had taken hold. The subreddit r/potboy was created that same day to collect memes and fan art about the creature2.

How It Spread

Fan art and memes about the Living Jars picked up steadily through the rest of 2021. Some players speculated the pots might function like Mimics from the *Dark Souls* series, appearing lifeless before attacking anyone who touched them2. On November 8, 2021, Redditor M_Snail posted art imagining a Living Jar and a Mimic as a family unit on r/potboy2.

The meme hit a key milestone at the 2021 Game Awards. During the ceremony, a pot puppet was used to deliver the "Most Anticipated Game" award envelope to host Geoff Keighley. Keighley referred to the puppet as "my pot friend," giving the character its second major nickname2.

As the game's January 2022 release approached, pot-related content kept flowing. On December 9, 2021, Redditor theboz2303 posted a "Mom Said It's My Turn On The Xbox" meme featuring a Living Jar on r/EldenRing, earning over 800 upvotes2.

When *Elden Ring* finally launched on February 25, 2022, players met Iron Fist Alexander and fell in love all over again. Alexander's questline, where he keeps getting stuck and needs rescuing, gave the pot characters an emotional anchor beyond the goofy enemy design2. The combination of the silly enemy pots and the endearing Alexander cemented the Pot Boy as one of *Elden Ring*'s most iconic elements.

How to Use This Meme

Pot Boy memes typically fall into a few categories:

- Fan art: Draw the pot characters in cute, wholesome, or absurd situations. The most common approach puts them in friendly scenarios despite being enemies in-game. - Reaction images: Use screenshots or fan art of the Living Jars or Alexander to express emotions like confusion, determination, or being stuck (literally or metaphorically). - Object labeling: Place the pot character in meme templates, labeling them to represent something the creator finds endearingly stupid or stubbornly lovable. - Crossover art: Pair the pot with other FromSoftware creatures like Mimics, or put them in non-*Elden Ring* contexts.

The core joke usually plays on the contrast between the pot's goofy appearance and the brutal difficulty of FromSoftware games. The humor comes from treating these round little guys with outsized affection.

Cultural Impact

FromSoftware clearly noticed how much the community loved the pot design. The fact that a pot puppet appeared at the Game Awards to present an award showed the character had crossed from fan meme into official marketing2. The studio leaned into the joke rather than ignoring it.

Windows Central noted that the Pot Goblin obsession was especially funny because "the Pot Goblin will probably murder players in an extremely grotesque and violent way," pointing out how fans were projecting friendliness onto what would almost certainly be a hostile enemy1. This dynamic, where the community adopts an enemy as a friend before the game even launches, was somewhat unusual for a FromSoftware title.

The dedicated r/potboy subreddit grew to over 720 members by March 20222, a modest but dedicated community for a single enemy type from a game that had hundreds of creatures.

Fun Facts

The very first fan nickname was "Pot Goblin," not "Pot Boy." The name shift happened gradually as the community settled on softer, more affectionate terms12.

The r/potboy subreddit was created just one day after the gameplay trailer dropped, on June 11, 20212.

Geoff Keighley's casual phrase "my pot friend" during the 2021 Game Awards accidentally coined one of the character's two main nicknames2.

FromSoftware is known for bizarre enemy designs going back to the Mimics in *Dark Souls* and the Winter Lanterns in *Bloodborne*, but the walking pot might be the first one fans wanted to protect rather than fear1.

Frequently Asked Questions