# Protect The Starks

Protect The Starks is an April 2019 joke that grouped Marvel's Tony Stark with House Stark from Game of Thrones during the weekend when Avengers: Endgame opened and the Battle of Winterfell aired. Fans spent days ranking, photoshopping, and pleading for every character sharing the surname.

## Origin
The earliest widely shared image was posted on April 7, 2019, by Imgur user vegetablecheekkd36, who uploaded a photoshopped picture of three Game of Thrones Starks standing next to Tony Stark; the post pulled over 3,000 points and 120,000 views[2]. On April 23, 2019, Twitter user @weirwolves recirculated the image with the caption 'friendly reminder that the starks are in danger this week,' collecting more than 6,500 retweets and 18,000 likes in three days[2].

- **Platform:** Imgur (initial post) / Twitter (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2019

## Overview
Protect The Starks works by treating Tony Stark as an honorary member of Game of Thrones' House Stark, then worrying about the survival odds of the combined family. Common formats include photoshops that place Tony beside Arya, Sansa, and Bran[1], mock rankings of which Stark was most likely to die that weekend[1], and short pleas along the lines of 'good luck to the Starks this weekend'[2].

The gag rides on the calendar overlap between two franchises whose big deaths were heavily anticipated by fans. Avengers: Endgame closed the ten-year Infinity Saga while Game of Thrones aired the Battle of Winterfell, both pointing to lethal, character-killing showdowns[1].

## How to Use
Posts typically list Tony, Arya, Sansa, and Bran together, sometimes with a ranking of who is most likely to die that weekend[1]. Photoshops combining Marvel and Game of Thrones promotional imagery are another common convention[1].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Protect The Starks?
Protect The Starks is an April 2019 meme that grouped Marvel's Tony Stark with the Game of Thrones Stark family and joked about the odds of any of them surviving the same weekend[1].

### Where did Protect The Starks come from?
The earliest widely shared image was posted on April 7, 2019, by Imgur user vegetablecheekkd36[2], and the phrase spread through Twitter posts including @weirwolves on April 23, 2019[2].

### What does Protect The Starks mean?
It captures fan worry that characters named Stark, in both Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones, could die during the overlapping releases of the film and the Battle of Winterfell episode[1].

### How do you use Protect The Starks?
Posts typically list Tony, Arya, Bran, and Sansa together, sometimes as a ranking of who is most likely to die, or add a caption asking followers to protect the Starks that week[1].

### Is Protect The Starks still popular?
The joke was tied to one weekend in April 2019 and faded once Avengers: Endgame and the Battle of Winterfell aired[2], so it is largely a period-specific meme from that moment.

## References
1. [https://in.mashable.com/culture/3139/with-endgame-and-game-of-thrones-battles-internet-sends-out](<https://in.mashable.com/culture/3139/with-endgame-and-game-of-thrones-battles-internet-sends-out>)
2. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/protect-the-starks](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/protect-the-starks>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/protect-the-starks
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