# Use The Power Of Friendship To Kill God > Use The Power Of Friendship To Kill God is a 2014 catchphrase from Yahtzee Croshaw's Zero Punctuation review that satirizes the JRPG trope of heroes defeating god-like final bosses through emotional bonding. "Use The Power Of Friendship To Kill God" is a catchphrase that satirizes a recurring plot structure in Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs), where a party of young heroes bands together and defeats a god-like final boss through their emotional bonds. Coined by game critic Yahtzee Croshaw during a 2014 Zero Punctuation review, the phrase quickly became shorthand for poking fun at JRPG storytelling conventions. It spread across gaming forums, blogs, and social media as fans retroactively applied it to dozens of games from Final Fantasy to Persona. ## Origin On July 23, 2014, Yahtzee Croshaw reviewed *Earthbound* for his web series Zero Punctuation, a fast-talking animated game review show. While defining what makes a "JRPG," he quipped that a game with turn-based combat doesn't feel like a true JRPG unless "it ends with teenagers using the power of friendship to kill god"[4]. The line was meant as satire, riffing on the genre's predictable story beats. But it stuck. The phrase works because it mashes together two long-standing tropes. TV Tropes documents "The Power of Friendship" as a major narrative device across all media, where heroes overcome villains through loyalty and companionship rather than raw power alone[5]. JRPGs in particular lean hard on this idea, pairing it with a final boss that's almost always some form of god, demon king, or cosmic horror. Yahtzee compressed both tropes into a single, quotable sentence. - **Platform:** YouTube (Zero Punctuation) - **Creator:** Yahtzee Croshaw (game critic / coiner of the phrase) - **Date:** 2014 ## Overview The phrase captures a specific JRPG formula that plays out across hundreds of games: a group of teenagers (or young adults) journey through a sprawling world, forge deep friendships, and then use those bonds to defeat a deity or cosmic evil in the final boss fight. What makes the joke land is how accurately it describes the genre. Games like Final Fantasy VI, Persona 5, Xenoblade Chronicles, and countless others follow this exact arc[4]. The "power of friendship" half draws from a well-documented narrative trope where heroes draw literal or figurative strength from their companions[5], while the "kill god" half points to the JRPG-specific habit of escalating stakes until the villain is a literal deity. The catchphrase works both as affectionate ribbing from fans who love the genre and as genuine criticism of formulaic storytelling. It sits in that sweet spot where the joke is funny because it's true. ## How It Spread The catchphrase circulated through gaming communities steadily after 2014. In August 2015, a user named Stilts on the Penny Arcade forums joked about the phrase in a JRPG discussion thread, noting it applied to games in the Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei, and Tales series[4]. The thread's title itself referenced the joke: "In the JRPG Thread We Kill Gods With the Power of Friendship"[6]. By mid-2017, the phrase had jumped to Tumblr. On July 6, 2017, user drkandraz wrote a lengthy analysis of *Persona 5* through the lens of Yahtzee's quote, examining whether the game's "killing a god with friendship" ending worked narratively[2]. The post dove deep into how Persona 5 handles the trope, arguing the final boss sequence felt under-foreshadowed compared to Persona 4's similar climax[2]. Blog essays exploring the trope followed. Uppercutcrit published "HIGH FIVE, KILL GOD: In Defense of the Power of Friendship," a piece that argued the real emotional weight of JRPG endings isn't the god-killing itself but the fact that it's the last thing your party does together before the story ends[1]. Drybonestruth tackled the trope from a different angle in August 2020, cataloguing how the "kill god" pattern appears across anime as well, from Naruto to Fairy Tail to Dragon Ball[3]. The phrase also fueled meme content on social media. On October 3, 2019, Redditor thebeardoger1 posted a Dogelore-format meme about the trope on r/dogelore, earning over 10,000 upvotes across four years[4]. On February 2, 2023, 9gag user turtleduck2 used the catchphrase in a meme specifically about Persona 5[4]. By July 2023, Sportskeeda published an article acknowledging that while some JRPGs do follow the formula, calling it universal is an exaggeration[4]. ## How to Use The phrase gets deployed in a few common ways: 1. **Genre shorthand:** When describing JRPGs to non-fans, drop the line as a tongue-in-cheek summary of the entire genre. "What's Final Fantasy about?" "Teenagers use the power of friendship to kill god." 2. **Game-specific jokes:** After finishing a JRPG that fits the template, post about how the game delivered the expected "power of friendship to kill god" ending. Bonus points if the game seemed like it was going to subvert the trope but didn't. 3. **Meme templates:** Pair the phrase with an image macro. The Dogelore format, Drake format, or any comparison template works well. One common approach contrasts the early game ("fighting rats in a sewer") with the endgame ("using friendship to kill god"). 4. **Essay prompt:** Use the phrase as a starting point for serious analysis of JRPG storytelling, as multiple bloggers have done[1][2][3]. ## Cultural Impact The catchphrase tapped into something gamers already felt but hadn't articulated so cleanly. It gave the community a shared vocabulary for a pattern that runs through decades of games. The phrase regularly shows up in JRPG discussion threads, game review comments, and pre-release speculation whenever a new JRPG is announced. What's notable is how the phrase functions as both critique and celebration. Writers like the Uppercutcrit essayist turned it into a genuine defense of JRPG storytelling, arguing that the genre's commitment to friendship as a theme makes its endings uniquely emotional[1]. The essay reframed the "cringe" of JRPG sentimentality as something valuable, pointing to games like *Kingdom Hearts II* and *The World Ends With You* as examples where friendship mechanics are baked into gameplay itself[1]. The Drybonestruth essay extended the observation beyond games, noting how the "kill god with friendship" pattern appears across shonen anime and even some Western media like Guardians of the Galaxy[3]. This broader application helped the phrase stick as cultural commentary beyond just the gaming world. ## Fun Facts - Yahtzee's original quote specifically mentioned *teenagers*, which is itself a JRPG trope: the hero is almost always between 15 and 19 years old[4]. - The drkandraz Tumblr essay praised Persona 5's gameplay and character writing while criticizing its final act, calling the god battle "an amazing ending had it been the least bit foreshadowed"[2]. - The Uppercutcrit essay argues that what makes JRPG final bosses special isn't the god-killing but the fact that "it's the last thing we as friends will get to do together"[1]. - The Drybonestruth blog post counted that nearly every major shonen anime features some version of the trope, from Naruto to Full Metal Alchemist to Boruto[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is "Use The Power Of Friendship To Kill God"? It's a catchphrase that satirizes a common JRPG plot formula where a party of young heroes defeats a god-like final boss through their bonds of friendship. Yahtzee Croshaw coined it during a 2014 Zero Punctuation review[4]. ### Where did the phrase come from? Yahtzee Croshaw said it on July 23, 2014, during his Zero Punctuation review of *Earthbound*, while defining what makes a game a "true JRPG"[4]. ### What does the phrase mean? It's a humorous summary of JRPG storylines that follow a specific pattern: teenagers go on an adventure, form deep bonds, and end up fighting a literal god as the final boss, defeating it through the strength of their friendship[4][5]. ### How do you use the phrase? Most people use it as a quick joke when discussing JRPGs, either to describe the genre to newcomers or to point out when a specific game follows the formula. It also appears in meme formats and as a jumping-off point for essays about JRPG storytelling[1][2]. ### Is the phrase still popular? As of 2023, the phrase still circulated in gaming communities. Sportskeeda published a piece about it in July 2023, and memes using the phrase appeared on platforms like 9gag and Reddit through early 2023[4]. ### Which games fit the "Power of Friendship to Kill God" formula? Games commonly cited include entries in the Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei, Tales, Persona, and Xenoblade series[4]. The Penny Arcade forums thread specifically named Final Fantasy VI as a prime example[4]. ### Did anyone defend the trope? Yes. Uppercutcrit published an essay titled "HIGH FIVE, KILL GOD" that argued JRPG friendship themes give the genre unique emotional weight, especially in how endings force players to say goodbye to their party[1]. ### Does the trope appear outside of video games? The Drybonestruth blog catalogued the pattern across anime as well, citing Naruto, Fairy Tail, Dragon Ball, Full Metal Alchemist, and others[3]. ## References 1. [- Penny Arcade]() 2. [Soft Velvet and Hard Anarchy - Persona 5 and Killing a God with the Power of...]() 3. [The Power of Friendship - TV Tropes]() 4. [Use The Power Of Friendship To Kill God - Know Your Meme]() 5. [List of Internet phenomena]() 6. [HIGH FIVE, KILL GOD: In Defense of the Power of Friendship – Uppercut]() 7. [- Penny Arcade]() 8. [Killing God With the Power of Friendship: an anime conundrum. | drybonestruth]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/use-the-power-of-friendship-to-kill-god Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library