The 'I've Won... But At What Cost?' meme features a melancholic image of the Nintendo character Wario looking out over a sunset or reflection, appearing deeply saddened despite his apparent success. The phrase itself refers to a pyrrhic victory—a win that comes with such a devastating toll that it hardly feels like a victory at all. While the exact origin of the specific Wario image is often debated, it gained widespread internet fame on platforms like Reddit and Twitter around 2019. It is commonly used to describe situations where a person achieves a trivial goal, like winning an online argument or finishing a grueling task, only to realize they have lost time, energy, or relationships in the process.