The Sanctuary Guardian meme, often referred to as the 'WHAT/HOW' meme, combines a still image of something bizarre or physically impossible with the upbeat, chaotic boss theme from the 1994 SNES game EarthBound. While the name originates from a boss in Dark Souls, the meme’s core identity is defined by its sudden, dramatic text overlays and the sense of genuine confusion it conveys. It rose to massive popularity on platforms like Twitter and TikTok in 2020, where users would pair the frantic music with cursed images to create short, jarring videos that question the logic of the scene. It has since become a staple of surreal internet humor, used to highlight anything that defies explanation.