The 'With This Character's Death' meme originates from the 2002 Bethesda RPG, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. When a player kills an NPC essential to the completion of the main questline, a dark pop-up box appears informing them that the 'thread of prophecy is severed' and they are now persisting in a 'doomed world' they have created. This dramatic, high-stakes message became a cult favorite among gamers for its uncompromising tone. In internet culture, the template is used to react to the death of beloved characters in other media, the departure of key figures in real-world organizations, or whenever someone makes a catastrophic mistake that feels like it has permanently 'broken' the timeline of events.