Like many Internet memes, the online origins of Deus Vult seem to lie in the imageboard 4chan, where it was used from 2014 onwards. A typical Deus Vult-representation Probable Origins: The 4chan Meme-MachineĪs a true cultural meme, Deus Vult has survived extinction for almost a millennium, as it is still found on online forums.
How can one trace these uses of the meme? This text will contextualise these various spheres, and with it, show how Deus Vult ‘mutated’ from a relatively harmless gaming-meme to an arguably more problematic catchphrase and symbol for the far right – both online and offline. Roughly a millennium later, Deus Vult is simultaneously adopted by gamers, 4chan-shitposters, Trump supporters, and protesting Islamophobes. As such, Deus Vult grew into a historical catchphrase intended to align people into recapturing the Holy Land. Back in 1095, Pope Urban II requested help for the Eastern Orthodox Church to defend himself from the Seljuk invasion of Anatolia.
Deus Vult, or ‘God wills it’, arose as the rallying cry of soldiers of the First Crusade.
