Brace Yourselves X Is Coming Meme Template

Ned Stark grips his sword and looks ready to deliver a grave warning. Replace winter with an approaching deadline, seasonal nuisance, or flood of messages to give an ordinary event dramatic weight.

The warning treats what is about to happen as both inevitable and serious. It can express real dread or exaggerate a small inconvenience that everyone recognizes.

The event should still be ahead of you. This format builds anticipation; it is less suited to describing a problem that has already finished.

Winter is coming is the motto of House Stark in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. It also titles the first episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones, which aired on April 17, 2011. The meme uses a promotional portrait of Sean Bean as Ned Stark. [1]

Know Your Meme documents a Ned Stark version after the August 23, 2011 U.S. East Coast earthquake. It spread under names including Imminent Ned. The familiar brace yourselves wording is part of the meme’s framing; it should not be presented as a full line of dialogue from the show. [1] [2]

Keep Brace yourselves as the setup, then name what is coming. The white space to Ned’s left gives both lines room without covering his face or sword.

Make the prediction recognizable to your audience. A shared deadline or an annual wave of messages gives the warning more bite than a vague claim that bad things are coming.

Brace yourselves

In the upper white space to Ned’s left.

What is coming

In the lower-left white space, clear of Ned’s coat and hands.

• Use the left-hand white space for clear dark text.
• Name something that has not arrived yet.
• Match is coming or are coming to your subject.
• Let Ned’s solemn pose supply the drama.