Pot Boy / Pot Friend

About

Pot Boy, also known as Pot Friend, is a nickname given to the sentient pots in the 2022 RPG Elden Ring and has been applied to both the enemy pots, known as Living Jars, and the friendly NPC Iron Fist Alexander, who is a sentient pot. The pot character was heavily featured in promotional material for the game, and due to their design, they became a quick fan favorite, leading to memes and fan art depictions.

Origin

The June 10th, 2021, the gameplay reveal trailer for Elden Ring was released, which features a brief shot of two walking enemy pots (shown below).

Immediately after the trailer's release, fans were quick to remark on how they loved the new characters, and fan art appeared that day. For example, user @VladaDraws^[1] posted fan art of the pot enemy, gaining over 470 retweets and 2,400 likes in roughly nine months (shown below).

The nickname "potboy" was also coined shortly after the reveal. For example, the subreddit /r/potboy^[5] was created on June 11th, 2021, to host content about the entity. As of March 23rd, 2022, the sub has over 720 members.

Spread

Art and memes about the Living Jars continued to appear throughout the following months. In that period, some players theorized they may act similarly to Mimics in the Dark Souls series, meaning they may at first appear lifeless but will attack the player if they're touched. On November 8th, 2021, Redditor M_Snail posted art of a Living Jar and a Mimic as a family, gaining 60 points in four months on the subreddit /r/potboy.^[3] On December 9th, Redditor theboz2303 posted a Mom Said It's My Turn On The Xbox meme featuring a Living Jar, gaining over 800 points in roughly three months on /r/EldenRing.^[4]

The pot enemy continued to be a fan favorite in the months leading up to the game's release, leading to a moment at the 2021 Game Awards where a pot puppet delivered an envelope of the "Most Anticipated Game" award to Geoff Keighley (shown below). During the segment, Keighley referred to the pot as "my pot friend," leading to "pot friend" becoming another moniker for the character design.

Upon the game's release, players discovered Iron Fist Alexander, a sentient pot who is friendly towards the player. The player finds Alexander stuck in the ground several times throughout the story and needs to whack him out of the ground.^[2]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References