Introduction

The Comfort Character meme revolves around characters from various media that provide emotional solace and happiness to fans, often contrasting darker themes.

Background

A comfort character is a term used to describe a character in television, film, video games, or literature that offers comfort to the audience or participants. These characters typically embody wholesome traits and provide emotional relief, especially in narratives that explore heavier themes. Interestingly, fans often designate characters as comfort characters, even if such intentions were not originally present in the creators' designs.

How It Began

The term 'Comfort Character' was first defined on May 14th, 2020, by Urban Dictionary user Squootre, who described it as a character from any form of media that makes individuals feel safe and happy during difficult times. The definition prominently featured Baymax from Big Hero 6 as an example.

Meme Evolution

The comfort character meme gained traction on various platforms starting on March 14th, 2021, when Instagram user @engaged.avery shared an image of Jackson Avery from Grey's Anatomy, overlaying the definition of a comfort character. This image was later reposted on Reddit by user Full-Surround, where it garnered 84 upvotes in five months.

As the format spread across subreddits, more characters were identified as comfort characters. For instance, on May 4th, 2021, user looking-cool-joker- featured Ann Takamaki from Persona 5, receiving 794 upvotes. Other notable examples include Shishiro Botan from Hololive and KMS August von Paseval from Azur Lane, attracting over 1,300 and 3,300 upvotes, respectively.

The trend extended beyond Reddit, reaching Instagram, where user @dogcheems depicted Cheems as a comfort character, achieving over 6,000 likes in one month.

In November 2021, a new trend emerged on TikTok, where users showcased scenarios of their first comfort character meeting their current comfort character. The earliest viral video in this format was shared by @definitelynotdestiny on November 13th, 2021, featuring Thor and The Cat in the Hat, accumulating over 1.7 million views. This trend continued with various characters, including Hermione Granger and Satoru Gojo, and Spider-Man versions, gaining significant attention across platforms.