For Honor

For Honor’s accidental alt-right connection

A rallying cry adopted by For Honor players may sound familiar to those well-versed in the conservative political landscape. “Deus vult,” a phrase that’s become popular with the multiplayer game’s community, may have origins in 11th-century Europe, but it’s more recently been associated with the alt-right movement.

“Deus vult” is Latin for “God wills it,” which became a stirring declaration for the Crusaders. It concluded a speech made by Pope Urban II, calling defenders of Christianity to action in the fight to win back their Holy Land from its Muslim occupants. It became symbolic not just of pride in the Christian state, but in Western culture as a whole.

The religious, historical nature of the phrase is obvious and inextricable, and that’s what accounts for its use by the community of games like For Honor. The action fighting game is set in medieval times, with players choosing between knights, samurai and vikings. In keeping with the time period, players who choose the knight class can often be found cheering “Deus vult!”

The phrase is a major meme in the For Honor community, and it appears to be recycled from older medieval times-based games. That includes Crusader Kings, which had an expansion called Deus Vult; the phrase also appeared in its sequel. It’s used by recent beta testers in a plethora of threads on the subreddit and official For Honor forum. There are jokes about the meme and how common it is, but more often than not, players just post it as a rallying cry — much like how it was originally intended