Zalgo is a meme originated by SomethingAwful.com "goon" Flash animator Dave Kelly aka "Shmorky". It started out as a mention with no visual representation in parodies of syndicated newspaper comics on his web site. Zalgo eventually got his visual appearance as the meme spread. Shmorky made several flash animations referencing Zalgo.
From there, Zalgo took off, slender Meme style, becoming more than just messed up text and screwed up cartoon/comic pictures.
This is why Zalgo comes in so many different forms.
One form is where something generally well-known, usually a comic, is corrupted in a way to make it look supposedly scary. Something it is not supposed to be.
Another form is text that is screwed up AKA "messy text". This Zalgo text generator FAQ explains and shows an example.
Appearance and characteristics:
Zalgo has come along way, and not necessarily in the best way, from his origins. He went from messed up comics to a ghastly, heavily Lovecraft-influenced, eyeless creepy pasta with seven mouths, six of which speak in different foul languages, the seventh remains silent until Zalgo decides he can use it to sing out a world-ending song!
Zalgo is often depicted holding two objects, one in each hand.
In his left hand, he holds a candle. This is not just any candle. This Candle's Light Is a bloodstained shadow. Not just any blood, either. This stain is from the blood of Am Dhaegar. Whatever Am Dhaegar is, we do not know. Suffice it to say, it's nonsense.
In his right hand, Zalgo holds a dead star (black hole). Wait, what? The black hole would swallow him up just like it would anything else to get near it.
So, suspending disbelief for a moment, what this basically amounts to is that Zalgo is holding darkness in both hands.
So, Zalgo represents trolling, hive mind, wanna-be soul-snatcher for the devil, wanna-be god, wanna-be apocalypse-bringer, thriving on the suffering of others.
The phrases associated with Zalgo are:
"Zalgo wuz heer." (note the deliberate dreadful spelling), and "He comes."
Zalgo is also known as "He Who Waits Behind the Wall" and "Nezperdian Hivemind" So that should explain a lot about Zalgo's nature as a collective and meme.
Let's mangle!
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