Lion does not concern himself with...

The "Lion does not concern himself with..." trend is rooted in an aphorism popularized by Game of Thrones (2011), in which Tywin Lannister delivers a variant of the line "A lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of a sheep." The sentiment has older, disputed roots, attributed variously to Aesop's fables, Latin proverb, and American author Vernon Howard (1912 to 1992), but the Game of Thrones airing cemented it in popular culture. Through the 2010s the quote circulated in sigma-male and grindset motivational image macros. The ironic meme format emerged on TikTok in late 2024 and accelerated in early-to-mid 2025, with the earliest documented post dated November 17, 2024. On April 2, 2025, TikTok creator @notdanilo22 posted a variant that accumulated over 395,000 views and 72,000 likes within two weeks, signaling the format's shift into broad parody. Creators adopted the structure of identifying as "the lion" and then immediately undermining the alpha-male premise by confessing an ordinary human failing or chaotic habit, inverting the original motivational intent into self-deprecating humor.