If you’ve spent any time in the indie gaming scene over the last few years, you’ve probably seen the phrase may your woes be many and your days few plastered across Twitter threads, YouTube comments, and Discord servers. It sounds biblical. It sounds like something a vengeful monk would scream while falling off a cliff. Honestly, it’s just one of the hardest lines ever written for a video game boss, and it comes from a title that shouldn’t, on paper, be this poetic.
We’re talking about ULTRAKILL.
Developed by Arsi "Hakita" Patala and published by New Blood Interactive, ULTRAKILL is a "boomer shooter" on steroids. It’s fast. It’s loud. It’s messy. But amidst the pixelated gore and the high-speed projectile parrying, there is Gabriel, the Apostate of Hate. When he drops the line may your woes be many and your days few, he isn't just talking trash. He’s delivering a narrative gut-punch that has defined the game's identity.
Where the Hell Did This Line Come From?
It happens at the end of Act I. You, playing as the machine V1, have just absolutely humbled Gabriel in a fight. Gabriel is an archangel. He’s supposed to be the pinnacle of divine might. Being beaten by a GoPro-faced robot fueled by blood doesn't sit well with him. As he retreats, he spits this curse with a level of venom that most AAA games wish they could capture.
Gianni Matragrano is the voice behind Gabriel. He’s become a legend in the community for his range, but this specific performance is what put him on the map for many. The way he delivers the line is crucial. It’s not a cheesy villain laugh. It’s pure, unadulterated salt. It’s the sound of a sore loser who also happens to be a celestial being.
Most people don’t realize that the phrase is actually a clever inversion of traditional blessings. You’ve heard "may your days be many and your woes be few" at weddings or in old Irish blessings. By flipping it, Hakita turned a cliché sentiment into a terrifyingly efficient curse. It’s short. It’s punchy. It’s perfect for a game where you spend most of your time moving at Mach 1.
Why the Internet Obsessed Over a Curse
The line went viral because it’s "raw." That’s the word the internet uses for dialogue that hits way harder than it has any right to.
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Memes started almost immediately. You’ll find fan art of Gabriel saying this while holding a McDonald’s bag, or edited onto pictures of grumpy cats. The community took a moment of high drama and turned it into a "shitposting" staple. But beneath the memes, there's a genuine appreciation for the writing.
ULTRAKILL doesn't have a massive budget for cinematic cutscenes. It relies on text and voice acting to do the heavy lifting. When Gabriel says may your woes be many and your days few, it does more character work in six seconds than some games do in six hours. It tells you everything you need to know about the Heavens in this universe: they are arrogant, they are fragile, and they are incredibly bitter.
The Biblical Aesthetic of Modern Gaming
There's a trend here. Games like Blasphemous, Elden Ring, and ULTRAKILL are leaning heavily into "theological horror" and archaic language.
Why? Because it feels significant.
When a boss says "I'm gonna kill you," it’s boring. We’ve heard it a thousand times. When a boss says may your woes be many and your days few, it feels like a permanent stain on your soul. It’s an escalation of stakes. It connects the player to a tradition of epic poetry and religious texts, even if the game itself is about sliding around and punching your own bullets to make them explode.
The Impact of Gianni Matragrano
Matragrano’s involvement shouldn't be understated. He’s incredibly active in the community, often voicing fan-made memes in the Gabriel voice. This "meta-narrative" keeps the line alive. It’s not just a line in a game anymore; it’s a living part of the voice actor’s persona and the fans’ daily interactions. He’s basically the shepherd of this specific brand of divine hatred.
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Honestly, the line works because it's arrogant. Gabriel thinks he’s the main character. He thinks he has the authority to dictate the length of your life. The irony is that the player—the "object" he’s cursing—is the one who eventually decides his fate.
The Technical Side: Why It Ranks
You might be wondering why this phrase keeps popping up in search results. It’s the "Hard Quote" phenomenon. People search for the exact wording because they want to use it as a reaction image or find the specific track on the OST (which is "The Death of God's Will," by the way).
From an SEO perspective, the phrase may your woes be many and your days few is a "long-tail keyword" goldmine. It’s specific. It’s tied to a passionate fandom. It has a high "intent" for people looking for lore or merch.
But beyond the data, it’s just a damn good sentence.
Breaking Down the Sentence Structure
Look at the symmetry.
- Woes / Many
- Days / Few
It’s a perfect chiasmus-adjacent structure. It balances the negative and the positive in a way that feels ancient. It sounds like it belongs in the King James Bible, right next to the plagues and the pillars of salt. This is why it sticks in your brain. Your brain likes patterns. It likes the rhythm of the curse.
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If you’re a writer, there’s a lesson here. You don’t need long monologues to establish a villain. You need one sharp, inverted truth. You need a line that the player can repeat to themselves after they close the game.
Is It Actually From the Bible?
No. People ask this a lot. They think they’re quoting some obscure Psalm. They aren’t. They’re quoting a guy in a basement in Finland who likes fast robots. That’s the beauty of modern digital folklore. We are creating new "scripture" through gaming.
How to Use This Knowledge
If you’re a developer or a writer, don't aim for "cool." Aim for "resonant." May your woes be many and your days few is resonant because it taps into a universal fear—the idea of a life cut short and filled with suffering—and frames it through the lens of a divine being losing his cool.
If you’re a fan, you’re likely just here to revel in the sheer edge of it all. That’s fine too. We need more edge in games. Everything has become a bit too "safe" and "polished" lately. ULTRAKILL is a reminder that sometimes, you just want an angel to scream a curse at you while breakcore music blasts in the background.
Real-World Action Steps for ULTRAKILL Fans
If you want to dive deeper into the lore or the "vibe" of this line, here is what you actually do:
- Listen to the Act II dialogue. Gabriel’s arc doesn't end with this curse. His realization of his own mortality in the subsequent chapters makes this line even more tragic in hindsight. He’s projecting his own fear of "few days" onto you.
- Check out the New Blood store. They know the line is popular. There’s merch. If you want this curse on a shirt, it exists.
- Explore the "Boomer Shooter" genre. If you like the writing here, games like DUSK and AMID EVIL have similar "high-fantasy-meets-gritty-action" energy.
- Follow the Voice Actor. Gianni Matragrano’s YouTube channel is a treasure trove of Gabriel content that expands the character in ways the developers probably never intended but fully embrace.
The legacy of may your woes be many and your days few is a testament to the power of a single, well-placed line of dialogue. It turned a boss fight into a cultural moment. It turned a machine into a legend and an angel into a meme. Most importantly, it gave us a new way to tell people we’re really, really annoyed with them.
Don't just play the game. Study the salt. The next time someone cuts you off in traffic or ruins your killstreak, you know exactly what to say. Just maybe don't say it in a church.