TriHard

The TriHard emote is probably the most controversial and versatile emote on Twitch and is used in a variety of situations. You can use it when you are "hyped" or want to create hype, you want to express excitement, nervousness or fear, or when someone is trying a little too hard.

The TriHard emote shows the smiling face of Twitch streamer TriHex with an upbeat, joyful expression.

The TriHard emote is one of the most diverse yet controversial emotes on Twitch. Both the name and its origin suggest its use when a streamer is trying a little too hard to make a good impression, which is often referred to as "to try hard" in English.

However, there are far more uses for it. Whether it is used as a greeting, to express fear, surprise or nervousness, or to "hype" a situation or event, the TriHard emote fits many situations depending on the community and streamer.

Unfortunately, however, it is repeatedly misused for racist remarks and insults, which is why it is very polarizing and not welcome everywhere.

In June 2012, TriHex attended the anime convention Akon-23 in Texas and took a lot of pictures. When he later reviewed these pictures live on stream, one picture immediately stood out. It shows TriHex with a female fan, a Dragon Ball picture, and a particularly lit up expression on his face. 

One of his friends, who was in the background during the stream, suggested doing something with his "facial expression" since it stood out very strikingly and full of energy from all the pictures. 

TriHex didn't hesitate and opened Photoshop, cut his face out of said photo, uploaded the image and shared the link with his community via Twitter and chat within minutes. He later uploaded a recording of the creation himself as a video. 

At this point, the image was still a meme and not an official emote, but was celebrated by his community as an unofficial TriHex Twitch emote.

His fans spammed the image on many forums and polls of Twitch employees, which eventually led to several Twitch employees simultaneously watching TriHex's stream while he was streaming a speedrun through Yoshi's Island.

When TriHex noticed that Twitch employees had mingled with his viewers, he immediately went the extra mile and took the speedrun a little too seriously. One of the admins then asked "Why are you trying so hard?" and the TriHard emote was born.

Not as nice as its origin story, is the reason for the TriHard emote's great and lasting popularity. The emote became really popular in the chat of IcePoseidon, probably the most controversial streamer on Twitch, with a very toxic community. Regular use in this community led to the emote being used whenever there was a black person in the stream. This phenomenon unfortunately spread from there to other communities and can be seen in many streams today. 

Today, the TriHard emote has a difficult standing within the Twitch community because of this. While TriHex itself believes that banning the emote will not solve the problem, many streamers and viewers are calling for just that. 

Some major streamers like HasanAbi, on the other hand, have already banned the emote from their chats today to prevent it from being used in a racist manner.

So, if you are a fan of the TriHard emote, you should always be aware that depending on the situation and community, the emote is no longer welcome and is unfortunately abused by many people for racist purposes.