The Holder of Love is an article from the Holders series. Unlike the majority of Holders articles, it does not contain a ritual but rather details how horribly doomed the Seeker is if they ever attempt to obtain this Object. Published April 2007, the Holder of Love is one of the oldest examples of a format screw in containment fiction.

Summary

See: Holder of Love (via archive.org)

The Holder of Love is Object 490 of 538. Its test can be attempted at any hospital; Seekers who attempt this test are advised to “prepare yourself to be destroyed completely and utterly.” The article notes that no one has ever come back from the test, or if they have they have come back as soulless husks. Both the Holder and its domain are described as the worst of all.

The Object itself is described as “a dark “protection” both divine and demonic.” No information is provided on obtaining the Object or even surviving the test.

History

On Wikichan

By February 10, 2007, Wikichan member Silence claimed Holders’ slot number 24 by placing the title “Holder of Love” on the main page of Wikichan’s Holders article. Silence had also claimed slot 23 by placing the title “Holder of Hate.”^[1]Holders series – WikiChan (archive.org) (for main page); Talk:Holders series – WikiChan (archive.org) (for authorship; see “Calling Numbers, etc” section) On February 24, 2007, Silence had filled in the Holder of Hate’s slot, but the Holder of Love’s slot still remained empty beyond the placeholder title.^[2]Holders series – WikiChan (archive.org) The earliest contents of the Holders article’s talk page have not been archived, so it is unclear how other Wikichan contributors reacted to this at least two-week old placeholder.

The text of the Holder of Love was finally posted at some point on or before April 18, 2007 (the date of the next oldest Internet Archive scan).^[3]Holders series – WikiChan (archive.org) The original text read as follows:^[4]Holders series – WikiChan (archive.org)

In any city, in any country, go to any hospital and ask to visit the one who refers to himself as “The Holder of Love”. The legends of this Holder have been lost to all time, for no one has ever returned. Fear the love of the end times. If you can steel yourself to press forward alone and without guidance to meet this guardian, and ask the correct question, you will be rewarded with an object of protection both divine and demonic. You may survive the quest yet.

This object is 24 out of 538. It longs for the company of the rest.

Between May 18 and June 9, 2007,^[5]Compare Holders series – WikiChan (archive.org) to Holders series – WikiChan (archive.org) the sentence regarding fearing the love of the end times was edited to read:

Fear the love of the end times, and that of the world today, for not all love is good, and the one who seeks you for love will destroy you with it should they find you.

Outside of a single comment about the Holder of Love’s short length,^[6]Talk:Holders series – WikiChan (archive.org) “I listed Love as “written” along with Present, presuming that the Holder of Love is meant to be that short”-ZK 16:51, 4 May … Continue reading no evidence of discussion regarding the Holder of Love exists in the archived Wikichan talk pages.

On Theholders.org

Editor’s note: The Holder of Love went through many variations on Theholders.org, most of which have been lost. I have attempted to piece together this history using an archived discussion page which does not contain a single dated comment and an archived edit history which contains very few useful edit comments. 

Early history and the first rewrite (December 2007-2008?)

The Holder of Love was copied over to Theholders.org on December 23, 2007 by an IP address.^[7]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org) The Object proved controversial due to its break from the standard Holders format and a dispute regarding the article’s contents lasted from approximately November 2008 to September 2009.^[8]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org); The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org)

Near the start of this process, someone rewrote the Holder of Love to follow the standard Holders formula; the Object awarded for completing the Holder’s test was apparently a name. While there was a single positive comment, the reception to the change was overwhelmingly negative: one commenter argued that the Holder article should have remained cryptic while another pointed out that the Holder of Love was linked to by many other Objects. The final commenter stated:^[9]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org)

Fuck this Holder. Let’s revert it back to its original state.

The Object appears to have in fact been reverted to its original state at a later point in time.

Removal from slot 24 and subsequent rewrites (2009?)

Arca, one of Theholders.org’s two moderators, later stated that the article needed work and asked for any suggestions. One responder (who did not sign their post) gave a brief synopsis of the article’s history and stated:^[10]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org)

I figure we go with the one people like better, it’s cookie cutter “do this then this then this” or something unique but short.

Torodugoru, the other moderator, defended the article and stated he preferred the “unique but short” version. On August 24, 2009, Arca removed the Holder of Love from the series list.^[11]The archived series list shows that the Holder of Love still occupied slot 24 on June 27, 2009 but had been replaced by August 27, 2009. The Holder of Love’s edit history shows that Arca made a … Continue reading On the article’s talk page, Arca announced that he had “done the necessary paper work” and that Object 24 was available. This slot would be claimed by the Holder of Color on August 26, 2009.^[12]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org)

Arca’s removal was itself unpopular and the Holder of Love was reposted in slot 490. Torodugoru marked the occasion by stating:^[13]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org)

Okay, everytime we take this down/ change it someone complains. A group complains. Some peeps hate (Arca, namely) some peeps love (Me, Inventor for exemplar) I don’t think this needs to be featured but people should understand that for all their hate, someone else loves it.

In response, Arca stated:^[14]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org)

I’ll let it be for now, but no feature for you!
EDIT: Let me explain my view a bit, this holder is like communism, better in theory. The idea is great and I like it, but the writing of it needs work. Right now it comes off more as half-assed, but I think with a few revisions it can be everything the author, and you guys, want it to be.

In response to Arca’s comments, a user named Dallas rewrote the Holder of Love yet again on September 18, 2008 at 6:48 AM.^[15]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org) While this rewrite has been lost, the rewrite apparently focused heavily on love as a concept. At 11:13 AM on the same day, Torodugoru reverted Dallas’s version and stated:^[16]http://theholders.org/?page=Holder_of_Love/History

It’s not about stating the obvious messages behind this. Or about love being good. If we change it it should be more about the horrible fates of the remains that were left behind.

At 1:33 PM, Torodugoru rewrote the Holder of Love; Torodugoru’s version was likely much gorier than the version saved in the Internet Archive.

Dallas would go on to criticize Torodugoru’s change on the talk page. He stated that the article is “the holder of love, not the holder of blatant, unnesecary human mutalation [sic]” and argued that the article should focus more on love as a concept. Torodugoru defended his work by claiming it was more faithful to the original, which he claimed was popular due to its mystery rather than because it was about love. Dallas made a final comment at 5:34 PM criticizing the article for its gore yet again; no one beyond Dallas and Torodugoru participated in this brief exchange.^[17]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org)

No further comments were made to the talk page by December 2012.^[18]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org) Only two additional edits were made to the Holder of Love subsequent to Torodugoru’s rewrite: the first on September 28, 2009 and the second and final on December 18, 2012.^[19]The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org);The Holders Series – theholders.org (archive.org) If there was in fact excess gore in Torodugoru’s version, one of these edits presumably removed it without comment resulting in the current text of the Holder of Love.

Later availability

Theholders.org was deleted in either late 2020 or early 2021. The Holder of Love can nonetheless still be read on the Internet Archive. A rewritten version following the standard Holders format can also be read on the Creepypasta Wiki.^[20]Holder of Love | Creepypasta Wiki | Fandom (archive)