5 Tattoos People Mistakenly Think Make Them Hardcore

What are some of the most mistakenly used symbols in tattoos people get that don’t mean exactly what they thought it means? Let’s find out!

To make tattoos more “hardcore” than they already are, people choose to get symbols that are supposed to be badass on them without even knowing what they really mean.

1. Inverted cross

Tumblr (Only used as a reference)

Let’s start with one of the most-used symbol these days essential for every anti-something kid. Nothing says like “antichrist” like an inverted cross. Everyone better watch out because you worship no one but yourself, that’s how hardcore you are. But before everything else…

St. Peter's cross

The inverted cross just might be your most Christian-themed tattoo yet. That’s because it’s the exact cross used by St. Peter when he himself was crucified. Feeling unworthy to be sentenced to death the same way as the Messiah, he requested to be crucified upside down instead.

St. John Paul II

Totally hardcore af, mate.

2. Pentagram or the pentacle

Artist unknown.

Practicing Satanists are going to laugh right at this. I used to know kids who thought atheism was not edgy enough for them so they took it up a notch with middle school “satanism”. They’d write stars in everything and thought they were summoning Lucifer. Some of these kids never quite grew up (nor did they eventually join a La Veyan church) but some of them did get pentagram tattoos to prove their utter hate for humanity and their allegiance for Satan.

Uhm, yeah they would have nailed it if it was upside down. See, the five points of the pentagram represent the five wounds Christ during his Crucifixion. Medieval Christians even believed that this symbol warded off demons. Unlike the cross, you may turn this symbol upside down to form the sigil of Baphomet. There you go.

3. Swastika

Edward Norton in American History X

The Nazis pretty much succeeded in ruining this symbol for everyone else but that doesn’t really change the fact that the swastika is in fact—you guessed it—a historical religious symbol. The swastika is a beautiful variation of the cross and it’s seen all over cathedrals in Europe. And long before that, it’s regarded as a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

4. Guy Fawkes mask

Tumblr (Only used as a reference)

The Guy Fawkes mask is a very popular symbol for anarchy. It’s even used by one of the most notorious hacker groups for years, Anonymous. But let’s remember that this copyrighted mask is simply an effigy not even the real Guy Fawkes made use of. It’s created by an artist named Alan Moore and had been bought by Warner Bros.

In addition to that, Guy Fawkes himself wasn’t the anarchist icon we all thought he was. He may have tried to overthrow the English Parliament, but only for his plans of reestablishing a Roman Catholic monarchy in England. Again, all for the name of religion.

5. Che Guevara

Artist unknown.

We’ve had the perfect anarchist icon, now let’s go right to the perfect anti-imperialist hero. Although Che was accountable for many of the acts he was honored and glorified for, not too many knew of his venture into attempting to force Cuba outside of Latin America. After the assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, he hoped to start a people’s revolution in the midst of the political tragedy. Che insisted on leading the mutiny in Congo with his own people, lacking faith in the Congolese people to operate modern guns. Scholars scoffed at this detail and thought Che “pretty much like an old-fashioned racist.”