Leeroy Jenkins

"Leeroy Jenkins" stands as arguably the most iconic gaming meme of the early internet era, representing a defining moment when gaming culture intersected with mainstream viral content. The meme established the template for gaming fails and reckless behavior while demonstrating how niche gaming communities could create content that resonated far beyond their original audience during the Golden Age of Memes.

The meme originated from a World of Warcraft gameplay video created by the guild "Pals for Life" and uploaded to WarcraftMovies.com on May 11, 2005. The video, originally titled "A Rough Go," depicted a raid group preparing to tackle the challenging Rookery section of Upper Blackrock Spire dungeon. As the team meticulously discussed their strategy—with one player calculating a "32.33, repeating of course, percentage of survival"—Ben Schulz's character Leeroy Jenkins remained away from his keyboard, apparently preparing chicken for dinner (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).

The pivotal moment occurred when Leeroy suddenly returned to the game and, without warning, charged into the dungeon shouting his now-legendary battle cry: "Alright chums, I'm back, let's do this... LEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!" This impulsive action completely derailed his team's careful planning, forcing them to rush in after him and resulting in a catastrophic team wipe. When confronted by his frustrated teammates about ruining their strategy, Leeroy delivered another memorable line that became part of the meme's lore: "At least I have chicken" (Know Your Meme, 2025).

The video's initial success on WarcraftMovies.com demonstrated the growing appetite for gaming content beyond traditional gaming media. PC Gamer UK featured an article titled "The Ballad of Leeroy Jenkins" in their May 2005 issue, marking one of the first instances of mainstream gaming journalism covering user-generated content. The meme's crossover potential became evident when it was referenced in a Jeopardy! clue during their college week tournament on November 16, 2005, though notably, no contestant was able to provide the correct response (Warcraft Wiki, 2025).

YouTube played a crucial role in transforming the meme from gaming community phenomenon to mainstream cultural reference. The video was first uploaded to YouTube on November 19, 2005, approximately six months after its original WarcraftMovies.com debut. However, it was a second upload on August 6, 2006, that truly catalyzed its viral spread, eventually accumulating over 30 million views by 2012. This YouTube success demonstrated how gaming content could achieve unprecedented mainstream penetration during the platform's early years (Know Your Meme, 2025).

The meme's cultural impact extended far beyond gaming communities through numerous mainstream media references. South Park's 2006 episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" featured a character named Jenkins as the primary antagonist and incorporated audio clips from the original video. Television shows including How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs, My Name is Earl, and Moonlight all featured characters delivering Leeroy-style battle cries before charging into various situations. The meme even appeared in deleted scenes from Hollywood films including Year One and Monsters vs. Aliens, with the former featuring a line-by-line recreation using Hollywood actors (Daily Dot, 2017).

Blizzard Entertainment's official embrace of the meme demonstrated how game developers could incorporate community-created content into their products. The company added Leeroy Jenkins as an official non-player character in World of Warcraft, created an achievement titled "Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy!" that awarded players the "Jenkins" title for replicating the original video's scenario, and featured him in the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. The character later appeared as a card in Hearthstone and as a figurine in the World of Warcraft Miniatures game, showing the meme's commercial viability and lasting appeal (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).

The question of authenticity became a significant part of the meme's narrative over time. While Ben Schulz initially remained ambiguous about whether the video was spontaneous or planned, the guild eventually admitted it was a staged promotional video designed to attract new members. In December 2017, twelve years after the original upload, Schulz and videographer Ben "Anfrony" Vinson released what they described as the "first take" or "dry run" of the video, with Vinson stating, "We didn't think anyone would believe it was real, we thought it was so obviously satire." However, this revelation did little to diminish the meme's cultural impact or popularity (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).

The meme's influence on gaming culture cannot be overstated. "Leeroy Jenkins" became synonymous with reckless gaming behavior, with players across various games using the term to describe impulsive actions that endanger team objectives. The phrase transcended World of Warcraft to become gaming vernacular, representing the tension between careful strategy and spontaneous action that exists in many multiplayer gaming contexts.

Beyond gaming, the meme established patterns for viral content that would become standard in later internet eras. The combination of authentic community dynamics, quotable dialogue, relatable failure, and perfect timing created a template that countless subsequent gaming videos would attempt to replicate. The meme also demonstrated how niche communities could create content with mainstream appeal, presaging the rise of gaming content creators and streaming culture.

The lasting cultural significance of Leeroy Jenkins was highlighted by Ben Schulz's appearance at the 2016 Warcraft movie premiere, where he surprised actress Jamie Lee Curtis—herself a World of Warcraft player—with his signature battle cry on the red carpet. This moment, over a decade after the original video, showed how deeply the meme had penetrated popular culture and maintained its recognition value across different demographics and contexts.