20 years ago, Leeroy Jenkins became a legend, charging in WoW with his name as a battle cry
Leeroy Jenkins is permanently enshrined in the annals of video games, even if the famous meme is a bit past its prime.
One of the most famous video game memes was born 20 years ago: the paladin in World of Warcraft charging at enemies not with a battle cry, but with his own name on his lips.
Ben "Leeroy Jenkins" Schulz is undoubtedly a phenomenon. How many players, even influencers, can boast that they made it into their favorite game? And it's not just a regular easter egg in a small indie game, but a part of the official canon of one of the most recognizable brands in the history of video games.
Leeroy Jenkins in a nutshell
Leeroy Jenkins became famous in 2005 after a supposed recording of a raid on Upper Blackrock Spire, or rather the preparation for it, went viral on the internet. In the video, the Pals for Life guild discusses strategy, temporarily ignoring the absent paladin, who is preparing chicken for dinner.
After a quick and relatively optimistic assessment of their chances of success, the heroes are getting ready for the fight. Meanwhile, Leeroy Jenkins returns to the game - and without hesitation, he rushes forward, shouting his name. Effect: complete guild annihilation. But, as the paladin sums it up: "at least he got the chicken."
"Based on facts"
The rest, as they say, is history. The shout "Leeroy Jenkins" and his "excuse" gained so much attention that even the later confirmation that the whole scene was a satirical set-up, supposedly based on a real event (via The Internet Historian / Kotaku), didn't really diminish the popularity of this meme.
Leeroy was indeed kicked out of the guild, for about 5 minutes / a few days (depending on the version). However, after he came back, the whole situation became a joke for the guild, and they decided to recreate the scenario in a parody form. As itted by the involved players, no one in the guild believed that anyone would think it was an authentic recording, even though similar incidents are not entirely unfamiliar to WoW players (and other MMO games).
It's hard to be surprised, because Blizzard itself clearly fell in love with the overly zealous paladin. Leeroy Jenkins has made it into the card game World of Warcraft as a card, achievement, and NPC in the original MMORPG, and later into Hearthstone in several incarnations. Schulz even showed up at BlizzCon with a very short but enthusiastically received performance.
Today, the Leeroy Jenkins meme can be considered somewhat forgotten, or at least less common than a decade ago, when references to it could be seen even in shows like Family Guy. Nevertheless, even after 20 years, WoW veterans and players (well, most of them) still fondly recall the brave (perhaps overly so) paladin - or they see him in the Battlegrounds mode in Hearthstone.
