There are few memes as iconic as Leeroy Jenkins and the team behind of World of Warcraft recognizes that. Nearly 20 years ago, a man named Ben Schulz helped introduce the world to his now-infamous World of Warcraft character, Leeroy Jenkins. For the uninitiated, the character entered the pop culture zeitgeist when a viral video of Schulz and his World of Warcraft fans were preparing to enter a big battle. Schulz was supposedly away from his computer while they were making their plan and instead just decided to go for it, screaming “Alright, let’s do this!” and then proceeding to scream his own name while charging into the chaos. His teammates, stunned, stared at him in silence before ultimately realizing they needed to help him. Although the folks behind the video later admitted that it was staged, history was made that day and Leeroy Jenkins has since been parodied and referenced in numerous shows like Family Guy.
17 years ago today, one group of heroes ran valiantly into battle within the Upper Blackrock Spire… One man led the charge with his iconic battle cry which still echoes in those halls to this day. Thank you, Leeroy.
