Leeroy Jenkins

File:Leeroy Jenkins Jeopardy clue.jpg

Jeopardy! clue on November 16, 2005 mentioning Leeroy Jenkins. Correct response: What is World of Warcraft?

This article is about the Internet meme, game character, and World of Warcraft player. For the jazz musician, see [[:Leroy Jenkins]].

Leeroy Jenkins, sometimes misspelled Leroy Jenkins, and often elongated with numerous additional letters, is a popular Internet phenomenon, character, and machinima video that first appeared among the players of Blizzard Entertainment's popular MMORPG World of Warcraft but which has subsequently spread well beyond the boundaries of that community.

So ubiquitous is the Leeroy Jenkins phenomenon that he was mentioned as part of a clue on the November 16, 2005 episode of the game show Jeopardy! as part of their college week tournament.

What it is

This Internet meme started with the release of a videoclip online to the World of Warcraft forums. The videoclip is a computer recording of the game that shows a group of about a dozen players planning and then executing a raid in a section of a dungeon. The players are heard conversing over Ventrilo or TeamSpeak, It is unclear. Leeroy Jenkins is the name of the bumbling character who causes mayhem to fall upon the party because he was apparently away from the keyboard during the planning stages of the attack, and upon his return, immediately charges into a roomful of enemies and gets everyone killed.

Leeroy's origins

Leeroy first appears as a paladin in a video released by the World of Warcraft Alliance player guild PALS FOR LIFE on the Laughing Skull server. The video, which was apparently intended as a promotional video for that guild, starts with Leeroy away from his keyboard ("AFK") while the rest of his guild is meticulously planning a raid on the Rookery in the upper part of the instance Blackrock Spire

Leeroy's guildmates are meticulously discussing their strategy going as far as to calculating their numerical likelihood for survival when Leeroy suddenly springs to life with a hearty "All right chums, i'm (back). Let's do this..." then proceeds to fearlessly charge into the Rookery. It is here where the infamous Leeroy battle shout "LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY JENNNNNNNNNNNKINSSSSSSSSSSS!" is heard, as the whelplings begin to smash the guild to pieces. Some have suggested that the dialouge could be inspired by the introduction movie to Quake 2, which contains similar frantic battle language.

Leeroy's popularity rise

Leeroy was given a substantial boost in notoriety by the publication of an article in the August 2005 issue of PC Gamer UK by author Craig Pearson, entitled "The Ballad of Leeroy Jenkins". Pearson's article claims that the original video was designed as a negative commentary on the kind of "nerd-guilds" that meticulously and statistically plan out raids the way Leeroy's guild was apparently doing. Leeroy is in fact the hero of the piece, acting against the geekiness of his guild.

Those familiar with game play in World of Warcraft have noted that the "plans" his guildmates were making relied on casting spells in a way that would be impossible according to the game's mechanics. Further an overall plan to activate all the enemies and fight them at once would be a rather unlikely occurrence among actual players of the game.

Giving further credence to this assessment and to Pearson's allegation is the fact that the dragon hatchlings in the Rookery are an optional engagement, not a required one. Indeed it's entirely possible to simply skip the eggs in The Rookery. While the Devout Shoulders item mentioned does require this engagement, it is considerably easier to do so a few at a time rather than all at once.

Also lending credence to Pearson's theory is the fact that most of the characters in the video are using superior-level armor and weapons. Some are even wearing equipment that can only be obtained in an area of the dungeon after the Rookery (although players often repeat areas many times and it is not uncommon to return although you have better "gear").

A sidebar found in Pearson's article titled "How to Be a Leeroy: Perhaps You Already Are?" cites Urban Dictionary as an indication that Leeroy has become a descriptive noun; "to Leeroy" is even being used as a verb in some circles. The article further encourages the readers to send in their best examples of being a Leeroy to "I'm a Leeroy" at the magazine's address.

Various other guilds on the server, notably "The Regulators", "Vanquish", and the horde guild "Banana Boyz" have asserted the video was staged: as Leeroy's guild, "Pals for Life" had beaten encounters much more difficult than the Rookery, though this is not confirmed. The guild has since changed name to "Pals 4 Life" or "P4L" and has had a huge influx of new members as a result of the video.

Expansion of Leeroy as a meme

Leeroy's popularity has spread to other Internet venues as well. In the popular free-to-play MMORPG Guild Wars, a dwarven character named Kilroy Stonekin relates the death of his family and calls the players to battle with a similar shout of his own name. Unlike Leeroy, Kilroy's shout conveys benefit to his players rather than spelling their demise.

Also, within the popular online multi-user dungeon Abandoned Realms, there is an NPC called "Leroy". This dwarven paladin wields a "paladin's polearm" and charges randomly into innocent bystanders, shouting a warcry as he does so. Leroy resides within the main city in the game, so everyone has an equal chance to be attacked by Leroy's "fanatical charge".

In NCSoft's City of Villains, there is a recurring Arachnos soldier NPC by the name of "Jenkins" (whom you typically have to rescue because he keeps getting himself captured.) City of Villains developer Positron recently announced to players that the character "...was definitely inspired by a certain Internet movie."

Similarly, Leeroy appears as a direct tribute in ArtixEntertainment's popular Web game AdventureQuest where he travels with the players to battle at "Vamprook Spyre", where you, Leeroy, Grodd, and Amani are planing the raid of the dungeon filled with "Vampragons", a telekinetic dragon/vampire hybrid.

The website community YTMND has served to extensively promote and to expand the Leeroy Jenkins meme among the viewers of its various websites and has a number of sites dealing with him including one documenting his supposed suicide. ^[1] In particular the community has extensively promoted his battle cry.

YTMND has also had substantial effect on the meme in the form of artwork that was originally used on its Leeroy tribute site. The artwork, which has subsequently been replaced with a still from the original video, is a digitally edited picture from the film Black Knight, featuring the hero standing on a bucket of KFC, instead of a rock. This image has been widely distributed and is in fact utilized by Uncyclopedia in their parody article regarding the meme.

Number of downloads

As of December 2005 the Warcraft Movies website reports well over 1,000,000 downloads of the original Leeroy Jenkins video ^{[2]. However it is difficult to estimate the total number of people who have seen the original video largely because it has appeared on numerous other websites, file sharing networks, and has been sent extensively by email as well. Leeroy's large public exposure likely heavily depended on word of mouth.}

Leeroy merchandise

Numerous sites have sprung up offering everything from underclothing to coffee mugs sporting Leeroy or related information. Many of these are offered as part of CafePress.com or 99dogs.com and it is difficult to estimate what success, if any, these retailers have had with said merchandise.

Derivative works

Numerous works derived from and based on Leeroy Jenkins have appeared on the net. Several remixes and spinoff videos have parodied the phenomena. The number of such derivative works is not clear but websites including the tribute website www.leeroyjenkins.net contain numerous examples and actively encourage the submission of new material.

In general, these videos are not controversial. However, a video posted at whatisdeepfried.com combines the original machinima with U.S. Army footage and references to Casey Sheehan, the deceased son of anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan. In the video "Leeroy" is reputedly the cause of Casey's death in Iraq, though it likewise names President George W. Bush as culpable.

What was Leeroy saying?

Several discussions on the Internet have surrounded the content of Leeroy's initial shout and his last line. Originally, it sounds like "Alright, chums up, let's do this." but possibilities include "Alright, chumps, I'm back. Let's do this..." "All right, dumb-dumbs. Let's do this...", "All right, thumbs up, Lets do this..." and "All right, time's up. Let's do this..."^[3] have been suggested. "...Guns up..." is similarly another possibility.

Some disagreement over his last line has also been offered. Due to foggy sound quality, it is hard to determine what Leeroy exactly says in his last line, with some discussion as to whether he says "At least I ain't chicken", "At least I'm not chicken", or "At least I have chicken".

Sources where the video was posted by the guild directly, including GameSpot, clearly identify the content of the phrase as "All right chums, I'm back. Let's do this..." and "At least I have chicken" respectively. Careful analysis of the original machinima seem to bear out this conclusion. ^[4].

While a decent number of communities still seem to report variant translations of the original line as of January 2006 variations on the chicken line seem to be dwindling. Possibly this is due to the fact that many sites, including YTMND and Uncyclopedia, have clearly adopted the "At least I have chicken" interpretation in their takes on the meme.

Dialogue

The full dialog of the original video is difficult to reconstruct based on the material. As a consequence of this individual transcripts may vary heavily.

The following is therefore a best approximation based on available material:

Player 1: [talking to teammates outside cave] OK guys, these eggs have given us a lot of trouble in the past, does anybody need anything off this guy or can we bypass him?

Player 2: Uhh, I think Leeroy needs something from this guy.

Player 1: Oh, does he need those Devout Shoulders? Doesn't - isn't he a paladin?

Player 2: Yeah, but that will help him heal better, he'll have more mana.

Player 1: [sighs] Christ. OK, uhh well what we'll do, I'll run in first, kinda gather up all the eggs, we can kinda blast them all down with AOE. Uhh, I will use Intimidating Shout, to kinda scatter them, so we won't have to fight a whole bunch of them at once. Uhh, when my Shouts are done, uhh, I'll need Anfrony to come in and drop his Shout too, so we can keep them scattered and not have to fight too many. Uhh, when his is done, Bass of course will need to run in and do the same thing. Uhh, we're gonna need Divine Intervention on our mages, so they can, uhh, AE, so we can of course bring them down fast, we're bringing all these guys, I mean, we'll be in trouble if we don't take them down quick. Uhh I think this is a pretty good plan, we should be able to pull it off this time. Uhh, what do you think Abduhl? Can you give me a number crunch real quick?

Abduhl: Uhhh.. yeah gimme a sec... I'm coming up with thirty-two point three three, repeating of course, percentage, of survival.

Player 1: That's a lot better than we usually do, uhh, alright, you think we're ready guys? [interrupted]

Leeroy: All right chums, I'm back. Let's do this... LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS! [runs into cave]

-Short pause-

Player 2: ... Oh my God he just ran in. [runs in]

Player 1: Save him! Oh jeez, stick to the plan. Oh jeez, let's go, let's go! [follows]

Player 1 [laughing]: Stick to the plan guys, stick to the plan!

Player 1: Oh jeez, oh fuck.

[Indistinguishable]: Gimme a Divine Intervention, hurry up.

Player 1: Shoutin'!

Player 3: I can't cast! I can't move, am I lagging, guys? I can't move!

Player 1: What the—what the hell?

[Another Player]: I can't AE!

Player 3: I can't move!

Player 1: Oh my God...

[Another Player]: The eggs keep respawning! More respawning!!

[Indistinguishable]: I dont think you can cast with that shit on!

[Another player]: Oh my God!

Leeroy: We got em, we got em! I got it, I got it.

Player 2: Take it off! Take it off! [muffled shouts]

Player 1: Stay down, Stay down. Oh my God..

Player 1: Goddamnit Leeroy! Goddamn it...

[Various others]: Yeah, Leeroy you moron, Leeroy! [various put-downs of Leeroy amongst group]

Player 1: Listen, this is ridiculous.

[Indistinguishable]: You dumbass.

Leeroy: I'm on it.

Player 1: I'm down, Forekin down. Goddamnit. [shouting, then a pause, followed by other put-downs] Why do you do this shit, Leeroy?

[Another Player]: Spiffy, rez us! Spiffy, rez us!

Player 2: I'm trying!

Leeroy [crying]: It's not my fault!

Player 1: Who's Soulstoned? We do have a Soulstone up, don't we? [everyone dies] Think I need a Soulstone?

Player 2: Yeah but you need a Warlock.

Player 2 [noticing everybody is dead]: ... Oh God...

Player 1: Oh for - [sighs, nearly chokes and swallows] Great job! For christ's sake! [indistinguishable babble] Leeroy, you are just stupid as hell.

[Another Player]: Oh My God...

Leeroy: At least I have chicken.

External links

• The original video at Warcraft movies including a download count (note: all the download links require registration or are no longer available.)
• Mirror Of Original Video Does not require registration
• An interview with Leeroy Jenkins
• A tribute Leeroy Jenkins webpage
• Appearance of Leeroy Jenkins's name on Jeopardy!
• Deepfried's controversial Leeroy Video
• The Legend of Leeroy Jenkins on AdventureQuest
• GuildWiki on Kilroy Stonekin