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Leeroy Jenkins

This is revision 1, from Oct 29, 2026 04:23. See the current page.

Leeroy Jenkins is a paladin character from a short World of Warcraft video posted in May 2005, in which a guild carefully plans a dangerous fight in Upper Blackrock Spire only for one member to charge in shouting his own name. The group is wiped out in seconds. The clip became one of the first internet memes to come out of an online game, and Blizzard has paid tribute to it in several of its games since.

The video

The video shows the guild PALS FOR LIFE preparing to clear the Rookery, a room in Upper Blackrock Spire full of dragon eggs. The room holds the encounter with Solakar Flamewreath, and its eggs hatch into Rookery Whelps when disturbed. Together with the Rookery Hatchers that tend them, the whelps can swarm a group that rushes in.

Solakar Flamewreath, the boss of the Rookery encounter
Solakar Flamewreath, the boss of the Rookery encounter © Blizzard Entertainment

While the rest of the group talks through a detailed plan over voice chat, one member, Leeroy, has stepped away from his keyboard. He comes back, shouts "Leeroy Jenkins!", and runs straight into the room. The others follow in a panic, the whelps hatch, and almost the whole party dies. When his guildmates complain afterward, Leeroy answers, "At least I have chicken."

A Rookery Whelp, the dragonkin that overwhelmed the group
A Rookery Whelp, the dragonkin that overwhelmed the group © Blizzard Entertainment

The clip was posted to the Warcraftmovies site on May 11, 2005, with a forum thread about it appearing around May 10. It spread quickly beyond the game's community. PC Gamer UK covered it in 2005 under the title "The Ballad of Leeroy Jenkins".

Who made it

Leeroy was played by Ben Schulz. The video was recorded by Ben "Anfrony" Vinson, his friend since middle school.

For years many viewers suspected the video was staged, and Schulz neither confirmed nor denied it. In December 2017, Schulz and Vinson released an earlier "dry run" version of the video, similar to the final one, to draw attention to net neutrality. Vinson told Kotaku that they had assumed everyone would see the video as obvious satire, and that they were wrong.

Tributes and references

Blizzard has referenced Leeroy many times:

  • An in-game character named Leeroy Jenkins was added to World of Warcraft after the video became famous.
  • In 2008, the Wrath of the Lich King expansion added an achievement, "Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy!", for killing 50 Rookery Whelps within 15 seconds. It awards the title "Jenkins".
  • Leeroy Jenkins is a legendary card in Hearthstone's original Classic set, using the same art as his card in the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. Blizzard weakened the card in a November 2014 balance change. He also joined Hearthstone's Mercenaries mode in March 2022.
  • In a 2024 Overwatch 2 crossover event, the character Torbjörn gained two voice lines quoting him, including the chicken line.

Outside Blizzard's games, Leeroy turned up as a clue on the quiz show Jeopardy! in November 2005, and in television shows including How I Met Your Mother, Family Guy and The Daily Show. In 2017, IGN ranked him 10th in a list of the best Blizzard characters. During the drawn-out vote for Speaker of the US House of Representatives in January 2023, Representative Jared Huffman invoked the meme while casting his vote for Hakeem Jeffries.

Sources

Categories: Game History

Last changed October 29, 2026: Written by QuestCore