What's The 'Dude, Let's Kill The Horse' Meme? Jake From 'Adventure Time' And His Haunting Quote Explained

Jake the Dog from Adventure Time has turned evil because of a series of edits on TikTok in which he says, with dread in his voice, "Dude, let's kill the horse."

The eery audio has inspired a series of memes and fan art over the past month. Some new edits have also surfaced, using other menacing quotes from Jake, like one about ruling like "angry gods." Is Jake evil or is he just tired?

So, where did this meme come from? What's the song used in all of these edits and which one is the original video? Let's explain.

What's The Original 'Dude, Let's Kill The Horse' Edit?

A TikToker named @oamiskims posted the original "Dude, Let's Kill The Horse" edit that later spawned the trend. It was shared in December and received viral acclaim in the following weeks.

They spliced together different soundbites from an episode of Adventure Time in which the characters Jake and Finn are fed up with a horse that's stalking them. Jake flirts with the idea of simply offing the horse, using his extreme tiredness as justification.

@oamiskims the eyes #adventuretime #cartoon @Kieran @Jessica ♬ The horse is tearing us apart – oamiskims

What Episode Is The 'Dude, Let's Kill The Horse' Meme From?

The Adventure Time episode in question is season 2, episode 2, titled, "The Eyes." It originally aired on Cartoon Network back in 2010.

In the episode, Jake and Finn are being stalked by a derpy horse. It's peeking through their window and it won't go away. The two are extremely tired, which skews their decision-making. For Jake, his impulses become sinister.

What's The Song Used In 'Dude, Let's Kill The Horse' Edits?

The song used in @oamiskims' original edit is called "Void In Blue" by Glare. It was released in 2018. The shoegaze song begins with an intense guitar riff that drives a stake into the heart of its listener. It matches really well with Jake's haunting quote, giving the scene more rage.

How Has The Meme Developed?

The initial slew of "Dude, Let's Kill The Horse" memes used the TikTok sound of @oamiskims' edit. Some of those first variants were fanmade animations that portrayed Jake as an angry, demented soul.

Other iterations were people lip dubbing Jake's words and adding text captions outlining predicaments similar to Finn and Jake's. "Me when I randomly decided to break up with my boyfriend," one TikToker joked.

@_5mal_ Imma be fr I didn’t feel like doing the lip sync at the end along with the rest of the clip lol #arttok #artist #fanart #fyp #fypシ #digitalart #arttrend #adventuretime #finn #jake #cartoony #animation ♬ The horse is tearing us apart – oamiskims

@_bddggg kind of wasn’t random kind of was so needed #fyp #ex ♬ The horse is tearing us apart – oamiskims

Fan art of Jake saying the quote has also surfaced online, commonly shared in photo slideshows and tweets from Twitter artists. The goal is to make Jake look as evil as possible, harboring the rage of a thousand dead gods.




Speaking of gods, other evil Jake soundbites have been pulled from the Adventure Time archive for their own edits, all similar to the original "Dude, Let's Kill the Horse" one.

For instance, there's another sound going around of Jake saying, "We can rule them like gods! Angry gods…" It's from a season 2 episode called "Susan Strong."

Jake's tone is the same in it, so the editors also used Glare's "Void In Blue" as the song. In turn, "Void In Blue" has become evil Jake's anthem.

@kl0nk4k angry gods. #adventuretime #finnthehuman #finn #jakethedog #jake #adventure ♬ The horse is tearing us apart – oamiskims

@artbybamuel Jake tweaking #art #artbybamuel #fyp #adventuretime #jakethedog #kratos ♬ Jake the Dog angry gods Void in Blue by glare – Eat More Spiders Art

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For the full history of Dude, Let's Kill the Horse, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's entry for even more information.