Where Did The Photo Of The 'Wise Mystical Tree' Come From And What Does It Mean?

If you are a millennial having grown up on the internet, you may remember a bizarre internet ad featuring this wise and mystical looking CGI tree giving advice to a knight, often alongside a banner that read, "if you are over 25 and own a computer, this game is a must-have!" Or you may be a confused zoomer seeing an inexplicable influx of "you gotta be a wise old tree if you think we f*ckin" content. Here's the lore behind how this random anthropomorphic tree became the huge meme it is now.

Where Does The 'Wise Mystical Tree' Come From?

Historical documents say that the Wise Mystical Tree first emerged from ancient Roman scrolls that depicted — just kidding. The photo of the 'Wise Mystical Tree' comes from a series of internet click-bait ads from the mobile game company Plarium for the purpose of advertising their browser game Stormfall: Age of War around the year 2017. These ads were noted to be hilarious from the get-go, with people on Tumblr, 4Chan and Reddit noting the absurdity of the image.

The tree and his message continued to gain steam, and some thought it reached critical mass when someone discovered new artwork of the tree looking deep into your soul. The photos of the tree were remixed in a variety of ways, and wise old tree memes about the sexual nature of banner ads as well as various styles of video games grew popular.

But tree lore never dies, and after a lull in the image's usage between 2017 and 2022, it made a comeback in the form of absurd Zoomer humor on Twitter and TikTok.

'Wise Mystical Tree' Usage In Memes

The wise mystical tree is one of those memes that relies on the inherent absurdity of an image for comedic effect, making it versatile in its uses. You don't need all the meme lore to know that this tree is f*cked up bruh. Moreover, the rise of the tree's popularity on TikTok among audiences that definitely were not over 25 and in possession of a computer in 2017, means that weird, surreal and contextless humor is alive and well. Here are some ways you can use the wise old tree meme, both as an ode to the meme's roots and its new Zoomer humor patrons.

How do you use the "Wise Mystical Tree" in a sentence?

• "I'm a CGI NPC knight, I better consult the Wise Mystical Tree."
• "I'm a CGI NPC knight as well, I will shoot an arrow into the Wise Mystical Tree."
• "I believe in Wise Mystical Tree supremacy."
• "Okay I'm coming over, you better not be a Wise Mystical Tree when I'm there."

For the full history of the Wise Mystical Tree meme, be sure to check out our entry here for even more information.