Who Is Gol D. Roger And What Does 'He Laughed' Mean?

One Piece, a manga and show that have been running strong for over two decades, has exploded into the meme game in 2022, with sales charts and figures pointing to COVID-19 being a huge boon to the franchise in the west. One of the biggest memes to come from the franchise recently is ""He laughed":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/he-laughed-roger-just-laughed, a single panel taken from chapter 967, depicting the series ghost Gol D. Roger laughing after reaching the titular macguffin of the series, the One Piece. But what is it about this one panel that re-contextualized two decades of fan theory and forced a change in perspective?

What Does 'He Laughed' Mean?

"He laughed" is completely literal, in that Gol D. Roger laughed upon seeing the treasure that was on the island. This single laugh is more important than any other in the series, as it shows what happens to a man once he accomplishes his dream. Within the context of the story, dreams are a powerful thing, with people's dreams influencing the world around them, dictating what they want to do in life.

Roger's dream was always to get to the last island, and upon doing so, he uncovered the secrets of the world and learned everything there was to know, then simply laughed at it all. Most importantly, he left the knowledge there, in One Piece, something very uncharacteristic of pirates who often take things with them on their voyage. The entire page above, the secret of learning everything, the story, and even the name Laugh Tale single-handedly changed two decades of fan theories and everyone's assumptions of how the series will end.

What Is The 'Void Century?'

Within the context of One Piece, the 'Void Century" is a literal century of time, 100 years, in which there are no records of history kept. During this void century, many of the most important events in the series take place, with some things that are already established when the series begins, such as islands that are underwater, kingdoms and alliances and the structure of the government having developed during those 100 years.

In One Piece, very little is ever stated about the 'Void Century' as people who look into it and study it are ruthlessly snuffed out by the World Government, an important plot narrative that fluctuated from actively important to passively in the background for two decades.

The One Piece not only being confirmed as real, but being stated to contain a record of the world's history during that void century, made over 20 years of fan arguments about what the One Piece is evaporate into thin air, with hard concrete information being given thanks to the character Joy Boy.

Who Is 'Joy Boy?'

Joy Boy is a name said a very small number of times within the series, as he is to Roger what Roger is to the rest of the world, someone who traveled the world and forged the paths everyone follows, but died before seeing a successor. In short flashbacks and panels shown, Joy Boy actually resembles Roger, which plays into the concept of "inherited will," or a person's lasting dream being transferred to another, which is an overarching narrative that showcases itself multiple times throughout the series.

Almost every main character has motivations for what they do that come from a character before them, with this lingering will compelling them to complete their personal dream, and also to honor the dream of someone close to them. In this, having Roger reach the island only ever reached by Joy Boy, and with series protagonist Luffy echoing Roger at multiple times thoroughout the series, it is guaranteed that Luffy will reach the One Piece, fulfilling a role left to him by those that came before.

What Is The 'Laugh Tale?'

Since the beginning of the series, the One Piece was known to be on the final island of the Grand Line. Why no one has claimed it yet comes down to the way that traveling works in One Piece. Due to massive sea beasts existing within the ocean, it is dangerous to aimlessly travel in any direction, and the islands are so spread out from each other that traveling from one island to another requires a special type of compass that has to 'lock-on' to the next island ahead of you.

The final island, however, is impossible to lock onto via the compass system, instead requiring one to visit and read four stone slabs to understand how to get to the final island, like a scavenger hunt that requires you to do step 1-4 in order to solve step 5. Because of this, the island, first introduced as "Raftel" by translators, was the main MacGuffin, because that's where the One Piece is.

However, as shown above, the island's true name, as given by Roger, is "Laugh Tale." This is because of the story left there by Joy Boy, which made him and everyone laugh. This caused two decades of theories and lore to be re-examined, as the entire time the community thought the island was named "Raftel," it was really called "Laugh Tale," making it a joke pun over 20 years in the making.

What Is The 'D' In Gol D. Roger?

Why is his name Gol D. Roger instead of Gold Roger? It comes down to one of the biggest mysteries in One Piece. In the series, certain characters have a D. in their name, such as Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist, or Gol D. Roger. The meaning of "D" has been disputed since the series first started, with many references that members of the "D" clan have short but meaningful lives and are enemies to the gods.

On Laugh Tale, Roger finally found out the reason for his family clan name of D, and it caused him to laugh, possibly due to the name being something like "Dawn" or "Dream." By specifically mentioning the D's meaning, the "Void Century" and all things in between, it's explicitly told to the reader that all the mysteries that have been growing and growing over the past two decades will be revealed at the series end, but once we know the truth, we'll be laughing just as much as Roger.

For the full history of "He Laughed," be sure to check out our entry on the meme here for even more information.