Who Is Ghost, The 'Modern Warfare II' Character Who's Become An Internet Darling?

The release of yet another Call of Duty game has brought yet another slew of memes, and for the recently-released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, the breakout star is undoubtedly Ghost.

This charming fella is Simon "Ghost" Riley, a major character in the first Modern Warfare game released in 2007, but has come into his own as a meme star with the recent sequel to the Modern Warfare reboot. Here, we'll go through some of the Ghost moments that the internet has turned into gold.

Why Does The Internet Love Ghost?

While Ghost is very much a "man's man" in the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare II fans have joked that he comes across as playful and almost homoerotically flirty while keeping his masculine veneer in the game. One particular scene that captured the internet's attention finds Ghost chatting with Soap about Ghost's iconic skull face mask, which, at this point in the series has never been removed.

Soap teases Ghost for his mask and says he should take it off. Ghost, in his British, Idris Elba-esque voice (Ghost is actually voiced by Craig Fairbrass), says "Show my face? Negative." Soap replies, "Are you ugly?" and Ghost coyly shoots back, "Quite the opposite."

The moment took off on TikTok, where the audio was used in various sketches of Ghost making sexy and flirty poses during his conversation with Soap.

The trend wasn't to everyone's liking, though. Some passionate Call of Duty fans who remembered the emotional attachment they had with Ghost in the original Modern Warfare complained about the sexualization of Ghost.

What Is The Ghost Gaze?

Apart from the mask dialogue parodies spreading on TikTok, one moment from the game in which Ghost stares at Soap became a reaction meme in its own right. The Ghost gaze comes from a scene where the character chats with Soap about some actions they took earlier in the game.

Online, the scene and others of Ghost staring at Soap have been used as reaction memes, paired with various humorous captions on Twitter and TikTok. Unlike the "mask" dialogue parodies, Ghost gaze parodies tend to be used for more bruh moment reactions.

For more information, check out the KnowYourMeme entry on Ghost.