About

White Whale Holy Grail refers to a comic loosely based on a lyric from the song "Blood and Thunder" by the American heavy metal band Mastodon. In the comic, a deranged man student sees another person as the white whale from Moby-Dick and proceeds to reenact the battle between Captain Ahab and the creature, with the last panel revealing that he has fatally stabbed the person in his delusional rage. In 2020, the last panel of the comic regained popularity as a reaction and an exploitable.

History

On August 31st, 2004, American heavy metal band Mastodon released its concept album "Leviathan," loosely based on the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melvil.^[12] The lyrics of the song "Blood and Thunder" are based on captain Ahab's obsession with slaying Moby Dick.

Split your lungs with blood and thunder
When you see the white whale
Break your backs and crack your oars, men
If you wish to prevail
This ivory leg is what propels me
Harpoons thrust in the sky
Aim directly for his crooked brow
And look him straight in the eye

Prior to March 25th, 2008, an unknown 4chan user posted a multi-panel comic partly based on the song (shown below). In the comic, a male student approaches his schoolmate and asks her out on her date, who mentions that she has a boyfriend. After the student sees the boyfriend, Moby Dick, join the girl, he turns into Ahab and stabs the boyfriend with a harpoon while singing the lyrics of "White Whale Holy Grail." The last panel of the comic reveals that the delusional student has fatally stabbed the girl's boyfriend, a normal man, in his rage.

YTMND

On March 25th, 2008, YTMND user ginustrout posted a flash version of the comic, titled "WHITE WHALE HOLY GRAIL" (GIF shown below).^[1][2] As of June 10th, 2010, the YTMND was viewed over 32,000 times and had a rating of 4.38 stars out of 5.

Spread

In the following years, the original comic was reposted numerous times; for example, on August 25th, 2008, eBaum's World^[3] user ShellyDazzler reposted the comic. On October 6th, 2009, Blogspot^[4] user xrl8me posted a Spanish translation of the comic. On July 9th, 2010, Redditor^[5] asimovfan1 posted the comic to /r/pics, gaining over 590 upvotes in six months.

On December 4th, 2008, YouTube^[13] user OhLookBirdies posted a video in which the comic was accompanied by "Blood and Thunder" by Mastodon (shown below). The video accumulated over 324,000 views in twelve years.

Stabbing Panel Resurgence

On February 22nd, 2020, Redditor^[6] flingus_bill posted an ironic Troll Science meme in which the last panel was replaced with the last panel of the comic in which the student stabs the boyfriend. The edit received over 4,800 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard in three months (shown below, left).

The format saw a further surge in popularity after on March 16th, 2020, iFunny^[7] user Kollum reposted the original comic, gaining over 3,600 smiles. For example, on March 25th, Facebook^[8] group Pains of Wellness Clinic posted an edit that received over 2,400 reactions and 1,400 shares in two months, with a same-day Reddit^[9] repost gaining over 5,500 likes (shown below, right)

Starting in late April 2020, the panel gained notable popularity on iFunny, being used as an exploitable. For example, on May 1st, 2020, iFunny^[10] user LeSpisiaMeme posted a The Man Behind the Slaughter edit that received over 210 smiles in three weeks. On May 2nd iFunny^[11] user AhyerdGunn posted a Quit Having Fun meme that received over 2,100 upvotes in three weeks.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References