Who Is Igon, And Why Has His Iconic 'Curse You, Bayle!' Line Reading Become A Meme? The Latest Elden Ring Meme Explained

"Curse you, Bayle!" I hereby vow! You will know this meme! Behold, a true meme explainer! From I, Igon! Your confusion made clear! Solid of skull you might be, foul idiot … But I will riddle with knowledge your rotten brain! With a hail of harpoons! With every last drop of my being!

Who Is Igon, And What Is The 'Curse You, Bayle!' Copypasta?

It's been roughly two and a half weeks since Shadow of the Erdtree, the hotly anticipated Elden Ring DLC, dropped, and while fans have had plenty of discourse about its punishing difficulty and wild lore implications, memers have rallied around a new NPC who has little to do with Miquella, Marika, the Golden Order, or any of the major plot threads that make up Elden Ring.

This is Igon, a drake warrior who seems to be driven entirely by his hatred of a character named Bayle. The first time players encounter him, he's wailing in the middle of a field about how much he hates this guy, and he's really giving it his all.

Through the DLC, players learn that Bayle is a dragon who gravely wounded the lord dragon Placidusax. They can pursue a sidequest that is basically all about killing Bayle, and Igon, with his dying breath, gives you a finger with which to summon his spirit when players encounter the horrifying dragon.

While some Elden Ring players are famously against summoning NPCs for help in boss fights, the truth of the matter is you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't summon Igon for the Bayle fight, because when Igon enters the arena, he delivers arguably the best monologue in Fromsoftware history.

How Has The Internet Memed Igon's 'Curse You, Bayle!' Monologue?

If you heard Igon's monologue and your mind immediately jumped to Captain Ahab from Moby Dick, you're not alone. It seems much of the internet thought of Ahab upon meeting Igon, and has been having a blast with Igon's borderline-mad hatred of the "foul dragon." This has resulted in a delightful resurgence of an Ahab-adjacent relic of a meme, White Whale Holy Grail.

Furthermore, memers have taken to inserting Igon into various memes, celebrating his unbridled passion for dragon hunting with some of the internet's most iconic templates.

Shadow of the Erdtree will likely hold the internet's attention in the months to come, particularly as YouTube channels start posting hour-long video essays about what it all means, but at least in the case of Igon, the story is refreshingly simple: he hates Bayle a whole lot. That's enough for the internet to get completely behind him.

For the full history of Igon and Curse you Bayle! be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.