Server:Onyxia US/The legend of Gilgamesh

The Legend of Gilgamesh is a WoW meme that was originally posted on the Onyxia realm forum on August 10th of 2007. It quickly grew in fame and in simply two days, had been linked on various other realm forums, the EU forums, had over a dozen individual threads about it, and made mentions in afkgamer.com as well as blackravens.net.

The original thread in question was made by Demeter of the Horde guild, "Dirty Sons of Liches." It involved his suspicion of his wife, Gilgamesh, being overly flirtatious in the guild's vent server, as well as allegations of her cybering with other men. He asked for someone to step forward with evidence and information. In return he offered leadership of his guild to them.

This, however, caused a major backlash of drama, as well as publicity, which resulted in the formation of the meme and the labelling of the subject as, "Legendary," among the forums.

Background and the Post
Demeter, leader of Dirty Sons of Liches, a raid guild on Onyxia, posted a thread on the Onyxia realm forums, detailing his discontent with his wife and putting up an offer to transfer leadership to anyone who would offer information on her infidelity. People stepped forward, however questionably, and others offered their condolences and sympathy.

"Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Contrary to what you might assume or believe, I am the GM of Dirty Sons of Liches (look me up in the armory if you doubt it) and the only remaining founder. The guild is a little over a year old, my days as GM is about to end and I need someone to take over for me.

As you might know, Gilgamesh is my wife in real life and has placed a significant amount of work into the guild and people are likely to respond why not give it to her. The primary reason is I intend to gkick her from the guild when I return home from work tonight.

As it turns out playing wow isn't the only thing she likes to do in her free time. I hear that she is often very friendly over ventrilo...very friendly.

With that said, I have decided not to disband the guild- the guild deserves to live on. I would like to just give it away....for free. Website, DKP, everything.

Whats the catch?

Simple really, I need some information. I want to know EVERYTHING. Considering Gilgamesh doesnt work, and I pay for everything, I have access to everything. Name your virtual price.

Visit http://www.dirtysonsofliches.com/ for my contact information.

Thank you very much and happy hunting.

-Demeter"

Backlash and Retraction
For relatively unknown reasons, Demeter ended up posting a retraction, playing off the whole thing as a joke. Many people refused to believe this, arguing that he'd simply angered his wife and was trying to make amends for it. They also demanded a post from Gilgamesh to prove that she was either in on the joke, or legitimately angry at Demeter for the prank.

She posted a few times, although some were deleted. She ended up posting an affirmation of what Demeter had said, although it was later revealed to be posted by Demeter on his wife's account, supposedly at her behest, according to him.

People claimed he was attempting damage control, trying to effectively dismiss the situation and downplay the drama it was causing. However, the damage had already been done, with many people quoting and screenshotting deleted posts and rebuilding the contradictions bit by bit. The meme had spread so far that "fan" guilds had already sprung up, such as  and  on Onyxia's Alliance side.

Screenshots of a guild-related conversation:
 * http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q6/slackzmaster/LASTPART1.jpg
 * http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q6/slackzmaster/LASTPART2.jpg
 * http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q6/slackzmaster/LASTPART.jpg

Posts and Threads created and deleted:
 * http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/8040/gilgameshpostsd3.jpg
 * http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=965797314&sid=1
 * http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=965798626&sid=1&pageNo=5

More Attention
The hype surrounding Gilgamesh grew and the story appeared on afkgamer.com and blackravens.net, increasing the publicity the threads were receiving. So-called "Gilgamesh Detectives," even went so far as to find an alleged MySpace of hers, although its authenticity was disputed. It even appeared in several ytmnd's, as well as having a Wikipedia article. WoWInsider also featured this story

Demeter Leaves
This was found off of the onyxia forums, posted by Demeter.

First off, I am sorry to the WOW community. I am sorry that my personal life has invaded your fantasy. I know too well what it feels like to cross the line that borders the real from the not real.

I cant give anyone what they want in a paragraph. But when my paragraphs turn into a novel suddenly I have a story. If it is fiction or real it does not matter, it is what you believe that matters. It is this belief that has destroyed me.

Belief is the foundation of faith. I am not a religious man. But I believed in my wife. I trusted that she would see why I worked so hard, I had no doubt that she would see what I did- an act of devotion to her. I was wrong.

Belief is a powerful thing. Nations have been destroyed, war has been waged. Religions have been declared on the idea of faith. But please allow me to digress from this over dramatic statement and allow me a chance to say something that you can let burn a scar into the back of your mind or shrug off as a most of you will.

It has been said that the highway to hell is paved with good intentions, then in my opinion the freeway of love is paved with heart ache and misery.

How you define love is up to you. Perhaps this is a chain of memories that makes your knees feel week, or the hug your mother gives you, whatever it is I do not know. And although this feeling for me is eclipsed by heartbreak I would not trade a moment of it.

To the few of you who may have had a relationship with my wife I am sorry for you. You will never know what it is to be us. You can never get what we had. I promise you, it will be something you will always desire and never know. As you will learn one day, your heartache will be never ending.

I hope my words ring true and haunt you until the day you die, for the memories you keep of her will always pale to my experiences.

I have nothing more to say. Dirty Sons Of Liches is no longer my guild. I wish you the best.

-Demeter''