What is Who are You, Who are so Wise in the Ways of Science??

It is a reaction image built around a line Sir Bedivere asks King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, usually paired with a caption above the still to mock a bad take.

Where did Who are You, Who are so Wise in the Ways of Science? come from?

The line is from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in the witch trial scene after King Arthur correctly identifies a duck as another thing that floats.

What does Who are You, Who are so Wise in the Ways of Science? mean?

Most posts use it sarcastically to imply the claim above the image is obvious, wrong, or self-impressed, though a smaller share use it as a sincere compliment.

How do you use Who are You, Who are so Wise in the Ways of Science??

Stack a short caption above the Sir Bedivere still, usually a confident science claim or shaky reasoning, and let the image deliver the sarcastic read.

Is Who are You, Who are so Wise in the Ways of Science? still popular?

After a late-2019 uptick on r/DankMemes and r/HolyGrailMemes, the format stayed a classic Monty Python reaction image on Reddit.

Who are You, Who are so Wise in the Ways of Science?

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Published November 5, 2026

"Who are You, Who are so Wise in the Ways of Science?" is a reaction image sourced from the 1975 British comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where Sir Bedivere asks the line of King Arthur after he correctly identifies a duck during a mock witch trial. Climate skeptic Steven Goddard was among the earliest to repurpose the scene as a meme in November 2012, and by 2019 the still was a fixture on r/DankMemes paired with captions mocking confidently stated nonsense.

monty python memes movie quote memes reaction memes sarcasm memes pseudo intellectual memes

Overview

Posts pair a still of Terry Jones as Sir Bedivere, head tilted mid-question, with a caption above presenting some confidently stated claim or piece of flawed reasoning3. Sarcastic use is standard, with the "wisdom" above the image implied to be obvious, wrong, or self-impressed rather than impressive. A smaller share of posts run the line sincerely, praising a sharp science reply.

Captions tend to be short so the image does the work. Common pairings mock pseudoscience and climate-denial talking points, which lines up with the earliest documented use alongside a California climate article2. Within Monty Python fan communities on Reddit, the format also runs as a straight in-joke about Python itself rather than any outside claim5.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Quick Meme / Reddit (viral spread)

Date

2013

Sir Bedivere's question appears in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), in the witch trial scene directly after "We Found a Witch, May We Burn Her?"3. Villagers want to burn a woman they accuse of witchcraft, and Sir Bedivere (Terry Jones) agrees only after a trial. He reasons that witches burn because they are made of wood, wood floats, so a witch should float the way a duck does. King Arthur (Graham Chapman) supplies the duck answer from the sidelines, and Sir Bedivere responds with the line.

An early use of the scene as a meme dates to November 13, 2012, when climate skeptic Steven Goddard embedded a 2007 YouTube clip of the exchange1 in a Wordpress post criticizing California cap-and-trade legislation2. A full image macro version followed on November 8, 2013, when an unknown Quick Meme user uploaded the familiar caption-over-still format4.

How It Spread

After the Quick Meme upload, the format appeared sporadically through the mid-2010s before moving to Reddit3. On January 23, 2019, Redditor TiitMarvel posted a version in r/DankMemes with the title "Monty Python is a goldmine for memes," one of the earliest confirmed uses on the subreddit5.

A breakout came on May 12, 2019, when Redditor SlothySurprise posted the template to r/MemeEconomy as "Invest in Monty Python to be wise in the ways of profits!"6 The post picked up close to 13,000 upvotes and about 660 comments, bringing the template into wider Reddit circulation6.

Through late 2019, the Bedivere image appeared regularly on r/DankMemes, including a December 3, 2019 post from Redditor Abruptsystem titled "Do not question the elevated one"7. The format also kept a steady run on r/HolyGrailMemes, where the full witch trial scene stays in heavy rotation as fan material3.

Timeline

1975

Monty Python and the Holy Grail releases in UK cinemas, with Terry Jones as Sir Bedivere asking the line of Graham Chapman's King Arthur after the witch trial scene.

2012-11-13

Climate skeptic Steven Goddard embeds a 2007 YouTube clip of the Bedivere scene in a Wordpress post about California cap-and-trade, an early recorded repurposing of the exchange.

2013-11-08

An unknown Quick Meme user uploads the first known image macro pairing the Bedivere still with a caption above it.

2019-01-23

Redditor TiitMarvel posts the format in r/DankMemes, one of the earliest confirmed uses on the subreddit.

2019-05-12

Redditor SlothySurprise posts the format in r/MemeEconomy with the title "Invest in Monty Python to be wise in the ways of profits!", picking up close to 13,000 upvotes.

2019-12-03

Redditor Abruptsystem posts a version titled "Do not question the elevated one" to r/DankMemes during a late-2019 uptick in the format.

How to Use This Meme

Creators crop the Sir Bedivere still from the witch trial scene and stack a caption above it, usually a confident science claim or dodgy explanation. The image carries the sarcastic read on its own, so captions stay brief. Sincere versions use the same layout to praise a genuinely clever reply.