The 'Dude, Let's Kill the Horse' meme originates from a comic by Charlie Higson, the creator of the webcomic series 'Heck if I Know.' The original panel features two characters standing beside a horse, where one abruptly suggests killing the animal for no apparent reason, leading to a shocked reaction. The meme gained popularity online as a way to represent an unnecessarily extreme or violent escalation in a conversation. It is frequently used in gaming communities and social media to mock someone proposing a 'nuclear option' or a bizarrely aggressive solution to a minor problem.