31 Lord of the Rings Memes That Were Forged in the Fires of Mount Doom

John Summers • Contributor

Feb 18, 2025 9:00 PM EST

Picture this: you're a book publisher in the 1930s, and J.R.R. Tolkien strolls into your office with The Hobbit—a charming, lighthearted children's book about an unassuming little creature who stumbles into an adventure, outsmarts a dragon, and returns home a little wiser. It's an instant classic. Parents love it, kids love it, and you love it because it's flying off the shelves. Naturally, you encourage him to write a follow-up—something simple, another fun adventure with Bilbo, maybe a new set of quirky creatures for him to outwit.

Fast forward 17 years. Tolkien walks back in, drops a massive stack of papers on your desk, and says, "Here's the sequel." You start flipping through it—ancient prophecies, world-ending wars, doomed kings, dark lords, and a tiny protagonist slowly unraveling under the weight of despair. Uh… this wasn't exactly the easygoing children's book you were expecting. You were thinking something along the lines of "Bilbo Goes on Another Treasure Hunt," not a three-part epic about the battle for the soul of an entire world.

And yet, that's how we ended up with The Lord of the Rings, the most unexpected, legendary, and genre-defining sequel of all time. Whether you love it for its depth or just enjoy the memes, these 31 Lord of the Rings memes perfectly capture the magic, the madness, and the sheer brilliance of Tolkien's masterpiece.