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

John Summers • Contributor

Mar 27, 2025 8:00 PM EDT

Look, not many Tolkien purists might back me on this one, but hear me out: the whole messy saga of Middle-earth could have been neatly avoided if Eru had just let Melkor shred a little heavy metal. Picture it: Melkor, bursting with teen angst and creative frustration, desperately trying to sneak in a riff or two. But the Valar? Oh no, they're all classical music snobs—"That's just noise, Melkor," they scoffed. And Eru, being the ultimate strict music teacher, shuts him down faster than you can say "Ainulindalë"

So what does poor Melkor do? Exactly what any misunderstood teen rocker would—stormed off, slammed the door to his cosmic bedroom, and plotted world domination. Fast forward a few ages later, and Middle-earth is basically drained of magic, the elves and wizards are packing up and leaving, and now all we've got left are men who, let's be honest, would probably jam to some epic metal anthems.

Honestly, just letting Melkor rock out could've spared us a lot of trouble—and maybe even saved Boromir (too soon?). But since that's not how things played out, here are 33 hilarious Lord of the Rings memes to ease our collective Tolkien-induced pain.