29 Silmarillion Memes I Pretend to Understand to Sound Smart

John Summers • Contributor

Jul 14, 2025 9:00 PM EDT

Fine! I admit it! I was bested by The Silmarillion. I tried. I failed. Are you happy now?! I even downloaded the audiobook thinking that would help - like maybe if a British man read it to me slowly I'd magically become the kind of person who could remember the difference between Fingon, Finrod, Finarfin, and Fëanor (spoiler: I did not). There are too many names! Too many places! Too many swords that are also people that are also cities that are also songs?! It's like Tolkien invented the entire history of a fantasy universe just to personally humble me. And it worked.

Now The Hobbit? Read it at 12. Loved it. The Lord of the Rings? Took me till my 20s, but I did it. The Silmarillion? That's where I draw the line. I'm officially not built for Elvish lore spreadsheets.

So here's a collection of 29 memes for all you Silmarillion scholars and Tolkien-tier loremasters. I do not understand most of them. But I'm gonna pretend I do, and nod along like, "Ah yes, classic Morgoth behavior."