What is the most iconic meme format to have emerged from The Lord of the Rings?

Even those who have never seen any of the movies or read any of the books can probably recognize a lot of them if they spend enough time on the internet. Tolkien has had that much of an overarching influence on meme culture. There is the old-school classic of One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mordor, an icon of the advice animal era that introduced a generation of chronically online people to the wisdom of Boromir. Around the same time, Gandalf got his own moment in the spotlight with You Shall Not Pass.

As memes developed, so did the internet’s relationship with all things LOTR, and many of the memes became less grandiose and more silly. Bilbo asking Why Shouldn’t I Keep It? became the motto for anyone chasing a little more whimsy in their day-to-day lives, and Frodo telling us to Keep Your Secrets celebrated the bliss of simply not knowing things from time to time.

Even some of the most serious moments of the whole LOTR franchise have been a candidate for the meme treatment, with Aye, I Could Do That turning Gimli and Legolas’s admission of friendship on the battlefield into a celebration of alliances both unlikely and nonsensical. One thing about Tolkien fans is that they can make a joke out of any part of their beloved series, even when it seems like the humor is lacking. It is a real skill.