There is a strong argument to be made that the Middle-earth fandom has surpassed even the money-hungry LOTR rights holders when it comes to mining the legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien and the many adaptations of his work. Unlike studios, which reimagine The Lord of the Rings universe by throwing more and more cash at different reboots, fans use nothing but their own sense of humor to create something even more impactful: an extensive library of memes. They know everything from the backstories to the visual language of the movies like the back of their hand, allowing the smallest of details to be transformed into punchlines.

As a result, no official product can truly compete with what the LOTR fandom has achieved in meme form. Middle-earth has become such a large subgenre of internet humor that it is basically a permanent fixture of it. 

Still, to give credit where credit is due, this longevity can be traced back to the sheer depth of the source material. It builds a world so meticulously that it makes the endless humorous reimaginings possible. The result is something that fans can not only enjoy coming back to again and again, but they can also contribute if they feel so inclined.