Considering the gargantuan impact that it has had on popular culture, it is baffling to think that the stars of Peter Jackson’s trilogy of original Lord of the Rings movies didn’t earn all that much from being a part of them. Elijah Wood is the latest actor from the series to go on record saying that his compensation for all three films was nothing to write home about. 

It seems even more unfair now than it was back then, but also, pretty much every person who played a major or minor character has become the definition of being paid with exposure. The most obvious evidence for this is that they have gained near-immortality on the internet thanks to the behemoth that is Tolkien memes. So long as the LOTR fandom lives and breathes, they will be using their likenesses to craft ridiculous online humor that is all in debt to their favorite series.