A great franchise is timeless. When J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937, little did he know that it would go on to spawn one of the most beloved stories of all time. From the seeds of this classic children's tale, The Lord of the Rings was born.
Fast-forward roughly 80 years later, and both stories have been widely adapted into multiple forms of media. From animation to radio to feature films, every generation of children and young adults since has been exposed to the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and his Ring in some form or another.
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson, has broken all sorts of records. The films combined have won more awards than any other film series in history. The Hobbit trilogy, on the other hand, was a financial success but is much less beloved.
Suffice it to say that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are both household names. What's a household name without a few memes to go along with it? The internet does love to poke fun. The biggest point of contention in adapting The Hobbit was the length of the films. The biggest point of contention with Lord of the Rings fans is how much better it was than The Hobbit trilogy.
Here are 15 Savage LOTR VS The Hobbit Memes.
No justice for Bilbo
Bilbo's unexpected journey wasn't as epic as Frodo's. Still, it was no small feat. The poor guy never wanted an adventure. Hobbits by nature prefer the safe life. From the moment Gandalf knocked on his door, Bilbo went through everything reluctantly.
He did get one really cool thing out of the deal: in Smaug's cave, he found a nifty little ring that turned him invisible. Of course, it turned out to also be the master weapon of the dark lord Sauron and the most powerful weapon on the planet. So poor Bilbo didn't get to keep it.
The text on this image from The Fellowship of the Ring isn't a direct quote, but it sums up what Bilbo must have been thinking fairly well when Gandalf informed him that he could not hold on to the ring.
There are no new ideas
We also all know this person. The nerd hipster wannabe who has a hot take on everything. It's the same person who tells us that the Justice League is an Avengers ripoff. Or the person who wants us to know that Lord of the Rings ripped off Harry Potter.
To be fair, for those unfamiliar with J.R.R. Tolkien's works, The Hobbit trilogy may have looked like a cash grab knock off of Lord of the Rings. After all, it kind of was.
That doesn't change the fact that Tolkien wrote The Hobbit first.
The films (obviously) even use may of the same characters, but do not be fooled. The only reason the prequel came later was that it was only after the massive success of the first trilogy that Hollywood saw the huge payday that Tolkien's earlier story could deliver.
Nothing is simple
Sean Bean is most famous for two things: dying in almost every role he plays and this meme. Little did he know that when he uttered the line "one does not simply walk into Mordor" that the image and scene would one day become the lifeblood of the internet.
This is one of the most savage uses of the meme. A film adaptation of The Hobbit should have been a very simple thing. Where the Lord of the Rings books are huge tomes filled with all kinds of mature material, The Hobbit was for all intents and purposes a children's tale.
We don't blame the Lord of the Rings trilogy for what The Hobbit films became. We blame Star Wars. After the massive success of the original trilogy, Hollywood realized that forcing audiences to continue to come back for additional installments of an otherwise short tale was a no brainer.
Keep the pen
We've all been here. We need a pen at work, so we borrow a coworkers or schoolmates. At the end of the day, the lender forgets. Now we're faced with a moral dilemma. Do we be the moral com in the office and give the pen back? Or do we take the low road and never run out of pens?
Bilbo must have felt the same when it came to the One Ring. After all, depending on which adaptation you buy into, he either went through 300 hundred pages or three super-long movies to get the thing.
He almost got eaten by multiple creatures for it! Why shouldn't Bilbo keep the magic ring that turns him invisible?
We shouldn't we keep the pen that got us through our work day without having to go to the store and buy a four pack?
The other geek fight
DC vs Marvel. Vampires vs werewolves. Star Wars vs Star Trek. No matter what the topic, we geeks always have our favorites - the clear winner in our eyes that trumps the other side without a doubt. The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies are no different.
We know that Tony Stark and Captain America fight all the time. We don't usually get to see them argue about small things like movies, so we have to leave that up to our imaginations.
It makes sense that Tony would be the one to choose The Hobbit. Tony's always making the wrong choice for the right reasons. The Hobbit was the first book in the series, so why wouldn't it be the better film trilogy? We also know that Captain America's sense of logic is almost unparalleled. This argument easily could have caused a war between the two.
Most love stories have one thing in common
Poor Smeagle's tale is a tragic one. He was a simple hobbit and his mind was easily corrupted by the power of the One Ring. From the moment he laid eyes on it, he loved it. He killed his friend Deagle for it. For his crime, he was cast out of his village and into a life of solitude.
He found a new home in caves. He forgot the taste of bread and the sound of trees. He forgot his own name and became the creature Gollum. Then like all the others, the ring betrayed him. After that, he spent the rest of his life trying to get it back.
He wasn't out for any power of political gain. He just wanted his precious back. He even died for it. What does all that add up to? Still a better love story than Twilight.
We know how you feel, Bilbo
The real joke is that there are so many different ways to say it. The Hobbit is a 300 page book. The Lord of the Rings is an epic story spread out over three books and thousands of pages. Somehow, Peter Jackson found enough material to make both trilogies the same length.
This scene comes from The Fellowship of the Ring. Bilbo is describing why he feels like he wants to leave Bag End. He explains that he's grown tired of his mundane existence. Of course, the O ne Ring has a lot to do with it. He fiddles with it in his pocket as he speaks.
It's too bad Peter Jackson couldn't be free of his obsession with trilogies. If The Hobbit films had been cut down to one, they might have felt much lighter and more enjoyable. Much like Bilbo's life after he finally let go of the ring.
Pippin and his big ideas
Merry and Pippin serve as the comic relief in The Fellowship of the Ring. As such, their antics are endlessly meme-able. This gem comes from a funny scene between the two Hobbits and Aragorn. Pippin is asking about breakfast. Aragorn reminds the small one that they've already had breakfast. He then goes on to mourn the loss of elevenses, luncheon, and afternoon tea, dinner, and supper.
The purpose of the scene is to show how unprepared the hobbits were for such a long journey, Pippin in particular. Of course, it's also unintentional real-life foreshadowing. Peter Jackson and his crew had no idea what they were really in for when they set out to make a trilogy out of The Hobbit. Too bad Aragorn wasn't there to soundly put them in their place.
An honest conversation
Sir Christopher Lee and Sir Ian McKellen are both top notch actors. Both possess a scene-stealing charisma that brought unending charm to the Lord of the Rings films. Saruman may have been a bad guy, but he was still one of Gandalf's oldest friends. As such, the two were always able to speak frankly with each other.
In the actual scene, Gandalf goes to Saruman looking for help. He's found the ring and he fears Sauron will as well. Slowly, Saruman reveals to Gandalf that he may be too late. Saruman has already pledge his allegiance to the dark lord. He advises Gandalf to do the same.
Imagine if the scene had taken place in the real world. Gandalf tells Saruman of the planned Hobbit trilogy. Saruman may be evil, but he's not stupid. He would have seen the writing on the wall.
He's a little old for you
Tolkien didn't care much for romance. It's not that it was completely absent from his books, but it definitely wasn't the main focus. Hollywood will be Hollywood though, so we got a heap ton more of it in the films. Mostly we got it from the world of men, with a few Elves thrown in for good measure.
One thing that's abundantly clear from the films is that all men in Middle-earth look pretty much the same. They've all got shoulder length hair and grizzled beards, and they're all white dudes.
The actual reason Eowen didn't end up with Aragorn is because he was destined to end up with Arwen, the love of his life. But it's funny to consider that age could have been a factor. She instead ended up with Boromir's younger brother, Faramir. During the films Aragorn was almost 90 years old. Faramir was like 36.
