AboutWhat does the meme depict?

The meme "One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mordor" originates from a quote in the 2001 film 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.' It typically features an image of the character Boromir, played by Sean Bean, from the scene where he delivers the line. The text, 'One does not simply walk into Mordor,' appears over or below the image. In variations of this meme, 'walk' and 'Mordor' are replaced with other verbs and destinations to humorously highlight the difficulty of a task.

OriginWho did it first?

The meme is based on a line delivered by the character Boromir during the Council of Elrond scene in the film 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,' directed by Peter Jackson and released in 2001. The scene discusses the perils of carrying an evil ring to Mount Doom in Mordor to destroy it, to which Boromir responds with the iconic line, underscoring the peril of the journey. The famous line transitioned into meme culture when users began altering the phrase to relate to various scenarios of difficulty, often using the snowclone pattern 'One does not simply X into Y.' One of the earliest adaptations appeared on a forum thread on January 16th, 2004, where 'walk' was switched to 'drive', suggesting a humorous impossibility of the act. The meme's widespread appeal can also be attributed to its discussion in an old forum here. Additionally, you can view the original scene from the movie on YouTube.^[1]

Origin: 2001

Also known as: one-does-not-simply-blank