The Meme Museum

From the 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, where Boromir (played by Sean Bean) says 'One does not simply walk into Mordor.' The still image became an image macro template around 2011-2012 on Reddit and 9GAG, used to describe any deceptively difficult task. It remains one of the most durable meme formats, still used widely today.

A yearbook photo of then-teenager Kyle Craven uploaded to Reddit in January 2012, showing him in a plaid vest with an unfortunate expression. The image was captioned with scenarios of spectacular misfortune and bad luck. Craven and the original poster Ian Davies were friends, and the photo was submitted to Reddit as a joke. Craven has since embraced his fame, making public appearances and YouTube content.

A rage comic face character originating from a 2010 FunnyJunk post depicting a stick figure crying and lamenting loneliness. The caption 'Forever Alone' resonated deeply with internet users and became a universal shorthand for expressing loneliness, social rejection, or doing things solo. It spawned the entire 'Forever Alone' subculture and remains one of the most recognized rage comic faces.

From a 2013 webcomic strip by KC Green called 'On Fire'. The strip shows a dog sitting calmly in a burning room saying 'This is fine'. The first two panels became one of the most universally shared reaction images on the internet, used to express resigned acceptance of a terrible situation. It surged in popularity during politically turbulent periods and remains one of the most enduring meme formats.

Created by Christopher Torres in April 2011, Nyan Cat is an 8-bit animation of a cat with a Pop-Tart body flying through space trailing a rainbow, set to a looping Japanese pop song by Momone Momo. The YouTube video was submitted to a 24-hour marathon stream and accumulated over 100 million views. It sold as an NFT in 2021 for approximately $600,000.

Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis released 'The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)' on September 3, 2013 as a joke to promote their TV show. Instead of flopping as intended, it became one of the most viewed YouTube videos of the year with over 800 million views. The absurdist animal sounds became a cultural touchstone and the song charted in multiple countries entirely by accident.

In February 2013, a group of friends posted a video following a specific format — one person dancing alone while everyone around them ignores it, then a cut to everyone dancing chaotically. Within two weeks, over 40,000 versions had been uploaded to YouTube generating 175 million views. The song itself, by producer Baauer, reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 entirely because of the meme.

Laina Morris uploaded a parody video of Justin Bieber's 'Boyfriend' from her boyfriend's perspective on June 6, 2012. A screengrab of her intense stare became one of the most popular image macro templates of 2012–2013, used to represent obsessive or clingy behavior. Morris later became a successful YouTuber and retired from internet fame in 2019 on her own terms.

Based on a stock photo of a Malaysian sun bear with a sad expression, Confession Bear became a meme template in 2012 on Reddit where users would share genuine dark secrets or uncomfortable truths. It became one of the most emotionally complex meme formats — people used it to confess everything from harmless quirks to genuinely disturbing admissions.