Pondering My Orb

Added • Updated 9 days ago

Added by Adam • Updated 9 days ago by Philipp

Category: Meme Status: Confirmed Year: 2021 Origin: Twitter Region:

Type: Exploitable,

Tags: lord of the rings, role playing game, rpg, exploitables, pondering orb, crystal ball, wizard,

Part of a series on Lord Of The Rings. [View Related Entries]

Top Gallery Images

hop on loser @the_whimsical wizards it's pondering time

About • Origin • Spread • Examples •

Featured Episode

About

Pondering My Orb, also known as Ponder Orb, refers to a series of exploitables that feature a drawing of a sagely figure looking into a crystal ball. After being posted to Twitter in October 2021 with the caption "pondering my orb," users online edited the picture to feature different characters or used the image in other meme templates. In late November 2021, the meme saw a further resurgence and appeared across social media and the internet more prominently than the month prior.

Origin

The original picture used in the meme comes from a gamebook that featured the artwork by English historical and fantasy illustrator Angus Mcbride on its cover, called Middle-Earth Quest: A Spy In Isengard, which was published in 1988 for a role-playing game based on The Lord of the Rings (seen below, left).^[5]

The picture was then again used on the cover of the Valar & Maiar, a 1993 supplement for Middle-earth Role Playing (shown below, right).^[2]

A GAME where YOU adventure in MIDDLE-EARTH! 1EE. iddle-carth Ouest CAME BOOK 101 ENTER J.R.R.TOLKIEN'S WORLD Since your apprenticeship began, you worked for the powerful and revered wizard, Saruman the White. But of late, you have grown troubled by what you see and hear within his mighty fortress of Isengard. Orcs and wild men gather inside. You have seen Saruman poised over the great seeing-stone exulting over scenes of battle. Has Saruman surrendered his will to the evil Sauron, Lord of the Rings? Can have TM you warn the White Council before all is lost? YOU control your destiny in this intriguing first gamebook of the MIDDLE-EARTH QUESTTM series! In the MIDDLE-EARTH QUEST™ series you can • Play a ready-to-run character • Create your own character using the QuestGame TM • Generate your own MIDDLE-EARTH ROLE PLAYINGTM system (MERP) character. FenA SPY IN ISENGARD Printed In US 101 TM Copyright 1988 by Unwin Hyman, Ltd. publishing successors to George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London, UK. TM 11231 "Middle-earth Quest is a trademark property of Unwin Hyman, Ltd. 0. 71831 00350 A GAMEBOOK BY Terry K. Amthor 8 1.GE 35 S. (475 AN) H IRON CROWN ($4.75 CANADA) • $3.50 U.S. A SPY IN SENGAEDM Middle-carth Quest

#2006 mddLE earth MIDDLE Peoples 1.C.E. Valar & MALAR •THE IMMORTAL POWERS• MPB Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's THE LORD OF THẺ RINGS

On October 15th, 2021, Twitter user @thatsgoodweb^[1] posted an image of a sagely figure looking into a crystal ball, captioning the picture, "pondering my orb." The post gained over 3,300 retweets and 21,000 likes (shown below).

Spread

After the @thatsgoodweb post, memers on Twitter and Reddit began making jokes with the image by either editing it to feature different characters or adding it to pre-existing templates. For example, on November 2nd, 2021, Imgur user kickmyballsrealhard^[3] posted an edit of the meme using the Boy and Girl Texting template, gaining over 75,000 views in one day (shown below, left). On October 21st, Redditor wahirsch edited the image to feature AngriestPat, gaining over 130 points in the /r/TwoBestFriendsPlay^[4] subreddit (shown below, right).