What is Aye, I Could Do That?

It is an object-labeling image macro built from a scene in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, where two usually-rival groups get captioned onto Gimli and Legolas while a third group they both oppose is labeled onto the enemy army.

Where did Aye, I Could Do That come from?

The source scene is Peter Jackson's Return of the King (2003), and the first known exploitable was posted by MemeCenter user MikeKink1216 on January 24, 2014.

What does Aye, I Could Do That mean?

In the film, it is Gimli accepting Legolas's offer of friendship before the final battle; as a meme, it means two factions grudgingly standing together because something worse is in front of them.

How do you use Aye, I Could Do That?

People typically label Legolas and Gimli with two rival groups and label the oncoming orc army with the enemy both groups share, keeping the original screencap and the caption.

Is Aye, I Could Do That still popular?

The format works as a classic object label that gets revived whenever a shared enemy appears, with documented edits running through at least April 2017.

Aye, I Could Do That

2014image macroclassic

Published November 15, 2026

"Aye, I Could Do That" takes a line from Gimli in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and turns it into an object-labeling edit where two rival groups set aside their feud to face a common enemy. The exploitable first ran on MemeCenter in January 2014 with Xbox and Playstation uniting against PC gamers, and by April 2017 an r/funny edit had reworked it around the Pepsi, United Airlines, and Sean Spicer news cycle.

object labeling lord of the rings exploitable templates movie quote memes console war memes

Overview

The joke rides on the scene's turn from bickering to brotherhood: two groups that normally snipe at each other get captioned onto Gimli and Legolas, while the orc army charging toward them gets a label naming whatever they both hate more1. Most posts keep the original screencap of the two characters standing together before the Black Gate, with text overlaid on each character and a third label slapped across the massing enemy ranks behind them3.

Tone is affectionate rather than mean. A typical edit reads as a wink at tribal pettiness: Xbox and Playstation fans will fight each other every day, but PC gamers can still be a shared enemy for an afternoon1. The format travels well because any two feuding tribes plus a bigger irritant will fit the slots, which is how it moved beyond console wars into movie fandoms, politics, and food fights3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

MemeCenter (first edit) / Cheezburger and Reddit (spread)

Creator

MikeKink1216

Date

2014

The source material is Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, released on December 17, 20033. Standing before the Black Gate in the film's climactic standoff, Gimli tells Legolas, "I never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf," to which Legolas answers, "What about side by side with a friend?" Gimli's reply, "Aye, I could do that," closes the exchange2.

The earliest known exploitable using the scene went up on MemeCenter on January 24, 2014. User MikeKink1216 titled the edit "Let Us Fight PC Together," labeling Legolas as Xbox and Gimli as Playstation while the orc horde carried the label "PC"1. The console-war framing set the template every later edit copied: two rival tribes on the heroes, one bigger enemy on the army.

How It Spread

Within weeks of the first MemeCenter post, the format moved sideways to another humor aggregator. On February 2, 2014, Cheezburger user kcsunshine18 uploaded a version uniting Nintendo, Steam, and Playstation against Xbox, flipping which console got cast as the orc army3.

By April 26, 2015 the joke had widened past console wars. A MemeCenter edit from that date placed gamers of every platform side by side against AAA publishers, turning the target from a rival hardware camp to the industry itself3. The format then started working outside video games entirely.

A tweet by @TheExpanded applied the template to Star Wars fans joined against the sequel trilogy, and on April 12, 2017 an edit posted to r/funny packed three rival groups together against the Pepsi commercial, United Airlines, and Sean Spicer news cycle of that week3. By that point the exploitable was a stock reach for any "we don't agree on much, but" setup.

Timeline

2003-12-17

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King releases in theaters, giving the format its source scene.

2014-01-24

MemeCenter user MikeKink1216 posts the earliest known exploitable, labeling Xbox and Playstation as allies against PC.

2014-02-02

Cheezburger user kcsunshine18 uploads a version uniting Nintendo, Steam, and Playstation against Xbox.

2015-04-26

A MemeCenter edit widens the target from rival platforms to AAA gaming publishers.

2017-04-12

An r/funny post applies the template to the Pepsi ad, United Airlines, and Sean Spicer news cycle.

How to Use This Meme

Making one typically means picking two groups that argue with each other online and a third party they both dislike more. Label Legolas and Gimli with the rival camps, label the oncoming orcs with the shared target, and keep the original caption or add Gimli's "Aye, I could do that" as a tagline. Most edits leave the screencap intact and layer the text in white sans-serif over each figure.