Sam Va Lentin

About

Sam Va Lentin refers to a Spanish exploitable image macro series depicting Sam walking behind Frodo from The Lord of the Rings asking Frodo to wait for him, captioned "Sam va lentin" at the bottom, translating to "Sam went slow." The meme was first posted to Twitter the day before Valentine's Day in February 2013 and sees a resurgence in use every year on Valentine's Day as people repost the original and variations of it.

Origin

On February 13th, 2013, Twitter^[1] user @CesitarSource posted a Spanish-language meme using an image of Sam walking behind Frodo. Sam says, "Espereme Sr Frodo," translating to "wait Mr. Frodo." The bottom text reads, "Sam va lentin," translating to "Sam went slow." The post gained over 1,400 retweets and 590 likes in nine years (shown below).

Spread

The meme and variations of it become prevalent every year leading up to Valentine's Day. For example, on February 14th, 2014, a version of the meme was posted to MemeDroid^[3] showing a Trollface character reacting to the original meme (shown below).

On February 14th, 2020, YouTuber LITION posted a video compiling various memes from past years of the trend, gaining over 1,200 views in two years (shown below).

On February 13th, 2021, Sean Astin, who plays Sam, tweeted^[6] out the meme, writing in Spanish, "For the Spanish and for everyone who wants to know, Mr. Frodo will live in my heart forever!" gaining over 146,000 likes and 60,000 retweets in a year (shown below).

On February 13th, 2022, Instagram^[2] user milotix_ posted several variations on the meme, gaining over 7,500 likes in a day (example shown below, left). On the same day, Twitter^[5] user its_japeco posted an Attack on Titan meme using the format, gaining over 15,700 likes and 3,400 retweets in a day (shown below, right).

On February 14th, 2022, Instagram^[4] user themountainwithteeth posted a redraw of the meme, gaining over 7,000 likes in under a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References