E Meme Explained: Meaning, Origin, Spread, and Variations
The E meme is one of the most iconic examples of absurdist humor on the internet. Featuring YouTuber Markiplier’s face photoshopped onto the body of Lord Farquaad from Shrek, overlaid with a single letter “E,” this bizarre creation went viral not because it meant something—but precisely because it didn’t.
This article explores everything from the meme’s strange origin and its viral rise to its cultural meaning and offshoots like the M and C memes. We’ll also break down how it evolved into an internet legend and answer the most frequently asked questions about this beloved piece of meme nonsense.
What Is the E Meme?
The E meme is a surreal and absurdist internet joke that features a deep-fried image of YouTuber Markiplier’s face photoshopped onto the body of Lord Farquaad from Shrek, overlaid with a single bold letter: E.
The image, often saturated with compression artifacts and wild colors, gained traction precisely because of its randomness and lack of coherent meaning—hallmarks of late 2010s meme culture.
Also known as Lord Farquaad E meme or Markiplier E meme, this meme later evolved to include versions of the same face placed on other figures, such as Mark Zuckerberg during his congressional testimony, highlighting the absurdity of modern meme humor.
What is the Origin of the Meme
The image of Markiplier’s face photoshopped onto Lord Farquaad’s body was originally posted on May 25, 2015, by Twitter user and YouTuber Cyndago.
Source: Cyndago
The now-iconic version with the giant Impact-font E overlaid on the image was first shared on February 15, 2018, by the Tumblr blog photo-frier, where it gained over 700 notes. This marked the first deep-fried version of the meme, boosting its popularity across platforms.
How did the Meme Spread Online?
On April 11, 2018, the E meme made a splash in a “Memes Then vs. Memes Now” post on r/dankmemes, racking up 3,884 points.
Just two days later, on April 13, an edit that humorously replaced Mark Zuckerberg’s head with Markiplier’s during a congressional hearing was posted to r/deepfriedmemes, earning more than 15,000 upvotes.
As the month progressed, the meme surged in visibility across Reddit, appearing in viral formats like “Why Is Millennial Humor So Weird?”—which brought in over 23,000 points—and in speculative humor formats like “I Bet There Will Be Flying Cars in the Future,” poking fun at generational expectations versus meme reality.
It was also discussed in two r/OutOfTheLoop threads and widely shared as a bizarre symbol of post-ironic humor.
In May 2018, The Daily Dot covered the meme in an article explaining its bizarre charm, and on May 26, 2018, PewDiePie featured it in a video that garnered over 4.2 million views.
Spin-offs and Letter Meme Evolution
Other Alphabet Memes Featuring Markiplier including: M meme and C meme.
M Meme: Markiplier’s face photoshopped onto Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles, labeled with the letter “M”, gained over 6,700 points.
C Meme: A meme suggesting enough letter memes could eventually spell E = mc², prompting further community-created spin-offs.
These meme evolutions parodied both scientific formulas and meme self-awareness, playing with the idea of memes as building blocks of internet absurdity.
Meaning and Cultural Commentary
Absurdist Humor at Its Peak
The E meme is emblematic of Gen Z and late millennial meme culture: where nonsense, randomness, and deliberate anti-humor reign supreme. It mocks the idea of structured jokes and revels in confusing older internet users.
Commentary on Meme Evolution
As Redditors joked, memes evolve too rapidly to carry consistent meaning. The E meme became a reflection of internet chaos—a meta-meme for a post-meaning digital landscape.
FAQs About E Meme
Q: What does the “E” in the E meme stand for?
A: Absolutely nothing. That’s the joke.
Q: Who made the E meme?
A: The base image was created by Cyndago in 2015. The viral “E” version was deep-fried and posted on Tumblr in 2018.
Q: Why is Markiplier in the meme?
A: His face was arbitrarily chosen for humor’s sake. The randomness adds to the absurdity.
Q: Is the E meme still popular?
A: It resurfaces occasionally during nostalgia waves or discussions of surreal meme history.
Q: What other memes are related to E?
A: The meme inspired alphabet-based spin-offs like the M Meme and C Meme, each escalating the absurdity and parodying science and pop culture tropes.
Conclusion
The E meme is a shining example of absurdist internet humor. With no deeper meaning, no cultural critique, and no narrative logic, it manages to captivate through sheer randomness.
It encapsulates a pivotal era in meme history—when chaos reigned, and the punchline was simply the letter E. Its legacy lives on in the bizarre yet brilliant lineage of surreal memes that came after.
