A great-grandmother in Brazil thought she was praying to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of lost things and successful marriages.
Following her gut instinct, Gabriela Brandão searched online for the figure – and found one exactly identical to the figure. But not listed under “religious” items.
The great-grandmother had been offering up her prayers to Elrond, an elf in Lord of the Rings.
Gabriela Brandão shared the surprising discovery on Facebook, where it’s gone viral. “The funniest discovery of 2016,” she wrote.
Brandão said it took a little bit of explaining to make her daughter’s great-grandmother understand the mix-up. “We tried to explain right away but she didn’t understand at first,” Brandão said. “The next day we explained again and she understood and we got her a new figure of Saint Anthony.”
In fairness, debeastmode on Reddit points out that St Anthony was the patron saint of lost items and Elrond did convene the council for that which was thought lost. So there’s that.
And he’s not the only popular fantasy figure being worshiped.
Last year, Shanghaiist spotted an elderly woman kneeling and burning incense in front of a statue depicting League of Legends Garen, a mighty warrior whose abilities include “Decisive Strike” and “Demacian Justice.”
Apparently, Guan Yu, a Chinese general during the Three Kingdoms period, is a dead ringer for the other warrior.
