A new meme has been born thanks to the long, flowing gray locks sported by Carol after The Walking Dead's recent massive time jump. Carol's new unshorn appearance was just one of many surprises in store for TWD fans after the show followed up the long-anticipated departure of Rick Grimes with a shocking move to leap ahead many years into the future, a decision that essentially rebooted the season.

The biggest time jump surprise of course was seeing the toddler Judith suddenly become a katana-toting tween bad-ass, now played by Cailey Fleming, who coincidentally is the same actress who portrayed the young Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It was less of a surprise to see Maggie disappear from the story, as it had already been revealed that Lauren Cohan was exiting the show, but nonetheless it was somewhat jarring to have a major character simply vanish without immediate explanation (the show has since revealed Maggie's reason for disappearing). Another sad development saw Daryl shunning society in the wake of Rick's disappearance to become a forest-dwelling scavenger with only a dog for companionship.

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With so many years going by in the blink of an eye, The Walking Dead has resorted to an old trick in order to indicate the passage of time: namely, changing up the characters' hair. In the most stunning hair-related post-time-jump move, the show has allowed Carol (Melissa McBride) to ditch the close-cropped style she's sported for most of the series' run and grow her hair out into a long, flowing mane. The internet has of course taken note of Carol's new hairstyle and a whole meme has been born, in which Carol's look is compared to Lord of the Rings characters Legolas and Gandalf, as well as The Witcher's Geralt and others. Here's a sampling of the hilarious new meme:

In addition to growing her hair out, Carol has also taken to dressing like someone from Middle Earth, and has begun using a bow-and-arrow as her primary weapon after previously favoring guns. The overall effect indeed is to make Carol seem like someone who stepped out of a fantasy story and barely belongs in the world of The Walking Dead. Perhaps Carol was inspired to go over-the-top in her look by being married to Ezekiel, a character known for his flamboyant Shakespearian speech patterns and keeping a tiger as a pet (though the character has since toned down the flowery speech and of course lost his tiger awhile back).

The new Carol meme is just the latest example of fans having fun with The Walking Dead, a show that is often mocked for strange writing decisions, character looks and acting moves. Of course, the most famous Walking Dead meme involved Rick and Carl, but there was also the Rick vs. Negan meme that cropped up after the arrival of the infamous comic book villain. Other memes have made fun of everything from Lori's awful parenting and Rick's beard to Hershel's infinite-ammo shotgun.

More: The Walking Dead: 6 Unanswered Questions From The Penultimate Episode

The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC.

Source: Various (see above)