After three years of hilariously noble attempts, The Lord of the Rings Online’s most wholesome and ridiculous community tradition has finally reached the gates of success… only to immediately trip over them and get lost inside Mount Doom.
Every year, streamer BurkeBlack organizes what’s become known as the Great Hobbit Run, an MMO pilgrimage where players create brand-new, low-level Hobbit characters and try to march them gearless, clueless, from Bag End all the way to the fiery heart of Mordor.
Think of it as Frodo and Sam’s journey, but with 200 chaotic cousins tagging along and none of them ready for literally any part of it.
“Generally speaking, I encourage everyone to be level five Hobbits, or level one Hobbits, whatever they can get,” BurkeBlack told PC Gamer. “If [people on] the server, though, they’re high level and they see an army of Hobbits running, and they’re like, ‘Wow, I’m gonna follow this, I wanna see what’s going on with this,’ we can’t stop that.”
The result is a surreal, annual spectacle where higher-level players sometimes jump in to protect the halfling horde like makeshift Rangers, escorting this barefoot chaos parade across high-level enemy territory.
But despite the valiant efforts, previous years didn’t end well. In 2023, the Hobbits were annihilated in Moria. In 2024, Rohan’s angry forest vegetation gave them the Treebeard treatment. This wasn’t a walk to Mordor, it was a slow-motion mass Hobbit sacrifice.
But this year? This year they made it. Well… almost.
Roughly 40 to 50 Hobbits survived the six-hour march to Mount Doom. Once inside, they did what any disoriented army of tiny roleplayers would do: they got lost. The lava was right there, Sammath Naur within reach, but they couldn’t quite find the actual Crack of Doom.
So instead? They just jumped into the fire. Call it a technical victory. Call it a Hobbit solution.
If you’ve got six hours and a need for joy, BurkeBlack’s full recording of the Great Hobbit Run 2025 is available to watch here.
After 3 years of attempts, the Hobbits finally made it to Mt Doom and threw ourselves into the lava! Thank you tobthe helpers and everyone that joined this year long, but saddly I forget the ring back at the shire so we’ll try again next year! pic.twitter.com/SaKSDuYQ7i
— BurkeBlack (@0BurkeBlack0) July 8, 2025