The Great Hobbit Run is a Lord of the Rings Online tradition based on a simple premise: What if, instead of adventures and experience and becoming the savior of Middle-earth, a bunch of newbies just showed up at Chez Bilbo and then booked it straight to Mount Doom? It sounds like a terrible idea, at least in the very serious in-fiction context of saving the world from enslavement to evil. But as a silly good time in a very long-in-the-tooth MMO, it actually seems pretty great.
Organized by Twitch streamer BurkeBlack, the Great Hobbit Run (via GamesRadar) is an express trek from Bilbo Baggins' house to the fiery heart of Mount Doom, specifically for level one hobbits. That's not a hard-and-fast rule: Pre-run conversation mentions the LOTRO tutorial putting players to level 5, and someone in the party is judged rather harshly for joining in at level 41.
Low-level characters are obviously more in the spirit of the thing, but nobody's going to put too much effort into enforcing any rules, in part because the mob of non-stop hobbits attracts no small amount of attention, and latecomers, as it goes.
"Generally speaking, I encourage everyone to be level five hobbits, or level one hobbits, whatever they can get," BurkeBlack explained in a chat with 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.
"And I encourage the server to enjoy the fun too—it's a little bit of a game for them, like, 'Protect the hobbits! They're going to Mount Doom!' And they try to protect us a little bit."
Perhaps predictably, the first two runs did not go well. In 2023, the group apparently met its demise in the dark depths of Moria, and in '24 the wheels came off in Rohan.
The Great Hobbit Run of 2024 finished, and got as far as Rohan before the fellowship fell apart, this is further than Moria last year. Next year more streamers, more community! To Mt Doom! pic.twitter.com/9fbvD0ttI8July 8, 2024
In 2025, though, after more than six hours of struggles, the humble hobbitses finally pulled it off. BurkeBlack estimated than somewhere between 150 and 200 players started the journey, and 40-50 made it to the end, a winnowing wrought by time, exhaustion, and death. (Players who die during the run can use Mithril coins to catch up to the group, but they have to be purchased with real money.)
It seems fitting, somehow, that the end of this epic quest was a bit of a goat rodeo. It turns out that the interior of Mount Doom is dark and scary and a little confusing, and there was some debate about where exactly the whole thing was headed.
Eventually, amidst anguished cries of "You led us here!" (well, one cry), someone took the initiative and jumped into the lava. Shortly thereafter it was decided that the adventuring party was "Mount Doom adjacent," and that was close enough: A group photo was taken, and BurkeBlack shared some inspirational words:
"This is great. Three years in the running, here we are before Mount Doom. This is a nice juicy bit of lava. Just throw in the ring and there's gonna be more than enough, and Sauron can kiss my butt!"
Not exactly St. Crispin's Day, no, but it was sufficient for the moment—and then BurkeBlack and everyone else jumped into the lava, mission happily accomplished. Except, well, it came to light after the fact that the mission wasn't quite accomplished after all.
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/SaKSDuYQ7iJuly 8, 2025
Someone in the stream said there is a way forward from this point, but they forgot what it is and apparently it's "very difficult." A new goal for 2026, perhaps: BurkeBlack confirmed that he plans to make the run again next year, and hopes to attract an even larger group of adventurers.
"It's just fun," he said. "Lord of the Rings Online is an old game, but it really faithfully captures the essence of Lord of the Rings. It was just a fun adventure. The community loved it."
Until then, you can enjoy the entire epic adventure below.
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