A name used by the Company of the Ring, and especially Frodo Baggins the Ring-bearer, for the One Ring. By extension the same word is sometimes used for the Quest of Mount Doom - Frodo's journey to destroy the Burden of the Ring - and also the weight of responsibility that Quest brought with it.
As the Quest proceeded, the Ring's Burden increased as the power of Sauron within it wore against Frodo's will, and so at the end of his journey he struggled to make the last steps across the deserts of Mordor and into Mount Doom's Chambers of Fire. On the brink of the Fire, ready to cast the Ring to its destruction, Frodo's will failed and he attempted to claim its power for himself. Through Gollum's betrayal the Burden was nonetheless cast into the flames of the Fire-mountain.
The Lord of the Rings sums up the Ring's final unmaking with a simple sentence (from The Return of the King VI 3, Mount Doom): 'The burden was gone.'
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- Updated 23 November 2025
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