Tag Archives: Lord of the Rings

LEGO began releasing official Lord of the Rings sets in 2012, followed quickly by LEGO Hobbit sets, but LEGO builders have been recreating the people and places of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth for just as long as there have been books and bricks. Relax in the Shire or battle Saruman and his Uruk-hai army at Helm’s Deep and the Tower of Orthanc, but wherever your LEGO journey takes you, beware the watchful eye of Sauron!

The water is fine down by the Brandywine

Jesse van den Oetelaar has crafted this LEGO serene scene of a place in Middle Earth called the Brandywine River. It’s not a location I’m overly familiar with, but a river filled with brandy and wine does sound like a heck of a party! Unfortunately it also sounds like a recipe for a disastrous hangover. But hey, the last time a bunch of hobbits had a party they ended up saving the world, so it can’t all be bad! Anyway, I love Jesse’s use of depth here. It’s partly thanks to some seamless editing. But even so, the LEGO portion of this build goes back a deceptively long way. Combined with the clever photography it makes us feel totally immersed in the scene… And the river!

Brandywine River

Instead of Rivendell, why not Balrog?

This exciting fiery scene is brought to you by the LEGO Rivendell 10316 set; or rather Roland Buzai’s disinterest in buying it. Its admittedly hefty price tag is prohibitive for a lot of builders plus, Roland tells us, is not a favorite scene for Lord of the Rings fans. He’d rather spend the money on a Balrog set, which doesn’t exist, so instead he constructed his own totally badass Balrog diorama complete with copious flames and four LEGO LED lights built into the base. You hear that, LEGO? Your inability to produce a Balrog set has caused someone to come up with an amazingly creative solution. Wait, that’s not a valid argument. Nevermind! It turns out legions of dedicated Lord of the Rings fans have taken matters into their own very creative and very capable hands. Click the link to see what I mean.

You shall not pass!

A miniature meeting of the Middle-Earth minds

There’s so much Nice Parts Use (NPU) in Dan Ko‘s adorable LEGO Lord of the Rings wizards that I don’t know where to start. Look at Gandalf the Bley here. His beard consists of upturned eggshell pieces, and the top of his staff uses a skeleton leg. His nose is also a rounded 1×2 plate, which may not necessarily qualify as NPU, but it’s a great choice nonetheless. As for Radagast the Reddish-Brown, his beard uses an arch piece to give some shape to his face. In the hat, you’ve got an ingot flanked by the frankly genius choice of a pair of minifigure chairs. They give him so much character! Dan has even repurposed some wood stickers to add detailing to his cloak. That is NPU par excellence! Do we need a new acronym for this? NSU – Nice Sticker Use?

The Secret Meetup

LEGO Creation of the Week (#17): Armenelos The Golden by W. Navarre

Every week readers of the The Brothers Brick Telegram channel choose the Creation of the Week: one project that impressed all of us the most. Something unimaginable happened last week. The one and only Fuji printer lost the public vote to a brilliant forced perpective build by Josiah Durand! We have no idea how this is possible, but Armenelos The Golden is our most revent Creation of the Week! Congrats!

Meanwhile, the new vote is already on! Join our Telegram channel to follow all the best LEGO creations, latest news, and, of course, vote for your favorites. See you there!

Behold Armenelos The Golden

You’d think in a LEGO forum chock full of nerds there would be among us a few experts on Lord of the Rings. A perusal of our archives proves such an expert has not been forthcoming lately and instead, you get contributors like me striving to do a passable article on a subject matter we know very little about. It’s a sacrilege, I know, but it doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate this breathtaking scene presented by Josiah Durand. It’s called Armenlos The Golden. I see beautiful shapes, a stunning artistic composition, and amazing build techniques while the rest of youse likely see a beloved scene from Rings of Power. If you fancy yourself as an authority on Lord of the Rings, (Then why not apply to be a contributor here? You can always do that, you know!) then you’d most certainly want to take a deep dive into our archives.

Armenelos The Golden

A Steward stews in Gondor

It took a random conversation in the grocery check-out line this weekend for me to realize just how happy I am that Lord of the Rings has returned to LEGO. While I admit, I’ve never been a die-hard Ringer, I appreciate so much that Tolkien’s work inspires others like no other fantasy tale. Case-in-point, check out this beautiful Gondorian hall by Nathan Smith. Depicting the scene where we are first introduced to Steward Denethor II, the build is deafeningly empty. Ornate walls and pillars cast in white, black, and tan lead from Gandalf and Pippin to the “empty” throne beneath the city’s emblem, the White Tree of Gondor. The brickwork here is gorgeous, from the inset panels in the arched ceiling to the design of the White Tree using Technic bits and bobs. Even details like the statues in white to the left of the hall are so intricate and effective in the design, while still not being 100% visible from this angle. The triumph here is how all these aspects combine together to emphasize the gaping chasm in this hall where a king should reside.

The Empty Throne (version 1)

“It is time for the Ents to go to war”

Treebeard is probably one of my favourite characters in the Lord of the Rings. Shaun Sheepa has created this superb LEGO version to cart the hobbits Merry and Pippin around. It’s one of the best versions I’ve seen! The knurled root feet are great, and the face is particularly good. The nose is made from a droid arm, the moustache from a couple of curved wedge pieces, and the eyes from some 1×1 stud with bar pieces. They combine to really sell this as a realistic walking, talking tree! Or at least as realistic as that can be…

Treebeard!

Midnight in the Garden of Lothlorien

My apologies go out to John Berendt as I came dangerously close to the title of his famous novel with my title. LEGO builder Ralf Langer tells us this latest creation is called Lothlorien Riverside, which makes it a Lord of the Rings sort of thing. But he also says it’s not of a specific landscape so you can forgive me if I imagine this as a setting for an atmospheric Southern Gothic tale of murder and deceit. It is a setting of breathtaking beauty juxtaposed against an unsettling eerieness. Ralf truly understands the reflective properties of LEGO as you can see in our Ralf Langer archives. Black works particularly well here but he has done this with other colors in the past. The angle of the photography is also an effect he thinks about a lot. Shot at a high angle the green algae on the water would seem more blocky. But at this angle, it’s perfection! mastery of brick and photography like this is why Ralf is consistently among our favorite builders.

Lothlorian Riverside

LEGO Witch-king on his fearsome mount

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, and the 20th anniversary of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film, so I think we can look forward to many LEGO tributes in the months to come. This stunning recreation of the feared leader of the Ringwraiths and his reptilian ride by aido k is very detailed and larger than it first seems. The long curving neck and tail are well-crafted, and the dull gray helmet covering the creature’s eyes adds to the ominous look.

A Fellbeast and his Witch-King

The figure of the king of Angmar captures all of the icon details of his spiked helmet and gloves.
A Fellbeast and his Witch-King

LEGO brings the Fellowship back together with the new The Lord of the Rings 10316 Rivendell set [News]

Today LEGO reveals the first truly massive set of 2023, and it’s all about the fantasy world of the Lord of the Rings. The ultimate 10316 Rivendell takes us to one of the most iconic locations of the saga. Consisting of whopping 6,167 pieces, this vast diorama includes dozens of neat details and easter eggs for all the fans of the Lord of the Rings. The set priced at US $499.99 | CAN $669.99 | UK £429.99 will be available exclusively for LEGO VIP members as early as March 5, along with a free 40630 Frodo and Golum BrickHeadz set. Regular customers will be able to get the set online and in LEGO Retail stores starting March 8.

Continue reading…

You gondor love this LOTR vignette.

This 16×16 vignette by Fuku Saku brings the half-sunken ruins of Osgiliath to life. The former capital city of Gondor is instantly recognizable in comparison to its big-screen counterpart. The damaged brick, open archways, and domed tower are spot-on with the production design of Peter Jackson’s epic. And bonus points to the Orc’s brick-built legs that create a “wading through the water” effect that perfectly compliments the scene.

Assault on Osgiliath

The Fall of Gondolin and the diving board like balcony

For their latest LEGO creation Josiah Durand drew inspiration from ‘The Fall of Gondolin’ by J.R.R.Tolkien. Since I am not familiar with the source material, there is little I can say about this creation being true to the story. I can, however, say that it definitely deserves a mention on TBB. The castle is white with some tan details, but the dark grey rock formation it’s build on gives a great contrast in colour. The top of the castle is light grey and it ends with a flat rooftop – a detail we hardly ever see when it comes to LEGO castles. This flat roof is adorned with a diving board like balcony. Which to me always predicts a stand off between two nemeses that ends in one of the two falling off the balcony towards certain death. As we see in Josiah’s creation, that might just happen.

The Fall of Gondolin: In the King's Square