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 elusive wingless Balrog recently sighted

If this hellish looking monster built by Marcin Otreba reminds you of the fire demon who faced off against everyone’s favorite wizard Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, that would be for good reason. Featured in the video game Middle Earth: Shadow of War, Tar Goroth is one of the minions of darkness in Middle Earth. Unlike its better-known cousin, this Balrog has to walk. Maybe that explains why he looks so mad.

The use of several transparent orange elements peeking out between the cracks in its ebony skin makes this monstrosity instantly recognizable, along with those downward-pointing horns. Also, it strikes me as very fitting that so many of these 1×4 wing with pin hole elements from the official Lord of the Rings theme were used throughout the model.

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Sauron looks pleased with his creation

Sauron, the evil creator of the One Ring at the center of the Lord of the Rings books and movies spends the majority of his screen time as nothing more than a giant flaming eye at the top of his dark tower of Barad-dûr, he does make a brief appearance at the beginning of the film version of The Fellowship of the Ring, in the physical form of a towering spike-armored figure with a mighty mace, which he uses to lay waste to countless enemies. Aaron Newman has built an amazing model of Sauron poised at the edge of a lava flow, holding up his creation, perhaps just after pouring his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life into the One Ring.

The distinct helmet and armor feature some of the new blades found in many of the Ninjago sets released last year, as well as a very nice ragged cape made from a couple of large capes. I am especially glad that Aaron chose to build his model in gray rather than black, as it would have been much more difficult to see all those great details.

The Black Breath

If you are like me, you’re probably thinking the world could use more LEGO creations inspired by The Lord of the Rings. Am I right? Who is with me on this? As it turns out, Cole Blood (who, in my opinion, has the coolest name in the history of the world) has answered all our prayers with this stunning piece he calls “First Appearance of the Ringwraiths”. Having no physical form, the wraiths are cleverly depicted as hellish black apparitions that seem to seep into the landscape. The orc heads on pikes, the toadstools, and the small flowing stream create excellent visual cues throughout. Stay tuned, because this is merely one piece of a larger Second Age collaborative series we’ve been covering that Cole is participating in with his equally talented friends. I will eagerly wait, right after heading over to the registry to change my name to Rex Awesome or something.

Lond Daer, the Númenorean shipyard in Middle Earth

There have been many great LEGO creations from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchise over the years, including a recent epic collaboration which we were proud to feature here on TBB. The other ages mentioned in the book, however, tend to be overlooked. Well, there is a new collaborative project underway and Barthezz Brick has built an amazing model of the Númenórean ship-building port of Lond Daer.

This model has so many details worth mentioning, including some very nicely built arrow slits in the tall tower in the back, which starts with a fairly common technique using cheese slopes but repeats the pattern in an interesting way. The buildings on the right also show a neat architectural design for the arched windows made from loosely connected plates, and this minifig neck bracket to attach tiles on top. Click to see more of Lond Daer

Ride like the wind, Gandalf!

We featured norlego‘s stunning LEGO Meduseld Hall last year, but now he’s followed it up with another impressive slice of architecture from Edoras, the capital of the nation of Rohan in Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings. Here we see Gandalf and Pippin leaving the city at the start of their ride to Minas Tirith. The gated wall behind them is an impressive structure, with a lovely depth of detail and texture within both stone and wooden sections. The arrow slits in the main gate structure are nicely done, and the surrounding landscaping is excellent — all the green broken up with clumps of dark tan grass and boulders. Don’t miss the edge of the diorama — the undulating strata of earth and stone add immensely to the natural feel of the scene.

If you’re a Tolkien fan and just can’t get enough Rohirrim action, then be sure to check in on this wonderful microscale LEGO version of Edoras from a while back.

In the midst, there stands aloft a great hall of Men

Here’s an impressive LEGO rendition of an epic film location — Edoras, the capital city of the Riders of Rohan in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy classic The Lord of the Rings. Patrick B. has faithfully recreated the film’s vision of the town — a hill, studded with wooden buildings, surrounded by a palisade, and capped by King Théoden’s hall. The wooden fencing around the town is excellent, particularly the towers — brilliant detailing for such small-scale building. And don’t miss the dark brown robot arms clutching Harry Potter wand parts — they make for surprisingly effective windblown trees.

Here’s a more detailed look at the great hall on top of the hill — Meduseld, seat of the Kings of Rohan. The close-up view allows you to fully appreciate the rockwork and the clever choice of different textured bricks which goes into the microscale detailing of the buildings…

Itty-bitty servants of Darkness

Although JRR Tolkien primarily created his Middle-Earth fantasy world as a place for his invented languages to exist, his populating of that world with an array of fantastical creatures was a key element in the enduring appeal of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings. Aaron Newman brings us fantastic microscale LEGO models depicting the movie versions of 3 of Tolkien’s most famous “big beasts” — the Balrog, the Nazgul’s Fell Beast, and an armoured Mumakil.

The Balrog looks great, with it’s flaming whip and broad wingspan. I particularly like how Aaron has captured the creature’s distinctive face in a tight selection of pieces. The Mumakil is brilliant, poised to stomp and tusk-sweep its way through a swathe of eensy-weensy Rohirrim. But the highlight of the show has to be Nazgul on his Fell Beast. A clever parts selection has managed to produce a sinuous and reptilian effect, perfectly capturing how the movie trilogy Fell Beasts seemed to slither through the air. Now we need appropriately scaled microscale backdrops for all 3 models — come on Aaron, get to work.

Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!

LEGO castle scenes are generally static pieces of landscape with some kinds of structures or a little sprinkle of life in the form of a handful of minifigs. This is a tested formula that works best in most examples, but the latest scene by h2brick is not one of them. The builder faithfully recreates a piece of the battle of Minas Tirith from the third Lord of the Rings movie.

The landscaping is nice to look at with flowing layers and colours, as well as some well built yet subtle rocks. One would expect the LEGO horse to start feeling repetitive, but the variation between colours, mold types and posing keeps it fresh. The touches of clutter on both sides give a feeling of an anxious anticipation of battle.

The last LEGO house east of the sea

We’ve seen brick-built versions of Middle Earth’s Rivendell before (including Alice Finch and David Frank’s astonishing build) but here’s a microscale creation depicting Elrond’s home — “the last homely house east of the sea”. This tiny model by Isaac Snyder is nicely done — I love the way the buildings nestle into the surrounding rock, and the muted colours he’s picked. The various techniques and pieces used for different pillar designs are a little masterclass in microscale architecture — well-worth a closer look.

This huge LEGO diorama brings Hobbiton to life

The iconic landscape of Hobbiton is a stark contrast to the majority of other locations presented in the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien, and its unique style is quite the popular theme for LEGO builders to tackle. Coming off the tail of a large Middle Earth-themed collaboration, Jake Hansen has joined forces with Cole Blood in what I hope is not the “Last Alliance”.

The large scale of the diorama–16 32×32 baseplates, or about 11 square feet–really brings the best out of the rolling hills made of stacked plates. Continue reading →

Oliphaunt from Lord of the Rings comes to life in kinetic LEGO sculpture

The enormous, elephant-like oliphaunts (also known as Mûmakil to their Haradrim riders) wowed the hobbits Sam and Frodo as they made their way through Ithilien. Impressive as they may have been in the books and movies, this LEGO sculpture by Marcin Otreba adds movement to his bricks and brings the creature to life.

See the Oliphaunt in action

The two staves — awesome life-size LEGO prop replicas from The Lord of the Rings

Staves may be little more than glorified sticks, but they have managed to work their way into the very heart of fantasy symbols. Some of the most famous examples are found in The Lord of the Rings, wielded by some of literature’s most famous wizards. Jon & Catherine Stead have recreated in 1:1 scale a pair of the wizard staves seen in The Lord of the Rings films.

The staff of Saruman the White is a remarkably clean model built around the Star Wars planet elements for the orb. Unless you zoom in, it might be hard to recognize the staff is actually LEGO. This is even more impressive if its mere five hours of build time are taken into account. The builders also share the exact piece count, which is 831 for this particular model, and it measures 91 inches in length.

The staff of Gandalf the Grey is an impressive creation in a completely different way. It is not quite as accurate to its movie representation as Saruman’s staff, but the complexity of the source material makes its recreation a much more impressive achievement. The spiraled headpiece is created using multiple arch elements wrapping around the shaft. The build was completed in an impressive four hours using 938 bricks. It measures 61 inches in length.