After taking a look at the minifigures featured in the upcoming LEGO® Icons: The Lord of the Rings: Barad-Dûr set, it’s now time to set what the set has to offer. After the colourful trip to Rivendell last year, 2024’s return to Middle-earth is far darker. Barad-Dûr is one of the two towers featured in The Lord of the Rings films. This dark tower looms over Middle-earth searching for a glimpse of the once lost ring. It’s now an imposing new addition to the LEGO Icons range. Here’s a detailed look around the tower of Barad-Dûr.
Product Details
Set Name: The Lord of the Rings: Barad-Dûr | Set Number: 10333 | Pieces: 5471 | Theme: Icons
Number of Bags: Bags x 40 | Instructions: Paper booklet + Builder App | Stickers: sheet x 1 | Characters: Sauron, Mouth of Sauron, Gothmog, Frodo, Sam & Gollum plus Orcs x 4| Insiders QR: Yes
RRP: £399.99/$459.99/459.99€/699.99AUD/599.99CAD
Availability: LEGO Stores & LEGO Online from June 1st (Insiders) June 4th (General)
With over 5000 pieces this is a huge set and so is its box. Within that box, you’ll find 40 numbered bags, every single one of these bags is a new easier to recycle paper bag. It’s nice to see these being used in more sets, especially ones which require the use of so many bags. There’s also a trio of instruction booklets. These each feature a little extra detail about Barad-Dûr and the sections you’re building. You’ll also get extra snippets of information as you build.
As the set is so big, it has been split into four separate sections. This makes it a little easier to build and more importantly, to transport. The first section of the build is focused on the base of the tower. But before you start on that, you build a small rocky outcrop for Frodo and Sam to be placed as they head to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring
As the darkness of Sauron corrupts Mordor, lava bubbles up from beneath the darkened, desolate land. This is used to forge the weapons for Sauron’s armies and ‘power’ the tower. So the base features lava flows mingling with the rocky footings of the tower. The use of transparent elements to represent the lava mixed with various sloped elements to recreate rocks offers a highly detailed finish to this part of the build. It’s certainly needed as the equally impressive detail on the tower structure is a little less defined due to the black elements used to build it. Inside this section is a small forge and racking for the orc armour and weapons. It also features a gear system which is used to open the doors to the tower. The handle used to power this is nearly hidden by the rocky exterior.
The next section of the tower is a smaller hall-like room. This nearly slides into a couple of track bricks and clips into place, fixing it securely to the base section. The exterior of this section continues with the imposing black cladding of the tower and the beginning of a rocky seam which snakes up part of the tower. Inside this section is what’s best described as the Orc’s staffroom. Yes, the dark forces of Mordor, still require breaks from all the maiming. There’s a banquet table filled with food and a ‘Fabuland’ pot sitting over the same lava-powered fires used below in the forge. But this section has a particularly genius detail. There’s a menu board on the wall, complete with a stick of chalk displaying today’s offering of ‘meat’. A nod to the iconic line from the film “Looks like meat’s back on the menu, boys”
The following section is a small throne room. This features two wall sections which sit on top of two 2×2 plates. Those plates are connected to a moveable section hidden within the floor. Pulling on the connector tab, causes the throne seat to split apart and reveals Palantír, a seer stone. It’s a fun feature, however, each of those moving panels is only connected by a lone 2×2 plate and unless I have built it incorrectly, I found these would easily become loose, especially when they are moved. The throne is flanked by a pair of banners, which use stickers to add the eye of Sauron’s crest.
The final stretch is focused on the tower top. Inside the tower are a couple of small rooms, including Mouth of Sauron’s study and a library, which feature large stickers to add extra detail. These include a portrait of Sauron, along with shelves of books and scrolls. When combined with the physical accessories, they give these sections a lot of detail. Although the tower is the smallest area of the overall set and the exterior is mostly black elements, the use of elements gives it a superb textured finish. Various blades and horns not only look great but also allude to the evil forces which inhabit the tower. It’s also home to an iconic piece of Lord of the Rings iconography – the Eye of Sauron.
Although Sauron is briefly shown in the opening moments of The Fellowship of the Ring, his presence throughout the trilogy is depicted by a fiery eye atop the peak of Barad-Dûr. This is expertly recreated as the final flourish of the tower. The eye is built around two pale yellow wheel trims and various transparent orange elements. It’s mounted in such a way it can be rotated and pointed in different directions. It’s my favourite part of the set as it looks amazing. There’s a light brick mounted behind the eye and it can be pressed to add a glow to it, but it looks great even when not illuminated.
Since LEGO Creator Expert was rebranded to become LEGO Icons it has provided an impressive array of sets. Rivendell is a great example of that and so too is Barad-Dûr. Comparing the two Lord of the Rings sets, Rivendell is more visually impressive but the tower of Barad-Dûr was a lot more fun to build. It may seem just like a mass of black elements, but the way they have been combined is quite impressive and I like how ‘natural’ elements such as rocks and lava are woven into the foundations of the tower both inside and out. It’s certainly an expansive set and one which will appeal to fans of The Lord of the Rings films. It’s noted in the instructions that the tower can be made taller but combining multiple copies of the set. Something I’d advise against as only the tower section can be extended and the cost of purchasing multiple sets wouldn’t be worth it. In my opinion. Learn more about the minifigures featured in this set here.
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These were provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are those of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
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