In which the latest LEGO® Lord of the Rings set is revealed, some minifigures are updated (while others are not) and I try not to feel too bad about the cost.

JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a timeless classic of epic fantasy and world building. I was introduced to the work back in 1981, when the BBC’s radio drama was broadcast over 26 half hour episodes on a Sunday Morning. I probably only ever discovered it because the NPR dramatisation of Star Wars finished the previous week. That version of the story missed some of the same bits as Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation from the early days of the century. While the action of the narrative swirled across middle earth, there is one location that might be considered core to the drama, but never visited by the story tellers Point of View: The Darks Lord’s Tower, Barad-dûr.

And while MOCs have been produced over the years in a variety of scales, from the tabletop to the major installation, the LEGO Group have never produced a model kit of the Dark Tower of Mordor. Until now.

This 5471 piece set will be available from June 1st 2024, priced at €459.99 / £399.99/ $USD459.99/$AUD699.99 /$CAD599.99 /10999 MXN. On release it will be a LEGO exclusive – only through LEGO and LEGO Certified stores. I will come and revisit that price later in this post, and explain why I don’t think it is totally outrageous.