{"id":253035,"date":"2026-01-26T21:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T21:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/253035\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T21:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T21:09:07","slug":"legos-new-lord-of-the-rings-set-celebrates-the-dark-lord-himself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/253035\/","title":{"rendered":"Lego’s New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Set Celebrates the Dark Lord Himself"},"content":{"rendered":"

Didn\u2019t want to spend $460<\/a> just to get Lego\u2019s one and only Sauron minifigure (and get a pretty cool evil tower<\/a> along the way)? Good news: the brickmaker just made it even easier and cheaper to get, and you still get a nifty set to go with it.<\/p>\n

Today Lego announced its return to the\u00a0Lord of the Rings line in the form of a sideways step into a series that it\u2019s already experimented with in its Marvel and Star Wars ranges: character helmets. And it\u2019s kicking off with arguably the most recognizable helm in all of Middle-earth (well, capital-H-Helms aside<\/a>) with the spiky plated armor worn by Sauron at the climax of the Third Age<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new Sauron helmet clocks in at just 538 pieces, but at around 13\u2033 tall, including the display base it comes on, you\u2019re getting a sizeable take on the Dark Lord\u2019s terrifying visage, greebled with interesting texture and plating to replicate the unique layering of Sauron\u2019s armor as seen in the opening prologue of Fellowship of the Ring.<\/p>\n

While the helm itself is a neat-looking build, the big draw for many people will be that it includes the Sauron minifigure that was previously exclusive to the gorgeous, but spendy, Barad-D\u00fbr set from 2024. Alas, he doesn\u2019t come with the little brick-built mace from that set, but instead with the One Ring itself, representing Sauron at the height of his power before his fall at the battle of the Last Alliance.<\/p>\n

At $70, this is the cheapest\u00a0Lord of the Rings set Lego has made since it revived the line in 2023 as a yearly-releasing, collector-focused series of lavishly vast and lavishly pricey sets, starting with the massive 6,167-piece Rivendell set<\/a>. Last year, Lego double-dipped on\u00a0LOTR to also offer the $130 Balrog book nook<\/a>, alongside the pricier Shire set<\/a>, seemingly hinting that it was willing to at least experiment with smaller-scaled and lower-cost Lord of the Rings sets again.<\/p>\n

With the Sauron helmet especially leaning on ideas already done in other licensed lines, there\u2019s hope it won\u2019t be the last time Lego takes ideas from elsewhere in its portfolio, and Lord of the Rings will become more varied than a once-a-year offering that threatens to stab your wallet with a morgul blade.<\/p>\n

At least with this set, that hope is a bit more than a fool\u2019s hope. The Lego Lord of the Rings Sauron\u2019s Helmet set will release on March 1 and is available to preorder<\/a> now.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Didn\u2019t want to spend $460 just to get Lego\u2019s one and only Sauron minifigure (and get a pretty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,15520,9628,409,111,139,69,130335],"class_list":["post-253035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-lego","tag-lord-of-the-rings","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sauron"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}