First LEGO The Lord of the Rings 2023 sets revealed

Images of the first three LEGO The Lord of the Rings 2023 sets have arrived online, confirming once and for all the return of the long-dormant Middle-earth theme.

Rumoured for months, the return of the king (of LEGO Tolkien themes, at least) will be heralded by three BrickHeadz double-packs, as revealed through the Pick a Brick section of LEGO.com Australia. Among these three sets are five characters who have previously had minifigures – and one we’ve never seen replicated in physical bricks before.

The smallest of the three sets is 40630 Frodo & Gollum, which packs in 184 pieces, including printed tiles for Frodo’s torso and Gollum’s hair. We’re not entirely sure why the Hobbit has such a receding hairline, but there you go. The colours of his jacket and cloak at least look to be on point, and he’s wielding a sword that’s presumably intended to represent Sting.

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Coming in at 261 pieces is 40632 Aragorn & Arwen, which is based specifically on one of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’s countless endings. That means Aragorn’s wearing his crown and royal fatigues, while Arwen is built in a luminous green dress. Once again, all their decorated elements – from Arwen’s tiara to Aragorn’s torso – are printed.

Probably most interesting in this trio, though, is 40631 Gandalf the Grey & Balrog, which brings us our first-ever LEGO incarnation of Durin’s Bane, the Balrog residing beneath the depths of Khazad-dûm. This one’s a lot cuter than the beast that took down Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring, though. The biggest of the three The Lord of the Rings BrickHeadz sets includes 348 pieces.

We don’t yet know when these sets will be released, or how much they’ll cost, but rumours suggest we can expect to see them on shelves in January. A subsequent The Lord of the Rings-themed direct-to-consumer set will apparently follow later next year, with a potentially wallet-busting price tag.

Here’s a quick round-up of all three LEGO The Lord of the Rings sets confirmed for 2023.

LEGO set name	Price	Piece count	Release date
40630 Frodo & Gollum	TBC	184	TBC
40631 Gandalf the Grey & Balrog	TBC	348	TBC
40632 Aragorn & Arwen	TBC	261	TBC

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