LEGO 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-Dûr is an epic, towering set – and includes a selection of appealing minifigures, including Sauron himself. Find out which LEGO characters make this set such a tempting precious…
It’s not long until fans can expand their LEGO The Lord of the Rings collection with the 5,471 piece 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-Dûr, the towering follow up to 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell. The new set includes 10 minifigures to populate the fortress of evil, so here’s a run-down of the characters you get in the absolutely massive box…
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The Mouth of Sauron
This is one of the movie’s more memorable characters due thanks to him being absolutely disgusting. The Mouth of Sauron makes his second appearance in minifigure form here in set 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-Dûr. Acting as the Dark Lord’s emissary, it is the Mouth of Sauron who taunts Aragorn at the battle of the black gate with Frodo’s mithril armour to disillusion the armies of Gondor. This figure has been updated with a new torso print and helmet element that frame his unique headprint with no eyes and only a gross mouth. It’s a highly detailed minifigure that perfectly captures the menace and disgusting appearance of its on-screen inspiration.
Gollum
Gollum has not appeared as a LEGO character since Dimensions 71218 Gollum Fun Pack. This version’s overall design and uses the same elements, with only the print having changed. Considering it has been almost 10 years since any version of Gollum was available, his inclusion here is welcome. The figure’s body and head are all a single element, then a pair of arms clip on and rotate on either side. Surprisingly, the detail of his face print has decreased from previous incarnations with much less hair and simpler eyes.
Frodo
Frodo received in update in last year’s 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell and nothing has changed here other than the loss of his cape, which is accurate to the events of the film. Frodo’s torso features the same jacket, waistcoat and undershirt print as last year along with the immobile dual printed legs depicting the bare feet of hobbits. His face has a normal look on one side and haunted, ring-possessed eyes on the other side. His hair element looks remarkably like Elijah Wood in the film, perfect in both colour and shape.
Sam
Like Frodo, his faithful companion Sam sports the same design as included in 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell minus his elven cape. For his face print, one side depicts a jovial, almost snide look which feels a bit inaccurate for Sam whose expressions are mostly devotion and anguish through the film. On the other side there’s a determined look for when he fights Shelob. His hairpiece is the same as Frodo’s but cast in orange, which feels a little too vibrant when compared to his on-screen appearance. This minifigure conveys the character, but struggles to accurately capture his on-screen look as the face prints aren’t quite right and it doesn’t capture his portly shape.
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Gothmog
One of Sauron’s most fierce warriors, Gothmog serves as the witch-king’s lieutenant at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields outside the walls of Minas Tirith. A big ogre with white skin and a grotesque facial scar, Gothmog was a memorable presence despite his minimal screen time. Skin texture is difficult to translate into minifigure form, but this face print does a fairly good job. This orc’s size on screen doesn’t naturally translate to minifigure dimensions, but his chest armour goes a long way to communicating heft thanks to both its shape and print. Overall, this is a great minifigure and another rare character from the film who, like Sauron, has never been produced in LEGO form before.
Orc Chef
While various orcs clearly have different ranks, neither Tolkien nor Peter Jackson did much exploration of other jobs within Sauron’s brutal army. Presumably, someone needs to be on hand to cook any hobbits that the sentries happen to capture – and it is this guy. Pirates appear to have been a bit of an inspiration, which makes sense as both groups are stinky and up to no good. Sporting a LEGO pirate bandana, this orc has a medium nougat skin tone paired with unique torso and leg prints that are a mix of armour and pouches. He is shown in the instructions at the big kettle on the tower’s second floor roasting a hot dog. Best not to think about what kind of meat went into it, though perhaps that is true of any hot dog…
Orc Warrior
On screen, the armies of Sauron are bland and interchangeable. Terrifying to be sure, but barely distinguishable aside from some variation in size and armour markings. LEGO designers have opted to introduce different skin tones to bring some variety to this otherwise monotonous group of characters. This fellow brings a third colour to the group with an olive green head, legs and arms. Fantastic printing depicts layers of armour, leather and fur as well as spiked boots. His headpiece is a moulded element which combines ears and hair around a suitably evil looking faceprint with barred teeth. This fellow is definitely not someone you would want to meet on a dark street corner at night.
Sauron
Without a doubt, the most desirable minifigure included in 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-Dûr is Sauron, who is making his LEGO debut. A brand-new moulded crown, helmet and shoulder piece element cover a special head print with fiery eyes. While accurate to the overall design, there is no doubt that minifigure size is a poor fit as Sauron should tower over normal men. That size discrepancy is, however, the only issue; this minifigure’s design, printing and appearance are otherwise spot on. It is almost worth purchasing Barad-Dûr just for Sauron.