Our Favourite LEGO IDEAS Lord of the Rings Challenge Entries – Part One

Back in March, the LEGO Ideas team announced an official competition for fans to submit their best LOTR-inspired MOCs for consideration by the LEGO judging team. Grand prize winners would receive a signed copy of the much-hyped and successful The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell 10316 set.

The competition was split into two categories – ‘location’ and ‘scene’ – offering talented LEGO brick builders a choice between recreating one of the numerous fantasy locations in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit or opting to create a diorama of a scene from the films. In the first part of this blog, we’ll focus on the best Lord of the Rings MOCs in the ‘location’ category.

Who Won the LEGO IDEAS Lord of the Rings Location Challenge?

Congratulations go to Martin_Studio for winning the Grand Prize for their Lothlórien entry (as pictured in our banner above). This magnificent recreation of the forest kingdom ruled over by Galadriel and Celeborn features some breathtakingly beautiful scenery, including the golden, autumnal leaves on the giant Mallorn trees, arched windows and the crumbling statues and stairways of the Elvish realm. JaoGosma snapped up the runners-up prize for their rendition of the fabled Argonath (also pictured in our banner above), two statues of ancient Gondorian kings that guarded the border of their realm.

With more fan entries submitted than you could shake a wizard staff at, we thought we would highlight a few more of our favourite entries which missed out on the top prize but were no less worthy of being turned into official LEGO sets…

Lothlorian Riverside

We’re surprised this offering from 10k Club Member Ralf Ranghaal didn’t merit at least the runners-up award, though it does feel like it sits somewhere between being a scene and a location which may have dented its chances. For ourselves, we can’t stop staring at this beautiful LEGO build. The dark, moonlit scene perfectly evokes the ethereal, magical quality of Lothlorian, and the reflected light on the black water is a truly artistic touch. Sometimes less is more, and the elegantly constructed island is wonderfully evocative in its simplicity and visual style.

Bag End / Hobbiton

Plenty of brick-built versions of the Hobbit’s home were submitted to the LEGO Ideas competition. However, we ultimately favoured the two pictured above, submitted by kris_kelvin and J.K.Brick, respectively. Both models offered a perfect creative interpretation of Hobbiton and the home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, with a lush amount of green foliage created from various LEGO elements and a cosy, condensed feel to the locations on show. Fun details on the expanded Hobbiton build include Ted Sandyman’s mill, the tree above Bag End, and hanging washing lines for the Hobbits to hang their clothes out to dry.

Armenelos The Golden

This entry from W. Navarre is another MOC which feels like stepping into a painting, and it’s nice to see something from the Amazon Studio’s TV show, The Rings of Power. While the show met with mixed reviews, most fans appreciated the conceptual design behind locations such as Númenor, as visualised by renowned artists John Howe and Alan Lee. This LEGO build pays homage to The Land of the Star, as seen in the show, with the statue of Eärendil towering in the distance and one of the many ships of Westernesse visible in the foreground.

Weathertop

Faebrick’s version of Amon Sûl recreates the hilltop ruins of the ancient Eriador watch tower in exquisite brick detail, taken directly from the iconic scene where the Hobbits face off against the Ringwraiths in The Fellowship of the Ring. This is another entry which perhaps veered too close to being a scene rather than a location; however the craftsmanship and attention to detail on this LEGO my-own-creation is exceptional.

Barad-Dûr

Those in our office who serve the Dark Lord Sauron offer their loyalty to this imposing build from BrickMOCBay. Reshaping the spiralling tower of Mordor with LEGO bricks is no easy feat, even for the most accomplished MOC enthusiast. This brick build captures the tower’s unique texture (seemingly fashioned by metal plates studded together by the orcs in the films), with the bright orange and red Eye of Sauron standing out nicely at the top.

Make sure you join us next time as we look at our favourite LEGO Ideas entries from the ‘scene’ category!