• LEGO finally reveals set 10316: The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell after months of leaks and speculation.
• The set will contain 6 167 pieces and come with minifigures of the entire Fellowship, plus other characters.
• The release date is 5th March with a price of €499.99, $499.99 or £429.99. South Africans will pay R7 999.

While LEGO does a lot of things well, secrecy is not one of them as leaks about an upcoming Lord of the Rings set based on Rivendell have been doing the rounds for months.

After this rather brilliant teaser LEGO finally, officially, revealed 10316: The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell as a set customers overseas will be able to buy from 5th March for €499.99, $499.99 or £429.99 depending on their region.

South African LEGO pricing is usually based on the Euro which had us speculating that Rivendell would cost around R9 400 according to the most recent exchange rate.

Thankfully local Lord of the Rings fans will be paying less than that with Great Yellow Brick (AKA the LEGO Certified Stores) has revealed a price of R7 999.

The store listing for the set can be found here with a release date of simply “March”.

While you may have an idea of what’s on offer thanks to the cute trailer above, let’s look at some hard numbers starting with the piece count of 6 167.

R7 999 for 6 167 pieces isn’t the worst price to piece ratio South African LEGO fans have seen, and this set tries to make up for the difference with a pleasing assortment of minifigures.

Inside of the box there are a whopping 15 minifigures comprising of not just the Fellowship, but also extra important characters.

“Gandalf the Grey, all four hobbits (Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Merriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck and Peregrin “Pippin” Took), Legolas, Gimli, Boromir and Aragorn. They are joined by minifigures of Elrond, Arwen, Bilbo Baggins plus additional elves and a dwarf (Gloin) are also included,” reads a press release from LEGO.

These minifigures will be able to explore a version of Rivendell that, when completed, measures in at 39 X 75 X 50 centimetres (height X width X depth).

The long but narrow aspect ratio should make this set easier to display on most shelves, a feature which is aided by the modular nature of the construction allowing you to move around individual sections of the structure. This also gives you more freedom to interact with the various famous locations, such as the Council of Elrond, Frodo’s Bedroom, Elrond’s study and more.

Other LEGO Lord of the Ring sets released this year

While Rivendell represents the return of Lord of the Rings “minifigure scale sets” to the world of LEGO, it is not the first set to be released this year under the lauded name.

LEGO has released three Brickheadz based on Lord of the Rings on 1st January. Brickheadz are LEGO’s attempt at Funko Pops, allowing customers to build their own bulbous-headed monstrosities.

These three sets are –

• 40631 | Gandalf the Grey & Balrog | 348 pieces | R379
• 40632 | Aragorn & Arwen | 261 pieces | R379
• 40630 | Frodo & Gollum | 184 pieces | R299

The fact that these sets are Brickheadz are notable because Rivendell is part of the Icons LEGO theme.

And to understand why that’s important, here’s a quick primer on LEGO themes. These are basically groupings of LEGO sets so, for example, “LEGO Marvel Super Heroes” is made up of sets based on Marvel’s characters, “LEGO Star Wars” is Star Wars in LEGO form etc.

The fact that all four LEGO Lord of the Rings sets are not under a dedicated “Lord of the Rings” theme has us worried that these are not a permanent fixture in the LEGO catalogue, and more of a flash in the pan.

Both Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit have been their own themes in the past, so there is hope for their return.

There are also unconfirmed leaks – which we won’t link to because of confidential pictures – of a set based on the Eye of Sauron. If this set is real the theme it is assigned to may reveal what LEGO from Middle-earth may appear in the future.