After many years away in the wake of the Hobbit films’ releases, Lego’s Lord of the Rings line has firmly established itself as one of the brick maker’s annual treats, first delivering an incredible, lush replica of Rivendell in 2023, and then the daunting dark tower of Barad-Dûr last year. In 2025 Lego is taking to heart the lessons at the core of the films and embracing the finer parts of a quiet, peaceful life by visiting the Shire and the opening act of Fellowship of the Ring. But while hobbits overcome the prejudices of their halfling stature with the qualities of any of the other mortal races of Middle-earth, perhaps this latest release might have been better served by going smaller rather than bigger.
Lego recently provided io9 with a copy of the latest Lord of the Rings Icons series set, the Shire, for review. After a suitably relaxed weekend tinkering away at the set, we’re here to tell you what works—and what doesn’t—as Lego continues to carve out some of Middle-earth’s most famous locales.
How long does it take to build Lego’s Lord of the Rings Shire set?
Clocking in at 2,017 pieces, the Shire is the smallest of the three Icons series entrants for Lord of the Rings so far by a significant margin. It’s not only that that makes it a much swifter build: the Shire is broken down into one primary display piece—an unenclosed replica of Bag End as it appears in the opening of Fellowship of the Ring—and then a series of unconnected mini builds to position around it, including Gandalf’s horse and fireworks cart, and several pieces to replicate Bilbo’s birthday celebrations at the Shire’s Party Tree that are much less intricate.
Even Bag End is broken down into three separate builds, so while relatively varied, it’s simple enough. Depending on your pace, you could easily complete the build in six to eight hours over the course of an afternoon. You could take a really hobbit-inspired long weekend and do it slowly, should you so desire.
How many minifigures are in Lego’s Lord of the Rings Shire set?
The Shire comes with nine minifigures, one human (well, human-ish), and eight hobbits: Gandalf the Grey, Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Merry and Pippin, Rosie Cotton, and then Farmer Proudfoot and his wife. Rosie and the Proudfoots are making their minifigure debut here, while Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Bilbo have updated printing to give them outfits inspired by their appearances at Bilbo’s 111th birthday bash to differentiate them from the versions that came in 2023’s Rivendell set. Frodo and Sam are now the only Lord of the Rings characters to have come with all of the Icons sets so far!
Every minifigure save for Rosie comes with a suitable related accessory. Gandalf has his wizard staff and an array of fireworks for his cart, as well as alternate parts to depict him without his hat on or to sit riding his cart (which Frodo also includes, to sit alongside him). Merry and Pippin include alternative hair pieces to recreate the moment they dramatically set off Gandalf’s dragon firework, Bilbo has the One Ring, Farmer Proudfoot has a broom, Mrs. Proudfoot has a particularly large parsnip, and Sam has a pair of garden shears. You know, for when he ain’t droppin’ no eaves, sir.
Is Lego’s Lord of the Rings Shire set difficult to build?
Unlike Rivendell and Barad-Dûr, the Shire is the simplest Lord of the Rings set, architecturally speaking, so far. There are some fun details here and there, especially how the front end of Bag End is built, filled with little neat details like the wattle fence and rounded windows—but the interior to the hobbit hole is relatively plain small and plain in comparison, with just three small vignettes in the form of Bilbo’s study, the kitchen, and the entrance hallway included. It’s a marked improvement on the much-smaller scaled version of Bag End Lego released in 2012 for the Hobbit line, but considering this has just over three times the pieces (and costs significantly more; more on that later), that’s not too surprising.
It helps then that a chunk of the parts count is taken up by smaller satellite builds as well to recreate Bilbo’s party scene to avoid Bag End from becoming too intricate: a cake stand, a small tent (under which you can place a round green mound to plant Merry and Pippin’s ill-gotten firework in the ground), and the Party Tree itself, to which a replica of the dragon firework can be attached. However, all three are relatively minor distractions from the primary focus of the set, for better or worse.
Is Lego’s Shire set better for Lego fans or Lord of the Rings fans?
If you’re coming to the Shire for a complex build on the level of either Rivendell or Barad-Dûr, you’re not going to get it. While Bag End itself is nice, and has some fun little engineering details—a particular highlight is a turning mechanism in its fireplace, so you can rotate a burning letter out with a hidden One Ring to recreate the moment Gandalf and Frodo test to see if it really is the fabled ring of power. But the satellite structures for Bilbo’s party are incredibly basic, to the point of feeling like unnecessary padding to the build. The Party Tree is paradoxically one of the worst and best parts of the build: the included fabric banner for Bilbo’s birthday is wonderful, as is the cute mechanical effect to rotate part of the stand so you can depict Bilbo disappearing with the ring, but the tree itself looks awful for what is meant to be a high-end set. The random trees in Rivendell are much more lavish and extravagant despite also being basic builds, and the included tree looks more like a twig than the large, lush one we see in the film.
And that’s kind of the killer problem with the set. Bag End looks and feels nice as a display piece for Lord of the Rings fans, but it also feels like it could’ve looked nicer, if its parts count had been dedicated to giving more room in the exterior, or even a more enclosed exterior covering it. The extra builds for Bilbo’s party have cute details those fans will also appreciate, but they’re so basic (and, unlike in either Rivendell or Barad-Dûr’s cases, they’re not part of a larger display base) they just feel vestigial. If you love hobbits and the Shire’s aesthetic, the set looks the part, but then you get to the other Oliphaunt in the room.
How much is Lego’s Lord of the Rings Shire set? Is it worth the price?
The Shire will cost you a whopping $260, which is admittedly far less whopping than the eye-watering prices for Rivendell ($500) and Barad-Dûr ($460), but it’s also a far lesser set than either of those two in comparison for that price. The build is less interesting, even before you question over whether or not the ancillary builds are actually worth including. The minifigures, while nice and appropriate for the setting, don’t stand out in the way either Rivendell or Barad-Dûr’s selection did. In this economy, or any other, even with Lego’s increasingly premium prices, $260 feels like a leap you couldn’t even toss a dwarf for.
Either a more detailed Bag End for a similar price, or a smaller-scaled set that cut the extra builds (and maybe a few minifigures) but came in at $200 might have made the sting a little less pointed. But in spite of their much higher price (and, given that they’re exclusively available through Lego, discounts are rarer than mithril), either Rivendell or Barad-Dûr make better choices for Lego or Lord of the Rings fans to go for than this.
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