I absolutly love this set, and really apricate the detail on the minifigures, all of the little easter eggs, I love the movies of the hobbit and the lord of the rings, the rings of power and the original books written by J.R.R Tolkien, and i think that this set does the books and movies proud.

Extremely pricey, but it is a beautiful Lego set.

10316 | LEGO® ICONS™ THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RIVENDELL™

Imladris. Rivendell. The House of Elrond. The Last Homely House East of the Sea.

This set proves that Lego has transcended to art.

This is, by far, the most beautiful, fun to build, exceptional and artistic set I have ever built. The attention to detail and the painstaking effort that the designers put into this set is staggering. They have somehow managed the impossible: to include almost everything a Lego and Lord of the Rings fan could possibly want in a set; depicting every important and memorable scene related to Rivendell.

Everything from the candlesticks, bookshelf, the ornately-made fresco of Isildur with the Blade that was Broken (Narsil) and Sauron, to the gazebo and bridge where Aragron and Arwen stood, the beautifully-patterned (and each printed!) floor tiles, the lovely trees and even the random leaves on the ground all serve to make this set jump straight from the movie. Every time I look at it I hear the ambient sounds and music of Rivendell in my head.
When I see the elven smith in front of the forge I hear the sound of metal clanging, of the forge bellowing, of the night sounds of Rivendell and of the soundtrack for Anduril swelling.

The minifigures, most of which have been reworked especially for this set, complete with brand new weapons straight out of the film, are this set's party piece. The detail here, too, is amazing - most of the figures (even the statues) have different expressions, depending on what is required of a scene. There are special pieces for Gandalf, Elrond, Bilbo and Frodo in their seated position. On that score, I found that all these "standby" minifigure pieces, including Gandalf's hat or hairpiece and Gimil's can be stored in a section under the tower, where there is a space just big enough for them! This is very useful if one does not like having those pieces lying around. Given the passion the designers put in this piece I would not be surprised if that was deliberate. . .

I especially like the fact that so many copies of the new weapons were included for the elven sword, Boromir's broadsword, Strider's sword, Narsil, Gimli's axes etc.

Regarding the price: Anything in excess of R 5000 for a Lego set is expensive, to be sure. But given the set's size, the Lord of the Rings (TM) licencing, the number of minifigures and, above all, the fact that it does everything right and has so many Easter eggs, I expected it to costs well above R 10 000 and to rival Star Wars' UCS Star Destroyer or even its UCS Millennium Falcon.

Seen in that context, and the fact that the set itself is modular, it is actually astonishing value for money.

In terms of building experience, this set blew me away. It took about 12 hours (bearing in mind this is the largest Lego I ever purchased, with the second-largest only being about 2000 pieces, by comparison). But the build process, despite the time spent, NEVER felt tedious or repetitive. Whether one was building the very robust and solid base, adding leaves to the trees, or building a beautiful working table, complete with a candle, ink pot and the book There and Back again, it always felt like you were making something truly special. This is true even of the roof tiles - which I was dreading initially, to be honest. It was probably the most satisfying part of the build when they all finally lined up perfectly to reveal an unmistakable Imladris-style roof.

I read somewhere that the trees' building style was "controversial", but I found them to be some of the best pieces of the set.

To criticise this set at all would feel like blasphemy, but it does make the heaps of praise given, seem more candid.

Given how this set spoilt us with hidden gems and details, I only found it sad that the new weapon pieces did not include Gandalf's legendary sword Glamdring and the reforged version of Aragorn's sword, Anduril, the Flame of the West. The latter would have been especially cool, given how amazing the new Shards of Narsil look.

Also, it it would have been nicer if the roof of the Tower could open up on hinges or come off more easily to reveal Bilbo's writing station - which is a bit hidden away in the back of the tower towards the roof's slope.
Finally, a small statute in the Gazebo-section of Aragorn's mother - Gilraen's Memorial, and maybe a small stable for Arwen's horse Asfaloth, would have made this piece even more perfect.
But I would not even have commented this, if the set had not already spoiled us as much as it did!

I think the Lord of the Rings movies are the greatest triumph of screen to ever have been made, but I sadly doubt Tolkien would have agreed - given how particular he was about his works and how vividly he saw characters and events in his mind. He would probably have been mortified by even the smallest changes made.

But I somehow think this set would have put a massive smile on the Professor's face. And that is the greatest triumph of all.

To the designers we say in Quenya: Hant...

Absolutley LOVE this set. can't wait to see if more lord of the rings sets come out. but wish it were more affordable.