This massive LEGO Black Gate from The Lord of the Rings includes thousands of pieces and some truly epic armies.
There are few more iconic fantasy settings than The Lord of the Rings. It’s a grand setting for a grand and timeless tale. It’s also a setting filled with many iconic locations, cities, and fortresses. Though often overshadowed by other locations, one of the most important in the events of The Lord of the Rings is the Black Gate.
The Black Gate, or Morannon, was a large fortification blocking the main entrance to Mordor. Built across the narrow pass of Cirith Gorgor, it is the main defense blocking armies seeking to invade Sauron’s lands. Built as a large wall with a single massive and imposing gate, the defenses were a hard nut to crack for any invader.
That’s not to say it never fell; the forces of the Last Alliance took it during their war against Sauron, and it was held by Gondor for many a year during their watch on Mordor. Eventually, the forces of the Dark Lord retook and rebuilt the gates. Frodo, Sam, and Gollum were turned back from the Black Gate during their attempts to enter Mordor. And it was here that the last great battle of the War of the Ring, the last fight against Sauron, took place on March 25th, 3019.
LEGO The Black Gate
Now, way back in 2013, LEGO did make a version of the Black Gate (set 79007-1). But this was honestly a pretty sad version, as it only looked like half a gate! Well, that injustice has at least been fixed by builder BrickLi, whohas brought us a really amazing version of the Black Gate. This really is the build we deserve.
Built with over 50,000 pieces and over 500 minifigs, this is a truly impressive build. It took BirckLi over 500 hours to buil,d and you can tell. This thing is stunning and really does the setting justice.
The center of the build is dominated by the very impressive Black Gate itself,, which looks great, but even this is dwarfed by the nature of the land. Both the Mountains of Ash and the Ephel Dúath are visible, forming the pass. BrickLI also included the two massive towers of Narchost and Carchost, known as the Towers of the Teeth, originally built by Gondor.
Across from the Black Gate, you can also see the hill that Sam and Frodo spied on the gate from. This build has not just some great castle/fort working on it, but it also has a lot of cool mountain work. In the plane in front of the gate, we also have the Battle of the Black Gate depicted with hundreds of minifigs, showing off the desperate attempt to distract Sauron. Finally, above that, we have an epic battle between Nazgul and Eagles.
The creator has put up a great video overview of the build here.
Get a Closer Look At The Black Gate
Here are a few more great details on this build.
Complete your Mordor with The Barad-Dûr LEGO Set
While you can’t buy an official LEGO Black Gate right now (outside of second-hand sellers). However, you can start your Mordor collection with this awesome Barad-Dur set. The 5,471-piece build is one of the best Lord of the Rings LEGO sets. It’s split into four main sections; the tower section is fully modular.
The dark tower features a throne room containing a map and a ladder to the top floor. The 4th floor is home to Mouth of Sauron’s study, while the 5th floor houses a tower library with a rotating ladder. At the summit of the tower is the Eye of Sauron, which rotates in various directions and features a light brick to make the eye glow.
There are also 10 minifigures, including Sauron, Mouth of Sauron, Orcs, Frodo, Sam, Gollum, and Gothmog.
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Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers Warhammer: The Old World, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe mourned over loss of WFB for its entire hiatus, but has been reborn like a gaming phoenix with Warhammer: The Old World.
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