Icons

Grond

A small model with a monstrous job to do.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 40893 · 2026

Pieces307

Minifigsn/a

Year2026

Set number40893

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

Grond is the great wolf headed battering ram that breaks the gate of Minas Tirith, and even at 307 pieces the model knows exactly what it is here to sell you, that snarling head, the huge wheels, and the sense of dead weight rolling forward.

I like that a set this size still commits to a real building mechanism instead of just stacking a shape. It will not fill a shelf on its own, and if you already own the bigger Lord of the Rings Icons sets it plays best as a companion piece next to them rather than a headline build. Get it if you love the source material and want the detail piece the big castles are missing, skip it if you need part count to justify the price.

Best for: Lord of the Rings collectors who already have the big Icons castles and want the missing siege piece

The full review

What it is

I will be honest, my first reaction to Grond was how much personality LEGO squeezed into a small ram. This is the siege engine that breaks the gate of Minas Tirith in Return of the King, all snarling wolf head and grinding wheels, and the model does not try to soften that. It leans into the menace, dark grays and browns, a head that actually looks like it is straining forward, and a base sturdy enough that the whole thing has real weight in your hands when it is done.

The catch

Where I have to be straight with you is the size. At 307 pieces this is a quick build, not an evening project, and if you are coming to it expecting a Rivendell or Barad-dur scale centerpiece you will be disappointed. It reads much better as the piece that completes a shelf of bigger Lord of the Rings sets than as something that stands on its own. The price per piece is also on the steep side for what you get, which is common for licensed accessory sets but worth knowing going in.

Who it's for

This one is for the Lord of the Rings collector who already has the gates of Minas Tirith or another large Icons build and wants the detail piece to go with it. If you are new to the theme or building on a tight budget, I would put your money toward one of the bigger sets first and treat Grond as something to add later.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build itself moves fast, which fits the subject, this is a battering ram, not a cathedral. Most of your time goes into the undercarriage and the wheel assemblies, getting the proportions of a heavy, dragged siege weapon right, before the last stretch is all about the head. That is where the set earns its keep, a sculpted, snarling wolf face built up in layers rather than a single big piece, with enough angle and texture that it holds your eye from across a room.

For a set this size there is not a deep well of rare parts to hunt for, but the wheel and axle pieces do a lot of the visual work, giving the model a sense of grinding, dead weight momentum rather than looking like a toy on casters. If you already own other Lord of the Rings Icons sets you will recognize the color palette LEGO is using across the line, which is part of why this one is best appreciated as a companion piece rather than a solo build.

Fun facts

01In Tolkien's story, Grond is named after the mace of the dark lord Morgoth, the same name later given to Sauron's forces for the ram that breaks the gate of Minas Tirith.
02The ram is built with a wolf head at its front in Peter Jackson's Return of the King, a detail this LEGO model is built specifically to recreate.
03Grond arrives as part of LEGO's ongoing expansion of Lord of the Rings sets under the Icons theme, joining the larger architectural style builds from the same line.