Take a standard LEGO shark, keep every brick, and you can end up with something that belongs in Middle-earth. That is the idea behind a fan rework that turns an off-the-shelf shark model into a Lord of the Rings Oliphaunt, built to sit alongside the freshly released Minas Tirith set without adding a single extra piece.
Quick answer: The Oliphaunt is built entirely from the parts in an existing LEGO shark set, so you can verify the no-extra-pieces claim by completing the alternate build and ending with zero leftover bricks and none missing.
How the shark-to-Oliphaunt conversion works
The appeal of these builds is the constraint. Rather than ordering custom parts, the builder remaps the shark's existing elements into the body, legs, and tusks of an Oliphaunt, the war elephant ridden by the Haradrim in The Return of the King. Because the parts list never changes, anyone who owns the same shark set can follow along and reach the same result.
This kind of conversion is common in the LEGO community. One builder turned the Toothless set into the Dark Tower of Barad-dûr with no added bricks, and another reshaped the Rivendell set into the ruined city of Osgiliath using only about 30 percent of that set's pieces. The shark-to-Oliphaunt rework follows the same logic, scaled to pair with a specific Lord of the Rings display.
Why the Minas Tirith set makes this pairing work
The timing matters because LEGO recently launched its largest Lord of the Rings set to date, and an Oliphaunt fits the scene. The set recreates the fortified city of Minas Tirith as seen in The Return of the King, complete with the citadel and throne room, plus minifigures of Gandalf, Aragorn, and Faramir. It was produced in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products to mark the 25th anniversary of Peter Jackson's film trilogy.
| Detail | LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith |
|---|---|
| Piece count | 8,278 |
| Price | $649.99 |
| Ranking | Second-most expensive LEGO set, behind the 9,090-piece Titanic |
| Scene | Fortified city of Minas Tirith (The Return of the King) |
| Includes | Citadel, throne room, and Gandalf, Aragorn, and Faramir minifigures |
| LEGO Insiders | On sale from June 1 |
| General release | June 4 |
Other no-extra-pieces Lord of the Rings builds
Middle-earth is a strong fit for these projects because LEGO has only released a small slice of it officially. There have been 19 Lord of the Rings sets so far, excluding polybags, which leaves many locations and creatures open for fans to build themselves. That scarcity is what pushes people toward alternate builds and full custom creations, known as MOCs (My Own Creation).
| Base set / source | Becomes | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shark set | Oliphaunt | No extra pieces; meant to pair with Minas Tirith |
| Toothless ($69.99) | Barad-dûr | No extra pieces; official Barad-dûr set is $459.99 |
| Rivendell | Osgiliath | Uses about 30% of the set's pieces |
| Over 4,000 pieces (MOC) | Battle of Amon-Hen | Includes Uruk-hai, Frodo, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli |
How to recreate one of these builds
Step 1: Get the base set. For the Oliphaunt, that means owning the same LEGO shark set so the parts inventory matches exactly. Any substitution risks leftover or missing bricks.
Step 2: Find instructions. Builders often publish steps on Rebrickable, which lets you follow a custom model brick by brick. For the larger Amon-Hen MOC, the builder said Rebrickable instructions were in progress.
Step 3: Source any missing parts for full MOCs. Alternate builds need nothing extra, but a from-scratch creation usually requires individual bricks, commonly purchased on BrickLink.
Step 4: Plan for minifigures separately. LEGO Lord of the Rings minifigures are not sold on their own, so recreating a scene with official figures means buying existing Lord of the Rings sets that include them, or sourcing the figures through resale listings.
The shark-to-Oliphaunt rework is a low-cost way to add a Middle-earth creature to a display without paying full set prices, and it slots neatly next to the new Minas Tirith centerpiece. With official sets covering only a handful of locations, expect more of these conversions to keep filling the gaps that LEGO has not yet built.