It’s the worst-kept secret in the entire LEGO Summer 2013 sets lineup, and now it finally stands fully revealed for the world to see: it’s the set that put the “Two” in “The Two Towers”, the stronghold of the wizard Saruman, and one of the larget LEGO sets I can remember–it’s the long-rumored LEGO Lord of the Rings Tower of Orthanc 10237 set, and it’s coming our way in just a few short months…

We’d be hearing rumors about LEGO releasing an enormous LEGO The Lord of the Rings Tower of Orthanc set over and over again all winter, so when LEGO made the official reveal of the set today, it was hard to feign surprise.The immense LEGO Orthanc Tower is comprised of 2,359 LEGO bricks and will stand over 28 inches–or two feet–tall. That means it’s going to be larger than many of the kids that build the set! Crazy!

The Tower of Orthanc plays a central role throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and is prevalent in all three movies (though only seen in the Return of the King Extended Edition). This particular set combined elements from all three movies. I love that the Saruman minifigure has a little balcony to look down from as his empire goes up in flames!

Gandalf can be perched high atop the LEGO Tower of Orthanc 10237, where he can wait to be rescued by the LEGO Grand Eagle figure included, just like in the movie “Fellowship of the Ring”.

10237 LEGO Lord of the Rings The Tower of Orthanc has a very detailed interior full of weapons and traps, as well as the chamber where the wizard battle between the Saruman and Gandalf minifigures can occur. And yes, that is a light-up Palantir LEGO brick included. Thank you, LEGO! If you’re planning to purchase the 2013 LEGO The Tower of Orthanc set this summer, it renders it totally meaningless to purchase the LEGO LOTR The Wizard Battle 79005 set also coming out at the same time.

I am a bit disappointed in the slim number of minifigures included in this set. Five minifigures isn’t a lot to include with a $200 set, especially when two of the five minifigures are also available in a $12 set at the same time! Methinks releasing the LEGO Wizard Battle set with Gandalf and Saruman minifigures as well this summer may have been a mistake. The only true exclusive minifigure included with this set is thr Grima Wormtongue minifigure, a character that I have a strange affection for (despite him being totally gross). Of course, there is one other exclusive character (of a sort)…

It’s the first-ever LEGO Ent, Treebeard! While it hasn’t been officially stated that this is a LEGO Treebeard, it certainly matches up to how I recall Treebeard looking in the LEGO Lord of the Rings video game. I’m not exactly enamored with having to buy a $200 set to get Treebeard, but man, I sure do want a LEGO Ent! This LEGO Treebeard the Ent figure stands 9″ tall and looks awesome–I may like him even more than the LEGO Lord of the Rings Tower of Orthanc itself! I’m totally baffled as to why the hard-to-find Merry and Pippin minifigures aren’t included with the LEGO Tower of Orthanc, however.

There’s even an area within Orthanc for the exclusive Wormtongue minifigure to help the Uruk-Hai minifigure prepare the bomb that will be used to blow the Uruk-Hai army’s way into Helm’s Deep! LEGO has really thought of everything for this set.

The LEGO Lord of the Rings Tower of Orthanc set will be available exclusively from the LEGO Store and the online LEGO Store starting in July 2013. It comes with a hefty $199.99 price-tag, so you may want to start saving your pennies for this massive LEGO LOTR set now!