Middle-earth has been on my mind more than usual lately. The final film in The Hobbit trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies, was released in theaters recently, and I crossed an important J.R.R. Tolkien milestone in 2014 by reading The Silmarillion for the first time. The world is so rich that even decades after their publish dates, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings stories are still inspiring fans. I imagine they’ll continue to do so decades from now.

One fan known as Disco86 shows his passion for the work of Tolkien with LEGO bricks. This colorful interpretation of the barrel escape scene from The Desolation of Smaug is an example of the dioramas he creates with LEGO pieces.

Sure, LEGO sells officially licensed sets based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but Disco86’s designs are more elaborate. He doesn’t have to worry about packaging and price points. He’s crafted sets inspired by the White Tree of Gondor, the city of Dale, the council of Elrond, and more. He includes plenty of details, but I’m especially taken with how he makes LEGO studs look like water. He really nails the tone of each scene he builds, and I’d be just as happy to explore his take on Middle-earth as I would the real thing.

You’ll want to flip through this gallery to see what I’m talking about:

See more of Disco86’s work at Flickr.

Which of these Middle-earth scenes would you like to move into? Let us know in the comments.