The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring corrections

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - 139 corrections

Directed by Peter Jackson, starring Billy Boyd, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Dominic Monaghan, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, John Rhys-Davies, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "make changes" when viewing mistakes, and click "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.

After Frodo pulls the ring off for the last time, he falls off the stone ruins, and lands on his back. He then immediately jumps up, having no reaction to his fall. It seems like after falling a distance of about six feet and landing flat on his back, he'd need a minute to recover from the wind being knocked out of him, or hitting his head. [He's a bit hesitant getting up, and panting, plus we've been told many times that Hobbits are sturdy creatures].

There are two parts in the film where Sam refers to what "Gandalf told him". When he first tells him (in the cornfield) he says "Don't you lose him Samwise Gamgee", but at the ending (right after Frodo saves Sam from drowning) he says, "Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee." [How is this a "mistake"? Sam could have remembered what Gandalf told him two different ways; memory is a very subjective thing. Or he could have chosen to use the word "leave" rather than "lose" the second time because it had more impact. Or he could have decided that even though Gandalf had said "lose", what he truly meant was "leave". There are a dozen other plausible reasons for this.]

In the movie, Bilbo's book is called "There and Back Again - a Hobbit's Tale," but in the book "The Hobbit," it's "There and Back Again - A Hobbit Holiday." Maybe Peter Jackson thought audiences would misinterpret Bilbo's British use of the word "holiday"? [At the end of 'The Hobbit', when Bilbo is writing his memoirs, certainly it is stated that 'he THOUGHT [my emphasis] of calling them 'There and Back Again, a Hobbit's Holiday' ' - however by the end of the 'The Lord of the Rings' this has changed significantly. When Frodo has finished writing his part of the tale, he hands the book on to Sam for completion (last chapter, 'The Return of the King'), and Sam sees that 'the title page had many titles on it, crossed out one after another, so: My Diary. My Unexpected Journey. There and Back Again. And What Happened After. Adventures of Five Hobbits. The Tale of the Great Ring, compiled by Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends. What we did in the War of the Ring. Here Bilbo's hand ended and Frodo had written: The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings and the Return of the King. We can hardly blame the film-makers for avoiding all that and just keeping it simple!]

In the scene where Arwen first appears she has her hair loose. She talks to Frodo in elvish and you see a close up of his face, then the camera goes back to her and her hair is all in little plaits. [Arwen's whole appearance changes in this scene - hairstyle, clothing etc. At first (as she is seen from Frodo's POV) her true appearance as an Elf is revealed - white, shining, perfect - and then it changes to show her in her riding clothes, looking more normal. The book refers to this happening with Elves on a number of occasions - and once or twice even with Aragorn.]

In the scene where Sam is chasing Frodo into the river, there is a shot of Sam sinking in slow motion. However, you can see that the water surrounding him is murky with sand. That proves that his feet are touching and kicking the bottom. [Some people have said that as the scene was shot on a dry soundstage it's not a valid mistake, but that doesn't change anything - they should have used clear water when adding the effects later. EXCEPT other people have pointed out that he could easily be kicking the bottom and still drowning - he can't swim, and is loaded with heavy equipment to boot.]

When Frodo is getting dragged away by the cave troll, he cries out "Aragorn! Aragorn!" but his lips don't move. [You can see Frodo's lips move if you look carefully. They just don't move that much. You can see it more the second time he says Aragorn.]

In the scene where Boromir is giving sword-fighting lessons to Pippin and Merry, someone throws Aragorn an orange, which he catches in his hand (and subsequently drops), but, considering the direction from which the orange was thrown, none of the other characters can have thrown it. [Merry could throw an orange to Aragorn in that time. He is not visible, because he's behind Frodo, so you can see him right after, when he is looking at Aragorn.]

After Frodo and Sam encounter Merry and Pippin in the farmer's crop, they roll down a hill. At the bottom, Pippin almost gets a face full of animal dung, and there is a close up of him close to it and he says 'That was close' so you know it was there. The hobbits get up to gather mushrooms, and the huge pile of dung has disappeared. [The pile is hidden from view by vegetation when seen from the angle that the next shot uses.]

When Lurtz is thrown on the ground by Aragorn before shooting Boromir with a point-blank arrow, he holds his bow. Nevertheless, after getting back up in a split second, he holds both his broad-bladed sword and his shield. [He rolls away when Aragorn tackles him and picks up the sword and shield of a fallen Uruk beside him.]

When Bilbo Baggins is leaving Bag End after his birthday party, he picks ups his backpack. The shot shows that his backpack is a black leather hiking type. However, when he's at the door, the backpack is fabric, and much thinner. [As he picks up the bag, view it in slow mo to get a better grip on what you are seeing. As he picks it up, the underside of the bag is made of a leathery black material. However, as he flips it over, only the TOP is made of the other type of material.]

The doorknob to Bilbo's Hobbit hole is in the center, as mentioned in the books. However, the interior doorknob is at the side of the door, in the normal place. [The door - among other things - was made to function correctly, so that it would open and shut normally. While it is unusual to have the two doorknobs in different places, the latches still work - so this is not a mistake.]

As the orcs pursue the fellowship through the large hall in Moria, the camera's position sweeps to the right and we see orcs popping up from the floor in the foreground and giving chase. The view is cut by a pillar, and when it returns those orcs have vanished. [The camera is tracking along in this shot and the original orcs go off screen.] Corrected by STP

When Gimli is going on about finding their way to Mordor through Emin Muil, you can see Sam sleeping in the background with both hands wrapped around his sword. In the next shot when you see Sam, the sword is by his side, and only one hand is even near it. [This is not a "mistake". Watch Sam exclusively during this scene. At first he is lying quietly against the rock. A moment later, he shifts about briefly to adjust the sword, presumably to get more comfortable. Shortly after that, he lies back again into stillness with the sword in a slightly different position.]

This is in the extended version only. When the hobbits are in the bar in Hobbiton, and Merry and Pippin are on the table singing, Frodo is skipping around the table singing too, with four mugs of ale in his hands. However, as he skips around, you can see that the mugs are in fact empty, yet he then puts them down in front of some other hobbits, and they have something in them. [When Frodo is running around the table singing and carrying the mugs look in his right hand, he is holding 3 mugs making the total 5 just like it should be]

When Legolas arrives in Rivendell, you see him dismount his horse and turn to view the area. Right after he jumps off you see he is just behind his horse's front leg. After the shot changes, he is a couple feet forward from his last position. [This scene is not supposed to be in real time – there's simply wide shots, showing Boromir, Gimli and Legolas arriving, then a close-up of Legolas’ face, showing his joy at being in Rivendell at last.]

When Saruman is summoning an avalanche on Carhadras a bandage can be seen on his left middle finger. [This isn't really a mistake - although it was a real bandage from an injury (it is mentioned in the commentary on the extended DVD) it isn't anachronistic in any way.]

Towards the end of the fight in Moria, the cave troll slams Pippin on his back, but in the very next shot (look at the bottom center), Pippin is standing up as if nothing happened. [There is enough time when Pippin is off-screen for him to jump to his feet again. He'd have to do it quickly - but I think the possibility of an enormous cave troll squashing you as you lay there would be motivation enough.] Corrected by STP

At Bilbo's birthday party, he is wearing a red jacket with a green collar. He then disappears. When he re-appears, he still has it on. When he grabs the walking stick, it has turned all green. [This scene is not in real time - some time has elapsed between seeing Bilbo come into Bag End and take off the ring, and this next shot of him gathering items and packing to leave. He already has a bag out and things are stacked around it ready to pack - he has also changed his party jacket for his travelling one.] Corrected by STP

Look closely just after Boromir is shot a third time with an arrow. The Horn of Gondor has split neatly down the middle and the two halves are held together with an inner hinge of duct tape. [Absolutely false. The Horn of Gondor is broken in two halves near the end of the horn, where there´s a wide band of golden metallic ornament. The two halves stay together by this metallic ornament.]

When the Fellowship crosses a mountain ridge, just before Frodo falls in the snow and loses the ring, there is an aerial shot - where's Bill, the pony, in that shot? [He's there – just a little difficult to see. Look in the middle of the party – if you look carefully (and freeze-frame doesn’t hurt!) you can see him in both the aerial shots and the ones from Aragorn's / Frodo's POV, ie. the bottom of the slope.]