The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - 261 mistakes

Continuity: In Rivendell, when Bilbo gives Frodo Sting, as he's unwrapping the sword from the cloth, in the close-up he spreads the cloth out flat on the bench in front of the bed. In the next shots, as he shows and then gives Sting, the cloth is wrinkled up on the bench. (Time appropriate for second disc.)

Continuity: During the Prologue, after Sauron has swept some of the men away with his mace, Elendil (Isildur's father), brings up his courage and charges towards Sauron. Sauron quickly hits him with the mace and sends him flying towards the wall. His helmet is still on his head, although one side of it is drastically bent from the impact. Then, with a horrified look on his face, Isildur rushes up to his crushed father. When Isildur holds his father's head in his hands, Elendil's helmet is on his left. Isildur wouldn't have had time to take it off himself as the camera follows his moves and shows him falling to his knees before his father's still form.

Continuity: During the prologue, after Sauron strikes Elendil, we see Narsil falling right at the corner of a dirtless, sandless smooth rockface and the sword has only some blood stains on it. When Isildur grabs Narsil, it is now in the middle of dirty, sandy rock, and the sword has dirt all over it now.

Continuity: During the prologue, in the close-up shot of Isildur coming and kneeling at his father's side, we see he removes his own helmet and lays it down above Elendil's head. Elendil's own helmet is lying to the left of his head. In the wide shot from above, there is now a helmet above Elendil's head and a helmet between Elendil and Isildur. There is no helmet to the left of Elendil's head.

Continuity: During the prologue, when Sauron steps on Narsil, in the close-up shot of Isildur lifting the broken sword from below Sauron's foot, there are small stones around Narsil. In the shot just before, when Isildur reaches for Narsil, the sword has no small stones around it.

Continuity: During the scene when Isildur cuts the Ring from Sauron's hand, it is obvious that he is against a pretty tall rock wall. But, when we see an overhead shot of the Dark Lord exploding, there is no rock wall. Notice how there are soldiers all around the explosion.

Continuity: During the prologue, after Isildur cuts off Sauron's fingers, in the first side shot, Isildur, who is lying on the ground looks to his left at the Ring on the finger near him. His hair is on his face and nose. Then, in the very next front shot, *before* the wind gust from Sauron, he is still lying down and there is no hair on his face.

Revealing: During the prologue, in the first shot of Sauron's dismembered finger with the Ring on the ground next to Isildur, the bottom of the letters are facing the remaining finger. It is the line, "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them." In the next close-up of the dismembered finger, when Isildur picks it up, the Ring is now on the finger upside down from the previous shot, with the bottom of the letters facing the cut side of the finger. The words, "One Ring to find them," can be seen in this shot.

Continuity: During the prologue when Isildur and his men are riding through the woods, you see Isildur ride alone in front. Then the orcs attack, and when you see the orc jump at Isildur you can see a flag beside Isildur, meaning he is carrying it or someone beside him does. We previously saw him riding alone in front and when it cuts from the shot beneath Isildur we see the flag is gone and that there is no one beside him that is carrying the flag.

Continuity: When Legolas jumps up on a rock to look at the approaching flock of birds, you can distinctively see his breath showing. But at no other time do you see his, or anyone else's breath showing in the scene. (It occured to me that this might be smoke, but he doesn't have a pipe.)

Continuity: After spotting the Crebain from Dunland, the Fellowship try to hide. Just after Frodo and Aragorn hide under some boulders, there is an aerial shot of the area. Frodo, holding the green cloak, can be seen ducking behind the tall boulder on the left, even though he's shown already hiding in the previous shot.

Continuity: The Fellowship hide when they spot Crebain from Dunland. In the wide shot when Aragorn picks up his stuff, Frodo runs and lying on the ground under the rocks in front of him are blankets, coats, etc. Then in the next close-up under the rock, the position of those things lying on the ground is different just before Frodo dives onto them to hide.

Revealing: When Frodo stops rolling down the snow covered hill, just before the shot of Boromir picking up the Ring, you can see the edge of the stockings that the actors wore to protect their feet since they were walking in real snow for that scene.

Continuity: Just after Frodo has fallen down in the snow and loses the Ring, in the long shot (with the Ring in the foreground), Frodo's left hand is higher than his right. In the close-up, immediately afterward, his right hand is higher.

Continuity: In the opening shot of Bag End, as Bilbo says, "The Third Age of this world," we see the halls outside of Bilbo's study as Bilbo writes. There is a dresser with books on it, books lying near the coat tree, stacks of books and papers all over the floor and against the walls. Later, just before Bilbo says, "Frodo, someone at the door," and then when Bilbo searches for the Ring in the hall, in all three of these shots, the arrangement or even existence of quite a few of those books and papers is different. This has nothing to do with his search of the Ring.

Continuity: When Bilbo is writing at his desk, in the first far shot, the book stand to his right has an assortment of papers on it. In the shot from behind, when he starts to say, "Concerning Hobbits," the papers on that book stand are arranged differently. In the shot after another Hobbit picks his ear, Bilbo stretches at his desk and the papers on the stand are arranged differently again. Later still, when he says, "Sticklebacks, where is that boy?" in this shot, the papers revert to the way they were in the other previous close-up shot from behind. In the next shot from behind too, the papers are arranged the same way as in the first far shot.

Continuity: As Bilbo is writing, in the close-up shot of Bilbo dipping his quill into the ink well the arrangement of the ink well, other bottles and various items on the shelf differs from the next close-up shot when he stretches at his desk and calls out, "Frodo, someone at the door!"

Revealing: In the first close-up shot of Bilbo writing the words "Concerning Hobbits" in his book, the formation of the letters in the words "Concerning Hobbits" are written differently in this close-up than it is in the next close-up, when it shows he has finished nine lines on the page.

Revealing: While Bilbo stretches at his desk and calls out "Frodo, someone at the door" the words on the page in his book can be seen. The last line written is these four words "among the very wise." Yet in the next close-up shot of Bilbo writing again, the last line on the page is these five words: "counted among the very wise." They are different variations of the same page in Bilbo's book used in these two shots.

Continuity: Just before the scene changes to Saruman on top of Orthanc, the shot zooms out from the Fellowship attempting to climb Caradhras. Legolas (recognizable as, being an Elf, he is standing on top of the snow) is to Gandalf's left. When the scene resumes he has moved back some distance to Gandalf's right, closer to the rest of the Fellowship. The camera pans upwards as the avalanche falls and as we follow its descent, Legolas runs out from Gandalf's left to pull him clear. Even for an Elf that's a lot of quick, (and unnecessary), movement.