Revealing: In the final shot of Gandalf and the Balrog's plunge into the underground lake, a seemingly solid rock in the top-right hand corner disappears for a moment, leaving a black void.

Factual error: At the very end of the film, where Sam, Frodo and Gollum are approaching Mordor after leaving Osgiliath, it pans up over the mountains to reveal Orodruin (Mt. Doom) in the foreground to the right and Barad-Dur in the background to the left. According to Tolkien's maps, as seen in the prologue to the Fellowship of the Ring, if they were approaching Minas Morgul from Osgiliath, Orodruin would be to the left and Barad-Dur to the right.

Continuity: At Osgiliath, when Frodo turns to face Faramir, just before Faramir kneels in front of the Hobbits, the Ring and chain hang outside Frodo's shirt. Yet just before Faramir says, "Then it is forfeit," the Ring is tucked inside Frodo's shirt.

Revealing: Just as Theoden yells, "They have broken through, the castle is breached." Legolas is first seen on the exterior wall pulling the string of his bow with NO arrow in his hand twice, but the other times he pulls the string on the bow we do see the arrow before reaching the bridge. Also, after he crosses the bridge, before he gets to the stairs, when he reaches behind him for an arrow the arrow is on his back, not in the quiver, it's just simply on his back. (Do slo-mo or frame by frame if necessary).

Deliberate "mistake": During the Warg attack, Aragorn is being dragged by the Warg and is heading for the cliff. In the very last wide shot of Aragorn, from behind his head, we see the hillside and riders behind the Warg, where they just came from. Next, we see a couple of shots of Gimli finishing off a Warg. In the next wide shot, the hillside including riders and bodies is the same one as earlier, only it's been flipped.

Continuity: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Theoden and others are in the Keep after the walls have been breached, while Aragorn is talking to Theoden about riding out together and the like, Legolas and Gimli are tipping tables up and putting them against the door. However, in one shot when Aragorn is asking about a passage to get the women and children out look behind him, Legolas and Gimli are standing with their weapons drawn, then in the next shot they're back to tipping tables up.

Continuity: After the shot of Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli riding towards Edoras, there's a close-up of Theodred. In this shot there is a red pillow next to Theodred's face on his right. In the wide shot behind Éowyn, there is no red pillow to the right of his face. Though there is in this shot a white pillow corner leaning on the headboard, that is not in the previous front wide shot. The fur cover at the foot of the bed lies differently in the front and back wide shots too.

Revealing: After Haldir dies, Aragorn jumps onto the only ladder resting against the steps 'inside' the Deeping Wall. Hanging onto the ladder, he then falls on top of the Uruk-hai down below. The ladder is now lying on the ground perpendicular to the steps of the wall. However, when Aragorn runs up the stone steps on the side of the Keep, in the aerial CG shot of the wall below, the ladder is not lying on the ground where it should be, under the scurrying feet of the Uruk-hai.

Continuity: As this scene opens with an Uruk's body being dropped to the ground, the camera pans out to show Legolas and behind Gimli to his left, is a large rock. In the view from the front, now there is a dead Uruk sitting up against the same rock, where there was none before. He's dead, so he didn't move there between shots. Extended DVD.

Continuity: At the beginning of the scene, Sam is cooking the rabbits. Behind Gollum, Frodo's coat and pack lay on the left side of the overturned stone carving. In the following close-up, when Frodo goes over to his pack to take out plates and spoons, his coat is now on the right of the overturned carving. In the next wide shot, it's on the left again.

Deliberate "mistake": When Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas stand and then enter Fangorn, there are multiple shots that are flipped and then not, back and forth. For example, when they get ready to fight the White Wizard, the shots are flipped. The quivers and brooches of Aragorn and Legolas, are the wrong way.

Continuity: In the shot where you see Gandalf, Eomer and the Rohirrim riders appearing in the East, you can see that the Uruk-hai's shadow is pointing towards Gandalf, i.e. towards the direction the sun is supposedly coming from.(From the viewpoint of Gandalf and Rohirrim, as they ride down the hill towards the Uruk-hai.)

Continuity: After Legolas yells, "A scout!" Aragorn runs back towards the Rohirrim to warn them. In the first shot, he's running down the hill, straight ahead of him, is Theoden on his horse, Éowyn leading two horses on foot and people to her left. In the next shot, Éowyn's two horses are pointed to her right, there aren't any people to her left, and now standing between Theoden and Éowyn is Gimli with Arod.

Continuity: During Theodred's funeral, as the bearers of the body lower Theodred off their shoulders, there's a close-up of the soles of Theodred's shoes. As Éowyn starts singing, the body's being passed towards the tomb. There's now another close-up of the soles of Theodred's shoes. The marks on the soles, of the right shoe in particular, are quite different in both shots. The helmet doesn't block the view of the soles on the shoes in either shot.

Revealing: When the Uruk-hai are running through the rock canyon while carrying the Hobbits, the Uruk with the painted white hand on his face holds up his right fist. In the theatrical release and regular DVD, a second Uruk then asks of the painted one, "What is it, what do you smell?" and he answers, "Manflesh." The very next shot is of Pippin saying, "Aragorn," followed immediately by the second Uruk saying, "They've picked up our trail." The Uruk who should have the painted hand on his face no longer does. He gives a low growl, then all the Uruk-hai run again. However, in the extended DVD, same scene, when the painted Uruk holds his fist up, it cuts to the Orcs hiding behind the rock, and the very next shot is of those two Uruks, and just like in the regular DVD, the Uruk who is supposed to have the painted hand on his face, does not. It is that Uruk who later in the scene says, "Manflesh," and unlike the regular DVD, without the painted hand on his face. Side note: It may be a different Uruk standing next to the 'second Uruk', in the questionable shots and that's why he doesn't have a painted face, but either way, it's still a mistake between shots.

Revealing: In the shot where the Rohan refugees are heading into Helm's Deep, the scale of the shot is wrong. On the right side of the screen, the refugees walk up the ramp into the gatehouse and on the left side of the screen, the Deeping Wall extends, with figures moving along the wall. The Deeping wall should be about even with ramp up to the Keep, if not a little bit forward, which means the figures along the wall should be at least the same size as the figures walking up the ramp. However, the figures along the wall, are much smaller, as if the Deeping Wall was pushed back further than the ramp. The right side shot was filmed as live action and the left side shot was filmed using the miniature of Helm's Deep and then the shots were merged together.

Continuity: During the scene when Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are in the Dead Marshes, Gollum begins saying, "Once it takes hold of us..." Gollum moves closer to Frodo as he reaches for the Ring, and then Frodo slaps his hand away as he says, "Don't touch me." You can tell that Gollum was very close to Frodo, however, in the next shot, after Frodo bats him away, Gollum is much farther away than he could possibly be.

Deliberate "mistake": First there's a shot of Saruman as he communicates with Sauron using the palantir, then a shot of Barad-dur. Next we see the Orcs at Orthanc pulling down trees and a shot of a tree falling into the cavern below. In FotR, just after Gandalf catches the moth atop Orthanc, we see a shot of a tree falling into the cavern down below. These are the exact same shot, only it's been flipped in this movie.

Continuity: When Gollum is trying to catch the fish in the rocky bed of water, in the wide shot, Frodo and Sam are walking in the background. The background seen behind Sam and Frodo in that wide shot, is very different to the background in the very next shot, seen behind Frodo and Sam, when Sam says, "Hey stinker," and in the rest of the shots in this scene. The column in the wide shot is the same column seen behind Sam, when he says, "Because. Because that's what he is Mr. Frodo." There are three distinctly different columns shown in the close-ups!

Continuity: While looking at the Haradrim, in this first front shot Frodo says, "We've got to get moving. Come on, Sam," Frodo starts to back away and rise. Sam grabs his hand and pulls him, saying, "Mr Frodo," and Frodo's position is farther behind Sam. In the next back shot Sam and Frodo are lying evenly, side by side. Then in the next front shot as Sam says, "It's an Oliphaunt," Frodo's position is behind Sam and he is crouched higher than him too.