Many of the Wild Men in the film were portrayed by actual groups of bikers, motorcycling around New Zealand at the time. Commentary, extended DVD. Submitted by Rikki

Elijah Wood's (Frodo) sister Hannah, is in the film. She's the lone, blonde, lost-looking girl, clutching her shawl with her left hand, at the beginning of the shot in the Glittering Caves, at Helm's Deep when the women and children go in. She is also on the stairs for Theoden's return.

Many of the major shots depicted in the movie are duplicates of Alan Lee's illustrations, in the LotR books, that had been published years before. In many shots, the actors were positioned in the same poses, as the drawings in the books. One example is, when Frodo pulls Gollum's head back and holds Sting up to his throat. Submitted by Rikki

When Sam's cooking the rabbit stew, Sam says, "lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish", and Gollum spits. Andy Serkis is very proud that something of his is on screen, because it is his spit we see, not a CGI like the rest of Gollum's body. Appendices of extended DVD. Submitted by Rikki

While filming the scene where Aragorn is floating unconscious down the river, Viggo Mortensen almost drowned because the rapids were worse than expected.

Viggo Mortensen was so impressed with the horse his character Aragorn was riding in the movies, that he bought it from its owner. It had to be flown back to New Zealand for reshoots. While filming, he would sometimes sleep in the stable with the horse, to earn its trust. Trust was particularly important for the scene when the horse kneels and lays near him at the river.

Actor Orlando Bloom originally auditioned for the role of Faramir, but was turned down and later asked by director Peter Jackson and co. if he would like the role of Legolas.

Many scenes in this movie, such as the gates of Mordor, Helm's Deep, and Orthanc, as well as in the Fellowship of the Ring, closely resemble the actual artwork of Alan Lee, the artist who did watercolor illustrations for the anniversary edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's book in the early 1990's. He has been involved in the concept making process of the films.

In the battle for Helms Deep, a man falls and the famous "Wilhelm" scream is heard as he falls. This is a signature sound effect, recorded in 1951 at Warner Bros., used as frequently as possible by sound supervisors at George Lucas's Skywalker Sound and Weddington Productions in Los Angeles, CA. On the "Rings" trilogy, two of the re-recording mixers and at least one of the sound effect designers work for Skywalker.

In Helm's Deep, when women and children retreat to the caves, look closely at the children. They're the same actors as the Hobbit children listening to Bilbo's story of the trolls at his birthday party in "Fellowship" and they're in RotK as well. They're the children of director Peter Jackson and writer Fran Walsh.

12 million metal links were used to create the chain mail armor worn by the movie's heroes.

Around the start of the movie when it shows Saruman, one of the Orcs behind him that is pulling on a piece of rope is actually Paul Homes, a news presenter from New Zealand.

It took seven months to build the Helm's Deep set on location.

200 Orc masks were handmade for the movie's enemies.

In one of the first wide shots of Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn tracking the Uruks, all three actors are running injured. Viggo had broken his toes doing a previous scene, Orlando Bloom had a cracked rib from falling off a horse and the scale double of John Rhys-Davies had a knee problem.

There is a clear parallel to a scene in 'The Wizard of Oz.' In the scene where Frodo, Sam, and Gollum reach the Black Gate of Mordor, they peer over the edge of the mountain at the army marching below. The gate swings open, and the army enters. I couldn't help but be reminded of when Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man reach the Witch's castle and watch the columns of her soldiers march into the fort.

Haleth, son of Hama, is played by Calum, son of Philippa Boyens. When it was time to do the ADR for the movie, Calum's voice was much deeper by then, so another young boy's voice was dubbed to say these powerful lines, "...The men are saying we will not live out the night. They say that it is hopeless." Director's commentary, extended DVD. Submitted by Rikki

The map that Faramir is looking at after he has captured Frodo and Sam is actually the map used in the books. It was drawn by Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien's son.

You may notice that in every shot of the Hobbits, they are always walking or riding from the left side of the shot to the right. This was done deliberatly to give the impresion that they are journeying towards Mount Doom at all times.

Most of the actors who played the Orcs were actually women.