Continuity mistake: When Deagol comes out of the water, the shot opens as he is submerged in water below his arms. As he crawls up there is quite an obvious difference in wetness of the overalls that were submerged for the take and the area above it, including the overall straps. Also, as Smeagol goes after the Ring, there's a close-up of Deagol's backside and there are patches on Deagol's pants that are completely dry. Then Smeagol begins to choke Deagol and as he goes down to the ground, his backside is completely wet again. (00:01:55 - 00:03:15)
Continuity mistake: Deagol stands up on shore, raises up his right fist and in the wide shot there are blades of grass on his fingers. In the next close-ups while there are no grass blades, the tips of his fingers are visibly much cleaner than in the next wide shot as Deagol stares at the Ring in his palm with extremely muddy fingers. Yet in the next close-up of Deagol's fingers closing over the Ring, after Smeagol says, "Give us that, Deagol, my love," the fingers look the same as in the previous close-up. (00:02:00)
Continuity mistake: When Deagol first finds the ring and is cleaning it off, the fingertips of his left hand become wet with mud. Seconds later, when he and Smeagol are grappling, those same fingertips drag across Smeagol's face-yet it is not even smudged. (00:02:30)
Continuity mistake: After Smeagol kills Deagol, Smeagol opens up Deagol's fist to claim the Ring. In the first shot, Smeagol leans over Deagol, then Smeagol's right hand holds Deagol's wrist and Smeagol's left hand opens Deagol's fingers. Yet in the close-up, now Smeagol's left hand hold's Deagol's wrist and Smeagol's right hand opens Deagol's fingers to reveal the Ring. (00:04:20)
Continuity mistake: Smeagol walks into the cave as his voice-over says, "They called us murderer." He coughs, and "gollum, gollum" comes out. In the 1st wide shot as he's clutching himself, Smeagol's fingernails are very thick, long and stubby. In the 2nd, a close-up of his hand, it reveals the Ring in his palm and his fingernails are perfectly normal and flat with dirt underneath. In the 3rd, a wide shot, his hand is open and the fingernails are very thick, long and stubby again. The 1st and 3rd shots are one sequence that was split to add the close-up in the middle. (00:04:50)
Continuity mistake: When Frodo and Sam wake up in the culvert, the area of ground just outside of it in the interior shot looking out differs from the exterior shot as Sam stands at the opening. (00:06:15 - 00:07:25)
Continuity mistake: As Gandalf et al. ride toward Isengard, Merry stands up on the stone wall and to his right the sword is leaning upright against the stone. In the second shot of Merry and Pippin, the sword is leaning down, over to the left. Then in the third shot of them, the sword is upright again. (00:10:00)
Continuity mistake: When Eowyn and Merry are talking while they are resting on the ride to Gondor, Eowyn's hair goes from tucked into her shirt to a few pieces untucked and then back to all her hair tucked in. (Extended Edition). (00:10:30)
Continuity mistake: At Orthanc before Gandalf and company confront Saruman, Treebeard is standing right in front of them and some Ents are in the background, but in the subsequent shots of the group on the ground and from above Orthanc, Treebeard and the other Ents are no where to be seen. After Saruman dies and Pippin finds the Palantir, Treebeard is back again. (Extended Edition) (00:11:00 - 00:14:20)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf, Theoden, et al arrive at Orthanc, they stop when they're greeted by Treebeard and then are confronted with Saruman. The positions of the huge spiked wheel in front of Orthanc, Treebeard, the riders, etc., from the time they ride in, as well as the amount or even existence of debris in the water, changes drastically in consecutive close-ups, overhead and wide shots. (Extended Edition) (00:11:20)
Continuity mistake: When Pippin takes the palantir out of the water and Gandalf takes it from him, in several consecutive shots of Pippin, the burnt bark in the water changes to sticks, then back to bark again. (00:11:30)
Continuity mistake: At Isengard, when Pippin recovers the palantir, in two shots it's large enough to fill both of his hands, so that he has to spread all of his fingers to hold it. In the next shot of Pippin and Gandalf, Pippin raises one hand holding the palantir and Gandalf quickly takes it. In this particular shot, as Pippin hands the palantir to Gandalf with one hand, the circumference of the palantir is noticeably much smaller (while still in Pippin's grasp), than it was in the previous shots. (00:11:30)
Continuity mistake: At Isengard, Pippin reaches for the palantir in the water. In the first shot underwater, he clutches the palantir tightly with both hands and the lines in the palantir are vertical. In the next consecutive shot as he brings it up out of the water, still clutching it tightly, the lines are now horizontal in the Palantir. He did not shift the seeing-stone in his tight grip, it was just simply shot at different times. (These palantir's lines permanently encompass the circumference of the surface of the sphere, they do not change.) (00:11:35)
Continuity mistake: As Gollum says, "Too risky. Too risky. Thieves... Musn't wake them," in the two close-ups Frodo and Sam sleep with their backs against a wide rock wall and a single tree between them near Sam's head. However, when Gollum says, "Musn't ruin it now..." and after Sam yells, "You treacherous little toad!" in the next close-up and wide shot of the area, it is very different than in the first two shots. (00:15:10 - 00:17:45)
Continuity mistake: Legolas sends an arrow directly to Grima atop Orthanc, and as Grima starts to fall back the arrow is quite visibly well below the coat's fur. However, when Grima actually hits the ground, the arrow is now higher up, protruding from the fur. (Extended Edition.) (00:16:35)
Continuity mistake: After Pippin retrieves the Palantir, in the close-up facing him, he stands directly in front of the center of the spokes at the wheel's hub, as he hands the Palantir to Gandalf. However in the next shot as Gandalf takes hold of the Palantir, they are quite far from the wheel. Next shot Pippin stands close again. (Extended Edition) (00:17:55)
Continuity mistake: Before Merry asks, "What are you doing?" in this wide shot Pippin heads towards Gandalf and walks in the very narrow area between the center cots and the cots against the walls. Yet, when Aragorn walks in and also in the close-up as the palantir rolls out of Aragorn's hand, the area between the cots has significantly widened from the original width, note the floor pattern, for the obvious dramatic shot! (00:19:40 - 00:21:25)
Continuity mistake: When Pippin gets up from his cot in the corner, in the wide shot the fur rugs between his and Merry's cot are two light browns and a black in between and there is a black rug in front of Gimli's cot. Yet when Aragorn comes in and takes hold of the palantir, in this shot the black fur rug at the foot of Pip's cot is gone. In the next shot the black rug in front of Gimli's cot is gone and the rug that the palantir rolls onto when out of Aragorn's grasp now faces the opposite way than when Pippin first awoke and walked toward Gandalf. (00:19:40)
Continuity mistake: At Edoras, Aragorn's sword leans against the wall, significantly lower than the circular carving above it, as Pippin walks toward Gandalf. However, when Merry asks, "What are you mad?" the hilt now reaches near the top of the circular pattern. Then when Gandalf grabs the blanket to cover the palantir, the sword's height is the same as in the first shot. (00:19:45)
Continuity mistake: When Pippin steals the palantir, Gandalf's right hand grasps the sword below the hilt's cross-guard in all of the close-ups. However, in the wide shots Gandalf's hand grasps the grip of the sword above the hilt's cross-guard. The bed sheets differ between the shots as well. (00:20:00)
Answer: There are only five wizards. Saruman and Gandalf are heavily involved, as we see. Radagast, while not mentioned in the film, has a particular affinity with the birds and animals - it is he who sends the Eagles to the last battle, and to rescue Gandalf from Isengard. The final two, Alatar and Pallando, known as the Blue Wizards, went into the far eastern regions of Middle-Earth and never returned. Tolkien felt that they would ultimately have fallen from grace, much as Saruman did.
Tailkinker ★