A Knight's Tale

Continuity mistake: On the jousting scene where William loses his helmet, he has a monstrous bruise under his right eye (in the late afternoon). That night at the banquet, there is no trace of the bruise. So far as I know, even a black eye doesn't completely heal that quickly. (00:49:50 - 00:55:25)

Continuity mistake: During the scene when William was learning to dance, Chaucer got punched in the nose... so he put a cloth in it to stop the bleeding. In one brief shot the cloth went from his left nostril to the right, then back again. (00:54:05)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where William is about to fight The Prince, William starts charging towards him. William is already past halfway there when The Prince sets off yet they seem to still make contact in the middle of the stadium. (01:05:20)

Continuity mistake: During the last jousting scene against Adhemar, William has a piece of red string tied around his neck. While he is riding down to knock Adhemar off of the horse, you see the string in one shot, but not in another, then it is back again. (02:04:35)

Continuity mistake: At the end of the film, when Heath Ledger has defeated Rufus Sewell, he is seen with a puncture wound on the upper right side of his chest. In close up the wound is seen to be bleeding through a hole in his jacket but in the next shot it is shown just as a red blob on his jacket with no hole in it. And when the jacket falls open you can see there is no wound underneath. In the next close-up the hole in the jacket is back. (02:01:05)

Continuity mistake: Just prior to when Prince Edward is Knighting William (after William takes a knee), they do a wide shot to show where everyone is, and Chaucer is sitting in front of the stocks directly in the middle. After he is knighted, Chaucer is sitting to the left of Roland (as you face the stocks) and then at the end of the scene, he is back in the middle. (01:54:35)

Continuity mistake: When William first fights Adhemar, Adhemar picks up his lance. Then, he shuts the visor on his helmet with the hand that he held his lance in. The lance miraculously disappeared, then reappears as he rides up to fight William. (00:44:20)

Continuity mistake: When William is in the stocks, the Prince lifts his hood and his henchmen take their swords out of their sheaths and place them on the ground. In the next scene you see the Prince approaching William and one of the henchmen takes out his sword again and place it on the ground again. (01:52:15)

Revealing mistake: In the first cathedral, the Bishop raises his hand before he extends it to Jocelyn and we see the underside of his ring. It is obvious that his ring is a costume ring because it's not closed in the back. This is confirmed on the DVD commentary. (00:23:35)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Sir William (Heath Ledger) is preparing to fight Adhemar (the "bad guy") he is talking to Geoff Chaucer. In the background in the stands, you see a figure in a yellow dress (Jocelyn) talking to a figure in brown clothing (John Thatcher). Jocelyn leans over to speak to John, and then they sit down. In the next shot, when William is told that Jocelyn had arrived, he looks into the stands, where Jocelyn is again standing, leaning over to speak to John. They then sit down again. (02:00:20)

Continuity mistake: Right before William meets the nude Chaucer, he can been seen riding his horse about 5 feet in front of the wagon carrying his equipment. The camera angle changes to a wide view and the wagon is now in front of him. (00:14:30)

MCKD

Revealing mistake: After William Thatcher loses agains Count Adhemar, he wins a gold jouster figure for best "sword on foot". Right after that, he cuts it in two with an axe. You can see that the figure is already cut in two, and that William almost doesn't touch the figure. (00:50:40)

Factual error: In every scene where knights collide on the lyst, you see their lances in one hand and the reins to their horse in the other. When knights jousted, they would drop their reins before impact so that a severe impact would not cause them to jerk the reins or become entangled in them causing more damage to themselves or the horse.

Continuity mistake: When Geoffrey Chaucer is teaching Sir Ulrich how to dance he gets punched in the nose by Wat Falhurst and when he makes a comment about Wat hitting like a girl Wat goes after him and Chaucer backs up with the pole he is holding to his right but when the camera pans back to a wider shot, he's now holding the pole to his left. (00:54:00)

MCKD

Continuity mistake: In the scene where William gets his knighthood, it shows William from the front with his arm up holding Chaucer's hand, as he has just come out of the stocks and is about to kneel, when the shot changes it shows the prince, and William from the back with his arm down, then when the shot changes back 2 William's front, his arm is up holding Chaucer's hand, then when the shot changes back 2 the prince - arm down, and when it changes again back to William - arm is up, just letting go of Chaucer's hand. (01:53:40)

Continuity mistake: Right before the final joust the camera is panning back and forth between Sir William and Count Adhemar. Each time the camera is on Adhemar you see about 4 to 5 flags waving behind him. When they start charging towards each other, you only see about 2 flags. (02:03:45)

MCKD

Continuity mistake: When Kate tells Sir Ulrich that his armor wasn't made for him he crosses his arms and when she continues talking he crosses his arms again as the camera angle changes to a side view of both. (00:51:30)

MCKD

Visible crew/equipment: Right after William gives Kate his armor to be repaired, the scene cuts to shot of the jousting arena and if you look at the first stand that appears from the right, you can see the camera covered by a black sheet, being pulled back by a camera man. (00:32:05)

MCKD

Revealing mistake: If you watch the deleted scene "Chaucer's speech" on the DVD you can see that when William is in the stocks, Chaucer makes a nice speech about him and the crowd starts chanting "William, William...". Well in the movie it is made to look like they are angry with him but if you watch their mouths, they are mouthing the name William, but all you hear is yelling. (01:52:00)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where everyone is trying to convince William to run away before he is arrested, Jocelyn starts to cry. At one point, the tear river runs down the middle of her cheek, and in another shot (toward the end of the scene), it runs over by her nose, and then it's back in the middle again. (01:46:35)

Chaucer: Good people, I missed my introduction. But please... Please I pray you, hear it now, for I would lay rest the grace in my tongue and speak plainly. Days like these are far too rare to cheapen with heavy handed words, and so, I'm afraid without any ado whatsoever... Excuse me My Lord... Here he is, one of your own, born a stone's throw from this very stadium, and here before you now, the son of John Thatcher... Sir Wiiiiiilliam Thatcheeer.

More quotes from A Knight's Tale

Trivia: Several of the named knights were, in fact, real, though many of them are from different time periods. Ulrich von Lichtenstein was a knight and author who was said to have invented the concept of chivalry and courtly love. Piers Courtenay was a descendant of Edward I, born in the 15th Century. Sir Thomas Colville, Edward III's disguise, was a knight from the 13th Century.

LorgSkyegon

More trivia for A Knight's Tale

Question: After Heath ledger jousted with Prince Edward, he tells Jocelyn that flowers are useless. He suddenly gets very agitated, saying she is a silly girl. Why did he act this way? It seemed out of sync with everything else, and I was wondering if there is a deleted scene that might explain this.

Answer: The reason he is so agitated has to do with the manner in which he won the tournament. If you'll recall, William states, "I'll not be champion until I beat Adamar." Adamar had forefeited beforehand, (not wanting to joust against royalty) therefore not giving William a true victory. After his half won victory, Jocelyn's (Shannon Sossamon's character) inane chatter just rubbed him the wrong way. It had nothing to do with what she was saying...if anyone had spoken to him he would have reacted in the same way.

More questions & answers from A Knight's Tale

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.