Corrected entry: When the heroes ride out of Minas Tirith to attack the Black Gate, there is a shot of them riding out of the gates of the city, with a fire burning the Witch King's fell beast to the far left of the screen. The problem: where has Grond, Mordor's giant battering ram, gone to?
Phil C.
24th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
22nd Jan 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Corrected entry: When Frodo is being held prisoner in the tower, Sam comes to rescue him & uses Sting to kill the orc that was there with Frodo. Sam stabs the orc with the sword & draws it back out, but no orc blood is ever seen on Sting. Often other scenes with orcs being stabbed show orc blood on the blades.
Correction: Except that Sting is an ancient blade of Gondolin, forged long ago in the First Age, and has been shown to have magical properties. As a matter of fact, there have never been any shots of Sting with blood on its blade, in ANY of the films. This is merely carrying on the tradition.
22nd Jan 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Corrected entry: Sam is shown as being as tall as Rosie. In Fellowship of the Ring Sam is a head shorter than her, which is especially obvious in the shot where Sam and Rosie are dancing.
Correction: This is an illusion. Sarah McLeod has played Rosie in all shots when she and Sam are seen together, and Sean Astin has always played Sam in the shots where he is with Rosie. Neither actor nor actress has changed their height that drastically, so any "obvious" differences in height are only illusory.
18th Dec 2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Corrected entry: Numerology comes into fruition in this movie a lot. The number three comes a number of times. There are of course the three heroes, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli and the ring party consisting of Sam, Frodo and Gollum. When Sam and Frodo are rescued there are the three eagles which come to rescue them. At the end of the film it is stated that the time of the elves is over and thus their three rings are cast aside for the time of man. Also Sam's house is the number three.
Correction: Sorry, but this is crossing the line into "coincidence". All of these "items" are directly from the books, and Tolkien was every bit the dry, professorial type who would have had no truck with numerology.
18th Dec 2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Frodo is helped by Galadriel in Shelob's lair (in the "dream sequence") he lays on the ground. In his hair on HIS right side (viewers' left) is what appears to be some clovers or leaves or grass. The camera cuts to Galadriel then back to Frodo, the thing in his hair is gone. The camera cuts to her again and back to Frodo, the thing is back in his hair.
Correction: It does not actually disappear. It's a leaf of a greenish-yellow color, which is more visible when viewed from a particular angle. Frodo's head has tilted slightly in the second shot which is enough to present us with the edge of the leaf only, making it much less obvious - but it's still definitely there.
18th Dec 2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Corrected entry: In the scene where the pachyderm animals of Mordor are introduced in the battle, there's a shot that pans the front of the line of them. One animal has wood connecting its larger tusks, complete with barbs jutting out from the wood. As the orcs flee to regroup behind the animals, several run through the contraption unharmed.
Correction: No, they don't. Some do run underneath the wooden connector as the Mumak swings its tusks upwards, but most do not make it past and are sent crashing to the ground.
18th Dec 2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Corrected entry: When everyone is leaving to go to the battle at the black gate, Minas Tirith is shown as a battle-scarred city, with burned, gaping holes in the walls and towers from the damaging barrage of catapult-thrown boulders. The next time we're shown the city, after the battle, it's all fixed up.
Correction: That's because quite a bit of time has passed between the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the coronation of Aragorn as King. The timeline in the books shows it as nearly two months, but the film appears to imply that even more time has passed, by this and other evidences (Arwen is fully recovered, Frodo is fully healed, and more).
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.
Correction: Destroyed, along with the other siege towers and catapults. The wreckage would obviously have been cleared away as soon as possible so that travelers could enter and exit the now-safe City.
Phil C.