Continuity mistake: When Gandalf and Saruman are fighting, Gandalf is thrown to the ground and starts bleeding. But if you look carefully, every other shot Gandalf has blood on his face, then none, then more blood, then none. (00:48:30)
Continuity mistake: Boromir gets hit by Lurtz's second arrow, drops down to his knees in front of Merry and Pippin, gathers strength, turns around and stabs an Uruk. In the next wide shot and close-up, he stands and is about to stab an Uruk in the back and the two arrows in his chest are there. Yet, in the next wide shot, as his blade is going down into the Uruk, Boromir has only the lower arrow in him, the one near his shoulder is not there, for 23 frames. In the next close-up, the upper arrow is back. These arrows are not CGI. (01:23:40)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf pulls Sam in through the window at Bag End and throws him on the desk to ask him questions, several items fall off of the desk. The scene switches back and forth between Sam and Gandalf's perspectives several times. When Sam is shown, the arrangement and appearance of items on the floor below vary. In some shots there is a wooden box and book on the floor to the left side of Sam's head and/or a book and paper to the right. (00:40:50)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf and Saruman are talking in Orthanc, we can see a black strap around Gandalf's fingers on the hand holding his staff. In some shots it's around different fingers, in others it's disappeared completely. (00:46:20)
Continuity mistake: Saruman's Orcs are busy tearing down trees for firewood. In the second shot of this scene you will notice that one of the Orcs in the central foreground falls on his backside as the tree hits the ground. A few shots later, the same group of Orc's are pulling down the same tree, just filmed from a different angle. You can see the Orc falling down once again, this time on the left hand side, behind a burning brazier. (01:07:26)
Continuity mistake: At Dwarrowdelf, as Gimli runs into the Chamber of Mazarbul toward Balin's Tomb, just past the doorway we see a long stick and a very short axe leaning on the right wall. Later when Legolas says, "Orcs!" Boromir runs to the door and now we see a long handle axe with the big blade on top, leaning on that same wall. This does not refer to the two axes in the corner. (00:25:05)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf meets Frodo for the first time and gives him a ride into Hobbiton on his wagon you can see that at the start of the sequence his wizard's staff is near Frodo's shoulder. In the back shot as they go over the bridge and another shot, the staff is to the rear of the wagon. In the very next shot, a close up, the staff has reappeared near Frodo's shoulder again. Also, as Gandalf goes up the hill in front of Bag End, his staff is sticking out the back of the wagon, but in the following close-up as he stops the wagon, the staff is right next to him. Other contents of the wagon also change position during the journey. (00:11:25)
Continuity mistake: Gandalf and Frodo ride towards Bag End. 1st, Frodo says, "Half the Shire's been invited," the scarf is hanging on the lantern. 2nd, Bilbo in voice over says, "Life in the Shire goes on..." riding over the bridge, there is no scarf on the lantern. 3rd, Bilbo continues, "But things are made to endure in the Shire," there is a scarf hanging on the lantern. 4th, as Bilbo continues saying, "Passing from one generation to the next," the scarf is not on the lantern. 5th, Gandalf says, "If you're referring to the incident..." there is a scarf on the lantern once again. 6th, coming up the hill, as he pulls up to Bag End, there is no scarf on the lantern, yet again. (00:11:50)
Continuity mistake: When Haldir says, "Welcome Legolas, son of Thranduil," the outfit that Legolas wears is not the same in these shots than in the previous and following shots. Gimli's hair/beard are not as full and his prosthetics are a bit different too. Apparently this scene was one of the first to be filmed, but they realized later that this outfit wasn't working for the role of Legolas, so they changed it. Commentary on extended DVD. (00:45:30)
Continuity mistake: During Arwen's race to the Ford of Bruinen, she rides at least two different horses. The first horse seen is a lovely grey (white and black hairs) and is likely to be of Andalusian descent. The second horse is a fleabitten grey (white with red hairs) with completely different hind-end conformation and muscling, and looks as if it is an Arabian. The switch occurs several times. If you aren't a horse person, you can see this change by watching the horses' necks. The first horse has a very thick neck, and the second horse's neck is much thinner. (01:17:30)
Continuity mistake: After the battle at Amon Hen, Frodo rescues Sam from drowning and pulls him into the boat. During their dialog in the boat, you can see that the boats' stern is pointed toward the bank of the river. There is one brief view of them from the riverbank where the side of the boat is facing the riverbank.
Continuity mistake: Just before the scene changes to Saruman on top of Orthanc, the shot zooms out from the Fellowship attempting to climb Caradhras. Legolas (recognizable as, being an Elf, he is standing on top of the snow) is to Gandalf's left. When the scene resumes he has moved back some distance to Gandalf's right, closer to the rest of the Fellowship. The camera pans upwards as the avalanche falls and as we follow its descent, Legolas runs out from Gandalf's left to pull him clear. Even for an Elf that's a lot of quick, (and unnecessary), movement. (00:09:36)
Continuity mistake: When Saruman and Gandalf start to battle at Orthanc, the first time Gandalf points his staff, he causes Saruman to slam onto his back. In the close-up of Saruman, the white wrap around the palm of his hand and wrist is perfectly visible on his right hand. He does not wear the wrap on his hand in the previous and most of the following shots. (00:50:25)
Continuity mistake: Aragorn stabs Lurtz in his thigh and in the first shot the long handle is sticking way out in front. Next shot, the knife's long handle is NOT seen anywhere above Lurtz's knee - his hand would not be able to cover the very long handle and in the same shot, Aragorn's already put his hand down. Yet in the next shot, Lurtz punches Aragorn in the face and Aragorn's hand is still at Lurtz's leg. Next, Aragorn rolls over and in the side wide shot of Lurtz going closer to Aragorn, we should be able to see, but DON'T see, the long knife handle in front or blade in back, protruding from anywhere in his right thigh. Only after he lifts Aragorn, headbutts him and punches him down, we see the knife handle and blade protruding from Lurtz's leg. (01:25:10)
Continuity mistake: In one shot of Gandalf's first appearance at Bilbo's front door, he is wearing light-brownish shoes under his robes, and when he walks in, he's got his normal grey ones on. (00:15:00)
Continuity mistake: During the scene when Isildur cuts the Ring from Sauron's hand, it is obvious that he is against a pretty tall rock wall. But, when we see an overhead shot of the Dark Lord exploding, there is no rock wall. Notice how there are soldiers all around the explosion. (00:04:00)
Continuity mistake: At Balin's Tomb, in two shots Pippin backs up towards the stone well, and when the skeletal head falls into the well we see a part of the sticks behind the pail, lying on the well. In the shot from above as the body falls in, and in the close-up of the chain and pail falling in, the sticks aren't there. In the next shots of the stone well we see the sticks lying there. (00:26:25)
Continuity mistake: At Amon Hen, just after Boromir blows the Horn again, in the two wide shots, Pippin holds his sword with his right hand. In the next close-up, Pippin holds it in his left hand. Also seen behind Pippin in this close-up, is Boromir's sword already sticking up out of an Uruk. In the very next wide shot, showing Pippin jumping onto an Uruk, seen between Pippin and the Uruk, is Boromir's sword in the body and Boromir is just removing his hand from it. (01:22:10)
Continuity mistake: In Boromir's death scene, when Aragorn puts the sword into Boromir's hand, Aragorn's finger with the ring on is covered in blood. When we see his hands on Boromir's chest a second later, the blood has vanished. (01:23:50)
Continuity mistake: At the end of the Amon Hen battle scene, where Boromir has been shot by Lurtz, there is a close-up of Lurtz's feet (as if from Boromir's POV) showing Lurtz striding over and stopping in front of him. The ground is clear all around his feet. The shot then changes to a wide shot, from the side, and there are orc corpses piled up all around. None of these were visible before, but should have been. (01:21:20)
Answer: The temptation of the Ring is directly proportional to the power and ambition of the bearer. To someone like Gandalf - a mighty wizard who wants to save the world - the temptation would, over time, prove to be too much, and he's realistic enough to understand that about himself. With an ordinary hobbit who only wants a nice meal and some peace and quiet, the Ring has a lot less to work with.