Revealing mistake: After Haldir dies, Aragorn jumps onto the only ladder resting against the steps 'inside' the Deeping Wall. Hanging onto the ladder, he then falls on top of the Uruk-hai down below. The ladder is now lying on the ground perpendicular to the steps of the wall. However, when Aragorn runs up the stone steps on the side of the Keep, in the aerial CG shot of the wall below, the ladder is not lying on the ground where it should be, under the scurrying feet of the Uruk-hai. (01:14:35)
Continuity mistake: Just after Haldir dies, Aragorn jumps onto a ladder and rides it into a crowd of Uruk-hai. In the close up shot when he first jumps he has his sword in his right hand, but when they cut to a longer shot for the fall his hands are empty. When he lands on the ground, the sword is back in his hand. (01:14:40)
Continuity mistake: After the sweeping pan of Edoras, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn ride up towards the Golden Hall. In the first shot, behind them is a wood fence with a wood ladder, leading up to a tower and seen behind Legolas are two girls standing on stone steps. Also seen in this first shot, to Gandalf's right, is a man with a white beard, hooded shirt and long vest. In the very next shot, is the same bearded man (use zoom) wearing the same clothes, standing near a cart. In the next shot, the first close-up of Aragorn, to his left, are a woman (partially seen) and two men wearing hats, standing under a wooden structure. Aragorn looks up at the Golden Hall, and sees Éowyn. The next shot of Aragorn, behind him to his left, are the same wood fence, ladder, tower and two girls on the stone steps, as in the first shot of them all. As they continue to ride up, Gimli remarks, "You'll find more cheer in a graveyard." Just after Aragorn looks up at the Golden Hall again, in the next close-up of Aragorn, to his left, are the same woman and two men standing under the same wood structure, as in the first close-up of Aragorn!! (01:16:25)
Continuity mistake: When the Uruk-hai are on the causeway, after using the battering ram on the door. The shape of the opening in the door varies between the outside shots and indoor shots. (01:16:40)
Continuity mistake: First a shot of the Uruks shooting up the second anchor to the Keep, then there's a shot of a line of Uruks pulling on the cable. In the next shot, an Uruk has his arm wrapped around the frame, between the rungs of the ladder. We can also see the feet of another Uruk, standing on the horizontal ladder. This 'real' ladder has a much narrower width than the CG ladder, we see going up in the next shot, which is wide enough to hold 3-4 Uruks, side by side, as it's being raised to the Keep. Then when it reaches the top of the Keep, it's the 'real' ladder again. There is a very noticeable difference between the real ladders and the WETA CG ladders, top or bottom. (01:17:10)
Continuity mistake: When the ladders are being raised to the Keep, we first see a wide shot of two ladders going up. The one on the right reaches the top of the Keep first. The next three quick shots show it differently. In the second quick shot, there are two ladders at the top already and a third ladder on their right, that is just hitting the top of the Keep. All those ladders are close together. Then just after Legolas grabs an arrow, the next far shot of the Keep shows two ladders spaced far apart, with a third one in the middle being raised. This is the one that Legolas causes to fall with his arrow. (01:17:20)
Continuity mistake: At Edoras, standing on the steps of the Golden Hall, Hama says, "I can not allow you before Theoden King so armed...By order of Grima Wormtongue." Then Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli disarm themselves and give their weapons to the guards. After requesting not to be parted from his 'walking stick', the next wide shot shows them walking towards the door, with the guards at the sides holding the weapons of the four visitors. Yet in the very next shot from behind, though it still shows them walking towards the door, the guards at the sides changed their positions, note the ornate columns. For example, in the first shot, to the right of Aragorn standing near the steps, is the guard holding Aragorn's sword, bow and arrows. In the second shot from behind, that guard is now on the other side of the column, closer to the door on Aragorn's right, standing next to another guard, who's holding Gandalf's sword and Legolas' bow. (01:17:40)
Continuity mistake: Upon entering the Golden Hall, when Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and Gandalf first arrive at Edoras, watch Gandalf's staff. In the shots from behind, Gandalf uses the staff as a walking stick, but the shots taken from the front, show him keeping the staff at his side, perpendicular to his body. (01:17:50)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf, Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli walk into Meduseld, Gandalf is seen arm-in-arm with Legolas, apparently leaning on the Elf for support, but when the camera cuts away and returns, Gandalf is not in contact with Legolas, but they are arm-in-arm again for the next shot. (01:18:00)
Continuity mistake: Legolas throws down the rope to Aragorn to help he and Gimli escape. Aragorn then grabs the rope with his left hand and holds onto Gimli and his sword with his right hand, plus Gimli's head is lower than Aragorn's. Legolas starts to hoist them up and in the next shot, Aragorn is holding onto the rope with his right hand and Gimli and the sword with his left. In the next shot of them, it's vice versa again. As they're reaching the top, Gimli's head is higher than Aragorn's. Nothing to do with spinning around - just look at the hands. (01:18:00)
Continuity mistake: Throughout the movie, the size of Gimli changes several times. Upon entering Edoras, his height is just under Legolas' shoulder. When the Uruk-hai attack Helm's Deep and they are waiting atop the wall, you can hardly see Gimli's helmet, but all of the other characters (for example Legolas) stand there behind the wall that reaches the height of their kidney-area. (01:18:00)
Continuity mistake: During the late part of the Uruk-hai attack on Helm's Deep, they catapult large grappling hooks with trailing ropes over the Deeping Wall. The one that hits the Rohirrim soldier doesn't have a rope trailing it. (01:18:15)
Continuity mistake: When Sam, Frodo and Gollum are watching the Haradrim and Oliphaunts from the hill, the sun is shining on the left side of Frodo's face and on the right side of Gollum's face. In fact, throughout the sequence, the sun's position seems to change quite a bit, even though the scene only lasts a few seconds. (01:18:20)
Other mistake: When Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf are at Edoras and are first entering Theoden's hall, watch the right side of the screen as Wormtongue says, "I told you to take the wizard's staff..." Legolas delivers an uppercut to a guard, but his arm goes way above his head. Furthermore, the punching sound effect is not heard until his arm is way over his head. Legolas is as tall as the guards and his fist would have stopped as soon as it hit the guard's face. There is no way the guard can be that tall. (01:19:05)
Continuity mistake: When Aragorn dreams of Arwen, he lies on this couch with Arwen leaning above him. She caresses his cheek down to his jaw. Then the camera angle changes and her hand is near his hair. (01:19:56)
Continuity mistake: Faramir and his men, along with Frodo and Sam, are looking out towards Osgiliath, when someone says, "Osgiliath burns, Mordor has come." Originally, Minas Tirith is seen as well, as it should be, at the base of the mountains behind Osgiliath, which is geographically correct. However, Peter Jackson was forced by studio heads to edit it out of the theatrical version, because it was felt that seeing Minas Tirith then would confuse some viewers, who would think that Minas Tirith was Helm's Deep. In the extended DVD, much to the satisfaction of PJ, Minas Tirith was put back in order to be geographically correct. As heard on Commentary, extended DVD. (01:20:40)
Continuity mistake: At Edoras, after Wormtongue spits on Aragorn's hand and runs away, a man shouts, "Hail Theoden King!" The crowd bowing at the bottom of the stairs in this wide shot, is more dense, than in the close-up shot after, where the crowd is very sparse to the right. Not to mention some people are arranged quite differently. (01:23:30)
Continuity mistake: During Theodred's funeral, as the bearers of the body lower Theodred off their shoulders, there's a close-up of the soles of Theodred's shoes. As Éowyn starts singing, the body's being passed towards the tomb. There's now another close-up of the soles of Theodred's shoes. The marks on the soles, of the right shoe in particular, are quite different in both shots. The helmet doesn't block the view of the soles on the shoes in either shot. (01:24:45)
Continuity mistake: The flower that Theoden is holding while he is in front of his son's tomb has 8 petals, but when he drops it, it has only 6, and the flowers on the ground have only 5 petals. (01:25:30)
Continuity mistake: When King Theoden, Aragorn, Gimli and what's left of the army are trying to stop the Uruk-hai from breaking in, Aragorn says, "Tell the women and children to head for the mountain pass.." and pushes Gamling toward the back entrance, so Gamling is in front of him. Then Theoden says his line about so much death and the next shot shows Aragorn and Gamling turning their heads. Now, Aragorn is closer to the back entrance than Gamling. (01:27:05)
Answer: The movie makes it clear that Gandalf has lost some of his memory and his personality has changed. Gandalf actually did die and pass over to the "other side", as it were but was sent back to complete his task. However, he was sent back as a similar, but different entity. Gandalf the White does not have all the memories of Gandalf the Grey, at least at first. He doesn't even remember that he used to be called Gandalf the Grey until someone points this out to him. It is implied that Gandalf doesn't even remember Sam until Aragorn mentions him. Gandalf then searches his memories and remembers who Sam is and his eventual importance to Frodo's quest. When he finally remembers this, he is pleased that Sam went with Frodo, as he will play a crucial role near the end of the journey.