Continuity mistake: When Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas stand and then enter Fangorn, there are multiple shots that are flipped and then not, back and forth. For example, when they get ready to fight the White Wizard, the shots are flipped. The quivers and brooches of Aragorn and Legolas are the wrong way. (00:40:50)
Continuity mistake: In Faramir's hideout behind the waterfall, Sam tells Frodo, "Use the Ring, Mr Frodo, just this once..." When the camera is on Frodo alone, the camera lighting shines on Frodo's right side, with his left in shadow. When the angle of the camera changes to show both he and Sam, Frodo's left side is then lit. (00:41:00)
Continuity mistake: In most scenes with Gollum, he has a small pouch attached to his narrow belt over his right hip. Early in the scenes where Gollum is leading the Hobbits through the bog, you don't see the pouch. Both in the preceding and following shots he had the pouch. (00:41:40)
Continuity mistake: At Henneth Annun, Faramir who is alone with Frodo and Sam, walks towards Frodo with his sword pointed at him. Behind Faramir, are many spears leaning against the wall. Then there's a shot of Frodo. In the very next shot there are fewer spears behind Faramir, and they are lined up very differently against the wall too. They are alone, and no one touched the spears. (00:41:50)
Continuity mistake: Frodo, Sam and Gollum are resting in the middle of the Dead Marshes. In the wide shot, Sam gives Frodo some Lembas and takes a piece for himself. Sam breaks his apart and smells it a couple of times, while looking at Gollum he holds the Lembas away from his face. Next there's a close-up of Sam holding the Lembas right near his mouth. The piece of Lembas is much bigger in this close-up, than in the very next shot, showing Frodo and Sam. (00:42:50)
Continuity mistake: Frodo, Sam and Gollum are resting at the Dead Marshes. When the camera is in front of Frodo the sunlight is on Frodo's left side and on Sam's face. However, when the camera angle is behind Frodo's right shoulder the sunlight is on Frodo's right side. The right shoulder shot is shown six times and it goes back and forth between both shots. (00:44:00)
Continuity mistake: During the scene when Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are in the Dead Marshes, Gollum begins saying, "Once it takes hold of us..." Gollum moves closer to Frodo as he reaches for the Ring, and then Frodo slaps his hand away as he says, "Don't touch me." You can tell that Gollum was very close to Frodo, however, in the next shot, after Frodo bats him away, Gollum is much farther away than he could possibly be. (00:44:20)
Continuity mistake: When Legolas places the Evenstar into the palm of Aragorn's hand, the chain is all coiled up. Yet when Aragorn opens up his hand, the Evenstar and the chain are lying in his palm neatly and flat. Some of these shots with Aragorn and Legolas were filmed over two and half years apart. (00:45:40)
Continuity mistake: When Frodo is pulled out of the swamp by Gollum, Frodo's hair is dripping wet, then not as wet in the next shot, then his hair is matted on his forehead and then off his face. (00:46:55)
Continuity mistake: At the Dead Marshes after Gollum rescues Frodo, in the next opening shot while Sam sleeps we see the pot and pans lying on the ground near Sam's head. When he hears the Nazgul he wakes up and some of those things lying near his head earlier are not there in this shot. This has nothing to do with camera angle. (00:47:15)
Continuity mistake: At night at the Dead Marshes when Frodo is lying down he is holding the Ring in his hand and he's stroking the Ring with his middle finger. In the very next close-up he's stroking the Ring with his index finger then in the next wide shot he's stroking the Ring with his middle finger again. (00:47:25)
Continuity mistake: At Helm's Deep, in this opening wide shot, soldiers call out, "Come on, keep moving. Quickly now," as the people walk towards the Glittering Caves. We see the soldiers standing up against the wall, as the people go past. Next, in a side close-up, Aragorn talks with Legolas as they walk past the soldiers, and other people. In the next shot from the front, as the conversation continues, they're still walking past the guards and people. In the second and third shots the people around them differ and in all three shots the guards differ too. (00:50:45)
Continuity mistake: While running in Fangorn Forest, Aragorn stops kneels down and then says, "These are strange tracks." In the wide shot preceding just as he kneels down, and in the close-up when he says those words, his position and the position of the rocks and trees surrounding him are very different in both shots. This has nothing to do with camera angle. (00:50:55)
Continuity mistake: Standing in Fangorn Forest, Legolas says, "The trees are speaking to each other," and then Aragorn says, "Gimli. Lower your axe." In the wide shot as Aragorn says, "Gimli," the trees behind and to the left of Gimli are different in this first shot then in the very next shot when he continues, "Lower your axe." The trees in the second shot are also seen when Gimli first draws his axe. (00:51:20)
Continuity mistake: Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli fight the White Wizard who is standing on a rock. He overpowers them and when he says, "You are tracking the footsteps..." the backs of the three are shown. In this shot Aragorn stands to the right, closest to the rock with Gimli in the back to Aragorn's left and Legolas to the left of Gimli. In the very next front shot Aragorn is in the middle now, with Gimli standing near the rock. Legolas is standing in the same place. This has NOTHING to do with camera angle. (00:52:45)
Continuity mistake: At the Armory, in the first close-up of Aragorn, he looks at a sword in his hand and tosses it down. The right sleeve of his coat is ripped almost all the way around at the seam by his shoulder, and the sleeve is folded over where it's ripped. When he tosses the sword down, there is a glimpse of his left sleeve, and it too is ripped and folded over at the seam. In his next close-up, the right sleeve's seam is ripped much less and it isn't folded over. The left sleeve however, is ripped like in the earlier shot. This is not a case of shot flipping. (00:52:45)
Continuity mistake: When the three companions first meet Gandalf, after Aragorn drops his sword, Gimli lowers his axe and holds it by his right hand. When the shot changes, Gimli holds it by two hands and in a ready position. The same thing with Legolas, his bow changes position, and Aragorn with his legs. (00:52:50)
Continuity mistake: Legolas says, "Look at them. They're frightened. I can see it in their eyes." In the next wide shot, we see Aragorn's back, men all around, and behind him, to the right, stands Dan Hennah, with wavy, grey hair, in his cameo. In the following close-up, we see Dan Hennah again, standing to Aragorn's left. We also see Alan Lee's cameo, whereas, in the wide shot, Alan's character is not there. (00:53:10)
Continuity mistake: In the armory at Helm's Deep, Aragorn says in the close-up, "Then I shall die as one of them." As he turns and leaves, in the wide shot, most of the people that were near him in the close-up are not in this wide shot. (00:53:30)
Continuity mistake: After Aragorn says to Haleth, "Give me your sword," in the wide shot we see that Aragorn is sitting on the tail of his coat and the coat is draped down the steps under his legs. When Aragorn rises, just after Haleth says, "...They say that it is hopeless," we see that the coat is not draped down the steps under his legs, as in the earlier shot. It is not the legs' shadow. (00:56:40)
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.