The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Continuity mistake: The bodies and rocks behind Gimli change positions, between shots. When Gimli says the words, "That's not bad for a pointy-eared Elvish Princeling," there is a rock right behind Gimli to his right. In his close-up it's not there. Yet, when the camera does another close-up, when he reacts to the arrow between his legs, the rock is to his right again. When Gimli says the words, "I myself am sitting pretty on forty three," behind him to his right, a Rohan turns over the body of an Uruk onto its back. When Gimli says the words, "He was already dead," that Uruk hasn't been turned over. (01:39:00)

Super Grover

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Faramir kneels in front of Sam and Frodo, in the close-up the hand of a Ranger is on Sam's shoulder. The hand and short fingernails are very dirty. After Faramir's lieutenant says, "You know the laws of our country..." the hand and longer fingernails are clean. Then in the next close-up the hand and short fingernails are dirty again. Sam's hood, hair, etc. differ in these shots too. (01:37:30)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: During the Warg attack, as the first Warg falls on top of Gimli, in the wide shot we see the area they fall, past the Warg. Later, when the second Warg climbs on top of the corpses and Gimli, in the wide shot, as Aragorn throws the spear we see the area past the second Warg again. The landscape, including patches of grass and rocks, is different in the two shots. This has nothing to do with the angle of the shots. (00:11:30)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn are standing atop the wall and Legolas says, "Your friends are with you Aragorn," in this close-up we can see that Legolas' right braid is loose and half undone. As Legolas lets loose his first arrow in the rain, his right braid is perfect again. Various close-ups were done in pickups long after the principal photography. (01:00:40 - 01:04:05)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Merry's shirt is untucked under the front bottom of his vest when Pippin chases him and then as he sits on the roots of the tree. The tree starts to devour them. Just after the shot of hairy Hobbit toes, there is a close-up of Merry's jacket and vest, before panning to his face. It shows that his shirt is now tucked in, as well as in the far shot later, when Treebeard rescues them. (01:10:10)

Super Grover

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Sam helps Frodo up and says, "There's some good in this world," then Faramir walks over and the Hobbits face him. Sam's rolled blanket is seen high up on his back, above his shoulders. Yet in the very next close-up, which is a flipped shot, the blanket is way down on his back, way below his shoulders. Frodo's hair is completely different in both shots too. (01:36:55)

Super Grover

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers mistake picture

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)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Just before Brego comes up to an unconscious Aragorn, his sword is lying on his left side, perpendicular to his body, with the blade facing towards his back and the hilt facing his front. In the next shot, before Aragorn even rolls over onto his back, the blade is now pointing up his back and the hilt is at his thigh. Also once again, the tear in the coat and shirt at Aragorn's left shoulder is very different in both shots, as it is in many of the following shots too. (00:20:55)

Super Grover

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: In the first shot of the Uruk-hai running away fom Helm's Deep, towards the trees, the shot of Helm's Deep in the background is correct. The Causeway is littered with many bodies and the ladders are leaning against the Keep and the Deeping Wall with the break in it. However, in the next shot of them, as they are entering the forest of trees with Helm's Deep behind them, the Causeway has no bodies on it and there are no ladders leaning against the Keep. Also visible when Theoden is shouting, "Victory, we have victory." (01:38:00)

Super Grover

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)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: After Legolas yells, "A scout!" Aragorn runs back towards the Rohirrim to warn them. In the first shot, he's running down the hill, straight ahead of him, is Theoden on his horse, Éowyn leading two horses on foot and people to her left. In the next shot, Éowyn's two horses are pointed to her right, there aren't any people to her left, and now standing between Theoden and Éowyn is Gimli with Arod. (00:09:15)

Super Grover

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)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Aragorn remembers what Gandalf said, "...at dawn look to the East." Theoden crosses the floor in front of Aragorn saying, "The horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the Deep," as Aragorn turns around towards Theoden. Theoden now turns to face Aragorn, as he continues, "one last time." In the next shot, Theoden puts his hand on Aragorn's shoulder, behind Aragorn is a chair to his right. The next shot of Theoden close up shows his back to the front guarded door of the chamber with the chair overturned behind him. Earlier when Theoden crosses the floor past Aragorn, their positions changed. It should be Aragorn's back facing the front guarded door of the chamber now. Also, the overturned chair should be upright. (01:27:20)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At Edoras, after the first close-up shot of Éowyn kneeling at the bedside of Theodred, there is a front wide shot. In that shot the animal skin rugs going around the bed differ in position from the next wide shot behind Éowyn. Note especially, the rugs at the foot of the bed on the opposite side of Éowyn. (01:13:40)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: In the opening shot of the stable scene, there is a saddle in the stall next to Brego. A few shots later, you see a man lifting that saddle and start to walk away. There is no saddle in the next few shots. Then the saddle is back again, for Éowyn to pick up. (Extended DVD.) (01:30:35 - 01:31:40)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At the destruction of Isengard, the dam is broken and the river is starting to break through the wall. In the wide shot as the river starts to break through, we see the wall breaking and all the CG Orcs at the top of the wall falling. In the next close-up, we see the CG Orcs still standing on top of the wall and when they do fall in this close-up, they fall very differently than in the previous wide shot. (01:31:55)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: After Legolas leaps onto Arod, the men on horseback change in their arrangement, as they charge towards the Warg Riders. In one shot Gamling is just drawing his sword, while riding between Theoden and Legolas. Next shot is a Rohan rider directly behind Legolas. Then in the next shot of Theoden, it shows Gamling drawing his sword again, riding behind Legolas. (00:10:45)

Super Grover

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)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At Henneth Annun, Frodo and Sam have their blindfolds removed, and in this wide shot, behind them to their right one of the Rangers throws a cloth onto a crate that has objects lying on it, and sits down on the sack. In the semi close-up shots of Frodo and Sam, the cloth the Ranger threw lies differently and the things lying on the crate are different too. No one touched them. (00:28:55)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Gimli is lying with his face under the water, after jumping off the Deeping Wall and landing on the Uruk-hai. In the close-up, the right arm that grabs Gimli's shoulder to help him out of the water is Legolas' right arm. Yet, in the wide shot, suddenly it is Aragorn helping Gimli to his feet, not Legolas. (01:11:10)

Super Grover

More mistakes in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Pippin: They think we have the Ring!
Merry: Shhhh! As soon as they find out we don't we're dead!

More quotes from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Trivia: John Rhys-Davies is missing the end of his middle finger on his left hand due to a farming accident as a child. The make-up artists made artificial, gelatin fingertips for him to wear in the movies. Davies one day, cut the tip in half, put 'blood' in it and closed it up. He went over to Peter Jackson (unaware of the gelatin tip) and said, "Boss, I've had an accident, look what happened". Jackson saw a small cut, but Davies bent the tip back and it split open, gushing.

Super Grover

More trivia for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Question: Maybe I missed something, but why didn't Gandalf notice that Sam was not there? He acts surprised when Aragorn says that Frodo didn't go to Mordor alone, Sam went with him. Yet, he has already seen Merry and Pippin, and Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn are with him, and he knows that Frodo went on alone, so where does he think Sam is? Please excuse me if I missed something.

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.

More questions & answers from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

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.