The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Revealing mistake: In this shot at Minas Tirith, Gandalf says, "Peregrin Took, my lad, there is a task now to be done," as they walk out from under the archway and pass a particular tall white stone building, on their immediate right, as they continue to walk on. After Gandalf says, "You must not fail me," Pippin runs toward a building and as the camera pans up the very distinct markings on the large stones are identical to the markings on the stone building in the previous shot. Obviously it's the same building used in both shots of different areas. This type of thing occurs numerous times in the film. (01:00:15)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Sam and Frodo wear the Orc armor and slide down the rocky terrain. After they spot the army of Orcs approaching the run off to the side and sit. In the next few wide shots the rocky area behind and around them is completely different. (Extended Edition) (01:00:45)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: After Sam and Frodo slide down the rocky terrain wearing Orc armor, they run to the side and Sam's chin strap hangs down and is not buckled. Yet, in the very next shot and the following shots when the army of Orcs approach, the chin strap is tightly buckled. (Extended Edition.) (01:00:55)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: As Gollum steals the lembas while Sam and Frodo are sleeping, Sam's sword lies under him, with the hilt near his face and his right arm over it. However when Sam opens his eyes the sword now lies near him. (01:02:00)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: As Sam lies sleeping, Gollum sprinkles lembas crumbs on Sam's right side. 1st shot, the grey blanket completely covers Sam as Gollum begins to sprinkle it. 2nd shot, the blanket is at Sam's shoulder with a just a bit of cloak and sleeve showing. 3rd shot, the blanket is completely covering Sam's shoulders as the lembas is shown only on the blanket. Then Sam stands and the blanket is now on the ground (as mentioned in another mistake, there are no crumbs at all when he stands). Later, when Gollum accuses Sam in the 'framing' shot, the lembas crumbs are shown on Sam's cloak even though it was the grey blanket Gollum sprinkled it on earlier. (01:02:05)

Super Grover

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Gollum drops the lembas from the ridge, you see the leaf it was wrapped in fluttering away, and the wafers fall roughly straight down. However, when Sam finds it later, there are still lembas wafers wrapped in the leaf, along with a few lying around unwrapped. (01:02:15 - 01:40:20)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Gollum accuses Sam of eating the lembas bread, the crumbs on his shoulder don't appear until the shot when Gollum brushes them away. (01:03:30)

Audio problem: After Gollum frames Sam with the lembas, Sam starts to hit Gollum while shouting at him. When Sam yells, "Call me..." his mouth does not move. Then when Frodo pushes Sam away, Sam shouts, "I'll kill him!" but his lips are moving before we even hear those words, it is out of sync. (01:04:15)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At Cirith Ungol, in the close-up of Frodo's face as Sam says, "I can carry it for a while," Frodo has prominent black smudges under his eyes, on his cheeks and nose. In the preceding and following close-up shots of Frodo, the smudges on his face are not nearly as dark. (01:04:45)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Pippin lights the beacon of Minas Tirith, the soldiers outpost and surrounding mountainside terrain differs between the close-up and wide shots. (01:05:00)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Faramir and his men are riding towards the gate of Minas Tirith on their way back to Ithilian. They ride past a crowd of many people. In this first shot, they pass Billy and Katie Jackson (Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson's children in one of their RotK cameos) in the crowd, as the riders head from left to right on the screen. The next two times Billy and Katie Jackson are shown amongst the crowd, the riders are going from right to left on the screen. The children did not cross the path of the riders to stand on the other side, nor is it the camera's angle. (01:06:30)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: During the scene between Denethor and Pippin in the Main Hall at Minas Tirith, Denethor is eating and has a red mark running down his chin. There is a shot from Pippin's perspective showing the right side of Denethor's chin with the mark. The next shot is from Denethor's left with Pippin in the background, and Denethor turns towards the camera and the mark is gone. The shot is then returned to Pippin's perspective, and the mark has returned for the rest of the scene. (01:08:50)

Continuity mistake: At the Black Gate, as the Mouth of Sauron speaks, in the wide shots Gimli's height is way above Legolas' shoulders and is blocked by the bow and knives. However, in the close-ups he barely reaches Legolas' shoulders and is blocked by neither the bow or knives. Similarly this occurs in many shots throughout. (Extended Edition) (01:09:20)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Aragorn beheads the mouth of Sauron, his left cheek is splashed with a fair amount of black blood which drips downward. In the very next shot of Aragorn's face, the amount of blood has been reduced to a few dried spots. (01:11:45)

Tax Dude

Continuity mistake: When Gimli and Legolas are speaking to Eomer at Dunharrow, the height of Gimli's axe changes. When he is silent, the axe only reaches to his stomach, but when Gimli speaks, and the camera moves in, the axe reaches up almost to his shoulders. (01:12:35)

Continuity mistake: As Legolas climbs up, swings from and stands on the Mûmak, the shirt that is worn under his green topcoat is seen at the slits on his sides in most shots. The color of that shirt at the slits varies between the normal silvery color as the rest of his shirt in some shots and an odd brown/green color in other shots. (01:12:40)

Super Grover

Deliberate mistake: When Gandalf and Pippin quickly ride to the aid of Faramir and his men, who flee the Orcs at Osgiliath, in the first close-up of Gandalf and the Halfling, the wizard's silver broach is noticeably backwards - the shot is flipped for direction continuity. (01:12:40)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: The two doors of the CG Black Gate continue to open wide, as Aragorn and the others ride away from the approaching Orc army. When Aragorn rides as he shouts, "Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers....when the age of men comes crashing down," at the top of the screen the 'closed gate' is visible above the shadow. (01:13:00)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At Dunharrow, Éowyn talks with Merry, who stands in front of the tent's door flaps. In the interior shots, there are short ties hanging from the grommet holes on both sides of the flaps. Yet in the next exterior shot as Merry heads to the smithy, there are long ties hanging only on one side of the flaps, the other side has empty grommets! (01:13:50)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At Dunharrow, after sending Merry off to the smithy, in the wide shot Éowyn speaks with Éomer outside the tent and there is a standing torch behind her. Yet in the next shot Éowyn says, "Why should Merry be left behind, he has as much cause to go to war..." and as Éomer moves his head the visible torch now stands up against the tent pole. In the next close-up another change behind her, to her left. (01:14:20)

Super Grover

Legolas: So, it's a drinking game?
Gimli: Last one standing wins!
Legolas: [after several drinks.] I...I feel something-a slight tingle in my fingers. I think it's affecting me!
Gimli: Ahh...what'd I say? He can't hold his liquor... [falls over.].
Legolas: Game over.

More quotes from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King trivia picture

Trivia: When Gandalf is talking about the gathering of the armies of Sauron, the next shot shows the Corsairs on a ship. Walking from right to left is Peter Jackson in a cameo as a Corsair pirate. In the extended version he is pierced in the chest by Legolas' arrow and dramatically dies. (00:38:30)

More trivia for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Answer: Aragorn is 210 years old when he dies. Some of the early texts give his age at death as 190, but Tolkien eventually confirmed that 210 is the correct age.

Tailkinker

More questions & answers from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

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.