Continuity mistake: At the Grey Havens, Frodo hugs Merry and when they let go of each other, in the shot facing Frodo, Merry's cloak hangs down smooth over his right shoulder, but in the next shot facing Merry his cloak is folded up at the shoulder. (03:05:55)
Continuity mistake: At the crowning ceremony for King Aragorn, the four hobbits stand side by side, and Merry is a little taller than the other three. However, in the far shot when everyone bows, the scale double for Merry is obviously the shortest of the four. (02:57:20)
Continuity mistake: As Gandalf et al. ride toward Isengard, Merry stands up on the stone wall and to his right the sword is leaning upright against the stone. In the second shot of Merry and Pippin, the sword is leaning down, over to the left. Then in the third shot of them, the sword is upright again. (00:10:00)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf, Theoden, et al arrive at Orthanc, they stop when they're greeted by Treebeard and then are confronted with Saruman. The positions of the huge spiked wheel in front of Orthanc, Treebeard, the riders, etc., from the time they ride in, as well as the amount or even existence of debris in the water, changes drastically in consecutive close-ups, overhead and wide shots. (Extended Edition) (00:11:20)
Continuity mistake: At Isengard, Pippin reaches for the palantir in the water. In the first shot underwater, he clutches the palantir tightly with both hands and the lines in the palantir are vertical. In the next consecutive shot as he brings it up out of the water, still clutching it tightly, the lines are now horizontal in the Palantir. He did not shift the seeing-stone in his tight grip, it was just simply shot at different times. (These palantir's lines permanently encompass the circumference of the surface of the sphere, they do not change.) (00:11:35)
Continuity mistake: After the Hobbits return to the Shire it cuts to the Green Dragon Inn. In the first shot, Frodo nearly bumps into the huge pumpkin while he's holding the handles of four mugs, two in each hand. In this first shot the two mugs with white interiors are between the two with dark interiors, but in the next shot while the mugs are still in Frodo's hands, the four mugs have suddenly switched to opposite positions.
Continuity mistake: The fray, size and shape of the rip on Frodo's knickers at his left knee changes throughout the film. For example it goes from large to small to large again, and so forth.
Continuity mistake: When Frodo is lying in bed at the end, in one shot only for a second, right when he begins to sit up, you can see Frodo's undamaged finger folded up and wrapped in white.
Continuity mistake: At Rivendell, the shards of Narsil shown lying on the cloth include the hilt, four small shards and the long pointy tip. In Fellowship, there are also two shots with two different versions of the shards, within the same scene with Boromir and Aragorn, also mentioned in Mistakes. In RotK, when the two Elves are reforging the blade, in one shot the pointy tip of the blade is shown with the tip broken. Though, in all three of the shards' shots in FotR and RotK the pointy tip is unbroken. Also, the long tip shown in the first shot lying on the cloth is much longer than the tip being shown while being reforged. This has nothing to do with camera angles. (00:29:55)
Continuity mistake: When Deagol comes out of the water, the shot opens as he is submerged in water below his arms. As he crawls up there is quite an obvious difference in wetness of the overalls that were submerged for the take and the area above it, including the overall straps. Also, as Smeagol goes after the Ring, there's a close-up of Deagol's backside and there are patches on Deagol's pants that are completely dry. Then Smeagol begins to choke Deagol and as he goes down to the ground, his backside is completely wet again. (00:01:55 - 00:03:15)
Continuity mistake: After Pippin looks at the Palantir, and Gandalf is holding his face, when the shot is on Pip, his face is sweaty and flushed. When the shot is on Gandalf, Pippin's face is pale. (00:31:45)
Continuity mistake: At Edoras, Aragorn's sword leans against the wall, significantly lower than the circular carving above it, as Pippin walks toward Gandalf. However, when Merry asks, "What are you mad?" the hilt now reaches near the top of the circular pattern. Then when Gandalf grabs the blanket to cover the palantir, the sword's height is the same as in the first shot. (00:19:45)
Continuity mistake: During Arwen's vision of Eldarion (her future son), you see a close-up shot of Arwen, just before she meets his glance and in this shot the folds in her velvet hood are broad and the pattern lies a certain way. In the next shot of her the fabric folds are smaller and the pattern differs, which stays consistent through Elrond's line. After her vision disappears, the scene cuts back to her (just before her escort says his first line) and her hood returns to the way it was in the first shot. (00:27:30)
Continuity mistake: When Pippin gets up from his cot in the corner, in the wide shot the fur rugs between his and Merry's cot are two light browns and a black in between and there is a black rug in front of Gimli's cot. Yet when Aragorn comes in and takes hold of the palantir, in this shot the black fur rug at the foot of Pip's cot is gone. In the next shot the black rug in front of Gimli's cot is gone and the rug that the palantir rolls onto when out of Aragorn's grasp now faces the opposite way than when Pippin first awoke and walked toward Gandalf. (00:19:40)
Continuity mistake: In Edoras, after Gandalf lifts Pippin onto Shadowfax, as Gandalf says, "Three days ride..." Pippin's left hand is seen and the fingers are very short and very chunky - NOT because his fingers are clasped - it is obviously the scale double's hand in this specific shot. Then when Merry hands Pippin the pouch of Longbottom leaf, Pippin's left hand is seen again and Billy Boyd's hand and fingers are very thin and lanky. The two hands seen in these two consecutive shots quite obviously do not look anything alike. (00:25:35)
Continuity mistake: Frodo awakens at Minas Tirith, sits up in bed and sees Gandalf. There is a silver pitcher on the dresser to his left and the pitcher's handle points away from Frodo. Yet when Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli look at the three Hobbits, it is a different pitcher entirely, and I might add with the handle now pointing towards Frodo. (02:49:20 - 02:50:50)
Continuity mistake: After Gandalf and Pippin have their unfortunate meeting with Denethor, they walk towards the prow of the city. As they stand there, the distance between themselves and the White Tree/guards/statues differs significantly between Gandalf's and Pippin's individual close-ups, their back shots and when Gandalf moves closer to Pip. In some of these consecutive shots soldiers walk up the ramp in front of the White Tree, yet in other shots they're non-existent. (Extended Edition) (00:48:50)
Continuity mistake: When the Rohirrim arrive at Minas Tirith, they are lined up in formation. In the first shot of Eowyn with Merry we see the rider's body to her left in line with her. In the next close-up of Merry we see the white horse's face right next to Merry, but in the next shot of Eowyn with Merry, the rider, whose horse is brown in these wide shots of Eowyn, is in line with her again. Then in another close-up of Merry, we see the horse's white face yet again. Also, in the shot from behind, that rider does not wear his helmet as in the rest of the side shots.
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: When the Witch King is attacking Eowyn with the spiky ball and chain, it hits the ground a few times yet not one hole or mark is visible later on in the fight.
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 ★