The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Continuity mistake: When Gandalf is talking to Theoden about Pippin's ordeal with the Palantir, a woman walks toward the left side of the screen with a dog. A few shots later, the same woman and dog walk toward the left side of the screen again.

Continuity mistake: When Gandalf is confronted with the Witch King, Gandalf's (whose hair is over his cloak) and Pippin's hair blow wildly in shots facing them. Yet in the back shots Pippin's and Gandalf's (whose hair is tucked neatly) hair does not move. (00:23:40)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Pippin steals the palantir from Gandalf and replaces it with the water pitcher while Gandalf is sleeping. In the extreme close-up, when Gandalf refocuses his eyes the pitcher is seen at his arm. However in the next close-up, Gandalf has NOT even moved yet, but the pitcher is not at his arm in this shot. We do not see or hear the pitcher fall on the floor in this shot. (00:21:20)

Continuity mistake: On the Paths of the Dead, while Legolas tells the history of the Dead Men, there is a close-up of Gimli's face, and Legolas' bow and arrows are seen too. In the next shot, the position of his blades on his back differ, as they are now slanted, with the bow and arrows seen between them. (01:23:25)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Theoden "reforms the line" as the Mumakil approach, there are empty fields behind the horses. In the overhead shot of them charging, it is seen that there are still orcs in the background who should have been there in the previous shot.

Continuity mistake: After Denethor dies, in the side shot of Minas Tirith (its right side when facing the city) the considerable vast gap between the Citadel at the top of the city, with the bridge that leads to the Tomb of the Stewards/large cemetery, and the mountain behind is shown; however, in other side shots the Citadel is much closer to the mountain. In the many aerial and ground wideshots of the distinctive buildings of Minas Tirith as a whole, there are very significant changes in the design and position of buildings, stone railings, etc., some of which disappears then reappears. There are changes in the texture/landscape of the high center prow and the mountainsides beside the city levels as well. (This has nothing to do with damage sustained or with camera angle.) (00:45:35)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: On the fields of Pelennor, Theoden yells, "Bring it down!" three times in succession. As Theoden yells the first, "Bring it down!" Gamling has the bow in his hand and lets loose an arrow, with particular soldiers around him. In the next shot, Theoden yells the second, "Bring it down!" Gamling now has a sword in his hand, with other people around him. (02:06:45)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: While walking in Mordor, Sam yells "Frodo, get down!" and in the first wide shot Frodo turns his body towards Sauron's Eye as Sam drops down. In the next shot Sam is in the background, Frodo's arm is in the foreground and Frodo has not turned yet. Also, in the shot of him facing the Eye, Frodo's face and neck are cleaner than in the shots before and after. (02:28:55)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: After telling Éowyn, "I cannot give you what you seek," Aragorn leads Brego away for his departure from Dunharrow and the edge of the rolled blanket, secured in the saddle bag on Brego's left, faces Brego. However, when Aragorn approaches Gimli the edge of that blanket, on Brego's left, now faces away from Brego. (01:20:05)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: During the siege of Gondor, when Pippin saves Gandalf by stabbing the Orc, he has to run forward to do so, and Gandalf turns to see what he has done. Despite this, when he says, 'Guard of the Citadel, indeed.' he turns backwards to look down at Pippin, although Pippin stepped back after stabbing the Orc it was only a few steps, and he should still be in front of Gandalf.

Continuity mistake: In one of the fighting scenes Legolas is ready for battle, but when you look at him first his hair is behind his shoulders the next camera shot showed his hair perfectly laid out in front of his shoulders, then the next shot his hair is back behind his shoulders again.

Continuity mistake: Éowyn removes her helmet and declares, "I am no man!" In the shot of her stabbing the Witch King, her hair on both sides is in front of her shoulders. However in the shots preceding and following this one, the hair on her left side is tucked behind her shoulder. (02:11:50)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: After Frodo has been wrapped in the spider web, Sam tries to rescue him and frees his face. In the next shots, the web is sometimes over Frodo's chin and sometimes under it, although no one touched it. (01:52:35)

nightline

Continuity mistake: After Shelob retreats into her lair, Sam runs over to Frodo and begins to remove the webbing. In the first front shot we see Shelob's green blood on his hands. In the next shot from the side, the amount and shape of the blood on Sam's hands has changed. Then back to another front shot and the stains are the same as in the first shot. (01:52:25)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Aragorn is summoned to Theoden's tent, where he is greeted by Elrond, who removes the hood from his head. Just before Elrond steps towards Aragorn, in the close-ups, the hood at his shoulders changes position within these shots. (01:16:05)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: Gandalf discusses Pippin's contact with Sauron to the others, in the Golden Hall of Edoras. Right after Gandalf's line, "They will be," in the shot of Gandalf's back, all of his hair is in underneath and in front of his cloak, but when Gandalf approaches Aragorn to say, "You must come to Minas Tirith..." his hair is over the top of his cloak. (00:24:20)

Continuity mistake: During Aragorn's speech to his army at the black gates, the direction the flags on the spears blow constantly changes. When we see him from behind facing them, they blow to his right, and when we see him in the POV from within the crowd, they are blowing to his left.

Scrappy

Continuity mistake: After the great battle in Pelennor fields when Pippin finds Merry under the Orc, Merry says, "I knew you'd find me," and you can see that Pippin has his hand under Merry's neck/head propping it up. Then, the shot pulls back to show both hobbits, and Merry says, "Are you going to leave me?" and now Pippin no longer has his hand under Merry's neck; he is sort of stroking his hair. (02:17:45)

rstill

Continuity mistake: The braids over Legolas' ears on his scalp, change in position, shape, and how it is braided, in consecutive scenes or shots, as well as the amount of his side hair that is swept up into the back braid. Some examples are, as he and Gimli ride Arod on the Paths of the Dead, Legolas says, "...and Isildur cursed them," and then after Aragorn says, "I do not fear death," before he runs into the Dimholt Gate. Also later in two consecutive shots, when Legolas says, "And what about a friend," and then when they battle at the Black Gate. (01:23:45 - 01:24:40)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: When Sam rescues Frodo in the Tower of Cirith Ungol and gives him back the Ring, Frodo puts it around his neck and you can see it against his bare chest. The chain is noticeably much longer and thicker than the one he's been wearing previously. (00:22:45)

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

Continuity mistake: Legolas sends an arrow directly to Grima atop Orthanc, and as Grima starts to fall back the arrow is quite visibly well below the coat's fur. However, when Grima actually hits the ground, the arrow is now higher up, protruding from the fur. (Extended Edition.) (00:16:35)

Super Grover

More mistakes in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Gimli: Certainty of death; small chance of success...what are we waiting for?

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

Question: Where were the other Wizards during the fight for Middle-Earth?

Answer: There are only five wizards. Saruman and Gandalf are heavily involved, as we see. Radagast, while not mentioned in the film, has a particular affinity with the birds and animals - it is he who sends the Eagles to the last battle, and to rescue Gandalf from Isengard. The final two, Alatar and Pallando, known as the Blue Wizards, went into the far eastern regions of Middle-Earth and never returned. Tolkien felt that they would ultimately have fallen from grace, much as Saruman did.

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.