The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Corrected entry: As Legolas walks along the top of the oliphant about to fire three arrows into its head, he draws his three arrows twice, once before and once after the camera change.

Correction: No. In the close-up his face twists up in anger at the Mumak and draws the first arrow. In the next shot from above, as he walks on top of the animal he places that arrow into his left hand and draws two more from behind, then puts the three together at the bow.

Super Grover

Corrected entry: Frodo has his sleeves up when he is finished writing The Lord of the Rings revealing the same skin color as his hands. However, at the Grey Havens scene his sleeves are down as he has a nice clean cut tan if you look up his sleeve.

Correction: These scenes are never said to be set even in the same year. So far as the movie tells us, we have no idea how long they stayed in the shire before leaving for the Grey Havens. If there were even a space of one month, that would be plenty of time for Frodo to develop a tan line.

Garlonuss

Corrected entry: In the Golden Hall at Edoras, when Gandalf is explaining what had happened with Pippin and the palantir, there are wide side shots of Pippin sitting on a chair and Merry standing beside him. It is very apparent that it is the scale doubles in these shots, especially Pippin's.

Correction: How can you tell? They look like the real actors to me.

Corrected entry: As Aragorn and co. are riding up to Isengard (right after the title appears on screen), we see a long shot of Merry and Pippin sitting among the rubble. Not only are they on opposite sides from the subsequent close-up, they are also both wearing their jackets; in the close-ups, neither is wearing a jacket.

Correction: Merry and Pippin stay on the same sides, Merry to our left and Pippin to our right, and their jackets are never on.

Corrected entry: When Gandalf and Pippin ride out of Edoras for Minas Tirith, the first shot is inside the stable as Shadowfax is galloping out the door. Gandalf's staff is in his right hand. In the very next outside shot from above the stable door, the staff is in Gandalf's left hand. He did not have any time to switch hands between these two consecutive shots.

Correction: In the outside shot we see Gandalf passing the gate of Edoras, not the stable door. He has had plenty of time to change hands, as the shots do not immediately follow on in time.

Corrected entry: After the battle of the Pelennor fields you see Gandalf walking and resting his left hand in the middle of the grip of his sword. In the next moment, when Pippin appears on his side, his hand rests further down.

Correction: When the shot moves on and it covers Gandalf's hands, he could have had a bit of time to move them down quickly enough before Pippin came.

Corrected entry: When Sam slips going down the Winding Stair, a number of small rocks tumble down with him, but when he strikes the ground, the rocks are missing, and there is no sound of them striking the ground. (01:40:05)

Correction: The rocks did make noises whilst bouncing down the stairs. It's highly likely that they flew off the edge of the cliff.

Corrected entry: When Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith and go inside to speak to Denethor, he is holding Boromir's horn close to the mouthpiece. When Denethor stands up and starts yelling at Gandalf, however, the horn has disappeared from his grasp, with the exception of the horn's strap. (00:34:25 - 00:37:10)

Correction: Denethor is holding the horn still but is obscured by his cloak and the strap is dangling down in view.

Corrected entry: When the Mordor hosts has broken through the outer perimeters of Minas Tirith, a troll is hammering a large hammer at a gate. The sound of the hammer hitting the gate is delayed compared to the moment the hammer actually hits the gate.

Correction: The sound on the DVD is in sync.

Corrected entry: Just before the ride of the Rohirrim, we see a wide shot of them in their positions, not moving, and they are separated into two groups with a gap in the middle. In all further shots, the gap is not there.

Correction: The gap isn't clearly visible on the second high shot but it can just be made out. After the charge starts the gap would naturally close up.

Corrected entry: Legolas could see Gimli again after he takes down the Oliphant single-handedly. They were all pretty much together at the start, and the Oliphant was galloping the entire time... it must have travelled at least half a mile considering how big it is.

Correction: It might also have run in a circle, bringing them back roughly where they started.

Corrected entry: This is from the DVD version. At the end of the movie all four hobbits are standing in the foreground watching Gandalf turning to leave to board the ship. Look at the hobbit on the far right. He's missing a leg. (03:06:10)

Correction: The reason he is missing a leg is because he is standing in front of a stairway which is blocking his leg.

Corrected entry: Watch Gollum's fingers, they change in number from six to five, on the same hand, several times.

Correction: The Gollum construct has a specific bone structure, musculature and skin setup. The number of fingers is set by this construct, which would not be changed at any point - any apparent deviation can only be an illusion.

Tailkinker

Corrected entry: The journey from Osgiliath to Minas Tirith is about 15-20 miles. Faramir and his men were able to make the journey within a couple of minutes. This would be physically impossible for horses to do (even Shadowfax couldn't make the journey within a couple of minutes.)

Correction: Their journey is shown using an absolutely standard cinematic technique of time compression, intercut with Pippin singing for dramatic effect - it's not meant to imply that the journey takes that length of time.

Tailkinker

Corrected entry: In the scene where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are standing in front of the entrance to Dimholt Mountain, their horses get frightened and run away with all their equipment save their weapons. Entering the tunnel, Aragorn suddenly has a torch in his hand. As it is not only a wooden stick, but a really big torch there's no way he could have hidden it in his clothes before. And it would not be logical if the dead living there kept torches for visitors at the entrance.

Correction: Since the peoble living in the Dimoldt Mountain have been alive before its only logical that there are still torches at the entrance of the tunnel - as one can even today find in many caves and tunnels for the use of whatever visitor may come along.

Anja66

Corrected entry: When the heroes ride out of Minas Tirith to attack the Black Gate, there is a shot of them riding out of the gates of the city, with a fire burning the Witch King's fell beast to the far left of the screen. The problem: where has Grond, Mordor's giant battering ram, gone to?

Correction: Destroyed, along with the other siege towers and catapults. The wreckage would obviously have been cleared away as soon as possible so that travelers could enter and exit the now-safe City.

Phil C.

Corrected entry: In the scene in front of the Black Gates, when Aragorn, Gandalf and the others approach the gates, their shadows show that the light comes from their left (which by the way is north). A few moments later, when Aragon is speaking to the soldiers, the light comes from the opposite side.

Correction: That is because when Aragorn is speaking to the soldiers, he is facing away from the Black Gate. He and the others have returned from being so close (they "retreat" as it opens). This would make sense, then, that his shadow would be on his other side.

Corrected entry: Outside Shelob's Lair - before Orcs come and after Sam leaves Frodo: Apparently, Sam takes the Ring from Frodo when he takes him for dead. In order to do this, though, he would probably have to pull the chain over his head. This would be impossible because the web does not appear to be peeled back in shots after Sam has left Frodo. Even if he had simply yanked it from Frodo's neck as Frodo himself is seen doing throughout the trilogy, he would have to get it past the web on his chin. However, this, too, is impossible because that web is seen as still stuck fast to his chin and around his face afterwards.

Correction: This has already been corrected. When you see the orcs pick up Frodo, for a moment you can see that the webbing isn't tight around his chin anymore, it is pulled away slightly, thus making it possible for Sam to grab the ring.

Corrected entry: When Pippin is lying on a mat, just before he wakes up and steals the palantir, his body is the full length of the mat. On the mat next to him, which is the same length, is a full sized man, whose body is also the full length of the mat. As Pippin is a hobbit, he should be considerably shorter then the man in the next bed, but isn't.

Correction: We never see Pippin's entire body lying on the mat, thus we do not know that his body is the full length of the mat. When he rises he is shorter than the man lying next to him.

Corrected entry: When Eowyn cuts off the Nazgul's beasts head, in the next couple of shots the head is nowhere to be seen, however the head lands right beside Eowyn when she cuts it off.

Correction: The beast flaps about a lot, and pushes the head away.

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

Continuity mistake: In the second half of the film, Frodo has a scar on his lower right cheek, close to his chin. Many times throughout the rest of the film the scar changes position and size on his right cheek. It also appears on his left cheek in flipped shots (most obviously on the slopes of Mount Doom when Sam is cradling his head). (02:31:05 - 02:34:00)

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

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

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

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