Revealing mistake: In the first scene in Edoras (the capital city of Rohan). The first pan over Edoras: You can see that the pan is shown in reverse, with the smoke going into the chimney and the fire at the end is burning backwards. The flags are also fluttering the wrong way, as are Éowyn's hair and clothes. (00:12:10)
Revealing mistake: At Edoras, Merry and Pippin sing the song about the Green Dragon while dancing on the table. When Merry kicks Gamling's mug of ale off the table, Merry's foot gets thinner and partially disappears in this shot as does Pippin's foot in the next shot as he kicks up. (00:13:55)
Revealing mistake: When Merry and Pippin are entertaining the men and women of Rohan with their "Green Dragon" song, there is a woman at the right rear corner of the table on which the hobbits are dancing who looks at an empty spot behind Merry at the finale. No doubt the actress was looking at the spot she presumed the hobbit would be "pasted" into during editing, but she's off a few feet. This is further emphasized when she hold out both hands in a "take a look at this" gesture and again indicates the empty space behind Merry. (00:14:15)
Revealing mistake: Pippin's height reaches the circular carvings on the wall near the front door and behind Gandalf's cot, when he walks towards Gandalf to steal the palantir. However, after Pip's contact with Sauron, the heights of Aragorn, Legolas and Gandalf are now about the same as Pippin's in the previous shots, when standing near the same carvings! When Gandalf pushes Merry out of the way in the wide shot, this short Merry would barely reach the height of the shelf behind Gimli which is way below the carvings. (00:19:45 - 00:21:25)
Revealing mistake: After the Witch King destroys Gandalf's staff, the wizard and Pippin fall to the ground in the wideshot. In the next close-up, as Pippin (who is behind Gandalf) raises his right leg while he gets up, the white/black sneaker he wears is briefly visible on Billy Boyd's Hobbit foot. (Extended version). (00:24:10)
Revealing mistake: In Arwen's vision, as the child (which she realized to be her future child with Aragorn) runs past the plants in the wide shot, the area between his knees and ankles become very thin, dark and partially disappear, then reappear while he runs. However when he reaches the steps and stone ground within the same vision, his legs are normal again, as he was filmed on that set, whereas he was 'pasted' among the greenery. His upper body though, remains normal throughout this shot. As soon as he reaches the stone floor, which is the set that he was filmed on, his legs are normal again along with the rest of his body. There should be no differentiation in the appearance and disappearance of part of his legs between the backdrop of greenery or the stone of Minas Tirith within the one vision, but there is. (00:27:05)
Revealing mistake: After Arwen's vision, an escort says to her, "We cannot delay," and in the wideshot as she turns her horse around, the face of the riding double is perfectly visible. (00:28:25)
Revealing mistake: After Théoden orders to reform the line, when the Mûmakil approach, Éowyn and Merry (from his eyes up, actually) are seen in close-up as she shouts during their charge. This is the same close-up of them shown earlier, when the Rohirrim charge at the Orcs, only it's been flipped for this scene. (00:28:35 - 00:32:30)
Revealing mistake: When Pippin offers his services to Denethor, he crosses in front of Gandalf. Against Gandalf's white robe, the outline around Pippin is noticeable, due to the CG editing, which causes this shot to look unnatural. (00:35:10)
Revealing mistake: When Gandalf is riding to the top of Minas Tirith, watch the second level carefully. You can see a background character (I think it's a soldier) disappear twice as Gandalf rides past. (00:42:50)
Revealing mistake: When the Orcs attack Osgiliath, Faramir takes his sword and it appears as if he plunges it into the belly of an Orc. However, he really turns the sword before it hits the Orc and the tip coming out of the back of the Orc is CG. The angle of his hand on the hilt as the blade penetrates and the CG blade in the Orc's back do not line up. (00:46:20)
Revealing mistake: In Osgiliath, while the Gondorians battle the Orcs, in quite a few shots it's obvious that the fighting is staged. In one shot in particular a helmeted Orc slams his double blade axe into the chest of a Ranger, yet it's clear that the sharp axe does not leave any mark whatsoever as he falls to the ground. (00:52:00)
Revealing mistake: In Osgiliath, when Faramir's lieutenant shots, "Faramir" and the men fire arrows at the Orcs, some of these arrows disappear and reappear in the Orcs. (00:52:15)
Revealing mistake: While on the balcony at Minas Tirith, Pippin asks, "Is there any hope, Gandalf, for Frodo and Sam?" and in the next back shot of Gandalf standing beside Pippin, the Mordor 'storm' brews in the CG distance. The dome of a building is directly in front of them, to the right. When the beacon of Minas Morgul rises to the sky, there is another back shot of Gandalf and Pippin. In this shot that building with the dome is gone, though it should be visible! (This has nothing to do with camera angles. Extended Edition.) (00:53:40 - 00:57:25)
Revealing mistake: Faramir and his men retreat towards Minas Tirith, someone shouts, "Take cover, my lord! It's coming!" In this shot Faramir starts to duck from the Nazgul overhead and seen to his left are his men. After Gandalf rides towards them and a Nazgul lifts a horse and its rider, Faramir is ducking again with the same men to his left in the same positions as the earlier shot. Obviously this is the same sequence that was edited to include shots in between. (00:53:55)
Revealing mistake: After entering Minas Tirith with Faramir and his men, Faramir stares at Pippin who sits in front of Gandalf. In Pippin's close-up, one of Gandalf's hands hold his staff and the other is on Pippin. These are not Ian McKellan's (Gandalf) hands and this occurs quite a few times throughout the film, as when Gandalf yells, "Fool of a Took" and places his hand on Merry's shoulder. McKellan's hands are seen many times in the film and among the differences; he has age spots (the actor is currently in his sixties) on his hands. (00:55:25)
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)
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)
Revealing mistake: At Dunharrow, Merry watches as everyone rides off, and in the shot of his back Éowyn's fingertips reach his right shoulder. In the next front close-up, she's still further back, note her fingers behind his head, but he starts to rise off the ground even as her hand is just coming closer. (01:26:05)
Revealing mistake: After Gandalf yells at Pippin, "This is no place for a Hobbit!" he hits one Orc up close, then another in the wide shot. The third Orc he swings at with his staff actually falls back, before the staff is anywhere near him. (01:36:20)
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 ★