The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Revealing mistake: After Aragorn is crowned king he greets Legolas and they place their hands on each other's shoulder. In the shot facing Aragorn when he starts to move toward Arwen, the semi profile seen on Legolas is not Orlando Bloom, but that of his double. In the previous shot facing Legolas, Aragorn and the Elf are the same height and eye level, but in the shot facing Aragorn, Legolas is considerably taller. (02:55:05)

Super Grover

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: At Minas Tirith, Grond destroys the door and the Trolls attack. Gandalf charges at one Troll in particular and proceeds to slash the Troll in the belly, and the Troll drops down, yet Gandalf's sword never even touches the Troll at all. (01:48:30)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: When the combined Rohirrim/Gondorian army halt upon arrival at the Black Gate, Aragorn rides up and stops beside Legolas in the close-up. Éomer's double, who has a much fuller and longer beard, is blatantly visible behind Aragorn in this full frontal shot. (02:28:25)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: After Sam rolls down Shelob's back, he holds Sting up towards Shelob and as she advances forward Sam trips and falls back. In the shot facing Sam as he falls, when he hits the ground his left knee pad is seen. (01:51:05)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: When Bilbo is boarding the boat at the Grey Havens, in the wide shot, the body doubles are standing at the dock. This is most noticeable on the leftmost of the hobbits, who is standing with his face staring straight ahead, unlike the others who are following Bilbo going up the ladder.

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)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: In Minas Tirith, as Gandalf slashes at the Troll to his right with his sword, his left foot disappears and reappears in the Troll to his left. The stirrup under his left foot is completely visible at that point too. (01:48:30)

Super Grover

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

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)

Super Grover

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)

Super Grover

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)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: In several crowd shots of Minas Tirith during Faramir's suicide charge (particularly the one featuring Irolas), the top of the set is visible. Buildings stop unnaturally, and the sky is visible where the other walls of the city and the mountain range behind it would have blocked it.

Revealing mistake: When The Steward of Gondor is about to burn Faramir on the pyre, Gandalf dramatically bursts through the doors on Shadowfax and rides to the pyre. Look at the rider's face - it is obviously not Gandalf, but a double in some of these shots.

Revealing mistake: At Minas Tirith, Grond breaks through the door, then Trolls and Orcs attack. After Gandalf yells, "Volley! Fire!" there is a shot of Orcs, one of which is somewhat bald at the bottom of the screen in the foreground, who run towards the right of the screen. Then other shots including Gandalf slaying a Troll. The last shot of this scene is the same shot of the Orcs running to the right of the screen. (01:48:15)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: In Shelob's lair Frodo runs away from her and points the light of Eärendil at Shelob to keep her at bay. He then dives, head first, down a sloped passage and as he does both of his knee pads are seen. (01:42:10)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: After stabbing Shelob the last time, Sam picks up the light of Eärendil and trips near Frodo's body. As Sam hits the ground his right knee pad is visible. (01:52:00)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: After Aragorn demands, "Let the Lord of the Black Land come forth," as he says, "Fall back," Gandalf and Pippin, who wears his Gondorian helmet, are seen close-up. It is blatantly obvious that it is not Billy Boyd, but his scale double under that helmet, as the face is perfectly visible in this extreme close-up. (02:30:30)

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: When everyone is sleeping on the floor in the Golden Hall in Edoras, Gimli is seen lying on the floor next to a man. They're the same length - you can tell my the position of their feet under the blankets. Gimli is supposed to be about 4 feet or so, whereas a man is supposed to be around 5-and-a-half to 6 feet.

Revealing mistake: Gandalf is supposed to be riding Shadowfax without any equipment, however, in close up shots of the horse, you can see the clear breast collar reflect light.

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

Trivia: At the end of the film, young Elanor Gamgee is played by none other than Sean Astin's own daughter in a cameo. Not only that, but Frodo Gamgee (the baby) is played by Maisie McLeod-Riera, the daughter of Sarah McLeod, who plays Sam's wife, Rosie.

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

Question: When Déagol finds the ring, Sméagol asks to have it. When Déagol asks why, Sméagol says because it's his birthday and that he wanted it. Was it really Sméagol's birthday or was he already so quickly drawn by the ring's power that he only claimed it was in hopes that Déagol would hand it over?

Answer: In the book, it absolutely was his birthday.

Brian Katcher

What chapter in the book where smeagol kills deagol?

DFirst1

The Fellowship of the Ring, chapter two 'The Shadow of the Past.'.

Brian Katcher

Answer: It probably wasn't his birthday on that exact day, that would be too much of a coincidence. But close is definitely possible, or at least closer than Deagol's. Both were immediately drawn by the ring, heavily enough that they fought over it and Smeagol becoming the ultimate winner. Both did everything to keep it.

lionhead

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

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