Continuity mistake: Right at the end, Aragorn is telling Legolas and Gimli, "Let us hunt some Orc." In the two close-ups of Legolas that follow, the colour of the feathers on his arrows are light green, differing from the Mirkwood arrows he always carries. These close-ups were shot as pickups, months after filming ended. Commentary, extended DVD. (01:29:35)
Continuity mistake: At Balin's Tomb, in the first shot Boromir's right wrist is caught up on the Troll's chain and he's holding his shield with his left hand. In the second shot, the Troll flings Boromir across towards the wall, and as Boromir is flying across, he is not holding his shield. In this next shot, as soon as Boromir hits the wall, he has the shield in his left hand again. (00:30:00)
Continuity mistake: When the four Hobbits run out of the corn field, Pip stops short at the edge and there's a shot of the slope below. Next shot, when Merry and Frodo push up behind Pippin, Sam appears directly behind Merry, to his right, and stands there looking down. Yet, in the next side shot, from far behind, Sam is still running up to the rest of them, as his head is turned looking over his left shoulder. He then ends up on the opposite side from the first shot, to Frodo's left. (00:52:25)
Continuity mistake: Having just arrived on shore at Amon Hen, in the first shot Legolas says, "It is not the eastern shore that worries me." Then as he says, "Something draws near", his hair lies differently at his shoulders. In the next shot, as he says, "I can feel it", his hair now lies the same as in the first shot. (01:13:10)
Continuity mistake: When the Hobbits enter Bree through the gate, there is a distance shot from above, and the principal actors have clearly been replaced by their shorter doubles. Worse than that, however, is that their sizes are completely wrong. The last Hobbit through the gate is stocky - much stockier than any of the Hobbits really are. And he isn't even supposed to be Sam, who is the stockiest of the Hobbits. When the view switches to a close-up of the principal actors from inside the gate, it's actually Merry who's last - and he certainly isn't stocky. (00:55:20)
Continuity mistake: When Arwen is carrying Frodo to the Ford, during the close-up of his face, it is covered in a green slime/pus-type substance (coming out of his eyes and mouth). At the Ford when Arwen confronts the Black Riders, his face is clean. [Peter Jackson has stated that the pus was used in one scene and afterwards they decided it was too gross and didn't use it again. That's why it appears and disappears. Still a mistake though.] (01:18:15)
Continuity mistake: At the battle on Amon Hen, Strider falls back and lets an Uruk Hai fall into his sword. In the next shot you´ll see Strider drawing his sword from the Uruk between his arm and his chest (seen on the left side of the scene). (01:16:13)
Continuity mistake: When Frodo rescues a drowning Sam, once Sam is in the boat, when the camera faces Sam, it is clear that the boat remains perpendicular to the shoreline, as they speak and hug. However, in the wide shot of them hugging, the boat is parallel to the shore. Another close-up on Sam and the boat is still perpendicular to the shoreline. In the next wide shot, they row away, and head for the Eastern shore. (01:31:20)
Continuity mistake: After Frodo runs from Boromir, invisible and wearing the Ring on his right hand, he sees the Eye. As he starts to fall, with his left hand he pulls the Ring off the finger of his right hand. Yet, in the next shot still falling, now visible, we see his right hand closed in a fist and when he lands on the ground, he's clutching the Ring in his right hand. (01:16:50)
Continuity mistake: When Bilbo is writing at his desk, in the first far shot, the book stand to his right has an assortment of papers on it. In the shot from behind, when he starts to say, "Concerning Hobbits," the papers on that book stand are arranged differently. In the shot after another Hobbit picks his ear, Bilbo stretches at his desk and the papers on the stand are arranged differently again. Later still, when he says, "Sticklebacks, where is that boy?" in this shot, the papers revert to the way they were in the other previous close-up shot from behind. In the next shot from behind too, the papers are arranged the same way as in the first far shot. (00:08:25)
Continuity mistake: At Balin's Tomb, after Gimli kneels and cries, "Oh no! No!" there is an overhead shot of the room. In this shot we see the papers littering the floor around the tombstone. Next we see an extreme close-up of the tombstone, with the skeletal head to its left and the absence of papers around it. Then, in a close-up of the skeleton holding the book, we see papers again, but they are lying about differently than in the overhead shot. Then in the next shot as Gandalf hands Pippin his hat and staff, the papers are the same again, as in the previous overhead shot. (00:25:20)
Continuity mistake: When Bilbo is leaving, he drops the Ring at the doorway, turns and walks out the door. Gandalf steps outside after him. Gandalf never pulls at the door, nor does he even touch it. He stands outside talking with Bilbo. When the door is shown behind Gandalf it is wide open. Bilbo walks down the path with Gandalf looking at him. The next shot is a close-up and we see the shadow of the door opening to reveal the Ring. Then a shot looking up at Gandalf as he steps through the doorway. (00:23:40 - 00:24:30)
Continuity mistake: Gandalf and Frodo ride towards Bag End and in the close-up as Frodo says, "Never had any adventures or did..." they pass the stone wall to his right. In the next wide shot, Gandalf says, "If you're referring to the incident..." and they ride further away from the stone wall, then pass the huge tree on Frodo's right. However in Frodo's next close-up, they're closer to the stone wall and haven't passed the huge tree yet. (00:13:45)
Continuity mistake: At Bag End, with his left hand Bilbo holds a plate with pieces of a sponge cake. The small part of the sponge cake is to the left of his thumb, and the large part is opposite his thumb. When there is knocking at the door, the smaller piece is to the right of his thumb. When he's at the window, the smaller piece is to the left again. As he runs into the kitchen, the large part of the sponge cake is now by his thumb. The plate never switched hands. (00:17:35)
Continuity mistake: When Boromir blows the Horn of Gondor in the close-up (the second time he is seen doing it), slung around his neck are both sides of the horn's attached rope in front of his torso, as he drops the horn to grasp the sword with both hands to fight the Uruk beside him. In the following shots it varies, the horn is either slung over the same way or it is slung over his shoulder, with one side of the rope at his back! (01:22:05)
Continuity mistake: When Galadriel gives Sam the Elven hithlain rope, in the close-up her hand is above the rope - palm side down, as she lets go and hands it to him, yet in the wideshot her hand is under the rope, palm side up as she lets go. (01:04:05)
Continuity mistake: Frodo enters a dark Bag End and Gandalf grabs Frodo's shoulder. In the next shot Frodo spins around and Gandalf removes his hand. However in the last shot facing Gandalf, Gandalf still has his hand on Frodo's shoulder. (00:36:30)
Continuity mistake: At Amon Hen while battling the Uruk-hai, Legolas yells to Aragorn, "Aragorn, go." In the next far wide shot, we see Aragorn run between the statue and Legolas, reaching the pillar. In the very next close-up, Aragorn is just running past the statue on his left, as Legolas kills two Uruks with one arrow. (01:19:25)
Continuity mistake: During the prologue, after Isildur cuts off Sauron's fingers, in the first side shot, Isildur, who is lying on the ground looks to his left at the Ring on the finger near him. His hair is on his face and nose. Then, in the very next front shot, *before* the wind gust from Sauron, he is still lying down and there is no hair on his face. (00:04:00)
Continuity mistake: At Amon Hen, Merry and Pippin run from the Uruk-hai after distracting them from Frodo's escape. After they run over the bridge, the next shot is of the two of them stopping short when Merry sees more oncoming Uruk-hai. In this shot it is only Pippin's Elven brooch that is facing the opposite way it normally faces. (01:20:55)
Answer: "Fly, you fools"