Continuity mistake: Frodo is in the boat and Sam yells out, "And I'm coming with you!" in the far wide shot, Frodo is not holding the oar in his hands, as he does in the close-up shot before and after. (01:30:20)
Continuity mistake: Boromir is blowing the Horn of Gondor, Aragorn is running to him, fighting Uruk-Hai on the way. At one point he stabs one through the stomach and is chased closely by three Uruk-Hai. When he slices another in the leg and then the neck, the three chasing closely behind him aren't in these two shots. They were too close to Aragorn not to be seen in those two shots. (01:22:05)
Continuity mistake: Pippin causes the skeletal body to fall into the well at Balin's Tomb. When the head falls in, Pippin spins around and behind him we see the body start to fall in and the pail is right next to the body. In the close-up shot of the body falling into the well the pail is not on the well. Then in the next few shots the pail is yet again sitting on the stone well showing the chain and pail falling into the well. (00:26:50)
Continuity mistake: During the prologue, in the first shot of Sauron's dismembered finger with the Ring on the ground next to Isildur, the bottom of the letters are facing the remaining finger. It is the line, "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them." In the next close-up of the dismembered finger, when Isildur picks it up, the Ring is now on the finger upside down from the previous shot, with the bottom of the letters facing the cut side of the finger. The words, "One Ring to find them," can be seen in this shot. (00:04:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene in Isengard, when the Orcs are digging the Uruk-Hai out of the mud, it shows a Uruk-Hai grabbing the throat of an Orc. When he first grabs him, and it shows the Uruk-Hai, its got relatively clean shoulders. When it shows him again, there are piles of mud on his shoulders and chest. Than when it shows him standing up, there is no mud on his shoulders or chest, but he is covered in slime. (01:14:05)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf says, "Mellon," the doors to Moria open and they all go in. Legolas soon picks up an arrow and says, "Goblins!" When he does so, we see the left long braid is loose at the end and coming undone. After Boromir shouts, "Legolas!" in the close-up we see the perfectly made long braid hanging down. (00:16:55)
Continuity mistake: During Bilbo's party, in the first shot, as Merry boosts Pip onto the back of the wagon, on the table in front of the tent there are pears, oranges and apples on it. Once Pippin is in the wagon, seen behind Merry, there is one red apple that has appeared at the front of the table to the left of the other fruit that wasn't there before. (00:21:20)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf and Elrond are talking about Frodo and his ability to withstand the power of the Ring, when the camera is in wide view you can see Gandalf holding his pipe in his hand with the stem near his chin, when the camera angle changes to a close up view of Gandalf the stem is nowhere to been seen. It happens about 4 times during the entire scene as the camera angle changes. (01:19:21)
Continuity mistake: At the well near Balin's Tomb there is a shot from above and it shows the body falling along with some chain, but some chain still remains on top. In the next close-up of the chain there is much more chain sitting on top of the well that has yet to fall in. The amount and position of the chain sitting on the well in these two shots differ greatly. Also in the second shot from inside the well looking up a good amount of pail should be seen over the ledge of the well, but it is not. (00:26:55)
Continuity mistake: When Frodo rescues Sam he grabs hold of his wrist and pulls him into the boat. In the shot in which Frodo grabs hold of the side of the boat with his left hand while pulling Sam into the boat with his right hand, we see the large brown mat on the floor of the boat. In this shot the mat is under Frodo's legs and Sam's sword is not at all under his cloak. In the following shot behind Frodo as Sam is trying to sit up the mat is not under Frodo's legs but only under Sam, and Sam's sword is now entirely under his cloak. (01:31:10)
Continuity mistake: At the Council of Elrond, when Merry and Pippin run up and yell, "We're coming too. You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!" Elrond's eye contact does not line up with the Hobbits, as they run past him towards Frodo. Then in the Hobbits' close-up, their height reaches just under Gandalf's and Legolas' shoulders, but in the wide shot the Hobbits are much, much, shorter. (01:44:50)
Continuity mistake: In Farmer Maggot's field, when Merry and Pippin drop in on Frodo, in the first shot, as they are bending down lifting the vegetables off the ground, Merry and Pip are standing side by side, Merry on Pippin's right. Opposite them are Frodo and Sam, with Sam on Frodo's right. In the next shot, when they're upright, Frodo and Sam are across from each other, as are Merry and Pippin, with Pippin on Sam's left. In the next shot, Pippin is now on Sam's right. The change in positions has nothing to do with Merry and Pippin lifting the vegetables off the ground. (00:52:00)
Continuity mistake: After Frodo rescues a drowning Sam and Sam declares that he made a promise not to leave Frodo, they embrace. In the first two close-ups, Frodo is clutching Sam's shoulder with his right hand, and his right arm doesn't go all the way around Sam's back. In the far wide shot, Frodo's arms go over Sam's shoulder and reach all the way around Sam's back in a tight hug. In the very next close-up, they are in the exact same positions as in the previous close-up. Since these are successive shots, the excuse can not be made that in the wide shot, Frodo put his arm around Sam differently. (01:31:40)
Continuity mistake: When the hobbits first arrive at the "Prancing Pony" the camera pans the top of the bar showing the guest ledger, an ink well off to the right along with a bar towel. When the camera angle changes to show the hobbits, a feather pen magically appears on top of the book, along with the ink well having been placed alongside the book and the bar towel folded on the opposite side of the book. (00:58:50)
Continuity mistake: At the shore, after remembering Gandalf's words, Frodo pushes the boat into the water, then jumps in, and the gear in the boat is seen. In the boat, as Frodo says, "Go back Sam," once more the gear in the boat is seen. When Frodo rescues Sam and he's climbing into the boat, the gear is seen again. In all three shots of the boat, some of that gear is arranged quite differently. (01:30:00)
Continuity mistake: In Farmer Maggot's field, when Merry places all the vegetables into Sam's arms one shot shows a cabbage with very loose leaves around it. In the next shot, the cabbage is now whole and firm, with almost no loose leaves around it and there are carrots that Merry placed on top of the cabbage. In the next shot the cabbage's look is different again and there are no carrots on top of the cabbage. When Sam turns to face Farmer Maggot's voice there are carrots on top again. In all of these shots, Sam's left collar is either under or over his jacket. (00:52:00)
Continuity mistake: When the argument breaks out during the Council of Elrond, the elves are standing on the viewer's left, and the dwarves on the right. But when a reflection of them is seen in the Ring, the elves are still on the left side and the dwarves on the right side.
Continuity mistake: During the prologue, when Sauron steps on Narsil, in the close-up shot of Isildur lifting the broken sword from below Sauron's foot, there are small stones around Narsil. In the shot just before, when Isildur reaches for Narsil, the sword has no small stones around it. (00:03:50)
Continuity mistake: Up on Weathertop, Aragorn throws a flaming torch at the Nazgul, and it hits him in the face, and there are flames inside the hood. In the next shot, the flames are on the outside of the hood, shoulder and sleeve, but there are no flames inside the hood, where they were in the previous shot. In this shot too, the stick from the torch shown is shorter than before. In the next shot, the flames are inside the hood again and the stick is much longer. (01:14:25)
Continuity mistake: At Amon Hen, when Frodo asks of Aragorn, "Can you protect me from yourself?" there is a close-up of the Ring in the palm of Frodo's hand, which is clearly Elijah Wood's hand - his fingernails are so bitten up that there are barely any left. A moment later, in the two following close-ups, first when Aragorn's hand nearly touches the Ring and then when Aragorn's hand closes Frodo's fingers over the Ring, Frodo's hand is certainly not Elijah Wood's - the fingernails are regular length. (01:17:25)
Answer: The temptation of the Ring is directly proportional to the power and ambition of the bearer. To someone like Gandalf - a mighty wizard who wants to save the world - the temptation would, over time, prove to be too much, and he's realistic enough to understand that about himself. With an ordinary hobbit who only wants a nice meal and some peace and quiet, the Ring has a lot less to work with.