Continuity mistake: When the Uruk-hai stop to rest by Fangorn Forest, they drop Merry and Pippin right next to each other, yet Pippin then has to crawl some distance towards Merry so that he can speak to him. [On the Extended DVD, Peter Jackson says that parts of this scene were shot two years apart, and that in fact it was made up of shots for two distinct scenes. Either of these might explain this discontinuity in positioning.] (00:27:55)
Continuity mistake: When Faramir and his Lieutenant are looking at the map, just after it's been unfolded, the Lieutenant puts his right hand out and points on the map with his right hand. In the following close-up, his left hand is doing the pointing on the map. All the close-up shots of the map were added later during pickups, to show more clearly where various characters are. (00:27:55)
Continuity mistake: When Faramir and his men are looking at the map of Middle-Earth in Henneth Annûn, Minas Morgul is not shown anywhere on map. It should be at the end of the road leading east out of Osgiliath. This leads us to believe there's an non-fortified road leading straight into Mordor. (00:28:10)
Continuity mistake: When Merry is running away from the Orc in Fangorn Forest he has a big gash on the left side of his head, yet when he's in Treebeard's hands it has changed to his right side. Due to shot/scene flipping, this occurs numerous times. (00:28:30 - 00:39:00)
Continuity mistake: At Henneth Annun, Frodo and Sam have their blindfolds removed, and in this wide shot, behind them to their right one of the Rangers throws a cloth onto a crate that has objects lying on it, and sits down on the sack. In the semi close-up shots of Frodo and Sam, the cloth the Ranger threw lies differently and the things lying on the crate are different too. No one touched them. (00:28:55)
Continuity mistake: At Henneth Annun, Frodo and Sam have their blindfolds removed, and to their left are two barrels. In the 1st shot, one barrel has a brown cloth draped on it with a bowl of nuts and cracked shells and on the second barrel, candles that are not lit. In the 2nd shot, Faramir walks in and to his right the brown cloth under the bowl of nuts is draped differently, the candles, which are lit now, are a different variety and there are also ceramic jugs near the barrels now. After Frodo answers, "Yes. For my part," Faramir gets up and as he walks, the items on the barrels look the same as in the first shot. (00:29:00)
Continuity mistake: Merry and Pippin were bound when taken by the Uruk-hai, and the bonds weren't cut until after they managed to escape during the fight. Yet, when the horse almost crashed down on Pippin, he had his arms spread out up near his face, not bound, even though they weren't cut until later. In the next shot, his hands are bound again. (00:31:15)
Continuity mistake: As Faramir holds the Horn of Gondor, the rope is attached to metal loops on the smaller half of the horn - without the mouthpiece. However, in FotR, when Boromir is hit with the third arrow and the Horn of Gondor is cloven in two, the rope is attached to the metal loops on the half with the long mouthpiece. (There are only two metal loops and they are permanently affixed.) (00:31:50)
Continuity mistake: As Faramir recalls Boromir's speech, the Horn of Gondor is slung over Boromir's shoulder. In the shots from behind, the Horn is high up on his back, next to his cloak. In the shots from the front, the Horn is much lower at his hip, under his cloak. (00:31:55)
Continuity mistake: When Boromir first goes over and hugs Denethor, Boromir puts both of his arms under both of Denethor's arms for the hug, as seen from Faramir's POV. In the next shot, from behind Denethor, we now see Boromir's left arm is on Denethor's right shoulder and Boromir's right arm is under Denethor's left arm. Extended DVD. (00:33:25)
Continuity mistake: Just after Eomer removes his helmut in the close-up shot, in the wide shot of the group, look closely at Eomer's mouth. You can see it is moving as if he was talking, but in that shot, there is no dialogue. (00:33:30)
Other mistake: When Eomer is mounting his horse after giving Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli the two horses, you can see his sword falling out of its sheath. (00:35:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene just after the Riders of Rohan give horses to Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, you see them riding away. Two riders at the back of the group are riding white horses. Yet in the next shot, there are only riders on black horses at the back of the group. (00:35:20)
Continuity mistake: After Eomer gives Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli the horses and the Riders of Rohan are riding away, Arod (Legolas' horse) is being held by Legolas' right hand, but in the long shot, Arod is being held by Legolas' left hand and the horse is several feet to the left. (00:35:20)
Continuity mistake: Many times, when Gimli is seen with other people from a distance, it is clearly a smaller double which can be seen from the dark makeup around the eyes. This is especially noticeable when the shots are intercut with close-ups of Gimli. (00:37:55)
Continuity mistake: Merry and Pippin run into Fangorn Forest and drop down on the ground. First there is a wide shot of Pippin falling, then there's a close-up of them, and last there's an extreme wide shot of the area. The area that Merry and Pippin are lying in is different in all three shots. (00:38:15)
Continuity mistake: Grishnak grabs Merry in Fangorn and says, "Let's put a maggot hole in your belly", raising his blade to stab Merry in the stomach. When he's stomped by Treebeard he's farther away from Merry, not even in arm's reach to stab him. (00:39:20)
Continuity mistake: Just after Treebeard stomps on Grishnakh, with his left leg, he leans forward on that left leg, then Pippin yells, "Run Merry!" Then we see in the side shot that Treebeard now picks up his right leg and starts to move it forward. Then mid-step, in the next front shot, we see that Treebeard is now putting his left foot down, not his right. This has nothing to do with camera angles. (00:39:35)
Continuity mistake: Before Gandalf makes his reappearance, when Gimli says "The air is so close in here" he has two axes at his waist, one in hand (and one on his back as seen earlier). The axe on his waist at his left has a solid head. Later, when Aragorn tells him to lower his axe, one is missing from his waist. It reappears in his hand just as Aragorn starts to draw his sword. Then, just as the three are about to attack the wizard, Gimli doesn't appear to have an axe in his left hand. Yet, in the subsequent cut, he throws one with his left hand. Then, when Gandalf reveals himself and Gimli bows his head, the solid-bladed axe appears to have moved to the right-hand side of Gimli's waist (as they cower in Gandalf's brightness). (00:39:55 - 00:42:00)
Continuity mistake: When Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas stand and then enter Fangorn, there are multiple shots that are flipped and then not, back and forth. For example, when they get ready to fight the White Wizard, the shots are flipped. The quivers and brooches of Aragorn and Legolas are the wrong way. (00:40:50)
Chosen answer: "Do they give good sport" is simply a way of asking whether they're being kept alive to provide later entertainment; could they be used in some sort of organised hunt, could they serve as gladiatorial fodder in an arena fight, that sort of thing. The weird thing with the tongue really just seems to be a sort of odd tic, designed to emphasise his rather disgusting nature.
Tailkinker ★