The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Corrected entry: When we first see Shadowfax, the wild horse that only Gandalf can ride, without a saddle or bridle, he has a breast collar mark. (00:57:45)

Correction: Shadowfax was not a wild horse originally. He was the King's horse, born and bred in the King's stable and only the King of Rohan was allowed to ride him. After Gandalf took him away, Shadowfax became wild, and would not let anyone else near him, until Gandalf reappeared.

Twotall

Corrected entry: Merry and Pippin are brought by Treebeard to see Gandalf in Fangorn. Later, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are told by Gandalf that the hobbits had been there. Then Aragorn mentions Gandalf's name, and he recalls that as being his name. Now, during the hobbits' prior meeting with Gandalf, one of them would have probably called him by his name, and therefore, he would have heard it before Aragorn gets there.

Correction: It was Gimli who first mentioned Gandalf's name. Besides, he says, "Yes, Gandalf the Grey, that was my name. I am Gandalf the White". The point is that he is now a White Wizard and not that he does not remember his name.

Corrected entry: It is rather astonishing that the German dubbed version is following Tolkien's guidelines for pronunciation more closely than the original English version. In the Appendixes to the novel (Appendix F, 'On Translation') Tolkien states that Sam's name is not of Hebraic origin but being short for 'Samwise' (an Anglosaxon word, Tolkien being lecturer for Anglosaxon and Old English) and therefore not to be pronounced similar to 'Sam' as being the abbreviation for 'Samuel'. Instead he would have had this name pronounced [sahm] (the 'a' like in British English 'fast'). Likewise goes for placenames as 'Isengard' ('Isen' rhyming with 'treason').

Correction: Actually this doesn't have to be the case. In Sweden the A in Samuel is pronounced like in British English "fast", yet in the nickname Sam the A is pronounced differently. There's no reason why this couldn't be the case in Middle-Earth too.

Corrected entry: In the extended DVD when Eomer finds the king's son, there's a black and yellow bit of tape lying around.

Correction: That's much too vague to be considered valid; where and when precisely can this be seen?

Twotall

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Mistakes

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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)

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Quotes

Sam: It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.

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Trivia

Trivia: During post-production, one of the effects technicians had to transport the first effects shots to a special location, since their computer could not send them all the way to Peter Jackson. After storing them in his iPod, he walked out into the street and was targeted by two thugs. After some serious sprinting, he managed to reach a hotel and save WETA's visual effects from falling into criminal hands.

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Questions

Question: Maybe I missed something, but why didn't Gandalf notice that Sam was not there? He acts surprised when Aragorn says that Frodo didn't go to Mordor alone, Sam went with him. Yet, he has already seen Merry and Pippin, and Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn are with him, and he knows that Frodo went on alone, so where does he think Sam is? Please excuse me if I missed something.

Answer: The movie makes it clear that Gandalf has lost some of his memory and his personality has changed. Gandalf actually did die and pass over to the "other side", as it were but was sent back to complete his task. However, he was sent back as a similar, but different entity. Gandalf the White does not have all the memories of Gandalf the Grey, at least at first. He doesn't even remember that he used to be called Gandalf the Grey until someone points this out to him. It is implied that Gandalf doesn't even remember Sam until Aragorn mentions him. Gandalf then searches his memories and remembers who Sam is and his eventual importance to Frodo's quest. When he finally remembers this, he is pleased that Sam went with Frodo, as he will play a crucial role near the end of the journey.

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