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)
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: 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)
Other mistake: Just as Gandalf and the Rohirrim are riding into the Uruk-hai and they clash, go slowly, frame by frame. Legolas will be on the right of the screen. Keep going frame by frame. You'll soon see a few pretty clear frames of Arwen with her sword, on her white horse. She's sitting to the right of Legolas. Her long hair is pulled back into a braid. She's wearing pink sleeves. She's the only one on the screen with that color, so you can't miss it (slow motion can be helpful but is unnecessary). The official reason for editing out Arwen (given on the DVD extras) was that during filming Peter Jackson intentionally leaked an image of Arwen at Helm's Deep online to gauge fan reactions, then backpedalled over her presence after overwhelmingly negative fan reactions. (01:30:40)
Revealing mistake: Shadowfax, the horse that only Gandalf is supposed to be able to ride, will not take a saddle and bridle, so throughout the majority of the film, they try very hard to hide the saddle that Gandalf is obviously sitting on, even though you can see him holding the front of it underneath his robes, and sometimes, you can see him holding a very thin bridle. But right at the end of the film, when you have the shot of Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, etc. on horseback, you see Gandalf's feet in stirrups. (01:44:05)
Continuity mistake: When Merry and Pippin first enter Saruman's storeroom, in the close-up, Merry is holding an apple and a large glass carafe with wine. As the camera pans out, to show the whole storeroom, he is no longer holding the large glass carafe, but he is holding an apple and a turkey. Extended DVD. (01:40:20)
Continuity mistake: In the opening close-up shot of this scene just before Gollum says, "We wants it. We needs it. Must have the precious," Frodo and Sam are seen sleeping side by side. In the next wide shot of them they are sleeping perpendicular to each other. (01:38:35)
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)
Other mistake: When Faramir and his men are looking at the map of Middle-Earth in Henneth Annûn, you can see that the plain of Dagorlad is actually spelled Dagorland on the map. An odd mistake, especially considering the fact that they got it right when they spoke of it in the first movie. (01:45:20)
Continuity mistake: When Gimli is about to tell Eowyn that Aragorn fell, Gimli's axe has Orc blood on it, in the next shot there is no blood. There's not enough time for him to have cleaned his axe. (00:16:40)
Continuity mistake: When the Berserker Uruk-hai with the torch runs to the bomb to detonate it, Aragorn yells at Legolas to stop him. Legolas fires an arrow with green short fletch (feathers), then you see the berserker hit by a long white fletched arrow, the kind the Lothlorien Elves use. A second time, Aragorn yells to Legolas to kill him, and then again, the arrow shot by Legolas is not the same type as the one that hits the Uruk-hai. The Uruk is not hit by arrows of another Elf, it is Legolas that hits him, twice. (01:08:50)
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: When Faramir kneels in front of Sam and Frodo, in the close-up the hand of a Ranger is on Sam's shoulder. The hand and short fingernails are very dirty. After Faramir's lieutenant says, "You know the laws of our country..." the hand and longer fingernails are clean. Then in the next close-up the hand and short fingernails are dirty again. Sam's hood, hair, etc. differ in these shots too. (01:37:30)
Deliberate mistake: Just after they've clashed with the Warg, while riding on Arod, Legolas lets loose his first arrow and hits a Warg in his face and it flips over. In this first shot, the background behind this Warg is the same background as in the very next shot. This first background shot is really the successive shot of this second background shot. The shot just after Gimli falls off his horse, is the third successive shot, only it's been flipped. The same men on horses are riding across the field in the background, as this was one piece of footage that was cut into three parts. Warg and riders were added to the image, to make them appear different and one was flipped. (00:11:05)
Continuity mistake: Sam helps Frodo up and says, "There's some good in this world," then Faramir walks over and the Hobbits face him. Sam's rolled blanket is seen high up on his back, above his shoulders. Yet in the very next close-up, which is a flipped shot, the blanket is way down on his back, way below his shoulders. Frodo's hair is completely different in both shots too. (01:36:55)
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)
Continuity mistake: Just before Brego comes up to an unconscious Aragorn, his sword is lying on his left side, perpendicular to his body, with the blade facing towards his back and the hilt facing his front. In the next shot, before Aragorn even rolls over onto his back, the blade is now pointing up his back and the hilt is at his thigh. Also once again, the tear in the coat and shirt at Aragorn's left shoulder is very different in both shots, as it is in many of the following shots too. (00:20:55)
Other mistake: John Noble's name is misspelled in its second appearance in the SEV credits. It is correct in its initial appearance (the fades with the fancy font). However, in the short list of where the actors are listed with their character's name, it is spelled "John Nogle." (01:50:50)
Continuity mistake: Merry wakes up to find Pippin drinking the Ent water. During this scene, Merry's cloak changes, to either with or without leaves on it and the amount and position of the leaves vary too. (01:08:15 - 01:10:00)
Continuity mistake: After the shot of Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli riding towards Edoras, there's a close-up of Theodred. In this shot there is a red pillow next to Theodred's face on his right. In the wide shot behind Éowyn, there is no red pillow to the right of his face. Though there is in this shot a white pillow corner leaning on the headboard, that is not in the previous front wide shot. The fur cover at the foot of the bed lies differently in the front and back wide shots too. (01:13:35)
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 ★