Continuity mistake: In the second half of the film, Frodo has a scar on his lower right cheek, close to his chin. Many times throughout the rest of the film the scar changes position and size on his right cheek. It also appears on his left cheek in flipped shots (most obviously on the slopes of Mount Doom when Sam is cradling his head). (02:31:05 - 02:34:00)
Continuity mistake: Legolas sends an arrow directly to Grima atop Orthanc, and as Grima starts to fall back the arrow is quite visibly well below the coat's fur. However, when Grima actually hits the ground, the arrow is now higher up, protruding from the fur. (Extended Edition.) (00:16:35)
Continuity mistake: As Sam lies sleeping, Gollum sprinkles lembas crumbs on Sam's right side. 1st shot, the grey blanket completely covers Sam as Gollum begins to sprinkle it. 2nd shot, the blanket is at Sam's shoulder with a just a bit of cloak and sleeve showing. 3rd shot, the blanket is completely covering Sam's shoulders as the lembas is shown only on the blanket. Then Sam stands and the blanket is now on the ground (as mentioned in another mistake, there are no crumbs at all when he stands). Later, when Gollum accuses Sam in the 'framing' shot, the lembas crumbs are shown on Sam's cloak even though it was the grey blanket Gollum sprinkled it on earlier. (01:02:05)
Continuity mistake: When Frodo is stabbed by Shelob (the giant spider) and wrapped in her web, Sam thinks he's dead because he's not moving at all. From Sam's point of view Frodo's eyes are fixed wide open. A cut to a side view of Sam lifting Frodo shows Frodo's eyes shut. The next cut back to the original point of view shows Frodo's eyes back fixed open. (01:52:30)
Continuity mistake: When Gollum accuses Sam of eating the lembas bread, the crumbs on his shoulder don't appear until the shot when Gollum brushes them away. (01:03:30)
Continuity mistake: After Frodo wakes up in Minas Tirith, Merry and Pippin stand in the doorway. Their height reaches the middle of the ornate carving on the door in the close-up, but in their next wide shot running in, they are much shorter. When Legolas and Aragorn walk in, also in a close-up, their height is just a bit higher on that ornate carving than the two Hobbits' heights were. Then when Sam stands in the doorway his height also reaches the center of the carving. (02:51:20)
Continuity mistake: After Gollum says, "Clever Hobbits, to climb so high!" he jumps onto Frodo and Sam. Gollum then attacks Frodo and when he turns Frodo onto his back, Frodo's shirt is wide open at his neck/chest and the necklace and ring are gone. In the next close-up as Gollum chokes Frodo, and the following shots, the necklace is back. (02:37:45)
Continuity mistake: When Theoden is dying, the Witch King says, "Feast on his flesh," and there is no Mumak behind Theoden. As soon as Eowyn appears there is a giant Mumak carcass lying behind Theoden. The beast is seen in a few shots, but in quite a few shots, even the birds-eye views, no Mumak is anywhere near Theoden. (02:09:05)
Continuity mistake: In the opening shot as Gandalf stands on the balcony at Minas Tirith the many buildings beside the balcony are shown. When Gandalf says, "If the garrison at Osgiliath falls, the last..." as he continues, "...defense of this city will be gone," the buildings beside the balcony are once again visible. To say that the buildings are completely different in the two shots would be a vast understatement! (This has absolutely nothing to do with camera angles. Extended Edition.) (00:52:10 - 00:54:30)
Continuity mistake: When Gollum drops the lembas from the ridge, you see the leaf it was wrapped in fluttering away, and the wafers fall roughly straight down. However, when Sam finds it later, there are still lembas wafers wrapped in the leaf, along with a few lying around unwrapped. (01:02:15 - 01:40:20)
Continuity mistake: At the end, when the four Hobbits are entering Grey Havens, Sam is wearing a yellow vest with brown buttons over a white shirt. The vest can still be seen when Sam and Frodo hug. But when Frodo makes his way onto the ship and turns back to smile at his friends, Sam is no longer wearing the yellow vest. The vest is still not there when the three Hobbits turn to leave Grey Havens. But, when Sam returns home to the Shire and is holding his daughter, he is once again wearing the yellow vest. (03:09:05)
Continuity mistake: Gollum says, "Clever Hobbits, to climb so high!" and leaps onto Frodo and Sam. When he rolls down the steps with Frodo, while Frodo is lying face down, one of Frodo's back suspenders pops off and the button can be seen flying off his back towards the ground. Of course the suspenders are fine in the following shots. (02:37:40)
Continuity mistake: After Aragorn cuts off the head of the Mouth of Sauron and rides back with Gandalf, Legolas and Eomer to his army, the dead body, horse and decapitated head of the Mouth of Sauron are nowhere to be seen, while no time has passed. The horse hasn't run away, so it all just kind of disappeared. (Extended Edition)
Continuity mistake: In one of the final scenes of the movie, Frodo is writing in the book "There and Back Again," adding his own story. As he is finishing, he clutches the wound he received from one of the Nazgul in "The Fellowship of the Ring." Frodo does put the quill down, but that happens before he gets the pain in his chest. Frodo has the quill in his hand when he starts to write again. Frodo is not shown putting the quill down between these next consecutive shots. In the first close-up, Frodo has the quill in his hand as he clutches his chest, because of the pain. Next shot, Sam enters the room. In the next consecutive shot, Frodo, who is still clutching the pain in his chest, does not have the quill in his hand. (03:01:50)
Continuity mistake: There are trebuchets atop the walls of Minas Tirith; however, in the front wideshot (not side shots), as Faramir and the rest of the Gondorian soldiers ride towards Osgiliath, with Minas Tirith directly behind them, all the trebuchets are gone. (01:31:10)
Continuity mistake: Sam rolls down Shelob's back, then he grabs Sting and takes a stance against Shelob. In the next overhead wide shot, Sam stands at the ready and Shelob positions herself at the stairway. Frodo's wrapped body is nowhere to be seen at the bottom of the stairs in this mostly CG shot. (01:51:05)
Continuity mistake: When Denethor holds the Horn of Gondor, the metal loop (with rope), which is affixed at its wide end, is located at the outer curve where it is cloven. However in both FotR and TTT, the metal loop at the Horn's wide end, is located on the inner curve where it is cloven, on the opposite side. (There are only two metal loops and they are permanently affixed.) (00:44:50)
Continuity mistake: When Pippin finds Merry's cloak, in the shot facing the ground he picks it up and Merry's Elf leaf broach is vertical, as it points towards Pip's right. However, in the next shot facing Pippin, the broach is now horizontal and points to his left (viewer's right). (00:46:50)
Continuity mistake: Frodo falls at Shelob's Lair, and he lifts his head to see Galadriel, as she reaches her hand out to him, In the first close-up of Frodo he has a green leaf in his hair, in the second close-up, it's a brown leaf and in the third close-up it's the green leaf again. There are also differences with other leaves around him. (01:45:25)
Continuity mistake: After Denethor looks down at the Orc army, mumbling about Rohan's desertion, Gothmog laughs as the stones are catapulted towards Minas Tirith. Then there are two close-ups of people running and screaming and at the start of the second shot, Pippin is fleeing off screen at the right. But that's impossible, Pippin is still with Faramir, near the White Tree. (02:00:55)
Answer: There are only five wizards. Saruman and Gandalf are heavily involved, as we see. Radagast, while not mentioned in the film, has a particular affinity with the birds and animals - it is he who sends the Eagles to the last battle, and to rescue Gandalf from Isengard. The final two, Alatar and Pallando, known as the Blue Wizards, went into the far eastern regions of Middle-Earth and never returned. Tolkien felt that they would ultimately have fallen from grace, much as Saruman did.
Tailkinker ★