Continuity mistake: Frodo awakens at Minas Tirith, sits up in bed and sees Gandalf. There is a silver pitcher on the dresser to his left and the pitcher's handle points away from Frodo. Yet when Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli look at the three Hobbits, it is a different pitcher entirely, and I might add with the handle now pointing towards Frodo. (02:49:20 - 02:50:50)
Super Grover
6th Jun 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
6th Jun 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: At Rivendell, Arwen sits holding the book and we see the bouquet of flowers, the chair at the side of the table faces the camera, the pillows beside her that switch positions and the patterned floor is brightly colored rose tones with high gloss. Yet, in the close-up dropping the book (and following shots), though the floor has the same pattern, it's now light pastel tones, matte and granite-like, with no gloss at all. After Elrond lifts the book, in the wide shot the flowers are very different and the chair is now in front of the table facing the chaise lounge. Then when Elrond takes her hands in the next shot the chair is on the side of the table again. (00:30:15)
4th Jun 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: When Pippin steals the palantir, Gandalf's right hand grasps the sword below the hilt's cross-guard in all of the close-ups. However, in the wide shots Gandalf's hand grasps the grip of the sword above the hilt's cross-guard. The bed sheets differ between the shots as well. (00:20:00)
3rd Jun 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: In Edoras, after Gandalf lifts Pippin onto Shadowfax, as Gandalf says, "Three days ride..." Pippin's left hand is seen and the fingers are very short and very chunky - NOT because his fingers are clasped - it is obviously the scale double's hand in this specific shot. Then when Merry hands Pippin the pouch of Longbottom leaf, Pippin's left hand is seen again and Billy Boyd's hand and fingers are very thin and lanky. The two hands seen in these two consecutive shots quite obviously do not look anything alike. (00:25:35)
3rd Jun 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: When Shadowfax breaks down the door to the Tomb of the Stewards, in the shot facing Gandalf he grabs the guard's spear and points the blunt end towards Denethor on the pyre as Shadowfax rides forward. In the next shot from behind, never altering his tight grip, now the tip of the spear is pointed at Denethor as he charges forward. (02:02:10)
3rd Jun 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: At Minas Tirith, while speaking with Gandalf, Pippin examines the Gondorian sword as the rest of his garments lie in front of him on the bed. The first shot faces him as does the third shot, but the middle shot is over his shoulder. The gloves' position differs in that middle shot. (00:37:15)
2nd Jun 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: When Gandalf and Pippin reach Minas Tirith, Gandalf's cloak is fairly clean. As they ride up through all of the gates of Minas Tirith, the bottom of Gandalf's white cloak is filthy, yet when they reach the top Gandalf's cloak is much cleaner again. During their ride glimpses of the stirrups are visible. (00:32:00 - 00:33:00)
2nd Jun 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: After Smeagol kills Deagol, Smeagol opens up Deagol's fist to claim the Ring. In the first shot, Smeagol leans over Deagol, then Smeagol's right hand holds Deagol's wrist and Smeagol's left hand opens Deagol's fingers. Yet in the close-up, now Smeagol's left hand hold's Deagol's wrist and Smeagol's right hand opens Deagol's fingers to reveal the Ring. (00:04:20)
24th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: As soon as Aragorn walks into Theoden's tent, behind him stands a suit of armour. While speaking with Elrond about the Army of the Dead, there is a sudden gust of wind and the armour falls in the background in this one shot. Throughout the entire scene preceding and following this one shot, this armour is seen upright. (01:17:20)
15th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: Pippin is being tended to by Gandalf after being affected by Sauron through the palantir. The blankets under Pip's head differ in some of his close-ups. Then when looking down on Pippin, Gandalf's hand is touching Pippin's head throughout most of these shots. Though when looking up at Gandalf, his hand is not at Pippin's head in at least two shots that are wide enough to see a hand, if it were there. (00:21:45)
15th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: When Pippin approaches sleeping Gandalf there is a shot of Gandalf hugging the cloth covered Palantir, yet when Pippin waves his hand in front of Gandalf's eyes the cloth is wrapped around the Palantir differently. When Pip places it on the blankets and opens the grey cloth, in the first close-up, then a wide shot and subsequent close-ups, the cloth lying around the palantir is arranged differently. (00:20:20)
15th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: Éowyn removes her helmet and declares, "I am no man!" In the shot of her stabbing the Witch King, her hair on both sides is in front of her shoulders. However in the shots preceding and following this one, the hair on her left side is tucked behind her shoulder. (02:11:50)
8th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: As Theoden lies trapped underneath the horse's body, there are many other bodies and armour lying all around him. During the entire scene, until Theoden's death, many of those bodies/armour change entirely or change positions. (02:14:10 - 02:16:10)
8th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: Smeagol walks into the cave as his voice-over says, "They called us murderer." He coughs, and "gollum, gollum" comes out. In the 1st wide shot as he's clutching himself, Smeagol's fingernails are very thick, long and stubby. In the 2nd, a close-up of his hand, it reveals the Ring in his palm and his fingernails are perfectly normal and flat with dirt underneath. In the 3rd, a wide shot, his hand is open and the fingernails are very thick, long and stubby again. The 1st and 3rd shots are one sequence that was split to add the close-up in the middle. (00:04:50)
4th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: Faramir and his men are riding towards the gate of Minas Tirith on their way back to Ithilian. They ride past a crowd of many people. In this first shot, they pass Billy and Katie Jackson (Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson's children in one of their RotK cameos) in the crowd, as the riders head from left to right on the screen. The next two times Billy and Katie Jackson are shown amongst the crowd, the riders are going from right to left on the screen. The children did not cross the path of the riders to stand on the other side, nor is it the camera's angle. (01:06:30)
4th Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: At Isengard, Pippin reaches for the palantir in the water. In the first shot underwater, he clutches the palantir tightly with both hands and the lines in the palantir are vertical. In the next consecutive shot as he brings it up out of the water, still clutching it tightly, the lines are now horizontal in the Palantir. He did not shift the seeing-stone in his tight grip, it was just simply shot at different times. (These palantir's lines permanently encompass the circumference of the surface of the sphere, they do not change.) (00:11:35)
3rd Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: At the Grey Havens, Cirdan the Shipwright stands behind Elrond, Celeborn and Galadriel. There are five mooring pilings on the dock near them. 1st shot, Cirdan stands to the right of the second piling (on the left). 2nd shot, he stands in front of the second piling. 3rd shot, he stands to the right of the second piling again. 4th shot, Cirdan now stands behind the second mooring piling. This has nothing to do with camera angles. (03:04:20)
3rd Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: At Bag End, as Frodo finishes writing in the book, from the hall the camera pans inside the study. The shadow cast on the fireplace by the bookstand differs in the close-ups of Frodo. Some of the items on the fireplace mantle differ and the two pipes on the shelves of the desk appear in the close-ups as well. (03:01:10)
3rd Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: As Frodo and Sam walk in Mordor, Sauron's Eye turns towards them and Sam yells, "Frodo, get down!" Frodo collapses and when he hits the ground, in the close-up, the Ring on the necklace is at his right cheek. In the following wide shot, the Ring is lying lower down on his shirt. In his next close-up, the Ring is at his right cheek again. (00:29:20)
1st Mar 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Continuity mistake: At Rivendell, the shards of Narsil shown lying on the cloth include the hilt, four small shards and the long pointy tip. In Fellowship, there are also two shots with two different versions of the shards, within the same scene with Boromir and Aragorn, also mentioned in Mistakes. In RotK, when the two Elves are reforging the blade, in one shot the pointy tip of the blade is shown with the tip broken. Though, in all three of the shards' shots in FotR and RotK the pointy tip is unbroken. Also, the long tip shown in the first shot lying on the cloth is much longer than the tip being shown while being reforged. This has nothing to do with camera angles. (00:29:55)
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