Lord Of The Rings: 10 Amusing Goofs And Mistakes That Made It Into The Fellowship Of The Ring

Every big Hollywood production is loaded with errors, goofs and plot holes. It’s practically par for the course on a production with so much going on, and so many people involved. Even the most brilliant and accomplished filmmakers fall prey to this all the time, and it’s fun to point out the goofs and flubs that make it final cuts of big-budget productions like Pirates of the Caribbean.

Lord of the Rings is no different. The first chapter of this iconic fantasy franchise is loaded with mistakes from start to finish. Though the end result was a cinematic masterpiece, it’s still worth pointing out a few of the goofs that went unchecked. Here’s ten of the most glaring.

10 One Shy In The Nine

The opening prologue gives some exposition about the nature of the Rings used to control the various races of Middle Earth. Shots are shown of the Elves, Dwarves and Men each brandishing their Rings of Power in front of the camera.

When the shot changes to the nine Rings given to the world of men, they all hold them up before slowly lowering them in front of the camera. All but one, to the far-right who appears to be a bit uncertain as to what he was supposed to do when the cameras rolled.

9 Helmet Hijinks

It’s practically impossible to film a movie of such grand scale and spectacle as Lord of the Rings and not have a few continuity mistakes here and there. The first of the bunch occurs during the prologue sequence where the combined forces of Middle Earth square off against the mighty Sauron and the armies of Mordor.

When Sauron strikes King Elendil and sends him crashing into a wall, he lands dead with his helmet still on his head. A shocked Isildur races to his side and the camera switches to a new shot showing the helmet beside Elendil’s head, instead.

8 The Countryside Car

Many fans missed it, but the infamous countryside car has been the subject of hilarity among the LOTR fan community for many years. It occurs during the scene where Frodo and Sam make it to the edge of the Shire boundary, and the latter remarks how it’s the farthest he’s ever been from home.

To the side is a smoke trail and a reflective windshield indicating a car putting through the countryside. Super-director Peter Jackson confirmed the existence of the car in the theatrical edition, and used digital editing techniques to remove it for the eventual DVD release. The result is an effect that looks more like chimney smoke.  An unaltered shot exists in the Fellowship behind-the-scenes appendices material.

7 Performance Cart Tires

Nothing says anachronism than technology not yet invented showing up in a Lord of the Rings film. This particular goof shows up in the highly memorable heartwarming Shire scene at the beginning of the film, just as Gandalf first arrives. He plays it cool as a group of children run behind him excitedly in the hopes that he’ll do something amazing.

Before Gandalf triggers a set of fireworks that delight the children, the camera switches to a point of view shot from the rear of the cart. On the ground are treaded tire tracks no doubt left over from the crew vehicles arriving on set that day.

6 Isildur’s Hiking Boots

The prologue of Fellowship tells the quick backstory of how Isildur came to defeat Sauron and claim the Ring of Power for himself. It depicted he and his party being ambushed by orcs on a remote road which forces him to put the Ring on to avoid being detected. Moments later, the Ring slips from his finger and abandons him to a hail of arrows in his back.

As the camera points down on Isildur’s floating corpse, one can clearly make out the modern grips on the soles of his boots. This was undoubtedly a functional decision by the costume department to make sure the actors could move about in the rough terrain, but it’s comical to see nonetheless.

5 Frodo & The Ring

During the scene when the wise wizard Gandalf takes the One Ring and tosses it into the fireplace, a continuity error takes place that has left many LOTR fans scratching their heads, even to this day. Gandalf extracts the ring from the fire and drops it into Frodo’s palm before asking if he can see any markings on it.

At first, Frodo denies seeing anything, only to then say “Wait,” a few moments later. Unfortunately, the camera cuts back to a Ring with no markings at all, negating the need for Frodo to say anything. Only afterwards do the words begin to appear on outer band. Tolkien’s original novel does not reference this either, so it’s clearly a mistake.

4 One Wild Bump

After the Ring Wraiths fail to catch their quarry in the town of Bree, Aragorn leads the Hobbits towards Rivendell where they will be safe. The trek is a perilous one, and includes stepping off the beaten path and taking an alternative route in order to stay concealed.

When Frodo asks where they’re being taken, Aragorn replies “Into the wild.” Moments later, his bow accidentally strikes the camera, causing it to wobble. This was fixed in the recent 4K release using image stabilization.

3 Arwen’s Missing Ears

After Frodo is stabbed by the Witch-King on Weathertop, the poison of the Morgul blade begins seeping through his system and corrupting him. Realizing that time is short, Aragorn tries to slow the poison long enough to get him to Rivendell. Meanwhile, Arwen emerges and rushes to his side to help.

When she first kneels down beside Frodo, her elf ears appear to be conspicuously missing from her wardrobe ensemble. In the very next shot, they are attached and clearly defined. It’s possible that her hair was partially hiding them, but the differences in upper ear shape suggest not.

2 Swords Are Actually Of Use

Gandalf might have been a bit hyperbolic when the Fellowship stumbled upon a horrific Balrog in the Mines of Moria, but it does yield one massive continuity goof, nonetheless. When Gandalf tells Aragorn to lead the others over the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm, he informs them that “swords are no more use here.”

Unfortunately, this flies in the face of the opening shot of the follow-up sequel The Two Towers where Gandalf is seen HALO-dropping through the bowels of Moria to attack the Balrog in freefall. He clearly uses Glamdring during that scene to land blows against the fearsome creature, and later slays it outright with a stab to the chest.

1 Just A Flesh Wound

In the final act of the film when Boromir valiantly defends Merry and Pippin from an Uruk-hai attack, he is taken down by several large arrows fired by Lurtz. As he prepares to slay Boromir at point-blank range, Aragon shows up and the two engage in a brutal fight to the finish. After killing Lurtz, Aragorn rushes to Boromir’s side after running through a field of dead Uruk-hai.

One isn’t quite so dead, however. As Aragorn runs past, he sits up a little, which is clearly visible on screen. It’s easy to miss due to the speed of the shot, but rather embarrassing as far as goofs go.

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