Several times when the Fellowship faces orcs, Frodo's sword, Sting, does not glow blue.
Sam's clothes are completely dry, moments after Frodo saved him from drowning.
In the duel between Aragorn and Lurtz, Aragorn is thrown against a tree and his sword falls from his hand. The next shot shows Lurtz throwing his shield pinning Aragorn to the tree, and his sword again falls from his hand.
Gandalf's belt repeatedly switches between being tied and untied as he speaks to Bilbo.
Boromir's shield continually disappears and reappears during the battle at the tombs in Moria.
When Gandalf visits Minas Tirith and reads the scroll of Isildur, first part of the ring inscription on the scroll has a missing vowel in Black Speech. Correct word is "durbatulûk" however it is written as "durbatlûk" in the movie.
When Gandalf is reading Isildur's record of the ring in the vaults of Gondor, he starts by reading "The year 3434 of the Second Age..." and goes on to describe how Isildur, High King of Gondor came to possess the Ring of Power. However, in year 3434 the Last Alliance had just entered Mordor. It was another seven years, S.A. 3441 before the Ring was cut from Sauron's hand. This Scroll of Isildur was written in the first or second year of the Third Age.
To narrow a gap for leaping, Aragorn and Frodo direct a giant teetering column by leaning their bodies. Even by the interesting physics of Middle Earth it is patently impossible for just two people - let alone a man and a hobbit - to quickly shift a rock mass of thousands of tons by mere leaning, especially one already tipping the other way. One might suppose that Gandalf lent a helpful push with his wizardry, but there is no hint of such.
In the scene at the Prancing Pony, Pippin says that Frodo is his second cousin once removed on his (Frodo's) mother's side and his third cousin twice removed on his father's side. Pippin's great-great-grandfather Ponto Baggins and Frodo's great-grandfather Largo Baggins were brothers. Frodo and Pippin are only one generation apart in the family tree, so they're actually third cousins once removed.
Gimli pledges his axe to Frodo at the Council of Elrond several minutes after pulverizing an axe in attempt to smash the ring. In fact, he snatched the axe of the dwarf next to him for that purpose.
The same ring that is the right size on the enormous Sauron also fits snugly on the tiny Frodo.
The book explains that the ring conforms to fit its current master, and the movie shows it subtly shrinking or expanding.
The book explains that the ring conforms to fit its current master, and the movie shows it subtly shrinking or expanding.
Gandalf loses his staff when he is imprisoned by Saruman, but later he has it again. Or so it seems. Actually, it's a visibly different staff. He also seems to lose his hat, but he leaves it on his horse, whose fate is never established. Bill the pony remembers his way back to Bree in the book after he is released by Sam at the entrance to the mines of Moria. In the book, Gandalf stops at Bree just before being imprisoned and shortly after escaping. It doesn't seem implausible that his horse could have remembered its way back to Bree or maybe even Rivendell. Gandalf could have retrieved his hat when he made his way there himself.
The main Ringwraith on Weathertop draws its sword twice as it approaches Frodo.
However, this stuttering image may be deliberate. Before Frodo puts on the Ring, all of the Ringwraiths are seen to draw their swords. After Frodo puts on the Ring, the main Ringwraith draws a short sword. The long sword for a sword fight, keeping one's opponent at sword's length. The short sword is for Frodo's execution; as he didn't put up a fight, there was no need for the long sword.
However, this stuttering image may be deliberate. Before Frodo puts on the Ring, all of the Ringwraiths are seen to draw their swords. After Frodo puts on the Ring, the main Ringwraith draws a short sword. The long sword for a sword fight, keeping one's opponent at sword's length. The short sword is for Frodo's execution; as he didn't put up a fight, there was no need for the long sword.
When the Black Rider comes into shot while the hobbits are hiding under the tree-roots, he appears on the left-hand side of the tree without first being visible on the right-hand side. This is probably deliberate, to be a shock.
In Hobbiton, Gandalf's cart pulls away from the Hobbit children who are begging for fireworks. When the camera angle is looking back at the children from the viewpoint of the cart, there are treaded tire tracks in the dirt of the road.
When Legolas spots the "crebain" birds from Dunland and warns the Fellowship to take cover, his eyes are brown. Yet as an elf (and for the rest of the movie) his eyes are blue. This is because Orlando Bloom had to wear contacts to change the color of his eyes but could not wear them consistently because they scratched his corneas. Most of the time, his eye color was digitally changed, but it was missed it in this shot.
The forced perspective trick becomes visible while Gandalf and Bilbo are having tea. As Bilbo is pottering about, Gandalf sits on a Hobbit-sized chair at a table that is too small for him. As he shuffles slightly to get comfortable, his knees move the table, but only his, smaller, half moves - the other half, where Bilbo is seated, is further away from the camera, and stays put. It can be seen that this gap between the two table "halves" is concealed behind cleverly placed, bottles, plates, etc. Then, when Bilbo is about to pour hot water in the teapot, Gandalf lifts the teapot lid for him. The lid is not on the teapot, but placed on a spike nearer to the camera to create the forced perspective. It is also clearly visible when Gandalf puts the lid back.
As Legolas, Aragon, and one of the hobbits enter the woods of Lothlorien, tire treads can be seen in the grass starting at the lower right hand side of the screen.
During filming, Christopher Lee broke his finger. As Saruman is summoning the lightning when the Fellowship is climbing Mount Caradhras, the camera swoops past Saruman and Lee's heavily bandaged finger can be seen.
Many viewers spotted a car in the background of the theatrical version when Sam says that he is now the furthest he has ever been from home. In a 1 December 2003 Newsweek article, director Peter Jackson confirmed this, and revealed the car had been removed digitally for the DVD release. Jackson says: "We actually didn't know about the car until we were cutting the movie. The smoke and dust wasn't so bad because there was already lots of it around, but the bloody windshield was reflecting the sun back into the camera lens. So we erased it for the DVD. I think some people were upset because they
tried to show it to their friends and it was gone." (The infamous car can be seen on the "Academy DVD" which was created for the Oscar jurors and leaked on the Internet. Also, the unaltered shot with the car appearing in it is contained in the bonus material of the SEE DVD - the feature about the film score.)
When Gandalf is on his cart walking up to Bag End with Frodo, the camera zooms out and pans around the Shire, ending up looking over some of the homes. Looking at the sky, a blinking plane light can be seen just before it goes back to a closeup of Frodo and Gandalf.
In the prologue, the above-water shot of Isildur, wounded by arrows after his invisibility-ring fell off, reveals the modern tread on the bottom of his shoes.
Aragorn finds "athelas" aka "kingsfoil" to tend Frodo's wraith-inflicted wound. He pulls a small knife to cut away what he needs. On closer inspection, the knife can be recognized as a common switchblade.
When Arwen and Aragorn are alone together on a bridge in Rivendell, her lips are moving while he is speaking.
When the troll grabs Frodo by the leg, Frodo calls for Aragorn, but his lips don't match what he's saying.
As Saruman reveals the Palantir to Gandalf, he lifts the cloth while speaking the line "Why should we fear to use it?" As he finishes the line, his mouth is still moving.
As Gandalf and Bilbo smoke "the finest weed of the Southfarthing", Bilbo blows out a ring of smoke that Gandalf watches. After that, Bilbo's mouth is saying something, but there's no audio. This is likely a relic of a deleted subplot involving Gandalf's unsuccessful attempt to give up smoking.
When Frodo meets Bilbo in Rivendell and hugs him, Bilbo can be heard to say "Ohh!" in delight of seeing Frodo again; however, his mouth doesn't move.
As Elrond is explaining the quest, the close-ups of the Ring reflect the top of the set on which it was filmed.
When the Fellowship is departing Lothlorien, Galadriel is seen riding in the swan boat across the river. In the background to the left of the screen, a crew member can be seen crouching down and looking about.
When first in the mines of Moria, Gandalf is walking along a ledge. Right before he explains what the dwarves' mine, it can be seen that he kicks the wire that lights up his staff.
When Merry asks where Aragorn is taking them after leaving Bree, and he replies "Into the wild," Viggo Mortensen accidentally bumps the tip of his bow into the camera. In the 4K remaster, it was fixed so that the screen doesn't wobble after the bump.
Reflectors can be seen in the Lothlorien scene, in the mirrorbowl as well as the watercan.
During the introduction, King Elendil is smashed against a rocky hill, the same place where the one ring is cut from Sauron's hand. The overhead shot that follows, shows no such hill.
When Aragorn and Legolas are talking, after the Fellowship has stopped before the Falls of Rauros on the River Anduin, the river can be seen flowing from right to left in the back ground. They are on the West bank of a river flowing from North to South and dropping over a large waterfall: the water should flow from left to right.
When Galadriel is offering her gifts as the company boards their boats for the river travel, they then leave Lothlorien and head downstream to the West, while the elves are on their right. But by the map of Middle Earth, the Celebrant River flows downstream East to the Anduin, and all the Elf settlements, including Galadriel's domain , are north of the river. Therefore, the elves saying goodbye to them are on the wrong side of the river.
Considering that he is a dwarf himself, that he has apparently been there before and knows other dwarfs who live there, Gimli is surprisingly silent when Gandalf is attempting to open the door to the mines of Moria.
He neither mentions the secret and protected doorway before the party arrives at the mines and is not consulted by Gandalf as how to enter them.
He neither mentions the secret and protected doorway before the party arrives at the mines and is not consulted by Gandalf as how to enter them.
It is not entirely clear why the entrance to the mines of Moria are protected with a riddle.
This arrangement would only allow those who can solve the riddle to enter and exclude those who can't (which would include Gandalf in this case if he were alone).
This arrangement would only allow those who can solve the riddle to enter and exclude those who can't (which would include Gandalf in this case if he were alone).
One of the Orcs tells Saruman that the trees' roots go deep, but as the trees are being pulled down, the roots clearly are not deep.
In the fight in Balin's tomb chamber in Moria, the cave troll comes in contact with the beam of sunlight entering the chamber. In Middle-earth lore, trolls are supposed to turn to stone when they are hit with sunlight.
Gandalf asks Frodo if he can see anything on The Ring after he removes it from the fire. Frodo says "Nothing. There's nothing". The camera switches over to Gandalf then Frodo says "Wait!" The camera goes back to The Ring in Frodo's hands. It is plain in appearance and then letters start to appear on it. Why did Frodo say "wait" if nothing had happened yet?
Saruman learns from his crows that Gandalf intends to lead the Fellowship over Caradhras, but Gandalf didn't make that determination until the flock had already passed by and headed back to Isengard.
When Boromir is sharing his fears about the coming war with Aragorn, the actor Sean Bean lapses into his natural Yorkshire accent. The rest of the time he speaks with a neutral English accent.