Despite their undeniable qualities, Peter Jackson's adaptations of Tolkien's universe are not without their share of inconsistencies. Whether you're discovering these films for the first time or for the 100th time (yes, some have), it's not impossible that you'll raise a wary eyebrow once or twice at some rather surprising developments. Between narrative and visual inconsistencies and questionable connections, here are 10 continuity errors that you may have never seen.
#9 Gollum changed his appearance between the first and second films
The most observant viewers will have noticed that Gollum doesn't look quite the same in The Fellowship of the Ring as he does in all the following films in which he appears. His very first appearance is in a brief scene where the torture he suffered in Mordor is mentioned. We can see very long, thin, and grayish arms, which seem quite different from those of the Gollum we will later meet. Even more striking, during the sequence in the Mines of Moria, his face is seen in the shadows: his eyes appear gray, and not blue as later, and the structure of his nose and forehead also seems modified.
This change is due to the character's evolution in the saga. In the first film, Gollum is still only a mysterious being. From the second installment onward, Andy Serkis lent his body and voice to the character, via performance capture. To better fit his performance, Gollum's design was reworked, giving birth to the icon we know today.
#8 Saruman, DIY Genius
Saruman, a magician with grand urban planning ambitions, begins by transforming the splendid forest surrounding Isengard into an industrial wasteland: razed trees, screaming machines, and above all gaping pits leading to infernal basements, forges continuously producing weapons, and Uruk-hai that are born in pockets of slime with a frankly dubious appearance. In short, a little corner of paradise turned mechanical nightmare. But suddenly, when he presents his army to Gríma, a miracle! The pits have disappeared, replaced by a vast, flat area, without a single hill or hole.
The hundreds of thousands of Uruk-hai are impeccably arranged there. Two options: either Saruman hastily laid down planks for his dictatorial military parade, or some Uruk have powers of levitation. Moreover, this inconsistency takes a new twist when the Ents attack: the pits reappear! This time they are fewer in number, certainly, but definitely back. Isengard's architecture definitely obeys a completely... magical logic?
#7 Elves have teleportation skills
Elves are naturally more agile and faster than the other characters in the film, but they are not as fast as they appear. In the films, especially in the later parts, they almost seem to teleport across Middle-earth. Indeed, while The Fellowship of the Ring progresses at a realistic pace, slowly across the lands, this rule is completely forgotten when it comes to the elves. The most striking example is in The Two Towers, when the elves suddenly arrive at the gates of Helm's Deep before the orcs, without any explanation.
Logically, this battalion of elves comes from much further away than Aragorn's party and is visibly more heavily armed than the Rohirrim, who have traveled all this way. Not to mention the fact that they seem to effortlessly avoid the orcs, wargs, and even the hundreds of thousands of Uruk-hai who arrive at roughly the same time.
#6 Arwen is tough, but not too tough
In the original novels, women are very scarce and play much less prominent roles than those Peter Jackson gives them in his films. Yet, Tolkien managed, in a few sentences and two appearances, to give Arwen an almost mystical importance, mostly evoked through dialogue that gives her an ethereal aura. To compensate for the lack of female characters in the universe, Jackson developed Arwen into a more active role on screen. He notably removed the powerful elf Glorfindel, who in the books helps Frodo escape the Nazgûl, to entrust this mission to Arwen, thus recreating a chase scene.
This choice provoked debate among fans. After initially wanting to portray Arwen as a formidable warrior capable of facing the Nazgûl, Jackson finally revised his plans. In The Two Towers, Arwen's participation in the Battle of Helm's Deep (as we explained in detail here), where she fought alongside the Rohirrim, was completely cut, despite several scenes being filmed. This shift created an inconsistency in the continuity: Arwen goes from a powerful fighter, capable of magic and bravery, to a weeping young lady wandering the forests without any clear transition.
#5 Faramir, the spare tire
In Peter Jackson's films, Faramir is supposed to represent a more virtuous version of Boromir. Yet, he is mostly seen as a narrative filler. He desperately tries to win his father's approval by playing the hero, but fails miserably, being saved by a hobbit. After Denethor's death, he never mentions the transition of power with Aragorn and relinquishes his place without flinching. Even for Éowyn, spurned by Aragorn, Faramir serves as a backup romantic substitute. Certainly, he ends up celebrated among heroes, but in comparison, Boromir, despite his weaknesses, protected the Fellowship, fought in the mines of Moria and sacrificed his life fighting dozens of Orcs alone. with a heightened sense of hearing capable of detecting an Orc with a cold three hills away. And yet, in The Two Towers, these two tracking experts are completely surprised by a group of Rohan horsemen. Hundreds of horses galloping across the open plain, armor flying, and not a sound until they get within two meters? Really? We can understand a discreet squad of hobbit assassins, but here... Even a deaf person would have felt the ground shake. Either our two heroes were in airplane mode that day, or they were too busy posing for an epic poster. In any case, for two elite trackers, this misstep smacks of a script blunder.
#3 Sauron: there you see him, there you don't see him anymore
As soon as Frodo gets his hands on the Ring, he is assailed by visions of Sauron: a fiery eye, a mournful voice, an apocalyptic atmosphere. Better still, these visions allow Sauron to sense the presence of our favorite hobbit. But then, why has Bilbo, who has worn the Ring for decades, never seen anything? Not a nightmare, not a small red eye in the background? This power seems reserved for Frodo, even though he is presented as a perfectly ordinary hobbit. No explanation is given in the films for this strange exception. Yes, of course, in the books, we understand that Sauron had not yet recovered enough power to project his spirit. But even then, we must deliberately ignore the magical connection between the Ring and its master. In short, Frodo sees everything, Bilbo sees nothing, and we mostly just see a big continuity error.
#2 Smaug, the dragon with many faces
The dragon Smaug, the iconic antagonist of The Hobbit, underwent several transformations before his final screen version. Indeed, as early as The Fellowship of the Ring, a firework set off by Merry and Pippin already evoked the silhouette of the monster faced by Bilbo. But when it came to actually animating it in The Hobbit, its appearance evolved considerably. Initially, in An Unexpected Journey, we see a six-limbed Smaug (four legs and two wings), already quite different from the firework Smaug in The Fellowship of the Ring. This design, visible in the prologue, was then abandoned in the following films in favor of a four-limbed version, where the wings are integrated into the front legs. This change, while understandable from a technical and artistic point of view, creates a notable visual inconsistency for viewers watching Peter Jackson's six films in chronological order.
#1 The eternal debate about the Eagles, Peter Jackson's version
The help of the Eagles in the Lord of the Rings films still sparks heated debate. Tolkien fans who pay attention to the original work know that the idea of having the One Ring fly directly to Mount Doom doesn't work as simply as one might think. The Eagles are not Gandalf's servants, but independent creatures answering only to the Valar. Moreover, flying over Mordor would have immediately alerted Sauron and his armies, making the mission too risky. The Ring, itself a source of corruption, could even destabilize a Great Eagle. Finally, the crucial action is to throw the Ring into a specific crevasse, which requires discretion, a quality specific to hobbits. Yet, in the films, it remains difficult to understand why these majestic birds do not intervene sooner, especially when they finally appear during the final battle. The fact that they didn't help shorten the adventure to a single 1h30 film remains an open question for many lay viewers.
And to learn more about adaptations of Tolkien's universe, discover why the Lord of the Rings trilogy owes everything to Peter Jackson's talent
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