The Two Towers was a magnificent middle act in the Lord of the Rings trilogy that completely shifted the dynamic from a fantasy adventure story to a military war picture. The same feeling was there, but it gave audiences a glimpse at a different part of the saga of the One Ring and the peoples of Middle Earth.
It was also just as ambitious as the first, and that meant errors would pop up sooner or later. Since all three films were shot simultaneously, the logistics and scheduling made it impossible to create a perfect film. Here are ten of the most amusing goofs and mistakes that made it into the final cut of The Two Towers.
Brego The Horse
In the Extended Edition version of the movie, Aragorn tames Brego, the warhorse of the late Théodred of Rohan who has since become traumatized and untamable. He tells Éowyn to turn him loose because he has “seen enough of war.”
Later in the film, Aragorn battles orcs on the tundra of Rohan and goes off the edge of a cliff where he ends up unconscious at the side of a riverbank. None other than Brego appears to rescue him and carry him back to Rohan, but it seems odd that a horse set free would still be wearing a halter and rope.
Shoeless Gimli
The first act of The Two Towers is exposition-driven, and connects the Fellowship’s breaking and the subsequent paths they have all taken, whether by choice or not. Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas are busy pursuing the Uruk-hai before they can bring Merry and Pippin back to Saruman.
In the first wide shot of the three running across the plains, one can clearly spot what appears to be Gimli the dwarf’s shoe, or at least a part of it, coming loose and tumbling along the grass. How nobody spotted this in post and cleaned it up digitally is a mystery.
The Ties That (Don’t) Bind
Merry and Pippin are clearly bound at the wrists by the Uruk-hai during the night scene when the group takes a brief respite. As the Uruk-hai and Orcs complain about their hunger, a fight breaks out between the two that finds the latter on the dinner menu for the former.
In the midst of the chaos, the riders of Rohan show up and begin making mincemeat out of the enemy. During the confusion, Pippin rolls over and stares at a horse reared up above him, with his hands unbound. In the exact previous shot, his hands are still bound. When Aragon works out what really happened that night, it’s revealed that Pippin cuts his bonds after the horse nearly tramples him, making for one really bad continuity mistake.
The Switching Staff
Even Peter Jackson noticed this particular continuity goof and made mention of it in the Extended Edition’s director commentary. When Gandalf arrives at Rohan, he enters King Theoden’s hall with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas, but the position of his staff keeps switching between the rear and frontal shots.
First, Gandalf uses the staff as he would a walking stick when the camera is at his back. When the camera cuts forward, he is holding it to his side, off of the ground. It’s hard to cover up this particular goof, even if most fans really didn’t notice it, or weren’t bothered.
Barrels Of Confusion
A tremendous goof occurs in the middle of the film after Frodo, Sam and Gollum are taken captive by Faramir and his men. Gollum is cruelly interrogated by Faramir, who inadvertently divulges the existence of the One Ring. Meanwhile, Sam and Frodo are kept in a storeroom under guard.
The scene begins with the two in a room full of barrels, sitting on the floor. When Faramir arrives, the barrels are nowhere to be seen, and there’s a cloak lying on the floor instead. In terms of continuity errors, this is one of the worst.
Convenient Horses
When the forces of Helm’s Deep are driven back into the keep, Theoden and Aragorn argue about how best to deal with what could be their final stand. Aragorn suggests that they ride out on horseback and meet them head-on in one last blaze of glory to thin their ranks.
Unfortunately, the scene doesn’t allow for such a premise to take place. There are no horses present in the keep before they come up with this plan, yet after Gimli blows the horn of Helm’s Deep, several are on horseback and charging out the front gate.
Gandalf’s Memory Problems
Perhaps Gandalf the Grey took a few too many hard knocks on the head during his battle with the Balrog at the beginning of the film. That might explain his confusion when Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas call him “Gandalf” after confronting him as his new resurrected white persona in the forest of Fangorn.
From a continuity perspective, this obviously makes little sense given that Treebeard brought both Merry and Pippin to meet “the white wizard” before this event took place. Both would have immediately referred to him as Gandalf, negating the need for him to express confusion later on.
Disappearing Urban
One goof that many LOTR fans missed came right at the end of The Two Towers when Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Theoden and Éomer ride up the mountainside to gaze out at Mordor off in the distance. The actor portraying Éomer in this scene is not Karl Urban, but a stand-in.
Urban was no doubt unavailable to shoot the scene, which required another actor to step in as a placeholder. No digital work was done to try and cover this goof up, which probably meant it went unnoticed until the final print was finished.
Frodo’s Wrong Timing
The opening scene of The Two Towers takes viewers back to the scene from the previous film where Gandalf faces down the dreaded Balrog in the Mines of Moria. The scene replays exactly as fans remember, at least until the end portion when the Balrog manages to snag Gandalf’s ankle and yank him over the edge.
Frodo’s reaction is timed differently in this film as opposed to the previous, as demonstrated when he yells out “No!” before Gandalf’s grip slips. This might have been so that Peter Jackson could immediately inject a sense of energy into the next part where Gandalf battles the fearsome creature, but it’s a jarring continuity mistake.
Legolas’ Disappearing Bow
For better or worse, everyone remembers the shot during the Battle of Helm’s Deep when super-elf Legolas tosses a shield down a staircase and rides it like a skateboard all the way, whilst piercing foes with a bevy of arrows. It was meant to be stylish and contemporary, though most founds thought of it as a hit or a miss.
Regardless, there is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it goof in the scene when the shield is tossed, and Legolas’ bow suddenly disappears. Before and after this shot, Legolas is holding his bow in hand. It may not be a big deal, but one wonders how it was missed.
