Exactly 20 years ago, the fantasy conclusion The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King came to the cinema. In it, the companions around Gandalf, Aragorn and Frodo brought their ring mission to a successful end. But even though the last film in the trilogy won eleven Oscars, fans are still debating one thing that doesn’t make sense in Peter Jackson’s long version, despite Ian McKellen’s iconic portrayal of Gandalf.
Gandalf error in Lord of the Rings 3 drives fans crazy
A scene in Minas Tirith greatly annoys Lord of the Rings fans in the extended film version: In it, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) meet the Nazgûl witch-king and the powerful one Ringwraith destroys Gandalf’s wand. As the wizard sails west from the Gray Havens at the end of the film, he holds his However, the staff is back in his hands. Did no one notice this huge logic hole in Peter Jackson’s team? Or is there a good explanation for this?
Here you can watch the Gandalf scene from the extended version of Lord of the Rings 3, in which the white staff shattered into a thousand pieces:
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The good news is: If you only know the theatrical version of the third Lord of the Rings film (currently on Amazon Prime *), you will never have encountered the grossly negligent Gandalf mistake. Because he exists only in Peter Jackson’s Extended Edition *, which is one hour longer. For most people, the narrative blunder isn’t a problem at all. But many fans also know and love the extended version and have been trying to find an explanation for it for a long time.
How can the Lord of the Rings glitch with Gandalf’s broken staff be explained?
In the original book * by JRR Tolkien, there is no confrontation between the Nazgûl leader and Gandalf in which his staff is destroyed. So Peter Jackson invented the scene himself. The fact that the actually spectacular confrontation clashes with the ending could be one of the reasons why it didn’t end up in the theatrical version. But there is also a way how the logic error in the Extended Edition makes sense?
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On Reddit, Lord of the Rings fans are still discussing possible explanations for the hated scene that most would prefer to ignore. It would be easy to say: magic repaired Gandalf’s staff. But since The Return of the King doesn’t show this, such a thought process is difficult for the audience to understand.
The simplest explanation is probably best – and it’s even supported by knowledge of the 4 different wand props in The Lord of the Rings: In the end, Gandalf actually has a new staff. It looks almost like the previous one, but is a little bigger. In the books, after his rebirth as “Gandalf the White”, Gandalf receives his new clothes and staff from the elves of Lothlórien. Maybe in the end he owes his new tool to Galadriel and Co. in the film.
Podcast for Lord of the Rings fans: 13 fantasy series starting this year on Netflix, Disney+ and Co.
Netflix, Disney+, Amazon and Co. will have several exciting fantasy series coming in 2023. Whether ghost detectives, German myths with villainous heroes or the live-action anime series One Piece and Avatar: We will introduce you to the next 13 highlights.
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In addition to the third season of The Witcher, the angel-devil duo from Good Omens is also returning to the stream for a second season after four years. You can also discover a few promising fantasy series that you definitely haven’t heard of before.
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