9 More Movie “Mistakes” That Were Totally Intentional
3. Denethor's Impossible Run - LOTR: The Return Of The King
There are some pretty iconic deaths in Lord Of The Rings, from Boromir's last stand to King Theodin's tragic end, but none are quite so gruesome as the end of Boromir's father Denethor.
Believing both of his sons to be dead and his bloodline ended, Denethor decides to kill himself on Faramir's funeral pyre only to be interrupted by Gandalf who saves the not-dead Faramir. Denethor is engulfed in flames and runs off to throw himself off the prow of the city to his death.
This is pretty much impossible, however, as the tomb he starts in and the prow are an incredible distance away and even accounting for adrenaline, there's no way he'd make it that distance on fire.
But the mistake was intentional as Peter Jackson had envisioned the dramatic shot early on and wanted it in there whether it was impossible or not.
Here's the full sequence...