Paths of the Dead

The Paths of the Dead was a haunted pass through the White Mountains. The paths started at the Dark Door at the end of the long valley of Harrowdale, beyond the Firienfeld and the forest of Dimholt, wedged in between the mountains Irensaga, Starkhorn, and the Dwimorberg.
== History ==
After the Dark Door, the pass went under the Dwimorberg, past another door where Aragorn and the Grey Company found the remains of Baldor, son of the second King of Rohan, Brego. The pass then continued past forgotten cities, emerging at the southern end of the White Mountains in Morthond vale, near the Stone of Erech.
In the Second Age, a people related to the Dunlendings had lived in the White Mountains, and they had for a time served the Dark Lord Sauron. They later swore allegiance to Isildur of Gondor, but betrayed him during the War of the Last Alliance and refused to fight on either side. For this reason, Isildur cursed them, proclaiming that, if the Alliance triumphed, they would linger in the mountains until one of his heirs called them again to fight against Sauron.
Isildur's curse succeeded: their people dwindled and eventually died out, until only their ghosts remained at the end of the Third Age. In the early days of Rohan, Brego and his son Baldor rode up to the paths and made to enter. At that point a man so withered they had mistaken him for stone spoke: "The way is shut, his voice said again. It was made by those who are Dead, and the Dead keep it, until the time comes. The way is shut." Baldor asked when that time would be, but at that moment the man fell on his face and died. Later at the feast celebrating the completion of Meduseld, Baldor rashly vowed to walk the Paths of the Dead. He never returned.
When Aragorn and company took the Paths of the Dead and, deep within the mountains, summoned them to the Stone of Erech, their shades followed him. At the Stone at midnight, Aragorn unfurled his banner, declared himself the Heir of Isildur, and commanded the dead to aid him. In this they obeyed, and defeated the Corsairs of Umbar who were invading southern Gondor.
The Paths are depicted with an unnatural mist, mass crypts, and piles of skulls. As Aragorn and company travels through, Legolas senses the Dead closing in behind them. When entering a vast clearing in front of a necropolis, the Army of the Dead appears and surrounds them until Aragorn threatens them with a reforged Narsil, holding them to their oaths. The Dead refuse at first, but later reappear by the Anduin river and agree to fight for Aragorn. The Army of the Dead accompanies Aragorn to Minas Tirith to defeat Sauron's Orcs, after which Aragorn declares their curse lifted.