The Barrow-downs

The Barrow-downs lie east of the Old Forest, and hobbit-lore spoke of them with the same dread it kept for the Forest. The mounds themselves go back a very long way: a good number were raised in the First Age by the forefathers of the Edain, before they crossed the Blue Mountains into Beleriand, That descent gave the hills their standing among the Dúnedain once they came back west, and a great number of their princes and kings were laid to rest on them. A remnant of the faithful of Cardolan held out in Tyrn Gorthad; when the last of them perished in the plague, evil spirits out of Angmar and Rhudaur entered the deserted mounds and dwelt there. Tom Bombadil's talk ran up onto the Downs — the Great Barrows, the green mounds, the stone-rings on the hills and in the hollows, green walls and white walls, fortresses on the heights, and kings of little kingdoms fighting together.