The Paths of the Dead

The Paths of the Dead run under the Haunted Mountain; their gate is in Dunharrow, and Théoden says that no living man may pass it. Elrohir carried Aragorn a message from his father: time was running out, and if speed was needed, the Paths of the Dead were there to be remembered. Aragorn's reply was that only the direst urgency would ever drive him onto that road. At the words the faces of the Riders within hearing turned pale. Beyond the lines of ancient stones lies the Dimholt, a hollow at the mountain's root under black trees that not even Legolas could long endure, with a single mighty stone standing in the path like a finger of doom; the horses would not pass it. Deeper in the glen the Dark Door stands open in a sheer rock face, black as an opening into night, with carved signs and shapes over the arch that no one can make out any longer, and fear flowing from it like a grey vapour. Malbeth's words name who may come: the heir of him to whom the Dead swore their oath.