Location from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
A dark passage beneath the White Mountains haunted by oath-breaking dead — who can be summoned only by the heir of Isildur to fulfill their ancient broken pledge.
The Paths of the Dead are cold in a way that has nothing to do with temperature. The chill comes from inside — from the certainty that you are being watched by things that were once men and are now something less and something more. The darkness is aggressive, pushing back against torch and lamp, and the silence is the worst kind: the silence of held breath, of many mouths choosing not to speak. The Dead Men of Dunharrow broke their oath to Isildur during the War of the Last Alliance, swearing to fight Sauron and then fleeing when the moment came. Isildur cursed them to find no rest until they fulfilled their pledge. They have haunted this passage for three thousand years, and their despair has saturated the stone. Horses refuse to enter. Brave men weep and turn back. Only the heir of Isildur — the one to whom the oath was sworn — can command them. For anyone else, the paths are a death sentence: the Dead do not attack, exactly, but terror stops the heart.
A dark doorway set into the mountainside at Dunharrow, flanked by carved standing stones. Inside: a narrow passage through the mountain, utterly lightless, with the sense of vast spaces opening on either side. No torchlight reaches the walls. Cold air that moves against you. The faint grey shapes of the Dead visible at the edges of perception — translucent figures in ancient armor, watching, waiting. The passage emerges on the other side of the mountains.
Also known as: Paths of the Dead, the Dark Door, Dunharrow passage, the Dimholt