---- Article by Evan Cooney ----
The Army of the Dead, were Men of the White Mountains who lived in the Dark Times during the Second Age of Middle Earth.
While the Men of Numenor were made prosperous by the Valar for their fight against Morgoth in the first Age, the descendants of the House of Hador (stayed behind in Middle Earth) and the Evil Men were left to the mercy of a newly emerged Sauron. Sauron quickly subjugated the men of Middle Earth, and the Hillmen of the White Mountains were easily absorbed in his domain. The Accepted him as their overlord and built temples in deep caverns under the mountains to worship him.
After the fall of Numenor, Isildur and his brother escaped to Middle Earth and established the Kingdom of Gondor.
Upon arrival they placed a Numenorean monument called the Stone of Erech atop a hill to commemorate the founding of a new kingdom.
It was at this stone that the King of the Mountain came down from his throne and accepted Isildur's rule as overlord. He then swore an oath to come to his call when they took the fight to Sauron. But when Isildur came to the Stone to summon the Men of the Mountain the king went back on his word and chose to stay and hide, for they feared to fight their former master.
Isildur filled with rage said these words to the king of the Mountain:
"Thou shalt be the last king. And if the West prove mightier than thy Black Master, this curse I lay upon thee and thy folk: to rest never until your oath is fulfilled. For this war will last through years uncounted, and you shall be summoned once again ere the end."
Fast forward about 2500 years.
Brego, the 2nd king of Rohan (Land that was granted to Eorl the Young for aiding Gondor against the Wainriders) was exploring the boundaries of his kingdom when they came across a dark door. The door was at the base of a mountain, there they found an old man who called to them and said "the way is shut, it was made by those who are dead and the dead keep it, until the time comes, the way is shut" startled they returned home without entering the door.
Later Prince Baldor was attending a party thrown by his father. Baldor and he became drunk. In his drunkenness he swore a public oath to enter the "haunted mountain" that lay on Rohan's Southern border beyond the dark door. The next day he departed, and never returned.
Around this time also, there was a prophecy given to Aragorn's ancestor and last king of Arnor. This prophecy foretold of a reunited kingdom of Gondor and Arnor and the man who would do it will lead the Oathbreakers.
"Over the land there lies a long shadow, westward reaching wings of darkness.
The Tower trembles; to the tombs of kings doom approaches. The Dead awaken;
for the hour is come for the oathbreakers:
at the Stone of Erech they shall stand again
and hear there a horn in the hills ringing.
Whose shall the horn be? Who shall call them
from the grey twilight, the forgotten people?
The heir of him to whom the oath they swore.
From the North shall he come, need shall drive him:
he shall pass the Door to the Paths of the Dead. "
Fast forward another few centuries and we are left with Aragorn trying to figure out how to fight a two front war.
Elrond sent his two sons, and the remainder of the Rangers of the North to remind Aaragorn of the Paths of the Dead and the prophecy that was foretold in Arnor.
Aragorn agrees. Desperate to find reinforcements, he leaves Theoden and ventures into the Mountains to fulfill this prophecy.
If you haven't read this chapter of the book I highly recommend it because its so much more satisfying then how it's portrayed in the movie.
Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, the sons of Elrond, and about 30 of the Dunedain Rangers enter the Dark Door at Dunharrow. Every step they are stalked by a multitude of whispering voices, a dark presence follows them down each corridor. They walk through the old underground wicked city. The come across a skeleton. The body of once great man, kingly armor and a golden helm. The skeleton lay strewn about in front of a locked door, he died clawing at it, as if trying to escape whatever horror was chasing him, trying to get out. It was Prince Baldor of Rohan.
Aragorn then yells out to the whispering voices that follow, "let us pass, and then come! I summon you to the Stone of Erech!" In this moment the voices stop, and the path leads them to a door that exits to the other side of the mountain.
They make their way to the base of the mountain followed slowly by a multitude.
"The Dead are following. I see shapes of Men and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud and spears like winter thickets on misty night. The Dead are following." - Legolas
The company arrives at the Stone of Erech and Aragorn turns to the multitude and says, "Oathbrakers! Why have ye come?" and a voice was heard out of the night saying "To fulfill our oath and have peace." Aragorn then responds with a oathof his own, "The hour is come at last. Now I go to Pelargir upon Anduin, and ye shall come after me. And when all this land is clean of the servants of sauron, I will hold the oath fullfilled."
Aragorn, with his company and the Army of the Dead then descend on the city of Pelargir NOT MINAS TIRITH where they beat the Haradrim and Corsairs. The Haradrim fled before the Army of the Dead. The battle was won and Aragorn told the Dead King to "Depart and be at rest"
Two Important takeaways here:
1. Tolkien never actually says the Army of the Dead killed anyone. He states "the dead needed no longer any weapon but fear" so this idea that Aragorn could have used the Army of the Dead to take down Sauron is wrong. They weren't able to just melt armies like in the movie, thei weapon was fear. The men killed in that battle died drowning in the bay and river running away from the ghosts.
2. Even more important than point one
Tolkien is teaching a lesson about oaths.
1. The oath of the King of the Mountain
2. The drunken oath of Prince Baldor
3. The oath Aragorn took to let them go after the battle
In Tolkien's world people live and die by their oaths. Promise keeping was important to the fabric of Middle Earth and oaths governed the rules of the world.
SEE ALSO:
The Nordic Origins of Tolkien's Balrog
Tolkien's Middle Earth - A Historical Resemblance
Wolfhead, Tolkien and The Primal Fear of Man
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