Dead Men of Dunharrow

Dead Men of Dunharrow
Other names	Men of the Mountains, Sleepless Dead, Grey Host, Shadow Host, Shadow-men, Shadows, Dead Men
Origins	Pre-Númenóreans
Leader(s)	King of the Dead
Dominions	Caverns beneath the Dwimorberg and the valley of Harrowdale
Languages	Westron

""The Dead are following," said Legolas. "I see shapes of Men and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud, and spears like winter-thickets on a misty night. The Dead are following."
"Yes, the Dead ride behind. They have been summoned," said Elladan."

—The Return of the King, "The Passing of the Grey Company"

The Dead Men of Dunharrow or Men of the Mountains, referred to in adaptations as the Army of the Dead, were Men of the White Mountains cursed to remain in Middle-earth by Isildur, after they abandoned their oath to aid him in the War of the Last Alliance. They haunted the caverns beneath the Dwimorberg, and the valley of Harrowdale that lay in its shadow, though they were said to appear in the valley only in times of trouble or death. They were led by the King of the Dead. Since the line of Isildur was thought in the late Third Age to have ended, no one could call upon the Dead Men of Dunharrow to aid them in their hours of need, as they would only answer to an Heir of Isildur.

The Dead Men following Aragorn, as depicted by Ted Nasmith

History

First Age

The Dead Men of Dunharrow were descended from the second host of the Edain that reached the White Mountains along with the Drúedain. Thus, they were close relatives of the House of Haleth that lived in Beleriand while they themselves stayed in the eastern regions of Middle-earth that would be later settled by the Númenóreans.

Second Age

The Men of the Mountains were scattered communities of forest-dwellers without central leadership. They lived in the White Mountains during the Second Age and spoke a pre-Númenórean language that was related to Dunlendish and the Halethian language. They had worshipped Sauron in the Dark Years before the foundation of Gondor.

When Gondor was founded, they swore an oath to Isildur that they would fight for him. However, during the dark years, they had worshiped Sauron, and so when the time came and Isildur asked for their aid, they refused. And so Isildur cursed them, saying: "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." Therefore, they fled from the wrath of Isildur and dared not go forth to war for Sauron, and they hid in secret places in the mountains and had no dealings with other men. They slowly started to dwindle and the terror of the Sleepless Dead came about to all the places where they lingered. Malbeth the Seer prophesied that a day would come when need and haste would drive one of Isildur's heirs to take the Road under the Mountain, and that the Dead would answer to his call. The Prophecy came true when, in the War of the Ring, Isildur's Heir, Aragorn, called on the Dead Men. Summoning them to the Stone of Erech, Aragorn commanded them to fulfill their oath and be free. Aragorn led the Dead Men through Lamedon. As they went through the lands of Gondor, they found them deserted, since everyone who hadn't gone to war fled the approach of the dreaded King of the Dead. Even the Men of Umbar and Harad, who had been attacking the fords at Linhir above the mouth of the river Gilrain, stopped fighting and ran off in terror. The only person who had the courage to stay was Angbor, the Lord of Lamedon, and Aragorn told him to gather his men and follow the Grey Company to Pelargir. For four days and nights after Aragorn first summoned the dead to the Stone of Erech, they rode.

The Dead assailing the fleet that sails toward Minas Tirith, by Darrell Sweet

On the fifth day, they reached Pelargir, where the Corsair fleet of Umbar was assembled. Rumors of the Army of the Dead had already reached the city, but the Corsairs there turned at bay and laughed, seeing only Aragorn and his host of live Dúnedain warriors. Aragorn then called to the Army of the Dead to fight, and they emerged, driving the Corsairs away from their ships. Legolas, after the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, later described the scene he witnessed to Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took: "Faint cries I heard, and dim horns blowing, and a murmur as of countless far voices: it was like the echo of some forgotten battle in the Dark Years long ago. Pale swords were drawn; but I know not whether their blades would still bite, for the Dead needed no longer any weapon but fear." Despite not needing weapons, the weapons of the Enemy could not harm them. Once the Haradrim and Corsairs were defeated, Aragorn had trumpets sounded and the Dead withdrew to the shore. As they had at last fulfilled their oath, Aragorn granted the Dead Men their freedom. The King of the Dead stepped forward, broke and discarded his spear; he bowed to Aragorn, and with his people vanished at last from the world.

Inspiration

Northern European folklore tells of 'the restless dead' as fell riders bursting upon unwary travellers in lonely places. Horses, knights, hounds are among the restless spirits in the "Wild Hunt". Hans Sachs' poem, "Das wütend Heer der kleinen Dieb" (1539) describes the furious host in gruesome detail, accompanied by ravens who plucked out the eyes of the roving dead: "there came one behind, who had been hanged the same day, had still his eyes and saw me."

It is an indication of Aragorn's heroic nature and lineage that he dares summon the dead to fulfill their oath in this manner, and a sign that the rightful king has indeed returned.^{[citation needed]}

In adaptations

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Aragorn and the Dead Men rushing towards besieged Minas Tirith

In the third film of Peter Jackson's film trilogy, the battle with the Corsairs occurrs off-screen (part of it is shown in the extended edition) and the Army of the Dead accompany Aragorn to Minas Tirith, replacing the Grey Company, to defeat Sauron's Orcs, after which Aragorn declares their curse lifted. Legolas correctly states that it was Isildur who cursed them, but incorrectly states that he was "the last king of Gondor". (Isildur was the last high king of Gondor and Arnor, after which the two kingdoms divided and would both eventually be left kingless until Aragorn took the throne.)

"There are those who dwell in the mountain."

"Murderers, traitors, you would call upon them to fight? They believe in nothing, they answer to no-one."

"They will answer to the King of Gondor."

- Elrond and Aragorn talking of the army of the dead.

The dead army does not go to the Stone of Erech, but instead, Aragorn confronts them in front of what appears to be their city. The Dead appear as green and glowing, and are more reluctant to fulfill their oath; the King even swings at Aragorn with his sword. While the books make no mention of anything being able to harm the Dead, in the film, the King's own sword is contacted and blocked by Aragorn’s sword Andúril (Narsil reforged).

Video games

"For in our plans, the living cannot defend Minas Tirith without the fury of those long dead."

—Gandalf

The Return of the King video game

In The Return of the King video game, the dead army glows a more blue color, and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are all able to harm them. Two levels feature the dead army, one the Paths of the dead where Aragorn and his companions fight their way through the paths of the dead, and the other the King of the dead where Aragorn fights the dead king. After the Dead king is defeated by Aragorn, he and his friends must escape from the paths of the dead. The dead army appears one more time in the game at the end of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields to help save Minas Tirith from the Morgul-host. In addition to the Return of the King video game storyline, soldiers of the dead army also appear in the Palantir of Saruman bonus level, in which the player must defeat 20 waves of enemies in an arena; about half of those enemies are dead soldiers.

The Battle for Middle-earth I and II

The icon for summoning the oathbreakers in the BFME games

The Army of the Dead is summonable in all The Battle for Middle-earth games, being the most expensive Power for Gondor and Rohan in the first game. The Army of the Dead fullfilled the role of the superweapon for the force of Man, they can destroy vast armies alone, gliding through any types of units while seemingly sap the life of them at a rapid rate while being nigh-invincible against retaliatory attack. However they lasts for only two minutes and deals little to no damage to buildings. Certain entity of vast magical power such as Sauron, Summoned Dragon or similar can actually hurt them. In The Battle for Middle-earth II, they are only available in Skirmishes and the Evil Campaign, in which the player must move the forces of Evil to destroy all the Dead soldiers and the Fellowship at Rivendell. Apart from being a 25-point faction power, Aragorn, when at level 10, can summon one temporary horde of Oathbreakers.

The Third Age

In The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, the player has the opportunity to summon the Army of the Dead through Aragorn in the later stages of the final Map location, Pelennor Fields. This skill costs 255 AP to use, but with Aragorn's abundant supply of 3000 Max AP, it is definitely worth it. When this power is activated, the Dead mobilize behind Aragorn and charge forth at the enemy. Led by the King of the Dead, the Dead army can do any range of extreme damage from 25000 (Nazgûl) to 50000, and they usually kill any unit apart from Nazgûl and Trolls. This is arguably the best move in the entire game, including Perfect Mode moves.

Conquest

In The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Aragorn's special heavy attack is "Wave of Undead", with which he summons several Dead Men to attack an enemy for a very brief time.

See also

• Paths of the Dead
• King of the Dead

Gallery

Artist drawing of the Army of the Dead

The Army of the Dead in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, The Flame of the West expansion

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Weermag van die Dood
Albanian	Ushtria e të Vdekurve
Amharic	ሙታን ሰራዊት
Arabic	جيش الموتى
Armenian	Բանակը մեռելներուն
Assamese	মৃত ৰ সৈন্য
Azerbaijani	Ölü Ordu
Basque	Hildakoen Armada
Belarusian Cyrillic	Армія мёртвых
Bengali	ডেড এর আর্মি
Bosnian	Vojska Mrtvih
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Армия на мъртвите
Burmese	လူသေ၏ကြည်းတပ်
Cambodian	កងទ័ពនៃការស្លាប់
Catalan	L'exèrcit dels Morts
Cebuano	Panon sa mga Patay
Chichewa	Asilikali a Akufa
Chinese	死亡的軍隊 (Army of the Dead) 登哈洛的亡者 (Dead Men of Dunharrow)
Croatian	Vojska Mrtvih
Czech	Armáda Mrtvých
Danish	Hær af de Døde
Dutch	Leger der Doden
Esperanto	Armeo de la Mortintoj
Estonian	Armee Surnud
Filipino	Hukbo ng mga Patay
Finnish	Kuolleiden armeija (Army of the Dead) Dunhargin vainajat (Dead Men of Dunharrow)
French	Armée des Morts
Frisian	Leger fan 'e Deaden
Galician	Exército dos Mortos
Georgian	მკვდართა არმია
German	Schattenheer
Greek	Στρατού των νεκρών
Gujarati	ડેડ ઓફ આર્મી
Haitian Creole	Lame moun ki Mouri
Hawaiian	Poe koa o ka Make
Hebrew	צבא המתים (Army of the Dead) אנשים המתים מדונהארו (Dead men of Dunharrow)
Hindi	मृत सैनिकों की सेना
Hungarian	Holtak serege
Hmong	Pab tub rog cov neeg tuag
Icelandic	Her af sem Dauður
Indonesian	Tentara yang Mati
Irish Gaelic	Arm na Marbh
Italian	Esercito dei Morti (Army of the Dead) Uomini morti di Dunclivo (Dead Men of Dunharrow)
Japanese	死者の軍隊
Kannada	ಡೆಡ್ ಮೆನ್ ಸೈನ್ಯ
Kazakh	Өлі ерлер әскері (Cyrillic) Öli erler äskeri (Latin)
Korean	죽음의 육군
Kurdish	Artêşa yên Mirî (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	өлгөндөрдүн армия
Latin	Exercitus ex Mortuis
Latvian	Mirušo Armija
Laotian	ກອງທັບຂອງການຕາຍ
Lithuanian	Kariuomenė Mirusiųjų
Luxembourgish	Arméi vun den Doudegen
Macedonian Cyrillic	Армијата на мртвите
Malagasy	Miaramilan 'ny Maty
Malaysian	Tentera yang Mati
Maltese	L-armata tal-mejjet
Maori	Ope o te hunga Mate
Marathi	मृत माणसं सैन्य
Mongolian Cyrillic	үхэгсдийн армийн
Nepalese	मृत पुरुष सेना
Norwegian	Hær av Døde
Pashto	د وژل پوځ
Persian	ارتش مردگان
Polish	Armia Umarłych
Portuguese	Exército dos Mortos
Punjabi	ਮਰੇ ਦੀ ਫੌਜ
Romanian	Armata de Morţi
Russian	Армия Мёртвых (Army of the Dead) Мертвецы Дунхарроу (Dead Men of Dunharrow)
Samoan	Autau a le Oti
Scottish Gaelic	Arm nam Marbh
Sindhi	مئل مرد آرمي
Sinhalese	මළවුන්ගේ හමුදාව
Slovak	Armáda Mŕtvych
Slovenian	Vojska Mrtvih
Somali	Ciidanka ee Dhimatay
Spanish	Ejército de los Muertos
Swahili	Jeshi la Wafu
Swedish	Armé av de Döda
Tajik Cyrillic	Артиши марговар ?
Tamil	இராணுவம் டெட்
Telugu	డెడ్ మెన్ సైన్యం
Thai	กองทัพแห่งความตาย
Turkish	Ölüler Ordusu
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Армія мертвих
Urdu	مردوں کی فوج
Uzbek	Ўлик одам қўшини (Cyrillic) O'lik odam qo'shini (Latin)
Vietnamese	Quân đội của người Chết
Welsh	Byddin y Meirw
Yiddish	אַרמיי פון די טויטע
Yoruba	Ologun ti awọn Okú ?