De senaste dagarna har jag gått in i en fas av Tolkienmysticism och är därmed sugen på att diskutera de mest obskyra aspekterna av Midgård.
The Paths of the Dead är en företeelse som leder till flera frågor. Vi vet vilka invånarna var och varför de var dömda att stanna på jorden efter döden, (Isildurs förbannelse, om någon hade glömt).
Vi vet också att Aragorn och hans följe hittar resterna av Baldor, son av Brego, sonson av Eorl, som försökte ta sig igenom efter att ha blivit varnad att vägen var stängd för honom.
Theoden said "A rash vow he spoke, as he drained the horn at the feast which Brego made to hallow new-built Meduseld, and he never came to the high seat of which he was the heir".
After passing through the Dark Door, Aragorn found "...the bones of a mighty man. He had been clad in mail, and still his harness lay there whole; for the cavern's air was as dry as dust, and his hauberk was gilded. His belt was of gold and garnets, and rich with gold was the helm upon his bony head face downward on the floor. He had fallen near the far wall of the cave, as now could be seen, and before him stood a stony door closed fast: his finger-bones were still clawing at the cracks. A notched and broken sword lay by him, as if he had hewn at the rock in his last despair. Aragorn did not touch him, but after gazing silently for a while he rose and sighed. 'Hither shall the flowers of simbelmynë come never unto world's end,' he murmured. 'Nine mounds and seven there are now green with grass, and through all the long years he has lain at the door that he could not unlock. Whither does it lead? Why would he pass? None shall ever know!'" This was, presumably, Baldor.
Såhär skriver Tolkien senare i en artikel om Baldor: "The special horror of the closed door before which the skeleton of Baldor was found was probably because the door was the entrance to an evil temple hall [of the same Men of Darkness to which the Oathbreakers presumably belonged] to which Baldor had come, probably without opposition up to that point. But the door was shut in his face, and enemies that had followed him silently came up and broke his legs and left him to die in the darkness, unable to find any way out."
Det här sista citatet sätter fingret på det som är min egentliga fråga: vad var egentligen The Paths of the Dead? Uppkom de med förbannelsen för att edsbrytarna skulle ha någonstans att vara? Det tycker jag känns tämligen osannolikt.
Var det alltså så att The Men of Mountains (som edsbrytarna kallas innan de blir Dead Men of Dunharrow) faktiskt bodde inuti bergen och inte bland dem? Det tycker jag att Tolkiens citat härovan antyder.
Vidare skriver Wikipedia om detta:
"After the Dark Door, the Paths went under the Dwimorberg, past another door where Aragorn and company found the remains of Baldor, son of the second King of Rohan, Brego.
The Paths then continued past forgotten cities, emerging at the southern end of the White Mountains in Morthond vale, near the Stone of Erech." (Min fetstil)
Min tolkning av detta är att detta bergsfolk faktiskt hade någon sorts städer inuti bergen i denna passage och levde där, byggde mörka tempel och var allmänt onda. Sedan svor en delgrupp av dessa en ed till Isildur som de inte vågade hålla och dömdes att vaka i sina egna hallr tills de uppfyllde eden. De andra kan ha flytt från spökena eller kanske dött.
Men många frågor kvarstår även om man godtar min tolkning.
Dödades Baldor bara för att han försökte ta sig igenom olovligen? Hur dödades han? Var edsbrytarna verkligen materiella? Jag har alltid tolkat det mer som att de arbetar med rädsla och faktiskt inte kan göra mycket rent fysisk skada.
Och framför allt:
vem är den mystiske mannen som Baldor och Brego mötte utanför The Dark Door?
Från ROTK, The Muster of Rohan:
"It is said that when the Eorlingas came out of the North and passed at length up the Snowbourn, seeking strong places of refuge in time of need, Brego and his son Baldor climbed the Stair of the Hold and so came before the Door. On the threshold sat an old man, aged beyond guess of years; tall and kingly he had been, but now he was withered as an old stone. Indeed for stone they took him, for he moved not, and he said no word, until they sought to pass him by and enter. And then a voice came out of him, as it were out of the ground, and to their amaze it spoke in the western tongue: The way is shut.
'Then they halted and looked at him and saw that he lived still; but he did not look at them. The way is shut, his voice said again It was made by those who are Dead, and the Dead keep it, until the time comes. The way is shut.
'And when will that time be? said Baldor. But no answer did he ever get. For the old man died in that hour and fell upon his face; and no other tidings of the ancient dwellers in the mountains have our folk ever learned. Yet maybe at last the time foretold has come, and Aragorn may pass.'"
Detta citat kan dessutom strula till frågan om själva vägen under berget igen.
Betyder "made by those who are dead" i detta sammanhang att byggarna var döda när de gjordes eller betyder det enbart att the Paths byggdes av ett folk som nu var utdött?