where did that go?

[olorin]

Ever think about where that door in the Paths of the Dead led to? The one where the skeleton of the dead warrior had tried to get through? What things could be through it? It really makes curious.
I am sure this has probably been discussed before, but it really is an interesting topic.

[afro-elf]

i think it led to narnia or oz :)

[Strange-Looking Lurker]

I'll bet after the dead left that somebody went in there and find out.

[Wayfarer]

I'll bet they didn't.

]: )

[samwise of the shire]

What door? I dont remeber a door, it just said he was laid out with his hands on the wall as if he was trying to dig himself out in a last desperate struggle. I dont remember the book mentioning a door.

[Ñólendil]

Here's a quote from Letter #999 I don't know what was behind the door. Some held that it was used as a kind of conservatory. Indeed Malbeth the Seer once reported that there was a room inside of sinister disposition; it was supposed to have contained Miss Scarlet and the revolver.

[Kirinki54]

Originally posted by Inoldonil
Here's a quote from Letter #999

So was Ms Scarlet the perp or the victim? :)

[samwise of the shire]

WHAT DOOR?! I dont remember any door in the story. Ijust remeber a skeleton clinging to the stone as if in one last desperate attempt at escape. Please explain. I'm getting confused.
Sam

[Wayfarer]

Yes, it was a door.

What's his name was trying to pry it open when he died.

I seem to remember Aragorn says something about it, and then he turrns around and shouts something like 'for that is not my quest!' and continues down the path, and the dead follow him.

[Churl]

From The Return of the King, Book V, Chapter II (“The Passing of the Gray Company”):
_____

[…] Before him were 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 he could not unlock. Whither does it lead? Why would he pass? None shall ever know!

“For that is not my errand!” he cried, turning back and speaking to the whispering darkness behind. “Keep your hoards and your secrets hidden in the Accursed Years! Speed only we ask. Let us pass, and then come! I summon you to the Stone of Erech!”
_____

For the record, I think that the locked door in the Paths of the Dead is one of the most intriguing unexplored mysteries in the whole book.

[Churl]

One more thing:

I got the sense that the Paths of the Dead warped space somehow. Aragorn traveled them to call in the Oathbreakers’ debt of service, but the Paths were also portrayed as an extreme short-cut eastward.

As a side note, Robert Jordan seemed to (cough) “pay homage” (cough) to Tolkien’s Paths of the Dead with “The Ways,” a similar hyperspatial road system in The Wheel of Time series. Don't get me wrong; the idea is cool there, too, but as with most great fantasy constructs, let's not forget who invented the original!

(It's been a while since I've read Jordan, and only then through the fourth book. I'm waiting for the whole series to be published before starting it again. Judging from estimates of how many more books are forthcoming, and the time between releases, it might be a while…)

[Captain Stern]

It was the doorway to Valinor I tell you! The same door that Tuor traveled through to become an Elf!

Why else would a man be so crazed to enter somehwere?

[athelas]

Originally posted by Churl
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...." [/B]

Erm...i was just wondering, what did Aragorn mean when he said "Nine mounds and seven there are now green with grass..."
What were the nine mounds?:confused:

[CardenIAntauraNauco]

THE KEEBLER COOKIES FACTORY

[Ñólendil]

My Clue joke was much funnier than any of you gave me credit for.

[olorin]

I think the mounds he was referring to were the tombs in Rohan, right?

[crow]

I don't think we're supposed to want to know. Horrors beyond all imaginable horrors or somesuch. Or maybe it is a door to Narnia. Or Earthsea. Or our world. Or that Wood Between the Worlds (The Magician's Nephew). Or a land that hasn't made it to the fantasy/sci fi section of Border's yet.