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In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Paths of the Dead was a haunted pass through the White Mountains.
The Paths of the Dead started at the Dark Door at the end of the long valley of Harrowdale, beyond the Firienfeld and the forest of Dimholt, wedged in between the mountains Irensaga (Iron Saw), Starkhorn, and the Dwimorberg.
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.
In the Second Age, a people related to the Dunlendings had lived in the White Mountains, and they had served the Dark Lord Sauron. They later swore allegiance to Isildur of Gondor and Arnor, but betrayed him during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. For this reason Isildur cursed them, proclaiming they had to wait in the mountains until one of his heirs would release them of their curse.
Isildur's curse came through: their people dwindled, until at the end of the Third Age they had become known as the Dead. When Aragorn and company took the paths of the dead, they remembered their old oaths and emerged in southern Gondor following Aragorn, who released them from their curse after they had helped him liberate southern Gondor and claim the black ships of the Corsairs of Umbar.
