The Lord of the Rings: The King of the Dead – who was he before he died?

• The King of the Dead and his ghost army are introduced in the third Lord of the Rings film.
• Aragorn demands that they honor their oath to help Gondor in battle. In return, he releases the undead from their living death.
• Before his undead life, the King of the Dead was a king of a mountain people who lived between Rohan and Gondor.

When King Théoden of Rohan (Bernard Hill) decides to ride to Gondor in “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” to support the neighboring kingdom in the fight against Sauron’s forces, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) still has an ace Sleeve. He asks the King of the Dead for help.

The King of the Dead lives with his ghost army entrenched in Dwimorberg near Dunharrow. Dunharrow is the name of an area at the foot of a mountain range between Rohan and Gondor. There the spirits finally welcome Aragorn, Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies).

Aragorn relies on an oath that the spirits are said to have made to convince them to join their fight. The spirits answer the call and are ultimately redeemed by Aragorn, but who was the King of the Dead before his death?

A king of the mountain men and a follower of Sauron

In the Second Age of Middle-earth, over 3,000 years before the events of “The Lord of the Rings”, the king of those who were not yet dead lived with his people of mountain people in the White Mountains, where the spirits still reside later. He and his people followed Sauron, as did many mountain men.

However, when Sauron disappeared after the fall of Númenor and Isildur (Harry Sinclair in the films, Maxim Baldry in “The Rings of Power”) founded the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor together with his father and brother, the king had to decide: either to return Sauron’s hope or ally with Isildur.

Since the Kingdom of Gondor was founded right next to the White Mountains, the people posed an acute danger if they were not on good terms. There was no trace of Sauron, so the king and his mountain people made an oath with Gondor.

The White Mountain Empire may continue to exist and be ruled autonomously, but should Gondor call for help in battle, that call should be heeded.

Sauron’s return and the betrayal of Gondor

When Sauron returned and the Battle of the Last Alliance took place at the end of the Second Age (seen in the prologue of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”), Isildur called on the mountain people of Dunharrow to heed their call and against Sauron to go into battle.

As Sauron followers, however, they did not want to oppose their former master and entrenched themselves in the mountain. Before Isildur finally went into battle, he cursed the king and his entourage so that they would never find peace, in life or in death, until they followed their oath.

Aragorn is salvation for the King of the Dead

Shortly after the Battle of the Last Alliance, Isildur dies and soon the mountain people also become undead. Gondor will soon no longer be ruled by the royal line but by a Steward, and so the King of the Dead and his army of spirits will have to wait a long time for salvation.

It wasn’t until more than 3,000 years later that Aragorn arrived and demanded that the King of the Dead fulfill his oath. He agrees and plays an important role in defeating Sauron. Aragorn sees the oath fulfilled and the undead can finally truly die.

It remains to be seen whether we will see the story of the King of the Dead in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” However, since the series is supposed to tell the events from the fall of Númenor to the Battle of the Last Alliance, we can assume that.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 2 is currently being worked on. However, a start date for the new episodes in Amazon Prime Video’s streaming program has not yet been set. Just keep an eye on the Amazon news!