<P> Their spirits haunted the caverns beneath the Dwimorberg, the Haunted Mountain, and the valley of Harrowdale that lay in its shadow . They were said to appear in Harrowdale only in times of trouble or death, and they haunted the Stone of Erech on the other side of the mountains as well . </P> <P> Malbeth the Seer prophesied that a day would come when need and haste would drive one of Isildur's heirs to take the Paths of the Dead and that the Dead would answer to his call . Thousands of years later, in the final years of the Third Age, that prophecy was fulfilled . In the War of the Ring, Aragorn, Isildur's heir and direct descendant, called upon the Dead, summoning them to the stone of Erech, and commanded them to fulfil their oath and be free . On this occasion, he first displays the royal banner of Gondor, made by Arwen and delivered to him by Halbarad and the Grey Company . </P> <P> They followed him through Gondor's lands and fiefs south of the Mountains, and at the port of Pelargir they drove away the Corsairs of Umbar, allies of Sauron . Their oath fulfilled, Aragorn granted them their freedom, and they vanished at last from the world . After this, Aragorn gathered the warriors of the region to him . They sailed to Minas Tirith on the Corsairs' own ships, and turned the tide at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields . </P> <P> The Men of the Shadow Host appeared to be grey shades; some still rode ghostly horses, but all moved at the same speed . They bore swords and spears and banners, and answered a horn - call with their own horns . However, they did not need weapons (it is left vague whether they and their weapons are "material" at all), for their primary weapon was fear . </P>

Lord of the rings way of the dead