The Bree-landers do tend to be a superstitious people, made evidence through the Unknown Tomb on the Haunted Alley. Whilst this may be a harmless and even cultural icon within Bree itself, beyond the walls, towards woodland known as the Old Forest, there are tales of a more sinister nature. The locals warn travellers to not leave the road from Bree heading towards the Shire, for they will find their way into an inhospitable place. A place where the air hangs thick with an everlasting fog that the sun only just manages to claw its way through and the whistle of the wind that afflicts a chill as though it were winter. These are the Barrow-Downs or, as they are known in Sindarin, Tyrn Gorthad, the Burial Grounds.
When the Dúnedain arrived here in the Second Age, there were already men who called these lands home. The Dúnedain called them the Gorthadain though it is unlikely that this is what they called themselves. I theorise that these Men may have been a clan of Edain, Men who aided the Elves during their campaigns in Beleriand, who migrated and settled in the Downs due to them being a highly defensible position. Though this statement might sound unlikely on the surface, a lot of the inscriptions in the runestones that scatter the Downs have similarities to early forms of Dunlendish, a language which can be traced to the Edain through their descendants. Though I would need to investigate this further, it is likely that the Bree-landers have some Edain heritage as well, maybe even speaking a language similar to Dunlendish before the Dúnedain arrived.
Regardless, relations between the two groups seemed to be positive as, with the aid of the Gorthadain, the Dúnedain built the fortress of Ost Gorthad to watch over the Downs, which they named in their honour. For many years this shared cooperation led to the two cultures becoming intertwined. This is evident in the building of the Barrows, large underground halls where the Tyrn Gorthad Dúnedain buried their dead, mainly nobles and royals, alongside the Edain and Gorthadain that were already interred within the barrows. Though this practice was also done by the Men of Dunland and Rohan, it is unique to Dúnedain culture here at Tyrn Gorthad. This made the Downs a sacred place for the Dúnedain, and when the Kingdom of Arnor fractured, the Lordship of Tyrn Gorthad would fall under the Kingdom of Cardolan, and would become a title for the Prince of Cardolan, who ruled from the nearby fortress atop Ost Ernil. However, much like Bree, it would see a lot of cooperation between Cardolan and Arthedain following the Civil War.
The largest of these barrows is the Great Barrow of Othrongroth, which has its entrance flanked by two imposing stone spires engraved with the same Edain runic scripture seen at Ost Gorthad. After consulting the lore-masters at the Scholar’s Stair, they presented me with a text written by a Bree-lander versed in Dunlendish. They claim that the spires speak of the Edain’s settling in the Downs by command of their first Chief, Sambrog, who is interred in the lowest parts of the Barrow along with his two sons Gaerdring and Gaerthel. The spires also speak of doom and curses to ward off grave robbers, of how the dead will rise to defend their resting place, as the Edain defended their homes in life.
Those lines about the dead rising certainly foreshadowed the eventual downfall of Tyrn Gorthad. In the Year 1409 of the Third Age, the Kingdoms of Angmar and Rhudaur invaded Cardolan, sweeping through the Kingdom. Ostir, the Last Prince of Cardolan, returned from Amon Sûl in order to defend the sacred site. Joining the Dúnedain and their Gorthadain allies, they made their final stand at Ost Gorthad. They did not, however, forsee the plan of Angmar’s ruler, the Witch-King, Lord of the Nazgûl, who used his fell-magic to raise the dead of Tyrn Gorthad against their descendants. These Wights overpowered the defenders, with Ostir, being the last to fall, looking over the doomed land before his death. Ostir’s remains would be found and buried within Othrongroth by surviving Dúnedain some years later. The Edain Wights would later return to their crypts to guard them, and the hills themselves would remain desolate for many years. It is also likely that the Great Plague that gripped the lands of Eriador, Gondor and Rhovanion originated from here, being the work of residual fell-magic. It is around this time that early Bree-lander sources document the arrival of servants of the Witch-king arriving in the Barrow Downs under the banner of the Iron Crown. These Fell-Wights of Angmar were likely sent to prevent the Barrow-Downs from being resettled again, serving as a bastion of fear to travellers along the roads for many years to come.
Today, with the fall of the Shadow, the Witch-king and Angmar itself, the Barrow-Downs have remained empty, with the Wights returning to their eternal slumber. The land is safe for travellers, besides from the occasional bears and wolves that stray into the area.
Curiously though, one landmark catches my interest that I have not yet mentioned. It is called the Dead Spire, a monolith and stands tall amongst the surrounding barrows, the stone cold to the touch. Unlike most of the landmarks in the Downs, the engravings are written in Sindarin. It lists the names of those warriors, both Dúnedain and Gorthadain, who died defending Ost Gorthad.
“Behold the names of these defenders past,
Who fought for Tyrn Gorthad until the last.
To those who stood beside their Prince, who led
The final charge against the Wrathful Dead.”
It appears to have been written shortly after the Battle of Ost Gorthad. It acts as a memorial to those died defending their home and culture, with the name Ostir, son of Ostecthel, leading all the rest as he did in his final moments. This site is incredibly important to our understanding of Arnor and the early Dúnedain. Perhaps someday, Ost Gorthad will be resettled, and the memory of those who fought to defend it will live on.
