Sur le Chemin des Morts, il s'agit d'un ancien temple maléfique de l'époque noire ou les hommes subissaient le joug de Morgoth qui a probablement inspiré certains cultes ténébreux.
Voici un commentaire de Tolkien issu du Vinyar Tengwar 41 (un fanzine consacré aux langues elfiques) que je tire du fuseau sur les roi-païens :
"The Men of Darkness built temples, some of great size, usually surrounded by dark trees, often in caverns (natural or delved) in secret valleys of mountain-regions; such as the dreadful halls and passages under the Haunted Mountain beyond the Dark Door (Gate of the Dead) in Dunharrow. The special horror of the closed door before which the skeleton of Baldor was found was probably due to the fact that the door was the entrance to an evil temple hall to which Baldor had come, probably without opposition up to that point. But the door was shut in his face, and enemies that had followed him silently came up and broke his legs and left him to die in the darkness, unable to find any way out."