Rath Dínen
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth legendarium, the Rath Dínen (Sindarin for Silent Street) is the pathway between the city of Minas Tirith and Mindolluin in Gondor. Accessed from a doorway known as Fen Hollen (The Closed Door) on the sixth level of the city, the Rath Dínen was the hallowed road where the Kings and Stewards of Gondor constructed their ornate and expensive tombs, known as the Houses of the Dead. Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
During the Siege of Minas Tirith the House of the Stewards was destroyed by fire lit by the Steward Denethor in the madness that had overcome him while Minas Tirith was being besieged by Sauron's forces and his son Faramir was dying. After the War of the Ring, the dead White Tree that had stood in the uppermost courtyard of the city was interred there, replaced with a new seedling found growing on the side of Mindolluin by Gandalf. The Hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took were honoured with tombs in the Rath Dínen when they died, having spent their final years in Gondor in the company of King Aragorn II Elessar, who was interred there himself in IV 120. |