The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar has released another of their "Exploring Middle-Earth" features. This one takes a look at The Dead Spire, located on the Barrow-downs.

Exploring Middle-earth: The Dead Spire
The Barrow-downs is a name of dread, but it was not always so. The barrows were originally raised by the Edain, Men of ancient days, and later kept and revered by the Dúnedain of Cardolan. In the Third Age, a great plague swept across Middle-earth, out of Mordor, and the last vestiges of the Men of Cardolan perished. The Witch-king of Angmar sent evil spirits out of Angmar and Rhudaur to stir the bones of the dead and make the Barrow-downs the place of dread and evil it has become.

As Frodo Baggins and his companions made their way through the Barrow-downs from the house of Tom Bombadil, they stopped to rest beside a great stone marker, the Dead Spire. Here they were overcome by the spells of the barrow-wights and taken to a barrow to be sacrificed – the barrow, it is believed, of the last prince of Cardolan: a final insult by the Witch-king of Angmar to the memory of Cardolan. The barrow was, however, reclaimed; and the barrow-wight who dwelt there was destroyed by Tom Bombadil when he came to the rescue of the hobbits.

When players of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar see the Dead Spire, they will know the barrow of the last prince is not far away. In LOTRO, the Barrow-downs play an important role in the story of the rise of Angmar, drawing on some surprising and little-known lore from J.R.R. Tolkien?s The Lord of the Rings.