and I believe he implies that they carved a good deal more than statues when he
says they "ate rock." But if the Woses or Druedain built the Paths of the
Dead, I doubt that they built it as a home for ghosts. Instead, they
abandoned it long ago, and other men took it over, hid their treasure there,
buried their dead there, and, when Isildur cursed them, haunted that place
until they could fulfill their oath. The symbols, I would guess, came
later. I'm not sure the Woses used symbols.
Your theory sounds good to me. Only Legolas had no fear, but that does
not mean everyone had the same amount of fear. What interests me is why
Gimli has so much more fear than the others. After all, he is no more
human than Legolas. But dwarves seem to be more a part of the material
world than elves or humans. Remember even the Seven Rings did not extend
their lives or make them fade. So perhaps creatures of the spirit plane
have more effect on them because they are so alien to them. In which
case, it must have taken a great deal of courage on Gimli's part to sail west
with Legolas later.
The narration does not really stick with Gimli, although we get Gimli's
thoughts more than anyone else's. Instead we once again have the
omniscient narrator who can listen in on thoughts, then go back to an objective
perspective. But yes, Gimli is the person most affected by fear, and
therefore the person through whom we see the scene now, and even more so later
when he narrates the rest of the story to Pippin. Giving us Gimli's point
of view helps Tolkien build the suspense.
We do get more of the story of the skeleton in the appendices. Tolkien
often added touches like this, then later looked for an explanation. This
is one situation where the explanation did not come until the appendices – but
what a nice reward for those who choose to read the appendices! In the
book itself, the skeleton simply adds, again, to the suspense, and to the sense
that there is history here, and stories untold. Queen Beruthiel, too,
eventually got her story
told.
Morgoth personally was cast into the void beyond the walls of the world, not to return until the end of time. But he had infused so much of his personal power into the fabric of Middle-Earth that the whole place is more or less hot with evil radiation (he was particularly fond of gold, and hence it tends to be a special focus of evil). I find it very helpful to think of Morgoth's corruption of the earth in terms of radioactivity; there's a little bit of it everywhere (background Morgoth), and it can be concentrated and/or used as a power source.
Sauron no doubt employs the power of Morgoth routinely, and may have special access to it through Mt Doom (most of Morgoth's power, after all, went deep into the earth). He may have some way to commune with the spirit of Morgoth, although Morgoth is outside the world and technically dead.
The key thing to understand, though, is that Morgoth was a vastly greater power than Sauron. As Sauron's One Ring radiates temptation and corruption, because it hold the greater part of Sauron's power, so too does the fabric of the earth, the vessel of Morgoth's power, do the same thing; all the world is Morgoth's Ring. This means that we are constantly under assault from evil impulses, and our perceptions are under the Shadow (so, for instance, we may even find fault with the Valar's governance of the world!). In effect, the essence of Morgoth becomes an external cause of what theologians call the Depravity of Man.
Because of the corruption of all matter, Elves' bodies will not last forever, as intended. This is a problem for their souls, which WILL last forever. Hence, elves in Middle-Earth will eventually 'fade' into something very like a wraith. Apparently the Elven-Rings can hold this effect at bay over a limited area. This is what it means when Elrond says that they have great power to preserve all things unstained - they can exclude the Morgoth-taint, so that places like Rivendell and Lorien give us a glimpse of what Arda Unstained should have been like. The failure of the Elven-Rings after the War of the Ring is why all the Elves who could HAD to sail west; to avoid fading.
And that should hold you for now. -- Reverend's explanation of Morgoth's taint. R.I.P., Reverend.
