Hithlum was the coldest of the Elven lands of the First Age, a buffer between the bitter the colds of the north and the warm, cheery lands of Beleriand. Surrounded by mountains, Hithlum's climate was most strongly affected by the cold winds that passed down from the north, but the region itself was named for the mists that Melkor sent out from Angband. Sindarin Elves, probably Falathrim, had dwelt there for many years, living out their long lives under the stars, little concerned with the dark things of Melkor the Valar had left crawling in the eastern lands beyond Ered Luin.

The High Kings of the Noldor-in-exile ruled in Hithlum until Melkor's victory over the Eldar, Edain, and Dwarves in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. The fusion of Noldor and Sindar began in Mithrim where Fëanor's people and later Fingolfin's first encountered the Sindar. The synthesis of these two kindreds was never fully realized but it produced a rich and powerful culture that very nearly toppled Melkor from his throne despite the curse of the Valar.

Fingolfin achieved more in Middle-earth against Melkor than any other Noldorin lord. Although he followed Fëanor into exile and thus came under the Curse of Mandos, he was not weak-willed. He, too, had lost a father to Melkor and thus had strong cause to seek revenge against the Enemy. The memory of the passage of the Grinding Ice would have weighed heavily upon him, for many Noldor were lost there, never to share in the beauty of Middle-earth and the sadness of its great conflicts. Fingolfin was not simply a player on the stage, but also was a power to be reckoned with. He led the greater host of the Noldor, and he alone of all the Eldar wounded Melkor in single combat.¹

Fëanor and his eldest son Maedhros ruled Hithlum prior to Fingolfin's arrival, but only when Thingol acknowledged Fingolfin did the realm became legitimate. Nonetheless, the early years under Fëanor saw the first victories of the Noldor against Melkor's armies, and Hithlum was central to this part of the unfolding drama. The Noldor were still building their encampment by the northern shore of Lake Mithrim when Melkor's army from Angband crossed the Ered Wethrin and attacked them from the east. Dagor-nuin-Giliath, the Battle-under-Stars, proved to be a foreshadowing of the many victories that lay ahead for the Noldor before their final defeat. A second battle in Ard-galen saw the Fëanorians defeat Melkor's southern army, which came rushing north from the Falas through the Vale of Sirion to their master's aid. Flush with victory from the first battle and unaware of what lay before him, Fëanor rushed to his doom upon the borders of Melkor's realm while Celegorm slaughtered enemy forces in the Fens of Serech.

Maedhros was captured soon after Fëanor's death near Eithel Sirion. Thus bereft of two leaders in so short a time, the Fëanorian Noldor prudently withdrew to Mithrim, where they fortified a new camp farther from the eastern mountains. There they waited and watched as Fingolfin's host passed by and marched upon Dor Daedeloth, but when Fingolfin led his people back to Mithrim the Fëanorians moved to the southern side of the lake. There the Noldor stayed, two embittered hosts separated by a bit of water, while the early years of the age stole by. News of the return of the Noldor had by this time spread throughout Beleriand. But though they began to learn the Sindarin language and to explore Beleriand, the Noldor accomplished nothing in their war against Melkor until Fingon risked all to rescue Maedhros and restore some semblance of friendship among their people, which Maedhros nurtured by ceding the Kingship to Fingolfin in partial atonement for the betrayal in Araman.

After Fingolfin and Maedhros were reconciled, the Noldor spread out across northern Beleriand. Turgon settled in Nevrast with a third of his father's people, where in time they merged with the local Sindar; Maedhros took the Fëanorian Noldor east to Himring, Thargelion, and the lands south of Himring; and the sons of Finarfin led part of the Noldor to Dorthonion and the vale of Sirion. This diffusion across the lands prevented a civil war among the Noldor, yet what could have been a mighty kingdom thereby became little more than a border state.

Despite its initial diminishment, Hithlum played a major role in the war against Melkor. He feared Hithlum more than any of his other foes, and tested the Hithlum Noldor first by sending an army south along the coast, but Fingon destroyed it with little trouble. And Fingolfin not only built great fortresses in the Ered Wethrin, he established camps out upon Ard-galen. Thus when Glaurung first revealed himself it was Fingon and the cavalry of Hithlum, encamped upon the plain, who won the day. And even after these camps were destroyed in the Dagor Bragollach, Melkor continued to concentrate on Hithlum, for much of the fighting continued around Eithel Sirion even as an army invaded the kingdom from the north. Melkor was finally able to destroy the Hithlum Noldor in the disastrous Nirnaeth. In that battle Fingon held back no reserves, and there remained no army to prevent Melkor's weakened forces from seizing the kingdom.

Hithlum reached the height of its power just prior to the Dagor Bragollach, when it was populated by three peoples: the Hithlum Noldor; the Sindar of Mithrim; and the Marachians, the third group of Edain to enter Beleriand. After the Dagor Bragollach, the Marachians were reinforced by two groups of Bëorian refugees. Although the Sindar favored woodlands over the highlands, many of those who dwelt in Mithrim apparently settled in the southern and western hills after the return of the Noldor, who mostly dwelt near Lake Mithrim. In Hador's day, the Edain settled in Dor-lómin, the western region of Hithlum.²

Tolkien did not provide much information about how the Elves lived in Hithlum. The Sindar there wove grey clothing, probably very similar to the grey cloaks that the Elves of Lórien gave to Aragorn and his companions.³ The Silmarillion mentions fortified encampments on the northern shores of Lake Mithrim. With their penchant for building cities, the Hithlum Noldor probably did not just dwell in tents and sod-huts for the next 400 years.

Fingolfin, upon reentering Hithlum after his march through Ard-galen and Dor Daedeloth, settled in a camp to the east of the Fëanorians.⁴ He probably built a city there, though Tolkien only says that most of Fingolfin's people dwelt around the shores of the lake.⁵ The Silmarillion says that "behind the guard of their armies in the north the Noldor built their dwellings and their towers, and many fair things they made in those days, and poems and histories and books of lore."⁶ And, "the Noldor...built with stone, and loved the hill-slopes and open lands."⁷ There was the great fortress of Eithel Sirion, built on the eastern slopes of the Ered Wethrin overlooking Ard-galen and Angband.

But few other places are mentioned, and none in Hithlum except for Fëanor's camp, the two fortified camps his sons made, and Fingolfin's own camp. The three surviving fortified camps may have been transformed into cities by the Noldor. Unfinished Tales (p. 17) says that Rían was taken by Sindar to their dwellings in the mountains west of Lake Mithrim. These were Annael's people, who later fled to the Caves of Androth in Dor-lómin.

Fingon ambushed a small army of Orcs coming down the coast to the Firth of Drengist;⁸ we may thus infer an Elvish presence in the seaward Ered Lómin that detected the enemy and sent word to Dor-lómin. Perhaps a watch-tower was positioned there, overlooking Losgar where Fëanor had landed.⁹ We can also infer the Noldor built other types of dwellings from what we know of the Edain. For instance, Húrin's house possessed a courtyard and outbuildings. The lesser Elvish nobility probably lived similarly, since the Edain are said to have learned much from the Eldar in Beleriand. The Hithlum Noldor must also have worked mines in the mountains, practicing the skills they had learned in Valinor. Unfinished Tales says ."..many (of the Númenóreans) had great skill with stone and with metals...since the Edain of old had learned much of the Noldor" (p. 190).

The texts mention several roads in Beleriand, but only one road in Hithlum itself. Still, the Noldor would have required roads to speed their armies and messengers, and to support trade with other lands. When he was defending the western marches, the passes through the northern Ered Lómin were Fingon's easiest route into the Firth of Drengist, whereas Annon-in-Gelydh opened upon the road leading to Nevrast. The Noldor must have built a road from the camps or cities by Lake Mithrim to Annon-in-Gelydh and probably up into the mountains where Sindar like Annael's people had their homes. There was also a road running south along the western side of the Ered Mithrim. Húrin's estate lay near the bridge over Nen Lalaith in the southeast corner of Dor-lómin. The road apparently turned west near Húrin's house and followed the Ered Wethrin's foothills to the southern Ered Lómin. In the east, there had to be a road over the pass leading to Barad Eithel. Roads probably ran throughout Mithrim as most of Fingolfin's people dwelt there. The Noldor and Sindar must also have used boats on Lake Mithrim and along the rivers, though this is not stated in the texts.

The mountains and hills of Mithrim and Dor-lómin appear to have been well-wooded, whereas the lower lands were grasslands.

Mithrim with its great lake and four rivers nestled among the valleys of the Ered Mithrim and Ered Wethrin would not have offered much range land for pasturing horses, but northern Dor-lómin was well suited for raising the horses of Fingon's renowned cavalry. The region north of Dor-lómin was home to few Elves and may also have been used for pasturage, especially after the arrival of the Marachians, who herded cattle (Unfinished Tales, p. 69).

Hithlum could not exist in a political and economic vacuum. Fingolfin and Fingon treated with the other realms of Beleriand. They appear to have been allied with the Falathrim since Círdan sent soldiers to Hithlum on at least two occasions. From "Narn i Hîn Húrin" we learn that Fingon and Maedhros frequently exchanged gifts,¹⁰ and Fingolfin sent messengers to Estolad when the Edain first settled there. The relationship between Hithlum and Doriath appears to have been cool but not unfriendly. Thingol permitted Mablung and Beleg to go to the Nirnaeth on the condition that they served in Fingon's army though none of Fingolfin's House were admitted to Doriath.

After the Dagor Bragollach, when the Noldor first began to seem vulnerable before Melkor's increasing power, Fingon sent his son Ereinion to the Falas.¹¹ Communications between Fingon and Círdan must have been swift, for several years later Círdan sent a fleet north to land an army to aid Fingon;¹² Fingon would have had to send messengers south to ask for such aid. Perhaps Hithlum used ships for such needs, although communication with the south could also have passed through Nevrast.¹³ Círdan could have taught the Hithlum Noldor something about building ships, but there was no need for naval warfare. Perhaps, then, if any ships were held in the Firth of Drengist they were manned by Círdan's people only.

Though Turgon engaged in secret communications with Círdan late in the age, his appearance with an army at the Nirnaeth surprised even Fingon, so there probably was no communication between Hithlum and Gondolin.¹⁴ But during Finrod's day Nargothrond was on friendly relations with Hithlum. Their marches lay side-by-side (until the Dagor Bragollach and its aftermath), and Orodreth later on permitted Gwindor to lead a company of Nargothrondrim under Fingon's banner in the Nirnaeth.

We know very little about Hithlum's army. Fingon preferred to lead mounted archers in battle, as when he faced Glaurung, but the fortress of Barad Eithel was well-manned long before the Marachians were given responsibility for its defense, and the Noldor were noted for their magnificent and deadly swords. Even in Hithlum the Sindar appear to have favored the great ax, and they continued to fight with these weapons (and long bows) up until the Nirnaeth.¹⁵ If Húrin's skill was in any way typical of his people, the Marachians also used great axes, though they seem to have preferred swords (at least the fifty men whom Húrin assembled in his courtyard bore swords). Yet though they held Barad Eithel for the kings, the Marachians had no regular army of their own, serving instead under the king's banner. Húrin's muster for the Nirnaeth may be the only occasion when all the men of the Third House went to war.¹⁶

Fingolfin and Fingon probably did not maintain large standing armies. Barad Eithel, any watch-towers on the borders, the camps on Ard-galen,¹⁷ and perhaps the settlement north of Mithrim alone would have required regular troops. The long periods of peace would not have seen large musterings, and the Hithlum Noldor probably raised large armies only at need. Even so, as it was customary among the Edain to take service in the King's Host for some length of years, the Elves and Men of Hithlum probably trained regularly for the wars.¹⁸

Dating events in the history of Hithlum is a bit challenging. Tolkien revised his dates extensively, and the best records come from works published in Morgoth's Ring and The War of the Jewels. According to the Grey Annals, Fingolfin took up the High Kingship in Hithlum in FA 7, and the legitimized kingdom existed until FA 473. Hithlum was the first home of the Noldor upon their return to Middle-earth and the first realm they established. In Years of the Sun Fëanor probably dwelt in Hithlum for 40-50 years. Because the Years of the Trees do not easily translate into Years of the Sun, and because so many events could occur in a given Year of the Trees, it is impossible to include a coherent chronology for the early years of Hithlum in the table given below.