The History of Middle-earth volume III
The Lays of Beleriand
The Lay of Leithian X 2994-2995 (late emendation)
To the south of the wide plain of Lothlann, the northern mountain-fences of Beleriand gave way in the east to a lowland region. The mountains ended in a jumble of low hills, surrounding a single bare hill with a broad, flat summit: the Hill of Himring. From this cold place sprang the river known as Little Gelion, one of two sources that came together to form the long river Gelion that bordered East Beleriand.
After the Return of the Noldor, Maedhros the eldest son of Fëanor came to the hill, and built the greatest of his citadels on its flat summit. After this time, the guarded lands around the Hill of Himring became known as the March of Maedhros. That citadel stood for many centuries, and withstood the onset of the Dagor Bragollach, that swept away many of the Elves' forces and defences. It was apparently destroyed in the War of Wrath: at least, by the end of the Third Age, all that remained of the Hill of Himring was a solitary island, Himling, lying off the northwest coasts of Middle-earth.
Notes
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We don't know specifically when Maedhros settled on the Hill of Himring, but we do know that he did so shortly after the council of the Noldor at which he abandoned his claim on the High Kingship to Fingolfin. That council took place in I 7, so Maedhros would have built his dwelling on Himring in that year or shortly afterward.
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For most locations within Beleriand, we can be sure that they were either destroyed or abandoned at the end of the First Age, because the violence of the War of Wrath caused the Sea to rush in to drown almost all of the land. The Hill of Himring is a potential exception, as it was one of the few locations to survive the inundation, and in later ages its crown rose above the waves as the island of Himling. Nonetheless, its lord Maedhros was lost at the end of the First Age, and we have no record of any of his people surviving on the island, so it seems to have been abandoned at this time.
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3 |
The origin of the name Himring is not stated explicitly, but it seems to derive from him, 'enduring' and ring 'cold', combining into the compound 'Ever-cold' (a term which is actually used of the Hill). For alternative possible origins, see the note on meaning in the entry for Himring.
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- Updated 20 October 2020
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