Hithlum

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Hithlum (IPA: [ˈhiθlum], archaically IPA: [ˈxiθlum]) is the region north of Beleriand near the Helcaraxë.

Hithlum was separated from Beleriand proper by the Ered Wethrin mountain chain, and was named after the sea mists which formed there at times: Hithlum is Sindarin for "Mist-shadow"; its Quenya counterpart is Hísilómë (IPA: [ˌhiːsiˈloːmɛ], archaically IPA: [ˌxiːθiˈloːmɛ]).

Hithlum was subdivided in Mithrim, where the High Kings of the Noldor had their halls, and Dor-lómin, which later became a fief of the House of Hador.

The Ered Wethrin ("Mountains of Shadow") formed the southern and eastern wall, and had only a few passes; as such they formed a natural defensive line. The western wall was formed by the Ered Lómin or "Echoing Mountains", which curved north-westward to the Helcaraxë.

The land of Lammoth lay west of the Ered Lómin and was not part of Beleriand or Hithlum. The land of Nevrast was separated from Hithlum by the southern part of the Ered Lómin range. Nevrast was usually seen as part of Hithlum, but its climate was that of Beleriand.

Middle-earth

Middle-earth is the setting of much of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. The term is equivalent to the term Midgard of Norse mythology, describing the human-inhabited world, i.e. the central continent of world of Tolkien's imagined mythological past. Tolkien's most widely read works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, and Middle-earth has also become a short-hand to refer to the legendarium or its "fictional-universe".

Within his stories, Tolkien translated the name "Middle-earth" as Endor (or sometimes Endórë) and Ennor in the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin respectively, sometimes referring only to the continent that the stories take place on, with another southern continent called the Dark Land.

Middle-earth is the central continent of Earth (Arda) in an imaginary period of the Earth's past (Tolkien placed the end of the Third Age at about 6,000 years before his own time), in the sense of a "secondary or sub-creational reality". Its general position is reminiscent of Europe, with the environs of the Shire intended to be reminiscent of England (more specifically, the West Midlands, with Hobbiton set at the same latitude as Oxford).