Himlad

The cool plain

Himlad lay in the angle between the upper Aros, which flowed out of the hills toward Doriath, and the Celon, which ran south past Nan Elmoth. North of it was the pass of Aglon between Himring and the eastern end of Dorthonion; south of it the land ran down toward the fords of Aros on the border of Doriath. It was open, grassy country, chilled by the northern winds that came through the pass, and this gave it its name.

When the sons of Fëanor took up the eastern marches, Celegorm and Curufin were given Himlad and the pass of Aglon to hold, and they kept a strong force of cavalry there through the Siege. They were the nearest of the sons of Fëanor to Doriath and to Nan Elmoth, and their patrols watched the fords of Aros and the road that ran south from Aglon to the Dwarf-road.

Aredhel, leaving Gondolin, came to Himlad hoping to find Celegorm, her friend from Valinor, but the brothers were away on the borders. She waited there for a year, riding freely about the country, and it was from Himlad that she wandered into Nan Elmoth and was taken by Eöl. Eöl regarded the Celon as the edge of his own country and resented the Noldor to its north. Years later, when Aredhel and Maeglin fled back to Gondolin, Eöl pursued them across Himlad and was stopped and questioned by Curufin at the fords of Aros, who let him go with a warning.

In the Dagor Bragollach the pass of Aglon was forced and Himlad was overrun; Celegorm and Curufin, defeated, escaped south and west to Nargothrond. The plain was not recovered and passed under Morgoth's shadow until the drowning of Beleriand.