Q: Was Barad Eithel the Capital of Hithlum?
ANSWER: There is no published text of which I am aware which states or even implies that Fingolfin or Fingon had their capital at Barad Eithel. Barad Eithel is merely described as the chief of the fortresses defending the passes across the Ered Wethrin, the “Mountains of Shadow” which bordered Hithlum.
Some Tolkien fan sites report that Barad Eithel was the capital of Hithlum. The only indications of where Fingolfin and Fingon actually dwelt in Hithlum are in the texts and maps published by Christopher Tolkien, either in The Silmarillion itself or The History of Middle-earth. All these sources place Fingolfin and Fingon on the north shore of Lake Mithrim, the great body of water nestled inside eastern Hithlum.
Even in the most recent publication referring to Hithlum and Barad Eithel, The Children of Hurin, the fortress is only described as “Barad Eithel: ‘Tower of the Well’, the fortress of the Noldor at Eithel Sirion”. In The Silmarillion we are only told:
Fingolfin and Fingon his son held Hithlum, and the most part of Fingolfin’s folk dwelt in Mithrim about the shores of the great lake; to Fingon was assigned Dor-lómin, that lay to the west of the Mountains of Mithrim. But their chief fortress was at Eithel Sirion in the east of Ered Wethrin, whence they kept watch upon Ard-galen; and their cavalry rode upon that plain even to the shadow of Thangorodrim, for from few their horses had increased swiftly, and the grass of Ard-galen was rich and green. Of those horses many of the sires came from Valinor, and they were given to Fingolfin by Maedhros in atonement of his losses, for they had been carried by ship to Losgar.
It stands to reason that Fingolfin and/or Fingon would have spent much time at Barad Eithel, but there is no indication that they governed Hithlum from this location.
In fact, the earliest Noldorin settlement in Hithlum was the fortified camp that the younger sons of Fëanor made beside the northern shore of the lake after Maedhros was captured. Upon the arrival of Fingolfin’s host, the Fëanorians moved to the southern shores of the lake, vacating their original encampment; Fingolfin then “made his first camp and dwelling by the northern shores of Lake Mithrim”. It was apparently here where the two parties of the Noldor made their peace and divided the open lands of Beleriand among themselves.
Through the years I have suggested that it was this unnamed encampment which grew into Fingolfin’s chief city, and therefore his capital. But I have no more evidence to support that point of view than the argument that Barad Eithel became his capital. Some people might point to the words “made his first camp and dwelling” in the clause I cite above, but that only shows where Fingolfin dwelt at one time. It does not show where he dwelt next or if he had many dwellings (which he may well have had).
So while you are free to infer whatever you wish about the capital of Hithlum (or Fingolfin’s royal seat) there is no authoritative or definitive answer to the question.
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