Caves of the Forgotten
The Caves of the Forgotten were a possibly fictitious cave complex believed to have been formed out of the hills that buried the Númenórean invaders of the Blessed Realm.
History
Seduced by Sauron, the King of Númenor, Ar-Pharazôn was persuaded that he had the power to take the lands of Aman from the Valar themselves. He set out with a great fleet, landed at the Blessed Realm and a host of the Númenóreans camped near the hill of Túna in the Calacirya of the Pelóri Mountains.
At that time Manwë, the Elder King, gave up his power over Arda and called on Ilúvatar, who then broke the world. Their fleets and even their island home were into an abyss that opened between Númenor and the Blessed Realm.
Meanwhile, Ar-Pharazôn and his mortal warriors were buried beneath falling hills. Yet, they are said to lie imprisoned within the Caves of the Forgotten, awaiting the day of the Last Battle when they will be released from their caves. However, the part that they have to play in the battle remains a mystery.
Other versions of the legendarium
In the first version of the Downfall of Númenor, both "Angor the mighty and Istar his queen fell like stars into the dark, and they perished out of all knowledge", suggesting that they remained on the ships and fell with them into the great abyss and drowned. Only the mortal warriors that went on land were buried beneath fallen hills, "where legend saith that they lie imprisoned in the Forgotten Caves until the day of Doom and the Last Battle". In the second version, the name of the caves was changed to the "Caves of the Forgotten". The name and the narrative concerning the Caves of the Forgotten remained substantially unchanged within the third version, yet were not mentioned at all within any of the three versions of The Drowning of Anadûnê.
Referencias
1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 08/06/2026.
