The Forgotten

"We fight her desperately to no end...We do not know any way to kill her, only seal her away temporarily with the Gem of Eternity. But she always gets free after a few decades...After being forgotten..." - The main wizard on The Forgotten, in GemCraft Chapter 2: Chasing Shadows

The Forgotten is an archdemon and the ruler of the Demon Realm, as well as the main antagonist of the GemCraft series.

Her origins are unknown. She was summoned from the Demon Realm centuries ago by corrupted wizards from the Spiritforge, during a summoning ritual. Her main goal is to assault and corrupt the Spiritforge to create an infinite number of Shadows, in order to become omnipotent and almighty. However, she only creates a small amount of Shadows at a time, due to the strain that creating Shadows exerts on her, and since killing Shadows would weaken her. The Forgotten also plans to remake the world in her image.

Appearance[]

The Forgotten has a black female torso with disfigured arms, a head, long hair, and no face, which is her default appearance. All of her body seems to be made of a large amount of dark tendrils. The Forgotten is also capable of taking on other forms, including that of a dark cloud with tendrils, an appearance that her Shadows often take.

History[]

The Forgotten is an ancient, evil entity from the Demon Realm, and the ruler of that world. Her actual origins are unknown, but she was active in the Demon World many centuries before the events of the GemCraft series. Her real name was forgotten long ago, and she eventually came to be known as "The Forgotten." It is hinted that The Forgotten's origins may be connected to the Spiritforge. Centuries before the events of GemCraft Chapter 1: The Forgotten, the wizards of the Spiritforge had grown greedy and corrupted, with even their leadership, the Wizard Council, becoming corrupted. The corrupted wizards regularly summoned demons from the Demon Realm to enslave them, in order to increase their own magic, at a location outside of the Spiritforge, to the west of the mountain. The corrupt wizards soon began summoning more and more powerful demons as they grew increasingly arrogant, before attempting to summon a demon beyond anything that had ever been summoned before during one ritual. This resulted in the Forgotten being summoned from the Demon Realm. The corrupted wizards attempted to enslave her, but the Forgotten proved much too powerful for any of the wizards to handle, and she quickly wreaked havoc upon them. In the ensuing chaos, the Forgotten unleashed an onslaught of demons and monsters, and the wizards also lost control of their own monsters, which were their original creations. Unable to contain the demonic outbreak, the vast majority of surviving wizards fled into the Spiritforge, their original and last remaining stronghold. However, some of the corrupted wizards saw the Forgotten as the key to becoming even more powerful, and they began to serve her willingly, forming a cult of followers, which lasted throughout the war with the Forgotten.

The Forgotten soon launched an assault on the Spiritforge itself, though she was unable to break through its powerful shield. By then, the wizards of the Spiritforge realized that the Forgotten had to be stopped, or else she would take over the entire world. However, no matter what the wizards tried, they were unable to find a way to defeat her, and they were also unable to banish her back to the Demon Realm. Eventually, the wizards crafted the original Gem of Eternity within the Labyrinth, a powerful relic of magic far stronger than anything they had previously created. The wizards set up a trap near the Spiritforge and socketed the Gem of Eternity within it, and they also managed to lure the Forgotten within range of the trap. Around the same time, some of the wizards slew as many Shadows as possible, in order to weaken the Forgotten, and also to slow her down. Then, the wizards activated the trap, and the Gem of Eternity ensnared the Forgotten and imprisoned her within their trap. Both the Gem and the Forgotten were then magically transported to a specially-prepared tomb in the mountains near the western coast of the continent, far away from the Spiritforge, which was located near the eastern coast. The Forgotten was unable to break out of the tomb as long as the Gem of Eternity was sealed to the roof of the tomb, and this place soon became known as The Tomb of The Forgotten. The wizards then either killed or imprisoned the remaining Shadows within tombs. Since most wizards were not powerful enough to kill Shadows, most of the Shadows were imprisoned in various tombs across the Wilderness, especially the more powerful Shadows. To prevent anyone from locating and stealing the Gem of Eternity (which would unleash the Forgotten), the wizards of the Spiritforge removed all knowledge of the Gem of Eternity, and killed anyone who attempted to find out about the Gem. They also summoned five Arcane Guardians and placed them and numerous monsters around the Tomb of The Forgotten, to act as guardians for the Gem.

However, a few decades later, after people had forgotten about The Forgotten, a curious and greedy wizard sought out the Gem of Eternity for selfish purposes. This wizard managed to steal the Gem, killing both the monsters and the Arcane Guardians that stood in their way. However, removing the Gem from the Tomb of the Forgotten allowed The Forgotten to escape her Tomb, and she possessed the wizard, before killing them and taking the Gem of Eternity from them. The surviving monsters formerly guarding the Tomb of the Forgotten ran rampant across the land, as a result. The Forgotten then unleashed another demonic outbreak and went about freeing the imprisoned Shadows. This forced the wizards to craft a new Gem of Eternity within the Labyrinth, which rendered the original Gem a weakened replica, and the Forgotten soon corrupted the replica, infusing it with her influence. The Forgotten set out for the Spiritforge once again, while making more preparations for an eventual attack on the mountainous stronghold, and the wizards set up another trap near the Spiritforge with a new Gem. The wizards then lured the Forgotten towards the new trap, killing some of the Shadows to weaken her, before getting her imprisoned by the new Gem, which returned her to The Tomb of The Forgotten. The wizards summoned the Arcane Guardians back to the Tomb, and they also replenished the monsters guarding the area. The wizards then killed or imprisoned the remaining Shadows, and went to work bringing as much of the monster hordes under their control as possible. However, a few decades later, another greedy wizard would locate and steal the Gem of Eternity, causing the cycle to repeat all over again. The Forgotten also set up numerous Possession Obelisks and Hives around the Spiritforge during each of her release, in preparation for an eventual attack to capture the Spiritforge. This cycle repeated a total of 6 times. During one of those cycles, The Forgotten led an unsuccessful attack on the Labyrinth, and the Grand Shadow was imprisoned there. The Forgotten's attacks grew more powerful with each release; after her fifth release, the Forgotten began creating Spires to combat the wizards, killing many of them.

Weeks before the events of GemCraft Chapter 1, The Forgotten was released from her prison during GemCraft Chapter 0 by a powerful, greedy, corrupt, and possibly stupid wizard, marking her sixth release. This triggered yet another demonic outbreak, forcing the settlements in the path of the monsters to be evacuated. In GemCraft Chapter 1, another wizard, fresh out of wizard's school, goes to take on the twisted wizard, finding the whole adventure quite easy and destroying all of monsters he comes across. However, the Forgotten then kills the corrupted wizard, before possessing the main wizard. The Forgotten then had the wizard travel eastward, towards the Spiritforge, while continuing to unleash havoc. He would only be free of her possession a few months later, after he reached the Scythe Gate, which was designed to remove the Forgotten from an individual, in GemCraft Chapter 2. The Scythe Gate removed the Forgotten from the body of the main wizard, while transporting him back to his original wizard tower in the wilderness. It was later revealed that that this was the wizard's plan all along: to lure her to possess him, and break free of her possession while on the way to the Spiritforge.

Meanwhile, in Gemcraft Labyrinth, another wizard was being more productive: creating another Gem of Eternity within the Labyrinth. The Forgotten freed a very powerful shadow to guard the Crafting Pylons within the Labyrinth, which are used to create a new Gem of Eternity, in order to slow down the Gembearer, though the Gembearer managed to kill it. The Gembearer successfully crafted a new Gem of Eternity within the heart of the Labyrinth; the Forgotten attempted to kill them once this was done, but the Gem of Eternity blasted the Forgotten, injuring her and forcing her to retreat. The Gembearer then headed for the Spiritforge, while taking out many of The Forgotten's highest generals, the Shadows, despite their tremendous power. The Gembearer did this for the next few months, while heading towards the Spiritforge.

Meanwhile, after the Forgotten was separated from the main wizard in the story, due to the Scythe Gate, the Forgotten continued heading towards the Spiritforge, while continuing to free as many Shadows as possible and making other preparations for storming the Spiritforge. Eventually, the Forgotten caught up to the Gembearer and killed them, a few months after the events of both GemCraft Chapter 1 and GemCraft: Labyrinth. She then took the real Gem of Eternity herself, while replacing it with one of the corrupted replicas (likely the Gem that the corrupted wizard from GemCraft Chapter 0 had stolen). The Forgotten also placed the five other corrupted Gem of Eternity replicas in sealed cages around the perimeter of the Spiritforge, for her own plans. The Forgotten continued eastward and continued her preparations for an attack on the Spiritforge, before taking the true Gem of Eternity further eastward, towards the eastern coastline of the continent (possibly with the intent to dump the true Gem of Eternity into the sea). However, the main wizard soon socketed the corrupted replica he was carrying into a trap at the entrance of the Spiritforge, unwittingly playing into the Forgotten's hands. The corrupted replica drew power from the five other replicas, before unleashing a powerful blast of energy that destroyed both the shield and the gates of Spiritforge. The Forgotten's army of monsters and demons then swarmed into the Spiritforge, to capture the wizard's final stronghold. When the Spiritforge's defenses were broken, the Forgotten was so startled and eager to capture the Spiritforge that she dropped the true Gem of Eternity within a cave and rushed off towards the Spiritforge. The main wizard, now the new Gembearer, soon found the true Gem of Eternity, and entered the Spiritforge himself.

However, despite the defenses of the Spiritforge being broken, the Forgotten didn't immediately enter the Spiritforge, for reasons still unknown (possibly to gather even more forces for her attack). In GemCraft Lost Chapter: Frostborn Wrath, the Forgotten encountered the ancient wizard from the frozen north, whom had recently broken free out of centuries of being frozen, thanks to exposure to an out-of-control warmth spell. (The ancient wizard was frozen by the corrupted wizards years before The Forgotten was summoned.) Unknown to the Forgotten, this wizard had also obtained blueprints detailing a way to enhance the Gem of Eternity. As a show of force, the Forgotten corrupted a cluster of Mana Shards into corrupted mana shards, and she also empowered some of the monsters that the ancient wizard was battling against. However, despite being much stronger than the ancient wizard, as the Forgotten was in a hurry to reach the Spiritforge, she left the ancient wizard alive, believing them to be no serious threat to her plans. The Forgotten then created the Gatekeeper, a powerful demon, and erected two Possession Obelisks at the entrance of the Spiritforge, in order to prevent anyone else from coming to the aid of the wizards within the Spiritforge. She then entered the Spiritforge herself, in order to conquer and corrupt it. However, the ancient wizard managed to kill the Gatekeeper and entered the Spiritforge, intent on helping the new Gembearer stop the Forgotten.

Power and abilities[]

The Forgotten is an extremely powerful entity, far more powerful than any monster or demon in existence. Although the other corrupted wizards of the Spiritforge had managed to enslave every demon they had summoned from the Demon Realm in the past, not even their combined power could subdue the Forgotten. No wizard was able to break free of her control once she possessed them; the main wizard from the games was the only individual known to survive being possessed by the Forgotten, and even this was due to the aid of the Scythe Gate. None of the wizards were able to destroy the Forgotten or banish her back to the Demon Realm. Even while imprisoned, The Forgotten is still able to communicate with her followers in the outside world, possibly via her Shadows, or other means of dark magic. The Forgotten is also able to corrupt Gem of Eternity replicas, though doing so takes some period of time. Additionally, the Forgotten is so powerful that the only known relic of magic capable of stopping her is the Gem of Eternity, and even the Gem of Eternity can only seal her away. However, it is later implied that an enhanced Gem of Eternity may have the power to permanently defeat her.

Wherever the Forgotten is present, the surrounding environment is warped, with the sky becoming discolored, freak storms spontaneously appearing, and ashes raining from the sky. These effects extend for some distance, but they are most intense around the areas surrounding the Forgotten's current location. The sky around the Forgotten's immediate vicinity is also darkened. However, these effects are negated whenever the Forgotten is sealed away.

Despite her tremendous power, she's not powerful enough to destroy the Spiritforge's shield, indicating that her power does have its limits. As such, she had to rely on a plan in order to destroy the shield of the Spiritforge. The Forgotten is also unable to break out of the Tomb of The Forgotten, as long as a Gem of Eternity is sealed to the entrance, so she has to rely on greedy, foolish wizards, and other followers in order to escape from her imprisonment. Additionally, since all of the Shadows are basically extensions of herself, the Forgotten becomes stronger if there are more Shadows in existence, but this also means that killing Shadows weakens her (though not enough to kill or defeat her).

The Forgotten has many abilities, including:

The Possession of hosts, and the ability to kill them by draining them
Creating Spires and avatars in the form of Shadows.
- Since they are effectively parts of her, all of the abilities exhibited by Shadows could also be attributed to The Forgotten.
Creating and destroying monsters.
Consuming monsters and Shadows to strengthen herself.
Creating Possession Obelisks and Sleeping Hives, in preparation for an attack on the Spiritforge.
Creating powerful, specialized demonic entities, such as the Gatekeeper.
Corrupting Apparitions, turning them into Specters.
Disabling attacking gems.
Gem corruption, including corrupting the Gem of Eternity used to seal her. Corrupting a Gem of Eternity is implied to take an extremely long time.
Manipulating and controlling Monsters, such as sending them into hibernation in Sleeping Hives, or imbuing regular monsters with special properties.

She also exhibits additional abilities in battles, based on the game.

Gemcraft Chapter 2: Chasing Shadows[]

Enraging wavestones.
Cursing the player, which blackens the user interface, allowing visibility of only the battlefield.
- During this occurrence, the game speed is unchangeable, and no in-game action can be taken at all. The effect lasts for about 1 wave (until all monsters from that wave have been killed).

After beating Field X5 in GC2, the Forgotten no longer directly interferes with battles, with the exception of some Vision Fields.

Gemcraft Lost Chapter: Frostborn Wrath[]

She retains the ability to enrage wavestones, but she is now also capable of corrupting waves monsters with marks, which bestows the affected monsters with abilities. Another ability of hers introduced in this game is the ability to corrupt mana shards, transforming them into corrupted mana shards. She appears in Field E4.

Trivia[]

In GemCraft: Labyrinth and GemCraft Chapter 2, she is referred to as the Shadow Queen.
In GemCraft: Labyrinth, it's hinted that the origins of The Forgotten are connected to the Spiritforge, implying that she may not have originated in the Demon Realm.
Although it hasn't been confirmed, it appears that each time the Forgotten is sealed away, the sealing Gem of Eternity transports both itself and The Forgotten to the Tomb of the Forgotten, located in the mountains near the western coast of the continent, instead of imprisoning The Forgotten at the location of the ensnaring nodes where she was captured. When this happens, the Gem of Eternity is socketed above the roof of the Tomb of the Forgotten. As long as the Gem of Eternity remains socketed there, The Forgotten cannot escape.
In GemCraft Chapter 2: Chasing Shadows, the summoning of the Forgotten is re-enacted with Field V2, and one of her sealing events is re-enacted with Field V1.