The Forlorn Hills The Time of Troubles & Era of Upheaval Inspired By Ed Greenwood

The Forlorn Hills is a hilly region in northwest Faerûn between the Dessarin Valley and the Delimbiyr Vale. The hills were once the center of the ancient shield dwarven kingdom of Dardath—one of the three kingdoms in Phalorm, the Realm of Three Crowns—and were then called the Dark Hills.

After the triumvirate collapsed in the Year of the Lamia's Kiss, 615 DR, the Dark Hills became known as the Fallen Hills or, more commonly, the Forlorn Hills. The people of Athalantar called them the Horn Hills. Some folks mistakenly called them the Sword Hills, confusing them with a smaller range of hills on the south bank of the Delimbiyr.

The Forlorn Hills are located east of Ardeep Forest, across the swath of open land that contained the House of Stone and was once the realm of Elembar. To the south is the Delimbiyr Vale and the River Delimbiyr. The Iron Road runs southeast from Womford, skirting the northern edge of the Hills, until it reaches the village of Uluvin on the eastern edge. The town of Secomber is farther to the southeast. To the northeast is the High Forest and to the northwest is Gaustar's Creek, a tributary of the River Dessarin.

The Forlorn Hills were once part of the great forest that included Ardeep Forest, but dwarves cleared portions of it and then later humans from Athalantar put the western side of the Hills (known as the Halangorn Forest) to the torch in an effort to drive the remaining elves away from lands they wished to claim. The hollows between the hills were often in the shadow of the surrounding peaks and thick mists typically obscured vision until highsun.

By the time of Phalorm, the landscape was stony and the hills were isolated in places. The line of hills that formed the northern border of the area were known as the Watchers of the North. There is a high ridge that arcs through a portion of the Hills near the center. It is here that the mansion known as the House of Taeros once stood before it and part of the ridge were destroyed in a spellbattle around the end of the 6th century DR, leaving behind the ruin known as the Crumbling Stair.