A recursive resolver does not need to forward queries. ;-)
Conceptually, it starts with the root nameservers and works its way up - dot by dot, recursively, hence the name - until it finds the domain the host in question in it, then asks the nameservers for that zone and caches the result.
It is possible - with BIND9 at least, but I guess other DNS servers offer similar capabilities - to use forward servers for convenience/caching or to redirect queries to specific servers depending on the name in the query. But it is not mandatory.
Conceptually, it starts with the root nameservers and works its way up - dot by dot, recursively, hence the name - until it finds the domain the host in question in it, then asks the nameservers for that zone and caches the result.
It is possible - with BIND9 at least, but I guess other DNS servers offer similar capabilities - to use forward servers for convenience/caching or to redirect queries to specific servers depending on the name in the query. But it is not mandatory.