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Wow, look at all this Hollow Knight content I 
have left to talk about! It really is beautiful,

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isn’t it? Silksong could be delayed until 
December and I’d still have plenty to discuss.

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But until then let’s talk about one of the 
more mysterious aspects of Hollow Knight lore,

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the Colosseum of Fools. The Colosseum is such a 
weird part of the game, and honestly I still don’t

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understand this place much at all. I mean, why 
would people willingly get together in a crowded

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area in the midst of a dangerous pandemic? Come 
on, Team Cherry, no one would actually do that.

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Overall, the Colosseum is one of the few big 
mysteries left in Hollow Knight, alongside things

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like the Vitruvian Grub, and the Trilobite Shrine 
in Deepnest, oh and the Mask Maker’s eyes, and the

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Lifeblood creature, and the Shade Lord, and this 
random corpse in the Queen’s Garden. Also what the

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fuck happened to Isma? Like seriously what the 
fuck!? Since the Colosseum is so cryptic, a few

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theories have popped up trying to explain it. So 
it might be good to have a video that just lays it

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all out, even if there isn’t any strong conclusion 
we can make about this part of the lore.

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The Colosseum of Fools was originally a 
Kickstarter stretch goal, which promised 4

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new bosses and a chance to uncover the mystery of 
the Colosseum. And while the stretch goal wasn’t

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actually reached, Team Cherry added the area into 
the game right at the end of development. The four

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bosses were originally Zote, the Oblobbles, 
and two of the regular fool enemies we fight

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multiple times. Of course, there is also the God 
Tamer who appears at the end of the third trial.

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But she was actually just a Kickstarter 
backer boss that was placed in the Colosseum.

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The original boss design was the Lobster 
Lancer, but I guess Team Cherry didn’t

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want to canonize lobsters. I have no idea why. 
They’ll canonize jellyfish and goddamn pickles,

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but not these majestic bottom 
feeders. Honestly, it makes me sick.

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From an early map of Hallownest made during 
development, we can see that the Colosseum

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of Fools was originally placed in 
the Fungal Wastes near the Mantis

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Village. Of course in the final game, the 
Colosseum is located in the Kingdom’s Edge,

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a more late game area. Kingdom’s Edge 
was thrown into the game as sort of a

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hodgepodge of stuff they couldn’t fit into 
the map already. For example, the Hive was

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originally going to be in Deepnest but ended up 
getting moved over to the Kingdom’s Edge as well.

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We also might have a glimpse of some of the 
earliest sketches for the Colosseum as well.

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In an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Ari 
Gibson shared a small collection of images from

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his sketchbooks that he used to draw concept art 
for Hollow Knight. In a GameInformer interview,

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the author claims that this place was actually 
an early concept for the Colosseum. It looks like

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the audience was originally going to be composed 
of much larger creatures. But keep in mind a lot

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of these sketches contain some really weird shit 
that doesn’t appear anywhere in the final game.

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The Colosseum of Fools that we see in the game 
now didn’t seem to take shape until late in the

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game’s development. But that doesn’t mean there 
isn’t any lore to be found here. In a Reddit AMA,

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Ari mentioned that the Colosseum 
does hide a secret of some kind.

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And there really is a lot to discuss here 
so let’s start with the colosseum itself.

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The Colosseum of Fools is situated 
inside the corpse of some ancient bug.

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Both the interior and exterior of 
the colosseum are laden with chains.

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This might be a way to keep the husk of the 
bug from collapsing in on itself, as well as

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to support the structure surrounding it. Also 
as a way to imprison bugs like the Little Fool.

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So it seems like this was just some random corpse 
that ended up being turned into a battleground.

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But a battleground for whom exactly? Who exactly 
are these fools, and why is it that they are

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murdering each other for the entertainment of 
others? The Hunter asks this very same question.

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“What do they hope for, these warriors 
fighting in the Colosseum? Are they slaves,

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or prisoners, or do they freely choose to fight?”.

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The game gives us a pretty clear 
reason why bugs fight in the Colosseum,

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simply just to fight in the colosseum. They want 
glory and the chance to show off their strength.

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That’s why we see characters like Tiso, 
who do seem to be solely interested in

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fighting in the colosseum just for the sake of it.

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But this is where things get weird. All of the 
enemies you fight in the Colosseum are infected.

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But in the Warrior’s Pit below, they 
are all just kind of chilling there,

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not trying to murder us. One of them is 
even enjoying a lovely soak in a hot spring,

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while also still wearing all of his 
armor for some reason. If dreamnailed,

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one bug goes all Shakespearean on 
us and asks “Are we all Fools?”.

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So what is it about these warriors 
that gives them autonomy while

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in the Warrior’s Pit? There are the traitor 
mantises who took the infection in willingly,

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and it would make sense for the Fools 
to embrace the infection as well,

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as it would give them more strength, but the 
mantises also went mad from the infection.

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At least that’s what the Hunter’s Journal says. 
In the Queen’s Garden we can see that they set up

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campsites, which I assume must take at least 
some kind of self restraint and cognisense.

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Also Traitor Mantises show up at the Colosseum. 
So did these maddened mantises walk all the way

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from the Queen’s Garden to the far end of the 
kingdom or were they captured and brought here?

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The exact details of the infection have 
always been pretty fast and loose. For

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example why exactly do characters like Cornifer 
and Cloth not fall to the infection? Are their

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wills that strong? Cloth’s will never 
seemed too impressive to me. Although

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the last time I said this people started 
bitching at me. Goddamn simps. Yeah it was

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really impressive when she fucking died 
to the Traitor Lord. The Traitor Lord.

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Why is it that we can literally just talk to 
Bretta and Sly to snap them out of their trances,

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but Myla is a completely lost cause? As for Zote, 
well, there actually is a reason he never fell to

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the infection. In Precept 56, he clearly states 
that to avoid having his dreams influence him,

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he simply doesn’t dream. So at least 
there is kind of a reason for that.

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I’d like to speculate at least a little bit about 
how these bugs might be able to withstand the

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infection, but first we’re going to have to talk 
about the people who gentrified this giant husk

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in the first place. The main culprit behind all 
this appears to be the Lord Fool. Unfortunately,

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we aren’t going to be getting much out of him, he 
doesn’t seem like the talkative sort if I’m being

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honest. Despite that, however, the Colosseum 
is still running as if nothing is wrong.

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Of course there is the Little Fool, 
who takes payments and explains the

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rules to anyone interested in fighting. And 
there are still crowds of people watching,

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but obviously there is work happening behind 
the scenes as well. There are people capturing

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and breeding the Sharp Baulders and Armoured 
Squit. I can’t imagine that being very fun.

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I don’t even want to think about the 
implications of bugs forcing other bugs to breed.

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There also had to be people to capture Zote, as 
well as throw dead bodies out of the colosseum

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and into the wasteland of Kingdom’s Edge. All of 
this is continuing to happen while the Lord Fool

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sits dead on the throne. It’s not exactly uncommon 
for communities to continue functioning without

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their leader, so that’s not really surprising. 
One aspect that is the most interesting to me

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is the helmets most of the 
bugs in the colosseum wear.

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The Hunter makes a remark about the masks Battle 
Obbles wear, asking if such an extravagance is

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practical. Now there are a couple points to 
make here. If making these masks is such an

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extravagance, then why the fuck are they all 
over the floors, walls and ceilings? That’s

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like making a minecraft house out of diamonds, 
or a regular house out of copies of Minecraft.

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So are these masks and helmets used for more 
than just mere combat. I’ve talked about masks

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a lot on this channel. There are a few 
general points we can make about them.

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Masks seem to somehow have 
an effect on a bug’s mind.

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A prime example of this is Brumm, a servant of 
the Grimm Troupe. When you first talk to him,

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Brumm is a brooding musician about 2 months away 
from joining an alternative celtic punk rock band.

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However, after the Grimm Troupe is banished we can 
see that Brumm has a complete personality change.

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His name changes to Nymm, his personality 
becomes much more upbeat, and he loses all

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memories he has about his time in the Troupe. And 
most importantly, he is no longer sporting a mask.

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This effect is alluded to by the Mask Maker 
who says that those who conceal their faces

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lose their sense of self. I think it’s 
possible that the warriors of the Colosseum

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are experiencing this as well. Now obviously 
these creatures are still infected.

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If you Dream Nail the Battle Obble it will still 
give the dialogue bugs give that are infected,

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but maybe the masks force these 
creatures to give fealty to the Colosseum

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sort of like how Brumm and the other Grimm Troupe 
members are enslaved to the Nightmare Heart.

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Otherwise I don’t know why the Hunter makes this 
oddly specific observation about this enemy’s

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mask. It’s also entirely possible that Team Cherry 
just couldn’t think of anything else to put here.

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I mean, if you read some of these journal entries, 
they are just kind of random. Like when he ponders

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what Elder Baldurs think about when they curl up. 
Or how he admits to murdering all of his siblings.

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Or the Oblobble entry where he just 
complains about being an incel.

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So there is maybe an explanation for why 
the Fools act like they aren’t infected.

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But what about the audience? Who are these people? 
Well, bugs that look like the audience in the

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Colosseum appear in two separate places. Two 
of them appear in a hot spring in the Forgotten

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Crossroads. They will just be talking amongst 
themselves, but if the Knight gets too close

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they shut up and just awkwardly stare at it. If 
Dream Nailed, they mention the Colosseum directly,

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implying that they are quite aware of 
it and are probably frequent visitors.

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The other instance is a bit more vague. Corpses 
of what appear to be these bugs can be found in

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the Howling Cliffs. Their head shape and body 
type look almost identical to the Colosseum bugs

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so it’s likely that these are the same species. 
This bug’s dream nail dialogue refers to how

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without the King’s powers, their minds have been 
vanquished. This ties to the lore tablet found

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in this area, which tells us that if bugs 
leave Hallownest their minds will be lost.

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So it seems these Colosseum bugs appear to need 
Hallownest’s power in order to have a mind,

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since these ones on the edge of 
the kingdom have lost theirs.

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So what does all this mean? Well, I’m not really 
sure it means much of anything for the Colosseum.

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But it does tell us that these bugs are 
capable of avoiding the Radiance’s infection,

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but not capable of keeping their 
minds when they leave Hallownest.

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That seems odd considering how well known the 
Colosseum is outside of Hallownest. How do bugs

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outside of the kingdom like Tiso even know about 
it? Who exactly is spreading this info around?

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At this point I want to mention a 
theory that has been around for a while.

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Basically the argument goes that 
this creature is actually a wyrm,

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similar to the Pale King. And the Lord Fool 
is some kind of reincarnation of the Wyrm

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similar to the Pale King. That would give us 
an explanation for who the Lord Fool actually

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is as well as explain how there might be some sort 
of magic mumbo jumbo causing the bugs here to act

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like they aren’t infected. I briefly mentioned the 
Wyrm corpse idea in the Wanderer’s Journal video:

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Some people have been saying this corpse 
is the corpse of a Wyrm. But we don’t know

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exactly what kind of creature this was. Maybe 
it was just a worm with an “O” instead of a “Y”.

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Well that was insightful.This thing probably 
isn’t any kind of wyrm. You can see what appear

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to be little claws that this bug might have 
used to move around with. As far as we know,

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wyrms like the Pale King’s original form didn’t 
have limbs to speak of. Honestly, I’m not even

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sure if they had eyes either. Or buttholes. Also, 
where is the egg the Lord Fool hatched out of?

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Why didn’t he try and build his own 
kingdom or at least take over Hallownest?

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So I’d say the chance of this thing being a 
wyrm is extremely low. Then again, the sample

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size of Wyrms we have to compare this creature 
to is only one, so maybe there are different

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variations of Wyrms out there in the world. 
However, Grimm refers to the Pale King as a worm

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in the normal sense, so I really doubt wyrms 
would ever deviate this much from that formula.

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00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:30,560
So to recap, we’ve got a Colosseum that is 
operating entirely on its own despite both the

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death of their apparent leader and the onset of 
an infection. The crowd is completely impervious

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to the infection, both inside and outside the 
Colosseum. The bugs fighting inside the Colosseum

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are infected, but do not show signs of aggression 
when outside the arena. At least some of these

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bugs are wearing crafted extravagant masks that 
don’t seem entirely practical on the face of it,

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but maybe have something to do with 
controlling them. But of course,

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we are missing one important detail. The fact 
that all of this is happening within Hallownest.

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The Colosseum was probably around during the days 
of Hallownest’s glory, judging by the language

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used in the game manual. We also know that 
one of the previous champions of the Colosseum

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was the Pale Lurker. Her dream nail dialogue shows 
how much she cared about the King, and she even

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kept a King’s Idol in her camp. Of course, 
it’s possible that she just found the King’s

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Idol and became obsessed with the King, without 
actually being part of his military force. But

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all in all it seems like the Colosseum of Fools 
existed without any protest from the Pale King.

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But there is one more aspect of the Colosseum we 
need to discuss, and that is this room right here.

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This is the room where the Knight’s shade appears 
after the player is killed in the Colosseum.

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The room itself is actually called the shade 
trap room in the game files. This raises a

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pretty big question. Why did the bugs of the 
Colosseum find it necessary to create this room?

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Did other void beings fight in this Colosseum? 
Pretty much all we can do at this point is

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speculate. So let’s start with a pretty fun 
one. What if the Hollow Knight was trained here?

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We know the Hollow Knight was trained to prime 
form. Maybe this happened in the Colosseum,

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and a shade trap was built in case 
the Hollow Knight was defeated.

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This might also be evidence that the Colosseum 
has been around way longer than even Hallownest.

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It seems as though the Ancient Civilization was 
far more acquainted with void than the anyone

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from Hallownest, considering they literally 
worshipped the void. And it seems possible

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that this civilization was capable of giving 
void form. So this room might be a remnant clue

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of just how old this place actually is, when 
maybe void creatures were more commonplace.

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Another more interesting idea is that void beings 
are actually more common than we might think.

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I’m about to jump into some Silksong spoilers 
here, so if you are worried about a few bosses

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of the game getting spoiled, you should skip 
ahead in the video now. As far as we know,

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void can only be found in 
the Abyss. But in Silksong,

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we know of at least one character who might 
be a void entity, Steel Assassin Sharpe.

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This character has an attack 
where his nose turns into a whip,

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and it looks suspiciously like the void 
tendrils we see in the Abyss. We don’t know

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where this void could have come from, but maybe 
it exists somewhere else in the world, and void

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creatures would actually come to the Colosseum to 
fight. That’s a pretty out there idea, for sure,

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but the inclusion of this shade trap might 
indicate void being more ubiquitous than it seems.

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And that’s about all there is to talk about with 
the Colosseum. In terms of what mystery is still

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hidden there, the only two theories I have are 
either how the bugs there used masks to control

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the fighters, or that the Pale King might have 
used the Colosseum to train the Hollow Knight.

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So thanks for watching and before you go, be 
sure to sign this petition to

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canonize lobster.