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Despite this channel running for over 5 [br]years now and having over 3 whole videos

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dedicated to Hollow Knight lore, there are [br]still quite a few big mysteries left lurking

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in the ruins of Hallownest. This video will [br]serve as a rundown of all the weird aspects

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of Hollow Knight lore we have yet to fully [br]piece together. We’re going to be hitting

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on a few topics I’ve already covered in [br]previous videos, but there are also a

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few mysteries that I haven’t really touched on [br]before as well. Also, some of these mysteries

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do have pretty reasonable explanations, that [br]maybe aren’t as well known in the community.

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And before we get started proper, I did want to [br]mention the Lore Archives, which is a document

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full of interesting lore write ups written by [br]various members of the Hollow Knight community.

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So if you want to check out theories from the [br]community on a variety of different topics,

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try checking this page out. I put a link [br]down in the description. I also put a link

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to the entire script of the Bee movie as [br]well. So be sure to check that out too.

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The first big question I think we all asked at one [br]point or another is… what’s outside Hallownest?

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There are two instances where the game tempts [br]us with glimpses of the outside world, but we

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are stopped by powerful forces of nature. [br]Through interacting with the Godseeker,

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we also get very small windows into lands outside [br]of Hallownest. We see the Godseekers in the middle

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of their journey through the wasteland as they [br]make their pilgrimage to Hallownest. We also see

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the Land of Storms, the location from which the [br]Godseekers fled after they were abandoned by the

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Gods of Thunder and the Gods of Rain. We also [br]see parts of the lands beyond in the Quirrel

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prequel comic and in the opening cutscene of [br]Hollow Knight: Silksong. All of these scenes

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portray the Lands Beyond as a desolate wasteland [br]filled with nothing but sand, rock and deadly

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creatures. Even the tablet in the Howling Cliffs [br]tells us there is no world beyond Hallownest.

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But are the Lands Beyond truly such a [br]desolate wasteland? After all, there

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are several travelers who arrive in Hallownest [br]such as Zote, Cloth and Tiso. And of course,

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there’s also Pharloom, a completely different [br]kingdom that exists somewhere else out there.

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So, even if the Lands Beyond are mostly wasteland, [br]there still appear to be pockets of civilization,

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although maybe not to the scale of Hallownest in [br]most cases. But this does raise another question.

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Why does the lore tablet at the entrance to [br]Hallownest call it the last and only civilization?

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I think this is because the Pale King expected [br]Hallownest to last eternally. And if that were

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the case, then to travelers arriving in the [br]far future, it really would be the last and

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only civilization. And there might actually be [br]good reason to believe that there really aren’t

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many kingdoms left in the world of Hollow Knight.[br]Long before the events of the game, the Pale King

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existed in the world as a Wyrm, burrowing [br]through mountains and across wastelands,

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and only came to Hallownest to die. From there, [br]he shed his Wyrm form, taking on a meager shell,

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founded Hallownest and created a beacon to draw [br]in subjects to his new kingdom. According to

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Dream Nail dialogue from Mister Mushroom, this [br]is how Wyrms typically operate: “Wyrms pull

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bugs into their thrall”. Wyrms might be one of [br]the primary forces that build civilizations in

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this world. But there’s one line from Bardoon that [br]illuminates the problem here. When discussing the

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Wyrm’s Cast-off Shell, Bardoon says “With its like [br]gone, the world is smaller.” This line might imply

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that the Wyrms of this world have all died out.[br]This could explain why the land is so desolate.

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The creatures mainly responsible for creating [br]and advancing civilization are just all gone now,

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so most of the kingdoms have collapsed into sand. [br]It’s interesting to think of a world where Wyrms

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were more prevalent and there were tons of nearby [br]kingdoms engaging in trade and warfare. Of course,

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while this might explain the current state of [br]the world, it raises another question. Why did

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all the Wyrms die out in the first place? Did [br]they destroy the natural ecosystem of the world

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by their actions, leading their population to [br]drop? And why did the Pale King die specifically

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in Hallownest? Is there something unique about [br]this patch of earth that draws the likes of the

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Pale King and other civilizations to try to claim [br]all of it? These are some pretty broad questions

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that I’m not sure we’ll ever get answers to. And [br]the Pale King isn’t the only Wyrm we know about.

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The Blackwyrm is mentioned in the Hunter’s [br]Journal entry for the Dung Defender, where

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he mentions that he participated in the “Battle [br]of the Blackwyrm”. And that’s all we have on the

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Blackwyrm. This pitiful amount of information has [br]led to a wide variety of theories, and I think it

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might be worth discussing a few of them here.[br]One of the most popular theories out there is

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that the Blackwyrm is the corpse that [br]houses the Colosseum of Fools. In my

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dedicated Colosseum of Fools video, I [br]dismissed this idea pretty strongly,

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but since anything related to the Blackwyrm [br]is speculation, let’s lay out the evidence.

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First of all, this ancient bug corpse is very [br]unique from every other ancient corpse we see

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in Hallownest. It appears to have chains [br]going into it as if someone was trying to

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immobilize it, perhaps because this creature [br]was encroaching into Hallownest during the

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Pale King’s reign. This could signify a battle.[br]Second, the Lord Fool might be like the Pale

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King in that it was born from the carcass of [br]the larger Colosseum bug. The name Lord Fool

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might have even been part of his punishment [br]for trying to invade the Pale King’s kingdom,

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and he’s been relegated to stay inside his [br]Cast-off Shell on the edge of the Kingdom.

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Third, the worship of the Lord Fool [br]we see of bugs like the Little Fool

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might be part of the “wyrms pull bugs into [br]their thrall” line from Mister Mushroom we

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discussed earlier. This might also explain [br]why the Colosseum houses infected bugs that

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seemingly still retain their ability [br]to act non-hostile towards the Knight.

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The hurdles this theory has is the fact that this [br]corpse looks nothing like the Cast-off Shell. It

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has limbs, it isn’t molting, the interiors look [br]different. There’s also Ellina who identifies the

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Cast-off Shell as a Wyrm, but not the Colosseum [br]of Fools corpse. In order for this theory to work,

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you have to argue that the Pale Wyrm [br]isn’t representative of all wyrm types,

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which I think does have merit, but I think [br]the Colosseum Wyrm idea strays a bit too far.

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The other argument I’ve been seeing pop up is [br]that the Blackwyrm isn’t a Wyrm at all. This

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stems from the lack of consistency between its [br]name and every other instance of “Wyrm” we see

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in the game. Any time the word “wyrm” is used [br]outside of “Blackwyrm”, the word is by itself.

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Most instances of the word just say [br]“Wyrm” by itself with a capital “W”,

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with a few instances where it’s just in lower [br]case. There’s also the one time Grimm uses the

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word “worm” with an “O” seemingly to mock the Pale [br]King. The only other time, aside from “Blackwyrm”

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where we get an adjective in front of the word, [br]is when it’s written as “Pale Wyrm”. Two words,

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both capitalized. As opposed to just one word.[br]Personally, I don’t find this line of thought

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to be very compelling either. [br]Mainly because, if it’s not a Wyrm,

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what is it? Generally the theory follows [br]that the Blackwyrm was some kind of location,

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perhaps a place with a structure that looks like [br]a wyrm or something to that effect. Or maybe it’s

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named after a battle tactic. Like the Battle [br]of the Bulge. While this might alleviate the

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discrepancy between “Pale Wyrm” and “Blackwyrm”, [br]I don’t think it’s a very sound idea on the whole.

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The only other idea I can think of is that [br]the Blackwyrm is a different Wyrm with its

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own kingdom that possibly fought against the [br]Pale King at some point in the past. It seems

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like if any higher being could form a militia [br]to do something like that, it would be a Wyrm.

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So yeah, that’s my take on [br]those four words of lore.

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Void is a very complex subject in Hollow Knight, [br]so much so that there is a 70 page lore document

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written by Sumwan and ToxicBrain detailing all [br]the different aspects of Void and its impact on

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the lore. But in this section I’m going to discuss [br]something only briefly mentioned in this document

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and never mentioned on this channel before.[br]While Soul and Essence have clear sources from

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which they are created, we have no clue how Void [br]is formed. Void is always described as a darkness

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or an emptiness, which aren’t really things that [br]can be created, but instead are an absence of

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something else. However, there is one comparison [br]that could explain where Void comes from: regrets.

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When dying and losing its shade in Hollow Knight, [br]the Knight can recover it by giving a rancid egg

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to Confessor Jiji in Dirtmouth. Jiji describes [br]the missing shade as a regret which leaves a

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dark stain on the world. And after the Knight [br]collects the Void Heart, Jiji even describes the

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Knight as “coming to terms” with its own regrets.[br]But it’s not just the Knight’s regrets that Jiji

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speaks about. Jiji notes that the entire kingdom [br]of Hallownest has become thick with the stains of

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regret. It’s possible that Jiji is aware of the [br]other shades trapped in the Abyss, but the fact

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that she says the entire kingdom is stained might [br]mean that she can sense the regrets of all the

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bugs that have died since Hallownest collapsed.[br]This idea that normal bugs can also leave stains

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of regret is reiterated by the Hunter. In the [br]journal entry for the Shade, the Hunter remarks:

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Each of us leaves an imprint of something [br]when we die. A stain on the world. I don't

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know how much longer this kingdom can [br]bear the weight of so many past lives...

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This regret motif appears one more [br]time, scribbled on the tablet located

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just outside of the Abyss. The tablet describes [br]the Abyss and discarded Vessels as the “refuse

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and regret” of the Hollow Knight’s creation.[br]So there are quite a few connections between

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Void and regrets. But the problem with this theory [br]is that we don’t really see non-Void creatures

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actually create Void. There are occasional [br]bugs that have black streaks under their eyes,

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such as the Grey Mourner’s dead lover, the Lord [br]Fool, No Eyes, Mask Maker and Karina. But there

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really isn’t any slam dunk connections here. For [br]the mantis, those could be tears, for No Eyes,

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blood. For Lord Fool, it could be weathering, [br]like what we see on statues and paintings that

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have eyes. And as for Mask Maker and Karina, [br]there really isn’t any indication that either

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of these two characters have any regrets.[br]But I think there is at least one plausible

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example of a non-Void creature leaving a [br]dark stain on the world: the Pale King.

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The entirety of the White Palace hidden in [br]the dream realm still shines with that bright,

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pale light, with the only two exceptions being the [br]White Palace workshop and the Pale King’s throne

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room. From the dialogue of his Royal Retainers as [br]well as Mask Maker, we know that the Pale King was

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racked with shame and deeply troubled. Ultimately, [br]the Pale King faded away alone on his throne, and

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the deep regrets he held inside stained the throne [br]room, shrouding it in a thick cloud of Void.

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While I think this makes a lot of sense [br]thematically, it might be too much of

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a stretch to say Void originates entirely from [br]regret, especially since the way Void is used in

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the rest of the game doesn’t reflect this idea. [br]Team Cherry might have just used this “regrets”

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concept as a way to keep the concept of Void a [br]mystery, since the player could potentially meet

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Jiji very early on in the game. But it’s the [br]best explanation I have for the Void’s origin.

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The only other idea I can think of is that Void [br]is supposed to be like some kind of oil deposit,

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perhaps from the dead bodies of creatures [br]past. But the lack of the United States

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military anywhere in Hallownest [br]kinda makes this theory unlikely.

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Mask Maker is such a fun little character. [br]They seem so oddly separated from the rest

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of Hollow Knight lore, and yet they have intimate [br]knowledge about the events of Hallownest and even

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civilizations from long before the Pale King. Some [br]of the Mask Maker’s dialogue can be interpreted in

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regards to the Knight. They talk about the [br]contrast between the Knight’s outer shell,

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and its inner shade, almost as if the Knight [br]itself is a face hidden behind a mask.

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But this doesn’t really answer the question [br]of why the Mask Maker is making masks in the

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first place. Who are the “Kingdom’s faceless” [br]the Mask Maker is referring to? Why do they

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seemingly equate having a face with the ability [br]to “define, focus and exist”? And why do they

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consider masks a “gift to a world deserving”?[br]The problem with answering this question

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is that we see very few characters in [br]Hollow Knight that actually wear masks,

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and sometimes those masks seem to serve [br]different functions. There’s the three Dreamers,

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Quirrel, the Fools in the Colosseum, the Grimm [br]Troupe, the Godseekers and possibly Midwife.

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But outside of that, we’ve got very [br]little to work with. So it’s hard to

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define who the kingdom’s faceless are [br]and how masks affect their wearers.

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I have my own idea about what all this means. [br]It does involve a lot of assumptions and it

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has its fair share of issues, but I’m not really [br]sure if there’s a theory out there I like more.

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I mentioned before that the Mask Maker draws [br]a contrast between the Knight’s outer shell

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and inner shade. I think there is a parallel [br]theme here in the actual bugs of Hallownest.

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I think some bugs are naturally [br]more beastly in nature, and aren’t

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capable of higher thought. These would be the [br]“faceless” that Mask Maker refers to. However,

0:13:20.100,0:13:26.520
these bugs can still conceal their true nature [br]using masks. And somehow, masks are able to grant

0:13:26.520,0:13:31.740
these bugs identity and allow them to exist as [br]more than just weak-minded beasts. In effect,

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this is the same as the Pale King’s beacon. [br]However, while in Hallownest, these bugs no longer

0:13:37.380,0:13:42.600
need to hide their true forms, as explained in one [br]of the lore tablets located in the King’s Pass.

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In a time before the Pale King’s beacon, masks [br]were potentially a much more useful object,

0:13:48.180,0:13:53.460
which could explain why we see ancient masks [br]lying around the kingdom. Perhaps the Mask

0:13:53.460,0:13:58.140
Maker was making masks long before the Pale [br]King arrived, and chose to continue making

0:13:58.140,0:14:02.640
masks because that’s all they know how to [br]do. Their swirling eyes might imply that

0:14:02.640,0:14:07.440
they are a little insane, driven to feverishly [br]make masks for the people of a dead kingdom.

0:14:07.980,0:14:15.420
So, to simplify things, the Pale King’s beacon [br]“redeems” the beastly “base instincts” of bugs.

0:14:15.420,0:14:20.760
However, bugs could also wear masks that [br]conceal their beastly nature and, in turn,

0:14:20.760,0:14:26.340
grant them an identity. Both are methods that [br]turn the “faceless” into sentient beings.

0:14:26.340,0:14:32.880
How likely is this theory correct… ehh, I’m not [br]sure. It’s still really weird that Mask Maker

0:14:32.880,0:14:38.340
is making masks for Hallownest when Hallownest [br]strictly doesn’t need them. It’s also possible

0:14:38.340,0:14:43.020
that I’m misinterpreting the King’s Pass tablet [br]completely, or drawing a connection between that

0:14:43.020,0:14:48.960
and Mask Maker that wasn’t intended. And again, [br]we don’t really see how masks grant identity

0:14:48.960,0:14:53.460
like all this applies. Like I said, this [br]theory is still my preferred interpretation,

0:14:53.460,0:14:57.840
but I’m not going to act like it’s an airtight [br]explanation of the Mask Maker’s dialogue.

0:14:57.840,0:15:03.360
I really do think we just lack information to [br]pin down exactly what this maniac is on about.

0:15:05.160,0:15:11.220
Charms are ubiquitous in Hallownest, popping [br]up in all sorts of random locations. And charms

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can be created from a variety of different [br]circumstances. Charms can be crafted by bugs

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like the Soul Catcher and Mark of Pride, born [br]out of strong emotions like the Grubberfly’s

0:15:20.580,0:15:26.040
Elegy and the Spell Twister, or even created [br]naturally like the Spore Shroom and Deep Focus.

0:15:26.040,0:15:32.160
But charms can also form in another more morbid [br]way. Salubra tells us that charms can be created

0:15:32.160,0:15:37.740
from the last wish of dying bugs. Charms that [br]likely fit into this category include Dashmaster,

0:15:37.740,0:15:43.740
Fury of the Fallen and the Glowing Womb charm.[br]But the biggest actual mystery surrounding charms

0:15:43.740,0:15:50.640
is how they work. They are created through various [br]random and tragic events, yet they all can slot

0:15:50.640,0:15:56.280
into these vague, weird, generic notches.[br]The best canonical explanation of anything

0:15:56.280,0:16:01.200
related to how charms are equipped comes from the [br]Wanderer’s Journal which mentions that equipping

0:16:01.200,0:16:08.340
and unequipping charms can be tricky, so you have [br]to be sitting down to do it. Thanks to officially

0:16:08.340,0:16:13.440
licensed Hollow Knight vinyl records released by [br]Fangamer, we can actually see that charms have

0:16:13.440,0:16:19.320
these interfaces on their backside that allow them [br]to slot into charm notches. But even though these

0:16:19.320,0:16:25.860
slots are discrete, with each charm connecting [br]to just one slot, a charm like Kingsoul still

0:16:25.860,0:16:32.220
requires 5 charm notches to actually equip. It [br]doesn’t really make sense and even Team Cherry has

0:16:32.220,0:16:37.320
thrown up their hands on this one. In an interview [br]with Edge Magazine, Ari Gibson explains that

0:16:37.320,0:16:42.720
charms, quote “had this vague sense of socketing [br]into the Knight’s shell in some sort of creepy

0:16:42.720,0:16:48.540
way”. He makes it sound like this is some sort [br]of cyberpunk body augmentation. Now I haven’t

0:16:48.540,0:16:54.360
played Cyberpunk 2077. Although I have watched [br]its anime adaptation, Cyberpunk Edgerunners.

0:16:57.900,0:17:01.800
Everyone in the Hollow Knight community [br]generally agrees that grubs are hideous

0:17:01.800,0:17:06.780
creatures that deserve to be mashed up [br]into a fine, viscous paste. But one thing

0:17:06.780,0:17:11.820
the community isn’t quite as sure on is most [br]of the lore surrounding the Grubs and reason

0:17:11.820,0:17:17.160
behind the capture. “Why are all these [br]grubs trapped in jars?” I hear you moan.

0:17:17.700,0:17:22.980
High up in the Watcher’s Spire, just below where [br]the Dreamer Lurien the Watcher sleeps eternal,

0:17:22.980,0:17:28.200
we can find a couple of unassuming lore [br]tablets. However, upon further inspection

0:17:28.200,0:17:32.940
we can see that these tablets actually [br]contain images of jars, similar to the

0:17:32.940,0:17:38.340
ones found scattered throughout Hallownest. The [br]same jars containing dozens of helpless grubs.

0:17:38.340,0:17:43.920
We can find a stockpile of these jars east [br]of Lurien’s tower in a location called the

0:17:43.920,0:17:48.660
Tower of Love. The original resident of [br]the Tower of Love can seemingly be found

0:17:48.660,0:17:54.480
in the Queen’s Garden, clutching the key to [br]unlock the tower’s door. When Dream Nailed,

0:17:54.480,0:18:01.380
this Husk Dandy says “Too long… spent together… [br]We become as one”. In addition to this,

0:18:01.380,0:18:07.560
we can also see Void seeping out of their corpse.[br]The source of this Void becomes clear when the

0:18:07.560,0:18:12.900
Knight unlocks the door to the Tower of Love. [br]Inside the Knight finds a maniacal Void being

0:18:12.900,0:18:18.360
known as the Collector, who is likely the [br]one responsible for capturing Grubs in jars.

0:18:18.360,0:18:23.340
From its Dream Nail dialogue, we can tell that [br]the Collector is obsessed with protection and

0:18:23.340,0:18:29.820
providing a safe space for its captives, so much [br]so that the Hall of Gods describes it as a god

0:18:29.820,0:18:36.480
of Protection. Finally, hidden in a secret room of [br]the Tower of Love, is a strange diagram of a grub,

0:18:36.480,0:18:41.820
drawn in the style of the Vitruvian Man.[br]Now that we’ve laid out all the facts of

0:18:41.820,0:18:47.880
the matter, let’s dive into heavy speculation. [br]It seems Lurien tasked the Husk Dandy found in

0:18:47.880,0:18:53.160
the Queen’s Gardens with preserving the various [br]wildlife of Hallownest. This might have been

0:18:53.160,0:18:58.260
in an effort to preserve these animals from the [br]Radiance’s infection, sort of like Noah’s Ark from

0:18:58.260,0:19:03.300
the Bible. Or maybe Lurien just wanted there to [br]be a collection of these bugs somewhere within the

0:19:03.300,0:19:09.900
city, sort of like a zoo, like the one depicted [br]in the 2011 hit comedy film We Bought a Zoo.

0:19:10.440,0:19:15.720
Somehow the Collector came into the possession of [br]the Husk Dandy. The Collector itself appears to

0:19:15.720,0:19:20.580
be created from a mould found in the White Palace [br]Workshop, the same mould used to create the Pale

0:19:20.580,0:19:25.860
King’s Kingsmould guards. This implies that the [br]Collector is some kind of defective Kingsmould,

0:19:25.860,0:19:31.140
leading to speculation that the Collector somehow [br]escaped from the White Palace and was later found

0:19:31.140,0:19:36.720
by the Husk Dandy. While it’s not impossible, [br]I have a slightly different explanation.

0:19:36.720,0:19:42.180
We know that Kingsmoulds likely roamed [br]areas outside of the White Palace, given

0:19:42.180,0:19:47.280
that the Nailsmith can be seen making a little [br]Kingsmould doll. Perhaps it wasn’t uncommon to

0:19:47.280,0:19:52.620
see Kingsmoulds walking around the streets of the [br]city. So, it’s possible that the Husk Dandy was

0:19:52.620,0:19:57.960
able to secure a Kingsmould of their own, either [br]through Lurien as part of the preservation effort,

0:19:57.960,0:20:01.860
or just through connections they [br]had with Hallownest’s high society.

0:20:01.860,0:20:08.340
But I think there was one problem with this whole [br]setup, that being that this little Husk Dandy was

0:20:08.340,0:20:13.560
a total freak. I think this Husk Dandy was the [br]one who originally drew the Vitruvian Grub,

0:20:13.560,0:20:19.500
due to some sort of strange obsession with the [br]grub’s body and physiology. But I think this

0:20:19.500,0:20:25.560
fascination also extended to other creatures as [br]well. Perhaps the Husk Dandy was also curious to

0:20:25.560,0:20:30.240
see what their Kingsmould servant looked like [br]underneath all its heavy armor. Maybe they

0:20:30.240,0:20:35.580
decided to completely strip it down so they could [br]observe this strange creature in its natural form.

0:20:35.580,0:20:41.460
Regardless of how the Husk Dandy ended up living [br]with a naked Kingsmould, this set the stage for

0:20:41.460,0:20:47.760
the two to “become as one”, with Void seeping [br]into the Husk Dandy’s body, and the Husk Dandy’s

0:20:47.760,0:20:53.160
fascination and obsession with preserving bugs, [br]and especially Grubs, seeping into the Collector.

0:20:53.760,0:20:58.740
These strange thoughts warped within the [br]Collector’s mind, transforming it into the

0:20:58.740,0:21:04.560
least insane Tumblr user you’ve ever seen. In [br]the end, the dying Husk Dandy decided to lock

0:21:04.560,0:21:09.600
the Collector inside the Tower of Love, fleeing to [br]their final resting place in the Queen’s Gardens.

0:21:10.860,0:21:15.840
Connecting all this back to grubs, it’s hard [br]to tell if this obsession with grubs was really

0:21:15.840,0:21:22.140
warranted at all. Is there really anything greater [br]to them? While it isn’t much, we do have a little

0:21:22.140,0:21:27.960
bit to go on here. Note that the symbol placed on [br]the chest of the Vitruvian Grub lines up pretty

0:21:27.960,0:21:33.060
closely with this gem on the Grubberfly’s Elegy [br]charm. The Grubberfly’s Elegy shows us what the

0:21:33.060,0:21:38.340
next stage of life looks like for a grub, and the [br]charm itself can imbue the Knight’s nail with a

0:21:38.340,0:21:44.700
“holy” strength. So perhaps the original bug was [br]obsessed with some sort of hidden holy strength

0:21:44.700,0:21:47.260
contained within grubs.[br]This

0:21:49.500,0:21:53.400
mystery is pretty important to the core [br]story of Hollow Knight, and it can actually

0:21:53.400,0:21:58.500
be pretty confusing for new players. How [br]exactly did the Knight and other vessels

0:21:58.500,0:22:04.020
escape the Abyss? Team Cherry was even asked [br]about this question to which William relied:

0:22:04.020,0:22:08.580
We're not sure - we know that some of his [br]siblings managed to make it out of the Abyss,

0:22:08.580,0:22:12.480
but most of them did not. Whether those [br]who made it out were somehow different,

0:22:12.480,0:22:16.620
or whether some of them were just lucky... [br]that might be something we examine later!

0:22:17.400,0:22:22.740
But is William actually telling the truth here? [br]Surely they have an answer to this question.

0:22:23.640,0:22:28.920
Hollow Knight lore kind of completely breaks if [br]they don’t. Since Team Cherry is not going to

0:22:28.920,0:22:33.960
answer the question, I will share one theory that [br]has been floating around for a while. Basically

0:22:33.960,0:22:38.040
there’s a portion of Deepnest that does seem [br]to be affected by the influence of the Void,

0:22:38.040,0:22:43.860
and not far from there is Nosk’s lair. And this [br]is the one location of the game outside of the

0:22:43.860,0:22:48.840
Abyss where we see the most Vessel bodies. [br]This seems to imply that there might have

0:22:48.840,0:22:53.880
been a path out of the Abyss through Deepnest.[br]Another question that might arise from this is

0:22:53.880,0:22:58.920
why the Knight left Hallownest in the first [br]place. We’re given no explanation for this

0:22:58.920,0:23:04.320
and it may be as simple as Vessels just kinda [br]wander around like that. And although we don’t

0:23:04.320,0:23:09.360
know why the Knight left Hallownest, we do know [br]that the Knight was called back to Hallownest by

0:23:09.360,0:23:14.100
something. It’s not confirmed what this was, [br]but it seems to be related to when the Hollow

0:23:14.100,0:23:18.960
Knight’s shell cracked in the cutscene shown at [br]the beginning of the game. We also know that the

0:23:18.960,0:23:24.000
Knight is just one of multiple Vessels wandering [br]around during this time, as Hornet is actively

0:23:24.000,0:23:28.080
hunting Vessels down and destroying them to [br]keep them from trying to free the Hollow Knight.

0:23:28.080,0:23:33.180
So I wouldn’t be surprised to learn if other [br]Vessels also happened to have left Hallownest.

0:23:33.180,0:23:39.900
Lifeblood is a topic I have barely talked about [br]on this channel, and that’s because Lifeblood

0:23:39.900,0:23:44.460
barely has any influence over the overall [br]lore of Hollow Knight. But we should take a

0:23:44.460,0:23:49.680
little bit of time to talk about Lifeblood because [br]Lifeblood is pretty weird. Throughout Hallownest,

0:23:49.680,0:23:55.140
the Knight can find eight separate Lifeblood [br]cocoons. Destroying these cocoons releases these

0:23:55.140,0:24:01.140
small creatures called Lifeseeds, which are filled [br]with Lifeblood. Not far off from these cocoon are

0:24:01.140,0:24:06.300
butterfly shaped flowers. And there are also [br]three Lifeblood related charms the Knight can

0:24:06.300,0:24:13.560
find. The Lifeblood Core and the Lifeblood Heart [br]are both objects that can seep or bleed Lifeblood,

0:24:13.560,0:24:20.640
while Joni’s Blessing actually transfigures [br]the vital fluids of its wearer with Lifeblood.

0:24:20.640,0:24:25.380
Lifeblood is described as making the user [br]feel much healthier. But despite this,

0:24:25.380,0:24:30.420
Salubra tells us that drinking Lifeblood [br]is a taboo, and the Blue Child Joni,

0:24:30.420,0:24:35.400
the character in possession of Joni’s [br]Blessing, is described as being a “heretic”.

0:24:35.400,0:24:41.160
We don’t know for sure why Lifeblood is considered [br]such a taboo, but we can figure a few things. In

0:24:41.160,0:24:46.440
Joni’s Repose where we find Joni’s corpse, we [br]can see an explosion of Lifeblood butterflies

0:24:46.440,0:24:52.260
and vines covering the cavern, all seeming to [br]radiate from Joni’s corpse. Given her charm,

0:24:52.260,0:24:57.240
it seems like Joni’s “vital fluids” had [br]been completely replaced with Lifeblood,

0:24:57.240,0:25:02.940
and upon her death, this Lifeblood spouted [br]out from her. From there, these butterflies

0:25:02.940,0:25:08.280
and vines can then travel out and create more [br]Lifeblood cocoons for more bugs to drink from.

0:25:08.940,0:25:12.900
It seems Lifeblood’s powerful healing [br]properties are meant to entice a host to

0:25:12.900,0:25:18.300
consume it. According to the Wanderer’s Journal, [br]Lifeblood vines are capable of producing fruit,

0:25:18.300,0:25:24.600
which in real life lore, have evolved to be [br]eaten by animals as a way to spread their

0:25:24.600,0:25:30.840
seed. And upon that host’s death, this Lifeblood [br]can then spread itself out even further. In fact,

0:25:30.840,0:25:35.520
there might already be a vast network of [br]Lifeblood vegetation spreading all across

0:25:35.520,0:25:40.620
Hallownest. And I should also note that Joni [br]isn’t the only Lifeblood infused creature we see.

0:25:40.620,0:25:46.200
Deep under Hallownest, hidden away In the Abyss, [br]is a door that can only be unlocked by having

0:25:46.200,0:25:51.720
enough Lifeblood masks. Behind this door is [br]a strange region that seems to exist both in

0:25:51.720,0:25:56.400
the real world and the dream realm, where [br]we can see a giant creature with glowing,

0:25:56.400,0:26:01.800
blue eyes lurking in the background. This creature [br]can also be seen hiding in the Lifeblood room in

0:26:01.800,0:26:06.600
Godhome. This being is referred to as the [br]Abyss Creature in the game files, and it

0:26:06.600,0:26:11.340
clearly has some kind of connection to Lifeblood.[br]I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the Abyss

0:26:11.340,0:26:15.960
Creature facilitates the appearance of Lifeblood [br]in Godhome, but I’m not entirely convinced that

0:26:15.960,0:26:20.640
this is the true source of all Lifeblood. It [br]might be possible that this creature is similar

0:26:20.640,0:26:26.160
to Joni in that it just ingested Lifeblood to the [br]point where its “vital fluids” were completely

0:26:26.160,0:26:30.780
replaced and it can now spread Lifeblood [br]around through the Dream Realm. But with

0:26:30.780,0:26:35.100
how little info we are given on Lifeblood, [br]we can’t say anything too conclusive here.

0:26:37.140,0:26:43.200
Out of all the Pale King’s Five Great Knights, [br]Isma is easily the most mysterious. We probably

0:26:43.200,0:26:48.960
still know more about her than we do Dryya, but [br]nobody cares about Dryya and all my homies hate

0:26:48.960,0:26:55.200
Dryya. Getting back to Isma, we know that she was [br]a kind person and that her and Dung Defender had

0:26:55.200,0:27:00.120
a very close relationship. You can even hear [br]Dung Defender say Isma’s name in his sleep.

0:27:04.740,0:27:08.880
But we only catch small glimpses of what [br]she looked like during Hallownest’s prime,

0:27:08.880,0:27:13.740
and her corpse in the Royal Waterways seems to [br]have somehow fused with the plant life around

0:27:13.740,0:27:19.380
her. We know that this location, known as Isma’s [br]Grove, is being protected by the Dung Defender,

0:27:19.380,0:27:23.040
and if we look at the Dung Defender’s [br]dialogue after consuming Isma’s Tear,

0:27:23.040,0:27:29.340
he seems to think that Isma is still alive.[br]And this might be true, in a sense. Looking

0:27:29.340,0:27:33.240
at her corpse, it seems as though Isma is [br]the source of all the plant life around her,

0:27:33.240,0:27:38.100
almost like her body is a seed that has [br]taken up root in the ground. This might

0:27:38.100,0:27:43.200
indicate that Isma didn’t die, but instead has [br]transitioned into the next stage of her life.

0:27:43.800,0:27:47.760
And it’s likely that the Dung Defender is [br]aware of this. The sign he makes outside

0:27:47.760,0:27:52.500
her grove specifically mentions that [br]it is a grove. If Isma is the source

0:27:52.500,0:27:56.100
of all the plant life around her, then Dung [br]Defender must have seen her in this state.

0:27:57.000,0:28:01.500
Strangely, Dung Defender mentions that Isma [br]willfully gave the Knight her blessing,

0:28:01.500,0:28:06.660
which is a little odd considering the blessing [br]in question was “Isma’s Tear” and it doesn’t seem

0:28:06.660,0:28:12.060
like Isma created it specifically for the Knight. [br]The Knight kinda just walked up and “consumed”

0:28:12.060,0:28:17.040
it. It seems like the tear was just a fruit [br]growing out from her body, perhaps representing

0:28:17.040,0:28:22.140
her immense sadness in losing her time with Dung [br]Defender. Did Isma really grow this just for us?

0:28:22.140,0:28:27.540
It’s possible, but maybe Dung Defender is [br]just in denial about Isma’s true state. Or

0:28:27.540,0:28:32.040
maybe deep down, Dung Defender knows that she [br]is gone, which could explain why he ponders if

0:28:32.040,0:28:36.900
the line of Hallownest’s Great Knights is going [br]to end with him. Regardless, it does seem like

0:28:36.900,0:28:41.640
Isma could still be alive, even if it’s not [br]in quite the same way you or I are alive.

0:28:42.720,0:28:49.980
Here’s an interesting question that doesn’t get [br]asked a lot. Why is Hornet named Hornet? It’s a

0:28:49.980,0:28:55.620
little bit odd considering Hornet is a spider and [br]spiders and hornets are not the same animal last

0:28:55.620,0:29:01.860
time I checked. Hornet has had her name since her [br]reveal back in December 2014. It’s a cool name,

0:29:01.860,0:29:07.320
but in game, there really isn’t any explanation [br]for it. There is never any interaction between

0:29:07.320,0:29:12.480
Hornet and the Hive, and no one from Deepnest [br]ever speaks to the origin of Hornet’s name.

0:29:12.480,0:29:18.240
If we look outside the game, Ari Gibson did [br]give us an explanation in a Reddit AMA held

0:29:18.240,0:29:24.900
on r/gaming in August of 2017. During this [br]AMA a user asked the following question:

0:29:24.900,0:29:30.900
“Was naming the bee queen "Vespa", [br]as in "hornet", intentional, and does

0:29:30.900,0:29:34.560
that have to do with Hive lore?”[br]In response to this, Ari said:

0:29:34.560,0:29:40.320
Vespa to Hornet was intentional. There was an [br]old concept here that may still apply: Hornet

0:29:40.320,0:29:46.920
was the 'Child of Three Queens,' one birthed, [br]one raised, one trained. It is from the third

0:29:46.920,0:29:51.960
queen that Hornet took her name. Whether that [br]notion still applies however, I can't confirm,

0:29:51.960,0:29:56.940
though it was definitely the basis for the names.[br]So, the original concept for Hornet was that she

0:29:56.940,0:30:02.040
trained with Vespa when she was young, but even [br]Ari can’t confirm if this is still the case.

0:30:02.880,0:30:09.360
Or can he? In an interview with the magazine A [br]Profound Waste of Time held back in July 2020,

0:30:09.360,0:30:14.580
the question of Hornet’s name came up again.[br]Neither [Pellen] nor Gibson will divulge the

0:30:14.580,0:30:19.620
meaning behind Hornet’s name, though Gibson [br]states it does indeed have significance. ‘And

0:30:19.620,0:30:24.840
whether that ever is revealed, I’m not sure.’[br]In this interview, it seems like Gibson states

0:30:24.840,0:30:30.000
that Hornet’s name does have significance although [br]now he doesn’t want to give any details. Does this

0:30:30.000,0:30:34.500
mean that the backstory is accurate? Or did [br]Ari mean that name had significance outside

0:30:34.500,0:30:39.900
of the game? Unfortunately, none of this really [br]matters for canonically proving Hornet’s origins,

0:30:39.900,0:30:44.100
as Team Cherry themselves have stated that [br]their own statements relating to Hollow

0:30:44.100,0:30:49.740
Knight lore should not be considered canon.[br]William: We try not to … it’s a bit boring

0:30:49.740,0:30:54.000
sometimes but we try not to give [br]out too much information sometimes

0:30:54.660,0:31:00.540
that is not in the game. Because a lot of people [br]spend, it’s really cool, coming up with theories

0:31:01.920,0:31:05.040
based on the info in the game. And if [br]we start giving out info that is not

0:31:05.040,0:31:10.075
explicitly in the game, then you might start [br]contradicting people’s theories and stuff….

0:31:10.075,0:31:13.560
Ari: Yeah it colors all that stuff, you know.[br]William: …which is no fun. It’s not a

0:31:13.560,0:31:19.080
nice thing to do for a creator to [br]come in after the fact and start…

0:31:20.640,0:31:26.460
Ari: Stomping around and denying people’s ideas.[br]William: Yeah, yeah. What’s in the game is what’s

0:31:26.460,0:31:32.340
in the game. And anything that we say [br]outside that is actually not canon.

0:31:32.340,0:31:37.980
Ari: Although obviously any additional Hollow [br]Knight content is canon. So anything through

0:31:37.980,0:31:42.480
Godmaster or Grimm Troupe or Hornet…[br]William: Or the comic and stuff.

0:31:42.480,0:31:44.940
Ari: Yeah.[br]Of course,

0:31:44.940,0:31:50.880
we’ll sometimes use Reddit AMA answers as if [br]they are canon, but only in a few instances like

0:31:50.880,0:31:55.680
confirming how the Hive was infected. But those [br]are way more minor than the Daughter of Three

0:31:55.680,0:32:01.740
Queens stuff. I occasionally see people treat this [br]origin story for Hornet as if it’s true, but keep

0:32:01.740,0:32:06.060
in mind that it isn’t officially confirmed [br]by any means, and the only in-game evidence

0:32:06.060,0:32:11.880
we have for it is that Hornet’s name is Hornet.[br]I should also mention that according to Ellina,

0:32:11.880,0:32:16.320
the Hive sealed itself off completely [br]from Hallownest, which seems to imply

0:32:16.320,0:32:21.360
they likely never even met Hornet, despite [br]the King’s Brand she guards being so close by.

0:32:25.080,0:32:30.720
Who the fuck is Dashmaster? There’s literally [br]only one statue commemorating the guy,

0:32:30.720,0:32:36.300
and it’s about 5 feet from a giant sewage [br]pipe. We’re told that this Dashmaster was

0:32:36.300,0:32:41.220
an eccentric bug but not much else.[br]Also, people got really mad at me in

0:32:41.220,0:32:45.240
my last video for saying this guy wasn’t [br]a reference to the character Sans from

0:32:45.240,0:32:50.460
Undertale. I’ll be completely honest with you. [br]This is a little embarrassing, but I’ve never

0:32:50.460,0:32:56.520
played Undertale. Although I have watched its [br]anime adaptation Cyberpunk Edgerunners. But I

0:32:56.520,0:33:02.580
guess they cut Sans from that for some reason.[br]We’re given quite a good amount of detail

0:33:02.580,0:33:07.200
surrounding the nature of the Pale King and the [br]Radiance. And yet for being such an important

0:33:07.200,0:33:12.900
aspect of the story, the White Lady is a bit of [br]an enigma. We know that part of her nature is a

0:33:12.900,0:33:18.540
desire to spread her seed and propagate across the [br]land. But she decided to put bindings on herself

0:33:18.540,0:33:23.880
and trap herself in a cocoon-like chamber to [br]suppress this nature and hide herself from others.

0:33:23.880,0:33:27.660
We can actually see glimpses of what the [br]White Lady used to looked like before the

0:33:27.660,0:33:32.220
events of the game. From the silhouette left [br]on the chair in the White Palace nursery room,

0:33:32.220,0:33:37.380
we can see that she was once quite a bit smaller. [br]We can also see other images of her in concept

0:33:37.380,0:33:42.960
art and early images, which might represent how [br]she looked during Hallownest’s reign. But now,

0:33:42.960,0:33:47.580
her roots have grown out uncontrollably, [br]and she must do all she can to contain them.

0:33:47.580,0:33:53.520
I honestly don’t really have much else to say… [br]It’s just like, where did she come from? It

0:33:53.520,0:33:58.440
makes sense that a Wyrm could have slithered into [br]Hallownest, but where exactly did this big tree

0:33:58.440,0:34:02.100
momma come from?[br]Pale Ore

0:34:02.100,0:34:08.100
Let’s talk about Pale Ore. Pale Ore is icy cold [br]to the touch, and it has been confirmed by Team

0:34:08.100,0:34:13.080
Cherry that it is connected to the Pale Beings, [br]which either refers to creatures like the Pale

0:34:13.080,0:34:20.280
King and White Lady, or Redditors. But what [br]exactly is Pale Ore and what does it do? Let’s

0:34:20.280,0:34:26.640
compare how Pale Ore changes the Knight’s Old Nail [br]into its final form, Pure Nail. The Pure Nail has

0:34:26.640,0:34:31.860
patterns running across it similar to those seen [br]on the Ancient Mask, Soul Vessels, as well as the

0:34:31.860,0:34:36.360
Hollow Knight’s nail as shown in the Embrace [br]the Void endings and the various nail attacks

0:34:36.360,0:34:40.380
used by the Pure Vessel. What’s interesting [br]here is that the Pure Vessel can literally

0:34:40.380,0:34:45.900
create these solid nails that have the same [br]pattern as the Pure Nail using nothing but Soul.

0:34:45.900,0:34:52.200
So perhaps Pale Ore itself contains some form of [br]Soul, itself a substance with strong connection to

0:34:52.200,0:34:57.420
Pale Beings. I should point out that the Pure [br]Nail isn’t just a regular nail forged to be

0:34:57.420,0:35:03.600
stronger. More specifically, the addition of Pale [br]Ore somehow causes the nail to reveal its true,

0:35:03.600,0:35:09.900
ancient form. So, even if Pale Ore isn’t strictly [br]some kind of solidified concentration of soul,

0:35:09.900,0:35:14.880
it certainly has some kind of magical [br]effect on the Nail itself. However,

0:35:14.880,0:35:19.740
the actual location of Pale Ore throughout the [br]game makes this Soul connection a bit strained.

0:35:19.740,0:35:25.980
Of the Pale Ore that aren’t rewarded by random [br]NPCs, they just kinda show up in random rocks

0:35:25.980,0:35:32.460
or eggs or whatever they are and in the Radiance’s [br]statue. The Radiance statue maybe makes some sense

0:35:32.460,0:35:37.500
as some kind of offering or ritual, but [br]these random deposits are a bit more odd.

0:35:37.500,0:35:41.640
Perhaps these are the remnants of ancient [br]Pale Beings from a time before Hallowenst.

0:35:43.500,0:35:49.140
This mystery isn’t particularly big or [br]important, but it’s somewhat cryptic

0:35:49.140,0:35:54.000
in the game itself. Throughout Hallownest [br]are three Nailmaster brothers named Sheo,

0:35:54.000,0:36:00.660
Oro and Mato. Despite clearly the best among [br]the three, Sheo eventually put down his nail to

0:36:00.660,0:36:05.640
become an artist, leaving Oro and Mato to carry [br]on the craft taught to them by Nailsage Sly.

0:36:05.640,0:36:11.460
However, at some point, Oro and Mato had a [br]falling out, and now live on opposite sides

0:36:11.460,0:36:16.740
of the kingdom. Mato is awaiting something [br]that Oro owes him, while Oro will not be

0:36:16.740,0:36:21.960
delivering on this anytime soon. We are also [br]told by Sheo that Oro is haunted by something.

0:36:22.620,0:36:28.440
“What could this be?” I hear you quiver.[br]First off, Oro is likely the worst Nailmaster of

0:36:28.440,0:36:34.800
the trio. We have one brief line from Sly where he [br]says that Oro holds his nail like a club. Later,

0:36:34.800,0:36:39.660
upon learning that the Knight received [br]Nailmaster’s Glory, Oro even mentions that

0:36:39.660,0:36:44.160
he doesn’t begrudge that the Knight won Sly’s [br]approval and even feels that he is redeemed

0:36:44.160,0:36:49.380
in helping the Knight along in its journey. To [br]me, this further indicates that Sly was never

0:36:49.380,0:36:55.260
impressed with Oro’s skill as a Nailmaster.[br]During the fight in Godhome, Oro has Dream

0:36:55.260,0:37:00.960
Nail dialogue indicating that he wants to prove [br]himself. Oro is also the only brother to have

0:37:00.960,0:37:06.120
a training dummy outside his hut, perhaps [br]indicating that he feels he lacks training.

0:37:06.120,0:37:13.440
This is reflected by the Dream Nail dialogue of [br]the dummy, which reads “Stronger… Brothers…” I

0:37:13.440,0:37:18.720
think this shows that Oro views his brothers as [br]being stronger than him, and maybe even dresses

0:37:18.720,0:37:24.060
the dummy as his brothers to remind him of this.[br]Another contrast we can see between the brothers

0:37:24.060,0:37:29.400
is how their huts are furnished. Mato has [br]his hut covered in the skulls of beasts

0:37:29.400,0:37:33.480
he has likely fallen, whereas Oro’s [br]hut is full of random objects from

0:37:33.480,0:37:39.240
the city and fancy drapes. Oro is also the only [br]Nailmaster who charges Geo to train the Knight,

0:37:39.240,0:37:45.900
and he even scoffs at the idea that Mato fights [br]for loyalty and honor. In contrast, Mato gets

0:37:45.900,0:37:51.900
overly attached to the Knight, as according to [br]Sheo, Mato’s greatest desire is to be a teacher.

0:37:51.900,0:37:56.340
This all leads to a strained [br]relationship between Oro and Mato.

0:37:56.340,0:38:01.020
Mato clearly takes pride in being trained in [br]the nail and wants to share that with others,

0:38:01.020,0:38:06.960
while Oro lacks confidence in his abilities. He [br]instead trains alone because he wants to prove

0:38:06.960,0:38:12.120
himself. He likely charges money as a way to keep [br]distance from others, and avoid building strong

0:38:12.120,0:38:17.940
connections. We know that Oro hides his true [br]feelings often due to how he reacts to the Knight

0:38:17.940,0:38:23.700
giving him a flower. He acts all pissed off, but [br]ultimately ends up placing this flower in a vase.

0:38:24.420,0:38:31.200
But what does Oro owe Mato exactly? I think the [br]most logical answers are that Mato either wants

0:38:31.200,0:38:38.100
to duel Oro in a friendly competition, Mato wants [br]to train Oro, or Mato wants Oro to fight alongside

0:38:38.100,0:38:44.220
him. Whatever it is, Mato wants companionship. [br]This would explain Mato’s Dream Nail dialogue

0:38:44.220,0:38:50.160
in the Godmaster fight, stating “Brothers always [br]fight together!” and “Don’t leave me behind!”.

0:38:50.760,0:38:55.500
This is the only thing Mato is portrayed [br]as wanting, and Oro is the only brother

0:38:55.500,0:39:01.320
who still wields a nail. I don’t think anything [br]else would really matter to Mato. But due to his

0:39:01.320,0:39:06.660
lack of confidence in his own skills, or his [br]desire to prove himself, Oro refuses to give

0:39:06.660,0:39:11.580
Mato that companionship. However, deep [br]down, Oro also seeks that companionship,

0:39:11.580,0:39:17.100
he just fails to openly show it. Although [br]Oro and Mato never make up in Hallownest,

0:39:17.100,0:39:21.480
it’s nice to think that they were able to share [br]the battlefield at least once as brothers.

0:39:24.720,0:39:29.580
Everyone in the Hollow Knight community generally [br]agrees that Sly is a geo-pilled chad of a

0:39:29.580,0:39:35.280
character that deserves to be remembered alongside [br]the greatest characters in all of fiction. But one

0:39:35.280,0:39:40.800
thing the community isn’t so sure about is the [br]identity of Esmy, a mysterious character that is

0:39:40.800,0:39:47.160
only mentioned once, and never seen in-game. The [br]only dialogue we get is from our first encounter

0:39:47.160,0:39:52.500
with Sly while he’s fighting off the infection [br]where he says “ ...Esmy... how much deeper do

0:39:52.500,0:39:58.080
we have to go…”. William Pellen was asked about [br]Esmy in a Reddit AMA and he responded that she is

0:39:58.080,0:40:05.220
someone that still lingers in Sly’s dreams. So, [br]not a lot to go on here. From Sly’s dialogue,

0:40:05.220,0:40:10.380
it seems Esmy was pushing Sly to travel into [br]some sort of dangerous area. The only possible

0:40:10.380,0:40:16.020
clue we have is the Shopkeeper’s Key, located in [br]the Crystal Peak, not far away from Dirtmouth.

0:40:16.020,0:40:22.080
Perhaps Sly and Esmy were exploring this area [br]when they were separated somehow. When we give

0:40:22.080,0:40:27.300
Sly the Shopkeeper’s Key, he even guesses that [br]the key was in the mines, so it’s likely that

0:40:27.300,0:40:31.380
Sly was in that region at some point.[br]It’s worth pointing out that a lot of

0:40:31.380,0:40:36.480
characters in Hollow Knight have mysterious dead [br]lovers. Cloth mentions a character named Nola

0:40:36.480,0:40:41.820
that also died at some point. In fact, it’s [br]even implied that Cloth wanted to be killed

0:40:41.820,0:40:47.760
in Hallownest so that she could be reunited with [br]Nola in death. Which… is a very overlooked aspect

0:40:47.760,0:40:52.920
of this character and probably one of the saddest [br]storylines in the game outside of the main quest.

0:40:52.920,0:40:59.280
Elderbug also has vague dialogue about a lost [br]lover, whose grave he visits on occasion.

0:40:59.280,0:41:03.900
This would also be incredibly sad if [br]Elderbug was actually a good character.

0:41:05.880,0:41:11.100
One of the biggest mysteries left in Hallownest [br]has to be this strange trilobite statue in

0:41:11.100,0:41:16.080
Deepnest. In the game files, the art in [br]this area is referred to as a shrine. It

0:41:16.080,0:41:21.240
is protected by a seal of binding and connected [br]to several pipes that hold it up off the ground,

0:41:21.240,0:41:27.060
with a mouth located at the bottom. Finally, we [br]have concept art of the shrine from Ari Gibson’s

0:41:27.060,0:41:31.860
sketchbook. The design is basically the same, [br]except we can see some kind of substance coming

0:41:31.860,0:41:36.960
out of the mouth of the shrine. This appears [br]to be some type of fluid or possibly even silk.

0:41:36.960,0:41:41.280
Between the pipes and the mouth, I do believe [br]that this shrine is a container for something,

0:41:41.280,0:41:46.500
perhaps even some kind of creature. Just above [br]the face of the shrine we can see what appears

0:41:46.500,0:41:51.420
to be some type of crown, which could imply [br]that this shrine houses Deepnest’s King.

0:41:51.420,0:41:57.720
The King of Deepnest is mentioned only once in the [br]entire game in a lore tablet located in the Fungal

0:41:57.720,0:42:04.980
Wastes. He is described as Deepnest’s “dead sire” [br]and that he was of “honored caste”. They contrast

0:42:04.980,0:42:10.560
this to Deepnest’s Queen, Herrah, who they [br]describe as a “broke ass bitch”. From this,

0:42:10.560,0:42:15.240
we can assume that Deepnest’s king was some [br]kind of powerful or important creature.

0:42:15.240,0:42:20.760
But according to this tablet, the king is [br]dead. Now, that doesn’t mean the King can't

0:42:20.760,0:42:26.880
still be inside this shrine. Perhaps the king [br]passed away while in this device, or maybe he’s

0:42:26.880,0:42:31.920
still alive in some sense, but the mushroom [br]people just aren’t aware of this. Regardless,

0:42:31.920,0:42:36.780
if the king was placed in this thingamabob, I [br]think it must have happened while he was still

0:42:36.780,0:42:41.400
alive, given the pipes and mouth.[br]While this is a very big mystery,

0:42:41.400,0:42:45.480
this is one that I am very confident [br]will be expanded upon in Hollow Knight:

0:42:45.480,0:42:51.240
Silksong. When asked explicitly about Deepnest’s [br]King in a Reddit AMA, Ari Gibson replied:

0:42:51.240,0:42:55.080
…further elements of Deepnest's [br]past will be illuminated in future,

0:42:55.080,0:43:00.120
but we can't say anything specific for now.[br]So, this means that an answer to this question

0:43:00.120,0:43:08.460
should be waiting just around the corner… right?[br]Long before the Pale King’s rule, an ancient

0:43:08.460,0:43:13.260
civilization existed in the land of Hallownest. [br]There are several remnants of this civilization

0:43:13.260,0:43:18.420
that can be found in-game. Large corpses in [br]various locations throughout Hallownest might

0:43:18.420,0:43:23.640
be former members of this ancient caste, although [br]it’s tough to find any direct confirmation of any

0:43:23.640,0:43:29.040
of this. But they aren’t the only thing we [br]have to work with. Arcane Eggs, Soul Totems,

0:43:29.040,0:43:34.320
and potentially Ancient Masks and Soul Vessels [br]are all evidence of this civilization’s existence.

0:43:34.320,0:43:38.460
These objects seemed to be of no use to [br]the bugs of the Pale King’s Hallownest.

0:43:38.460,0:43:42.900
The majority of Hallownest’s bugs likely [br]didn’t partake in the manipulation of Soul,

0:43:42.900,0:43:47.820
so there was no use for objects such as [br]Soul Vessels and Soul Totems. These bugs

0:43:47.820,0:43:54.180
also used stone tablets and parchment to store [br]information instead of Arcane Eggs. Despite this,

0:43:54.180,0:43:58.500
it’s interesting to note that the Pale King did [br]craft some Soul Totems within his White Palace.

0:43:58.500,0:44:03.480
And these egg shaped tablets we see throughout [br]the kingdom might be the Pale King’s own version

0:44:03.480,0:44:09.600
of Arcane Eggs, as Lemm explains that eggs are [br]a great way to store information. Obviously.

0:44:10.200,0:44:14.940
Although these are pretty massive eggs for [br]just a few sentences. That’s like storing

0:44:14.940,0:44:20.700
a “read me” txt file in one of these.[br]There’s also some weird patterns within

0:44:20.700,0:44:25.440
the Ancient Civilization. Lemm mentions that [br]other scholars have speculated that Arcane

0:44:25.440,0:44:30.000
Eggs contain some sort of will within them. [br]Elderbug talks about how the rocks that form

0:44:30.000,0:44:34.080
the roads and structures in the Ancient [br]Basin seemed to have a will of their own.

0:44:34.620,0:44:39.300
And then there’s the Quick Slash charm, which [br]was formed by the fusion of a bunch of discarded,

0:44:39.300,0:44:45.060
imperfect nails created by the Ancient Nailsmith. [br]As the charm explicitly states, these nails

0:44:45.060,0:44:51.360
long to be wielded. So, it seems like inanimate [br]objects from this time period are more likely to

0:44:51.360,0:44:56.460
possess living traits such as wills and desires.[br]But the most interesting relic from the Ancient

0:44:56.460,0:45:03.780
Civilization is the Void Idol. As Lemm explains:[br]Inspired or mad, those ancient bugs. They devoted

0:45:03.780,0:45:09.180
their worship to no lord, or power, or [br]strength, but to the very darkness itself.

0:45:09.180,0:45:13.500
Lemm doesn’t give us a good explanation [br]for why these bugs worshiped the Void,

0:45:13.500,0:45:18.180
but if we look in the Abyss, we might be able [br]to see direct evidence of these strange bugs

0:45:18.180,0:45:23.460
interacting with the Void. In this room east of [br]the Abyss Lighthouse, we see some sort of desk.

0:45:23.460,0:45:30.000
Next to it is a strange relief in the wall, which [br]is described as “an imprint of Abyss given form.”

0:45:30.660,0:45:34.260
This may be a stretch, but I think this [br]was a place where these Void worshippers

0:45:34.260,0:45:40.260
would “give form” to the Void, creating the [br]Void tendrils we find in the Abyss lake. So,

0:45:40.260,0:45:45.180
basically a more crude form of the molds we see [br]in the White Palace workshop. Alternatively,

0:45:45.180,0:45:49.920
the Void Tendrils might have existed before the [br]Ancient Civilization, and this room is where

0:45:49.920,0:45:55.380
they studied the Tendrils. Aside from that room, [br]there is also the Shade Beast, who holds a bowl

0:45:55.380,0:46:00.540
that pours out a never ending stream of Void, [br]which was perhaps used in some sort of ritual.

0:46:00.540,0:46:06.300
We can infer from the Mask Maker that this Ancient [br]Civilization fell to ruin as a result of trying

0:46:06.300,0:46:11.640
to lay claim to all of Hallownest. So perhaps [br]this worship of the Void stemmed from a desire

0:46:11.640,0:46:17.040
to expand their lands. This obviously didn’t work [br]out for them. Perhaps, they even ran into our old

0:46:17.040,0:46:23.160
pal Radiance, which would explain why she calls [br]the Void her “Ancient Enemy”. The last strange

0:46:23.160,0:46:28.020
structure we find in the Abyss shows a bunch [br]of soyjak faces screaming out above an altar,

0:46:28.020,0:46:34.320
with the Dream Nail dialogue. “...Our voices… [br]will cry out… again…” Perhaps this was the last

0:46:34.320,0:46:39.480
desperate cry of the Ancient Civilization as their [br]kingdom collapsed and disappeared into obscurity.

0:46:41.280,0:46:46.560
Although maybe this cry is actually true.[br]Allow me

0:47:03.180,0:47:09.060
to speculate. In the Godmaster endings to the [br]game, we are introduced to this strange Void

0:47:09.060,0:47:14.580
creature, who doesn’t have a formal name but is [br]sometimes referred to as the Void Given Focus,

0:47:14.580,0:47:18.360
or the Void Entity. We don’t [br]really know what this thing is,

0:47:18.360,0:47:22.800
but there is debate that it might be a more [br]evolved or powerful version of the Knight,

0:47:22.800,0:47:28.620
given how the Godseeker speaks to the Knight [br]in Godseeker Mode and the fact that it replaces

0:47:28.620,0:47:33.120
the Knight statue in the Hall of Gods.[br]But I think this being might actually be

0:47:33.120,0:47:38.160
more directly tied to the Ancient Civilization. In [br]the first cutscene introducing this new character,

0:47:38.160,0:47:42.960
we can see that it acts distinctly from the [br]Knight, the Hollow Knight and the rest of

0:47:42.960,0:47:47.700
Vessels. While I think the Knight does become [br]part of the Void Entity at the end of the game,

0:47:47.700,0:47:53.100
I think this creature existed before the Vessels [br]were even created, and has been lying dormant

0:47:53.100,0:47:58.440
somewhere in the Abyss, only called back now by [br]the Focus given to it by the Godseekers’ ritual.

0:47:58.440,0:48:03.120
And it seems like the game really wants us to [br]connect what the Godseekers did in Godhome with

0:48:03.120,0:48:08.280
what that Ancient Civilization did with Void [br]in the past. Hence why we unlock Void Idol

0:48:08.280,0:48:12.960
descriptions from looking at the Void Entity [br]statue. But if the Ancient Civilization really

0:48:12.960,0:48:17.700
worshiped a creature like this, what exactly [br]was it that caused their kingdom to collapse?

0:48:18.660,0:48:25.920
It’s established that one power Wyrms like the [br]Pale King possess is “foresight”. This ability

0:48:25.920,0:48:30.960
is mentioned once by Bardoon, and twice by [br]the mushrooms of the Fungal Wastes. But as

0:48:30.960,0:48:36.360
we all know, despite this prescience, the Pale [br]King’s kingdom still collapsed into ruin. “But

0:48:36.360,0:48:41.040
how prescient is the Pale King really?” [br]I hear you ask in a normal tone of voice.

0:48:41.040,0:48:46.320
The way I like to think about this problem [br]is in regards to time. The Pale King was

0:48:46.320,0:48:51.120
specifically trying to create a kingdom that [br]would last forever: an eternal kingdom. The

0:48:51.120,0:48:56.280
Radiance is described in a lot of dialogue [br]as being nature, or something unavoidable.

0:48:56.280,0:49:00.540
This is what the dead mushroom points out [br]in its Dream Nail dialogue. Nature will

0:49:00.540,0:49:05.220
come to destroy the Pale King’s civilization [br]eventually as kingdoms can’t last forever.

0:49:05.220,0:49:10.620
The Pale King’s only solution to this is to [br]just stop Time, as explained in the White

0:49:10.620,0:49:16.800
Palace workshop lore tablet. So yes, the Pale [br]King was able to foresee an unavoidable demise,

0:49:16.800,0:49:22.500
but his solution was to delay it inevitably.[br]This idea of fighting your inescapable fate

0:49:22.500,0:49:27.600
is a storytelling trope seen all throughout [br]literature. The most prominent and well known

0:49:27.600,0:49:32.640
example is from the television series The Amazing [br]World of Gumball. In the episode The Oracle,

0:49:32.640,0:49:38.580
Gumball finds paintings produced by Banana Barbara [br]that appear to predict future events, with one of

0:49:38.580,0:49:43.500
them depicting Gumball completely naked surrounded [br]by a huge crowd at the mall. In response to this,

0:49:43.500,0:49:48.840
Gumball tries everything within his power to stop [br]this from happening, but through his actions, he

0:49:48.840,0:49:52.980
inadvertently causes himself to end up completely [br]naked surrounded by a huge crowd at the mall.

0:49:54.420,0:49:56.640
The same thing pretty much [br]happened to the Pale King.

0:49:58.380,0:50:02.580
Mister Mushroom is a wandering [br]mushroom man who somehow winds up

0:50:02.580,0:50:06.660
in Hallownest. You can only understand him [br]if you’re wearing the Spore Shroom charm,

0:50:06.660,0:50:10.620
but even then his dialogue implies that [br]he is talking to someone you can’t see.

0:50:11.340,0:50:16.500
Out of all his dialogues like this, the only [br]ones we are confident on are his first and third,

0:50:16.500,0:50:20.640
where he seems to be talking to the main [br]characters from two of Team Cherry's other

0:50:20.640,0:50:25.020
games: Hungry Knight and Tomb Cat.[br]But outside of what I talked about

0:50:25.020,0:50:29.400
in my Mister Mushroom lore video, there really [br]hasn’t been anything conclusive to say about the

0:50:29.400,0:50:33.780
majority of Mister Mushroom’s wacky dialogue. [br]My guess is that Mister Mushroom is talking to

0:50:33.780,0:50:38.700
characters from future Team Cherry projects, [br]or even just ideas they have for games that

0:50:38.700,0:50:43.320
they’re never actually going to make. You can tell [br]from interviews that William and Ari have tons

0:50:43.320,0:50:47.160
of ideas for games that they want to make and [br]it’s something that they think about a lot.

0:50:47.160,0:50:51.780
Game development is long, right? Especially games [br]like this, big games. You spend two years on it.

0:50:51.780,0:50:57.180
We’ve thought up ten years of games that we would [br]love to make in one year of game development.

0:50:57.180,0:51:03.240
But as to specific explanations for what any of [br]Mister Mushroom’s dialogue is referring to… He

0:51:03.240,0:51:08.880
does use the word determination at one point. [br]Now if you’re a fan of the channel, you know I

0:51:08.880,0:51:15.360
absolutely love Undertale. It’s an amazing game, [br]filled with all sorts of wonderful characters. In

0:51:15.360,0:51:22.440
fact, I’m so good at the game, I almost beat Sans. [br]Anyway, determination is actually a very important

0:51:22.440,0:51:27.900
aspect of Undertale’s main story, as it shows up [br]a couple times. So I think I speak for everyone

0:51:27.900,0:51:32.880
when I say this can’t be a coincidence.[br]And of course, because Mister Mushroom

0:51:32.880,0:51:37.440
is connected to all of these other Team Cherry [br]properties in the Team Cherry Cinematic Universe,

0:51:37.440,0:51:41.220
they have to give him a post credits [br]scene to tease his next adventure.

0:51:44.340,0:51:48.600
The Masters are yet another group that [br]will hopefully be expanded up in Silksong,

0:51:48.600,0:51:54.240
but as of right now, very little is known about [br]them. They are a group of beings mentioned only

0:51:54.240,0:52:00.120
by Confessor Jiji and Steel Soul Jinn. When the [br]Knight receives the Void Heart, Jiji mentions that

0:52:00.120,0:52:04.560
her Masters would be impressed with how the Knight [br]seems to have come to terms with its regrets.

0:52:04.560,0:52:10.080
Once the Knight is marked with the King’s Brand, [br]Steel Soul Jinn mentions that she cannot bow to

0:52:10.080,0:52:15.960
the Knight, as her masters’ minds are other, and [br]do not seek order. And once the Knight receives

0:52:15.960,0:52:21.240
the Void Heart, Jinn also comments that the [br]Knight has become complete like her Masters.

0:52:21.240,0:52:25.800
From what little we know about Silksong, it [br]seems there are more Steel Soul creatures

0:52:25.800,0:52:30.540
who are looking to assassinate Hornet. [br]Whoever these Masters are, it seems as

0:52:30.540,0:52:34.740
though they are interested in Void creatures [br]like the Knight, which might explain why Jiji

0:52:34.740,0:52:40.020
and Jinn were assigned to offer services, [br]while others were ordered to kill Hornet.

0:52:40.020,0:52:44.340
From the dialogue we get from Jiji and Jinn, [br]it might turn out that the Masters themselves

0:52:44.340,0:52:49.800
are Void creatures. But instead of just crazy [br]unhinged maniacs like the Collector, or brainless

0:52:49.800,0:52:55.200
golems like the Kingsmoulds, these Masters are [br]actually intelligent and capable of scheming,

0:52:55.200,0:53:01.680
with their end goal in mind appearing to be not [br]order, but something else entirely: Like disorder.

0:53:05.400,0:53:10.560
The Delicate Flower comes from a far off, [br]“serene” land, carried by the Grey Mourner,

0:53:10.560,0:53:16.380
a character who herself looks like some sort of [br]wilted flower. Once the flower starts growing

0:53:16.380,0:53:21.480
in the Queen’s Garden, it is described in the [br]menu as glowing with a pale light. The White

0:53:21.480,0:53:27.180
Lady recognizes it as distinct from herself and [br]Hallownest. She mentions that a rare power exists

0:53:27.180,0:53:32.340
inside these fragile petals, and refuses to accept [br]it, telling the Knight that only someone with no

0:53:32.340,0:53:38.100
knowledge of its power would hold it so close.[br]This flower can be given to the Godseeker, who

0:53:38.100,0:53:43.740
ponders that it might be a “splinter, cast-off or [br]refuse from something greater” before ultimately

0:53:43.740,0:53:49.200
saying that she can’t sense any godliness within [br]it. However, if the Godseeker is holding the

0:53:49.200,0:53:55.020
flower during the Embrace the Void ending, we see [br]that the flower does something to the Void and the

0:53:55.020,0:53:59.760
Godseeker, seemingly leaving nothing but a small [br]black blotch on the corner of one of the petals.

0:53:59.760,0:54:05.220
There isn’t any solid theory on what happens here.[br]It might be that the Void and the Godseeker were

0:54:05.220,0:54:10.980
banished to some part of the dream realm, similar [br]to how the White Palace was teleported away. Or

0:54:10.980,0:54:16.260
maybe they were teleported back to where the [br]flower came from, or maybe they’re just gone.

0:54:16.260,0:54:21.780
So despite being described as producing a pale [br]light, both White Lady denies a connection to

0:54:21.780,0:54:27.480
this flower, and the Godseeker can’t detect any [br]Godliness within it. If that flower shares some

0:54:27.480,0:54:32.460
kind of pale property with the White Lady, Pale [br]King and Pale Ore, this seems to inform us that

0:54:32.460,0:54:38.100
just because something is “Pale” doesn’t mean it’s [br]godly. Is this “pale” property related to Soul,

0:54:38.100,0:54:45.840
or some other force? As of right now, I’m honestly [br]not sure. But one thing I do know, if this flower

0:54:45.840,0:54:51.180
really can just pop creatures completely out [br]of existence, I’m glad I gave one to Elderbug.

0:54:52.800,0:54:58.740
The Godmaster update added two additional endings [br]to Hollow Knight back in 2018. And unlike the base

0:54:58.740,0:55:05.100
ending which all were fairly conclusive, these two [br]endings left the story on a major cliffhanger. The

0:55:05.100,0:55:09.180
Knight and the rest of the siblings have [br]seemingly been consumed into this new,

0:55:09.180,0:55:14.760
strange Void Entity. The Radiance’s infection has [br]been erased from Hallownest. And the Hollow Knight

0:55:14.760,0:55:19.500
is now free from its prison inside the Black [br]Egg Temple. And that’s where the game leaves us.

0:55:19.500,0:55:24.600
On top of that we have no idea how or even [br]if Team Cherry is going to follow up on these

0:55:24.600,0:55:29.160
endings. We still don’t know for sure how the [br]events of Hollow Knight and Silksong line up

0:55:29.160,0:55:34.740
on any sort of timeline. If Silksong takes place [br]after, is the game gonna give us a flashback to

0:55:34.740,0:55:39.420
this event? If it takes place before, are they [br]going to do a time skip? Or are they going to do

0:55:39.420,0:55:44.400
something completely different and just explain [br]it in one off comic or another anime adaptation?

0:55:45.120,0:55:48.900
In a Reddit AMA, Ari Gibson did [br]say the following in regards to

0:55:48.900,0:55:53.760
Hollow Knight’s multiple base endings.[br]All endings are equally canon. We're not

0:55:53.760,0:55:58.380
into 'True Endings.' You choose the path [br]yourself. We'll do our best in all future

0:55:58.380,0:56:03.960
Hollow Knight content to account for all of them.[br]Now keep in mind this post was made 5 years ago,

0:56:03.960,0:56:08.940
before the new endings were released, so it’s [br]possible that Team Cherry changed their mind

0:56:08.940,0:56:14.460
on this. That said, I don’t think they have. [br]This seems like something Team Cherry wouldn’t

0:56:14.460,0:56:18.660
change their minds on. And if they really [br]do have a way to keep all this stuff canon

0:56:18.660,0:56:24.420
and pay off everything, I am very excited [br]to eventually one day have to explain it.

0:56:26.280,0:56:30.840
And finally, I think it’s time we talk [br]about the single biggest mystery that

0:56:30.840,0:56:36.780
has loomed over the Hollow Knight community [br]since February 24th, 2017. It’s a question

0:56:36.780,0:56:42.180
that has eluded some of the greatest minds [br]of our generation. The smartest men, women

0:56:42.180,0:56:47.880
and children have tried for years to solve this [br]mystery, and they have all died in the process.

0:56:48.960,0:56:50.640
Who the fuck is Sprintmaster!?