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I 
first talked about the Grimm Troupe 3 years

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ago back in 2017.

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But anyone who has followed this channel for
a while knows that I have been on quite the

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character arc.

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Back in 2017, I was but an ignorant fool.

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But now I’m older, wiser, I’ve read Judith
Butler.

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Twice.

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All of these things have obviously helped
me better appreciate Hollow Knight lore.

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With that being said, I think it’s time
to check back in on the Grimm Troupe and see

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what new lore we can uncover.

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When the Grimm Troupe content pack first dropped,
I was a little annoyed at how it seemed like

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Team Cherry was just throwing new characters
at us without really expanding on the characters

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who were already there.

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But looking back, the Grimm Troupe does more
for Hollow Knight worldbuilding than I realized.

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For example, we now have a new Higher Being
to examine.

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The lore of the Grimm Troupe all starts with
an entity known as the Nightmare Heart.

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Seer gives us a very cryptic bit of dialogue
regarding the Nightmare Heart.

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And of course, she has to do it in poetry
form.

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The expanse of dream in past was split,
One realm now must stay apart,

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Darkest reaches, beating red,
Terror of sleep.

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The Nightmare's Heart.

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Let’s take this bit by bit.

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We know that there is a dream realm in the
world of Hollow Knight.

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It’s where the Radiance is.

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It’s where the Pale King’s corpse is.

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And even the Lifeblood creature appears to
inhabit some kind of dream realm, given the

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appearance of dream catcher particles in this
room.

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It’s not really clear if these are all different
Dream Realms, or branches off of one big Dream

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Realm.

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The Dream Realm where the Dreamers and Radiance
are look very different from the Pale King’s

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which also looks very different from Bretta’s
dream.

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If there is a distinction between these areas,
it’s vague.

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However, we do know there is one special,
very different realm called the Nightmare

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Realm which was completely split off from
the main Dream Realm.

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While regular dreams are made up of Essence,
the Nightmare Realm is made up of a different

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type of burning Essence, which Grimm describes
as the “flame in dream”.

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For simplicity's sake, I’ll call this different
Essence Nightmare Essence.

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But what exactly caused this split?

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These kinds of splits are common in creation
stories.

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Like how Zeus, Poseidon and Hades split up
the heavens, seas and underworld.

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Or how the world of Dark Souls went from a
grey, unchanging world, to one divided up

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by Lords.

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Even our own scientific understanding of the
universe starts with a theory that three of

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the fundamental forces of the universe were
unified, but eventually split apart from one

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another.

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So lazy writing like this is kinda just how
creation stories go.

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But that doesn’t really help us answer why
the Nightmare Realm has to stay apart from

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the Dream Realm.

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A pretty common theory is that the Radiance
somehow caused this separation.

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But there really isn’t any evidence for
this.

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Maybe if Grimm actually commented once on
the Radiance.

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But he really doesn’t seem to give two shits
about any of that unfortunately.

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So whether this split was natural or caused
by the action of some higher being, chances

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are we’ll never know.

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Anyway it seems like the Nightmare Heart is
the main Higher Being who resides in this

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Nightmare Realm, and its design stands in
stark contrast to the other Higher Beings

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we see in Hallownest.

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We’ve got a moth, a worm, a plant, a slug,
and a giant heart made of patchwork with dozens

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of eyes on it.

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At the very core of it, the Nightmare Heart
appears to be made of Nightmare Essence, similar

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to how the Radiance is composed of a light
similar to Essence.

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And while the Nightmare Heart may seem different
from other higher beings on the surface, it

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does have one thing in common with them.

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It really likes to mess around with regular
bugs, pulling them into its service.

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In order to survive, the Nightmare Heart needs
to conduct a ritual involving the Grimm Troupe

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so that it can feed off the flames of ruined
civilizations.

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Basically, ancient, abandoned kingdoms like
Hallownest or Disney Land are a goldmine for

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Nightmare Essence, so the main way the Nightmare
Heart feeds is by using the Troupe to find

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these kingdoms and harvest the Essence for
itself.

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And this ritual happens over and over as an
endless cycle the Heart uses to cheat death.

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Of course, finding kingdoms is the first step
in this process, which brings us to this corpse

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in the Howling Cliffs.

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This bug is wearing a makeshift mask that
has a similar design to the masks other Grimm

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Troupe members wear.

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Dream nailing this bug brings a device called
the Nightmare Lantern into the physical world.

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This lantern seems to act as a sort of anchor
for the Grimm Troupe, and lighting it is what

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causes the Grimm Troupe to arrive in Hallownest.

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If we dream nail the corpse again, it says
“Master... my role.... apart from you...

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apart from kin.

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It pains me so.”

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God, what a simp.

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This bug apparently has some kind of job that
involved it leaving the Troupe and traveling

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to Hallownest.

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So it seems like the Grimm Troupe actually
designates certain bugs to travel to different

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kingdoms.

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Once they get there… well…

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I’m not sure.

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Do they just die once they reach a kingdom?

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Or did this particular bug die before it could
set up the lantern?

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We have to dream nail the lantern out of it.

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Maybe this is a litmus test for anyone who
would help the Grimm Troupe, requiring them

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to have some access to the Dream Realm.

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Otherwise they probably wouldn’t be able
to interact with any of the Grimmkin in the

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first place.

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Now we don’t know if these bugs are just
sent off in a random direction, or if they

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know how to reach these kingdoms.

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The Godseeker and Quirrel mention that the
winds carry them to Hallownest.

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Which is odd.

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How the hell is the wind blowing towards one
specific spot?

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Oddly enough, the Pale King does have some
other weird connections to wind.

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The Monarch Wings and the King’s Brand also
blow wind throughout Hallownest for some reason.

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But Wind Lore in Hollow Knight is a whole
other can of worms we’ll have to save for

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later.

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Anyway, the Godseeker also detected the Pale
King’s afterglow while traveling to Hallownest,

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but I personally don’t think the Grimm Troupe
bug could have done that, considering it doesn’t

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appear to have a Godtuner device like the
Godseekers.

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Instead, I’m guessing a large amount of
these bugs just wander around aimlessly until

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they can find civilizations that could be
harvested for their Nightmare Essence.

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So the Grimm Troupe emphasizes just how barren
the world of Hallownest really is.

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The Nightmare King’s Dream Nail dialogue
in Godhome hints at this with the line “Scattered

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lands…

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Nightmare binds all.”

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This implies that the Grimm Troupe uses the
Nightmare Realm as a way to reach different

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kingdoms, which is what we see when we light
the Nightmare Lantern.

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I don’t think it would be a stretch to say
that the Grimm Troupe is well traveled.

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And as it turns out, the Grimm Troupe might
give us our best look into what the world

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outside Hallownest really looks like.

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Hidden within the Grimm Troupe’s tent is
a secret room that can only be accessed through

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some tricky wall jumps.

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In this room we can see some chests, a pile
of masks and this strange contraption.

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Now there are a few theories as to what this
might be.

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At the very least, we know it’s important
because there is a seal protecting it.

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One idea is that it is some kind of device
that can move the tent between the real world

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and the Nightmare Realm.

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Or it could somehow be related to Grimm’s
performance with all the spotlights and other

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stuff.

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But if we look at the ingame art files, the
assets for this device refer to it as a “chart”.

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So I think this device is actually supposed
to be a map of some kind.

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Now of course, an art file name is by no means
canon, but our only option here is to speculate

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anyway, so let’s just have some fun with
this.

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But bear in mind this is by no means conclusive.

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So is this thing a chart of the real world
or of the Nightmare Realm or what?

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Unfortunately, none of that is clear.

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But these balls are possibly points of interest
for the Grimm Troupe, so these might be the

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various locations they have traveled to over
the years.

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Sort of like web addresses that point to specific
domains on the internet.

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Like twitter.com/mossbag69, or discord.gg/mossbag
or mossbag.com.

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And I’m sure you’ve already noticed that
there are 19 of these ball things.

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So does that mean there are at least 18 other
civilizations that the Grimm Troupe has visited?

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What other crazy world could be out there?

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Water World?

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Moon World?

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New Jersey?

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However, if this really is supposed to be
a chart of where the Grimm Troupe has been,

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it’s really weird looking.

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Why does the world of Hollow Knight vaguely
look like a cock and balls?

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It honestly looks more like some kind of planetary
model as opposed to a topographical map.

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Which might make sense.

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These kingdoms could all be deep underground.

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We aren’t even sure if Hallownest is on
the surface.

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It appears to be, but we can’t see any stars
or direct evidence of such.

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Maybe the Land of Storms is on the surface
considering there is rain and thunder, but

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maybe these weather patterns were created
by the gods of thunder and rain that were

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once there already.

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So a three dimensional map like this could
make sense in this world.

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It’s not like they would have a map on a
piece of paper or a globe or something.

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And it’s not that big of a stretch to assume
that the Grimm Troupe would have some kind

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of map to help them navigate around.

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And if this is actually a chart of the Nightmare
Realm then it doesn’t really have to look

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like anything to be believable.

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But at the end of the day, there really isn’t
much to go off of here, so for now, the definitive

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answer to what this thing is eludes us.

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Getting back to the Nightmare Lantern, whoever
lights this thing gets entwined into a contract

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with the Grimm Troupe, all without so much
as a terms and conditions.

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The Grimm Troupe is summoned to Dirtmouth
where they set up their tent and prepare Hallownest

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to be harvested of its Nightmare Essence.

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The Grimm Troupe of course has a troupe master,
known as Troupe Master Grimm.

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Grimm has a unique aesthetic, which has made
him pretty popular in the Hollow Knight fandom.

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He looks like a Gen 7 Starter Pokemon.

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Like can he even be considered a bug of any
kind?

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I’ve heard some people say that he’s supposed
to be a vampire moth.

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Looks absolutely nothing like that to me.

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Might as well say he’s a Caterpillar MD6250
Rotary Drill.

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No, Grimm and his troupe appear to be a hodgepodge
of horror tropes.

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Regardless of what kind of bug Grimm may be,
he definitely draws from Dracula.

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He’s got the long flowing cape, he can explode
into smaller winged creatures, and his moveset

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seems to borrow quite a lot of concepts from
the Castlevania Dracula fights.

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And you’ve got the whole creepy traveling
circus thing.

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Although, it’s not a very good circus.

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They just set up a tent and then expect the
visitors to perform.

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Kinda the opposite of how that’s supposed
to work, I think.

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When the Knight first talks to Grimm, he gives
it the rundown on what the Troupe is doing.

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Well, he gives a very brief, very vague explanation.

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He gives the Knight the Grimmchild charm and
tells it to seek out the Grimmkin, who have

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been collecting Nightmare Essence throughout
Hallownest.

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Using the Grimmchild, the Knight will be able
to find Grimmkin, kick their asses, and store

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the Essence inside the Grimmchild.

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Once returned, the Grimmchild then evolves
into its second of four different forms, implying

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that the Grimmchild might have fed off these
flames to become stronger.

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But it’s not just the flames of Hallownest’s
Nightmare Essence that the Grimmchild feeds

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off of.

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According to Grimm, it can also feed off the
heat of a passionate dance, or in other words,

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the Grimm boss fight.

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There is also one other way the Grimmchild
can feed: by consuming the Nightmare King

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himself.

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Yes, like most things in Hollow Knight, it
all comes back to vore.

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The Nightmare King can be fought after collecting
three sets of flames from the Grimmkin scattered

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all throughout Hallownest.

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Once this is done, Grimm can be found sleeping
in the far side of the tent.

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Dream nailing Grimm takes the Knight to the
Nightmare Realm.

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There we can find the Nightmare Heart, surrounded
by Grimmkin Nightmares.

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We then see the Nightmare Heart suffer from
a pretty severe myocardial rupture as the

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Nightmare King emerges from inside.

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The Nightmare King is basically just a much
faster version of the Troupe Master Grimm,

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but with more flame on his attacks.

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According to more poetry, the Troupe wants
to burn away the Nightmare King and feed it

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to the Grimmchild.

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Once this is accomplished, the Grimmchild’s
eyes will burn brightly with the flame of

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the Nightmare Heart.

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And everyone involved with the Grimm Troupe
will disappear.

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Well, almost everyone, but we’ll get to
that.

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So basically, we dream nailed into Grimm,
found the Nightmare Heart, killed the Nightmare

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King inside it, and then that got fed to Grimm
Jr. Grimm was a vessel for the Nightmare Heart,

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and now the heart has been transferred over
into a fresh, new vessel, the Grimmchild.

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From here, we can assume that the Grimmchild
will grow into the new Grimm, and start his

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own troupe, and move away and never call home
again.

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Now that’s cool and all but it raises some
interesting questions.

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What is the rest of the Grimm Troupe doing
now?

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Do they just sit around and wait for the grown
up Grimmchild to show up?

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Also, if this little guy is the new Grimm,
what happens if we take him into the Temple

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of the Black Egg.

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Will Grimm be trapped with us in there forever?

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Does he get completely destroyed in the Dream
No More ending?

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And then of course we have the Embrace the
Void ending.

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Does Grimm just get completely consumed by
the Shade Lord, lost forever in a sea of void?

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The point is, the Knight is probably the last
creature Grimm would want to be stuck with

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in charm form.

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Cuz there really aren’t any endings that
go well for the Knight’s physical body.

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But of course, there is more to the Grimm
Troupe than just Grimm himself.

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We also have the Grimmkin, as well as characters
like Brumm and Divine.

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We get the best insight into Grimm’s entourage
from Confessor Jiji.

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Perhaps you suspect that they hide their true
appearance?

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You'd be right.

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They favour projection over truth, shrouding
themselves in forms dreamed.

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Best be careful.

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Assisting them might benefit you, but who
knows what suffering it may cause?

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Digging into this dialogue, we can see two
different types of Grimm Troupe members.

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You’ve got the Grimmkin who appear to be
more like ghosts.

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They can teleport around and even show up
in the Nightmare Realm.

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Then you’ve got bugs like Brumm, Divine,
and the Grimmsteeds who appear to be like

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normal bugs.

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And I’m using the phrase “normal bugs”
loosely.

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The one thing all these characters have in
common are the masks they wear.

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Even the bug outside the kingdom is wearing
a Grimm Troupe mask, although this one looks

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more like a third rate cosplay than an actual
Grimm Troupe wardrobe.

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Now I have talked about masks a lot on this
channel.

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My Mask Maker video, my King’s Pass Video,
Godmaster, Colosseum of Fools, even my review

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of The Mask starring Jim Carrey mentions them.

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But that’s no surprise.

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Masks are very mysterious and important to
the world of Hollow Knight.

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But Jiji doesn’t actually mention the masks
outright.

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Instead she says that the Grimm Troupe prefers
projection and to hide themselves in forms

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dreamed.

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This could be referring to how Grimmkin are
literally dream creatures.

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They come in three forms: Novices, Masters,
and Nightmares.

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It seems that as they become more devoted
to Grimm, they become more nightmare-like

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in their appearance.

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But from what we see in the Grimm Troupe tent,
these masks appear to be real physical objects.

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This might imply that the Grimmkin use masks
as conduits to project their dream forms into

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the real world.

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Perhaps that is even the case with Grimm himself.

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But that claim is pretty speculative, so don’t
hang your hat on that being true.

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There are plenty of ghosts that don’t have
anything physical to them, but still interact

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with the real world.

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But what is clear is that these masks do have
an effect on living bugs, and we can see this

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pretty clearly with Brumm.

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During the last phase of harvesting Essence,
the Knight can find Brumm hidden away in Deepnest,

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far away from the eyes of Grimm.

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Brumm laments the never ending cycle of the
Grimm Troupe and asks the Knight to aid him

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in banishing the Troupe from Hallownest forever.

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If the Knight goes through with this request
and uproots the Nightmare Lanturn in the Howling

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Cliffs, Grimm’s tent disappears from Dirtmouth
and next to the bench we can find a very different

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looking Brumm, under a new name, Nymm.

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Nymm gives us a very clear look at how the
mask Brumm was wearing affected him.

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As Brumm, he had no memory of his past life,
and his demeanor was very constrained.

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As Nymm, he is more carefree and has forgotten
his time in the Troupe.

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More surprisingly, however, Nymm has also
physically shrunk down in size.

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That’s rough, buddy.

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The mask itself appears to be transformed
in the Carefree Melody charm, which grants

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protection to anyone who wears it.

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We can see that the mask still radiates with
the power of the Grimm Troupe by the flames

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that come off the Knight when it activates.

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So that sort of ties the masks to having a
dream like quality of sorts, similar to what

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Confessor Jiji mentioned.

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Nymm’s experience also closely parallels
a line from Mask Maker.

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To change a face; to conceal it fully within
another...

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A powerful protection that is, but one with
sad consequence.

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The original mind is destroyed, though those
of striking will may still retain a sliver

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of that concealed self.

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Nymm’s mask made him bigger and connected
to the Troupe, but his original mind was lost,

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and it only came back because he fought back
against Grimm’s wishes, remembering that

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he used to be more than just a vessel.

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00:16:47,259 --> 00:16:51,569
So it seems like these masks basically brainwash
members of the Troupe into serving the Nightmare

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Heart.

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00:16:52,679 --> 00:16:56,509
Maybe these bugs were all forced to serve
the Troupe, and that might be what Jiji is

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referring to when she mentions those who would
suffer by completing the ritual.

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00:17:00,860 --> 00:17:03,369
This gives us an interesting contrast.

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Mask Maker says he makes masks for those who
ask, and says it is a gift for a world deserving.

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But the Nightmare Heart uses it as a way to
control bugs and make them work towards its

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00:17:13,319 --> 00:17:14,610
own goals.

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Of course, working as a slave under the Heart
might beat the alternative of trying to survive

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in the wasteland that covers much of the world,
but it’s still kind of a dick move.

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And since I talked about Brumm so much, I
should at least mention Divine.

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Her job within the Grimm Troupe is to… well,
I’m not really sure why she’s here.

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00:17:32,860 --> 00:17:36,940
She talks about how she can smell something
in Hallownest, referring to the Fragile Charms

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that Leg Eater sells.

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00:17:38,540 --> 00:17:42,080
You can give her these charms which she will
then turn into unbreakable charms by eating

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00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:43,630
and shitting them out.

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00:17:43,630 --> 00:17:44,630
Yeah…

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I’m not sure why Grimm keeps her around.

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00:17:47,490 --> 00:17:50,580
Divine doesn’t even leave with the Grimm
Troupe if you complete the ritual without

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00:17:50,580 --> 00:17:53,970
finishing her side quest.

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00:17:53,970 --> 00:17:56,370
I mean, from a gameplay perspective it’s
nice.

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00:17:56,370 --> 00:17:58,919
But lore wise it doesn’t make any sense.

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00:17:58,919 --> 00:18:03,049
I guess Grimm just doesn’t really care if
she is around or not.

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00:18:03,049 --> 00:18:07,840
Also I guess she has more autonomy than Brumm
because she is only wearing half a mask.

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00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,529
Instead you need to get all the unbreakable
charms, then talk to Leg Eater so he will

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00:18:11,529 --> 00:18:13,320
seek out Divine.

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00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:15,559
Which well… that doesn’t go well for him.

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00:18:15,559 --> 00:18:20,049
However, if you choose to banish the Grimm
Troupe, Divine leaves for good and if you

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00:18:20,049 --> 00:18:24,010
didn’t get the unbreakable charms, then
you're just shit out of luck.

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00:18:24,010 --> 00:18:25,940
And then we have the Grimmsteeds.

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These bugs appear to be the same species as
Willoh, but are also wearing masks.

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00:18:30,890 --> 00:18:34,789
Some people have pointed out that Willoh’s
tent is a shade of red, implying that she

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00:18:34,789 --> 00:18:39,460
might have been a part of the Grimm Troupe
at one point, but… come on.

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00:18:39,460 --> 00:18:44,200
It’s clearly just red because it’s covered
in the blood of her numerous victims.

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00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:48,930
In conclusion, the Grimm Troupe is a traveling
band of bugs who all serve a Higher Being

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known as the Nightmare Heart.

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00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:54,430
They use the Nightmare Realm to fast travel
between the different ruined kingdoms of the

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00:18:54,430 --> 00:18:59,040
world, harvesting Nightmare Essence to prolong
the Heart’s existence.

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00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:03,770
Masks are perhaps used to keep these bugs
in line and connected to the Troupe.

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00:19:03,770 --> 00:19:07,970
But despite that, some bugs are able to fight
against this control, and it’s up to the

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player to decide what fate should befall these
poor bugs.

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00:19:11,649 --> 00:19:15,510
Of course, most likely the player won’t
have any idea what’s going on at all and

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00:19:15,510 --> 00:19:18,610
that decision is made completely arbitrarily.

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00:19:18,610 --> 00:19:23,490
One final thing to note is that Grimm is known
by the White Lady, despite being from so far

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00:19:23,490 --> 00:19:24,820
away.

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00:19:24,820 --> 00:19:29,230
And while Jiji finds Grimm unfamiliar, she
is still able to pick up on what is really

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going on with the Troupe.

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00:19:31,210 --> 00:19:35,529
This helps us realize how learned these characters
are, which might not be a surprise for the

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00:19:35,529 --> 00:19:38,520
White Lady, but more so for Jiji.

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00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,840
This character has a lot going on that we
just don’t know about.

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00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:43,010
And so there you have it.

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00:19:43,010 --> 00:19:48,071
I felt bad leaving the Grimm Troupe mostly
out of my main lore video, but man, there

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00:19:48,071 --> 00:19:50,279
was a lot to discuss here.

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00:19:50,279 --> 00:19:54,650
As for future Hollow Knight content, I know
many of you are worried and think that I am

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00:19:54,650 --> 00:19:57,440
somehow starved for content.

348
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,110
But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

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00:20:00,110 --> 00:20:02,740
There are plenty of other lore things I could
talk about.

350
00:20:02,740 --> 00:20:05,390
I could make another Zote video.

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00:20:05,390 --> 00:20:08,630
And there is some more stuff to talk about
regarding Zote.

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00:20:08,630 --> 00:20:13,529
And I really want to do a deep dive into the
political side of Hollow Knight, particularly

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00:20:13,529 --> 00:20:15,430
whether or not Zote is a liberatarin.