The main character from Hollow Knight is really good at killing things: Old men, newborn babies,
and yes, even people who are already dead.
Throughout Hallownest are numerous ghosts, remnant memories of travelers long gone.
There’s the gravedigger who died after falling into a grave.
There’s Millybug who died selling cookies, a dangerous profession indeed.
And then there’s Marissa, the butterfly who can be heard singing in the City of Tears.
All of these ghosts can be struck with the Dream Nail in exchange for essence.
Now this raises a slew of ethical questions about whether dream nailing a ghost is humane
or not.
Does the ghost constitute an actual conscious being?
Is being a ghost better than not existing at all?
Can they use their ghostly powers to shoot lightning out of the sky?
The ghosts in Hollow Knight might seem pretty random, but that’s because most of them
were actually characters designed by Kickstarter backers.
Hence why we get characters like this Guts knockoff, created by David Waldie and Kcin,
created by Nick.
But today, we’re going to look at one specific group of backer characters: the dream warriors.
One of the Kickstarter backer rewards was to create a dream boss that the player would
be able to fight.
There were originally ten backers for this tier, but only seven backers provided details
for characters.
What happened to the other three backers, you ask?
Well, that’s a good question.
These bosses don’t really give us any greater information about the lore of Hollow Knight,
but that hasn’t stopped literally billions of people from begging me to do a video on
them.
So without further ado, here is the Dream Warriors’ lore explained.
First up, we have Xero, created by Constant Pham.
This dream warrior is located in the Resting Grounds and will probably be the first dream
warrior new players find.
Xero dreamt of cutting down the infection in his dreams.
Because, you know, that’s how you fight infectious diseases.
Just give everybody swords, obviously.
But then Xero actually turned his nail against the Pale King, likely due to being infected
by the Radiance himself.
This resulted in him getting executed.
Before his betrayal, it seemed like Xero was actually a faithful soldier, fighting for
Hallownest and the Pale King.
What exactly was he fighting against?
Well, we hear about vague things like the Battle of the Blackwyrm, but other than that,
I don’t really know what Xero would have done.
Seems like those bugs building the tram in Deepnest could have used some military back
up, but what do I know?
Before the fight, Xero tells the Knight that those who hope are already doomed.
After the fight, however, he realizes that those who turn against the king are doomed
as soon as they raise their weapon.
Honestly I have no idea what this character’s arc is supposed to be.
But I guess character arcs don’t always have to make sense, so whatever.
Elder Hu was created by Donald Lynch.
He was a sage who traveled Hallownest tending to those afflicted by the infection.
Hu died in the Fungal Wastes nearby the Mantis Village.
He explains that the mantises below have become mad with the infection.
But of course, we know the Mantises weren’t infected.
So not only is Elder Hu dead.
But he’s also stupid.
After his defeat, Elder Hu comes to the realization that he was the one infected and that the
mantises actually killed him.
This is a common theme among all dream warriors.
They all think they are still alive when the Knight finds them.
This is actually different from how Team Cherry originally asked backers to write their dialogue.
From their original email explaining what details they needed from backers, Team Cherry
expected the dreamers to actually know they are dead.
Also, the dreamers were originally going to drop medals that had little messages attached
to them, which later became what we see in the Hunter’s journal.
Another interesting change made is the location of the Dream Warriors.
It appears the warriors were all going to be found in one location, the Queen’s Glade.
We can tell from an old development map of Hallownest that the Queen’s Glade was located
where the current day Ancient Basin is found, just below the White Palace foundation.
The Glade was guarded by Fierce Dryya, who was originally going to be a boss.
In other words, there would have been eleven boss fights in just this one spot of the map.
Honestly, I’m happy Team Cherry decided not to do this.
Putting the dream warriors in their own locations makes them feel more organic, like they actually
belong in the world.
Elder Hu appears to be based on the buddist tradition, as he wears mala, or prayer beads
around his neck.
I would normally say this feels out of place, but it seems like Team Cherry is actually
going to incorporate another character into Silksong who uses this same aesthetic: Shakra.
So it seems like we might get a little more information about whatever group Elder Hu
was a part of when Hollow Knight Silksong releases in 2054.
Galien was created by Zachary Virden and can be found in Deepnest.
Galien proclaimed himself as the strongest warrior in Hallownest and claims he is only
interested in fighting the Knight for the sake of jolly combat.
Galien traveled into Deepnest so that he could train himself by fighting the bugs found there.
But he was eventually killed off by the beasts.
What’s interesting about Galien is that he actually comments about seeing his own
body laying on the ground, but he doesn’t even recognize that it’s him.
That seems to confirm that ghosts are not just confused, but in denial about their own
deaths.
I mean, Wayner in the Spirit’s Glade is literally holding his head in his hands, and
still thinks he is alive.
Anyone who watches shows about real life, actual ghost hunting, knows that ghosts tend
to be human spirits trapped in the past, ignorant of the fact that they are ghosts.
Another kinda interesting but not really fact is that Galien is the only dream warrior to
actually use a physical weapon during combat.
The other dreamers just shoot magical projectiles or roll up into a ball or summon ghosts of
their dead babies to attack you.
Kinda makes me wonder how bugs like Xero and Gorb actually fought when they were alive.
Marmu was created by Zara Pellen, AKA William Pellen’s own mother.
Marmu acted as the protector of the Queen’s Garden, waiting patiently for the return of
her queen, presumably the White Lady.
Apparently the White Lady was going to teach Marmu how to fly… which seems kinda odd
considering the White Lady wouldn’t know the first thing about flying considering she
is literally a plant.
A root flying, what’s next?
Pigs walking on land?
Marmu appears to be based on a real life insect called a puss moth caterpillar.
This could be why Marmu talks about learning to fly, but this raises a lot of questions
about how we should examine Hollow Knight lore.
This would technically mean that Marmu is going to transform into a moth, but she doesn’t
seem to be related to the Moth tribe.
So are there groups of moths that wander around outside the moth tribe?
Does Marmu even care about dreams or the dead like the Moth Tribe did?
Can Marmu shoot fucking swords out of her face?
To me, it seems like Marmu really doesn’t have anything to do with Seer and her group.
Marmu being based on an insect that becomes a moth in real life doesn’t mean this character
has anything to do with the other moths.
There just isn’t a narrative or even aesthetic connection between them.
This same thing happens with grubs.
I always see comments from people trying to tell me that the grubs are going to turn into
little Radiances because they are caterpillars, and while that might make sense on the surface,
we know that grubs turn into Grubberflies, which is just a completely made up thing.
The biology of bugs in Hollow Knight doesn’t have to follow reality by any means.
For all we know Marmu might evolve into a 2001 Honda Civic.
However, there is one Dream Warrior that is directly tied to the moth tribe, Markoth.
Markoth is unique to the moth tribe however, as he was one of the only members to take
up a weapon.
In fact, the only other moth we know of who did this is Thistlewind, another backer character
found in the Spirit’s Glade.
Thistlewind even mentions Markoth, making him the only Dream Warrior to ever be acknowledged
by anyone other than the Knight.
Markoth can be found on the outskirts of the Kingdom’s Edge.
Thistlewind says he came out here to uncover some forgotten truth.
Unfortunately, Markoth is too busy threatening us with death to tell us what he was looking
for.
Maybe he heard about the Wyrm corpse, or maybe he wanted to learn about the Hive, or maybe
he wanted to see what was beyond this stupid-ass tent.
I was lucky enough to get into contact with Samuel Dixon, the backer who originally designed
Markoth.
And Samuel was even able to provide me with his original instructions for Markoth that
he sent to Team Cherry.
If we compare Samuel’s dialogue to what made it into the final game, we can see that
Team Cherry kept Markoth’s battle-worn stoic personality.
However, after being defeated, Markoth gains some perspective in the final game, as opposed
to still being a complete dick.
Finally we can see that the dialogue for the emblem Markoth would have given you is similar
to the quote in the Hunter’s Journal.
According to Samuel, Markoth was supposed to position himself in the far corners of
the room, and then throw two nails and his shield at the Knight.
The Knight could then deal damage, which would prompt Markoth to move to a different corner
of the room.
In the final game, Markoth kinda just floats around wherever he wants like a fart in the
wind.
Samuel didn’t have any lore to share with me about Markoth, so whatever his connection
is to the lore of Hallownest, it appears to have been manufactured by Team Cherry themselves.
So unfortunately, we still don’t really know the finer details of what truth Markoth
was looking for.
There is another incredibly cryptic Dream Warrior that we really do need to discuss.
The deep and disturbing lore surrounding this character has haunted me for years now, and
I think it’s finally time we discussed them.
I am of course talking about Gorb.
A monument to Gorb can be found in the Howling Cliffs where he is described as “the Great
Mind”.
Gorb claimed to contain all of the world’s knowledge inside of his giant brain.
Gorb demanded that others bow to him and ascend with him.
What does it mean to “ascend with Gorb” exactly?
Was he handing out pamphlets or something?
A pretty common theory is that Gorb is actually a Godseeker.
This is because of visual similarities and the fact that the Godseeker also never shut
up about ascending.
However, I would say that Gorb appears to be more like a slug creature, while the Godseekers
appear to be bandaged up like mummies.
So we don’t really know what they look like underneath.
So that’s one point against the theory.
Also, apparently the Godseekers have absolutely beautiful faces underneath their masks, and
if we look at Gorb’s face…
Well actually, that checks out.
So what does the actual dialogue say about Gorb.
The Hunter’s Journal entry describes Gorb as being a mysterious life-form.
That’s a really interesting word to use.
Now obviously, any living thing is a life-form, but the connotation surrounding that word
is usually linked to extraterrestrial life.
So does this mean Gorb is some kind of alien?
That’s not all, the Hall of Gods also gives a pretty interesting description to Gorb,
calling him a “Dreamborn god of the beyond”.
What exactly is “the beyond”?
Could it be outer space?
Maybe ascending with Gorb is literally ascending in some kind of spaceship.
I mean, the architecture of Hallownest seems far too complex for simple bugs.
It would make much more sense if there was some advanced alien race helping build these
monuments.
All of the unexplainable aspects of Hollow Knight lore have any answer.
Where did Bretta go?
Aliens!
How did the Hollow Knight grow?
Aliens!
The Pentagon?
Aliens!
Now obviously, I am mostly joking, but there really isn’t much to go on with Gorb.
The concept of the mind, and using it to ascend is a noticeable theme in Hollow Knight.
But there doesn’t seem to be anything special about Gorb.
Gorb was created by Aladar Appaponyi.
Perhaps he could shed some light on why Gorb’s backstory is so incredibly vague and odd.
I was able to get into contact with Aladar, but apparently he didn’t really have a backstory
for Gorb.
He didn’t even give Gorb a name.
All he gave Team Cherry was this drawing.
This early version of Gorb was a slug that wielded a nail in his mouth.
The idea was that he tricked the player into thinking he was weak, but in reality he had
great defense.
So it seems all of Gorb’s strange alien nonsense came from Team Cherry themselves.
This leaves us with one final Dream Warrior: No Eyes.
No Eyes can be found in the Stone Sanctuary in Greenpath.
She was a warrior who disappeared during the infection.
Out of all the dream warriors in the game, I’d say No Eyes is the most interesting
and the most cryptic.
No Eyes was first revealed in a Kickstarter update where Team Cherry explained that her
backstory was one of the most disturbing bits of fiction they had ever read.
Unfortunately, they didn’t share any details on what her original backstory is, but luckily
someone on Reddit was able to contact the original backer, Liza Kretzschmar, and provide
us with No Eyes’ backstory.
According to the reddit post, No Eyes was off on a quest when the infection spread throughout
Hallownest.
She had left her children behind, thinking they would be safe.
When she returned, she refused to believe that her children could have been killed by
the infection, so she ran inside the sanctuary to get them out safely.
She found them inside, both maddened and hungry.
No Eyes tried to pick up some of her children, but they swarmed her, devouring her eyes along
with the rest of her body.
No Eyes’ ghost would warn the player to stay away from the sanctuary.
Her nursery rhyme that she sings was supposed to actually be instructions on how the player
needs to move throughout the room in order to avoid getting hit by the children.
The whole battle was just avoiding the ghosts until all the rounds were finished.
Of course in the final game, the ghosts are just the way No Eyes attacks as she teleports
around the room.
And the nursery rhyme is just gibberish... creepy gibberish.
This backstory kinda makes sense with No Eyes’ quote in the Hunter’s Journal which reads
“They’re coming…
What’s inside of you….
Strip it out!”.
It appears as though No Eyes is warning others about her children coming to eat their eyes
out.
When the Knight interacts with her, she seems to think the Knight is one of her children
at first.
We’ve seen this before that sometimes ghosts don’t really understand what they are looking
at and… well No Eyes is fucking blind.
So she’d probably think anyone who walked in there would be her child.
And she starts by saying “Please, don’t hurt me!”
Which reinforced the idea that her children attacked her.
But then the dialogue takes a bit of a turn.
No Eyes says that the Knight can’t sleep with its eyes open, and it can’t dream if
it’s still breathing.
Judging by the sentence structure here, No Eyes wants the Knight to stop breathing so
it can dream.
There’s a pretty strong parallel to the Radiance here, especially when we look at
No Eyes other dialogue.
So this means No Eyes might have succumbed to the Infection.
We know that Xero and Elder Hu met similar fates, but this isn’t guaranteed for all
dream warriors.
Galien died because he was a moron, and Gorb probably died from a coke overdose.
So it might be that No Eyes was infected, and then decided to strip the eyes out of
her children so that they could sleep and dream too.
That would explain why the ghosts she summons also appear to be missing their eyes.
We can tell from No Eyes’ next line that this resulted in her children saying loathsome
things while they slept.
This might be a reference to the fact that these bugs’ ghosts still haunt the Stone
Sanctuary.
Another explanation is that No Eyes tore everyone's eyes out as a preemptive measure to try and
stop the infection from getting to them.
Basically she’s blinded all her kids out of fear, but ultimately they all still perished.
After the battle with the Knight, we see that all of these spirits are finally put to rest,
and No Eyes embraces being taken to a place where the Radiance’s light and dreams can’t
haunt her and her children anymore.
I’m not really sure how the line “They’re coming…” fits into either of these two
interpretations though.
Who are “they” if not No Eyes’ children?
The Radiance?
Other infected bugs?
Regardless, it does seem like Team Cherry tweaked the Liza’s original story at least
a bit.
And that’s pretty much all I have to say about the dream warriors.
They haven’t been discussed much on this channel, but that’s mainly just because
they are pretty inconsequential to anything that actually happens, unlike say a character
like Menderbug.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Small, pointless details are what make Hollow Knight such an amazing game.
Like how the bench in the Archive has Monomon’s face on it.
Or how the Glowing Womb bugs turn into little turds when you have the Defender’s Crest
equipped.
Or how the Nailsmith’s rotting corpse can be found in the junk pit.
Amazing.
By the way, have you ever heard of a little hellhole called Discord?
If so, maybe you’d like to check out my new Discord server called mossbag & friends.
There, you can talk about all things Hollow Knight or mossbag related.
Like discussing the moral implications of dream nailing ghosts.
Or bitching about how the latest Indie World presentation didn’t shadow drop Silksong.
We even have some amazing invite and banner art created by ZamZam and Yoclesh.
So please, check the link in the description if you’re interested, and let’s see how
long it takes before I regret ever creating this server.
I’m thinking….
April.