WEBVTT

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It’s been a while.

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I hope you all are doing well.

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As I’m sure you all know, I’ve been on
a journey of self discovery these last couple

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of months.

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I read Edward Snowden’s new autobiography.

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And honestly, it changed my life.

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I also saw the new Joker movie.

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And honestly, it changed my life.

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And then, I tried vegemite.

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And honestly, it changed my life.

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But you’re probably not here to listen to
me talk about that, considering none of that

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is in the title of the video.

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So instead, we’re going to take a deep,
hard, throbbing look at the lore tablets located

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at the very beginning of Hollow Knight.

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For being the first lore tablets we see, it’s
surprising how little I’ve discussed them.

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I briefly went over them in that one MatPat
response video I made, but that video was

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bonkers enough without me going on an insane
tangent explaining abstract concepts like

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“souls”, and “true forms”, and “words”.

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But now, I think it’s time to finally get
to the bottom of this mystery.

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These lore tablets are located in an area
called the King’s Pass.

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This is basically the tutorial level where
the player is taught tricky maneuvers like

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walking, jumping and focusing soul.

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This last ability is specifically taught to
the player by reading this first lore tablet.

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But even if the tablet’s main goal is to
teach the player a move, there still must

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be some lore explanation for why the tablet
is there.

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Considering this area is called the King’s
Pass, it seems likely that these tablets were

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written, or scribbled, by the Pale King.

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One thing that separates these tablets from
most of the other lore tablets found in the

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game is how they all start with the same phrase:
Higher beings, these words are for you alone.

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So these tablets were left specifically for
a group of people known as “Higher beings”.

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But who exactly are these higher beings supposed
to be?

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Some have argued that the tablets were left
for the vessels.

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After all, the first lore tablet teaches the
Knight how to focus, a very specific ability

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seemingly only vessels are shown performing.

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And the vessels are the children of two gods,
so it would be reasonable to call them Higher

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beings.

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Another interpretation is that these tablets
are speaking directly to you, the player.

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So I guess Higher beings in this case would
be humans.

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Not sure how I feel about that.

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I’m not a huge fan of either of these interpretations.

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Instead, I’d like to argue that these tablets
were specially written for bugs that traveled

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to Hallownest from the lands beyond.

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I like this theory because it ties these tablets
into other parts of the lore, such as the

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Mask Maker and the Pale King’s beacon.

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But be warned, this theory is a little bit…
out there.

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You might even call this theory a little “speculative”
or in other words “nonsense”.

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So please keep an open mind while watching,
and don’t just assume that I’m right.

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It’s entirely possible that we simply don’t
have enough information to truly answers some

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of these questions, and that’s okay.

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Let’s start with the very first hurdle we
have with this theory: “Higher beings”.

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The game uses this phrase a total of six times:
three in the King’s Pass, one in the Howling

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Cliffs, and one in the Ancient Basin, near
the entrance to the Abyss.

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The last time it is used is to refer to the
Pale King and the White Lady’s union which

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resulted in the creation of the worst charm
in the game, the Kingsoul.

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Now the game never gives us a formal definition
of what Higher beings are, but we do have

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a few external sources that mention it.

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In a Reddit AMA, William Pellen explained
that Higher beings are creatures that exist

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above all others, such as the Radiance, the
Pale King and the White Lady.

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There is also a developer’s note found in
Hollow Knight’s code that states that Higher

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beings are God-like creatures.

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So by that logic, my theory makes no sense,
since the bugs regularly traveling to Hallownest

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were probably not as powerful as the Pale
King.

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But at the same time, it seems highly unlikely
that the Pale King would have written these

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tablets for creatures of immense power like
himself.

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He didn’t exactly roll out the welcome wagon
for the Radiance, after all.

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So why exactly would the Pale King call regular
bugs Higher beings?

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It all ties into the promise of Hallownest.

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The second King’s Pass lore tablet, located
next to the Fury of the Fallen charm reads:

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Let all bask in your majesty, for only this
kingdom could produce ones such as you.

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From this tablet, we can tell that the “Higher
beings” the Pale King is referring to are

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creatures with abilities produced by Hallownest.

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The lore tablet in the Pale King’s throne
room tells us that the Pale King’s beacon

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expanded the minds of bugs, and the lore tablet
in the Howling Cliff also mentions that the

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kingdom grants bugs minds.

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This is further backed up by Dream Nail dialogue
from both the Whispering Root, and this chonky

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bug corpse.

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So the King’s Pass tablet says that Higher
beings are produced by Hallownest, and several

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sources claim that Hallownest itself expands
the minds of bugs, so this must be what the

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Pale King means when he refers to Higher beings.

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The reason the kingdom is called Hallownest
is because that is literally what it is.

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An area of land hallowed, or made holy, by
the Pale King, granting those within it higher

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thought.

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So why exactly does William’s definition
of Higher beings conflict with these tablets?

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Is William on bath salts again?

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Well maybe, but another explanation could
be that the Pale King is likening his subjects

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to gods as a way to make his gift sound even
greater.

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It’s a bit of a lie on his part, and it
seems like his main motivation was to earn

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the devotion of these bugs, but he is still
elevating their powers nonetheless.

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Alright, that’s eight words down.

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Let’s look at the other twenty-one words:
Your great strength marks you amongst us.

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Focus your soul and you shall achieve feats
of which others can only dream.

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This first sentence appears to parallel a
line from the Quirrel comic.

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Quirrel explains that the path to Hallownest
is difficult to achieve, stating that Hallownest

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accepts only the strong.

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Of course, this raises the issue of how complete
weakling like Zote and Cloth were able to

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make it to Hallownest in the first place.

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But then again, Zote is just too cryptic of
a character in general.

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I’ve been trying to pin down his political
ideology for months now.

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I mean, is he an authoritarian, an anarchist
or a liberatarin?

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This next sentence about focusing soul is
where things get a bit complicated.

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Now in the mechanics of Hollow Knight, focusing
is when the Knight consumes souls in order

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to repair its shell.

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But what does it mean for regular bugs to
focus soul?

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This ability seems to be reserved specifically
for Vessels.

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And it seems very unlikely that the Pale King
wanted his subjects to mess with soul in that

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way, considering he condemned the actions
of the Soul Master and his followers.

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To answer why the Pale King would want his
subjects to “focus [their] soul”, I think

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we’ll need to look at this from a different
angle.

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Let’s talk about what the word “focus”
actually means.

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If we look at how the word is used throughout
parts of the game, it appears to link up often

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with both the use of soul and the use of mind.

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This might not be true in every case, but
I think it’s a good framework to work from

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when discussing this part of the game’s
lore.

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Let’s start with the scholars of the Soul
Sanctum.

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These bugs were hoarding soul in some strange
attempt to avoid the Radiance’s plague as

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well as achieve immortality.

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In one of their lore tablets, the scholars
mention a desire to “attain a pure focus”.

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Now your guess is as good as mine as to what
that actually means, but it seems safe to

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assume that it requires an impressive mastery
of soul.

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And we can see that this act took quite a
heavy toll on the minds of the scholars, with

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the Soul Twisters mentioning how their minds
swell and ache.

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The possibility of a connection between focusing
and the mind becomes explicit when we look

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at the Godseekers.

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The Godseeker straight up tells the Knight
that they are using a Godly focus to attune

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to the Gods of Hallownest and ascend their
own mind.

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The Weathered Mask description also states
that it allows its wearer to focus their thoughts.

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So in this instance.

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focusing doesn’t seem to be related to soul
at all, but it still involves the mind.

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We also have the Void Statue in the Hall of
Gods which reads “Void Given Focus”, which

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in the initial release of Godmaster read “Void
Given Mind”.

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This cut text might give us a hint of what
is going on here.

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I have heard some argue that Team Cherry removed
the word “Mind” because void in it’s

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base form already has a mind.

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I, however, think that “Focus” and “Mind”
are somewhat interchangeable terms, which

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is why Team Cherry used one instead of the
other.

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It’s hard to say for sure, but I think we’re
supposed to understand that the Shade Lord

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is some kind of conscious void being unlike
anything we’ve really seen before.

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Now there are more examples we could look
at, but hopefully you can see what I’m getting

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at.

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Focusing for many characters in Hollow Knight
means the use of one’s mind in some capacity.

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The scholars of the Soul Sanctum strained
their minds to try and attain a pure focus,

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and the Godseekers used their focus in a way
to ascend their minds.

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Let’s use that framework when interpreting
this final line from the most cryptic bastard

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in this whole game: Mask Maker:
A wonderful thing to have, a face.

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Not a thing with which we all are blessed.

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For this kingdom's faceless, I shall provide.

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A mask!

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A face!

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Does it need one?

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Does it not?

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To define.

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To focus.

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To exist.

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The Mask Maker is basically equating being
able to focus with having a face.

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To have a face means to exist.

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So if we say that focusing means having a
mind, then the Mask Maker is saying that a

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face is required in order to have a mind.

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I know that sounds stupid and dumb, but if
you think about it philisophically, it makes

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sense.

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Having senitience or consciousness is paramount
to having a sense of self.

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And what represents the concept of the self
better than the face?

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There’s a parallel between this line from
Mask Maker and the lore tablet in the King’s

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Pass.

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Both establish the idea that not everyone
is capable of focusing, or in other words,

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not everyone has a face.

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Focusing allows you to achieve feats others
can only dream of, while having a face (which

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lets you focus) is not something with which
all are blessed.

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So in other words, this lore tablet might
be saying that Hallownest grants bugs “faces”

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which allow them to think.

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I know that might sound strange, but it actually
ties nicely into the second King’s Pass

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lore tablet:
Within our lands do not hide your true form.

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Let all bask in your majesty, for only this
kingdom could produce ones such as you.

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What does true form mean?

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Well the phrase “true form” is only used
in two other places in the game.

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It is used in the Pure Nail description, as
well as the Ancient Mask description.

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The Ancient Mask description reads:
A complete mask.

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When whole, a mask protects its wearer, shielding
the true form beneath.

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So this second tablet could be implying that
the reader might be wearing some kind of mask

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in order to hide their true form.

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They might be wearing this mask as a way to
be able to define, focus and exist, as Mask

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Maker explains.

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But this tablet is telling the reader that
their mask is no longer needed, implying that

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this “face” is now provided by Hallownest
itself.

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Now I know what you’re thinking.

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What the hell is mossbag talking about?

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Is he on bath salts again?

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How does wearing a mask or having a face help
you focus?

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And how does entering Hallownest affect any
of that.

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Let’s look at the first lore tablet again;
the one that tells the reader to “focus

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your soul”.

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Now, the use of the word soul here might connect
to the Elegy for Hallownest.

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At one point the poem states that Hallownest
tamed the “savage souls” of its subjects.

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Perhaps this focusing of the soul is how this
taming occurs.

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In other words, Hallownest grants bugs the
ability to focus their own souls, turning

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them from savages to civilized bugs.

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This resulted in the expansion of their minds,
as stated in the throne room tablet.

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This line of thinking implies that bugs outside
of Hallownest can’t focus their souls as

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well, which could be what we see in the Quirrel
comic.

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The bugs in the wilderness must forgo higher
thought in order to adapt to the harsh conditions

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of the land.

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The Elegy of Hallownest also states that bugs’
“base instincts were redeemed”.

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In other words, these bugs have unfavorable
instincts, but the Pale King’s beacon makes

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up for these flaws, allowing the bugs to show
their true forms without shame.

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However, it seems like some of these bugs
that wandered the wilderness wore masks, since

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the second King’s Pass tablet mentions how
these bugs would hide their true forms.

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We do see travelers wearing mask ingame, particularly
the Grimm Troupe and the Godseekers.

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But I don’t know how representative these
characters are of the bugs that routinely

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traveled to Hallownest.

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Okay, so you just witnessed a bunch of mental
gymnastics there.

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These last several minutes were dedicated
solely to trying to explain the “focus your

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soul” line.

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And to be perfectly honest, part of me wonders
if Team Cherry even intended half of these

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connections I just made.

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The fact that they changed that line of dialogue
about the Void being given focus may indicate

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that a lot of this stuff might be pretty vague,
even to them.

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But if we take a step back, I think this concept
still makes sense in a broader view.

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Basically you need a “face” in order to
achieve higher thought, or to have an identity.

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But not everyone is blessed with this naturally,
as some numbskulls are only capable of relying

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on instinct to survive.

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However, some would wear masks as a way to
supplement their savage nature.

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But then the Pale King came along and promised
a world where masks weren’t needed.

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He granted a “face” to bugs outright,
giving them the ability to control their savage

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nature and achieve higher thought.

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And now we come to the final lore tablet,
located right outside the sealed up door to

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Hallownest:
Beyond this point you enter the land of King

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and Creator.

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Step across this threshold and obey our laws.

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Bear witness to the last and only civilisation,
the eternal Kingdom.

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Hallownest
Now this tablet specifically makes it clear

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to me that these lore tablets are directed
at newcomers to the kingdom and not the vessels

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or the player directly.

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These tablets were likely erected during Hallownest’s
prime, whereas the vessels would have probably

00:15:07.269 --> 00:15:11.240
appeared much, much later after the kingdom
fell.

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And why would the Pale King be telling us
to obey Hallownest’s laws?

00:15:15.149 --> 00:15:19.199
What, is he expecting me to pay taxes or something?

00:15:19.199 --> 00:15:23.589
But of course, there is another problem with
this tablet that we need to discuss.

00:15:23.589 --> 00:15:27.260
The Pale King calls Hallownest the “last
and only civiliszation”.

00:15:27.260 --> 00:15:32.430
But we know that was a fucking lie because
there’s Pharloom, as well as wherever it

00:15:32.430 --> 00:15:33.810
is Ze’mer is from.

00:15:33.810 --> 00:15:38.709
So is the Pale King just unaware of these
other kingdoms, or is he purposefully lying

00:15:38.709 --> 00:15:40.290
to the bugs entering Hallownest?

00:15:40.290 --> 00:15:45.089
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pale King
were being a bit dishonest here.

00:15:45.089 --> 00:15:49.329
After all, his whole motivation appears to
be based on accruing worshippers to devote

00:15:49.329 --> 00:15:50.870
themselves to him.

00:15:50.870 --> 00:15:55.509
His servants even thought that he created
the world and everything in it, which obviously

00:15:55.509 --> 00:15:56.579
isn’t true.

00:15:56.579 --> 00:15:58.470
And that pretty much wraps up these tablets.

00:15:58.470 --> 00:16:02.680
I should take a moment to address a few counter
arguments to my theory.

00:16:02.680 --> 00:16:07.070
In the Wanderer’s Journal, the character
Ellina remarks the following when standing

00:16:07.070 --> 00:16:11.860
next to the locked door in the Ancient Basin:
If only I could decipher the message on the

00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:16.060
tablet next to the door, perhaps I could figure
out how to open it.

00:16:16.060 --> 00:16:21.970
This dialogue might imply that Ellina is completely
incapable of reading the lore tablet, which,

00:16:21.970 --> 00:16:26.819
just like the King’s Pass tablets, begins
with the phrase about Higher beings.

00:16:26.819 --> 00:16:31.769
Is it because my assumption about what “Higher
beings” means in this context is wrong?

00:16:31.769 --> 00:16:35.939
Is it because the text is written in a language
that Ellina can’t read?

00:16:35.939 --> 00:16:41.160
My interpretation is that Ellina can read
this tablet, however, she can’t decipher

00:16:41.160 --> 00:16:44.250
what the Pale King’s message means.

00:16:44.250 --> 00:16:48.850
Perhaps she thinks that she could open the
door if she understood what regrets were hidden

00:16:48.850 --> 00:16:50.779
in the Abyss.

00:16:50.779 --> 00:16:55.240
Another explanation might be that bugs with
higher intelligence already, like Ellina,

00:16:55.240 --> 00:16:59.800
can’t read these tablets because they only
appear to bugs whose minds were actually elevated

00:16:59.800 --> 00:17:00.800
by Hallownest.

00:17:00.800 --> 00:17:06.770
Regardless, I don’t think this sentence
from Ellina has to debunk the whole theory.

00:17:06.770 --> 00:17:11.720
Another issue is how bugs like Zote, Cornifer,
Iselda, and Tiso are perfectly capable of

00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:16.669
traversing the lands beyond Hallownest without
seemingly needing to wear masks.

00:17:16.669 --> 00:17:20.350
My theory doesn’t really do anything to
address this problem, but it might be due

00:17:20.350 --> 00:17:23.640
to what species of bugs these characters are.

00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:27.490
Mask Maker mentions that only some bugs are
blessed with a face.

00:17:27.490 --> 00:17:31.370
Maybe these characters are born with higher
thought and don’t need any help to show

00:17:31.370 --> 00:17:32.370
intelligence.

00:17:32.370 --> 00:17:37.090
I mean, Cornifer is obviously smart, the dude
wears glasses after all.

00:17:37.090 --> 00:17:42.010
Or maybe I am completely misunderstanding
what masks actually do.

00:17:42.010 --> 00:17:46.640
After all, none of what I’ve talked about
answers why the Mask Maker has those anime

00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:49.740
swirly void eye things.

00:17:49.740 --> 00:17:51.850
Like seriously what the fuck are those?

00:17:51.850 --> 00:17:55.070
And does that play any roll into why he is
wearing a mask?

00:17:55.070 --> 00:17:58.830
And that leaves a few questions about other
bugs in Hallownest as well.

00:17:58.830 --> 00:18:03.120
Did the Vengeflies become Higher beings, or
are they still dumb as rocks even with the

00:18:03.120 --> 00:18:04.789
Pale King’s beacon?

00:18:04.789 --> 00:18:06.220
What about the bugs of Deepnest?

00:18:06.220 --> 00:18:11.080
It’s unclear if they are in the beacon,
since Deepnest technically isn’t part of

00:18:11.080 --> 00:18:12.080
Hallownest.

00:18:12.080 --> 00:18:15.080
Are these bugs just naturally intelligent?

00:18:15.080 --> 00:18:20.120
Midwife seems to think so, but she might be
a bit biased.

00:18:20.120 --> 00:18:25.740
This would also imply that Mantises, Mushrooms
and some of the bees already had the intelligence

00:18:25.740 --> 00:18:29.070
to focus their soul before the Pale King arrived.

00:18:29.070 --> 00:18:32.960
Which makes it odd that this is never really
mentioned anywhere in the game.

00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:35.970
We just kinda have to assume that they could
do this.

00:18:35.970 --> 00:18:37.760
And that’s it for this video.

00:18:37.760 --> 00:18:44.440
In general, I think it’s a compelling argument,
but remember, just because something is compelling,

00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:45.820
that doesn’t mean it’s right.

00:18:45.820 --> 00:18:52.660
That’s how you get cults like Scientology
and the NSA, the United States Bowling Congress.