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The Snail Shamans are one of the biggest mysteries
in all of Hallownest.

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I know I’ve said that before, about the
Ancient Civilization, about Mask Maker, about

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the nature of Higher Beings, about Mister
Mushroom, and about Zote’s political ideology.

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But I really do mean it this time.

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The Snail Shamans are a pretty easy group
of characters to overlook in Hollow Knight.

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They’re definitely important, but they don’t
seem too related to anything that actually

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happens in the main story the character unravels
throughout the game.

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The Shamans also don’t really tell us much
about who they are or where they came from.

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This is in part due to the fact that the vast
majority of them are dead.

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And for the one Shaman who is alive, his dialogue
only gives us small glimpses into the Snail

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Shaman culture and practices.

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One important thing to understand about the
Snail Shamans is how they are related to Soul,

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one of the main spell systems found in Hollow
Knight.

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Hollow Knight’s spell system is introduced
very early in the game, and while it’s easy

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to understand mechanically, the lore surrounding
it isn’t quite as straightforward.

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Hitting enemies will give you “Soul” which
you can “Focus” to either heal or use

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attacks.

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But what is Soul?

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Is it like mana?

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Why is Soul always displayed as a white liquidy
goop?

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Is it some kind of “spiritual milk”?

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It’s possible that Soul even have some kind
of taste.

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The Hunter shares his thoughts in the Soul
Twister hunter’s journal entry, saying:

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I have heard others talk about 'soul' but
I do not understand what it actually is.

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I do know that freshly killed meat tastes
best - is that because the 'soul' still clings

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to it?

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Of course this seems more like idle speculation
on the Hunter’s part, and unfortunately,

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he doesn’t actually tell us what Soul might
taste like, so we can only make educated guesses

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on that front.

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Hollow Knight’s Soul system draws more from
the concept of shamanism than the traditional

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fantasy magic systems you’d find in stuff
like Lord of the Rings or Arthur.

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Basically, every living bug contains Soul,
and this Soul is used to animate their bodies,

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so Soul seems to act like a lifeforce primarily.

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But Soul can be found elsewhere.

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In fact, Soul is so prevalent throughout the
world that it permeates the air itself, and

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Soul is so valuable that several groups in
Hallownest have taken efforts to store or

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manipulate Soul in some way.

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The Ancient Civilization built totems used
to store Soul.

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The Soul Sanctum scholars appeared to have
studied these totems and ended up using glass

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jars to store the Soul of bugs they captured.

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And then there’s the Snail Shamans.

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Their goals and habits are probably even more
vague than the Ancient Civilizatio At least

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we know that they were worshipping the Void.

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As for the Shamans, they just sort of hang
out inside their own little mounds.

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And we don’t know exactly why.

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We also have no idea where they came from
or how they fit in with the other groups in

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Hallownest.

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But it’s clear that they have a strong connection
to Soul, and that connection ties deeply into

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how they live their lives.

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The majority of the Shamans the Knight finds
are located in these areas called mounds.

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These mounds are described by the Wanderer’s
Journal as ancient temples constructed from

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the bones and shells of innumerable dead creatures.

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These mounds also appear to have some actual
structure to them, with several beams of wood

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arranged in various ways.

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And I use the term “structure” loosely.

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And just to clarify, this stuff isn’t technically
wood, but instead “shellwood”.

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The Hunter mentions that Zote’s Life Ender
is made from this shellwood substance, and

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there’s also a developer’s note about
it as well.

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But what is shellwood actually?

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How would one carve a shell into wood?

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Well, my theory is that I have no fucking
idea.

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Getting back to the mounds, I’m guessing
they are supposed to be similar to burial

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mounds.

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There’s literally a bench made out of bones
here, so I don’t think that’s much of

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a stretch.

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The Shaman even says that the spirits of his
ancestors will watch over the Knight when

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he forces it to kill the Elder Balder.

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There’s no denying that Soul is connected
to dead bugs.

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Whenever you cast a spell, you can hear whispering
coming from the Soul.

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*spooky whispering

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Which makes sense because the Knight is literally
conjuring an angry spirit and firing it off

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to attack its foes, hence the name “Vengeful
Spirit”.

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The Soul Sanctum bugs also fire attacks that
make this whispering sound.

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*ᵖᵉᵉ ᶦˢ ˢᵗᵒʳᵉᵈ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃˡˡˢ

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We can even hear the nightmarish cries of
distressed Souls in the second phase of the

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Soul Master fight.

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*demonic voices WHAT THE HELL

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This is kinda weird.

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There are already ghosts in Hollow Knight,
but these creatures are completely different.

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Ghosts are made up of Essence, a substance
which can take the form of bygone memories.

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So Essence can hold part of a bug’s personality
or identity in a sense.

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But Soul can kinda do the same thing.

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The whispering of Souls implies it holds some
semblance of the bugs it occupies.

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And Soul can take the form of Spirits which…

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I think are the same things as ghosts?

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So there are two different forces in the world
of Hollow Knight that can create apparitions.

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This is a pretty big deviation from how actual
ghosts work in the real world.

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But we all know how that stuff works, so I
don’t want to bore you with the details.

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The Ancestral Mound also gives us a bit more
information about the Snail Shamans via the

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Whispering Root found there.

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The dialogue produced by this root reads:

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...Soul attuned...

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...Spiral focus...

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...Shunned Power...

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The first line is a little vague.

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It just seems to be confirming that the Snail
Shaman is attuned to Soul in some way.

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We don’t really know how difficult it is
to be Soul attuned, but it seems like the

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Snail Shamans had a much better grasp on how
to use Soul when compared against the bugs

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of Hallownest, even including the ones in
the Soul Sanctum.

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We only see the Snail Shaman use Soul once.

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He actually uses his cute little staff to
conjure up the Vengeful Spirit out of thin

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air.

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He demonstrates a clear capacity to manipulate
Soul when he does this.

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The Snail Shaman also has the Soul Catcher
charm, which is used by Shamans to collect

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Soul from the world around them.

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Another Shaman relic found in the game, the
Shaman Stone, informs us that the Snail Shamans

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have spent generations growing their knowledge
of Soul manipulation to create powerful spells.

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One final Shaman charm even gives us a peek
into how Shamans once lived.

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The Soul Eater charm is a forgotten Shaman
artifact that was used to draw Soul from still-living

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creatures.

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So it seems like Shamans of the past were
more intent on taking Soul from others, instead

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of passively collecting Souls in temples riddled
with remains.

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As for why this practice was forgotten, it
may have to do with the arrival of the Pale

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King in Hallownest.

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We know that the King did not approve of this
sort of repurposing of other bugs’ Soul.

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He explicitly objected to the action taken
by the bugs of the Soul Sanctum.

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These bugs harvested the Souls of others,
literally consuming Soul to the point where

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their bodies became bloated and deformed.

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My favorite example of this has to be the
Soul Master.

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When staggered, we can literally see Soul
escaping out of his body as he shrivels up

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like a raisin.

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And when he dies, the Desolate Dive ability
seeps out of his mouth like a deflating balloon.

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The second line given by the Whispering Root
might give us another little insight into

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how the Snail Shamans are able to manipulate
Soul.

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The “spiral focus” line might be referring
to the spiral shell the Shaman wears on his

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head.

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This spiral pattern also shows up on the inside
of all three Snail Shaman charms, a small

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detail that might highlight its importance.

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There seems to be some sort of connection
between the use of Soul, focusing and the

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head.

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The Godseeker focuses using a crest located
on the mask she wears on her head.

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Although in this case, she isn’t focusing
Soul, but thoughts.

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The Godseeker is sort of an outlier here,
but she still shows a connection between the

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head of a creature, and the act of focusing.

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There’s also the Kingsoul and Void Heart
charms.

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Another Hollow Knight lore YouTuber, Ccmaci,
pointed out to me that these charms have a

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similar looking crest or insignia on their
foreheads, like what we see with the Godseeker’s

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mask.

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This might entirely be a coincidence, but
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was intentional,

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as it could imply the Knight having a greater
mastery over Soul and Void respectively.

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The Soul Sanctum bugs claim that they are
trying to obtain a pure “Focus” which

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somehow involves consuming large amounts of
Soul.

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One of the end results of this is how their
minds swell and ache.

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On top of that, all of the scholars wear these
strange jewels on their heads, which are occasionally

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used to fire off Soul attacks.

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These appear to be the same objects that we
see on the Spell Twister charm.

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Perhaps they act like the crest on Godseekers
head, helping them focus.

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Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to
go on here.

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Another vague connection we can make is to
the Mask Maker.

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The Mask Maker tells us that one requires
a face to “define, focus and exist”, which

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is pretty open to interpretation but it’s
definitely important.

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So maybe this head-Soul connection is an extension
of that in some way.

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That being said, Soul is such a vague force
in this game that you can connect it to a

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lot of things, and it’s hard to tell what
connections were actually intended by Team

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Cherry.

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In my King’s Pass video, I talked a lot
about focusing and Soul and how regular bugs

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might be able to focus their own Souls in
some way.

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In my Silksong speculation videos, I talk
about how Hornet might be able to make silk

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that is composed of Soul.

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In my video discussing the post war politics
of Australia after the Emu War, I mentioned

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that Soul might taste like vegemite.

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And with so many different ways Soul can be
interpreted, it’s kinda hard to say there

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is a definite connection between the concept
of the face or the head and Soul.

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But I do think there are some strands there.

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The last line of the Whispering Root is fairly
easy to understand.

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The Shaman’s power to use Soul was probably
shunned by the Pale King.

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Like I said earlier, he didn’t seem to approve
of the Soul Sanctum’s experiments at all.

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Or it might just be that the other bugs of
Hallownest find freaky snail people with bone

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furniture both scary and disgusting.

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We know other strange powers like Lifeblood
were considered taboo in Hallownest too.

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So something as strange as Soul manipulation
was probably treated the same way.

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This line could also explain another phenomenon
we see with the Shamans.

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We know from the Snail Shaman’s dialogue
that he is bound to the Ancestral Mound in

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some way.

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There’s also a developer’s note about
this line of dialogue, which reads:

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At some point hints that he can not leave
the mound.

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"Can not" could mean he stays out of duty,
or literally can not leave

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We find Snail Shamans in the Ancestral Mound,
Overgrown Mound and Crystallized Mound.

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If we find any of them outside of a mound,
they are either buried, or being brutally

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tortured.

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There’s one in the Soul Sanctum, who appears
to have been subjected to experiments.

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And there’s one sealed in a sarcophagus
in the Resting Grounds.

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Perhaps Snail Shamans were forced to remain
near their mounds due to how the rest of Hallownest

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perceived their power.

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But that doesn’t seem too likely considering
everyone is pretty much dead at this point.

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So it’s probably either that the Shaman
has a sense of duty to the mound, or his strength

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is somehow tied to it.

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Maybe the Shaman’s spells don’t work as
well outside the mound, so he is vastly underpowered

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to leave his home.

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00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:31,020
After all, he doesn’t even seem capable
of clearing out his own den of dangerous creatures.

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But it’s anyone’s guess, honestly.

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00:11:33,149 --> 00:11:36,810
Team Cherry very much left this part of the
lore ambiguous.

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00:11:36,810 --> 00:11:40,850
Of course, there’s one question looming
over the nature of the Snail Shamans.

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A question that gets thrown around a lot whenever
discussion about them arises.

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Are the Snail Shamans Void?

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00:11:47,860 --> 00:11:52,360
In my video on the Ancient Civilization, I
confidently said there was no question that

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these things were Void creatures.

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00:11:54,670 --> 00:11:55,670
But…

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I think I jumped the gun a little bit.

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So now it’s time to lace up those clown
shoes, put on that clown makeup, and pull

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out your clown keyboards, because we are about
to have a serious discussion about whether

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or not Snail Shamans are Void.

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00:12:10,269 --> 00:12:15,100
So what was 2019 mossbag’s reasoning behind
calling the Shamans Void?

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00:12:15,100 --> 00:12:19,850
Well, it mainly comes down to a few simple
observations.

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When the Knight examines the Snail Shaman
in the Soul Sanctum, it explodes into black

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particles that the Knight absorbs.

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00:12:26,839 --> 00:12:31,200
The Snail Shaman in the Crystalized Mound
also explodes in the same way.

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00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:35,490
The Knight collects the Shade Soul and Descending
Dark from these Shamans respectively.

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00:12:35,490 --> 00:12:40,080
What’s interesting here is that while the
prompts for these moves still mention spirits,

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their descriptions in the menu describe them
as shadows.

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00:12:43,130 --> 00:12:48,089
For the Abyss Shriek move, we can even see
the attack uses a combination of Soul and

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shadow.

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00:12:49,089 --> 00:12:53,640
And there’s even unused art of a Vengeful
Spirit-like move with this same motif.

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Regardless, these upgrades all mix the original
Soul-based attacks to also use Void.

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00:13:00,130 --> 00:13:04,250
One noteworthy distinction between the Soul
upgrades and the Void upgrades is that the

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00:13:04,250 --> 00:13:07,279
Soul upgrades appear as these little spirit
sprites.

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00:13:07,279 --> 00:13:09,589
The Void spells don’t have this at all.

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00:13:09,589 --> 00:13:13,820
In all three instances, it’s black balls
flying into the Knight.

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00:13:13,820 --> 00:13:18,320
And in the third instance that takes place
in the Abyss, we can be fairly sure that the

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00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:20,770
Knight is consuming Void.

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00:13:20,770 --> 00:13:22,769
This invites a very simple conclusion.

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00:13:22,769 --> 00:13:28,150
These Shamans explode into Void which the
Knight then sucks up to inherit their spells.

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00:13:28,150 --> 00:13:29,320
And that makes sense.

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00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:31,010
Bada bing bada boom, right?

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00:13:31,010 --> 00:13:34,270
Well, let’s talk about the elephant in the
room.

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00:13:34,270 --> 00:13:39,060
Characters exploding into stuff happens on
a number of occasions in Hollow Knight, and

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00:13:39,060 --> 00:13:41,540
it doesn’t always make sense.

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00:13:41,540 --> 00:13:47,519
For example, when the Seer disappears after
collecting 2400 Essence, she appears to transform

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00:13:47,519 --> 00:13:48,519
into a Lumafly.

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00:13:48,519 --> 00:13:53,600
It’s a really small detail that might have
lore implications, but there is absolutely

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00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:58,649
nothing else in the game to follow up on this,
and it opens such a huge can of worms that

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I’m afraid to even talk about it.

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00:14:00,529 --> 00:14:05,639
There’s also the Grey Mourner and the Brooding
Mawlek who explode into Mask Shards.

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00:14:05,639 --> 00:14:08,310
This makes absolutely no sense.

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00:14:08,310 --> 00:14:13,500
If people can just die and turn into masks,
then why the hell do we need Mask Maker?

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00:14:13,500 --> 00:14:16,810
Are masks somehow connected to the Souls of
bugs?

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00:14:16,810 --> 00:14:20,130
Was the Brooding Mawlek hiding this Mask Shard
up its asshole?

238
00:14:20,130 --> 00:14:21,260
That sounds painful!

239
00:14:21,260 --> 00:14:27,279
A more agreeable and straightforward explanation
is that this is just a gameplay quirk.

240
00:14:27,279 --> 00:14:30,930
Another example we can compare this to is
Grey Prince Zote.

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00:14:30,930 --> 00:14:35,200
Several of his animations use the black ball
effect similar to what we see with the Snail

242
00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:36,550
Shamans and the Abyss.

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00:14:36,550 --> 00:14:40,480
Since this entire fight takes place inside
a Dream concocted by Bretta’s obsessive

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00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,300
mind, this probably isn’t supposed to imply
that Zote is Void.

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00:14:44,300 --> 00:14:49,120
In fact, it seems highly unlikely that Bretta
would even know what Void is.

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00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:53,839
So black stuff that appears in her dream is
probably just an ingame effect used to portray

247
00:14:53,839 --> 00:14:56,830
the conjuring of a character made up mostly
of the color black.

248
00:14:56,830 --> 00:14:59,790
We’re in a similar boat with these Shamans.

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00:14:59,790 --> 00:15:04,070
These effects might purely be an aesthetic
choice by Team Cherry, and not proof that

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00:15:04,070 --> 00:15:06,360
the Shamans are actually Void.

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00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:10,320
If we talk to the Snail Shaman after getting
the Shade Soul, he implies that it was the

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00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:14,800
Knight’s essence that melded with the spell,
using a powerful source to do so.

253
00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,170
The wording here is annoying in how obscure
it is.

254
00:15:18,170 --> 00:15:23,000
So stuff goes into the Knight, giving it enough
power to transform the spell inside it with

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00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,980
its own essence, and by essence, I don’t
mean actual Essence, but Void.

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00:15:27,980 --> 00:15:32,310
There’s enough vagueness there to perhaps
argue that the Knight is absorbing the power

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00:15:32,310 --> 00:15:38,360
of the Shamans in a general sense, and not
somehow absorbing their Void bodies, but it

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00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:41,130
would honestly make more sense to me if they
were just Void.

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00:15:41,130 --> 00:15:45,130
I mean that seems to be the case when we get
the Abyss Shriek.

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00:15:45,130 --> 00:15:49,850
Another possible hint at Shamans being Void
is how the Shaman in the Overgrown Mound appears

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00:15:49,850 --> 00:15:54,590
to be melting, kind of like what we see with
Void in other locations, particularly the

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00:15:54,590 --> 00:15:55,779
Collector.

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00:15:55,779 --> 00:16:00,380
But it could be just dark colored leaves,
to help sell the “overgrown” aspect of

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00:16:00,380 --> 00:16:01,600
the mound.

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00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:06,810
As a side note, if the Shamans are Void, it’s
kinda weird they put one in a sarcophagus.

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00:16:06,810 --> 00:16:11,250
It’s certainly possible, but I think it
would be the only instance of a Void creature

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00:16:11,250 --> 00:16:13,990
having a “proper” burial.

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00:16:13,990 --> 00:16:18,750
Another small detail to consider is how the
Snail Shaman calls the Knight a shadow and

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00:16:18,750 --> 00:16:21,350
mentions its “empty face”.

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00:16:21,350 --> 00:16:25,310
This could imply that the Snail Shamans are
at least aware of what Void is.

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00:16:25,310 --> 00:16:29,959
The only characters who call the Knight a
shadow directly are Hornet and the Dreamers,

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00:16:29,959 --> 00:16:34,850
and arguably Divine, all characters who are
more likely to know what Void is.

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00:16:34,850 --> 00:16:39,760
It’s obvious that the Snail Shaman is pretty
aware of things, considering he can tell when

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00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:41,010
he is Dream Nailed.

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00:16:41,010 --> 00:16:46,110
Also, the fact that he says our essence melded
with the Vengeful Spirit after getting the

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00:16:46,110 --> 00:16:49,680
Shade Soul kinda implies that he knows the
Knight is unique.

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00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:55,200
How exactly would a non-Void creature's essence
meld with a Void spell?

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00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,019
So that’s all of the evidence for why the
Shamans are Void.

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00:16:58,019 --> 00:16:59,900
Our main argument is balls.

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00:16:59,900 --> 00:17:05,010
And yes, balls are pretty convincing in most
instances of Hollow Knight lore discussion.

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00:17:05,010 --> 00:17:09,900
But once we get into non-ball related topics,
there are a lot of other issues that pop up

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00:17:09,900 --> 00:17:11,439
with this theory.

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00:17:11,439 --> 00:17:15,619
First of all, if the Shamans are Void, where
did they come from?

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00:17:15,619 --> 00:17:18,869
For a lot of Void beings, we have explanations.

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00:17:18,869 --> 00:17:22,600
The Kingsmoulds and Wingmounds were created
to serve the Pale King.

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00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:27,149
The Collector probably also came from that
mold, and probably is sort of working with

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00:17:27,149 --> 00:17:31,080
the Pale King, it’s a whole thing, we’re
not getting into it right now.

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00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:35,190
The Vessels were also created by the Pale
King, when he placed eggs containing his children

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00:17:35,190 --> 00:17:36,529
in the Abyss.

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00:17:36,529 --> 00:17:41,519
The ferocious Void Tendrils and Shade Lord
appear to be more intricately tied to the

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00:17:41,519 --> 00:17:46,580
Abyss and Void itself, although the specifics
are muddy on that front.

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00:17:46,580 --> 00:17:51,179
The Shamans, on the other hand, don’t have
any leads for their possible Void origins.

293
00:17:51,179 --> 00:17:55,210
In fact, we are fairly certain they didn’t
come from the Abyss at all.

294
00:17:55,210 --> 00:17:58,600
After obtaining the Abyss Shriek, the Snail
Shaman tells the Knight that the spell must

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00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,350
have come from a place the Snail Shamans never
thought to look.

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00:18:02,350 --> 00:18:06,650
This implies that the Shamans aren’t connected
to the Abyss at all, unless the Snail Shaman

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00:18:06,650 --> 00:18:09,590
somehow forgot where his people came from.

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00:18:09,590 --> 00:18:13,460
That seems unlikely, but we do know that the
Snail Shamans have forgotten at least one

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00:18:13,460 --> 00:18:18,230
part of their history, considering the Soul
Eater charm is described as a forgotten Shaman

300
00:18:18,230 --> 00:18:19,429
relic.

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00:18:19,429 --> 00:18:23,840
As for their true origins, we do see a similar
character to the Snail Shamans in the upcoming

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00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:25,450
Silksong sequel.

303
00:18:25,450 --> 00:18:30,559
The Churchkeeper appears to be a similar character
archetype as the Shamans, except instead of

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00:18:30,559 --> 00:18:34,340
teaching Hornet how to shoot ghosts out of
her face, she’s teaching Hornet how to play

305
00:18:34,340 --> 00:18:36,249
songs on her needle.

306
00:18:36,249 --> 00:18:39,280
But should this character even be considered
a Snail Shaman?

307
00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:41,279
Are Snail Shamans even a species?

308
00:18:41,279 --> 00:18:44,919
Or do you just need to wear one of those snail
hats to become one?

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00:18:44,919 --> 00:18:49,690
Regardless, she is visually similar to them,
which might imply Snail Shaman-like creatures

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00:18:49,690 --> 00:18:51,200
aren’t unique to Hallownest.

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00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:56,230
You could argue that this strengthens the
argument against Shamans being Void, but I

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00:18:56,230 --> 00:19:00,690
will say we know so little about what Void
is and where it comes from.

313
00:19:00,690 --> 00:19:04,250
Who's to say there aren’t other Abyss-like
areas beyond Hallownest where Void can be

314
00:19:04,250 --> 00:19:05,549
found?

315
00:19:05,549 --> 00:19:09,999
So maybe the Shamans found in Hallownest and
Pharloom are Void beings who originated from

316
00:19:09,999 --> 00:19:11,429
a different place.

317
00:19:11,429 --> 00:19:14,110
But, we’re speculating an awful lot here.

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00:19:14,110 --> 00:19:19,309
And this isn’t the only issue that arises
with the “Shamans are Void” statement.

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00:19:19,309 --> 00:19:23,409
Another monkey wrench in this idea is how
the Snail Shaman refers to the other Shamans

320
00:19:23,409 --> 00:19:25,100
as his relatives.

321
00:19:25,100 --> 00:19:28,850
Once you get the Desolate Dive, he mentions
his third uncle has the same ability.

322
00:19:28,850 --> 00:19:33,639
He also mentions his fourth aunt, who resides
in the Crystallized Mound.

323
00:19:33,639 --> 00:19:37,470
And he mentions his larger cousin located
in the Overgrown Mound.

324
00:19:37,470 --> 00:19:40,649
How exactly would Void beings have relatives?

325
00:19:40,649 --> 00:19:45,490
Can Void beings get married, do the nasty
and give birth to children?

326
00:19:45,490 --> 00:19:50,239
Technically, shades are siblings, which shows
that creatures connected to the Void can have

327
00:19:50,239 --> 00:19:52,330
relations to one another.

328
00:19:52,330 --> 00:19:57,119
But cousins and uncles imply a multigenerational
community of Void beings.

329
00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,750
And... that just sounds kinda silly.

330
00:20:00,750 --> 00:20:03,039
But this does beg the question.

331
00:20:03,039 --> 00:20:05,710
What exactly is a “fourth aunt”?

332
00:20:05,710 --> 00:20:09,890
In order to answer this question, I decided
to consult some of the brightest minds on

333
00:20:09,890 --> 00:20:11,200
the entire internet.

334
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:15,659
So naturally, I took to twitter dot com and
asked my followers for their thoughts on the

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00:20:15,659 --> 00:20:16,659
matter.

336
00:20:16,659 --> 00:20:21,129
Thanks to a very knowledgeable and patient
person known as Sage, I was able to uncover

337
00:20:21,129 --> 00:20:22,129
the truth.

338
00:20:22,129 --> 00:20:25,470
“Fourth aunt” isn’t really a thing.

339
00:20:25,470 --> 00:20:29,149
Perhaps a fourth aunt is just your mother
or father’s fourth sister.

340
00:20:29,149 --> 00:20:30,669
That would be the easiest explanation.

341
00:20:30,669 --> 00:20:35,849
Or a fourth aunt could be a fourth cousin,
once removed, which would be someone who shares

342
00:20:35,849 --> 00:20:40,039
great great great grandparents with your parents.

343
00:20:40,039 --> 00:20:45,159
This would imply that, given none of the Snail
Shamans participated in inbreeding, a huge

344
00:20:45,159 --> 00:20:51,039
family tree of at least 133 other Snail Shamans
must have existed to facilitate the relation

345
00:20:51,039 --> 00:20:55,610
between these two characters, let alone the
third uncle and larger cousin and whoever

346
00:20:55,610 --> 00:20:58,909
the hell these people who are and their relation
to the Snail Shaman.

347
00:20:58,909 --> 00:21:02,940
And that’s not even considering the sexual
reproductive habits of actual snails.

348
00:21:02,940 --> 00:21:08,380
And if the Shamans are anything like that,
well, things become much more complicated.

349
00:21:08,380 --> 00:21:12,240
Youcould argue that these relations are more
sentimental than genealogical.

350
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,799
Sorta like dog moms.

351
00:21:14,799 --> 00:21:18,109
While that excuse might work for the relatives,
we still have to counter with the fact that

352
00:21:18,109 --> 00:21:21,159
these Shamans are deeply tied to their ancestors.

353
00:21:21,159 --> 00:21:25,059
The spirits of the Snail Shaman’s ancestors
are apparently watching over the Ancestral

354
00:21:25,059 --> 00:21:26,080
Mound.

355
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:30,649
This not only reinforces the idea of the Shamans
being biological creatures that aren’t just

356
00:21:30,649 --> 00:21:34,190
created, but it also raises another complicated
question.

357
00:21:34,190 --> 00:21:36,679
Can Void beings even have spirits?

358
00:21:36,679 --> 00:21:40,990
Void creatures aren’t technically alive,
hence the White Lady saying that the Knight

359
00:21:40,990 --> 00:21:42,820
died in the Abyss.

360
00:21:42,820 --> 00:21:48,191
Obviously Void creatures like the Collector
and James Corden have no Soul, but creatures

361
00:21:48,191 --> 00:21:52,460
like the Hollow Knight do give off Soul, so
maybe they would count?

362
00:21:52,460 --> 00:21:57,210
But being a living creature animated by Soul
is very different from being a Void creature

363
00:21:57,210 --> 00:22:00,190
that can contain or hold Soul within its shell.

364
00:22:00,190 --> 00:22:04,599
I don’t think you could say the Hollow Knight
really has its own “spirit” in the same

365
00:22:04,599 --> 00:22:07,570
sense that a regular creature would have a
spirit.

366
00:22:07,570 --> 00:22:11,950
Or maybe I’m reading way too far into the
concept of spirits and Team Cherry just wanted

367
00:22:11,950 --> 00:22:16,090
an excuse to put cute little faces on the
Hollow Knight’s attacks.

368
00:22:16,090 --> 00:22:20,710
Either way you slice it, there are some weird
questions that pop up around the Snail Shamans.

369
00:22:20,710 --> 00:22:25,119
If they truly are Void creatures, why are
they unaware of the Abyss?

370
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:26,609
How were they created?

371
00:22:26,609 --> 00:22:29,070
Why do they refer to each other as relatives?

372
00:22:29,070 --> 00:22:33,609
If they aren’t Void, why do they explode
into black balls that the Knight sucks up

373
00:22:33,609 --> 00:22:35,840
and then gains Void spells from them?

374
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:40,019
Why do they still seem to be aware of Void
and its shadow-like nature?

375
00:22:40,019 --> 00:22:43,440
In the end, the Snail Shamans don’t have
a clear answer.

376
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,639
Looking strictly at what’s in the game,
it seems more likely that they aren’t Void,

377
00:22:47,639 --> 00:22:52,570
since the Void ball phenomenon is easier to
handwave than the dialogue we actually get

378
00:22:52,570 --> 00:22:54,789
from the Snail Shaman.

379
00:22:54,789 --> 00:22:59,580
And even if we ignore the Void stuff, there’s
still the big question of what the older generations

380
00:22:59,580 --> 00:23:01,509
of Snail Shamans were doing.

381
00:23:01,509 --> 00:23:05,669
The fact that they had a charm like the Soul
Eater implies that they were a much more dangerous

382
00:23:05,669 --> 00:23:06,669
force in the past.

383
00:23:06,669 --> 00:23:10,460
What were these ancient snail people doing
exactly?

384
00:23:10,460 --> 00:23:12,739
How powerful were these overcooked hotdogs?

385
00:23:12,739 --> 00:23:17,880
I’m gonna hold out hope that Silksong somehow
illuminates the Snail Shamans for us.

386
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:22,950
Just gonna go and add it to the Silksong Bingo
card right next to more Macebug lore and Funky

387
00:23:22,950 --> 00:23:23,950
Mode.

388
00:23:23,950 --> 00:23:29,791
I mean William did say we might get some Snail
Shaman lore in a Reddit AMA post from 3 years ago

389
00:23:29,791 --> 00:23:32,302
So it’s basically confirmed.