WEBVTT 00:00:08.189 --> 00:00:11.370 The Snail Shamans are one of the biggest mysteries in all of Hallownest. 00:00:11.370 --> 00:00:17.460 I know I’ve said that before, about the Ancient Civilization, about Mask Maker, about 00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:23.529 the nature of Higher Beings, about Mister Mushroom, and about Zote’s political ideology. 00:00:23.529 --> 00:00:25.689 But I really do mean it this time. 00:00:25.689 --> 00:00:30.329 The Snail Shamans are a pretty easy group of characters to overlook in Hollow Knight. 00:00:30.329 --> 00:00:34.489 They’re definitely important, but they don’t seem too related to anything that actually 00:00:34.489 --> 00:00:38.289 happens in the main story the character unravels throughout the game. 00:00:38.289 --> 00:00:43.420 The Shamans also don’t really tell us much about who they are or where they came from. 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:47.649 This is in part due to the fact that the vast majority of them are dead. 00:00:47.649 --> 00:00:52.199 And for the one Shaman who is alive, his dialogue only gives us small glimpses into the Snail 00:00:52.199 --> 00:00:54.210 Shaman culture and practices. 00:00:54.210 --> 00:00:58.530 One important thing to understand about the Snail Shamans is how they are related to Soul, 00:00:58.530 --> 00:01:01.729 one of the main spell systems found in Hollow Knight. 00:01:01.729 --> 00:01:05.620 Hollow Knight’s spell system is introduced very early in the game, and while it’s easy 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:10.520 to understand mechanically, the lore surrounding it isn’t quite as straightforward. 00:01:10.520 --> 00:01:15.250 Hitting enemies will give you “Soul” which you can “Focus” to either heal or use 00:01:15.250 --> 00:01:16.250 attacks. 00:01:16.250 --> 00:01:17.820 But what is Soul? 00:01:17.820 --> 00:01:19.720 Is it like mana? 00:01:19.720 --> 00:01:23.210 Why is Soul always displayed as a white liquidy goop? 00:01:23.210 --> 00:01:25.910 Is it some kind of “spiritual milk”? 00:01:25.910 --> 00:01:29.860 It’s possible that Soul even have some kind of taste. 00:01:29.860 --> 00:01:33.790 The Hunter shares his thoughts in the Soul Twister hunter’s journal entry, saying: 00:01:33.790 --> 00:01:38.450 I have heard others talk about 'soul' but I do not understand what it actually is. 00:01:38.450 --> 00:01:43.620 I do know that freshly killed meat tastes best - is that because the 'soul' still clings 00:01:43.620 --> 00:01:44.680 to it? 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:49.470 Of course this seems more like idle speculation on the Hunter’s part, and unfortunately, 00:01:49.470 --> 00:01:54.350 he doesn’t actually tell us what Soul might taste like, so we can only make educated guesses 00:01:54.350 --> 00:01:55.390 on that front. 00:01:55.390 --> 00:02:00.180 Hollow Knight’s Soul system draws more from the concept of shamanism than the traditional 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:05.230 fantasy magic systems you’d find in stuff like Lord of the Rings or Arthur. 00:02:05.230 --> 00:02:10.950 Basically, every living bug contains Soul, and this Soul is used to animate their bodies, 00:02:10.950 --> 00:02:14.159 so Soul seems to act like a lifeforce primarily. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:15.790 But Soul can be found elsewhere. 00:02:15.790 --> 00:02:20.840 In fact, Soul is so prevalent throughout the world that it permeates the air itself, and 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:24.870 Soul is so valuable that several groups in Hallownest have taken efforts to store or 00:02:24.870 --> 00:02:27.590 manipulate Soul in some way. 00:02:27.590 --> 00:02:31.420 The Ancient Civilization built totems used to store Soul. 00:02:31.420 --> 00:02:36.270 The Soul Sanctum scholars appeared to have studied these totems and ended up using glass 00:02:36.270 --> 00:02:39.450 jars to store the Soul of bugs they captured. 00:02:39.450 --> 00:02:41.480 And then there’s the Snail Shamans. 00:02:41.480 --> 00:02:46.060 Their goals and habits are probably even more vague than the Ancient Civilizatio At least 00:02:46.060 --> 00:02:48.560 we know that they were worshipping the Void. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:52.810 As for the Shamans, they just sort of hang out inside their own little mounds. 00:02:52.810 --> 00:02:55.120 And we don’t know exactly why. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:59.090 We also have no idea where they came from or how they fit in with the other groups in 00:02:59.090 --> 00:03:00.660 Hallownest. 00:03:00.660 --> 00:03:04.990 But it’s clear that they have a strong connection to Soul, and that connection ties deeply into 00:03:04.990 --> 00:03:07.069 how they live their lives. 00:03:07.069 --> 00:03:12.540 The majority of the Shamans the Knight finds are located in these areas called mounds. 00:03:12.540 --> 00:03:16.620 These mounds are described by the Wanderer’s Journal as ancient temples constructed from 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:20.220 the bones and shells of innumerable dead creatures. 00:03:20.220 --> 00:03:24.640 These mounds also appear to have some actual structure to them, with several beams of wood 00:03:24.640 --> 00:03:26.240 arranged in various ways. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.860 And I use the term “structure” loosely. 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:35.580 And just to clarify, this stuff isn’t technically wood, but instead “shellwood”. 00:03:35.580 --> 00:03:40.100 The Hunter mentions that Zote’s Life Ender is made from this shellwood substance, and 00:03:40.100 --> 00:03:42.910 there’s also a developer’s note about it as well. 00:03:42.910 --> 00:03:45.050 But what is shellwood actually? 00:03:45.050 --> 00:03:48.140 How would one carve a shell into wood? 00:03:48.140 --> 00:03:52.100 Well, my theory is that I have no fucking idea. 00:03:52.100 --> 00:03:56.020 Getting back to the mounds, I’m guessing they are supposed to be similar to burial 00:03:56.020 --> 00:03:57.020 mounds. 00:03:57.020 --> 00:04:00.580 There’s literally a bench made out of bones here, so I don’t think that’s much of 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:01.910 a stretch. 00:04:01.910 --> 00:04:06.370 The Shaman even says that the spirits of his ancestors will watch over the Knight when 00:04:06.370 --> 00:04:08.599 he forces it to kill the Elder Balder. 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:12.440 There’s no denying that Soul is connected to dead bugs. 00:04:12.440 --> 00:04:16.261 Whenever you cast a spell, you can hear whispering coming from the Soul. 00:04:16.966 --> 00:04:20.411 *spooky whispering 00:04:20.777 --> 00:04:26.150 Which makes sense because the Knight is literally conjuring an angry spirit and firing it off 00:04:26.150 --> 00:04:30.710 to attack its foes, hence the name “Vengeful Spirit”. 00:04:30.710 --> 00:04:34.457 The Soul Sanctum bugs also fire attacks that make this whispering sound. 00:04:34.905 --> 00:04:37.390 *ᵖᵉᵉ ᶦˢ ˢᵗᵒʳᵉᵈ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃˡˡˢ 00:04:37.634 --> 00:04:42.061 We can even hear the nightmarish cries of distressed Souls in the second phase of the 00:04:42.061 --> 00:04:42.561 Soul Master fight. 00:04:42.561 --> 00:04:45.251 *demonic voices WHAT THE HELL 00:04:45.612 --> 00:04:48.290 This is kinda weird. 00:04:48.290 --> 00:04:53.140 There are already ghosts in Hollow Knight, but these creatures are completely different. 00:04:53.140 --> 00:04:57.840 Ghosts are made up of Essence, a substance which can take the form of bygone memories. 00:04:57.840 --> 00:05:02.570 So Essence can hold part of a bug’s personality or identity in a sense. 00:05:02.570 --> 00:05:05.430 But Soul can kinda do the same thing. 00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:10.130 The whispering of Souls implies it holds some semblance of the bugs it occupies. 00:05:10.130 --> 00:05:12.480 And Soul can take the form of Spirits which… 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.030 I think are the same things as ghosts? 00:05:15.030 --> 00:05:19.530 So there are two different forces in the world of Hollow Knight that can create apparitions. 00:05:19.530 --> 00:05:23.850 This is a pretty big deviation from how actual ghosts work in the real world. 00:05:23.850 --> 00:05:27.750 But we all know how that stuff works, so I don’t want to bore you with the details. 00:05:27.750 --> 00:05:31.850 The Ancestral Mound also gives us a bit more information about the Snail Shamans via the 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:33.780 Whispering Root found there. 00:05:33.780 --> 00:05:36.250 The dialogue produced by this root reads: 00:05:36.250 --> 00:05:37.710 ...Soul attuned... 00:05:37.710 --> 00:05:39.170 ...Spiral focus... 00:05:39.170 --> 00:05:40.630 ...Shunned Power... 00:05:40.630 --> 00:05:42.550 The first line is a little vague. 00:05:42.550 --> 00:05:47.080 It just seems to be confirming that the Snail Shaman is attuned to Soul in some way. 00:05:47.080 --> 00:05:50.850 We don’t really know how difficult it is to be Soul attuned, but it seems like the 00:05:50.850 --> 00:05:54.680 Snail Shamans had a much better grasp on how to use Soul when compared against the bugs 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:58.330 of Hallownest, even including the ones in the Soul Sanctum. 00:05:58.330 --> 00:06:00.830 We only see the Snail Shaman use Soul once. 00:06:00.830 --> 00:06:05.389 He actually uses his cute little staff to conjure up the Vengeful Spirit out of thin 00:06:05.389 --> 00:06:06.389 air. 00:06:06.389 --> 00:06:09.949 He demonstrates a clear capacity to manipulate Soul when he does this. 00:06:09.949 --> 00:06:14.500 The Snail Shaman also has the Soul Catcher charm, which is used by Shamans to collect 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:16.910 Soul from the world around them. 00:06:16.910 --> 00:06:21.800 Another Shaman relic found in the game, the Shaman Stone, informs us that the Snail Shamans 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:27.310 have spent generations growing their knowledge of Soul manipulation to create powerful spells. 00:06:27.310 --> 00:06:32.280 One final Shaman charm even gives us a peek into how Shamans once lived. 00:06:32.280 --> 00:06:37.810 The Soul Eater charm is a forgotten Shaman artifact that was used to draw Soul from still-living 00:06:37.810 --> 00:06:38.810 creatures. 00:06:38.810 --> 00:06:43.210 So it seems like Shamans of the past were more intent on taking Soul from others, instead 00:06:43.210 --> 00:06:47.230 of passively collecting Souls in temples riddled with remains. 00:06:47.230 --> 00:06:51.050 As for why this practice was forgotten, it may have to do with the arrival of the Pale 00:06:51.050 --> 00:06:52.729 King in Hallownest. 00:06:52.729 --> 00:06:57.290 We know that the King did not approve of this sort of repurposing of other bugs’ Soul. 00:06:57.290 --> 00:07:01.449 He explicitly objected to the action taken by the bugs of the Soul Sanctum. 00:07:01.449 --> 00:07:05.650 These bugs harvested the Souls of others, literally consuming Soul to the point where 00:07:05.650 --> 00:07:08.330 their bodies became bloated and deformed. 00:07:08.330 --> 00:07:11.370 My favorite example of this has to be the Soul Master. 00:07:11.370 --> 00:07:15.600 When staggered, we can literally see Soul escaping out of his body as he shrivels up 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:16.960 like a raisin. 00:07:16.960 --> 00:07:21.650 And when he dies, the Desolate Dive ability seeps out of his mouth like a deflating balloon. 00:07:21.650 --> 00:07:25.410 The second line given by the Whispering Root might give us another little insight into 00:07:25.410 --> 00:07:28.460 how the Snail Shamans are able to manipulate Soul. 00:07:28.460 --> 00:07:33.400 The “spiral focus” line might be referring to the spiral shell the Shaman wears on his 00:07:33.400 --> 00:07:34.400 head. 00:07:34.400 --> 00:07:38.880 This spiral pattern also shows up on the inside of all three Snail Shaman charms, a small 00:07:38.880 --> 00:07:41.789 detail that might highlight its importance. 00:07:41.789 --> 00:07:46.240 There seems to be some sort of connection between the use of Soul, focusing and the 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:47.240 head. 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:52.100 The Godseeker focuses using a crest located on the mask she wears on her head. 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:55.960 Although in this case, she isn’t focusing Soul, but thoughts. 00:07:55.960 --> 00:07:59.930 The Godseeker is sort of an outlier here, but she still shows a connection between the 00:07:59.930 --> 00:08:02.600 head of a creature, and the act of focusing. 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:05.750 There’s also the Kingsoul and Void Heart charms. 00:08:05.750 --> 00:08:10.509 Another Hollow Knight lore YouTuber, Ccmaci, pointed out to me that these charms have a 00:08:10.509 --> 00:08:16.090 similar looking crest or insignia on their foreheads, like what we see with the Godseeker’s 00:08:16.090 --> 00:08:17.090 mask. 00:08:17.090 --> 00:08:20.840 This might entirely be a coincidence, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was intentional, 00:08:20.840 --> 00:08:25.980 as it could imply the Knight having a greater mastery over Soul and Void respectively. 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:30.070 The Soul Sanctum bugs claim that they are trying to obtain a pure “Focus” which 00:08:30.070 --> 00:08:33.690 somehow involves consuming large amounts of Soul. 00:08:33.690 --> 00:08:37.470 One of the end results of this is how their minds swell and ache. 00:08:37.470 --> 00:08:42.470 On top of that, all of the scholars wear these strange jewels on their heads, which are occasionally 00:08:42.470 --> 00:08:45.300 used to fire off Soul attacks. 00:08:45.300 --> 00:08:49.310 These appear to be the same objects that we see on the Spell Twister charm. 00:08:49.310 --> 00:08:53.080 Perhaps they act like the crest on Godseekers head, helping them focus. 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:56.670 Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to go on here. 00:08:56.670 --> 00:08:59.600 Another vague connection we can make is to the Mask Maker. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:04.380 The Mask Maker tells us that one requires a face to “define, focus and exist”, which 00:09:04.380 --> 00:09:08.260 is pretty open to interpretation but it’s definitely important. 00:09:08.260 --> 00:09:12.770 So maybe this head-Soul connection is an extension of that in some way. 00:09:12.770 --> 00:09:17.360 That being said, Soul is such a vague force in this game that you can connect it to a 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:21.399 lot of things, and it’s hard to tell what connections were actually intended by Team 00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:22.550 Cherry. 00:09:22.550 --> 00:09:27.370 In my King’s Pass video, I talked a lot about focusing and Soul and how regular bugs 00:09:27.370 --> 00:09:30.790 might be able to focus their own Souls in some way. 00:09:30.790 --> 00:09:35.000 In my Silksong speculation videos, I talk about how Hornet might be able to make silk 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:37.130 that is composed of Soul. 00:09:37.130 --> 00:09:41.779 In my video discussing the post war politics of Australia after the Emu War, I mentioned 00:09:41.779 --> 00:09:44.089 that Soul might taste like vegemite. 00:09:44.089 --> 00:09:47.960 And with so many different ways Soul can be interpreted, it’s kinda hard to say there 00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:52.240 is a definite connection between the concept of the face or the head and Soul. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.870 But I do think there are some strands there. 00:09:55.870 --> 00:09:59.610 The last line of the Whispering Root is fairly easy to understand. 00:09:59.610 --> 00:10:04.140 The Shaman’s power to use Soul was probably shunned by the Pale King. 00:10:04.140 --> 00:10:08.630 Like I said earlier, he didn’t seem to approve of the Soul Sanctum’s experiments at all. 00:10:08.630 --> 00:10:12.390 Or it might just be that the other bugs of Hallownest find freaky snail people with bone 00:10:12.390 --> 00:10:15.190 furniture both scary and disgusting. 00:10:15.190 --> 00:10:19.940 We know other strange powers like Lifeblood were considered taboo in Hallownest too. 00:10:19.940 --> 00:10:24.500 So something as strange as Soul manipulation was probably treated the same way. 00:10:24.500 --> 00:10:28.550 This line could also explain another phenomenon we see with the Shamans. 00:10:28.550 --> 00:10:32.360 We know from the Snail Shaman’s dialogue that he is bound to the Ancestral Mound in 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:33.360 some way. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.480 There’s also a developer’s note about this line of dialogue, which reads: 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:40.040 At some point hints that he can not leave the mound. 00:10:40.040 --> 00:10:45.000 "Can not" could mean he stays out of duty, or literally can not leave 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:50.080 We find Snail Shamans in the Ancestral Mound, Overgrown Mound and Crystallized Mound. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:54.970 If we find any of them outside of a mound, they are either buried, or being brutally 00:10:54.970 --> 00:10:55.970 tortured. 00:10:55.970 --> 00:11:00.480 There’s one in the Soul Sanctum, who appears to have been subjected to experiments. 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:03.990 And there’s one sealed in a sarcophagus in the Resting Grounds. 00:11:03.990 --> 00:11:07.720 Perhaps Snail Shamans were forced to remain near their mounds due to how the rest of Hallownest 00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:09.530 perceived their power. 00:11:09.530 --> 00:11:13.870 But that doesn’t seem too likely considering everyone is pretty much dead at this point. 00:11:13.870 --> 00:11:18.250 So it’s probably either that the Shaman has a sense of duty to the mound, or his strength 00:11:18.250 --> 00:11:20.370 is somehow tied to it. 00:11:20.370 --> 00:11:24.320 Maybe the Shaman’s spells don’t work as well outside the mound, so he is vastly underpowered 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:26.000 to leave his home. 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. 00:11:31.020 --> 00:11:33.149 But it’s anyone’s guess, honestly. 00:11:33.149 --> 00:11:36.810 Team Cherry very much left this part of the lore ambiguous. 00:11:36.810 --> 00:11:40.850 Of course, there’s one question looming over the nature of the Snail Shamans. 00:11:40.850 --> 00:11:45.090 A question that gets thrown around a lot whenever discussion about them arises. 00:11:45.090 --> 00:11:47.860 Are the Snail Shamans Void? 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:52.360 In my video on the Ancient Civilization, I confidently said there was no question that 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:54.670 these things were Void creatures. 00:11:54.670 --> 00:11:55.670 But… 00:11:55.670 --> 00:11:58.530 I think I jumped the gun a little bit. 00:11:58.530 --> 00:12:02.950 So now it’s time to lace up those clown shoes, put on that clown makeup, and pull 00:12:02.950 --> 00:12:07.550 out your clown keyboards, because we are about to have a serious discussion about whether 00:12:07.550 --> 00:12:10.269 or not Snail Shamans are Void. 00:12:10.269 --> 00:12:15.100 So what was 2019 mossbag’s reasoning behind calling the Shamans Void? 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:19.850 Well, it mainly comes down to a few simple observations. 00:12:19.850 --> 00:12:24.390 When the Knight examines the Snail Shaman in the Soul Sanctum, it explodes into black 00:12:24.390 --> 00:12:26.839 particles that the Knight absorbs. 00:12:26.839 --> 00:12:31.200 The Snail Shaman in the Crystalized Mound also explodes in the same way. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:35.490 The Knight collects the Shade Soul and Descending Dark from these Shamans respectively. 00:12:35.490 --> 00:12:40.080 What’s interesting here is that while the prompts for these moves still mention spirits, 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:43.130 their descriptions in the menu describe them as shadows. 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 00:12:48.089 --> 00:12:49.089 shadow. 00:12:49.089 --> 00:12:53.640 And there’s even unused art of a Vengeful Spirit-like move with this same motif. 00:12:53.640 --> 00:13:00.130 Regardless, these upgrades all mix the original Soul-based attacks to also use Void. 00:13:00.130 --> 00:13:04.250 One noteworthy distinction between the Soul upgrades and the Void upgrades is that the 00:13:04.250 --> 00:13:07.279 Soul upgrades appear as these little spirit sprites. 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:09.589 The Void spells don’t have this at all. 00:13:09.589 --> 00:13:13.820 In all three instances, it’s black balls flying into the Knight. 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 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.770 Knight is consuming Void. 00:13:20.770 --> 00:13:22.769 This invites a very simple conclusion. 00:13:22.769 --> 00:13:28.150 These Shamans explode into Void which the Knight then sucks up to inherit their spells. 00:13:28.150 --> 00:13:29.320 And that makes sense. 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:31.010 Bada bing bada boom, right? 00:13:31.010 --> 00:13:34.270 Well, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. 00:13:34.270 --> 00:13:39.060 Characters exploding into stuff happens on a number of occasions in Hollow Knight, and 00:13:39.060 --> 00:13:41.540 it doesn’t always make sense. 00:13:41.540 --> 00:13:47.519 For example, when the Seer disappears after collecting 2400 Essence, she appears to transform 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:48.519 into a Lumafly. 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:53.600 It’s a really small detail that might have lore implications, but there is absolutely 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 00:13:58.649 --> 00:14:00.529 I’m afraid to even talk about it. 00:14:00.529 --> 00:14:05.639 There’s also the Grey Mourner and the Brooding Mawlek who explode into Mask Shards. 00:14:05.639 --> 00:14:08.310 This makes absolutely no sense. 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? 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:16.810 Are masks somehow connected to the Souls of bugs? 00:14:16.810 --> 00:14:20.130 Was the Brooding Mawlek hiding this Mask Shard up its asshole? 00:14:20.130 --> 00:14:21.260 That sounds painful! 00:14:21.260 --> 00:14:27.279 A more agreeable and straightforward explanation is that this is just a gameplay quirk. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:30.930 Another example we can compare this to is Grey Prince Zote. 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 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:36.550 Shamans and the Abyss. 00:14:36.550 --> 00:14:40.480 Since this entire fight takes place inside a Dream concocted by Bretta’s obsessive 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:44.300 mind, this probably isn’t supposed to imply that Zote is Void. 00:14:44.300 --> 00:14:49.120 In fact, it seems highly unlikely that Bretta would even know what Void is. 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 00:14:53.839 --> 00:14:56.830 the conjuring of a character made up mostly of the color black. 00:14:56.830 --> 00:14:59.790 We’re in a similar boat with these Shamans. 00:14:59.790 --> 00:15:04.070 These effects might purely be an aesthetic choice by Team Cherry, and not proof that 00:15:04.070 --> 00:15:06.360 the Shamans are actually Void. 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 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:14.800 Knight’s essence that melded with the spell, using a powerful source to do so. 00:15:14.800 --> 00:15:18.170 The wording here is annoying in how obscure it is. 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 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:27.980 its own essence, and by essence, I don’t mean actual Essence, but Void. 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:32.310 There’s enough vagueness there to perhaps argue that the Knight is absorbing the power 00:15:32.310 --> 00:15:38.360 of the Shamans in a general sense, and not somehow absorbing their Void bodies, but it 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:41.130 would honestly make more sense to me if they were just Void. 00:15:41.130 --> 00:15:45.130 I mean that seems to be the case when we get the Abyss Shriek. 00:15:45.130 --> 00:15:49.850 Another possible hint at Shamans being Void is how the Shaman in the Overgrown Mound appears 00:15:49.850 --> 00:15:54.590 to be melting, kind of like what we see with Void in other locations, particularly the 00:15:54.590 --> 00:15:55.779 Collector. 00:15:55.779 --> 00:16:00.380 But it could be just dark colored leaves, to help sell the “overgrown” aspect of 00:16:00.380 --> 00:16:01.600 the mound. 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. 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 00:16:11.250 --> 00:16:13.990 having a “proper” burial. 00:16:13.990 --> 00:16:18.750 Another small detail to consider is how the Snail Shaman calls the Knight a shadow and 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:21.350 mentions its “empty face”. 00:16:21.350 --> 00:16:25.310 This could imply that the Snail Shamans are at least aware of what Void is. 00:16:25.310 --> 00:16:29.959 The only characters who call the Knight a shadow directly are Hornet and the Dreamers, 00:16:29.959 --> 00:16:34.850 and arguably Divine, all characters who are more likely to know what Void is. 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 00:16:39.760 --> 00:16:41.010 he is Dream Nailed. 00:16:41.010 --> 00:16:46.110 Also, the fact that he says our essence melded with the Vengeful Spirit after getting the 00:16:46.110 --> 00:16:49.680 Shade Soul kinda implies that he knows the Knight is unique. 00:16:49.680 --> 00:16:55.200 How exactly would a non-Void creature's essence meld with a Void spell? 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.019 So that’s all of the evidence for why the Shamans are Void. 00:16:58.019 --> 00:16:59.900 Our main argument is balls. 00:16:59.900 --> 00:17:05.010 And yes, balls are pretty convincing in most instances of Hollow Knight lore discussion. 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 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:11.439 with this theory. 00:17:11.439 --> 00:17:15.619 First of all, if the Shamans are Void, where did they come from? 00:17:15.619 --> 00:17:18.869 For a lot of Void beings, we have explanations. 00:17:18.869 --> 00:17:22.600 The Kingsmoulds and Wingmounds were created to serve the Pale King. 00:17:22.600 --> 00:17:27.149 The Collector probably also came from that mold, and probably is sort of working with 00:17:27.149 --> 00:17:31.080 the Pale King, it’s a whole thing, we’re not getting into it right now. 00:17:31.080 --> 00:17:35.190 The Vessels were also created by the Pale King, when he placed eggs containing his children 00:17:35.190 --> 00:17:36.529 in the Abyss. 00:17:36.529 --> 00:17:41.519 The ferocious Void Tendrils and Shade Lord appear to be more intricately tied to the 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:46.580 Abyss and Void itself, although the specifics are muddy on that front. 00:17:46.580 --> 00:17:51.179 The Shamans, on the other hand, don’t have any leads for their possible Void origins. 00:17:51.179 --> 00:17:55.210 In fact, we are fairly certain they didn’t come from the Abyss at all. 00:17:55.210 --> 00:17:58.600 After obtaining the Abyss Shriek, the Snail Shaman tells the Knight that the spell must 00:17:58.600 --> 00:18:02.350 have come from a place the Snail Shamans never thought to look. 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 00:18:06.650 --> 00:18:09.590 somehow forgot where his people came from. 00:18:09.590 --> 00:18:13.460 That seems unlikely, but we do know that the Snail Shamans have forgotten at least one 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:18.230 part of their history, considering the Soul Eater charm is described as a forgotten Shaman 00:18:18.230 --> 00:18:19.429 relic. 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 00:18:23.840 --> 00:18:25.450 Silksong sequel. 00:18:25.450 --> 00:18:30.559 The Churchkeeper appears to be a similar character archetype as the Shamans, except instead of 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 00:18:34.340 --> 00:18:36.249 songs on her needle. 00:18:36.249 --> 00:18:39.280 But should this character even be considered a Snail Shaman? 00:18:39.280 --> 00:18:41.279 Are Snail Shamans even a species? 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:44.919 Or do you just need to wear one of those snail hats to become one? 00:18:44.919 --> 00:18:49.690 Regardless, she is visually similar to them, which might imply Snail Shaman-like creatures 00:18:49.690 --> 00:18:51.200 aren’t unique to Hallownest. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:56.230 You could argue that this strengthens the argument against Shamans being Void, but I 00:18:56.230 --> 00:19:00.690 will say we know so little about what Void is and where it comes from. 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 00:19:04.250 --> 00:19:05.549 found? 00:19:05.549 --> 00:19:09.999 So maybe the Shamans found in Hallownest and Pharloom are Void beings who originated from 00:19:09.999 --> 00:19:11.429 a different place. 00:19:11.429 --> 00:19:14.110 But, we’re speculating an awful lot here. 00:19:14.110 --> 00:19:19.309 And this isn’t the only issue that arises with the “Shamans are Void” statement. 00:19:19.309 --> 00:19:23.409 Another monkey wrench in this idea is how the Snail Shaman refers to the other Shamans 00:19:23.409 --> 00:19:25.100 as his relatives. 00:19:25.100 --> 00:19:28.850 Once you get the Desolate Dive, he mentions his third uncle has the same ability. 00:19:28.850 --> 00:19:33.639 He also mentions his fourth aunt, who resides in the Crystallized Mound. 00:19:33.639 --> 00:19:37.470 And he mentions his larger cousin located in the Overgrown Mound. 00:19:37.470 --> 00:19:40.649 How exactly would Void beings have relatives? 00:19:40.649 --> 00:19:45.490 Can Void beings get married, do the nasty and give birth to children? 00:19:45.490 --> 00:19:50.239 Technically, shades are siblings, which shows that creatures connected to the Void can have 00:19:50.239 --> 00:19:52.330 relations to one another. 00:19:52.330 --> 00:19:57.119 But cousins and uncles imply a multigenerational community of Void beings. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:00.750 And... that just sounds kinda silly. 00:20:00.750 --> 00:20:03.039 But this does beg the question. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:05.710 What exactly is a “fourth aunt”? 00:20:05.710 --> 00:20:09.890 In order to answer this question, I decided to consult some of the brightest minds on 00:20:09.890 --> 00:20:11.200 the entire internet. 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 00:20:15.659 --> 00:20:16.659 matter. 00:20:16.659 --> 00:20:21.129 Thanks to a very knowledgeable and patient person known as Sage, I was able to uncover 00:20:21.129 --> 00:20:22.129 the truth. 00:20:22.129 --> 00:20:25.470 “Fourth aunt” isn’t really a thing. 00:20:25.470 --> 00:20:29.149 Perhaps a fourth aunt is just your mother or father’s fourth sister. 00:20:29.149 --> 00:20:30.669 That would be the easiest explanation. 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 00:20:35.849 --> 00:20:40.039 great great great grandparents with your parents. 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:45.159 This would imply that, given none of the Snail Shamans participated in inbreeding, a huge 00:20:45.159 --> 00:20:51.039 family tree of at least 133 other Snail Shamans must have existed to facilitate the relation 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:55.610 between these two characters, let alone the third uncle and larger cousin and whoever 00:20:55.610 --> 00:20:58.909 the hell these people who are and their relation to the Snail Shaman. 00:20:58.909 --> 00:21:02.940 And that’s not even considering the sexual reproductive habits of actual snails. 00:21:02.940 --> 00:21:08.380 And if the Shamans are anything like that, well, things become much more complicated. 00:21:08.380 --> 00:21:12.240 Youcould argue that these relations are more sentimental than genealogical. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:14.799 Sorta like dog moms. 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 00:21:18.109 --> 00:21:21.159 these Shamans are deeply tied to their ancestors. 00:21:21.159 --> 00:21:25.059 The spirits of the Snail Shaman’s ancestors are apparently watching over the Ancestral 00:21:25.059 --> 00:21:26.080 Mound. 00:21:26.080 --> 00:21:30.649 This not only reinforces the idea of the Shamans being biological creatures that aren’t just 00:21:30.649 --> 00:21:34.190 created, but it also raises another complicated question. 00:21:34.190 --> 00:21:36.679 Can Void beings even have spirits? 00:21:36.679 --> 00:21:40.990 Void creatures aren’t technically alive, hence the White Lady saying that the Knight 00:21:40.990 --> 00:21:42.820 died in the Abyss. 00:21:42.820 --> 00:21:48.191 Obviously Void creatures like the Collector and James Corden have no Soul, but creatures 00:21:48.191 --> 00:21:52.460 like the Hollow Knight do give off Soul, so maybe they would count? 00:21:52.460 --> 00:21:57.210 But being a living creature animated by Soul is very different from being a Void creature 00:21:57.210 --> 00:22:00.190 that can contain or hold Soul within its shell. 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 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:07.570 sense that a regular creature would have a spirit. 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 00:22:11.950 --> 00:22:16.090 an excuse to put cute little faces on the Hollow Knight’s attacks. 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. 00:22:20.710 --> 00:22:25.119 If they truly are Void creatures, why are they unaware of the Abyss? 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:26.609 How were they created? 00:22:26.609 --> 00:22:29.070 Why do they refer to each other as relatives? 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 00:22:33.609 --> 00:22:35.840 and then gains Void spells from them? 00:22:35.840 --> 00:22:40.019 Why do they still seem to be aware of Void and its shadow-like nature? 00:22:40.019 --> 00:22:43.440 In the end, the Snail Shamans don’t have a clear answer. 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, 00:22:47.639 --> 00:22:52.570 since the Void ball phenomenon is easier to handwave than the dialogue we actually get 00:22:52.570 --> 00:22:54.789 from the Snail Shaman. 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 00:22:59.580 --> 00:23:01.509 of Snail Shamans were doing. 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 00:23:05.669 --> 00:23:06.669 force in the past. 00:23:06.669 --> 00:23:10.460 What were these ancient snail people doing exactly? 00:23:10.460 --> 00:23:12.739 How powerful were these overcooked hotdogs? 00:23:12.739 --> 00:23:17.880 I’m gonna hold out hope that Silksong somehow illuminates the Snail Shamans for us. 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 00:23:22.950 --> 00:23:23.950 Mode. 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 00:23:29.791 --> 00:23:32.302 So it’s basically confirmed.