[Deep sigh of regret]
I gotta be honest guys. I’m really disappointed in this latest content pack. I just feel like
Team Cherry really dropped the ball on this one. Nothing really seems to connect to the
main game, and a bunch of stuff that they promised in their updates is just completely
missing. Something about Gods and Glory™ is just wrong. I really don’t know why Team
Cherry went in this direction with their newest content pack. This update sucks. It’s almost
like I accidently downloaded and played an entirely different game, thinking it was a
Hollow Knight expansion because they happen to share the same incredibly generic, but
still somehow trademarkable, name.
And so the final free update for Hollow Knight is here, and, spoiler alert, Godmaster is
fucking amazing. The new boss rush mode is fantastic and carefully crafted. The new bosses
are mostly fun, with one glaring exception. My boy Nosk finally got its wings and I am
so fucking happy. Yeah, he’s still a little bitch, but he looks so badass so I don’t
care. But I’m sure you already knew that Godmaster was amazing, so I’ll just shut
the fuck up and start talking about the lore.
Now there’s a Zoteload of lore to go over, so let’s just start with probably the biggest
new piece we got. Team Cherry has finally listened to their fans and given us more information
on Flukemarm. In case you somehow forgot, the Flukemarm is a giant boss found in the
Royal Waterways. She is the creature responsible for all of the parasite creatures wandering
around underneath the City of Tears. So what’s the new lore surrounding this thing? Well,
in Godhome, there are statues that represent each of the bosses in the game. With these
statues come short descriptions of each of the bosses. And for Flukemarm we get this:
“Alluring God of motherhood.”
That’s right, according to the Hollow Knight lore, this thing is “alluring” or in other
words, attractive, which mean that Flukemarm is now canonically a MILF.
Not only that, but we also get a new character related to Flukemarm, the Fluke Hermit. We
meet Fluke Hermit high up in the Junk Pit, below the Nailsmith’s hut. She is surrounded
by a pile of… whatever, and she is poking a little fluke with a stick. Dream Nailing
the Fluke Hermit show that she is scared of her mother, who we know is Flukemarm. Maybe
this is why she chooses to live high up above where the other Flukes live. The Fluke Hermit
mentions that she gathers up the Flukemarm’s treasure. You can see that this shit in her
hideout is also in the room where the Flukemarm fight occurs. The Fluke Hermit also uses the
words “Grow” and “Little Sisters”, which makes me think she is trying to help
her sisters grow up from the materials she took from the Flukemarm room. Finally, if
you wear the Flukenest charm and talk to the Fluke Hermit, she freaks out, because... well...
you know. We killed her mom. And then she starts wondering if she is the new Flukemarm.
So what exactly is the point of this new character? Well, my guess is that the Fluke Hermit will
become more important in the upcoming Hornet DLC, since the new ending implies that it
will be a sequel. Maybe Team Cherry just wants an excuse to give us another riveting Flukemarm
fight boss. Either that, or Team Cherry just put her in to try and flesh out the pathway
from the Junkpit to the City of Tears.
Another new character introduced in this update was the Pale Lurker. Unfortunately, there
isn’t much to go on with this girl. How do I know she’s a girl? Well that’s what
the French translation says, so I’m just going to assume that is what it is. She can
be found behind the Colosseum of Fools and has a simple key in her possession. From her
Dream Nail dialogue, we can see that this lady was bonkers. But from the Hunter’s
Journal entry, we know that her madness has nothing to do with the Radiance’s infection.
The journal entry also mentions that the Pale Lurker was once a champion in the Colosseum
of Fools. With her name including the word “pale”, the King’s Idol found in a nearby
cave, and her Dream Nail dialogue using the word “King”, I think it is safe to say
that this character is somehow connected to the Pale King. But other than that, I don’t
think she really helps us better understand anything connected to the Colosseum of Fools.
Alright, it’s time to talk about the Godseekers. And oh boy, is this lore dense. The Godseekers’
origins begin in the Land of Storms. The player can actually travel to the Land of Storms
in game by completing each of the five pantheons with all bindings. Thankfully, you don’t
have to have all the bindings on at once, but it’s still hard as fuck to do. The Land
of Storms is a desolate wasteland with high winds, rain and lightning. The area is just
a long straight pathway that leads to a room containing Godseeker masks piled up on the
ground. In the background you can see the silhouettes of two large bugs. We can get
a better view of these bugs by ripping the images from the game.
The Land of Storms also contains an item that unlocks a Journal entry for the Weathered
Mask. The description of the mask says that it originates from a godless land, and that
the design of the mask allows the wearer to focus their thoughts through the crest. There
is also a quote from a poem titled “Lament of the Godseekers”, which explains that
the previous Gods that the Godseekers worshipped abandoned them. It’s hard to say what the
Godseekers did to cause their gods to forsake them, but it must have been something horrible.
Or it’s possible that their gods just died. Maybe these silhouettes are of the Old Gods’
corpses. Regardless of why the Old Gods are gone, it’s clear that their departure had
a negative effect on the Godseekers. And it has to do with how the Godseekers’ mind
works.
The Godseekers have a shared mind. The Godseekers we talk to in the update almost always say
“Our mind” as if they share one singular mind. The Godseekers in Godhome also mention
that their mind is a sea. With this shared mind, the Godseekers’ attempt to connect
themselves with the Gods. The description on the Weathered Mask mentions that the wearer’s
thoughts are focused through the crest of the mask. It is through this focus that the
Godseekers are able to communicate with the Gods and “ascend” their own mind. The
Godseeker in the Royal Waterways puts it best when she says the following:
“By attuning Ourselves We clutch at their greatness, their immortality. Their unknowable
splendour.”
During the Pantheon of Hallownest the Godseeker also says:
“We live only to serve the gods, to seek them out.”
So what happens if there are no Gods around for the Godseekers to attune with? In their
Lament, the Godseekers mention a woeful silence after the Gods of Thunder and The Gods of
Rain departed them. Also, there’s this line from the Godseekers where they ask what gods
will save them from their silent mind. So yeah, the Godseekers really want to be around
gods otherwise their mind suffers in silence.
Which brings us to the next part of the story, the journey to Hallownest. Turns out there
is yet another hidden area in the new DLC. This one happens completely by random when
you Dream Nail the Godseeker in the Royal Waterways. Instead of being taken to Godhome,
you are taken to a strange area that looks similar to the Howling Cliffs. Here we see
the Godseeker hiding in a cave next to a strange contraption. The Godseeker talks about how
they will find their way to their new gods. After you look at the device, you get kicked
out of the area and booted back into Godhome.
This scene appears to be a memory from the Godseeker, showing her journeying out of the
Land of Storms in order to find a new God. The device is likely an older version of the
God Tuner, an item the Knight receives after opening the cocoon that the Godseeker was
sealed in. The God Tuner seems to have a couple of different abilities, one of which being
the ability to locate powerful beings. It is with this device that the Godseekers were
able to find Hallownest. In the Pantheon of Hallownest, just before the Pure Vessel fight,
the Godseeker mentions that the lingering power of the Pale King’s presence in Hallownest
was what lead the Godseekers to the kingdom. The Pale King’s afterglow must have been
picked up by the Godtuner, leading them straight into Hallownest.
This is where things get a little weird. The next time we see the Godseeker, she is inside
of a cocoon with a lock placed around her. The Godseeker probably didn’t place these
chains upon herself, unless she used some sort of reverse David Blaine maneuver, so
it was probably someone else who did this. In one of her dialogues she mentions that
her sleep was a “forced hibernation”. I think it’s worth pointing out that this
cocoon is also called a coffin in the game’s text files.
I speculated in my last video that it was the Pale King who locked the Godseeker up.
This doesn’t make sense however, seeing as it was the Pale King’s afterglow that
lead the Godseeker to Hallownest in the first place. So who else could have done this? Well,
there’s the Weavers, but it seems like they would use spells or spool rather than chains
and a key. So maybe it was one of the Five Great Knight? Possibly the Dung Defender,
the Grey Mourner, or Hegemol, if he’s still alive, that is. Or maybe it was Hornet. But
it seems weird that she wouldn’t warn the Knight about the Godseekers if she knew they
were in Hallownest. So yeah, I am clueless on this one.
Once the Knight opens the cocoon, the Godseeker falls out and drops the Godtuner. When you
first pick up the Godtuner, a description of the item pops up. It says:
“Seek the gods of Hallownest. Tune their power. Through their strength, ascend.”
The Godseeker will tell the Knight that they are listening for the Gods but that some of
them are still distant and must be awoken. So it’s up to us to seek the Gods and with
the Godtuner, attune them to the Godseekers’ mind. I don’t know why the Knight keeps
agreeing to perform errands for all of these random bugs it finds. It does know it’s
allowed to say “no”, right?
And so, as you encounter all of the different bosses in Hallownest, they become attuned
to the Godseekers’ mind, where they appear in both the Pantheons and the Hall of Gods.
At this point, I think I should point out that some of the bosses that are classified
as “Gods” are a little strange. I’m not sure why anyone would ever consider the
Massive Moss Charger to be a god, but hey, maybe the Godseekers are onto something. Maybe
you could make a religion out of this.
Anyways, let’s talk about what happens inside of the Godhome. The Godseeker starts off by
calling the Knight a cringer. Rude. She then tells the Knight to get lost, because it is
too puny to be in the home of Gods. From this point the player now has access to the Hall
of Gods, a place where they can refight bosses on a variety of difficulties. But the main
thing we want to look at are the Pantheons. This is where all of the new bosses for the
update can be found, including the Nailmasters, Sly, The Pure Vessel and the Absolute Radiance.
These bosses weren’t integrated into the base game, so it appears that the Godseekers
can attune with at least some beings without needing the Knight to go fuck them up beforehand.
Let’s look at the Nailmasters first. Unfortunately, we didn’t gain much new lore for them. The
first fight is between Oro and Mato. In his Dream Nail dialogue, Oro mentions how his
path is his alone, which is pretty much what he said in the base game. Mato’s most interesting
line is “Don’t leave me behind!”. Which really doesn’t tell us much. Probably the
best part about this fight is this moment.
“GASOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”
Lorewise, I want to say that in this moment, Oro and Mato are setting aside their differences
and working together to try and beat the shit out of one of their pupils. Inspiring, isn’t
it? Sheo gets all philosophical on us in his dream nail dialogue. Saying stuff like “What
is a God, if not an artist?” and “Are we all seeking something different?” Well,
I’m seeking lore, and this shit is a waste of time to me, Sheo. What the hell and I supposed
to do with philosophy? Actually make something of myself achieve happiness and self-actualization?
Yeah right.
Sly’s new dialogue doesn’t add any new lore either. He’s still a badass boss though.
I especially like the part where he starts jumping all over the fucking walls. But why
exactly didn’t he teach this technique to the Nailmasters? Some teacher. Also, what’s
the deal with Sly’s voice?
[High pitched grunting and shouting that would make any human baby cry]
Does Team Cherry just let any random person off the street record lines for these characters?
Of course these bosses each have their own new entries in the Hunter’s Journal. They
still don’t give us any new lore for the characters, but there is some interesting
stuff related to the Godseekers. Each entry includes a prayer from the Godseekers. In
each of these entries the Godseekers make it clear that they are looking for one god
in particular, the one they call the God of Gods. This God of Gods that the Godseeker
is referring to is the Radiance.
During each of the Pantheons, the Godseeker will show up and talk with the Knight. For
the first three Pantheons, she just talks about how we are going to get crushed by the
gods. But the fourth Pantheon is where things start to get interesting. This dialogue happens
right before the battle with the Pure Vessel, which is a younger version of the Hollow Knight.
The Godseeker explains that while the Hollow Knight’s body is currently in a state of
ruin, the glory of its pure form still endures. She then says that the Pure Vessel’s power
will attune her to the God of Gods. If you Dream Nail her, she also says that they are
seeking the God sleeping within.
The Godseeker also ponders what connection the Knight shares with the Hollow Knight before
stopping herself. She then freaks out, claiming that we are sowing blasphemies in her mind.
To me, this is a really important moment. The Godseekers are finally starting to take
the Knight seriously. This could be a sign that the Godseekers are beginning to attune
with the Knight. This is important because it seems as though attunement is a two way
street. The Godseekers desire to attune with gods, and when they do so, the gods are restored
to their prime strength. The Pure Vessel is a prime example of this.
But let’s put a pin in that discussion. Because we need to talk about the Pure Vessel.
This boss helps us better understand an important aspect of the Hollow Knight. The question
of how the Hollow Knight grew has generated a lot of theories, and while my theory never
really gained any traction, there was another theory that floated around for a while. This
theory basically stated that the Hollow Knight’s growth was due to it taking on the infection.
The evidence for this was that there are a lot of other creatures in Hallownest that
changed form due to the infection. This new boss debunks that theory, since the Pure Vessel
shows no sign of infection.
The Hunter’s Journal entry for the Pure Vessel says the following:
“Chosen vessel, raised and trained to prime form.”
I think this is the best explanation we are going to get. The Hollow Knight was raised
and trained to prime form, so that’s why it looks different than the other Vessels.
Another interesting thing about the Pure Vessel is that it has both of its arms.
Alright, boys and girls. It’s time to dive into some speculation territory. It’s impossible
to Dream Nail the Pure Vessel, but what’s interesting is that there is Dream Nail dialogue
for it in the game’s code. The same thing happened to the Hollow Knight in the base
game, but in that instance, there was a ton of other unused dialogue that got left in
with it. For the Godmaster update, there really isn’t too much unused dialogue here, which
makes me think Team Cherry did this intentionally. These are the Pure Vessels actually thoughts,
we just aren’t allowed to see them in game. If this is true, then the fact that it has
dialogue at all indicates that the Pure Vessel isn’t truly hollow.
[Cue sappy music]
Looking into what the dialogue says is pretty depressing honestly. The Hollow Knight is
basically just telling itself to stop thinking. So if the Hollow Knight is actually thinking
these thoughts, then that means it must have been told what its purpose was, probably by
the Pale King. So it knows what is at stake, and it knows it isn’t truly hollow so it’s
trying its best to keep itself from thinking or feeling anything for the sake of the kingdom.
The Hollow Knight wanted so badly to save Hallownest from the infection. But that feeling,
that desire, that hope was what ultimately doomed them all.
Kind of ironic,
♫IT’S LIKE RAAAAAIIINNN!!!♫
[Angery Radiance roar]
After the battle we get this cutscene.
[Angery Radiance roar]
[Angeryer Shadelord roar]
The scene shows the Knight in the same pose it makes after teleporting somewhere. It then
looks up and catches the Hollow Knight’s eye...holes. This stare seems to imply some
sort of camaraderie between the two Vessels. This camaraderie is shared by the other Vessels
who observe this in silence. There is definitely room for more interpretation here, but I personally
don’t think there is much else going on.
Then a light shines down from above, and we hear the Radiance’s trademark roar. We then
hear another roar as a wave of Void covers the screen. So we are all well acquainted
with the Radiance’s roar that happens in the scene, but what is this new roar we hear?
The name of the audio file implies that the roar comes from something called the “Shade
Lord”. We’re going to be seeing the Shade Lord a little bit later, so let’s table
this discussion for now.
I want to mention a few miscellaneous things before we move on. There is a lifeblood room
that can be accessed in Godhome. You have to complete at least 8 binding challenges
in the Pantheons to open the door. Inside, there is an object you can strike to activate
Lifeblood Cocoons that will show up during the Pantheons. On top of that, you can also
see our friend, the Abyss Creature. So what does this tell us about the Abyss creature
and lifeblood in general? Pretty much nothing other than that this thing classifies as a
god which is obvious.
Some of the bosses in Godhome have new Dream Nail dialogue. Hornet appears to know that
she has been pulled into Godhome, but she seems unsure of what exactly is going on.
From looking at his Dream Nail dialogue, it’s obvious that Grimm is fully aware of what
is happening. In fact, he even bows to the Godseeker before each fight. Both of these
characters have some sort of Godlike status. Grimm is a Higher Being, for sure. As for
Hornet, her father was the Pale King, so she is, like, half Higher Being, or whatever,
so this is possibly why she is only somewhat aware of what is going on.
And now we move on to the fifth and final Pantheon. This is where you have to fight
almost every single boss in the game without dying. Yeah, it’s hard as fuck. In fact,
it’s harder than fuck. If this is fuck, then this is the Pantheon of Hallownest. The
biggest problem people seem to have with this Pantheon is that there are new endings for
the game locked behind the 42 boss gauntlet. I can see why this would upset people. Personally,
I don’t think Team Cherry made the wrong choice by putting the new endings behind such
a difficult challenge. But I also wouldn’t be mad if they made it a little more accessible
either.
When we first see the Godseeker in this Pantheon, she marvels at how far we have come, and tells
us that the Godseekers will be listening closely to us. Again, this is important. The Godseekers
are beginning to pay attention to the Knight. If the Knight talks to the Godseeker again,
she will tell it to continue its combat and to continue its ritual.
We then get to see the Goodseeker talking about a few of the other Gods of Hallownest.
Okay so I don’t know why I have been pronouncing this as Uun. The spelling clearly indicates
it as Unn. I guess Uun just sound more like a name for a slug. I don’t know, sorry.
Basically the Godseeker confirms that Unn’s strength has faded from what it once was.
This explains why she has stopped appearing to her children in Greenpath.
The next God we see missing out on the party is the White Lady. The Godseeker says the
White Lady is easily able to avoid the attunement process as if she were intentionally diminishing
her power to avoid detection. If we Dream Nail her, the Godseeker says something else
that’s interesting:
“The chance of meeting is too rare.... but thine resonance! Could you be one of Them?”
What does Godseeker mean by “Them”? We know next to nothing about the White Lady’s
origins. Could this be a hint at future character development for everyone’s favorite tree
lady thing?
Finally, we have the Pale King. The Godseeker mentions that the Pale King’s afterglow
lays heavy on the kingdom of Hallownest. She also says this:
“A God so strong... Yet erased so completely. How could it happen?”
I think she is referring to the death of the Pale King here. Now if you believe that the
White Palace in the Kingsmold’s mind is real and not a dream, and you don’t think
that the Pale King reincarnated a second time somehow, then you would probably think the
Pale King is definitely dead. But like the Godseekers, we don’t actually know what
killed the Pale King. This dialogue makes me think that Team Cherry is going to actually
give us an answer to this question in the upcoming Hornet DLC. Or you know, maybe they’ll
just give us more Fluke Hermit lore instead.
After this room, all that’s left are two more battles, the first of which being with
the Pure Vessel. After defeating it, the Radiance reveals herself. But this isn’t your daddy’s
Radiance. This is the Absolute Radiance. She’s got blades that curve, attacks that overlap
on each other, and there’s this really tricky section at the end where she goes full ballistic
on the Knight. If you’re able to dodge this bullshit and land the final blow, the Knight’s
shell breaks and it turns into a gigantic monster with eight eyes, the Shade Lord.
This giant creature doesn’t just consume the Radiance like in the Dream No More ending,
it completely destroys the asshole. One important thing to notice about this fight is that as
the void comes up to confront the Radiance, there are no shades in sight. This is quite
different from the first Radiance fight. If we go back to the cutscene from Pantheon Four,
we see the void cover the screen along with all of the Vessels. I think this is establishing
that the Shade Lord itself is responding to the Radiance’s call, whereas in the regular
Radiance fight, it was the fellow shades coming to help the Knight. The fact that the Shade
Lord covers over the Vessels may also indicate that the Vessels or the shades have actually
become a part of the Shade Lord. But it’s hard to tell.
So why am I calling this thing the “Shade Lord”. It is never called this in game,
but there are files in the code that refer to it as the Shade Lord. It is also called
the God of Gods. But I see that as more of a title. So I’m just going to call this
thing the Shade Lord for now. Also because I’ve already said God like 128 times in
this video.
So, how the fuck did this become this? Let’s start by looking at the Knight statues in
the Hall of Gods. If you are able to defeat every boss in the Hall of Gods, you are given
access to a room containing a statue of the Knight. The statue will take three different
forms depending on what difficulty you have beaten each boss on. The first statue simply
shows the Knight in its traditional form. Inspecting the statue gives you the following
description:
“Not bug, nor beast, nor god.”
Examining the statue will also give you an entry in the Hunter’s Journal for an item
called the Void Idol. The Void Idol is described as a rare artifact from a time before Hallownest.
It also says that the idol contains a drop of liquid from the Abyss. There is a quote
from Relic Seeker Lemm saying that the ancient bugs worshipped the darkness itself.
The second statue takes the form of the Knight during the ending of the Radiance battle in
the base game. The statue’s description says:
“Void given form.”
I think this is referring to the fact that once the Knight obtained the Void Heart, it
was able to command the Void and summon it during the Radiance boss fight. The Void Idol
description for this statue states:
“Volatile liquid of the Abyss writhes within”.
This implies that while the void has form, it isn’t completely controlled.
The final statue takes the form of the creature that we see in the Embrace the Void ending.
Interestingly, the description for this statue has actually been changed since the first
release of Godmaster. In update 1.4.2.4 it read:
“Void given mind.”
But since update 1.4.2.8 it now reads:
“Void given focus.”
The Void Idol description for this statue reads:
“Rare artifact from a time before Hallownest, its spires twined in a unified form. Contains
a large amount of liquid from the Abyss, perfectly still.”
So in this last form, we can see that the Void is now calm, as if something has total
control over it.
Hopefully all of this information didn’t confuse you. I wanted to give you context
for all of this, but it’s the last statue that I really want to discuss. Basically all
we have to figure out is how the Void was “given focus”. Because this is how the
Lord Shade came to be. I am going to present my current theory of how this happened. I
think there is plenty of room for other interpretations, and I would love to hear them in the comments
below.
Let’s start with the Godtuner. Remember what the item description was when we first
picked it up?
“Seek the gods of Hallownest. Tune their power. Through their strength, ascend.”
The Godtuner tells the Knight to attune itself with the Gods of Hallownest. This attunement
happens through combat, according to the Godseekers. The Godseeker explains:
“Through sacred combat are We attuned to this Kingdom’s greatest beings.”
When redoing the Pantheon of the Knight, the Godseeker asks us if we too are seeking to
attune with the Gods, implying that it is also possible for the Knight to do so. Which
means this line from the Godseeker also applies to the Knight:
“We shall attune Ourselves to thee and ascend ever higher!”
So what does it mean to ascend? Well, the Hall of Gods features ascended versions of
all of the bosses, which are more powerful than their original versions. So I think it’s
safe to say that ascention makes a being more powerful. The Knight’s ascension happens
at the end of the battle with the Absolute Radiance. The flavor text for getting the
Embrace the Void achievement reads:
“Ascend the Pantheon of Hallownest and take your place at its peak”.
So the Knight attunes to the bosses through combat and ascends them when it beats the
Pantheon of Hallownest.
But what exactly drives all of this? What is it that allows the attunement and ascension
to happen in the first place? Well, the Godseekers have to be involved. Because none of this
confusing attunement garbage was important until they showed up. But what is it about
the Godseekers that makes them special? They aren’t Gods. The Godseeker in the Junk Pit
admits this herself when she says:
“Ye must think Us Godly. Amusing, foolish.”
So what is it about the Godseekers that makes them so special? It all goes back to the Weathered
Mask. The mask allows the wearer to focus their thoughts. In the Pantheon of the Sage,
the Godseekers tell us the following:
“Until through Godly focus do We attain communion with that great power sleeping in
the Kingdom’s heart...”
I think this “Godly focus” is what makes Godhome work. It’s what allows creatures
to be attuned back to their prime forms and what allows them to become more powerful through
ascension. All of the abilities that the Godseekers have come back to this Godly focus.
For the first four Pantheons, the Godseekers have no interest in the Knight, seeing it
as a weak and meager... cringer. At the end of the Pantheon of the Knight, however, the
Godseeker mentions how the Knight is beginning to get into her mind. Not long after this
moment, we hear the Lord Shade’s roar for the first time. Once the knight makes it to
the Pantheon of Hallownest, the Godseeker starts paying attention and listening to us.
By the time the Knight has finally defeated the Radiance, all of the focus from the Godseekers
is pointed towards this tiny little bug. And with all of that Godly focus being directed
right at the Knight, who just so happens to be unified with the Void thanks to the Void
Heart, the Lord Shade finally makes a formal appearance. The Godseekers have given focus
to the Void.
Before we get into the ending cutscene I wanted to talk about the new Lemm quote we got. It
reads:
“Inspired or mad, those ancient bugs. They devoted their worship to no lord, or power,
or strength, but to the very darkness itself.”
So this pretty much confirms that the ancient civilization before Hallownest worshipped
the Void. To what extent we don’t know. Did they worship the Lord Shade, or just the
Void in general? Did the Lord Shade even exist in the past, or did it only come into being
because of the Godseekers? A more involved Void does jive nice with the Radiance’s
dialogue where she calls the Knight her ancient enemy. Did the Radiance combat this Void monster
in the past?
Alright, let’s move on to the cutscene. So the Lord Shade comes down from the sky
and gives the Godseeker a friendly hug. You can hear the Godseeker’s voice in this scene,
and to me, it sounds like she is more in awe than she is scared. After all, the Godseekers
were looking for the most powerful God, and now, there’s one in her presence. Also,
in Godseeker mode, Godseeker keeps talking like she gets off to being pulverized by a
god, so this all makes sense. After this scene we see the Void leaking out of the Godseeker
in the Junk Pit. The Void then erupts out of her, seemingly unleashing itself into the
land of Hallownest.
The final scene takes place at the Temple of the Black Egg. Hornet watches as the Radiance’s
infection fades away, and we hear the sound of footsteps and rattling chains. A figure
appears in front of the camera and Hornet prepares herself for battle.
We can tell from this scene that the Radiance is truly dead, since the infection is fading
away. Why does killing the Radiance in Godhome kill the real Radiance? Since it Radiance
was already in the Dream world, maybe attuning to it works in a different way than normal.
One of the Godseekers in Godhome says “A bridge”. Maybe all the Godseekers did was
find a way to bridge the Godhome with the dream inside of the Hollow Knight’s mind.
Getting back to the cutscene, some people have said that the infection is being turned
into Void, but I think these vines are just normally that dark.
Let’s talk about the figure approaching Hornet at the end of the cutscene. It’s
obviously the Hollow Knight. We hear its chains rattling, we see the bottom part of its shell
and we also see it’s nail. And since the Radiance is dead, the Hollow Knight would
presumably no longer be infected. But this does raise the question. How the fuck did
the Hollow Knight free itself from the chains? This doesn’t make a lick of goddamn sense
to me. Seriously, did it somehow pull off some sort of reverse reverse David Blaine
maneuver? I mean I get what Team Cherry is trying to do. After all, ending it with Hornet
just standing there like a dumbass wouldn’t have been that exciting. But it still bothers
me.
This ending totally caught me off guard. I honestly thought the Hornet DLC was going
to be a prequel. In fact I had a whole video planned where I was going to go through and
predict what I thought would happen. Luckily I was too lazy to get that done before this
update came out. But now that the new ending seems to be strongly hinting at a sequel,
I am actually really excited. The Shade Lord looks absolutely terrifying, and I have no
idea how Hornet is going to stand any chance against it. Yeah, I don’t think her needle
is going to do shit. However, thanks to an alternate ending, we do have an idea of how
the Void might be defeated.
If the player has successfully delivered the Delicate Flower to the grave in the Queen’s
Garden, more flowers will begin to grow in that spot. These flowers can be taken to various
other NPCs in the game. This is probably what Team Cherry meant by romantic options. Still
can’t give one to my waifu though. Taking the flower to the Godseeker unlocks an alternate
ending where the Godseeker and the Void disappear, presumably stopping the Void from tearing
into Hallownest.
The description for the flower says that it glows with a pale light, which is usually
a sign of something having a connection to the Pale King. Turns out that’s not true.
Eternal Emilitia tells us that the flower’s pure aura is no match for the light of the
Pale King. The White Lady also tells us that the flower is not even from Hallownest, implying
that Mysterious Ze’mer brought it with her from some other land. We have no clue where
that was, but there is something about Mysterious Ze’mer that is worth pointing out. After
completing the Flower quest, Ze’mer nopes the fuck out of existence, similar to how
the Delicate Flower caused the Godseeker to also disappear. That’s about all we know
for now. It seems pretty likely that the Hornet DLC will get further into exactly what is
going on here.
And that’s it. That’s all of the lore I can mercilessly beat out of this update.
Okay, there is one more thing, you can now find the Nailsmith’s body floating in the
water near the Junk Pit. I’m glad Team Cherry gave us that image. But yeah that’s it.
Well, there’s also the Eternal Ordeal. This is a minigame of sorts where you have to fend
off against an endless stream of Zotes. It’s a cool area, but there isn’t any lore to
discuss. For some reason, Team Cherry didn’t add Journal entries for the additional zotelings.
This is unacceptable. Alright I actually am done this time. There’s nothing left in
the game to talk about.
But there is something not in the game that I need to talk about: Glorified charms. In
case you hadn’t noticed, they kind of don’t actually exist. Rumor is these charms would
have required the entire game to be reworked so that they wouldn't completely break everything.
But Team Cherry hasn’t put out a formal blog update saying why the charms were cut
or even what they would have been like, so I don't really know for sure. This update
is still amazing regardless, but it is still a bit of a bummer. I just hope Team Cherry
fills us in on how the charms were going to work at some point in the future.
So where does this update leave us? This isn’t 100% confirmed but it looks like Hallownest
is about to get totally fucked by the Shade Lord, and it’s up to Hornet to stop it.
How will she do that? Hell if I know, that’s Team Cherry’s problem now. They’re the
ones who have to come up with a solution to this problem that actually makes sense. I
mean, I’ll try and figure it out, but my theories can be as ridiculous as I want as
long as I put the word “speculation” in the video title. That’s the beauty of having
a lore channel after all.
Speaking of which. I know this happened like two months ago, but thanks for 10,000 subscribers.
I’ve really enjoyed being able to make these videos for the Hollow Knight community, and
I love hearing your theories in the comments section and on some of the other websites
like Twitter, and Discord, and Reddit and LinkedIn. I promise to continue doing whatever
it is I am doing. See you in 12 weeks!