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I recently posted a poll here on YouTube asking
whether or not Hornet was made of Void.

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And 60% of you said “yes”.

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So today, I am going to explain why 60% of
you are completely fucking wrong.

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Now, I don’t blame anybody for thinking
this.

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In fact, in my Zote video, I flat out said
that Hornet was made of Void.

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Let this be a reminder that any Hollow Knight
lore video you watch on YouTube is probably

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going to have missing evidence or a few flawed
conclusions.

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This shit can get fucking confusing.

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So please don’t take anything I say as gospel.

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That being said, Hornet is 100%, definitely,
irrefutably not made of Void.

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This issue has caused so much debate that
it’s starting to turn into a meme.

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So just call me “Pewdiepie” because it’s
time for this meme to die.

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Let’s start off with the most obvious observation
that might lead one to think that Hornet is

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made of Void.

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She’s black.

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“THAT’S RACIST!”

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But this doesn’t actually prove much of
anything.

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Several characters in Hallownest have black
portions of their bodies, so to just say that

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they are all made of Void might be a bit drastic.

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We need more concrete proof.

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Another characteristic worth pointing out
is that Hornet’s shell does not have a mouth.

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This is a feature she shares with the Vessels,
beings we know are composed of Void.

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But while their shells do share this design,
it isn’t because of a relation to the Void,

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but a relation to the Pale King, who is also
lacking a mouth.

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Hornet, the Knight, the Hollow Knight and
the Vessels are all children of the Pale King.

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Yeah, this guy fucks.

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But there’s a lot to unpack here, so I’m
just going to start off by explaining why

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Hornet is the Pale King’s biological daughter.

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In Deepnest, Hornet tells us that Herrah is
her mother.

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She says:

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“We do not choose our mothers, or the circumstance
into which we are born.

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Despite all the ills of this world, I'm thankful
for the life she granted me.”

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The phrase “life she granted me” shows
that Herrah was directly involved with Hornet’s

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birth.

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There is more evidence for this thanks to
Midwife, in that her name is literally Midwife.

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A midwife is someone who helps a mother through
childbirth.

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So it’s safe to say that Midwife was Herrah’s
actual midwife during Hornet’s birth.

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It’s a little on the nose for Team Cherry,
but I’m not going to complain.

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In fact I wish more characters had names more
closely tied to their character arcs.

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The White Lady also has dialogue confirming
Hornet’s origins.

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She says that Hornet has the striking reflection
of her mother.

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Hornet and Herrah do share the same shape
for their heads, showing a connection, but

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“striking reflection” might be a bit of
a stretch.

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You gotta remember that the White Lady is
blind.

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The White Lady also points us to who Hornet’s
father is.

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She says:

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“I never begrudged the Wyrm's dalliance
as bargain.

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In fact, I feel some affection for the creature
birthed.”

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The White Lady’s dialogue here is a bit
archaic.

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She is basically saying she was okay being
cucked by the Pale King, and that she has

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affection for Hornet despite Hornet not being
her own child.

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The word “dalliance” here is what proves
all of this.

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A dalliance means “a casual romantic or
sexual relationship”.

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And I doubt that the Pale King was having
a romantic relationship with Herrah, since

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he’s like a fucking God and she is just
a common beast.

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I don’t know if you’ve ever read any Greek
mythology, but let’s just say Zeus wasn’t

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exactly taking any of the humans out to Olive
Garden.

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There is also this line from Midwife that
emphasizes Hornet’s connection to the Pale

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King.

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When talking about Hornet, she says:

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“Pale gift to the Nest and the Beast, fair
trade for sacrifice made.”

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She calls Hornet “pale”, a word usually
tied to the Pale King, or sometimes just Higher

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Beings in general.

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The Pale Ore is used to forge strong weapons.

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Also, in a Reddit AMA, Ari Gibson said that
the Pale Ores are related to the Pale Beings.

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Godseeker refers to the White Lady as “pale
mother”.

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There is also the delicate flower.

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It is described as having a pale glow, but
we don’t know if it is tied to the Pale

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King in any way.

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Regardless, this pale attribute Hornet has,
along with her visual similarities, all point

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to her being the biological child of the Pale
King.

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I think some of the confusion here is that
Hornet is constantly referred to as a gift.

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This sort of implies that Hornet was given
to Herrah after she was already created.

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But I think this is just saying that the Pale
King’s gift is… you know… his dick.

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Going back to the White Lady’s line “I
never begrudged the Wyrm’s dalliance as

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bargain.”

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The phrasing here implies that it was the
dalliance that was bargained, not the actual

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child.

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So in other words, the Pale King was offering
sexual activity in exchange for payment in

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the form of Herrah’s help.

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Unfortunately, whenever one topic of Hollow
Knight lore comes up, it ends up being tied

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to another topic.

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In this case, since we’re talking about
Hornet’s birth, it would be worth talking

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about how the Vessels were created.

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So let’s turn our attention to the other
side of the Pale King’s family tree: the

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family he created with a literal tree.

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We know that the Vessels, or at least the
creatures that became the Vessels, were born

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in the Abyss.

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We have the Pale King’s dialogue where he
says that the Hollow Knight was “Born of

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God and Void”.

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Hornet calls the Hollow Knight “our birth
cursed sibling".

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Note that Hornet says “our” here because
she shares a relation to the Vessels through

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the Pale King.

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It doesn’t have anything to do with Void.

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The lore tablet in the Pale King’s throne
room also mentions a cursed progeny, or a

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cursed offspring.

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The Kingsoul charm description says it opens
the way to a birthplace, which is located

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in the Abyss.

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Finally we also have the words of the White
Lady.

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If you talk to her while wearing the Kingsoul
she will say:

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“If its curiosity wills it, it should seek
out that place.

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That place where it was born, where it died,
where it began...”

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She then also calls the Knight her spawn when
talking about Grimm.

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And then there is also her dialogue where
she admits her shame in participating in a

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deed and implying that this deed had to do
with propagating herself, or in other words,

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breeding.

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From the lore tablet in the Ancient Basin,
it seems pretty obvious that this shameful

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deed was the creation of the Vessels.

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All of this evidence proves that the Pale
King’s and White Lady’s children were

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born in the darkness, but the White Lady also
says that the Abyss is where they died.

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Also, Hornet calls the Knight “ghost”
multiple times throughout the game.

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This “death” probably occurred when the
Void became a part of the Vessel’s bodies.

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But how did this happen?

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There are several eggs in the Abyss, one of
which is completely black with void tentacles

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connected to it.

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Did the Void fuse into the egg before birth?

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Or did the Void enter the bodies after they
were born?

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Or maybe after they died.

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I don’t think it matters too much how this
happened, just that it did happen.

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There is evidence to support the idea that
Void is capable of combining with living creatures.

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We have the royal husk in the Queen’s Garden.

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Its Dream Nail dialogue reads:

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“Too long spent together.

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We become as one.”

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This bug is found holding the Love Key, which
is used to enter the Tower of Lover, where

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the Collector is located.

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I think this Dream Nail dialogue is saying
that this husk gazed into the Collector so

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long that the Void within the Collector gazed
back into him, resulting in the Void we see

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around the husk’s corpse.

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So what does this tell us other than that
Team Cherry are big fans of Nietzsche?

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Well the phrase “become as one” hints
at the possibility for living creatures and

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Void to combine in some way.

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Now let’s take a minute to talk about the
idea that the Vessels are the artificial creations

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of the Pale King.

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We know that the Pale King is capable of making
such things, given the Kingsmoulds and the

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Wingsmoulds.

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But for the Vessels to be constructs, we have
to completely ignore all of the evidence I

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just presented, and there is more evidence
to counter this view.

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Why is there so much regret involved in the
creation of the Vessels if they were just

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constructs?

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Why all the mentions of children and progeny?

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If the Pale King built these things in his
workshop, where did the shells come from?

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There isn’t any explanation for how they
got made.

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Also, the Dung Defender was surprised to see
the Knight, proving that he thought only one

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Vessel existed, the Hollow Knight.

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This is just speculation, but judging from
the thousands of shells found in the Abyss,

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it seems unlikely that the Pale King would
have been able to create all of these Vessels

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and transport them to the Abyss without one
of the most loyal members of his Pale Court

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finding out.

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Alright, let’s summarize the nature of the
Vessels and why Hornet is most likely not

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one of them.

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The Vessels are the spawn of the Pale King
and the White Lady.

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The eggs they were born from were placed in
the Abyss, resulting in their bodies becoming

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hollowed out and replaced by the Void.

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They consist of an outer shell created by
the Pale King and the White Lady, as well

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as an inner shade, composed of Void.

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Hench the phrase “Born of God and Void”.

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So the creation of all of the Pale King’s
offspring involved the act of dirty, possibly

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kinky, bug sex.

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The Pale King didn’t artificially create
any of his children, so he doesn’t actually

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need Void in order to create a child.

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So why would Hornet have any Void in her?

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There is no need to drop an egg of Hornet
into the Abyss, since she was not going to

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be used as a Vessel.

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The fact that she is the only child of the
Pale King not to be placed in the Abyss is

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what grants her the name “the Gendered Child”.

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When the Vessels were consumed by the Void
and turned into “ghosts” as Hornet puts

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it, they lost their gender.

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On top of that, there is strong evidence to
support the idea that Hornet was born in Deepnest,

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not the Abyss.

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When talking to Hornet at the top of the Abyss
she says this:

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“Ghost.

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I see you've faced the place of your birth...”

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Notice that Hornet says “your birth”,
not “our birth”.

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And, like I mentioned earlier we have the
guy from “Spirited Away” which implies

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Hornet was born in Deepnest.

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Now let’s jump into one of the most interesting
lines used by both sides of the Hornet is

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Void debate.

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Hornet says:

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“Though our strength is born of similar
source, that part of you, that crucial emptiness,

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I do not share.”

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So if you were to argue that Hornet is Void,
you would say that the “similar source”

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is the Void but that the “crucial emptiness”
is being a truly hollow Vessel.

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We have evidence that creatures made of Void
have the potential to have thoughts and feelings,

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from both the Collector and the fact that
the Hollow Knight was imperfect.

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But this line can also be interpreted where
the “similar source” is the power of the

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Pale King and the “crucial emptiness”
is the Void itself.

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The Pale King’s offspring all share the
benefit of his power.

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Both Hornet and the Knight are referred to
as being “pale”, and the Hollow Knight

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is described as having a “holy shell”.

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Hornet is also one of the few bugs who realizes
she is in a dream in Godhome.

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The only other bug that can do this is Grimm,
a Higher Being.

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As for the “crucial emptiness” line, the
word “emptiness” is used a couple of times

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in the game and are used to refer to the Void
itself.

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The Void Heart is described as an emptiness
by both the game menu and the White Lady.

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There is also the Hunter’s Journal entry
for the Siblings, which mentions that the

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Abyss contains a “pervasive empiness”.

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In the next line, Hornet says:

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“Funny then, that such darkness gives me
hope.”

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When Dream Nailed Hornet also says:

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“It faced the void, and ascends unscathed...

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Could it unite such vast darkness?...”

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So Hornet is specifically referring to the
Void when using the word “darkness”, since

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the Void is what is united in the Dream No
More ending.

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The encounter the Knight has with Hornet at
the Temple of the Black Egg also implies that

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Hornet is not made of Void.

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She says:

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“I won't be joining you in this.

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That space is built to sustain your likes.

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Its bindings would drain me were I to join.”

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This line clearly separates Hornet from the
Knight.

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And this line makes sense when we consider
that the Knight contains Void inside of it,

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while Hornet does not.

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Void is the only significant quality that
separates the nature of the two beings.

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Alright, so now I’d like to go through some
of the arguments posted in my poll.

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A lot of people were mentioning the fact that
Hornet gives the Knight soul when she is hit.

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This doesn’t prove anything.

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The Pure Vessel gives off soul despite having
Void inside of it.

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The only beings that don’t give off soul
are the siblings and the Collector.

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These enemies are composed entirely of Void.

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The Vessels have shells, which is a possible
explanation as to why they still give off

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soul.

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The Sealed Sibling achievement seems to imply
that Hornet is a sibling to the Vessels.

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This is true, but it isn’t the Void that
makes her a sibling, it’s her shared relation

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to the Pale King.

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There is this idea that Hornet has some Void
in her, but not as much as the Vessels.

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There isn’t any evidence to support this.

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The Vessels themselves are an outer organic
shell with an inner Void.

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There is no explanation how Hornet could only
be part inner Void?

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There is an argument that Hornet is a defective
Vessel.

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The only defective Vessel we know about is
the Hollow Knight, and its defect was not

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noticeable at all until later.

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So we really don’t know how extreme a defective
Vessel can get.

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So there you have it.

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Undeniable proof that Hornet is not made of
Void.

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But I know that there a few holdouts who still
refuse to believe me.

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And that’s just fine.

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You are allowed to believe whatever you want.

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While we’re at it, let’s pretend that
the Tooth Fairy is real too,

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or that Santa Claus exists,

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or that the Earth is actually
round.