The Vitruvian Grub Explained... Kinda... Not Really

art it's beautiful it stopped the pokin
it has been used to tell some of the

greatest stories ever told but today
we're going to talk about a classic the

Vitruvian Man this work by Leonardo da
Vinci has become one of the hallmarks of

the Renaissance era
it symbolizes the architecture of nature

found in the proportions of the human
body but this isn't a fucking art class

it's a hollow night lore video so what
does the Vitruvian Man have to do with

anything well hidden deep away within
the city of tears there's a very

interesting drawing called the Vitruvian
grub this is one of the biggest

mysteries in hallo nest so what does it
mean honestly I don't have a goddamn

clue but hey that doesn't mean I can't
make a wildly speculative video about it

this is the Vitruvian grub possible ties
to Isis alright so when you start

playing hollow night for the first time
you'll probably stumble into this room

in forgotten crossroads here you'll find
the grub father weeping over the loss of

his children the player can find these
grubs trapped in glass jars all

throughout the map after you find one of
his children and return to him the grub

father will give you a reward
so yeah the grubs are just a cool side

quest that the player can do while
playing the game but who captured the

grubs in the first place well turns out
was this forearmed motherfucker the

collector the collector can be found in
the Tower of love in the city of tears

and after beating him the player can
find a map that holds the location of

all the remaining grubs the player has
left to find now there's a lot going on

with this guy that we'll get to in a
second but first I wanted to talk about

the Tower of love itself this appears to
be an abandoned location that was

repurposed by the collector the tower of
love is hidden away only accessible from

kingdoms edge the walls of the area are
covered with cushions and even the key

to the areas covered in padding this
whole place gives me an Eyes Wide Shut

vibe how in a secret elite meaning up
and engaging in lewd sexual acts

this is all pretty speculative but I do
appreciate the subtle world building

team cherry does here another
interesting piece of information is what

the corpse of the bug holding the love
key in Queen's garden says when hit with

the dream nail it says to long spent
together we became as one now if you

look at this guy's eyes you can see
black streaks a feature commonly found

on bugs that died close to the abyss
where void resides I think this means to

tell us that the bug actually spent some
time with the collector who itself is a

void creature how do we know that the
collectors made a void first off its

body is all black and liquidy and goopy
when defeated it melts down into the

floor and when hit it gives off the same
black particle effects that the siblings

do and like the siblings the collector
does not give the player soul when hit

then of course there's the mold found in
the workshop in the white palace this

mold is used to create a humanoid shaped
figure with four arms this mold was used

to create the Kings molds that guarded
the white palace the collector was

probably created here as well even
though it might not have been

intentional
so yeah the collectors origins begin at

the white palace which raises a ton of
questions why was the collector created

it's possible that the collector was an
early attempt at creating a void

construct gone wrong who just escaped
the white palace and travelled upwards

into the city of tears another theory is
that the collector was specifically

created by the pale King to capture the
grubs at the very least there is

something about the collector that
separates it from other void creatures

the collector is the most expressive of
any void creature found in the game for

example one of the collectors dream nail
dialogues is my love my love protected

at last this type of deep emotional
connection isn't seen in many void

creatures other than maybe the hollow
Knight or arguably Zoo or Hornet if you

think that there made a void as well
also the collector doesn't respond

differently after the knight has
obtained the void heart which means that

the collector must have an independently
strong well itself so what exactly is

the collector trying to do if this is
the case

first let's look at the rest of its
dream no dialogue the collectors other

two lines are a safe space for you and
you and you and it must be saved from

these lines of dialogue it seems like
the collector is capturing grubs and

other creatures in order to protect them
protect them from what exactly well this

is where shit gets weird so let's say
you defeat the collector and rescue all

the grubs cool you go to the grub father
who is eternally grateful and gives you

the final reward the grubber flies elegy
awesome but if you choose to return to

the grub father after resting on a bench
then you will discover that the grub

father has actually eaten his children
now that's a fucked up shit right there

look team cherry I don't know if the
practice of eating ones children is

common in Australia but here in the
United States it is not so maybe the

collector knows that the grub father was
going to eat his children and so it

captured them as a way to keep them safe
if that was the case though the

collector might actually be wrong even
though the grubs have been eaten you can

still hear them inside the grub father
stomach so they're not dead yet also the

achievement the player gets when freeing
the last grub is called metamorphosis so

this whole thing might just be biology
the last reward given to the player is a

charm called the grabber fly z elegy
which talks about the grubs moving on

into the next stage of their lives so it
seems as though the grub father is

actually sacrificing himself and acting
as a cocoon for the grubs to transform

into grubber flies the Gerber flies
would then burst out of the grub

father's body which wouldn't be the
first time we saw that in hallow night

it's all just a part of the beauty of
nature but of course the collector might

not know this so maybe it thinks
capturing the grubs is the only way to

protect them there is something a bit
unsettling though if you listen to the

collector before reaching the room where
you fight him you hear some strange

things

now that's just creepy
seriously listen to it with horror music

playing

not only that but you can hear the grub
gagging at one point why is it that

these cute little creatures are involved
in one of the most fucked up plots of

the game it's so weird so let's just say
that that is all there is to the

collectors motive where does that lead
the Vitruvian grub

well the collector seems to find nature
beautiful and believes that it should be

protected maybe the Vitruvian grub is
just a drawing the collector made to

represent its obsession over the form of
the grub body but that's kind of a

boring answer I think it's time we start
speculating wildly what if there's

another motive behind the collectors
actions what if there's another layer

beneath all of this what is it about the
grubs specifically that the collector is

so infatuated with the grub flies the
elegy mentions that the charm imbues

weapons with the holey strength now this
is interesting

while the grubs are actually more
powerful than we could possibly imagine

let's look at the Vitruvian grub again
what's the deal with this symbol in the

middle of the drawing it's not visible
on the grubs in-game what could it mean

well the symbol shows three circles
connected together maybe this is

supposed to represent a Holy Trinity the
number three has already been

established as being an important number
in the game seeing as there are three

dreamers required to combat the radiance
in other words this design on the grub

stomach is telling us that the grubs do
indeed contain some sort of sacred power

within them but what about the
surroundings of the grub in the

Vitruvian Man drawing the man is
surrounded by a circle and a square this

was done to show the architectural
properties of the human body when I

think something different is going on
here first off they kind of look like

crop circles you know the kind left by
aliens now I don't think we're supposed

to believe that grubs are actually
aliens despite the compelling evidence

that points that way but I do think this
is meant to represent how grubs might be

otherworldly or at least very different
in nature from the rest of the bugs in

the game but there's another interesting
thing about the design that surrounds

the Vitruvian grub as I'm sure you've
noticed

there are 46 circles drawn in this
picture and that's the exact number of

grubs that can be freed in the game what
if this drawing is some sort of

representation of the location of the
grubs when we compare that the Truvia

grub to the world map there's an easy
connection we can make right away these

three dots in unison can line up with
the three grubs found in the Tower of

love but after that it really doesn't
make any sense but I do think this

surrounding design is telling us that
the grubs are scattered across the land

even if the Vitruvian grub isn't a 100%
accurate map but this raises another

question why is it that the collector
leaves the grubs in various locations

instead of just taking them back to the
Tower of love this is a collector just

hiding them in spots that thinks no one
will find is it because they have to be

positioned in a certain way if so is
this by the collectors will or is the

collector actually following
instructions left for it maybe the

collector was told to capture the grubs
and the Vitruvian grub is some sort of

instruction on how to do it I suggest
this because the collectors dialog only

points it wanting to preserve the grubs
but it just seems like more is going on

here is it possible that the pail King
wanted the grubs captured did this holy

power hidden within the grubs scare the
pail King is this another example of the

pail king trying to smother out other
powerful beings if all that's the case

then we might have just fucked
everything up by freeing them all so

yeah is the collector just absolutely
insane and became obsessed with the

grubs for some arbitrary reason is the
collector aware of this holy power that

might be hidden within the grubs could
it be that the pail King is actually

responsible for all of this is it even
possible to know the answer at this

point whenever I think about Holland
I'll or I always end up remembering

Zelda maii's precept 50 maybe it's
better not to linger on mysteries for

too long is this team Jerry's Way of
telling us not to get too worked up over

every little bit of dialogue I mean we
craft entire theories off of characters

turning their heads slightly for fuck's
sake

I think the Vitruvian grub is a really
cool mystery team cherry has added to

the
but maybe there is no answer for its

existence yet and that's all I've got
let me know in the comments if I miss

something or if you have any theories of
your own as to what's going on with all

this
I hope team cherry gives us more

information about the Vitruvian grub and
upcoming content but then again I

already feel that way about ten other
fucking things in this game