Deciphering Monomon's Gibberish

So the lore tablets in the Archive are one
of the biggest mysteries in all of Hollow

Knight.

On the surface, they don’t seem to make
a lick of goddamn sense.

But if we can channel our inner high school
English class student, we can do a little

“close reading” to try and figure out
what it all means.

Now if you’ve ever read the popular nonfiction
work of George Orwell entitled “1984”,

then the syntax of these tablets will probably
be familiar to you.

The tablets don’t form complete sentences.

Instead, we have to look at the keywords and
the order in which they appear to try and

decipher their meaning.

There are also just seemly random words and
letters that I think we should just completely

ignore like ABA, EM, CH, O and THIR.

But maybe if we rearrange these letters, it
will form an anagram that will help us uncover

more of Hollow Knight’s lore.

Holy shit!

[X-Files Theme intesifies]

This first tablet is discussing the sealing
of the Temple of the Black Egg, where the

Hollow Knight can be found in the final game.

For this first line, the use of the words
“yolk” and “shell” point us to the

Black Egg Temple.

This temple is then used to “gate” the
Hollow Knight so that it remains separated

from the rest of the world.

The second line gives us an idea of the order
of containment.

The Radiance, or the Light, is sealed inside
the Vessel, which is sealed inside the Temple

of the Black Egg, which has a seal placed
over it.

As for this third line, it is explaining that
the seal over the exterior of the temple is

hidden within the Dreamers, Herrah, Monomon
and Lurien.

“Intwixt” and “Atwist” must be some
weird Australian slang Team Cherry decided

to use, because here in America, they aren’t
real words.

I’m guessing they are variations of the
word betwixt, which just means between.

In other words, all of this is occurring between
the realms of the physical world and the Dream

world.

Finally, this will lead to the containment
of the Radiance, and the end to her “ungrowth”.

The second lore tablet is describing the difference
between the Pale King and the Radiance.

In this first line, it is explaining how the
Pale King, or the “Kinglight” is responsible

for growth and granting the bugs of Hallownest
the ability to think freely.

“Inkind” likely means the inclusion of
different kinds, or in other words variety,

since all of the bugs can think for themselves.

Then there’s the word “Enfield”.

My best guess for this word is that it is
referencing a suburb in Adelaide, South Australia,

the city that Team Cherry is based in.

So is Team Cherry trying to tell us that Monomon
is actually aware of the fact that she is

in a video game?

I mean, that seems like the cool hip thing
for indie devs to do nowadays.

Of course, the Shrine of Believers basically
confirms that Hallownest was created by a

group of beings from a different dimension,
or in other words, by humans on Earth, so

it’s really not that big of a stretch.

But the more likely explanation for the use
of the word Enfield in this tablet is that

Team Cherry is just fucking with us once again.

I mean, that would also explain the text on
this tablet too.

The next line in Monomon’s poem tells us
that the Radiance, or the “Oldlight”,

who is tied to dreams and essence, leads to
ungrowth.

We can assume that by ungrowth, Monomon is
talking about how the Radiance causes her

subjects to lose their own thoughts, and become
connected to her hivemind.

This third line confuses me.

The Radiance will likely be responsible for
this endthink, but I’m unsure about what

themkin is referring to.

The moths are the kin of the Radiance, while
the Vessels are the kin of the Pale King.

Either way, I’m not sure what is being implied
here.

The last line is pretty straightforward though.

If the Radiance’s powers are left uncontained,
it will result in an end to life as the bugs

of Hallownest know it.

This final tablet is about the creation of
the vessels.

This first line is saying that there is an
abundance of outer shells that have absent

innards.

The next line says that void should be placed
within the absences, or within the outer shell.

At this point, I’d like to say that I think
that the shell Monomon is referring to is

the shell that Vessels wear on their heads.

Some people call these things masks, but if
you look at the Hollow Knight instruction

manual, like I’m sure everybody did, it
states that the Knight wears a shell, which

has a strength represented in masks.

Now, is it really that important of a distinction?

Well, yeah!

Everything is important in this game!

Even this bitch!

The third line explains that the shells and
the void should be weaved together.

Now there are two words in here that raise
a couple of red flags.

First, let’s talk about “Mater”.

Mater is an old fashioned word for mother,
so I’m guessing that Monomon is talking

about the White Lady, since, in my opinion,
she helped create the empty shells that would

be used to create the Vessels.

The word “weave” is also interesting,
because in the game, there is a group of beings

called the Weavers.

Unfortunately, the Weavers seemed to have
noped the fuck out of Hallownest before the

game started, so we can’t really ask them
or anything.

We do know from Midwife that the weavers are
capable of creating spells.

Is it possible that the Weavers helped create
the vessels?

Well, the Vessels are already part Pale King,
part White Lady, and part Void.

And now we want to add the Weavers in too?

Well, I guess...why the fuck not?

Maybe Elder Bug was involved too.

Maybe the Vessels are 2% Fungoon shit!

As for this last line, it is basically saying
that the Void of the Vessel is contained by

the outer part, or the shell.

I’m not quite sure what “peer is referring
to.

Maybe it is just saying that the Vessels are
peers, or of equal status, or it could mean

peer as in looking intently.

Not quite sure, honestly.

Okay cool, so the three lore tablets in the
Archive all pertain to the plan used to try

and stop the Radiance.

This means one of three things.

Either the Pale King told Monomon about this
plan, she found out about it on her own, or

she actually helped the Pale King devise the
plan.

I think it’s safe to say she didn’t find
out on her own.

I mean, that’s a really specific plan.

That’s like pissing into a water glass from
atop the empire state building.

So maybe the Pale King told her the plan.

This is possible, but why would he tell her
the plan if all she had to do was go to sleep

as a Dreamer?

I mean, maybe she just wanted to know out
of curiosity, or needed to be convinced.

After all, she is pretty much dying for this
whole thing.

But that’s a boring explanation, and I’m
trying to make a lore video here that is long

enough to make at least three more dick and
shit jokes.

So, let’s just say “no” to that theory.

But honestly, I do think there is a good case
to make that Monomon was involved with the

Pale King’s plan from the beginning.

Why is that?

Well, there’s one damning piece of evidence
that supports this.

The fucking jellyfish.

Now in my first video, I asked a fair question
about why jellyfish were in a game about bugs.

The obvious answer to this question was that
the jellyfish are merely Team Cherry’s way

of pay homage to another famous game with
jellyfish creatures; SpongeBob SquarePants:

Revenge of the Flying Dutchman.

But when I asked the question, I meant it
from a lore perspective.

Well, there is a lore explanation that has
been around for a while, and it does make

sense, even if it is kind of speculative.

I do like it though because it fits in nicely
with what we have talked about so far in the

video.

The jellyfish are Monomon’s artificial creations.

The Hunter posits a few theories as to what
the jellyfish are, saying they might be the

spirit of a dead ancestor, the brain of a
larger creature, or some kind of egg.

Well, these are all wrong, and are clearly
a clever red herring by Team Cherry to mislead

us as to the jellyfishes' true nature.

In all of their Dream Nail dialogue, these
things keep mentioning Monomon.

And the Hunter’s Journal entry for Uumuu
claims that Uumuu is acting as a guardian

for Monomon.

And that there are strange and unnatural things
lurking in the Fog Canyon.

So it’s unlikely that these things have
any origins stemming from nature.

Now I know what you’re thinking.

This might be a clever red herring by Team
Cherry to mislead us as to the jellyfishes’

true nature.

But that’s stupid.

There’s no reason Team Cherry would ever
do something like that.

Also, why is Monomon keeping these charged
Lumaflies inside of a tank?

Is it because electricity is an important
component in the process of creating life?

And just look at the structure that Monomon
has in the heart of the Archive.

It’s a giant test tube.

Clearly this was used to create her unholy
gelatinous abominations.

Okay, so let’s say that the jellyfish are
indeed the results of Monomon’s Frankenstein-esc

experiments.

What does that have to do with Monomon helping
the Pale King?

Well, Monomon’s actions here seem pretty
similar to how the Pale King was creating

intelligent void Vessels and constructs.

So it’s possible that Monomon actually did
work with the Pale King to help conduct his

experiments, since she was basically doing
the exact same thing, animating matter.

But it is hard to say, since we don’t really
know how the jellyfish were actually created.

The King poured the liquidy, goopy void it
into a mold to create his constructs, while

we have no idea how Monomon created the jellyfish
children.

Regardless, it works thematically, which I
know sounds like a cop out, but that’s just

because it is one.

And there you have it.

The lore tablets in the Archive basically
spell out the details of the Pale King’s

plan to contain the Radiance.

The three tablets reinforce our understanding
of the lore, but for the most part, they don’t

really add anything new to what we already
know.

The only thing mentioned in these tablets
that sort of affects our view of the lore

is the inclusion of the word “weave”.

Overall, the most important thing about these
tablets is what implications they have on

Monomon’s involvement with the Pale King’s
plan to save Hallownest.

Now if you haven’t seen my first Hollow
Knight lore video, I highly recommend you

check it out.

It is a very informative video that covers
a lot of Hollow Knight’s lore.

If you have seen my video, I should tell you
that it’s complete shit and full of inaccurate

claims.

In that video, I talked about how the Pale
King approached the three Dreamers after they

had already tried to lock away the Radiance
inside of the Hollow Knight.

Oh, how naive I was in my youth.

Now that I am older and wiser, I think it’s
more likely that the dreamers were involved

early on, and that Monomon was especially
involved from the beginning.

I think a lot of this confusion over the Hollow
Knight timeline will be cleared up in the

upcoming Hornet DLC, since I’m like 93.5%
sure that it’s a prequel, but until then,

we’ll just have to work with the breadcrumbs
that Team Cherry has left for us.