Hollow Knight Lore and Plot Explained (Outdated)

Hey

if I were to ask you what are some of
the best fictional stories ever told

what would you say war and peace Moby
Dick

the brothers karmas off I mean um
The Brothers Karamazov or the Super

Mario Brothers movie well these are
great and all but it's time to throw all

that shit in the trash howl nights story
literally has everything action betrayal

comedy tragedy relatable characters
multiple endings and sex appeal lots and

lots of sex appeal of course it's all
very nuanced remember how confusing

inception was well Halle Knight is
basically inception but with bugs so if

you want to truly understand hollow
Knight

we're gonna have to go deeper so just
call me Matt Damon because this is

hollow not explained

first let's talk about how the story for
Holland I came to be pretty much all of

Halle night was made by these three guys
William Pelin re Gibson and Dave Koz II

also Matt Griffin helped out to these
three men live in the mystical land of

Australia where everything is upside
down their design philosophy for Halle

Knight was to leave the script blank
while creating the game's world

basically they put whatever locations
dungeons bosses or gameplay mechanics

they wanted in the game and then they
built the lore around those elements the

dialogue for the game was written
together in a Google document by William

and Ari later on in the game's
development the game script ended up

being over 20,000 words long which is
not too bad for a game where you can

literally skip the majority of the text
and there's still more to come as of

right now all night will be getting to
more content updates and a Hornet DLC so

while this video will be pretty
comprehensive we are still waiting for a

few more pieces to the puzzle alright so
now it's time to talk about the game's

plot but first we need to talk about
metaphysics there are three different

metaphysical forces that the player
interacts with during the game soul a

white liquidy goop void a black liquidy
goop and essence a substance that is

neither liquidy nor goopy in hollow
night soul is used to cast spells as

well as repair the night shell soul
originates in living organisms and acts

as a sort of lifeforce void works kind
of like play-doh it can be morphed into

different shapes and given form the
night is made a void for example the

only place where void is known to come
from is in the abyss an area at the very

bottom of the world map essence is
basically the light found within dreams

whatever that means
it can be found within whispering roots

and in the many ghosts that populate the
world essence is collected using the

dream nail a powerful weapon that can
cut through the veil that separates the

real world from the dream world the
player character travels to the dream

world several times in the game to fight
several bosses and its features are

vaguely defined all it is is just a
bunch of rocks and floating lamp posts

you know the stuff that pretty much
everyone dreams about now that we've

established some of the forces that act
in this world let's talk about the

history of hollowness before the game
started the oldest objects that can be

found in hollow night are the arcane
eggs and the soul totems these objects

were created by an ancient society that
existed long before hollow nest the

civilization knew how to harness a new
soul and they were probably aware of the

voids existence the designs of the soul
totems were most likely based on the

creatures that lived during that time on
the other hand though some of the totems

are pretty phallic looking I'll blur
them out just in case

there are also some ancient creatures
still farting around in the game albeit

mostly in the form of dead bodies in
kingdoms edge there's a giant corpse

located next to the quick slash charm in
the game's code this being is referred

to as the ancient nail Smith there's
also an ancient being hidden inside of

the abyss where the lifeblood core is
found this guy is hidden really well

when I recorded this footage I didn't
even know he was there the game refers

to this thing as an abyss creature and
that's about all we know is this

creature the source of lifeblood the
blue liquidy coupe that exists all over

hollow nest maybe but I wouldn't expect
an answer anytime soon the most

important ancient creatures that we know
about are called worms these worms were

probably similar in anatomy to regular
worms but much bigger in regard to the

rest of the world bar dune an npc found
in kingdoms edge claims to be too small

to be a worm but as incredibly long
himself with his head being at the top

of the map and his tail being quite a
ways down

it is likely that these worms were
higher beings a phrase that occasionally

pops up in the game the developers notes
clarified that higher beings are godlike

creatures we can infer from bar dooms
dialog that all of the worms are now

gone possibly dead but the corpse of one
worm can still be found in kingdoms edge

according to bar Doon this worm did not
die but instead transformed we know from

bar Doon and other sources that the
transformed worm was The Pale King the

creator and ruler of hollow nest
before the pale King began trying to

build his nation there were other
powerful beings already at work within

the lanes of hallow nest one of which
being the radiance the radiance is the

true final boss and main antagonist of
the game she is a moth like creature who

was often referenced to in game as a
light she tends to appear to bugs in her

dreams and it is mentioned that the
radiance shares some similarities to

essence the radiance only appears in the
dreamworld in-game so it's unknown if

she ever existed in the physical world
her sex has stayed as female in a

developer's note inside the game's code
the radiance created the moth race who

worshipped her and passed in her light
the radiance is light is described by

Barr dune as a sort of unity at the cost
of thought once you drink the kool-aid

you become connected and powerful but
you lose control of yourself becoming a

mindless bug other groups in the area
included the mantis tribe who took

residence in the fungal wastes and the
bees who likely lived in the hive at

kingdom's edge respect and power in the
Mantis tribe was based upon physical

strength and combat abilities the
strongest members of the group were also

the most valued not much is known about
the bees other than that their scariest

fuck in green path there appeared to be
a group of followers of a creature

called une there's a structure located
at the lake of oon that looks like some

sort of Temple and une can be found
hidden in the lake une is the being

supposedly responsible for producing the
plant life in green path there's also a

mas Knight that stands at the edge of
the lake and if we dream nail him he

says something interesting he says that
she is calling now I have no idea who

else has got to be referring to other
than une so I think this pretty much

confirms that she's a chick and I gotta
say that is one gorgeous gastropod

the mushrooms of the fungal waste also
had some sort of society they're able to

communicate with each other through a
manner similar to telepathy this

telepathy seems to involve something
with spores since the lure tablets in

the area only activate when the night is
wearing the spore shroom charm within

the game's code there's a lore tablet
that reads as follows strengthen the

shared self strengthen the mine United
in every bug that would pass upon our

roads only the melancholy of disparity
now I have no idea what the shit of the

end is talking about but the beginning
clearly indicates that the mushrooms

have some sort of connected
consciousness there's more evidence for

this in the form of mr. mushroom so if
you haven't seen this guy around he's

basically just a talking fortune cookie
that pops up in various parts of hallo

nest the thing is with the exception of
the last encounter every time you try

and talk to mr. mushroom he seems to be
talking to someone else and when he

notices that you're there he just leaves
clearly mr. mushroom is using the shared

mind to talk to other mushrooms when mr.
mushroom finally does talk to the night

he reveals that he has visited many
kingdoms before and that holliness is

just one of many if we dream no mr.
mushroom he provides us with a little

poem about worms it seems to imply that
worms have been creating societies for a

long time then there's the bugs and deep
nest now you're probably wondering did

these assholes worship a God - well
maybe in deep nest there's a shrine

located in the beasts den inside the
shrine is a statue of a trilobite and as

I'm sure we all know trilobite sar one
of the oldest known groups of arthropods

they went extinct in the mass extinction
of the Permian back 252 million years

ago so in other words these guys are
ancient trilobite belongs to the

subphylum trilobite dome or feh their
closest living relatives are the animals

in the subphylum chilla sirata which
consists of horseshoe crabs scorpions

and spiders so it kind of makes sense
that there's a trilobite statue and deep

nest
it seems to be implying that the

residents of deep nest have been there
for quite some time for some reason

there are no lore tablets in deep nest
so that's about as much as we can figure

out at the moment on top of that we're
gonna learn a lot more about deep nest

in the upcoming content pack so I
wouldn't even get too worked up about

figuring it out now and so the pill King
arrived in this fractured land offering

a gift to the bugs of his future Kingdom
he granted them some form of knowledge

or greater sentience a hidden lore
tablet in the white palace reveals a

line was a worm becomes beacon mines
expanded to yield to devote also modem

on the teacher in her poem elegy of
hollowness mentions that the pale King

taught the bugs colonists and tamed
their savage Souls bharden explains that

the pale King brought order to the land
so if we put it all together the pale

King granted bugs more powerful minds
and promised a more ordered society now

this is where things get a little bit
complicated these bugs without Minds not

have them because that was how they
naturally were or was it because the

radiance had them within her hive mind a
lot of what I've read online says that

all of hollowness was under the
radiances control but it is never

explicitly stated if the radiance was
worshiped by bugs other than the moth

tribe the only moth in the game the seer
who lives in the resting grounds

explains that her ancestors stopped
worshiping the radiance in order to

worship the pale King she's not
mentioned other non moth bugs engaging

and worshiping the radiance also a
tablet and howling cliffs it states that

anyone who leaves hollowness must
relinquish the precious mind this

kingdom grants personally I think that
the radiance was only worshipped by the

moth race and that many of the other
bugs at Hall nests specifically the

husks had always just been dumb shits
they didn't have minds to think in the

first place
I'm not saying there's no evidence to

support the idea that the radiance
controlled all Apollo nest but I haven't

really seen enough evidence to convince
me of that my biggest reason for

believing this is because of the way I
interpret seers dialogue seer doesn't

blame the radiance for what happened but
instead blames the people of her tribe

she never claims that the radiance was
an evil or power-hungry God

she was betrayed see our views helping
the knight obtain the dream nail as

penitence for old crimes so on one hand
seer thinks that her ancestor should

remain loyal to the radiance but at the
same time she is willing to help the

knight in its quest to kill the radiance
the only way this makes sense is if the

radiance of the past was quite different
to the radiance of the present after all

members of the moth race were pacifists
by nature with few ever choosing to

wield a weapon given the fact that she's
also a moth the radiance was possibly

quite pacifist in the beginning that is
until the pale King arrived and fucked

everything up for after such a betrayal
as well as an extended time spent in

isolation it's not a stretch to believe
that the radiance would retaliate in the

way she did so there's my little theory
on the radiance some of you watching may

not agree with me but that's what I
really love about hollow Knights story a

lot of different people have a lot of
different ideas about how certain things

happened and the game leaves it just
vague enough to let all of those

theories be viable hell there's probably
evidence to support the idea that the

entire game takes place on the fucking
moon so while a good chunk of the stuff

in this video is probably agreed upon by
a lot I'll let you know whenever I

started throwing out my own dumbass
theories regardless the important thing

to take away from all this is that the
pale king endowed his followers with

more intelligence and then he convinced
the Mothe tribe to stop worshiping the

radiance because the moth tribe stopped
worshiping her the radiance was sealed

away and memories of her were forgotten
over time the only lasting monument to

the radiance was a statue located at
hollowness crown seer looks back on this

moment with regret viewing it as a
betrayal of her people on their creator

it was out of this act that Halle nest
was born while the moths drive and

others accepted the pale Kings rule
there were other groups that resisted

the bees for example chose to lock
themselves away in the high of the

kingdoms edge deciding to play no part
in the pale Kings Kingdom according to

the manual for Hall Knight the hive
Queen eventually became too big to even

leave every time I read this I just end
up thinking about Fight Club

the Mantis race refused the Kings rule
but a truce was reached allowing them to

keep their territory as well as their
societal structure in exchange the

mantises would protect hallow nest from
the bugs invading from deep nest we

don't know for sure how own and its
followers reacted the size of green path

was reduced but the remaining area of
green path remained under UN's law the

members of the Mushroom Kingdom accepted
the pale Kings rule but not with

complete confidence according to lore
tablets in the fungal ways they put

faith in the pale Kings insight into
future events to protect them which is a

power that he apparently had bar Doon is
the only other NPC that even mentions

disability which is weird because it's
kind of a big fucking deal but it

doesn't really seem to have much of an
impact on the story so whatever it is

what it is the bugs of deepness refused
the Kings rule completely keepeth

himself separate from the pale Kings
domain the mask maker who resides in

deep nest says that the pale King made a
mistake in trying to expand his kingdom

across all of Hollow nest under the pale
Kings rule the city of tears was

constructed for some reason somebody
thought it was a good idea to build the

entire city underneath the giant lake
resulting in constant rain it may be

stupid but goddamn it makes for some
good atmospheric moments underneath the

city the royal waterways were built
where horrific parasite monsters began

to appear static stations were built
making travel across the kingdom much

easier structures such as the archive
and the Coliseum of fools popped up bugs

began working in the mines harvesting
powerful crystals geo was established as

a primary currency and reputable banking
services became available allowing

citizens to store all that shit they
found while smacking rocks all day

Kings idols began to circulate around
the land so that bugs could worship the

pale King on the go a tramway system
began development but as construction

reach deep nest all of the workers got
killed by local bugs as you can imagine

this really slowed down construction the
tram workers unionized demanding to not

be sent places where they could get
killed

ridiculous I know but after the events
of Tran gate

it seemed pretty obvious that deep nest
and Halle nest were not going to be

getting along anytime soon
now you might be thinking to yourself

hey wait a minute
if the deep nest bugs didn't want a tram

light why is their stack stationed in
the distant village well don't worry

we will get to that later but let's talk
about the man behind it all

The Pale King himself lived a life of
reclusion relic seeker LEM a bug in the

city of tears who buys historical
artifacts claims that the king was an

elusive figure the last stag also
mentions that the Bell King never rode

the stag ways even the pale king's
castle was kept hidden his white palace

was built underneath the city of tears
in the ancient basin a dark area with

little life in it
despite his introverted lifestyle the

king did get together with this whatever
this is and she became queen the queen

is likely also a higher being according
to the description found on the King's

soul the Queen can be found in game
going by the name white lady the pale

King also assigned five nights to the
task of protecting the realm of

hollowness the five great Knights as
they were called with consistent of

fierce jiraiya kindly yzma mysterious
zamir loyal or grim and mighty hegemon

not much is known about what these
Knights did before the fall of colonists

other than that they served the King the
white defenders entry in the hunters

journal gives us the most insight into
the shenanigans of the five great

Knights he mentions the champions call
the knotted Grove and the Battle of the

black worm now that's a badass name for
a battle but what is the black worm is

its corpse somewhere in Holland s2 so
there's some flavor text for you letting

you know that the five great Knights
were apparently some pretty cool dudes

but as impressive as these events may
sound the king and his Knights were

nowhere near prepared for what happened
next

remember how I said that the radiance
had been completely forgotten well I

lied according to the seer faint
memories of the radiance lingered until

eventually they surfaced once again one
theory suggests that some bugs

accidentally discovered the statue at
holliness crown resulting in thoughts of

her to enter back into their minds
within the game's code are additional

verses to the allergy of hallow nest
that can not be found in game the poem

mentions that the bugs of hallow nest
had dreams and desires that the pale

King could not satisfy eventually out of
these dreams appeared a light that

turned the bugs back into mindless
beasts in the game the player can

encounter an NPC beam my Allah my Allah
is a happy little minor bug who minds

crystals while singing a tune as the
game progresses

milah begins to lose control of her
thoughts not being able to remember the

verses to her song a second voice begins
to appear in her dialogue an angry voice

that demands my let it kill the player
character eventually Milo becomes just

another enemy NPC

while many bugs shared the same fate as
milah some looked for solutions in the

city of tears a group of intellectual
bugs began to experiment with soul they

believed that with enough soul they
could remain powerful enough to escape

the infection the collection of souls
involved a killing of hundreds of bugs

whose shells could still be found in the
sole sanctuary or the sole sanctum or

whatever was The Pale King was against
these experiments but I guess these

criminals were just too well-hidden to
find the experiments failed anyway and

the soul master and his associates
became infected after getting his ass

kicked twice by the player-character the
soul master explains that a prophetic

vision told him to experiment with soul
yeah okay buddy most of the Mantis race

was able to stave off the infection
keeping Nancy's village intact despite

the surrounding chaos within the tribe
however a group of mantises defected and

decided to accept the infection in order
to become more powerful one of the four

mantis Lords turned against his sisters
and he and his allies were driven out of

mantas village and took up residence in
the Queen's garden after accepting the

infection these mantises went mad and
lost control of their minds the fair

Lords daughter somehow died during these
events and is buried in Queens garden

this unnamed mantis was actually in a
relationship with mysterious a mere one

of the five great nights the mantises
didn't approve of this however and now

Samir lives as the gray mourner in the
resting grounds lamenting her dead lover

would have guessed that mantises were so
homophobic with the infection spreading

across hollow nest
The Pale King became desperate to find a

solution the five great knights served
as nothing but a waste of taxpayers geo

because the infection was targeting the
minds and dreams of bugs

another method had to be used in order
to combat the radiance deep down in the

abyss The Pale King found the void and
possibly the last hope for hallow nest

now let's talk about the void The Pale
King is basically playing with fire at

this point void itself is a dangerous
force it seems to oppose other forms of

life always trying to consume them that
is why the character shade and the other

ADEs called the siblings attack the
night the lighthouse keeper in the abyss

seems to have been influenced and
possibly killed by the void somehow

confessor gigi in dirt mouth is
terrified of the shades fearing that she

might get swallowed up by the darkness
that's right the night might seem like a

little harmless guy but underneath the
surface is a monster that wants nothing

more than to do terrible things to you
kind of like Bill Cosby asks for the

lighthouse it seems like it was built as
a way to subdue the sea of void beneath

it but it sounds like at some point the
king wanted the lighthouse turned off

why honestly I have no clue using the
void The Pale King hoped to create

something that could act as a vessel to
contain the radiance this vessel had to

be completely lacking in mind will or
personality without these straits the

infection would not be able to control
the host and the radiance would be

stopped dead in her tracks the pale King
began experimenting with the void

several creatures were made in the white
palace using the void such as the Kings

molds and the wings molds as well as the
collector a boss that can be found in

the Tower of love the pale King started
creating countless vessels an attempt to

create one that was completely empty
these vessels were unique to the

previously mentioned constructs Kings
molds and wings molds are void contained

within Armour while the collector seems
to be made solely a void the vessels

however wear shells the game doesn't
explain where these shells came from but

a metric fuckton of them can be found in
the abyss well put on your tinfoil hats

boys because it's time to speculate the
white lady has some interesting dialogue

about this event she explains that she
locked herself away in the Queen's

garden her reason appears to be that she
felt shame for her participation in the

deed she then mentions that she still
has the urge to breed and propagate

herself I think that the Queen helped
create the vessels specifically by using

her seeds this biological origin for the
vessels could explain where the shells

came from and it explains why there are
eggs lying around in the abyss

thanks to dialogue from the white lady
we know that the player-character was

born in the abyss not in the white
palace and it makes sense with the

phrase born of
and void which is later used to describe

the hollow night also in the white
palace a room that appears to be a

nursery can be found in this room is a
chair with what appears to be the white

lady's silhouette on it and a cradle
what's interesting about this is that

there is a melody that plays in this
room which is identical to the melody

that plays when the player characters
shade is nearby

this practically screamed at the white
lady had at least something to do with

the creation of the vessels but I'm sure
this little theory of mine is littered

with problems so for now that take away
from all this is that the pale King

created a lot of vessels in an attempt
to find one that was perfectly empty any

vessels not deemed worthy or cast down
into the abyss the vessel that the

player controls during the game is one
of the pale kings many failed creations

they were thrown into the abyss and
another vessel was chosen who eventually

would become the hollow Knight the not
true final boss of the game after the

whole night was chosen the entrance to
the abyss was sealed hiding the pale

Kings rejected children from the world
somehow the radiance was placed inside

the hollow Knight I don't really know
the logistics of how that worked and

honestly I don't want to know the hope
was that without a will or mine the

radians would not be able to take
control of the hollow knight's body but

of course it didn't work
the white lady mentions that the hollow

Knight was not completely void of
thought that it was tarnished by an idea

instilled there's not much we can look
to to try and figure out what the white

lady means by this but there is one
thing in the scene where the hollow

Knight is chosen by the Bell King we see
it turn its head towards the

player-character
is it because the hall and I has

feelings of regret sympathy maybe even
guilt why then why were they chosen

while all the other siblings were thrown
away near the hall Knight was afraid

maybe it didn't think it could live up
to the pressure of being the vessel it

didn't ask for this
it didn't ask to be born and he didn't

want to be the savior of hollowness I
mean what hall must ever do for it

what made hollowness so special that it
even deserved to be saved after all

isn't life just a cyclical process of
birth and death

why should hollowness be spared a faint
given to every Kingdom that preceded it

you can't stop the inevitable everything
dies in the end and nothing really

matters or maybe I'm reading too much
into this anyways the pale Kings plan

had failed his creation could not
contain the radiances power and soon she

would break free once again but instead
of giving up The Pale King devised

another scheme he seek the assistance of
be powerful bugs modem on the teacher

lure in the watcher and Hurra the Beast
Lauren lived in the spire in the city of

tears there he kept a telescope which is
kind of creepy if you think about it Mon

Aman maintained an archive in the fog
Canyon there she tried to keep all the

information of hollowness history
unfortunately all of her data logs read

like bad George Orwell fan fiction Hurra
was Queen and ruler in the domain of

deep nest as I'm sure you remember
relations between deep nest and hallow

nest were not that good while the other
two were okay with doing the king of

solid Hara was a bit more difficult but
a deal was struck her agreed to help the

pale King but in exchange the pale King
had to give her a child Hornet

the circumstances of Hornets birth are
shrouded in mystery is she her as

biological offspring or was she created
from the void like the siblings

the white lady mentions a sexual
relationship between the pale King and

her she also mentions that her and
Hornet looked very similar so it sounds

like the King in her a totally did it
and Hornets their baby right well not so

fast if her a could give birth in the
first place why would the King have to

give her a child is she barren is her
just bad at dating well a tablet in the

fungal wastes hints at deep nest once
having a king but that he somehow died

so it seems possible that the death of
the King simply left Hera without a

suitable mate so yeah something was
definitely going on between the pale

King and her ax the stag stationed in
deep nest was probably built around the

time this was going on The Pale King
could just hop on his elite special

forces stag head over to her his place
and have crazy bug sex with her that

would explain why the last tank has
never seen the stag stationed in the

distant village or the hidden station
while this all makes sense there is also

evidence that points towards Hornet
being made from the void like the knight

and the siblings which if true
complicates things a little bit Hornet

tells the player character that they
share the same force while we know that

the player character is made of void so
it seems likely that Hornet was created

in a similar fashion Plus Hornet is
called the gendered child by a number of

NPCs the only reason they would call her
that is if her kind wouldn't normally

have a gender and according to the
developers notes the vessels made from

the void do not have genders there's
also the weavers den a hidden area and

deep nest that appears to be connected
to Hornet in some way the loom spiders

mentioned a bargain and a princess
within this hidden area is another

hidden area in this room there's a
design with Hornets head displayed in

the middle plus all the string lying
around makes sense given on Hornet uses

thread in combat
when you leave the weavers den for the

first time you see this loom spider
runaway there's no real explanation

about this but I'm guessing the upcoming
Hornet DLC will shed more light on

what's going on here also midwife is
clearly involved in Hornets creation but

she doesn't really tell us much about
how exactly Hornet was created honestly

unless we can get all these guys on
Maury we're not gonna know for sure and

so with the pale King and her as steel
struck she lurin and modem on became the

dreamers the challah knight was chained
up in the temple of the black egg and

the dreamers went into an endless
slumber where they placed a seal over

the temple from the dream world to
memorials were built one in the city of

tears and one in the resting grounds to
commemorate the sacrifices made also at

some point between all this the whole
night hit puberty or something this has

actually led to a lot of questions being
asked about why the Halle night grew but

none of the other siblings grew my
theory Flintstones chewable vitamins so

at this point the radiance was trapped
inside a vessel that was chained up

inside a temple that was surrounded by
an interdimensional telepathic

forcefield stationed all the way up at
the top of the world and it didn't work

it was at this point when the pale King
and the white Palace suddenly vanished

into thin air the white lady in fierce
Tyrel retreated to the Queen's garden

dyra died fighting off infected mantises
while the white lady rooted herself into

the ground mighty head Jamal got his
armor stolen by a maggot who the player

later finds under the name false Knight
yeah nice job mighty head Jamal but this

doesn't mean that hegemon August 6 2017
team cherry held an AMA on reddit where

they answered questions about the game
it was revealed in this thread that a

Jamel couldn't live without his armor
which makes sense I mean I certainly

hope he wasn't born wearing a giant suit
of armor

mysterious Emir remained in the resting
grounds waiting for some poor sucker to

attempt her soul-crushing side quest so
they could get a peace of heart loyal

Agra moved into the Royal waterways and
chain

his name - dung defender now I'm not
gonna get too hard on this guy we all

have our fetishes
it may not be copper philia but teach

their own you know but Oh grams love is
not exclusive to excrement he acts as

the protector of isthmus Grove has is
only accessible after beating him in

combat his Musgrove is the Grove where
kindly yzma is she is dead by the time

the player finds her however it is clear
from the dunk offenders dialogue that

Agra man disma had some sort of
relationship as to whether or not he

gave her a dirty sanchez or something I
don't know the game never discloses

hornets whereabouts during all this
at some point it seems possible that she

spent a good deal of time with the white
lady this would make sense because the

white lady could have been the one who
explained a Hornet everything she knows

about how to stop the infection in the
previously mentioned reddit AMA a

developer from Team cherry mentioned the
original plans for Hornets lore they

involved Hornet being raised by Hera the
white lady and Vespa the queen of the

hive hence the name Hornet this is
actually pretty badass but we don't know

for sure if this is still Horne his
backstory in the game over time the

player character and several other
failed vessels escaped the abyss ending

up in various locations the player
character leaves hollow nest and wanders

into the wilderness beyond the howling
cliffs at this point the collapse of

holliness seemed inevitable the kingdom
was sealed away from the rest of the

world with the well in dirt mouth being
one of the only ways to get back inside

dirt mouth itself remained unaffected
because of its location on the surface

oh I guess it was that easy but slowly
the bugs that live there decide to

travel into hollow nest leaving the
elder bug is one of the few remaining

survivors time within the kingdom froze
and howl nest was left incomplete stasis

and basically that's all that happens
before the game starts for the rest of

this video I'll explain the plot as if
the player is going for the dream no

more ending which is the good ending to
the game the player character who I will

refer to as the knight is called back to
hollowness by some force they arrive in

dirt mouth and descend into hollow nest
the knight encounters Hornet who it

first dismisses their abilities Hornet
again appears in the Steve tears where

she encourages the knight to travel to
kingdom's edge

to the corpse of the pale Kings original
form during this conversation Hornet

says that the night holds a resilience
of two voids the two voids she is

referring to are the void the night is
made of and the void that exists outside

of hollow nest
leaving colonists appears to cause bugs

to lose their memories or even their
minds quarrel is an example of a bug

that lost his memory from entering the
void beyond hallow nest quarrel was

originally an assistant to modem on when
the night Meets quarrel - being in the

game however he has no recollection of
any of this this means that the night

probably has no memory of anything at
the start of the game at kingdoms edge

Hornet challenges the night one last
time the night wins and they travel into

the corpse of worm where they obtained
the Kings brand which allows the knight

to travel into the abyss at some point
the knight visits the dreamers shrine in

the resting grounds where the dreamers
appear to the knight the dreamers admit

that their powers are not working to
stop the infection but remember that

their sworn duty to the King is to keep
the seal in place at this point madam on

Lauren and Hera make the executive
decision to lock the night away forever

in the dream world

hello darkness my old friend but the
night is immediately rescued by some

flying moth creature
yeah the dreamers really suck at their

job darkness mom this moth gives the
night a little pep talk before giving

them the dream nail after the sequence
the night awakens in the presence of the

seer the sole survivor of the moth race
the seer tells the night to obtain

essence in order to sharpen the dream
nail once the night collects 18-hundred

essence the dream nail transforms into
the awoken dream nail with the dream

nail the night breaks the seal on the
black egg temple by visiting the three

dreamers and murdering them in their
dreams Freddy Krueger style the night

travels to the abyss using the Kings
brand to unlock the gate that kept the

realms sealed away for so long
there the knight receives the shade

cloak which allows them to pass through
these annoying ass barriers which gives

the knight access to the building in
Queens garden where the reclusive white

lady lives
the white lady gives the knight the

first half of a charm called the King
soul which is a symbol of the union

between two higher beings the second
half of the Kings soul is located in the

white palace which can only be reached
by using the awakened dream nail on the

corpse of a king's mold in the ancient
basin after a ridiculous amount of

platforming bullshit the knight finds
the second half the Kings soul next to

the corpse of the pale King but as The
Pale King really dead

according to the manual for hollow light
the king is just in hiding also we're in

the dream world which could mean that
this is just a memory of the pale king

and not the real pale king but we know
that the real white palace vanished and

that this body is very close to where
the palace originally stood meaning that

this could be the real white palace
inside the dream world with the real

pale King sitting dead on the throne but
the pale King has been known a cheat

death it's possible that the pale king
reincarnated again into a different

creature also what would have even
killed him did he accidentally walk into

one of the hundreds of saw blades that
he has around the castle if that's the

case then he deserved to die
but there is a chance that the King soul

is literally the Kings soul salut bruh
the bug that sells charm to the night

reveals that some charms are created
from the dying wishes of bugs

there are many charms in the game that
confirmed this such as Joanie's blessing

and - master and after equipping the
Kings soul the white lady says she feels

like she's in the presence of worm once
again the pale King might have died in

the white palace and his wish to free
hollowness resulted in creating the

Kings soul but if that's the case why is
the charm broken in half if the Queen

take half of the Kings soul after the
bail King died and if the charms

description mentions a union so the
charm might have existed a long time

before the Kings death but the pale
Kings final words are no cost - great

those sound like the words of a person
who was willing to sacrifice himself to

end the infection but they never did
find Tupac's body and also you're

telling me that jet fuel can't even melt
passports and why is it that Ross Geller

is 29 in seasons three four and five of
friends there's only one plausible

explanation people he's probably dead
either way the night Lutz the body and

the Kings soul is complete after
chaining the Kings soul the knight

travels down into the abyss at a new
area is unlocked there the knight can

strike a big black ball with the
awakened dream nail to reveal a

flashback to when the pale King and the
hollow Knight leave the abyss the Kings

soul is then replaced by another charm
called the void heart according to the

in-game description the void heart
unifies the void under the bay

we'll what I think is happening with
this fear is that the night is hitting

their own reflection with the dream nail
allowing them access into their own mind

and memories the Kings soul turning into
the void heart is one unlocks and new

endings for the game it's an important
moment because now the night is not just

made of void but has control over all of
the void throughout the entire game the

nightshade and the siblings attacked the
night but after obtaining the void heart

these enemies become docile with
complete control over all of the void

the knight now has enough power in order
to defeat the radiance once and for all

after obtaining the void heart the
knight enters the temple of the black

egg unchanged a hollow Knight and the
two begin to fight partway through the

battle the hall Knight goes all 13
reasons why on us and begins mutilating

itself a possible explanation for this
is that the whole night is trying to

help the knight by weakening itself
while not in the final game the dream

nail dialogue for the hollow night has
been data mined most of it just appears

to be thoughts from the radiance things
like kill and shall blaze free there are

a few interesting lines here however
kill the usurper our light it would

suffocate this line implies that the
knight will be able to contain the

radiance completely another interesting
line seems to be coming from the hollow

night itself father yeah that's weird
maybe the howl and I noticed the Kings

soul consumed inside the void heart or
maybe the King's brand or maybe the poor

thing has just gone insane regardless
these lines of dialogue were cut from

the final game so we have to be cautious
when analyzing them at some point during

the fight Hornet pierces the hollow
Knights shell a knight uses the dream

nail to enter the hollow Knights mind
there the knight challenges the radiance

during the fight the dream nail can be
used on the radiance she says things

like dawn shall break and I do not fear
you at some point she calls the knight

her ancient enemy now when I hear this
the only two things I can think she's

referring to are the pale King or the
void without the pale King the knight

would probably never have existed so
that does make sense again it's also

possible that the radiance detects the
Kings soul inside the knight

however maybe this dialogue is hinting
at some greater fight between the

radiance and the void
maybe the radiance and the void have

some other beef that happened long
before the arrival of the pale King

maybe it had something to do with the
fall of the ancient civilization that we

learn about during the game
who knows maybe team cherry will make a

prequel saga to explain it all anyway as
the fight continues the siblings and the

hall and I appear in the dream world and
help the night corner the radiance the

void starts holding the radiance down
using its void tentacles and while I

think we've all seen enough hentai to
know where this is going acting is one

the void engulfs the radiance in total
darkness after the battle ends there's a

cutscene showing the void seeping into
the ground Hornet wakes up and finds the

night shattered shell and a final shot
shows siblings returning back into the

earth the radiance has been consumed and
the infection has presumably ceased

completely hopefully this video was able
to help you better understand the plot

to holla night it's definitely a bit
more complicated than your average

platformer however there are still many
unanswered questions like what's the

deal with the bugs wearing masks how
does the pale king's foresight abilities

play into the story clearly there was
some sort of plan put in place for the

knight to defeat the radiance was The
Pale King involved in this and most

importantly why the fuck are there god
damn jellyfish in a game about bugs it

makes no sense come on team Jerry
what kind of entomology textbooks are

they selling you in Australia but yeah
other than the jellyfish this game is

fucking perfect I love everything about
Halle Knight so now that we've mapped

out most of the plot to this game what's
the message is there a greater meaning

to it all people have argued that the
White Walkers in Game of Thrones are an

allegory for climate change they're
wrong but maybe Halle Knight has some

sort of similar allegorical message JRR
Tolkien flat-out said that the Lord of

the Rings is not an allegory at all it's
literally just about some short people

with big feet who hate jewelry or
something

maybe holla night is a cautionary tale
about the dangers of temptation and how

we shouldn't let our desires control us
maybe it's a story about the dangers of

imperialism and how trying to destroy
the cultures of others only leads to

more destruction
perhaps holo night is a tragic love

story between an orphan girl and her
mutant vertically challenged half

sibling it might also be a warning about
how exposed the human races to disease

and how easily a Pam demek could wipe us
all out

or maybe moths are just assholes