Colosseum of Fools Lore Examined

Wow, look at all this Hollow Knight content I 
have left to talk about! It really is beautiful,

isn’t it? Silksong could be delayed until 
December and I’d still have plenty to discuss.

But until then let’s talk about one of the 
more mysterious aspects of Hollow Knight lore,

the Colosseum of Fools. The Colosseum is such a 
weird part of the game, and honestly I still don’t

understand this place much at all. I mean, why 
would people willingly get together in a crowded

area in the midst of a dangerous pandemic? Come 
on, Team Cherry, no one would actually do that.

Overall, the Colosseum is one of the few big 
mysteries left in Hollow Knight, alongside things

like the Vitruvian Grub, and the Trilobite Shrine 
in Deepnest, oh and the Mask Maker’s eyes, and the

Lifeblood creature, and the Shade Lord, and this 
random corpse in the Queen’s Garden. Also what the

fuck happened to Isma? Like seriously what the 
fuck!? Since the Colosseum is so cryptic, a few

theories have popped up trying to explain it. So 
it might be good to have a video that just lays it

all out, even if there isn’t any strong conclusion 
we can make about this part of the lore.

The Colosseum of Fools was originally a 
Kickstarter stretch goal, which promised 4

new bosses and a chance to uncover the mystery of 
the Colosseum. And while the stretch goal wasn’t

actually reached, Team Cherry added the area into 
the game right at the end of development. The four

bosses were originally Zote, the Oblobbles, 
and two of the regular fool enemies we fight

multiple times. Of course, there is also the God 
Tamer who appears at the end of the third trial.

But she was actually just a Kickstarter 
backer boss that was placed in the Colosseum.

The original boss design was the Lobster 
Lancer, but I guess Team Cherry didn’t

want to canonize lobsters. I have no idea why. 
They’ll canonize jellyfish and goddamn pickles,

but not these majestic bottom 
feeders. Honestly, it makes me sick.

From an early map of Hallownest made during 
development, we can see that the Colosseum

of Fools was originally placed in 
the Fungal Wastes near the Mantis

Village. Of course in the final game, the 
Colosseum is located in the Kingdom’s Edge,

a more late game area. Kingdom’s Edge 
was thrown into the game as sort of a

hodgepodge of stuff they couldn’t fit into 
the map already. For example, the Hive was

originally going to be in Deepnest but ended up 
getting moved over to the Kingdom’s Edge as well.

We also might have a glimpse of some of the 
earliest sketches for the Colosseum as well.

In an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Ari 
Gibson shared a small collection of images from

his sketchbooks that he used to draw concept art 
for Hollow Knight. In a GameInformer interview,

the author claims that this place was actually 
an early concept for the Colosseum. It looks like

the audience was originally going to be composed 
of much larger creatures. But keep in mind a lot

of these sketches contain some really weird shit 
that doesn’t appear anywhere in the final game.

The Colosseum of Fools that we see in the game 
now didn’t seem to take shape until late in the

game’s development. But that doesn’t mean there 
isn’t any lore to be found here. In a Reddit AMA,

Ari mentioned that the Colosseum 
does hide a secret of some kind.

And there really is a lot to discuss here 
so let’s start with the colosseum itself.

The Colosseum of Fools is situated 
inside the corpse of some ancient bug.

Both the interior and exterior of 
the colosseum are laden with chains.

This might be a way to keep the husk of the 
bug from collapsing in on itself, as well as

to support the structure surrounding it. Also 
as a way to imprison bugs like the Little Fool.

So it seems like this was just some random corpse 
that ended up being turned into a battleground.

But a battleground for whom exactly? Who exactly 
are these fools, and why is it that they are

murdering each other for the entertainment of 
others? The Hunter asks this very same question.

“What do they hope for, these warriors 
fighting in the Colosseum? Are they slaves,

or prisoners, or do they freely choose to fight?”.

The game gives us a pretty clear 
reason why bugs fight in the Colosseum,

simply just to fight in the colosseum. They want 
glory and the chance to show off their strength.

That’s why we see characters like Tiso, 
who do seem to be solely interested in

fighting in the colosseum just for the sake of it.

But this is where things get weird. All of the 
enemies you fight in the Colosseum are infected.

But in the Warrior’s Pit below, they 
are all just kind of chilling there,

not trying to murder us. One of them is 
even enjoying a lovely soak in a hot spring,

while also still wearing all of his 
armor for some reason. If dreamnailed,

one bug goes all Shakespearean on 
us and asks “Are we all Fools?”.

So what is it about these warriors 
that gives them autonomy while

in the Warrior’s Pit? There are the traitor 
mantises who took the infection in willingly,

and it would make sense for the Fools 
to embrace the infection as well,

as it would give them more strength, but the 
mantises also went mad from the infection.

At least that’s what the Hunter’s Journal says. 
In the Queen’s Garden we can see that they set up

campsites, which I assume must take at least 
some kind of self restraint and cognisense.

Also Traitor Mantises show up at the Colosseum. 
So did these maddened mantises walk all the way

from the Queen’s Garden to the far end of the 
kingdom or were they captured and brought here?

The exact details of the infection have 
always been pretty fast and loose. For

example why exactly do characters like Cornifer 
and Cloth not fall to the infection? Are their

wills that strong? Cloth’s will never 
seemed too impressive to me. Although

the last time I said this people started 
bitching at me. Goddamn simps. Yeah it was

really impressive when she fucking died 
to the Traitor Lord. The Traitor Lord.

Why is it that we can literally just talk to 
Bretta and Sly to snap them out of their trances,

but Myla is a completely lost cause? As for Zote, 
well, there actually is a reason he never fell to

the infection. In Precept 56, he clearly states 
that to avoid having his dreams influence him,

he simply doesn’t dream. So at least 
there is kind of a reason for that.

I’d like to speculate at least a little bit about 
how these bugs might be able to withstand the

infection, but first we’re going to have to talk 
about the people who gentrified this giant husk

in the first place. The main culprit behind all 
this appears to be the Lord Fool. Unfortunately,

we aren’t going to be getting much out of him, he 
doesn’t seem like the talkative sort if I’m being

honest. Despite that, however, the Colosseum 
is still running as if nothing is wrong.

Of course there is the Little Fool, 
who takes payments and explains the

rules to anyone interested in fighting. And 
there are still crowds of people watching,

but obviously there is work happening behind 
the scenes as well. There are people capturing

and breeding the Sharp Baulders and Armoured 
Squit. I can’t imagine that being very fun.

I don’t even want to think about the 
implications of bugs forcing other bugs to breed.

There also had to be people to capture Zote, as 
well as throw dead bodies out of the colosseum

and into the wasteland of Kingdom’s Edge. All of 
this is continuing to happen while the Lord Fool

sits dead on the throne. It’s not exactly uncommon 
for communities to continue functioning without

their leader, so that’s not really surprising. 
One aspect that is the most interesting to me

is the helmets most of the 
bugs in the colosseum wear.

The Hunter makes a remark about the masks Battle 
Obbles wear, asking if such an extravagance is

practical. Now there are a couple points to 
make here. If making these masks is such an

extravagance, then why the fuck are they all 
over the floors, walls and ceilings? That’s

like making a minecraft house out of diamonds, 
or a regular house out of copies of Minecraft.

So are these masks and helmets used for more 
than just mere combat. I’ve talked about masks

a lot on this channel. There are a few 
general points we can make about them.

Masks seem to somehow have 
an effect on a bug’s mind.

A prime example of this is Brumm, a servant of 
the Grimm Troupe. When you first talk to him,

Brumm is a brooding musician about 2 months away 
from joining an alternative celtic punk rock band.

However, after the Grimm Troupe is banished we can 
see that Brumm has a complete personality change.

His name changes to Nymm, his personality 
becomes much more upbeat, and he loses all

memories he has about his time in the Troupe. And 
most importantly, he is no longer sporting a mask.

This effect is alluded to by the Mask Maker 
who says that those who conceal their faces

lose their sense of self. I think it’s 
possible that the warriors of the Colosseum

are experiencing this as well. Now obviously 
these creatures are still infected.

If you Dream Nail the Battle Obble it will still 
give the dialogue bugs give that are infected,

but maybe the masks force these 
creatures to give fealty to the Colosseum

sort of like how Brumm and the other Grimm Troupe 
members are enslaved to the Nightmare Heart.

Otherwise I don’t know why the Hunter makes this 
oddly specific observation about this enemy’s

mask. It’s also entirely possible that Team Cherry 
just couldn’t think of anything else to put here.

I mean, if you read some of these journal entries, 
they are just kind of random. Like when he ponders

what Elder Baldurs think about when they curl up. 
Or how he admits to murdering all of his siblings.

Or the Oblobble entry where he just 
complains about being an incel.

So there is maybe an explanation for why 
the Fools act like they aren’t infected.

But what about the audience? Who are these people? 
Well, bugs that look like the audience in the

Colosseum appear in two separate places. Two 
of them appear in a hot spring in the Forgotten

Crossroads. They will just be talking amongst 
themselves, but if the Knight gets too close

they shut up and just awkwardly stare at it. If 
Dream Nailed, they mention the Colosseum directly,

implying that they are quite aware of 
it and are probably frequent visitors.

The other instance is a bit more vague. Corpses 
of what appear to be these bugs can be found in

the Howling Cliffs. Their head shape and body 
type look almost identical to the Colosseum bugs

so it’s likely that these are the same species. 
This bug’s dream nail dialogue refers to how

without the King’s powers, their minds have been 
vanquished. This ties to the lore tablet found

in this area, which tells us that if bugs 
leave Hallownest their minds will be lost.

So it seems these Colosseum bugs appear to need 
Hallownest’s power in order to have a mind,

since these ones on the edge of 
the kingdom have lost theirs.

So what does all this mean? Well, I’m not really 
sure it means much of anything for the Colosseum.

But it does tell us that these bugs are 
capable of avoiding the Radiance’s infection,

but not capable of keeping their 
minds when they leave Hallownest.

That seems odd considering how well known the 
Colosseum is outside of Hallownest. How do bugs

outside of the kingdom like Tiso even know about 
it? Who exactly is spreading this info around?

At this point I want to mention a 
theory that has been around for a while.

Basically the argument goes that 
this creature is actually a wyrm,

similar to the Pale King. And the Lord Fool 
is some kind of reincarnation of the Wyrm

similar to the Pale King. That would give us 
an explanation for who the Lord Fool actually

is as well as explain how there might be some sort 
of magic mumbo jumbo causing the bugs here to act

like they aren’t infected. I briefly mentioned the 
Wyrm corpse idea in the Wanderer’s Journal video:

Some people have been saying this corpse 
is the corpse of a Wyrm. But we don’t know

exactly what kind of creature this was. Maybe 
it was just a worm with an “O” instead of a “Y”.

Well that was insightful.This thing probably 
isn’t any kind of wyrm. You can see what appear

to be little claws that this bug might have 
used to move around with. As far as we know,

wyrms like the Pale King’s original form didn’t 
have limbs to speak of. Honestly, I’m not even

sure if they had eyes either. Or buttholes. Also, 
where is the egg the Lord Fool hatched out of?

Why didn’t he try and build his own 
kingdom or at least take over Hallownest?

So I’d say the chance of this thing being a 
wyrm is extremely low. Then again, the sample

size of Wyrms we have to compare this creature 
to is only one, so maybe there are different

variations of Wyrms out there in the world. 
However, Grimm refers to the Pale King as a worm

in the normal sense, so I really doubt wyrms 
would ever deviate this much from that formula.

So to recap, we’ve got a Colosseum that is 
operating entirely on its own despite both the

death of their apparent leader and the onset of 
an infection. The crowd is completely impervious

to the infection, both inside and outside the 
Colosseum. The bugs fighting inside the Colosseum

are infected, but do not show signs of aggression 
when outside the arena. At least some of these

bugs are wearing crafted extravagant masks that 
don’t seem entirely practical on the face of it,

but maybe have something to do with 
controlling them. But of course,

we are missing one important detail. The fact 
that all of this is happening within Hallownest.

The Colosseum was probably around during the days 
of Hallownest’s glory, judging by the language

used in the game manual. We also know that 
one of the previous champions of the Colosseum

was the Pale Lurker. Her dream nail dialogue shows 
how much she cared about the King, and she even

kept a King’s Idol in her camp. Of course, 
it’s possible that she just found the King’s

Idol and became obsessed with the King, without 
actually being part of his military force. But

all in all it seems like the Colosseum of Fools 
existed without any protest from the Pale King.

But there is one more aspect of the Colosseum we 
need to discuss, and that is this room right here.

This is the room where the Knight’s shade appears 
after the player is killed in the Colosseum.

The room itself is actually called the shade 
trap room in the game files. This raises a

pretty big question. Why did the bugs of the 
Colosseum find it necessary to create this room?

Did other void beings fight in this Colosseum? 
Pretty much all we can do at this point is

speculate. So let’s start with a pretty fun 
one. What if the Hollow Knight was trained here?

We know the Hollow Knight was trained to prime 
form. Maybe this happened in the Colosseum,

and a shade trap was built in case 
the Hollow Knight was defeated.

This might also be evidence that the Colosseum 
has been around way longer than even Hallownest.

It seems as though the Ancient Civilization was 
far more acquainted with void than the anyone

from Hallownest, considering they literally 
worshipped the void. And it seems possible

that this civilization was capable of giving 
void form. So this room might be a remnant clue

of just how old this place actually is, when 
maybe void creatures were more commonplace.

Another more interesting idea is that void beings 
are actually more common than we might think.

I’m about to jump into some Silksong spoilers 
here, so if you are worried about a few bosses

of the game getting spoiled, you should skip 
ahead in the video now. As far as we know,

void can only be found in 
the Abyss. But in Silksong,

we know of at least one character who might 
be a void entity, Steel Assassin Sharpe.

This character has an attack 
where his nose turns into a whip,

and it looks suspiciously like the void 
tendrils we see in the Abyss. We don’t know

where this void could have come from, but maybe 
it exists somewhere else in the world, and void

creatures would actually come to the Colosseum to 
fight. That’s a pretty out there idea, for sure,

but the inclusion of this shade trap might 
indicate void being more ubiquitous than it seems.

And that’s about all there is to talk about with 
the Colosseum. In terms of what mystery is still

hidden there, the only two theories I have are 
either how the bugs there used masks to control

the fighters, or that the Pale King might have 
used the Colosseum to train the Hollow Knight.

So thanks for watching and before you go, be 
sure to sign this petition to

canonize lobster.