The Biggest Mysteries left in Hollow Knight

Despite this channel running for over 5 
years now and having over 3 whole videos

dedicated to Hollow Knight lore, there are 
still quite a few big mysteries left lurking

in the ruins of Hallownest. This video will 
serve as a rundown of all the weird aspects

of Hollow Knight lore we have yet to fully 
piece together. We’re going to be hitting

on a few topics I’ve already covered in 
previous videos, but there are also a

few mysteries that I haven’t really touched on 
before as well. Also, some of these mysteries

do have pretty reasonable explanations, that 
maybe aren’t as well known in the community.

And before we get started proper, I did want to 
mention the Lore Archives, which is a document

full of interesting lore write ups written by 
various members of the Hollow Knight community.

So if you want to check out theories from the 
community on a variety of different topics,

try checking this page out. I put a link 
down in the description. I also put a link

to the entire script of the Bee movie as 
well. So be sure to check that out too.

The first big question I think we all asked at one 
point or another is… what’s outside Hallownest?

There are two instances where the game tempts 
us with glimpses of the outside world, but we

are stopped by powerful forces of nature. 
Through interacting with the Godseeker,

we also get very small windows into lands outside 
of Hallownest. We see the Godseekers in the middle

of their journey through the wasteland as they 
make their pilgrimage to Hallownest. We also see

the Land of Storms, the location from which the 
Godseekers fled after they were abandoned by the

Gods of Thunder and the Gods of Rain. We also 
see parts of the lands beyond in the Quirrel

prequel comic and in the opening cutscene of 
Hollow Knight: Silksong. All of these scenes

portray the Lands Beyond as a desolate wasteland 
filled with nothing but sand, rock and deadly

creatures. Even the tablet in the Howling Cliffs 
tells us there is no world beyond Hallownest.

But are the Lands Beyond truly such a 
desolate wasteland? After all, there

are several travelers who arrive in Hallownest 
such as Zote, Cloth and Tiso. And of course,

there’s also Pharloom, a completely different 
kingdom that exists somewhere else out there.

So, even if the Lands Beyond are mostly wasteland, 
there still appear to be pockets of civilization,

although maybe not to the scale of Hallownest in 
most cases. But this does raise another question.

Why does the lore tablet at the entrance to 
Hallownest call it the last and only civilization?

I think this is because the Pale King expected 
Hallownest to last eternally. And if that were

the case, then to travelers arriving in the 
far future, it really would be the last and

only civilization. And there might actually be 
good reason to believe that there really aren’t

many kingdoms left in the world of Hollow Knight.
Long before the events of the game, the Pale King

existed in the world as a Wyrm, burrowing 
through mountains and across wastelands,

and only came to Hallownest to die. From there, 
he shed his Wyrm form, taking on a meager shell,

founded Hallownest and created a beacon to draw 
in subjects to his new kingdom. According to

Dream Nail dialogue from Mister Mushroom, this 
is how Wyrms typically operate: “Wyrms pull

bugs into their thrall”. Wyrms might be one of 
the primary forces that build civilizations in

this world. But there’s one line from Bardoon that 
illuminates the problem here. When discussing the

Wyrm’s Cast-off Shell, Bardoon says “With its like 
gone, the world is smaller.” This line might imply

that the Wyrms of this world have all died out.
This could explain why the land is so desolate.

The creatures mainly responsible for creating 
and advancing civilization are just all gone now,

so most of the kingdoms have collapsed into sand. 
It’s interesting to think of a world where Wyrms

were more prevalent and there were tons of nearby 
kingdoms engaging in trade and warfare. Of course,

while this might explain the current state of 
the world, it raises another question. Why did

all the Wyrms die out in the first place? Did 
they destroy the natural ecosystem of the world

by their actions, leading their population to 
drop? And why did the Pale King die specifically

in Hallownest? Is there something unique about 
this patch of earth that draws the likes of the

Pale King and other civilizations to try to claim 
all of it? These are some pretty broad questions

that I’m not sure we’ll ever get answers to. And 
the Pale King isn’t the only Wyrm we know about.

The Blackwyrm is mentioned in the Hunter’s 
Journal entry for the Dung Defender, where

he mentions that he participated in the “Battle 
of the Blackwyrm”. And that’s all we have on the

Blackwyrm. This pitiful amount of information has 
led to a wide variety of theories, and I think it

might be worth discussing a few of them here.
One of the most popular theories out there is

that the Blackwyrm is the corpse that 
houses the Colosseum of Fools. In my

dedicated Colosseum of Fools video, I 
dismissed this idea pretty strongly,

but since anything related to the Blackwyrm 
is speculation, let’s lay out the evidence.

First of all, this ancient bug corpse is very 
unique from every other ancient corpse we see

in Hallownest. It appears to have chains 
going into it as if someone was trying to

immobilize it, perhaps because this creature 
was encroaching into Hallownest during the

Pale King’s reign. This could signify a battle.
Second, the Lord Fool might be like the Pale

King in that it was born from the carcass of 
the larger Colosseum bug. The name Lord Fool

might have even been part of his punishment 
for trying to invade the Pale King’s kingdom,

and he’s been relegated to stay inside his 
Cast-off Shell on the edge of the Kingdom.

Third, the worship of the Lord Fool 
we see of bugs like the Little Fool

might be part of the “wyrms pull bugs into 
their thrall” line from Mister Mushroom we

discussed earlier. This might also explain 
why the Colosseum houses infected bugs that

seemingly still retain their ability 
to act non-hostile towards the Knight.

The hurdles this theory has is the fact that this 
corpse looks nothing like the Cast-off Shell. It

has limbs, it isn’t molting, the interiors look 
different. There’s also Ellina who identifies the

Cast-off Shell as a Wyrm, but not the Colosseum 
of Fools corpse. In order for this theory to work,

you have to argue that the Pale Wyrm 
isn’t representative of all wyrm types,

which I think does have merit, but I think 
the Colosseum Wyrm idea strays a bit too far.

The other argument I’ve been seeing pop up is 
that the Blackwyrm isn’t a Wyrm at all. This

stems from the lack of consistency between its 
name and every other instance of “Wyrm” we see

in the game. Any time the word “wyrm” is used 
outside of “Blackwyrm”, the word is by itself.

Most instances of the word just say 
“Wyrm” by itself with a capital “W”,

with a few instances where it’s just in lower 
case. There’s also the one time Grimm uses the

word “worm” with an “O” seemingly to mock the Pale 
King. The only other time, aside from “Blackwyrm”

where we get an adjective in front of the word, 
is when it’s written as “Pale Wyrm”. Two words,

both capitalized. As opposed to just one word.
Personally, I don’t find this line of thought

to be very compelling either. 
Mainly because, if it’s not a Wyrm,

what is it? Generally the theory follows 
that the Blackwyrm was some kind of location,

perhaps a place with a structure that looks like 
a wyrm or something to that effect. Or maybe it’s

named after a battle tactic. Like the Battle 
of the Bulge. While this might alleviate the

discrepancy between “Pale Wyrm” and “Blackwyrm”, 
I don’t think it’s a very sound idea on the whole.

The only other idea I can think of is that 
the Blackwyrm is a different Wyrm with its

own kingdom that possibly fought against the 
Pale King at some point in the past. It seems

like if any higher being could form a militia 
to do something like that, it would be a Wyrm.

So yeah, that’s my take on 
those four words of lore.

Void is a very complex subject in Hollow Knight, 
so much so that there is a 70 page lore document

written by Sumwan and ToxicBrain detailing all 
the different aspects of Void and its impact on

the lore. But in this section I’m going to discuss 
something only briefly mentioned in this document

and never mentioned on this channel before.
While Soul and Essence have clear sources from

which they are created, we have no clue how Void 
is formed. Void is always described as a darkness

or an emptiness, which aren’t really things that 
can be created, but instead are an absence of

something else. However, there is one comparison 
that could explain where Void comes from: regrets.

When dying and losing its shade in Hollow Knight, 
the Knight can recover it by giving a rancid egg

to Confessor Jiji in Dirtmouth. Jiji describes 
the missing shade as a regret which leaves a

dark stain on the world. And after the Knight 
collects the Void Heart, Jiji even describes the

Knight as “coming to terms” with its own regrets.
But it’s not just the Knight’s regrets that Jiji

speaks about. Jiji notes that the entire kingdom 
of Hallownest has become thick with the stains of

regret. It’s possible that Jiji is aware of the 
other shades trapped in the Abyss, but the fact

that she says the entire kingdom is stained might 
mean that she can sense the regrets of all the

bugs that have died since Hallownest collapsed.
This idea that normal bugs can also leave stains

of regret is reiterated by the Hunter. In the 
journal entry for the Shade, the Hunter remarks:

Each of us leaves an imprint of something 
when we die. A stain on the world. I don't

know how much longer this kingdom can 
bear the weight of so many past lives...

This regret motif appears one more 
time, scribbled on the tablet located

just outside of the Abyss. The tablet describes 
the Abyss and discarded Vessels as the “refuse

and regret” of the Hollow Knight’s creation.
So there are quite a few connections between

Void and regrets. But the problem with this theory 
is that we don’t really see non-Void creatures

actually create Void. There are occasional 
bugs that have black streaks under their eyes,

such as the Grey Mourner’s dead lover, the Lord 
Fool, No Eyes, Mask Maker and Karina. But there

really isn’t any slam dunk connections here. For 
the mantis, those could be tears, for No Eyes,

blood. For Lord Fool, it could be weathering, 
like what we see on statues and paintings that

have eyes. And as for Mask Maker and Karina, 
there really isn’t any indication that either

of these two characters have any regrets.
But I think there is at least one plausible

example of a non-Void creature leaving a 
dark stain on the world: the Pale King.

The entirety of the White Palace hidden in 
the dream realm still shines with that bright,

pale light, with the only two exceptions being the 
White Palace workshop and the Pale King’s throne

room. From the dialogue of his Royal Retainers as 
well as Mask Maker, we know that the Pale King was

racked with shame and deeply troubled. Ultimately, 
the Pale King faded away alone on his throne, and

the deep regrets he held inside stained the throne 
room, shrouding it in a thick cloud of Void.

While I think this makes a lot of sense 
thematically, it might be too much of

a stretch to say Void originates entirely from 
regret, especially since the way Void is used in

the rest of the game doesn’t reflect this idea. 
Team Cherry might have just used this “regrets”

concept as a way to keep the concept of Void a 
mystery, since the player could potentially meet

Jiji very early on in the game. But it’s the 
best explanation I have for the Void’s origin.

The only other idea I can think of is that Void 
is supposed to be like some kind of oil deposit,

perhaps from the dead bodies of creatures 
past. But the lack of the United States

military anywhere in Hallownest 
kinda makes this theory unlikely.

Mask Maker is such a fun little character. 
They seem so oddly separated from the rest

of Hollow Knight lore, and yet they have intimate 
knowledge about the events of Hallownest and even

civilizations from long before the Pale King. Some 
of the Mask Maker’s dialogue can be interpreted in

regards to the Knight. They talk about the 
contrast between the Knight’s outer shell,

and its inner shade, almost as if the Knight 
itself is a face hidden behind a mask.

But this doesn’t really answer the question 
of why the Mask Maker is making masks in the

first place. Who are the “Kingdom’s faceless” 
the Mask Maker is referring to? Why do they

seemingly equate having a face with the ability 
to “define, focus and exist”? And why do they

consider masks a “gift to a world deserving”?
The problem with answering this question

is that we see very few characters in 
Hollow Knight that actually wear masks,

and sometimes those masks seem to serve 
different functions. There’s the three Dreamers,

Quirrel, the Fools in the Colosseum, the Grimm 
Troupe, the Godseekers and possibly Midwife.

But outside of that, we’ve got very 
little to work with. So it’s hard to

define who the kingdom’s faceless are 
and how masks affect their wearers.

I have my own idea about what all this means. 
It does involve a lot of assumptions and it

has its fair share of issues, but I’m not really 
sure if there’s a theory out there I like more.

I mentioned before that the Mask Maker draws 
a contrast between the Knight’s outer shell

and inner shade. I think there is a parallel 
theme here in the actual bugs of Hallownest.

I think some bugs are naturally 
more beastly in nature, and aren’t

capable of higher thought. These would be the 
“faceless” that Mask Maker refers to. However,

these bugs can still conceal their true nature 
using masks. And somehow, masks are able to grant

these bugs identity and allow them to exist as 
more than just weak-minded beasts. In effect,

this is the same as the Pale King’s beacon. 
However, while in Hallownest, these bugs no longer

need to hide their true forms, as explained in one 
of the lore tablets located in the King’s Pass.

In a time before the Pale King’s beacon, masks 
were potentially a much more useful object,

which could explain why we see ancient masks 
lying around the kingdom. Perhaps the Mask

Maker was making masks long before the Pale 
King arrived, and chose to continue making

masks because that’s all they know how to 
do. Their swirling eyes might imply that

they are a little insane, driven to feverishly 
make masks for the people of a dead kingdom.

So, to simplify things, the Pale King’s beacon 
“redeems” the beastly “base instincts” of bugs.

However, bugs could also wear masks that 
conceal their beastly nature and, in turn,

grant them an identity. Both are methods that 
turn the “faceless” into sentient beings.

How likely is this theory correct… ehh, I’m not 
sure. It’s still really weird that Mask Maker

is making masks for Hallownest when Hallownest 
strictly doesn’t need them. It’s also possible

that I’m misinterpreting the King’s Pass tablet 
completely, or drawing a connection between that

and Mask Maker that wasn’t intended. And again, 
we don’t really see how masks grant identity

like all this applies. Like I said, this 
theory is still my preferred interpretation,

but I’m not going to act like it’s an airtight 
explanation of the Mask Maker’s dialogue.

I really do think we just lack information to 
pin down exactly what this maniac is on about.

Charms are ubiquitous in Hallownest, popping 
up in all sorts of random locations. And charms

can be created from a variety of different 
circumstances. Charms can be crafted by bugs

like the Soul Catcher and Mark of Pride, born 
out of strong emotions like the Grubberfly’s

Elegy and the Spell Twister, or even created 
naturally like the Spore Shroom and Deep Focus.

But charms can also form in another more morbid 
way. Salubra tells us that charms can be created

from the last wish of dying bugs. Charms that 
likely fit into this category include Dashmaster,

Fury of the Fallen and the Glowing Womb charm.
But the biggest actual mystery surrounding charms

is how they work. They are created through various 
random and tragic events, yet they all can slot

into these vague, weird, generic notches.
The best canonical explanation of anything

related to how charms are equipped comes from the 
Wanderer’s Journal which mentions that equipping

and unequipping charms can be tricky, so you have 
to be sitting down to do it. Thanks to officially

licensed Hollow Knight vinyl records released by 
Fangamer, we can actually see that charms have

these interfaces on their backside that allow them 
to slot into charm notches. But even though these

slots are discrete, with each charm connecting 
to just one slot, a charm like Kingsoul still

requires 5 charm notches to actually equip. It 
doesn’t really make sense and even Team Cherry has

thrown up their hands on this one. In an interview 
with Edge Magazine, Ari Gibson explains that

charms, quote “had this vague sense of socketing 
into the Knight’s shell in some sort of creepy

way”. He makes it sound like this is some sort 
of cyberpunk body augmentation. Now I haven’t

played Cyberpunk 2077. Although I have watched 
its anime adaptation, Cyberpunk Edgerunners.

Everyone in the Hollow Knight community 
generally agrees that grubs are hideous

creatures that deserve to be mashed up 
into a fine, viscous paste. But one thing

the community isn’t quite as sure on is most 
of the lore surrounding the Grubs and reason

behind the capture. “Why are all these 
grubs trapped in jars?” I hear you moan.

High up in the Watcher’s Spire, just below where 
the Dreamer Lurien the Watcher sleeps eternal,

we can find a couple of unassuming lore 
tablets. However, upon further inspection

we can see that these tablets actually 
contain images of jars, similar to the

ones found scattered throughout Hallownest. The 
same jars containing dozens of helpless grubs.

We can find a stockpile of these jars east 
of Lurien’s tower in a location called the

Tower of Love. The original resident of 
the Tower of Love can seemingly be found

in the Queen’s Garden, clutching the key to 
unlock the tower’s door. When Dream Nailed,

this Husk Dandy says “Too long… spent together… 
We become as one”. In addition to this,

we can also see Void seeping out of their corpse.
The source of this Void becomes clear when the

Knight unlocks the door to the Tower of Love. 
Inside the Knight finds a maniacal Void being

known as the Collector, who is likely the 
one responsible for capturing Grubs in jars.

From its Dream Nail dialogue, we can tell that 
the Collector is obsessed with protection and

providing a safe space for its captives, so much 
so that the Hall of Gods describes it as a god

of Protection. Finally, hidden in a secret room of 
the Tower of Love, is a strange diagram of a grub,

drawn in the style of the Vitruvian Man.
Now that we’ve laid out all the facts of

the matter, let’s dive into heavy speculation. 
It seems Lurien tasked the Husk Dandy found in

the Queen’s Gardens with preserving the various 
wildlife of Hallownest. This might have been

in an effort to preserve these animals from the 
Radiance’s infection, sort of like Noah’s Ark from

the Bible. Or maybe Lurien just wanted there to 
be a collection of these bugs somewhere within the

city, sort of like a zoo, like the one depicted 
in the 2011 hit comedy film We Bought a Zoo.

Somehow the Collector came into the possession of 
the Husk Dandy. The Collector itself appears to

be created from a mould found in the White Palace 
Workshop, the same mould used to create the Pale

King’s Kingsmould guards. This implies that the 
Collector is some kind of defective Kingsmould,

leading to speculation that the Collector somehow 
escaped from the White Palace and was later found

by the Husk Dandy. While it’s not impossible, 
I have a slightly different explanation.

We know that Kingsmoulds likely roamed 
areas outside of the White Palace, given

that the Nailsmith can be seen making a little 
Kingsmould doll. Perhaps it wasn’t uncommon to

see Kingsmoulds walking around the streets of the 
city. So, it’s possible that the Husk Dandy was

able to secure a Kingsmould of their own, either 
through Lurien as part of the preservation effort,

or just through connections they 
had with Hallownest’s high society.

But I think there was one problem with this whole 
setup, that being that this little Husk Dandy was

a total freak. I think this Husk Dandy was the 
one who originally drew the Vitruvian Grub,

due to some sort of strange obsession with the 
grub’s body and physiology. But I think this

fascination also extended to other creatures as 
well. Perhaps the Husk Dandy was also curious to

see what their Kingsmould servant looked like 
underneath all its heavy armor. Maybe they

decided to completely strip it down so they could 
observe this strange creature in its natural form.

Regardless of how the Husk Dandy ended up living 
with a naked Kingsmould, this set the stage for

the two to “become as one”, with Void seeping 
into the Husk Dandy’s body, and the Husk Dandy’s

fascination and obsession with preserving bugs, 
and especially Grubs, seeping into the Collector.

These strange thoughts warped within the 
Collector’s mind, transforming it into the

least insane Tumblr user you’ve ever seen. In 
the end, the dying Husk Dandy decided to lock

the Collector inside the Tower of Love, fleeing to 
their final resting place in the Queen’s Gardens.

Connecting all this back to grubs, it’s hard 
to tell if this obsession with grubs was really

warranted at all. Is there really anything greater 
to them? While it isn’t much, we do have a little

bit to go on here. Note that the symbol placed on 
the chest of the Vitruvian Grub lines up pretty

closely with this gem on the Grubberfly’s Elegy 
charm. The Grubberfly’s Elegy shows us what the

next stage of life looks like for a grub, and the 
charm itself can imbue the Knight’s nail with a

“holy” strength. So perhaps the original bug was 
obsessed with some sort of hidden holy strength

contained within grubs.
This

mystery is pretty important to the core 
story of Hollow Knight, and it can actually

be pretty confusing for new players. How 
exactly did the Knight and other vessels

escape the Abyss? Team Cherry was even asked 
about this question to which William relied:

We're not sure - we know that some of his 
siblings managed to make it out of the Abyss,

but most of them did not. Whether those 
who made it out were somehow different,

or whether some of them were just lucky... 
that might be something we examine later!

But is William actually telling the truth here? 
Surely they have an answer to this question.

Hollow Knight lore kind of completely breaks if 
they don’t. Since Team Cherry is not going to

answer the question, I will share one theory that 
has been floating around for a while. Basically

there’s a portion of Deepnest that does seem 
to be affected by the influence of the Void,

and not far from there is Nosk’s lair. And this 
is the one location of the game outside of the

Abyss where we see the most Vessel bodies. 
This seems to imply that there might have

been a path out of the Abyss through Deepnest.
Another question that might arise from this is

why the Knight left Hallownest in the first 
place. We’re given no explanation for this

and it may be as simple as Vessels just kinda 
wander around like that. And although we don’t

know why the Knight left Hallownest, we do know 
that the Knight was called back to Hallownest by

something. It’s not confirmed what this was, 
but it seems to be related to when the Hollow

Knight’s shell cracked in the cutscene shown at 
the beginning of the game. We also know that the

Knight is just one of multiple Vessels wandering 
around during this time, as Hornet is actively

hunting Vessels down and destroying them to 
keep them from trying to free the Hollow Knight.

So I wouldn’t be surprised to learn if other 
Vessels also happened to have left Hallownest.

Lifeblood is a topic I have barely talked about 
on this channel, and that’s because Lifeblood

barely has any influence over the overall 
lore of Hollow Knight. But we should take a

little bit of time to talk about Lifeblood because 
Lifeblood is pretty weird. Throughout Hallownest,

the Knight can find eight separate Lifeblood 
cocoons. Destroying these cocoons releases these

small creatures called Lifeseeds, which are filled 
with Lifeblood. Not far off from these cocoon are

butterfly shaped flowers. And there are also 
three Lifeblood related charms the Knight can

find. The Lifeblood Core and the Lifeblood Heart 
are both objects that can seep or bleed Lifeblood,

while Joni’s Blessing actually transfigures 
the vital fluids of its wearer with Lifeblood.

Lifeblood is described as making the user 
feel much healthier. But despite this,

Salubra tells us that drinking Lifeblood 
is a taboo, and the Blue Child Joni,

the character in possession of Joni’s 
Blessing, is described as being a “heretic”.

We don’t know for sure why Lifeblood is considered 
such a taboo, but we can figure a few things. In

Joni’s Repose where we find Joni’s corpse, we 
can see an explosion of Lifeblood butterflies

and vines covering the cavern, all seeming to 
radiate from Joni’s corpse. Given her charm,

it seems like Joni’s “vital fluids” had 
been completely replaced with Lifeblood,

and upon her death, this Lifeblood spouted 
out from her. From there, these butterflies

and vines can then travel out and create more 
Lifeblood cocoons for more bugs to drink from.

It seems Lifeblood’s powerful healing 
properties are meant to entice a host to

consume it. According to the Wanderer’s Journal, 
Lifeblood vines are capable of producing fruit,

which in real life lore, have evolved to be 
eaten by animals as a way to spread their

seed. And upon that host’s death, this Lifeblood 
can then spread itself out even further. In fact,

there might already be a vast network of 
Lifeblood vegetation spreading all across

Hallownest. And I should also note that Joni 
isn’t the only Lifeblood infused creature we see.

Deep under Hallownest, hidden away In the Abyss, 
is a door that can only be unlocked by having

enough Lifeblood masks. Behind this door is 
a strange region that seems to exist both in

the real world and the dream realm, where 
we can see a giant creature with glowing,

blue eyes lurking in the background. This creature 
can also be seen hiding in the Lifeblood room in

Godhome. This being is referred to as the 
Abyss Creature in the game files, and it

clearly has some kind of connection to Lifeblood.
I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the Abyss

Creature facilitates the appearance of Lifeblood 
in Godhome, but I’m not entirely convinced that

this is the true source of all Lifeblood. It 
might be possible that this creature is similar

to Joni in that it just ingested Lifeblood to the 
point where its “vital fluids” were completely

replaced and it can now spread Lifeblood 
around through the Dream Realm. But with

how little info we are given on Lifeblood, 
we can’t say anything too conclusive here.

Out of all the Pale King’s Five Great Knights, 
Isma is easily the most mysterious. We probably

still know more about her than we do Dryya, but 
nobody cares about Dryya and all my homies hate

Dryya. Getting back to Isma, we know that she was 
a kind person and that her and Dung Defender had

a very close relationship. You can even hear 
Dung Defender say Isma’s name in his sleep.

But we only catch small glimpses of what 
she looked like during Hallownest’s prime,

and her corpse in the Royal Waterways seems to 
have somehow fused with the plant life around

her. We know that this location, known as Isma’s 
Grove, is being protected by the Dung Defender,

and if we look at the Dung Defender’s 
dialogue after consuming Isma’s Tear,

he seems to think that Isma is still alive.
And this might be true, in a sense. Looking

at her corpse, it seems as though Isma is 
the source of all the plant life around her,

almost like her body is a seed that has 
taken up root in the ground. This might

indicate that Isma didn’t die, but instead has 
transitioned into the next stage of her life.

And it’s likely that the Dung Defender is 
aware of this. The sign he makes outside

her grove specifically mentions that 
it is a grove. If Isma is the source

of all the plant life around her, then Dung 
Defender must have seen her in this state.

Strangely, Dung Defender mentions that Isma 
willfully gave the Knight her blessing,

which is a little odd considering the blessing 
in question was “Isma’s Tear” and it doesn’t seem

like Isma created it specifically for the Knight. 
The Knight kinda just walked up and “consumed”

it. It seems like the tear was just a fruit 
growing out from her body, perhaps representing

her immense sadness in losing her time with Dung 
Defender. Did Isma really grow this just for us?

It’s possible, but maybe Dung Defender is 
just in denial about Isma’s true state. Or

maybe deep down, Dung Defender knows that she 
is gone, which could explain why he ponders if

the line of Hallownest’s Great Knights is going 
to end with him. Regardless, it does seem like

Isma could still be alive, even if it’s not 
in quite the same way you or I are alive.

Here’s an interesting question that doesn’t get 
asked a lot. Why is Hornet named Hornet? It’s a

little bit odd considering Hornet is a spider and 
spiders and hornets are not the same animal last

time I checked. Hornet has had her name since her 
reveal back in December 2014. It’s a cool name,

but in game, there really isn’t any explanation 
for it. There is never any interaction between

Hornet and the Hive, and no one from Deepnest 
ever speaks to the origin of Hornet’s name.

If we look outside the game, Ari Gibson did 
give us an explanation in a Reddit AMA held

on r/gaming in August of 2017. During this 
AMA a user asked the following question:

“Was naming the bee queen "Vespa", 
as in "hornet", intentional, and does

that have to do with Hive lore?”
In response to this, Ari said:

Vespa to Hornet was intentional. There was an 
old concept here that may still apply: Hornet

was the 'Child of Three Queens,' one birthed, 
one raised, one trained. It is from the third

queen that Hornet took her name. Whether that 
notion still applies however, I can't confirm,

though it was definitely the basis for the names.
So, the original concept for Hornet was that she

trained with Vespa when she was young, but even 
Ari can’t confirm if this is still the case.

Or can he? In an interview with the magazine A 
Profound Waste of Time held back in July 2020,

the question of Hornet’s name came up again.
Neither [Pellen] nor Gibson will divulge the

meaning behind Hornet’s name, though Gibson 
states it does indeed have significance. ‘And

whether that ever is revealed, I’m not sure.’
In this interview, it seems like Gibson states

that Hornet’s name does have significance although 
now he doesn’t want to give any details. Does this

mean that the backstory is accurate? Or did 
Ari mean that name had significance outside

of the game? Unfortunately, none of this really 
matters for canonically proving Hornet’s origins,

as Team Cherry themselves have stated that 
their own statements relating to Hollow

Knight lore should not be considered canon.
William: We try not to … it’s a bit boring

sometimes but we try not to give 
out too much information sometimes

that is not in the game. Because a lot of people 
spend, it’s really cool, coming up with theories

based on the info in the game. And if 
we start giving out info that is not

explicitly in the game, then you might start 
contradicting people’s theories and stuff….

Ari: Yeah it colors all that stuff, you know.
William: …which is no fun. It’s not a

nice thing to do for a creator to 
come in after the fact and start…

Ari: Stomping around and denying people’s ideas.
William: Yeah, yeah. What’s in the game is what’s

in the game. And anything that we say 
outside that is actually not canon.

Ari: Although obviously any additional Hollow 
Knight content is canon. So anything through

Godmaster or Grimm Troupe or Hornet…
William: Or the comic and stuff.

Ari: Yeah.
Of course,

we’ll sometimes use Reddit AMA answers as if 
they are canon, but only in a few instances like

confirming how the Hive was infected. But those 
are way more minor than the Daughter of Three

Queens stuff. I occasionally see people treat this 
origin story for Hornet as if it’s true, but keep

in mind that it isn’t officially confirmed 
by any means, and the only in-game evidence

we have for it is that Hornet’s name is Hornet.
I should also mention that according to Ellina,

the Hive sealed itself off completely 
from Hallownest, which seems to imply

they likely never even met Hornet, despite 
the King’s Brand she guards being so close by.

Who the fuck is Dashmaster? There’s literally 
only one statue commemorating the guy,

and it’s about 5 feet from a giant sewage 
pipe. We’re told that this Dashmaster was

an eccentric bug but not much else.
Also, people got really mad at me in

my last video for saying this guy wasn’t 
a reference to the character Sans from

Undertale. I’ll be completely honest with you. 
This is a little embarrassing, but I’ve never

played Undertale. Although I have watched its 
anime adaptation Cyberpunk Edgerunners. But I

guess they cut Sans from that for some reason.
We’re given quite a good amount of detail

surrounding the nature of the Pale King and the 
Radiance. And yet for being such an important

aspect of the story, the White Lady is a bit of 
an enigma. We know that part of her nature is a

desire to spread her seed and propagate across the 
land. But she decided to put bindings on herself

and trap herself in a cocoon-like chamber to 
suppress this nature and hide herself from others.

We can actually see glimpses of what the 
White Lady used to looked like before the

events of the game. From the silhouette left 
on the chair in the White Palace nursery room,

we can see that she was once quite a bit smaller. 
We can also see other images of her in concept

art and early images, which might represent how 
she looked during Hallownest’s reign. But now,

her roots have grown out uncontrollably, 
and she must do all she can to contain them.

I honestly don’t really have much else to say… 
It’s just like, where did she come from? It

makes sense that a Wyrm could have slithered into 
Hallownest, but where exactly did this big tree

momma come from?
Pale Ore

Let’s talk about Pale Ore. Pale Ore is icy cold 
to the touch, and it has been confirmed by Team

Cherry that it is connected to the Pale Beings, 
which either refers to creatures like the Pale

King and White Lady, or Redditors. But what 
exactly is Pale Ore and what does it do? Let’s

compare how Pale Ore changes the Knight’s Old Nail 
into its final form, Pure Nail. The Pure Nail has

patterns running across it similar to those seen 
on the Ancient Mask, Soul Vessels, as well as the

Hollow Knight’s nail as shown in the Embrace 
the Void endings and the various nail attacks

used by the Pure Vessel. What’s interesting 
here is that the Pure Vessel can literally

create these solid nails that have the same 
pattern as the Pure Nail using nothing but Soul.

So perhaps Pale Ore itself contains some form of 
Soul, itself a substance with strong connection to

Pale Beings. I should point out that the Pure 
Nail isn’t just a regular nail forged to be

stronger. More specifically, the addition of Pale 
Ore somehow causes the nail to reveal its true,

ancient form. So, even if Pale Ore isn’t strictly 
some kind of solidified concentration of soul,

it certainly has some kind of magical 
effect on the Nail itself. However,

the actual location of Pale Ore throughout the 
game makes this Soul connection a bit strained.

Of the Pale Ore that aren’t rewarded by random 
NPCs, they just kinda show up in random rocks

or eggs or whatever they are and in the Radiance’s 
statue. The Radiance statue maybe makes some sense

as some kind of offering or ritual, but 
these random deposits are a bit more odd.

Perhaps these are the remnants of ancient 
Pale Beings from a time before Hallowenst.

This mystery isn’t particularly big or 
important, but it’s somewhat cryptic

in the game itself. Throughout Hallownest 
are three Nailmaster brothers named Sheo,

Oro and Mato. Despite clearly the best among 
the three, Sheo eventually put down his nail to

become an artist, leaving Oro and Mato to carry 
on the craft taught to them by Nailsage Sly.

However, at some point, Oro and Mato had a 
falling out, and now live on opposite sides

of the kingdom. Mato is awaiting something 
that Oro owes him, while Oro will not be

delivering on this anytime soon. We are also 
told by Sheo that Oro is haunted by something.

“What could this be?” I hear you quiver.
First off, Oro is likely the worst Nailmaster of

the trio. We have one brief line from Sly where he 
says that Oro holds his nail like a club. Later,

upon learning that the Knight received 
Nailmaster’s Glory, Oro even mentions that

he doesn’t begrudge that the Knight won Sly’s 
approval and even feels that he is redeemed

in helping the Knight along in its journey. To 
me, this further indicates that Sly was never

impressed with Oro’s skill as a Nailmaster.
During the fight in Godhome, Oro has Dream

Nail dialogue indicating that he wants to prove 
himself. Oro is also the only brother to have

a training dummy outside his hut, perhaps 
indicating that he feels he lacks training.

This is reflected by the Dream Nail dialogue of 
the dummy, which reads “Stronger… Brothers…” I

think this shows that Oro views his brothers as 
being stronger than him, and maybe even dresses

the dummy as his brothers to remind him of this.
Another contrast we can see between the brothers

is how their huts are furnished. Mato has 
his hut covered in the skulls of beasts

he has likely fallen, whereas Oro’s 
hut is full of random objects from

the city and fancy drapes. Oro is also the only 
Nailmaster who charges Geo to train the Knight,

and he even scoffs at the idea that Mato fights 
for loyalty and honor. In contrast, Mato gets

overly attached to the Knight, as according to 
Sheo, Mato’s greatest desire is to be a teacher.

This all leads to a strained 
relationship between Oro and Mato.

Mato clearly takes pride in being trained in 
the nail and wants to share that with others,

while Oro lacks confidence in his abilities. He 
instead trains alone because he wants to prove

himself. He likely charges money as a way to keep 
distance from others, and avoid building strong

connections. We know that Oro hides his true 
feelings often due to how he reacts to the Knight

giving him a flower. He acts all pissed off, but 
ultimately ends up placing this flower in a vase.

But what does Oro owe Mato exactly? I think the 
most logical answers are that Mato either wants

to duel Oro in a friendly competition, Mato wants 
to train Oro, or Mato wants Oro to fight alongside

him. Whatever it is, Mato wants companionship. 
This would explain Mato’s Dream Nail dialogue

in the Godmaster fight, stating “Brothers always 
fight together!” and “Don’t leave me behind!”.

This is the only thing Mato is portrayed 
as wanting, and Oro is the only brother

who still wields a nail. I don’t think anything 
else would really matter to Mato. But due to his

lack of confidence in his own skills, or his 
desire to prove himself, Oro refuses to give

Mato that companionship. However, deep 
down, Oro also seeks that companionship,

he just fails to openly show it. Although 
Oro and Mato never make up in Hallownest,

it’s nice to think that they were able to share 
the battlefield at least once as brothers.

Everyone in the Hollow Knight community generally 
agrees that Sly is a geo-pilled chad of a

character that deserves to be remembered alongside 
the greatest characters in all of fiction. But one

thing the community isn’t so sure about is the 
identity of Esmy, a mysterious character that is

only mentioned once, and never seen in-game. The 
only dialogue we get is from our first encounter

with Sly while he’s fighting off the infection 
where he says “ ...Esmy... how much deeper do

we have to go…”. William Pellen was asked about 
Esmy in a Reddit AMA and he responded that she is

someone that still lingers in Sly’s dreams. So, 
not a lot to go on here. From Sly’s dialogue,

it seems Esmy was pushing Sly to travel into 
some sort of dangerous area. The only possible

clue we have is the Shopkeeper’s Key, located in 
the Crystal Peak, not far away from Dirtmouth.

Perhaps Sly and Esmy were exploring this area 
when they were separated somehow. When we give

Sly the Shopkeeper’s Key, he even guesses that 
the key was in the mines, so it’s likely that

Sly was in that region at some point.
It’s worth pointing out that a lot of

characters in Hollow Knight have mysterious dead 
lovers. Cloth mentions a character named Nola

that also died at some point. In fact, it’s 
even implied that Cloth wanted to be killed

in Hallownest so that she could be reunited with 
Nola in death. Which… is a very overlooked aspect

of this character and probably one of the saddest 
storylines in the game outside of the main quest.

Elderbug also has vague dialogue about a lost 
lover, whose grave he visits on occasion.

This would also be incredibly sad if 
Elderbug was actually a good character.

One of the biggest mysteries left in Hallownest 
has to be this strange trilobite statue in

Deepnest. In the game files, the art in 
this area is referred to as a shrine. It

is protected by a seal of binding and connected 
to several pipes that hold it up off the ground,

with a mouth located at the bottom. Finally, we 
have concept art of the shrine from Ari Gibson’s

sketchbook. The design is basically the same, 
except we can see some kind of substance coming

out of the mouth of the shrine. This appears 
to be some type of fluid or possibly even silk.

Between the pipes and the mouth, I do believe 
that this shrine is a container for something,

perhaps even some kind of creature. Just above 
the face of the shrine we can see what appears

to be some type of crown, which could imply 
that this shrine houses Deepnest’s King.

The King of Deepnest is mentioned only once in the 
entire game in a lore tablet located in the Fungal

Wastes. He is described as Deepnest’s “dead sire” 
and that he was of “honored caste”. They contrast

this to Deepnest’s Queen, Herrah, who they 
describe as a “broke ass bitch”. From this,

we can assume that Deepnest’s king was some 
kind of powerful or important creature.

But according to this tablet, the king is 
dead. Now, that doesn’t mean the King can't

still be inside this shrine. Perhaps the king 
passed away while in this device, or maybe he’s

still alive in some sense, but the mushroom 
people just aren’t aware of this. Regardless,

if the king was placed in this thingamabob, I 
think it must have happened while he was still

alive, given the pipes and mouth.
While this is a very big mystery,

this is one that I am very confident 
will be expanded upon in Hollow Knight:

Silksong. When asked explicitly about Deepnest’s 
King in a Reddit AMA, Ari Gibson replied:

…further elements of Deepnest's 
past will be illuminated in future,

but we can't say anything specific for now.
So, this means that an answer to this question

should be waiting just around the corner… right?
Long before the Pale King’s rule, an ancient

civilization existed in the land of Hallownest. 
There are several remnants of this civilization

that can be found in-game. Large corpses in 
various locations throughout Hallownest might

be former members of this ancient caste, although 
it’s tough to find any direct confirmation of any

of this. But they aren’t the only thing we 
have to work with. Arcane Eggs, Soul Totems,

and potentially Ancient Masks and Soul Vessels 
are all evidence of this civilization’s existence.

These objects seemed to be of no use to 
the bugs of the Pale King’s Hallownest.

The majority of Hallownest’s bugs likely 
didn’t partake in the manipulation of Soul,

so there was no use for objects such as 
Soul Vessels and Soul Totems. These bugs

also used stone tablets and parchment to store 
information instead of Arcane Eggs. Despite this,

it’s interesting to note that the Pale King did 
craft some Soul Totems within his White Palace.

And these egg shaped tablets we see throughout 
the kingdom might be the Pale King’s own version

of Arcane Eggs, as Lemm explains that eggs are 
a great way to store information. Obviously.

Although these are pretty massive eggs for 
just a few sentences. That’s like storing

a “read me” txt file in one of these.
There’s also some weird patterns within

the Ancient Civilization. Lemm mentions that 
other scholars have speculated that Arcane

Eggs contain some sort of will within them. 
Elderbug talks about how the rocks that form

the roads and structures in the Ancient 
Basin seemed to have a will of their own.

And then there’s the Quick Slash charm, which 
was formed by the fusion of a bunch of discarded,

imperfect nails created by the Ancient Nailsmith. 
As the charm explicitly states, these nails

long to be wielded. So, it seems like inanimate 
objects from this time period are more likely to

possess living traits such as wills and desires.
But the most interesting relic from the Ancient

Civilization is the Void Idol. As Lemm explains:
Inspired or mad, those ancient bugs. They devoted

their worship to no lord, or power, or 
strength, but to the very darkness itself.

Lemm doesn’t give us a good explanation 
for why these bugs worshiped the Void,

but if we look in the Abyss, we might be able 
to see direct evidence of these strange bugs

interacting with the Void. In this room east of 
the Abyss Lighthouse, we see some sort of desk.

Next to it is a strange relief in the wall, which 
is described as “an imprint of Abyss given form.”

This may be a stretch, but I think this 
was a place where these Void worshippers

would “give form” to the Void, creating the 
Void tendrils we find in the Abyss lake. So,

basically a more crude form of the molds we see 
in the White Palace workshop. Alternatively,

the Void Tendrils might have existed before the 
Ancient Civilization, and this room is where

they studied the Tendrils. Aside from that room, 
there is also the Shade Beast, who holds a bowl

that pours out a never ending stream of Void, 
which was perhaps used in some sort of ritual.

We can infer from the Mask Maker that this Ancient 
Civilization fell to ruin as a result of trying

to lay claim to all of Hallownest. So perhaps 
this worship of the Void stemmed from a desire

to expand their lands. This obviously didn’t work 
out for them. Perhaps, they even ran into our old

pal Radiance, which would explain why she calls 
the Void her “Ancient Enemy”. The last strange

structure we find in the Abyss shows a bunch 
of soyjak faces screaming out above an altar,

with the Dream Nail dialogue. “...Our voices… 
will cry out… again…” Perhaps this was the last

desperate cry of the Ancient Civilization as their 
kingdom collapsed and disappeared into obscurity.

Although maybe this cry is actually true.
Allow me

to speculate. In the Godmaster endings to the 
game, we are introduced to this strange Void

creature, who doesn’t have a formal name but is 
sometimes referred to as the Void Given Focus,

or the Void Entity. We don’t 
really know what this thing is,

but there is debate that it might be a more 
evolved or powerful version of the Knight,

given how the Godseeker speaks to the Knight 
in Godseeker Mode and the fact that it replaces

the Knight statue in the Hall of Gods.
But I think this being might actually be

more directly tied to the Ancient Civilization. In 
the first cutscene introducing this new character,

we can see that it acts distinctly from the 
Knight, the Hollow Knight and the rest of

Vessels. While I think the Knight does become 
part of the Void Entity at the end of the game,

I think this creature existed before the Vessels 
were even created, and has been lying dormant

somewhere in the Abyss, only called back now by 
the Focus given to it by the Godseekers’ ritual.

And it seems like the game really wants us to 
connect what the Godseekers did in Godhome with

what that Ancient Civilization did with Void 
in the past. Hence why we unlock Void Idol

descriptions from looking at the Void Entity 
statue. But if the Ancient Civilization really

worshiped a creature like this, what exactly 
was it that caused their kingdom to collapse?

It’s established that one power Wyrms like the 
Pale King possess is “foresight”. This ability

is mentioned once by Bardoon, and twice by 
the mushrooms of the Fungal Wastes. But as

we all know, despite this prescience, the Pale 
King’s kingdom still collapsed into ruin. “But

how prescient is the Pale King really?” 
I hear you ask in a normal tone of voice.

The way I like to think about this problem 
is in regards to time. The Pale King was

specifically trying to create a kingdom that 
would last forever: an eternal kingdom. The

Radiance is described in a lot of dialogue 
as being nature, or something unavoidable.

This is what the dead mushroom points out 
in its Dream Nail dialogue. Nature will

come to destroy the Pale King’s civilization 
eventually as kingdoms can’t last forever.

The Pale King’s only solution to this is to 
just stop Time, as explained in the White

Palace workshop lore tablet. So yes, the Pale 
King was able to foresee an unavoidable demise,

but his solution was to delay it inevitably.
This idea of fighting your inescapable fate

is a storytelling trope seen all throughout 
literature. The most prominent and well known

example is from the television series The Amazing 
World of Gumball. In the episode The Oracle,

Gumball finds paintings produced by Banana Barbara 
that appear to predict future events, with one of

them depicting Gumball completely naked surrounded 
by a huge crowd at the mall. In response to this,

Gumball tries everything within his power to stop 
this from happening, but through his actions, he

inadvertently causes himself to end up completely 
naked surrounded by a huge crowd at the mall.

The same thing pretty much 
happened to the Pale King.

Mister Mushroom is a wandering 
mushroom man who somehow winds up

in Hallownest. You can only understand him 
if you’re wearing the Spore Shroom charm,

but even then his dialogue implies that 
he is talking to someone you can’t see.

Out of all his dialogues like this, the only 
ones we are confident on are his first and third,

where he seems to be talking to the main 
characters from two of Team Cherry's other

games: Hungry Knight and Tomb Cat.
But outside of what I talked about

in my Mister Mushroom lore video, there really 
hasn’t been anything conclusive to say about the

majority of Mister Mushroom’s wacky dialogue. 
My guess is that Mister Mushroom is talking to

characters from future Team Cherry projects, 
or even just ideas they have for games that

they’re never actually going to make. You can tell 
from interviews that William and Ari have tons

of ideas for games that they want to make and 
it’s something that they think about a lot.

Game development is long, right? Especially games 
like this, big games. You spend two years on it.

We’ve thought up ten years of games that we would 
love to make in one year of game development.

But as to specific explanations for what any of 
Mister Mushroom’s dialogue is referring to… He

does use the word determination at one point. 
Now if you’re a fan of the channel, you know I

absolutely love Undertale. It’s an amazing game, 
filled with all sorts of wonderful characters. In

fact, I’m so good at the game, I almost beat Sans. 
Anyway, determination is actually a very important

aspect of Undertale’s main story, as it shows up 
a couple times. So I think I speak for everyone

when I say this can’t be a coincidence.
And of course, because Mister Mushroom

is connected to all of these other Team Cherry 
properties in the Team Cherry Cinematic Universe,

they have to give him a post credits 
scene to tease his next adventure.

The Masters are yet another group that 
will hopefully be expanded up in Silksong,

but as of right now, very little is known about 
them. They are a group of beings mentioned only

by Confessor Jiji and Steel Soul Jinn. When the 
Knight receives the Void Heart, Jiji mentions that

her Masters would be impressed with how the Knight 
seems to have come to terms with its regrets.

Once the Knight is marked with the King’s Brand, 
Steel Soul Jinn mentions that she cannot bow to

the Knight, as her masters’ minds are other, and 
do not seek order. And once the Knight receives

the Void Heart, Jinn also comments that the 
Knight has become complete like her Masters.

From what little we know about Silksong, it 
seems there are more Steel Soul creatures

who are looking to assassinate Hornet. 
Whoever these Masters are, it seems as

though they are interested in Void creatures 
like the Knight, which might explain why Jiji

and Jinn were assigned to offer services, 
while others were ordered to kill Hornet.

From the dialogue we get from Jiji and Jinn, 
it might turn out that the Masters themselves

are Void creatures. But instead of just crazy 
unhinged maniacs like the Collector, or brainless

golems like the Kingsmoulds, these Masters are 
actually intelligent and capable of scheming,

with their end goal in mind appearing to be not 
order, but something else entirely: Like disorder.

The Delicate Flower comes from a far off, 
“serene” land, carried by the Grey Mourner,

a character who herself looks like some sort of 
wilted flower. Once the flower starts growing

in the Queen’s Garden, it is described in the 
menu as glowing with a pale light. The White

Lady recognizes it as distinct from herself and 
Hallownest. She mentions that a rare power exists

inside these fragile petals, and refuses to accept 
it, telling the Knight that only someone with no

knowledge of its power would hold it so close.
This flower can be given to the Godseeker, who

ponders that it might be a “splinter, cast-off or 
refuse from something greater” before ultimately

saying that she can’t sense any godliness within 
it. However, if the Godseeker is holding the

flower during the Embrace the Void ending, we see 
that the flower does something to the Void and the

Godseeker, seemingly leaving nothing but a small 
black blotch on the corner of one of the petals.

There isn’t any solid theory on what happens here.
It might be that the Void and the Godseeker were

banished to some part of the dream realm, similar 
to how the White Palace was teleported away. Or

maybe they were teleported back to where the 
flower came from, or maybe they’re just gone.

So despite being described as producing a pale 
light, both White Lady denies a connection to

this flower, and the Godseeker can’t detect any 
Godliness within it. If that flower shares some

kind of pale property with the White Lady, Pale 
King and Pale Ore, this seems to inform us that

just because something is “Pale” doesn’t mean it’s 
godly. Is this “pale” property related to Soul,

or some other force? As of right now, I’m honestly 
not sure. But one thing I do know, if this flower

really can just pop creatures completely out 
of existence, I’m glad I gave one to Elderbug.

The Godmaster update added two additional endings 
to Hollow Knight back in 2018. And unlike the base

ending which all were fairly conclusive, these two 
endings left the story on a major cliffhanger. The

Knight and the rest of the siblings have 
seemingly been consumed into this new,

strange Void Entity. The Radiance’s infection has 
been erased from Hallownest. And the Hollow Knight

is now free from its prison inside the Black 
Egg Temple. And that’s where the game leaves us.

On top of that we have no idea how or even 
if Team Cherry is going to follow up on these

endings. We still don’t know for sure how the 
events of Hollow Knight and Silksong line up

on any sort of timeline. If Silksong takes place 
after, is the game gonna give us a flashback to

this event? If it takes place before, are they 
going to do a time skip? Or are they going to do

something completely different and just explain 
it in one off comic or another anime adaptation?

In a Reddit AMA, Ari Gibson did 
say the following in regards to

Hollow Knight’s multiple base endings.
All endings are equally canon. We're not

into 'True Endings.' You choose the path 
yourself. We'll do our best in all future

Hollow Knight content to account for all of them.
Now keep in mind this post was made 5 years ago,

before the new endings were released, so it’s 
possible that Team Cherry changed their mind

on this. That said, I don’t think they have. 
This seems like something Team Cherry wouldn’t

change their minds on. And if they really 
do have a way to keep all this stuff canon

and pay off everything, I am very excited 
to eventually one day have to explain it.

And finally, I think it’s time we talk 
about the single biggest mystery that

has loomed over the Hollow Knight community 
since February 24th, 2017. It’s a question

that has eluded some of the greatest minds 
of our generation. The smartest men, women

and children have tried for years to solve this 
mystery, and they have all died in the process.

Who the fuck is Sprintmaster!?