Unraveling the Lore of Mister Mushroom

If we want to understand Mister Mushroom,
then the obvious place to start is with Schrödinger’s

Equation.

One of the most prevailing theories in the
realm of quantum mechanics is the many world

interpretation first postulated by Hugh Everett
III.

The seeming collapse of the wavefunction of
a photon first demonstrated by the now infamous

double slit experiment is no longer an issue,
because the superposition is extended beyond

the particle to include the measuring device
and the human observer.

Team Cherry are clearly fans of Everett’s
work, as Mister Mushroom is definite proof

of the many worlds interpretation being true
in the world of Hollow Knight.

Now video games having multiple or parallel
universes is not a unique concept.

Dark Souls I uses it as a clever excuse to
allow for a canonical explanation for PvP.

Dark Souls III uses it as a lazy excuse to
reuse characters for the sake of fanservice.

Undertale uses it as well, but I’m not touching
that game with a ten foot pole.

But Mister Mushroom is a bit more unique.

Just to catch anyone up who doesn’t know,
Mister Mushroom is this weird NPC that shows

up in various places throughout Hallownest.

His location is hinted at by this strange
lore tablet located in the Kingdom’s Edge.

The tablet begins by saying “We speak the
path of the Master Herald, he who would signal

an Age's end.”

Mister Mushroom will only appear after the
Knight has destroyed the three Dreamers.

So the ending age in this instance would appear
to be the end of the stasis over Hallownest.

After interacting with Mister Mushroom with
the Spore Shroom charm equipped in every location,

he will literally rocket into the sky like
how I assume Elon Musk gets around.

He then appears after the game’s credits
as the words “To Be Continued” are thrown

on the screen in giant letters like this is
a fucking JoJo reference.

[Funny Meme Music]

Now the fact that “To Be Continued” only
shows up with Mister Mushroom implies that

he is connected to a future game from Team
Cherry.

And as we start to analyze his dialogue, we’ll
see that this makes like 40% sense, which

is pretty good for Hollow Knight lore.

So basically you can encounter Mister Mushroom
a total of seven times in game.

Each time, he is basically ignoring us and
appears to be talking to somebody else.

Now, mushrooms in Hollow Knight exhibit a
shared mind, meaning they can talk to each

other in a manner similar to telepathy.

So it makes sense that Mister Mushroom could
be talking to somebody else.

Once we meet Mister Mushroom for the final
time, he finally does talk to the Knight,

giving a flowery speech about journeys and
destinations and all that garbage.

But what is more interesting here is how he
has conversations with creatures we cannot

see.

Who exactly is Mister Mushroom talking to?

Well, I would say we know with a good deal
of certainty what at least two of these conversations

are actually about.

Let’s start with the first conversation.

Mister Mushroom mentions that the person he
is talking to was able to save their friend,

and also mentions that this person isn’t
hungry anymore.

This is a pretty obvious reference to Hungry
Knight, the first game ever made by Team Cherry.

Hungry Knight was made during Ludum Dare 27,
a popular game jam event.

William Pellen and Ari Gibson used this game
jam as a way to practice working together

on games, and Hungry Knight was the result.

In this game, you play as the Hungry Knight,
who has to eat cherries to stay alive so they

can bring their friend back from the dead
by collecting masks.

But apparently, this character we see in Hungry
Knight is somehow talking to Mister Mushroom

from Hollow Knight, which in turn, would mean
that the Knight and the Hungry Knight are

in the same multiverse.

Now before you shit my pants and try to tell
me that this completely breaks the entire

lore of Hollow Knight, let me point out that
Team Cherry does this type of stuff in other

parts of the game as well.

Let’s take a look at the Shrine of Believers.

In the Spirit’s Glade, the Knight is able
to access a hidden area, full of strange tablets.

The text on these tablets are actually messages
from Kickstarter backers, who backed Hollow

Knight in 2014.

Some of these are pretty interesting, like
the references to Dark Souls, because you

guys remember Dark Souls, right?

This one is a stolen quote from H.P.

Lovecraft.

This one just says “The Collective lives
on.”

This one talks about a guy named Baron Robert
Apples who was the first of his kind to enslave

a Gantrus.

What the fuck is a Gantrus?

Let’s see here.

Uhh…

Umm….

I’m just gonna…

Anyway, this area is guarded by this solitary
moth spirit who explains that these utterings

are from a group of people united in a mysterious
cause who exist in another world.

This implies that the Hollow Knight kickstarter
and our very reality are actually a part of

Hollow Knight canon.

This means that technically King of the Hill
and Hollow Knight are in the same universe.

So basically what I am saying is, expect a
Bobby Hill lore video very soon.

Getting back to Mister Mushroom, we have a
pretty good idea about what his third conversation

is referring to.

He is talking about how the dead have no use
for wealth and how this person is providing

for a big brood.

This is a clear reference to the other game
Team Cherry created before working on Hollow

Knight: Tomb Cat.

This was a game where you raid pyramids for
money so that you could take care of your

young.

These two references are the most obvious.

In fact, in his final encounter, Mister Mushroom
hints at these games again.

He says:

And if those stops can't be lovely things,
wouldn't you say?

Transcendent plateaus, distant sandy lands,
vast ancient kingdoms.

Yours was not the first, nor will it be the
last, but it's a unique and special thing

nonetheless.

Transcendent plains, distant sandy lands,
and vast ancient kingdoms seem to relate to

Hungry Knight, Tomb Cat and Hollow Knight
respectively.

This dialogue also reinforces the idea that
Mister Mushroom is some kind of traveler,

moving through the lands created by Team Cherry.

But of course, this is where our tracks stop
cold.

Mister Mushroom still has five more dialogue
entries we need to analyze.

And I’m sure you’re a super busy person
with very little free time to waste, so let

me just say that we are about to enter pure
speculation territory.

I have spent the last three years of my life
thinking about this shit, but at the end of

the day, this dialogue is just too open ended
to really nail down.

Now there are other games that have been produced
by William Pellen and Ari Gibson separately.

Through his job at an animation company, Ari
Gibson worked on classics like de Blob, Megamind:

Mega Team Unite, de Blob 2 and M. Night Shyamalan’s
The Last Airbender.

Now it’s been a while since I’ve watched
Shyamalan’s breathtaking film, but I think

there is something to do with Sokka’s girlfriend
becoming the spirit of the moon because the

previous spirit of the moon was killed when
the fire nation attacked.

And in conversation six, Mister Mushroom says
to trust the moon.

So maybe he is talking to Sokka?

“It’s a giant mushroom.”

Megamind is all about how our perceptions
of heroes and villians often lack nuance,

and tend to change over time.

This theme lines up pretty nicely with conversation
four.

As for William, he worked on several video
games by himself in his free time.

The two most popular games like this are Return
to Booty Grotto and Lulanda.

Unfortunately, neither one of these games
seem to be related to Mister Mushroom at all.

But of course, William has come up with several
games that we only know a little bit about.

When he was a kid, William would make game
manuals for his own game ideas.

What if Mister Mushroom is actually talking
to characters from these games William designed

back in the 90s like Castlemania III or Shadowmaster:
Quest of the Past.

In fact, William actually designed a board
game called The Egyptian Game.

In this game, you had to find a sphinx's nose
while avoiding evil Mummies and…

Sonic?

Now this is clearly just a Chutes and Ladders
rip off.

But this game is all about finding a nose,
and in conversation two, Mister Mushroom mentions

“if you have a keen nose, use it”.

This is an oddly specific reference.

Also he says to beware of those who are hunting
you.

ie the mother fucking mummies and the mother
fucking Sonic.

So in this instance, Mister Mushroom would
be talking to whoever played this board game

that William made when he was a child, which
makes a lot of sense if…

if you… think…

Okay this might be a dead end.

Let’s rethink this.

We have five conversations left to figure
out, but they don’t seem to be referencing

any games William and Ari worked on separately.

Perhaps these are references to games that
Team Cherry didn’t actually work on.

But how would we ever figure out which games
these would be?

I mean, just think about how many games exist
today.

There must be at least 30.

Well, it would make the most sense to look
at games that we know Team Cherry took inspiration

from when making Hollow Knight.

This includes Zelda II, the Adventure of Link,
Faxanadu, Paper Mario, Pikmin, Mega Man X,

Super Metroid, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow,
and Ori and the Will of the Wisp, er…wait.

If we dig through these games hard enough,
maybe we can see some connection between them

and Mister Mushroom’s dialogue.

As it turns out, conversation six actually
kinda lines up with the story of Castlevania:

Aria of Sorrow.

We, of course have the moon, where Dracula’s
castle was sealed away in 1999, as well as

the double crossing Graham who actually is
only interested in becoming the reincarnated

Dracula which he thinks is possible because
he was born the same day Dracula was destroyed

and that…

I’m sorry, what was that?

You have no idea what the fuck I’m talking
about?

Well… maybe you need a little context.

The lore of Castlevania begins in the year
1094.

Leon Belmont is a hero of knighthood, but
one day his fiance Sara was kidnapped.

Leon learns from his bedridden friend Mathias
Cronqvist, that his love has been stolen by

a malicious vampire going by the terrifying
name, Walter.

Unfortunately, by the time Leon finds his
beloved, Sara has already been tainted by

the vampire, so she sacrificed her soul to
enchant Leon’s whip, turning it into the

Vampire Killer.

So Leon kills Walter, but it turns out this
whole thing was orchestrated by Mathias, who

then becomes a vampire himself and flees into
the country, becoming known as Dracula.

In retaliation, Leon Belmont swears that the
Belmont family will hunt down vampires for

as long as the game franchise is profitable.

And so Dracula keeps trying to wipe out humanity
as the Belmonts keep bitch slapping his ass

back into his coffin for another prolonged
hibernation.

It isn’t until 1999 that the epic Demon
Castle Wars take place and it is believed

that Dracula is finally destroyed once and
for all.

His giant castle is sealed away inside the
darkness of an eclipse and the Catholic church

tries to erase all memory of Dracula or the
Belmont family.

This brings us to 2035, when the events of
Aria of Sorrow finally take place.

Two childhood friends, Soma Cruz and Mina
Hakuba are going to the Hakuba Shrine to witness

the first solar eclipse of the century.

But they end up actually traveling into the
eclipse and arriving at Dracula’s castle.

Soma learns that he has the power to control
monsters, and starts on a quest to escape

Dracula’s castle and learn a little bit
about himself along the way.

To do so he leaves Mina behind in a protective
barrier created by Genya Arikado, who is actually

Dracula’s son Alucard in disguise.

You see back in the 15th century Dracula fucked
doctor but then she… you know what, nevermind.

It’s a whole thing.

Anyway, Soma meets a cast of colorful characters
who also happen to be running around Dracula’s

castle, such as Genya, Yoko Belnades, Hammer,
and Julius Belmont.

But there is one character, Graham Jones,
who believes he is destined to become the

next Dracula.

He doesn’t mention this when Soma first
meets him, and Yoko even warns Soma to be

weary of Graham.

So yeah, a lot of this tracks to what Mister
Mushroom actually says.

Mentioning that the person left a girl somewhere,
telling them to trust in something, but not

a certain man, mentioning the moon.

Not sure why you would trust the moon, but
you know what let’s just ignore that.

So that just leaves us with four more conversations
to figure out.

As for conversation two, the comment about
not relying on your eyes and using your nose

might be a reference to Pikmin, because Captain
Olimar’s eyes are never fucking open and

he’s got a giant ass schnauzer.

And there are numerous natural predators to
the pikmin.

Such as the Bulborb, the Waterwraith, the
Smoky Progg, the Scuttlebug, Celine Dion,

the Albino Bulborb, the Puffstool, the Fiery
Young Yellow Wollywag, and of course, the

Bike Bulborb.

As for conversation five, it mentions coming
back up because things down below are dangerous,

and that they could come back up and wander
around aimlessly.

Now this sounds like the general experience
people have while playing a Metroidvania,

so I could see this being a cheeky reference
to Metroid or Super Metroid, since those games

start from the top and then go downward.

Also, maybe I’m just stupid but it’s really
easy to get lost in these games.

Conversation four uses both the words “hero”
and “time”, so let’s just say that’s

a reference to Zelda.

That just leaves one final conversation from
Mister Mushroom.

“It’s not by tools that you’ll triumph,
it’s through your smarts, your speed, your

determination...”.

Now this is so nondescript and vague that
this could be talking about anything, Paper

Mario, Mega Man X, or maybe even one of these
weeb shit games.

So to recap, these are the characters Mister
Mushroom might be talking to.

But to be honest, this whole thing seems a
bit weird.

Would Team Cherry really try and shove their
own character into the lore of other games?

Like, is that even allowed?

It’s one thing when Dead Cells includes
a picture of the Knight in their game, but

to have your character actually talk to characters
from another universe?

What if JK Rowling decided to tweet that Harry
Potter did blow with Patrick Star?

You know what?

Fuck the entire notion of fiction.

From now on I’m sticking to real stuff like
true crime podcasts and professional wrestling.

But of course, there is one other explanation
for Mister Mushroom’s additional lines of

dialogue.

Perhaps Mister Mushroom is reaching forward
through time to talk to characters from games

Team Cherry hasn’t even made yet.

So in this case, it would literally be impossible
to know what Mister Mushroom is talking about,

because these games don’t exist yet.

Of course there is Silksong, which could theoretically
line up with either conversation five or seven

since they reference things like hunting,
gathering and tools.

Aside from that, we are aware of one other
game Team Cherry might be working on.

Another Hollow Knight YouTuber known as Relyea
made a video discussing the discovery of a

trademark filed by Team Cherry for the phrase
“Fearless Fox”.

And after doing a bit of sleuthing myself,
I discovered that foxes actually have noses.

So this could be a reference to conversation
two.

But that’s where our leads drop dead.

Maybe Team Cherry will go back and make “Castlemania
III”, or “War of S.P.O.R.E.

II” or maybe they’ll finally make “Ultra
Dangerous Guys 64”.

So I guess I’ll have to make a follow up
video to this in 30 years once Team Cherry

has made two or three more games.

And so this video comes to an end.

Mister Mushroom is definitely supposed to
be some kind of Easter Egg character that

makes references to other video games, and
in doing so, proves that Hollow Knight is

a part of some kind of multiverse.

And who knows, maybe the Knight will be able
to travel to different parts of the multiverse.

Maybe it will make a cameo in Fearless Fox,
or some other Team Cherry game.

Maybe it will even help the Avenger’s by
climbing inside Thanos’ asshole.