Hollow Knight's Dream Warrior Lore Explained

The main character from Hollow Knight is really
good at killing things: Old men, newborn babies,

and yes, even people who are already dead.

Throughout Hallownest are numerous ghosts,
remnant memories of travelers long gone.

There’s the gravedigger who died after falling
into a grave.

There’s Millybug who died selling cookies,
a dangerous profession indeed.

And then there’s Marissa, the butterfly
who can be heard singing in the City of Tears.

All of these ghosts can be struck with the
Dream Nail in exchange for essence.

Now this raises a slew of ethical questions
about whether dream nailing a ghost is humane

or not.

Does the ghost constitute an actual conscious
being?

Is being a ghost better than not existing
at all?

Can they use their ghostly powers to shoot
lightning out of the sky?

The ghosts in Hollow Knight might seem pretty
random, but that’s because most of them

were actually characters designed by Kickstarter
backers.

Hence why we get characters like this Guts
knockoff, created by David Waldie and Kcin,

created by Nick.

But today, we’re going to look at one specific
group of backer characters: the dream warriors.

One of the Kickstarter backer rewards was
to create a dream boss that the player would

be able to fight.

There were originally ten backers for this
tier, but only seven backers provided details

for characters.

What happened to the other three backers,
you ask?

Well, that’s a good question.

These bosses don’t really give us any greater
information about the lore of Hollow Knight,

but that hasn’t stopped literally billions
of people from begging me to do a video on

them.

So without further ado, here is the Dream
Warriors’ lore explained.

First up, we have Xero, created by Constant
Pham.

This dream warrior is located in the Resting
Grounds and will probably be the first dream

warrior new players find.

Xero dreamt of cutting down the infection
in his dreams.

Because, you know, that’s how you fight
infectious diseases.

Just give everybody swords, obviously.

But then Xero actually turned his nail against
the Pale King, likely due to being infected

by the Radiance himself.

This resulted in him getting executed.

Before his betrayal, it seemed like Xero was
actually a faithful soldier, fighting for

Hallownest and the Pale King.

What exactly was he fighting against?

Well, we hear about vague things like the
Battle of the Blackwyrm, but other than that,

I don’t really know what Xero would have
done.

Seems like those bugs building the tram in
Deepnest could have used some military back

up, but what do I know?

Before the fight, Xero tells the Knight that
those who hope are already doomed.

After the fight, however, he realizes that
those who turn against the king are doomed

as soon as they raise their weapon.

Honestly I have no idea what this character’s
arc is supposed to be.

But I guess character arcs don’t always
have to make sense, so whatever.

Elder Hu was created by Donald Lynch.

He was a sage who traveled Hallownest tending
to those afflicted by the infection.

Hu died in the Fungal Wastes nearby the Mantis
Village.

He explains that the mantises below have become
mad with the infection.

But of course, we know the Mantises weren’t
infected.

So not only is Elder Hu dead.

But he’s also stupid.

After his defeat, Elder Hu comes to the realization
that he was the one infected and that the

mantises actually killed him.

This is a common theme among all dream warriors.

They all think they are still alive when the
Knight finds them.

This is actually different from how Team Cherry
originally asked backers to write their dialogue.

From their original email explaining what
details they needed from backers, Team Cherry

expected the dreamers to actually know they
are dead.

Also, the dreamers were originally going to
drop medals that had little messages attached

to them, which later became what we see in
the Hunter’s journal.

Another interesting change made is the location
of the Dream Warriors.

It appears the warriors were all going to
be found in one location, the Queen’s Glade.

We can tell from an old development map of
Hallownest that the Queen’s Glade was located

where the current day Ancient Basin is found,
just below the White Palace foundation.

The Glade was guarded by Fierce Dryya, who
was originally going to be a boss.

In other words, there would have been eleven
boss fights in just this one spot of the map.

Honestly, I’m happy Team Cherry decided
not to do this.

Putting the dream warriors in their own locations
makes them feel more organic, like they actually

belong in the world.

Elder Hu appears to be based on the buddist
tradition, as he wears mala, or prayer beads

around his neck.

I would normally say this feels out of place,
but it seems like Team Cherry is actually

going to incorporate another character into
Silksong who uses this same aesthetic: Shakra.

So it seems like we might get a little more
information about whatever group Elder Hu

was a part of when Hollow Knight Silksong
releases in 2054.

Galien was created by Zachary Virden and can
be found in Deepnest.

Galien proclaimed himself as the strongest
warrior in Hallownest and claims he is only

interested in fighting the Knight for the
sake of jolly combat.

Galien traveled into Deepnest so that he could
train himself by fighting the bugs found there.

But he was eventually killed off by the beasts.

What’s interesting about Galien is that
he actually comments about seeing his own

body laying on the ground, but he doesn’t
even recognize that it’s him.

That seems to confirm that ghosts are not
just confused, but in denial about their own

deaths.

I mean, Wayner in the Spirit’s Glade is
literally holding his head in his hands, and

still thinks he is alive.

Anyone who watches shows about real life,
actual ghost hunting, knows that ghosts tend

to be human spirits trapped in the past, ignorant
of the fact that they are ghosts.

Another kinda interesting but not really fact
is that Galien is the only dream warrior to

actually use a physical weapon during combat.

The other dreamers just shoot magical projectiles
or roll up into a ball or summon ghosts of

their dead babies to attack you.

Kinda makes me wonder how bugs like Xero and
Gorb actually fought when they were alive.

Marmu was created by Zara Pellen, AKA William
Pellen’s own mother.

Marmu acted as the protector of the Queen’s
Garden, waiting patiently for the return of

her queen, presumably the White Lady.

Apparently the White Lady was going to teach
Marmu how to fly… which seems kinda odd

considering the White Lady wouldn’t know
the first thing about flying considering she

is literally a plant.

A root flying, what’s next?

Pigs walking on land?

Marmu appears to be based on a real life insect
called a puss moth caterpillar.

This could be why Marmu talks about learning
to fly, but this raises a lot of questions

about how we should examine Hollow Knight
lore.

This would technically mean that Marmu is
going to transform into a moth, but she doesn’t

seem to be related to the Moth tribe.

So are there groups of moths that wander around
outside the moth tribe?

Does Marmu even care about dreams or the dead
like the Moth Tribe did?

Can Marmu shoot fucking swords out of her
face?

To me, it seems like Marmu really doesn’t
have anything to do with Seer and her group.

Marmu being based on an insect that becomes
a moth in real life doesn’t mean this character

has anything to do with the other moths.

There just isn’t a narrative or even aesthetic
connection between them.

This same thing happens with grubs.

I always see comments from people trying to
tell me that the grubs are going to turn into

little Radiances because they are caterpillars,
and while that might make sense on the surface,

we know that grubs turn into Grubberflies,
which is just a completely made up thing.

The biology of bugs in Hollow Knight doesn’t
have to follow reality by any means.

For all we know Marmu might evolve into a
2001 Honda Civic.

However, there is one Dream Warrior that is
directly tied to the moth tribe, Markoth.

Markoth is unique to the moth tribe however,
as he was one of the only members to take

up a weapon.

In fact, the only other moth we know of who
did this is Thistlewind, another backer character

found in the Spirit’s Glade.

Thistlewind even mentions Markoth, making
him the only Dream Warrior to ever be acknowledged

by anyone other than the Knight.

Markoth can be found on the outskirts of the
Kingdom’s Edge.

Thistlewind says he came out here to uncover
some forgotten truth.

Unfortunately, Markoth is too busy threatening
us with death to tell us what he was looking

for.

Maybe he heard about the Wyrm corpse, or maybe
he wanted to learn about the Hive, or maybe

he wanted to see what was beyond this stupid-ass
tent.

I was lucky enough to get into contact with
Samuel Dixon, the backer who originally designed

Markoth.

And Samuel was even able to provide me with
his original instructions for Markoth that

he sent to Team Cherry.

If we compare Samuel’s dialogue to what
made it into the final game, we can see that

Team Cherry kept Markoth’s battle-worn stoic
personality.

However, after being defeated, Markoth gains
some perspective in the final game, as opposed

to still being a complete dick.

Finally we can see that the dialogue for the
emblem Markoth would have given you is similar

to the quote in the Hunter’s Journal.

According to Samuel, Markoth was supposed
to position himself in the far corners of

the room, and then throw two nails and his
shield at the Knight.

The Knight could then deal damage, which would
prompt Markoth to move to a different corner

of the room.

In the final game, Markoth kinda just floats
around wherever he wants like a fart in the

wind.

Samuel didn’t have any lore to share with
me about Markoth, so whatever his connection

is to the lore of Hallownest, it appears to
have been manufactured by Team Cherry themselves.

So unfortunately, we still don’t really
know the finer details of what truth Markoth

was looking for.

There is another incredibly cryptic Dream
Warrior that we really do need to discuss.

The deep and disturbing lore surrounding this
character has haunted me for years now, and

I think it’s finally time we discussed them.

I am of course talking about Gorb.

A monument to Gorb can be found in the Howling
Cliffs where he is described as “the Great

Mind”.

Gorb claimed to contain all of the world’s
knowledge inside of his giant brain.

Gorb demanded that others bow to him and ascend
with him.

What does it mean to “ascend with Gorb”
exactly?

Was he handing out pamphlets or something?

A pretty common theory is that Gorb is actually
a Godseeker.

This is because of visual similarities and
the fact that the Godseeker also never shut

up about ascending.

However, I would say that Gorb appears to
be more like a slug creature, while the Godseekers

appear to be bandaged up like mummies.

So we don’t really know what they look like
underneath.

So that’s one point against the theory.

Also, apparently the Godseekers have absolutely
beautiful faces underneath their masks, and

if we look at Gorb’s face…

Well actually, that checks out.

So what does the actual dialogue say about
Gorb.

The Hunter’s Journal entry describes Gorb
as being a mysterious life-form.

That’s a really interesting word to use.

Now obviously, any living thing is a life-form,
but the connotation surrounding that word

is usually linked to extraterrestrial life.

So does this mean Gorb is some kind of alien?

That’s not all, the Hall of Gods also gives
a pretty interesting description to Gorb,

calling him a “Dreamborn god of the beyond”.

What exactly is “the beyond”?

Could it be outer space?

Maybe ascending with Gorb is literally ascending
in some kind of spaceship.

I mean, the architecture of Hallownest seems
far too complex for simple bugs.

It would make much more sense if there was
some advanced alien race helping build these

monuments.

All of the unexplainable aspects of Hollow
Knight lore have any answer.

Where did Bretta go?

Aliens!

How did the Hollow Knight grow?

Aliens!

The Pentagon?

Aliens!

Now obviously, I am mostly joking, but there
really isn’t much to go on with Gorb.

The concept of the mind, and using it to ascend
is a noticeable theme in Hollow Knight.

But there doesn’t seem to be anything special
about Gorb.

Gorb was created by Aladar Appaponyi.

Perhaps he could shed some light on why Gorb’s
backstory is so incredibly vague and odd.

I was able to get into contact with Aladar,
but apparently he didn’t really have a backstory

for Gorb.

He didn’t even give Gorb a name.

All he gave Team Cherry was this drawing.

This early version of Gorb was a slug that
wielded a nail in his mouth.

The idea was that he tricked the player into
thinking he was weak, but in reality he had

great defense.

So it seems all of Gorb’s strange alien
nonsense came from Team Cherry themselves.

This leaves us with one final Dream Warrior:
No Eyes.

No Eyes can be found in the Stone Sanctuary
in Greenpath.

She was a warrior who disappeared during the
infection.

Out of all the dream warriors in the game,
I’d say No Eyes is the most interesting

and the most cryptic.

No Eyes was first revealed in a Kickstarter
update where Team Cherry explained that her

backstory was one of the most disturbing bits
of fiction they had ever read.

Unfortunately, they didn’t share any details
on what her original backstory is, but luckily

someone on Reddit was able to contact the
original backer, Liza Kretzschmar, and provide

us with No Eyes’ backstory.

According to the reddit post, No Eyes was
off on a quest when the infection spread throughout

Hallownest.

She had left her children behind, thinking
they would be safe.

When she returned, she refused to believe
that her children could have been killed by

the infection, so she ran inside the sanctuary
to get them out safely.

She found them inside, both maddened and hungry.

No Eyes tried to pick up some of her children,
but they swarmed her, devouring her eyes along

with the rest of her body.

No Eyes’ ghost would warn the player to
stay away from the sanctuary.

Her nursery rhyme that she sings was supposed
to actually be instructions on how the player

needs to move throughout the room in order
to avoid getting hit by the children.

The whole battle was just avoiding the ghosts
until all the rounds were finished.

Of course in the final game, the ghosts are
just the way No Eyes attacks as she teleports

around the room.

And the nursery rhyme is just gibberish...
creepy gibberish.

This backstory kinda makes sense with No Eyes’
quote in the Hunter’s Journal which reads

“They’re coming…

What’s inside of you….

Strip it out!”.

It appears as though No Eyes is warning others
about her children coming to eat their eyes

out.

When the Knight interacts with her, she seems
to think the Knight is one of her children

at first.

We’ve seen this before that sometimes ghosts
don’t really understand what they are looking

at and… well No Eyes is fucking blind.

So she’d probably think anyone who walked
in there would be her child.

And she starts by saying “Please, don’t
hurt me!”

Which reinforced the idea that her children
attacked her.

But then the dialogue takes a bit of a turn.

No Eyes says that the Knight can’t sleep
with its eyes open, and it can’t dream if

it’s still breathing.

Judging by the sentence structure here, No
Eyes wants the Knight to stop breathing so

it can dream.

There’s a pretty strong parallel to the
Radiance here, especially when we look at

No Eyes other dialogue.

So this means No Eyes might have succumbed
to the Infection.

We know that Xero and Elder Hu met similar
fates, but this isn’t guaranteed for all

dream warriors.

Galien died because he was a moron, and Gorb
probably died from a coke overdose.

So it might be that No Eyes was infected,
and then decided to strip the eyes out of

her children so that they could sleep and
dream too.

That would explain why the ghosts she summons
also appear to be missing their eyes.

We can tell from No Eyes’ next line that
this resulted in her children saying loathsome

things while they slept.

This might be a reference to the fact that
these bugs’ ghosts still haunt the Stone

Sanctuary.

Another explanation is that No Eyes tore everyone's
eyes out as a preemptive measure to try and

stop the infection from getting to them.

Basically she’s blinded all her kids out
of fear, but ultimately they all still perished.

After the battle with the Knight, we see that
all of these spirits are finally put to rest,

and No Eyes embraces being taken to a place
where the Radiance’s light and dreams can’t

haunt her and her children anymore.

I’m not really sure how the line “They’re
coming…” fits into either of these two

interpretations though.

Who are “they” if not No Eyes’ children?

The Radiance?

Other infected bugs?

Regardless, it does seem like Team Cherry
tweaked the Liza’s original story at least

a bit.

And that’s pretty much all I have to say
about the dream warriors.

They haven’t been discussed much on this
channel, but that’s mainly just because

they are pretty inconsequential to anything
that actually happens, unlike say a character

like Menderbug.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Small, pointless details are what make Hollow
Knight such an amazing game.

Like how the bench in the Archive has Monomon’s
face on it.

Or how the Glowing Womb bugs turn into little
turds when you have the Defender’s Crest

equipped.

Or how the Nailsmith’s rotting corpse can
be found in the junk pit.

Amazing.

By the way, have you ever heard of a little
hellhole called Discord?

If so, maybe you’d like to check out my
new Discord server called mossbag & friends.

There, you can talk about all things Hollow
Knight or mossbag related.

Like discussing the moral implications of
dream nailing ghosts.

Or bitching about how the latest Indie World
presentation didn’t shadow drop Silksong.

We even have some amazing invite and banner
art created by ZamZam and Yoclesh.

So please, check the link in the description
if you’re interested, and let’s see how

long it takes before I regret ever creating
this server.

I’m thinking….

April.