Gods & Glory™ is gonna be YUUUGGEE [speculation]

So earlier this month William Pellen and Ari
Gibson made the long drive from their home

in Adelaide, South Australia to E3 here in
the United States.

[AMERICA!! FUCK YEAH!!]

Aw yes, America, the home of the free. Now
don’t get me wrong, America definitely has

its own list of problems but despite all that,
I’m still proud to be an American. Sure,

we may not have those cute koala bears like
they do in Australia. But you know what, that’s

just fine. Who wants koala bears anyway? Like
90% of them have chlamydia.

So why exactly did Team Cherry come down to
E3 and risk getting gunned down in the streets

of LA? Well, two things. First of all, they
likely came over to eat some of the finest

cuisine America has to offer. The second reason
was to promote the release of Hollow Knight

on the Nintendo Switch. Now the Nintendo Switch
has sort of become an indie developer’s

wet dream. As a Switch owner myself, I can
tell you that indie titles are all we have

to play while we wait for the next Wii U port
to come out. Shovel Knight’s launch on Switch

sold faster than any other platform release,
and the game was almost three years old by

then. And Celeste has sold better on Switch
than on any other platform as well. So yeah,

Hollow Knight is probably going to do pretty
well. Team Cherry is probably swimming in

piles of gold as we speak.

But it wasn’t just the Switch release that
Team Cherry had for us. They also showed off

some new footage for Content Pack 3, Gods
& Glory™. And no, Lifeblood doesn’t count

as a content pack, that was a “Major Update”.
It’s a totally different thing. But if new

footage wasn’t enough, Team Cherry also
held a Reddit AMA on r/nintendoswitch. We

learned a little bit about Gods & Glory™
as well as some other cool information. According

to Ari Gibson, the snail from the Weird and
Wonderful World trailer got cut from the game

because it was too big. Okay, really Ari?
If fucking Ridley can get his giant ass into

Smash Bros, I’m pretty sure Gary the Snail
here can fit into your little indie game.

Also, Hollow Knight 2 confirmed for 2028.
Anyway, between this new AMA and the gameplay

footage shown at E3, there is a lot to talk
about.

So let’s start by looking at the details
Team Cherry gave us in the Kickstarter update

first announcing Gods & Glory™. In this
post, Team Cherry teased that the update would

feature a new game mode. Now when I first
heard this, I thought it was obviously going

to be some form of Hollow Knight Battle Royale.
People have been begging Team Cherry for this

game mode since the Kickstarter began back
in 2014. I for one would love to run around

and smack other players with a fucking frying
pan. Well maybe not a frying pan, but you

get the idea.

Well, it turns out I was wrong, because during
the Nintendo Live Treehouse Event, Ari and

William showcased some of the new update and
explained that Gods & Glory™ would be Team

Cherry’s take on a boss rush mode.

“But we didn’t want to just make a boss
rush mode, we wanted to do it in our way.

And what that meant was, we wanted to integrate
it completely into the game experience. We

wanted to make sure there’s a narrative
in there. We wanted to make sure that it’s

all part of the Knight’s journey, and it’s
not like a separate divided mode from them

to play.”

So in other words, Team Cherry wanted to fit
a boss rush mode into the game that still

made sense lorewise. And to do this, Team
Cherry has introduced a new character called

the Godseeker.

But before we get into that, let’s talk
about the mechanics behind this new boss rush

mode. What we see in the Treehouse Live event
is that there are different arenas in this

new area called Godhome, where the Knight
faces off against a selection of bosses. The

player also has the option to bind certain
abilities to make the match more difficult.

The game appears to keep track of which bindings
you’ve beaten each area with. After William

defeats the last boss, we see one of the five
empty notches get filled on the archway above

the door. This makes me think that the other
four notches represent each of the different

bindings that the player can enable for the
arena.

In this first arena, we see William Pellen
face off against the Vengefly King, the Dung

Defender, The Mega Moss Charger, Hornet and
Paintmaster Sheo. Now during the Treehouse

event, Ari Gibson mentioned that some of the
old bosses were being tweaked for this new

boss rush area. We can actually see this in
the footage provided. In the original game,

the Knight could fight the Massive Moss Charger,
but here, it’s the Mega Moss Charger.

So it looks like some of the more lackluster
bosses might be getting a tune up, which is

pretty cool. Maybe they’ll finally give
Nosk those badass wings that got cut from

the game. Another character that might be
getting a treatment is the Hollow Knight,

albeit in a slightly different way. We see
a brief glimpse of the Hollow Knight during

the Gods & Glory™ teaser trailer. Something
important to note here is that the Hollow

Knight is lacking the giant crack on his shell.
This crack first appeared at the start of

the game, when the Radiance began seeping
out of the Hollow Knight and can be seen during

the battle with the Hollow Knight. Also it
looks like the Knight is wearing armor. The

armor plating on his shoulders is clearly
absent on the statue found in the City of

Tears. So it looks like we might be facing
a younger version of the Hollow Knight, with

a moveset possibly more based on swordplay
than just mindless attacks.

They also show off the Radiance in the teaser
trailer. Is it possible we are going to get

another fight with her too? Will she be any
different? The Godhome looks a lot like where

the Radiance battle took place, so maybe these
two beings are more closely related than we

realize.

Anyway, once the Godseeker’s quest is finished,
a new mode is unlocked, which dataminers have

been able to figure out is called God’s
Glory. There is also a sprite design for the

new mode. So is this just another version
of the Boss Rush Mode? That seems pretty weird

since it is listed with Normal Mode and Steel
Soul Mode. Maybe this new mode will be tied

to the whole “glorifying charm” aspect
Team Cherry announced in the Kickstarter update.

Alright, so we talked about some of the mechanics
of this new update. Now let’s talk about

lore.
In the Treehouse event, we see the Knight

unlock the chains on a cocoon with a simple
key. Then the corpse of a giant bug falls

out. Now I think it’s fair to argue that
this is the Godseeker. Obviously the creature

was chained up, like the Kickstarter update
said. Also, the creature can be dream nailed,

allowing the Knight to enter an area called
Godhome.

But this is where things get confusing. The
kickstarter update talks about how the Godseeker

quest will expand the player’s romance options.
Is Team Cherry saying we can romanic this

corpse?

♫I’ve been really tryiiinnnggg, baby!♫

[THUD]

Of course it seems like the Godseeker might
still be around in the Godhome. I assume that’s

her sitting on the throne during this battle.
Maybe the bug we find in the Junk Pit is just

a carrier for the Godseeker. It’s a pretty
common theme that we see with both Grimm and

the Pale King. In the Treehouse event, there
is never any opportunity to talk to this character,

so we still don’t know what Team Cherry
is talking about with all of the this romance

stuff.

So yeah, why is a chained up cocoon sitting
in a junkpit in the Royal Waterways? The easy

explanation, and my own personal belief, is
that the Godseeker was yet another powerful

being that the Pale King attempted to hide
away from the world. It’s pretty obvious

that the Pale King didn’t really want to
share his kingdom with other powerful beings.

He locked away the Radiance. He deemed lifeblood,
a blue liquidy goop connected to another powerful

being, a heresy. And he possibly had the grubs
imprisoned because of some holy power they

had. It is kind of strange, though. The Radiance
had three layers of protection over her, while

the grubs were spread out and hidden all across
Hallownest. But the Godseeker can be unlocked

with a simple key. I gotta say, the Pale King
got a little lazy with this one.

Similar to Grimm, I am guessing that the Godseeker’s
quest will involve something to do with keeping

herself alive. As for what this quest is,
my guess is that the Godseeker is searching

for a being that is worthy of the title “God”.
The Kickstarter description for the content

pack reads “Take your place amongst the
Gods in an epic celebration of Hallownest's

Glory and the final chapter of the Knight's
journey.” So the Godseeker watches you fight

all of these bosses, and by the end, might
elevate you to the status of God somehow.

So how does finding a God help the Godseeker
prolong her existence? I don’t know. It’s

possible that she seeks out Gods so she can
kill them or maybe have crazy bug sex with

them to create another more powerful baby
God bug thing. I know that sounds weird but

it’s pretty par for the coarse when the
rest of Hollow Knight’s lore is concerned

One final note, In the Switch trailer, we
see that the Godseeker is no longer on the

throne. Is this because she only watches each
arena fight once, or is there some other reason

why she isn’t there? Do we have to kill
her or something?

Let’s shift gears and talk about the Nailmasters.
So the three Nailmasters, Sheo, Mato and Oro

were all trained by the Great Nailsage, who
we know is Sly. Nailmaster Sheo, who lives

in Greenpath, eventually gave up his nail
to pursue a different craft, drawing Nailsmith

like he draws those french girl. The other
two Nailmasters, Oro and Mato, don’t seem

to get along very well.

The two have very different personalities,
with Oro, the brother found in Kingdom’s

Edge, wanting you to leave him alone. Mato,
who resides in the Howling Cliffs, however,

says that he basically considers the Knight
his child after meeting it like twice. Oro

seems to detest Mato’s sense of loyalty
and honor, and his Dream Nail dialogue implies

that Oro’s choices in life were justified
in his eyes, but that Mato won’t even listen

to him. Also, Oro is the only Nailmaster who
charges Geo in order to receive training.

The main conflict between these two bugs is
that Oro owes something to Mato. Mato reassures

us that he has not forgotten about this debt,
while Oro tells us that Mato will have to

wait a little while longer. Considering the
fact that Oro charges Geo for his lessons,

I’m guessing he owes Mato money. But that
doesn’t help us understand what Oro’s

lifestyle choices were. Was he turning tricks
on the street or something?

More interesting than the Nailmasters, however,
is our good buddy Sly. We know that Sly is

the Great Nailsage who trained all of the
Nailmasters, but we don’t know much about

how Sly ended up as a shopkeeper in Dirtmouth.
However, there’s a little bit more to his

story that is worth looking into. When we
first meet Sly, he is being influenced by

the infection. He has one line here that is
pretty interesting:

“...Esmy... how much deeper do we have to
go…”

We have no idea who Esmy is, but I think I
have an idea about where she might have gone.

When Sly is presented with the Shopkeeper’s
Key, he correctly guesses that we found it

in the Crystal Peaks. He claims he has no
idea how they key ended up there, but that

doesn’t make sense. Did Esmy lead Sly into
the Crystal Peaks, resulting in some sort

of event that caused Sly to lose both his
key and Esmy? Or did Team Cherry just put

it there because, well, it has to go somewhere?
I don’t know, but I do hope Team Cherry

gives us a little more info on this story

I’ll briefly mention here that a lot of
people have speculated that Sly is actually

Mighty Hegemol, one of the Five Great Knights.
This is mainly because of his small size and

his proximity to the location of Hegemol’s
armor. I know I said before that Hollow Knight’s

lore is vague enough for any interpretation
to be viable. Well, that’s not true. There’s

no way Sly’s actually Hegemol, and there’s
no way that you could convince me otherwise.

Okay, so how are these four characters going
to be used in the upcoming content pack? Are

they just boss fights, or is there any more
coming in the future? Well, at the very least,

we’ll be able to Dream Nail them for just
a little bit more lore, but I don’t think

Team Cherry can fit all of the lore for Esmy
in just a few Dream Nail dialogues. Another

thing that Team Cherry can do is add more
information about these bosses using the Hunter’s

Journal. The journal entries are an easy way
to add lore into the game. I mean they even

have a Hunter’s Journal entry for the Seal
of Binding. Now how does that make sense?

I mean, you wouldn’t “hunt” a seal.

Okay, bad example.

But considering the Hunter has entries for
the Grimm Troupe characters and the Grey Prince

Zote enemies, using lines from texts he definitely
wouldn’t have access to, it seems like his

Journal is becoming less and less grounded
in the reality of Hollow Knight. I’m not

saying I want Team Cherry to stop doing this.
In fact, I have a couple of things I’d like

them to add Journal entries for. Regardless,
whatever method they chose, I hope Team Cherry

is at least able to find a way to add in at
least some new lore for these guys.

One important thing to note about Gods & Glory™
is that it is the last big update for the

Knight’s journey, so this is Team Cherry’s
last chance to cover some important details.

Of course, things like the Weavers and the
trilobite statue in Beast’s Den can be saved

for the Hornet DLC, but this isn’t the case
for everything.

I think there is a good chance that we will
finally find out how the Hollow Knight grew.

I don’t think the Hornet DLC can answer
this question, because Hornet was either not

born or just a baby when the Hollow Knight
was sealed away. We know this because the

White Lady says that Hornet and Herrah spent
little time together. At this time, Herrah

would have to be put into sleep as a Dreamer,
and the Hollow Knight was presumably already

fully grown.

The only theory I really ever hear for the
Hollow Knight’s growth is that it was a

side effect of taking in the infection. Which
is possible, but the growth seen with the

infection is usually more of a mutation, causing
things to look unnatural. The Hollow Knight

looks like a creature that grew normally.
But then again, what the fuck is normal in

this game?

Another thing that Team Cherry might expand
on in this update is the lore surrounding

the Snail Shamans. During the Reddit AMA,
someone asked Team Cherry if the Snail Shamans

would be explained any further, to which William
replied “Yes?” We don’t know much about

the Snail Shamans. There’s only one that’s
still alive in the game, and he tells us that

he is somehow bound to the ancestral mound.
What is interesting about the snail shamans

is that they appear to be made of Void. The
main reason I believe this is because the

shamans in the Crystalized Mound and the Soul
Sanctum explode into black orbs, which isn’t

really a think regular bugs would do. Other
than the Knight and the bugs in the Soul Sanctum,

the Shamans are the only creatures still around
who know how to use soul, indicating that

their history in Hallownest goes back a long
time.

Now there’s lots of other little chunks
of lore Team Cherry could throw into this

content pack. Lifeblood, the grubs, the Colosseum
of Fools, whoever the fuck Tuk is looking

for.

But of course there’s one very important
piece of lore that we simply cannot ignore.

Bretta. As I’m sure you all remember, Bretta
left Dirtmouth in Content Pack 2 to go and

find her true love, since neither the Knight
nor Zote were good enough for her. Personally,

I think the Hunter is a perfect match for
Bretta. Please, consider the following. Bretta

left Zote because he claimed to be a great
warrior but really wasn’t. The Hunter is

basically everything that Zote isn’t, so
Bretta would probably like him. Both the Hunter

and Bretta are writers. The Hunter has his
descriptive journals while Bretta has her

sensual fanfiction. That’s clearly something
they could bond over. And then there’s the

proximity of Greenpath to the Howling Cliffs.
And finally, this kills two birds with one

stone. The Hunter’s arc really just sorta
stops. It would be a damn shame if Team Cherry

didn’t do anything else with his character.

Now you might be thinking, Team Cherry is
most definitely going to just kill Bretta

off. And that is a fair point. I mean, Team
Cherry has a pretty damning track record of

this. Just look at Cloth.

♫Mm, whatcha’ say??♫

♫Mm, that you only meant well?♫

And Tiso.

♫Mm, whatcha’ say??♫

♫Mm, that you only meant well?♫

And Quirrel.

♫OCEAN MAN!♫

♫TAKE ME BY THE HAND♫

But I really hope things turn out differently
this time. Please, Team Cherry, I know you

watch my videos. Please for the love of God,
don’t kill Bretta. I mean, yeah she’s

kind of an asshole, but still, she doesn’t
deserve to die.

So yeah, that’s about it for this video.
The main take away from all this is that Gods

and Glory™ is gonna be fucking huge! You
can tell that Team Cherry is going all out

on this. I mean, if seeing Chunky Fluke in
action doesn’t get you excited for this

update, then I don’t know what will. I guess
we should talk about when this update might

release. In the Reddit AMA, Ari Gibson said
that the update was heading into internal

testing, which is a good sign. In the kickstarter
update announcing the Switch launch, Team

Cherry said that the new content pack would
be coming out shortly afterwards. So that’s

good. Let’s see if we can find a clip of
Ari saying that with his own mouth.

“This is an upcoming content pack that we’re
gonna release for free in the coming months.

It’s called Hollow Knight”

GOD DAMMIT!