-
The Snail Shamans are one of the biggest mysteries
in all of Hallownest.
-
I know I’ve said that before, about the
Ancient Civilization, about Mask Maker, about
-
the nature of Higher Beings, about Mister
Mushroom, and about Zote’s political ideology.
-
But I really do mean it this time.
-
The Snail Shamans are a pretty easy group
of characters to overlook in Hollow Knight.
-
They’re definitely important, but they don’t
seem too related to anything that actually
-
happens in the main story the character unravels
throughout the game.
-
The Shamans also don’t really tell us much
about who they are or where they came from.
-
This is in part due to the fact that the vast
majority of them are dead.
-
And for the one Shaman who is alive, his dialogue
only gives us small glimpses into the Snail
-
Shaman culture and practices.
-
One important thing to understand about the
Snail Shamans is how they are related to Soul,
-
one of the main spell systems found in Hollow
Knight.
-
Hollow Knight’s spell system is introduced
very early in the game, and while it’s easy
-
to understand mechanically, the lore surrounding
it isn’t quite as straightforward.
-
Hitting enemies will give you “Soul” which
you can “Focus” to either heal or use
-
attacks.
-
But what is Soul?
-
Is it like mana?
-
Why is Soul always displayed as a white liquidy
goop?
-
Is it some kind of “spiritual milk”?
-
It’s possible that Soul even have some kind
of taste.
-
The Hunter shares his thoughts in the Soul
Twister hunter’s journal entry, saying:
-
I have heard others talk about 'soul' but
I do not understand what it actually is.
-
I do know that freshly killed meat tastes
best - is that because the 'soul' still clings
-
to it?
-
Of course this seems more like idle speculation
on the Hunter’s part, and unfortunately,
-
he doesn’t actually tell us what Soul might
taste like, so we can only make educated guesses
-
on that front.
-
Hollow Knight’s Soul system draws more from
the concept of shamanism than the traditional
-
fantasy magic systems you’d find in stuff
like Lord of the Rings or Arthur.
-
Basically, every living bug contains Soul,
and this Soul is used to animate their bodies,
-
so Soul seems to act like a lifeforce primarily.
-
But Soul can be found elsewhere.
-
In fact, Soul is so prevalent throughout the
world that it permeates the air itself, and
-
Soul is so valuable that several groups in
Hallownest have taken efforts to store or
-
manipulate Soul in some way.
-
The Ancient Civilization built totems used
to store Soul.
-
The Soul Sanctum scholars appeared to have
studied these totems and ended up using glass
-
jars to store the Soul of bugs they captured.
-
And then there’s the Snail Shamans.
-
Their goals and habits are probably even more
vague than the Ancient Civilizatio At least
-
we know that they were worshipping the Void.
-
As for the Shamans, they just sort of hang
out inside their own little mounds.
-
And we don’t know exactly why.
-
We also have no idea where they came from
or how they fit in with the other groups in
-
Hallownest.
-
But it’s clear that they have a strong connection
to Soul, and that connection ties deeply into
-
how they live their lives.
-
The majority of the Shamans the Knight finds
are located in these areas called mounds.
-
These mounds are described by the Wanderer’s
Journal as ancient temples constructed from
-
the bones and shells of innumerable dead creatures.
-
These mounds also appear to have some actual
structure to them, with several beams of wood
-
arranged in various ways.
-
And I use the term “structure” loosely.
-
And just to clarify, this stuff isn’t technically
wood, but instead “shellwood”.
-
The Hunter mentions that Zote’s Life Ender
is made from this shellwood substance, and
-
there’s also a developer’s note about
it as well.
-
But what is shellwood actually?
-
How would one carve a shell into wood?
-
Well, my theory is that I have no fucking
idea.
-
Getting back to the mounds, I’m guessing
they are supposed to be similar to burial
-
mounds.
-
There’s literally a bench made out of bones
here, so I don’t think that’s much of
-
a stretch.
-
The Shaman even says that the spirits of his
ancestors will watch over the Knight when
-
he forces it to kill the Elder Balder.
-
There’s no denying that Soul is connected
to dead bugs.
-
Whenever you cast a spell, you can hear whispering
coming from the Soul.
-
*spooky whispering
-
Which makes sense because the Knight is literally
conjuring an angry spirit and firing it off
-
to attack its foes, hence the name “Vengeful
Spirit”.
-
The Soul Sanctum bugs also fire attacks that
make this whispering sound.
-
*ᵖᵉᵉ ᶦˢ ˢᵗᵒʳᵉᵈ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃˡˡˢ
-
We can even hear the nightmarish cries of
distressed Souls in the second phase of the
-
Soul Master fight.
-
*demonic voices WHAT THE HELL
-
This is kinda weird.
-
There are already ghosts in Hollow Knight,
but these creatures are completely different.
-
Ghosts are made up of Essence, a substance
which can take the form of bygone memories.
-
So Essence can hold part of a bug’s personality
or identity in a sense.
-
But Soul can kinda do the same thing.
-
The whispering of Souls implies it holds some
semblance of the bugs it occupies.
-
And Soul can take the form of Spirits which…
-
I think are the same things as ghosts?
-
So there are two different forces in the world
of Hollow Knight that can create apparitions.
-
This is a pretty big deviation from how actual
ghosts work in the real world.
-
But we all know how that stuff works, so I
don’t want to bore you with the details.
-
The Ancestral Mound also gives us a bit more
information about the Snail Shamans via the
-
Whispering Root found there.
-
The dialogue produced by this root reads:
-
...Soul attuned...
-
...Spiral focus...
-
...Shunned Power...
-
The first line is a little vague.
-
It just seems to be confirming that the Snail
Shaman is attuned to Soul in some way.
-
We don’t really know how difficult it is
to be Soul attuned, but it seems like the
-
Snail Shamans had a much better grasp on how
to use Soul when compared against the bugs
-
of Hallownest, even including the ones in
the Soul Sanctum.
-
We only see the Snail Shaman use Soul once.
-
He actually uses his cute little staff to
conjure up the Vengeful Spirit out of thin
-
air.
-
He demonstrates a clear capacity to manipulate
Soul when he does this.
-
The Snail Shaman also has the Soul Catcher
charm, which is used by Shamans to collect
-
Soul from the world around them.
-
Another Shaman relic found in the game, the
Shaman Stone, informs us that the Snail Shamans
-
have spent generations growing their knowledge
of Soul manipulation to create powerful spells.
-
One final Shaman charm even gives us a peek
into how Shamans once lived.
-
The Soul Eater charm is a forgotten Shaman
artifact that was used to draw Soul from still-living
-
creatures.
-
So it seems like Shamans of the past were
more intent on taking Soul from others, instead
-
of passively collecting Souls in temples riddled
with remains.
-
As for why this practice was forgotten, it
may have to do with the arrival of the Pale
-
King in Hallownest.
-
We know that the King did not approve of this
sort of repurposing of other bugs’ Soul.
-
He explicitly objected to the action taken
by the bugs of the Soul Sanctum.
-
These bugs harvested the Souls of others,
literally consuming Soul to the point where
-
their bodies became bloated and deformed.
-
My favorite example of this has to be the
Soul Master.
-
When staggered, we can literally see Soul
escaping out of his body as he shrivels up
-
like a raisin.
-
And when he dies, the Desolate Dive ability
seeps out of his mouth like a deflating balloon.
-
The second line given by the Whispering Root
might give us another little insight into
-
how the Snail Shamans are able to manipulate
Soul.
-
The “spiral focus” line might be referring
to the spiral shell the Shaman wears on his
-
head.
-
This spiral pattern also shows up on the inside
of all three Snail Shaman charms, a small
-
detail that might highlight its importance.
-
There seems to be some sort of connection
between the use of Soul, focusing and the
-
head.
-
The Godseeker focuses using a crest located
on the mask she wears on her head.
-
Although in this case, she isn’t focusing
Soul, but thoughts.
-
The Godseeker is sort of an outlier here,
but she still shows a connection between the
-
head of a creature, and the act of focusing.
-
There’s also the Kingsoul and Void Heart
charms.
-
Another Hollow Knight lore YouTuber, Ccmaci,
pointed out to me that these charms have a
-
similar looking crest or insignia on their
foreheads, like what we see with the Godseeker’s
-
mask.
-
This might entirely be a coincidence, but
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was intentional,
-
as it could imply the Knight having a greater
mastery over Soul and Void respectively.
-
The Soul Sanctum bugs claim that they are
trying to obtain a pure “Focus” which
-
somehow involves consuming large amounts of
Soul.
-
One of the end results of this is how their
minds swell and ache.
-
On top of that, all of the scholars wear these
strange jewels on their heads, which are occasionally
-
used to fire off Soul attacks.
-
These appear to be the same objects that we
see on the Spell Twister charm.
-
Perhaps they act like the crest on Godseekers
head, helping them focus.
-
Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to
go on here.
-
Another vague connection we can make is to
the Mask Maker.
-
The Mask Maker tells us that one requires
a face to “define, focus and exist”, which
-
is pretty open to interpretation but it’s
definitely important.
-
So maybe this head-Soul connection is an extension
of that in some way.
-
That being said, Soul is such a vague force
in this game that you can connect it to a
-
lot of things, and it’s hard to tell what
connections were actually intended by Team
-
Cherry.
-
In my King’s Pass video, I talked a lot
about focusing and Soul and how regular bugs
-
might be able to focus their own Souls in
some way.
-
In my Silksong speculation videos, I talk
about how Hornet might be able to make silk
-
that is composed of Soul.
-
In my video discussing the post war politics
of Australia after the Emu War, I mentioned
-
that Soul might taste like vegemite.
-
And with so many different ways Soul can be
interpreted, it’s kinda hard to say there
-
is a definite connection between the concept
of the face or the head and Soul.
-
But I do think there are some strands there.
-
The last line of the Whispering Root is fairly
easy to understand.
-
The Shaman’s power to use Soul was probably
shunned by the Pale King.
-
Like I said earlier, he didn’t seem to approve
of the Soul Sanctum’s experiments at all.
-
Or it might just be that the other bugs of
Hallownest find freaky snail people with bone
-
furniture both scary and disgusting.
-
We know other strange powers like Lifeblood
were considered taboo in Hallownest too.
-
So something as strange as Soul manipulation
was probably treated the same way.
-
This line could also explain another phenomenon
we see with the Shamans.
-
We know from the Snail Shaman’s dialogue
that he is bound to the Ancestral Mound in
-
some way.
-
There’s also a developer’s note about
this line of dialogue, which reads:
-
At some point hints that he can not leave
the mound.
-
"Can not" could mean he stays out of duty,
or literally can not leave
-
We find Snail Shamans in the Ancestral Mound,
Overgrown Mound and Crystallized Mound.
-
If we find any of them outside of a mound,
they are either buried, or being brutally
-
tortured.
-
There’s one in the Soul Sanctum, who appears
to have been subjected to experiments.
-
And there’s one sealed in a sarcophagus
in the Resting Grounds.
-
Perhaps Snail Shamans were forced to remain
near their mounds due to how the rest of Hallownest
-
perceived their power.
-
But that doesn’t seem too likely considering
everyone is pretty much dead at this point.
-
So it’s probably either that the Shaman
has a sense of duty to the mound, or his strength
-
is somehow tied to it.
-
Maybe the Shaman’s spells don’t work as
well outside the mound, so he is vastly underpowered
-
to leave his home.
-
After all, he doesn’t even seem capable
of clearing out his own den of dangerous creatures.
-
But it’s anyone’s guess, honestly.
-
Team Cherry very much left this part of the
lore ambiguous.
-
Of course, there’s one question looming
over the nature of the Snail Shamans.
-
A question that gets thrown around a lot whenever
discussion about them arises.
-
Are the Snail Shamans Void?
-
In my video on the Ancient Civilization, I
confidently said there was no question that
-
these things were Void creatures.
-
But…
-
I think I jumped the gun a little bit.
-
So now it’s time to lace up those clown
shoes, put on that clown makeup, and pull
-
out your clown keyboards, because we are about
to have a serious discussion about whether
-
or not Snail Shamans are Void.
-
So what was 2019 mossbag’s reasoning behind
calling the Shamans Void?
-
Well, it mainly comes down to a few simple
observations.
-
When the Knight examines the Snail Shaman
in the Soul Sanctum, it explodes into black
-
particles that the Knight absorbs.
-
The Snail Shaman in the Crystalized Mound
also explodes in the same way.
-
The Knight collects the Shade Soul and Descending
Dark from these Shamans respectively.
-
What’s interesting here is that while the
prompts for these moves still mention spirits,
-
their descriptions in the menu describe them
as shadows.
-
For the Abyss Shriek move, we can even see
the attack uses a combination of Soul and
-
shadow.
-
And there’s even unused art of a Vengeful
Spirit-like move with this same motif.
-
Regardless, these upgrades all mix the original
Soul-based attacks to also use Void.
-
One noteworthy distinction between the Soul
upgrades and the Void upgrades is that the
-
Soul upgrades appear as these little spirit
sprites.
-
The Void spells don’t have this at all.
-
In all three instances, it’s black balls
flying into the Knight.
-
And in the third instance that takes place
in the Abyss, we can be fairly sure that the
-
Knight is consuming Void.
-
This invites a very simple conclusion.
-
These Shamans explode into Void which the
Knight then sucks up to inherit their spells.
-
And that makes sense.
-
Bada bing bada boom, right?
-
Well, let’s talk about the elephant in the
room.
-
Characters exploding into stuff happens on
a number of occasions in Hollow Knight, and
-
it doesn’t always make sense.
-
For example, when the Seer disappears after
collecting 2400 Essence, she appears to transform
-
into a Lumafly.
-
It’s a really small detail that might have
lore implications, but there is absolutely
-
nothing else in the game to follow up on this,
and it opens such a huge can of worms that
-
I’m afraid to even talk about it.
-
There’s also the Grey Mourner and the Brooding
Mawlek who explode into Mask Shards.
-
This makes absolutely no sense.
-
If people can just die and turn into masks,
then why the hell do we need Mask Maker?
-
Are masks somehow connected to the Souls of
bugs?
-
Was the Brooding Mawlek hiding this Mask Shard
up its asshole?
-
That sounds painful!
-
A more agreeable and straightforward explanation
is that this is just a gameplay quirk.
-
Another example we can compare this to is
Grey Prince Zote.
-
Several of his animations use the black ball
effect similar to what we see with the Snail
-
Shamans and the Abyss.
-
Since this entire fight takes place inside
a Dream concocted by Bretta’s obsessive
-
mind, this probably isn’t supposed to imply
that Zote is Void.
-
In fact, it seems highly unlikely that Bretta
would even know what Void is.
-
So black stuff that appears in her dream is
probably just an ingame effect used to portray
-
the conjuring of a character made up mostly
of the color black.
-
We’re in a similar boat with these Shamans.
-
These effects might purely be an aesthetic
choice by Team Cherry, and not proof that
-
the Shamans are actually Void.
-
If we talk to the Snail Shaman after getting
the Shade Soul, he implies that it was the
-
Knight’s essence that melded with the spell,
using a powerful source to do so.
-
The wording here is annoying in how obscure
it is.
-
So stuff goes into the Knight, giving it enough
power to transform the spell inside it with
-
its own essence, and by essence, I don’t
mean actual Essence, but Void.
-
There’s enough vagueness there to perhaps
argue that the Knight is absorbing the power
-
of the Shamans in a general sense, and not
somehow absorbing their Void bodies, but it
-
would honestly make more sense to me if they
were just Void.
-
I mean that seems to be the case when we get
the Abyss Shriek.
-
Another possible hint at Shamans being Void
is how the Shaman in the Overgrown Mound appears
-
to be melting, kind of like what we see with
Void in other locations, particularly the
-
Collector.
-
But it could be just dark colored leaves,
to help sell the “overgrown” aspect of
-
the mound.
-
As a side note, if the Shamans are Void, it’s
kinda weird they put one in a sarcophagus.
-
It’s certainly possible, but I think it
would be the only instance of a Void creature
-
having a “proper” burial.
-
Another small detail to consider is how the
Snail Shaman calls the Knight a shadow and
-
mentions its “empty face”.
-
This could imply that the Snail Shamans are
at least aware of what Void is.
-
The only characters who call the Knight a
shadow directly are Hornet and the Dreamers,
-
and arguably Divine, all characters who are
more likely to know what Void is.
-
It’s obvious that the Snail Shaman is pretty
aware of things, considering he can tell when
-
he is Dream Nailed.
-
Also, the fact that he says our essence melded
with the Vengeful Spirit after getting the
-
Shade Soul kinda implies that he knows the
Knight is unique.
-
How exactly would a non-Void creature's essence
meld with a Void spell?
-
So that’s all of the evidence for why the
Shamans are Void.
-
Our main argument is balls.
-
And yes, balls are pretty convincing in most
instances of Hollow Knight lore discussion.
-
But once we get into non-ball related topics,
there are a lot of other issues that pop up
-
with this theory.
-
First of all, if the Shamans are Void, where
did they come from?
-
For a lot of Void beings, we have explanations.
-
The Kingsmoulds and Wingmounds were created
to serve the Pale King.
-
The Collector probably also came from that
mold, and probably is sort of working with
-
the Pale King, it’s a whole thing, we’re
not getting into it right now.
-
The Vessels were also created by the Pale
King, when he placed eggs containing his children
-
in the Abyss.
-
The ferocious Void Tendrils and Shade Lord
appear to be more intricately tied to the
-
Abyss and Void itself, although the specifics
are muddy on that front.
-
The Shamans, on the other hand, don’t have
any leads for their possible Void origins.
-
In fact, we are fairly certain they didn’t
come from the Abyss at all.
-
After obtaining the Abyss Shriek, the Snail
Shaman tells the Knight that the spell must
-
have come from a place the Snail Shamans never
thought to look.
-
This implies that the Shamans aren’t connected
to the Abyss at all, unless the Snail Shaman
-
somehow forgot where his people came from.
-
That seems unlikely, but we do know that the
Snail Shamans have forgotten at least one
-
part of their history, considering the Soul
Eater charm is described as a forgotten Shaman
-
relic.
-
As for their true origins, we do see a similar
character to the Snail Shamans in the upcoming
-
Silksong sequel.
-
The Churchkeeper appears to be a similar character
archetype as the Shamans, except instead of
-
teaching Hornet how to shoot ghosts out of
her face, she’s teaching Hornet how to play
-
songs on her needle.
-
But should this character even be considered
a Snail Shaman?
-
Are Snail Shamans even a species?
-
Or do you just need to wear one of those snail
hats to become one?
-
Regardless, she is visually similar to them,
which might imply Snail Shaman-like creatures
-
aren’t unique to Hallownest.
-
You could argue that this strengthens the
argument against Shamans being Void, but I
-
will say we know so little about what Void
is and where it comes from.
-
Who's to say there aren’t other Abyss-like
areas beyond Hallownest where Void can be
-
found?
-
So maybe the Shamans found in Hallownest and
Pharloom are Void beings who originated from
-
a different place.
-
But, we’re speculating an awful lot here.
-
And this isn’t the only issue that arises
with the “Shamans are Void” statement.
-
Another monkey wrench in this idea is how
the Snail Shaman refers to the other Shamans
-
as his relatives.
-
Once you get the Desolate Dive, he mentions
his third uncle has the same ability.
-
He also mentions his fourth aunt, who resides
in the Crystallized Mound.
-
And he mentions his larger cousin located
in the Overgrown Mound.
-
How exactly would Void beings have relatives?
-
Can Void beings get married, do the nasty
and give birth to children?
-
Technically, shades are siblings, which shows
that creatures connected to the Void can have
-
relations to one another.
-
But cousins and uncles imply a multigenerational
community of Void beings.
-
And... that just sounds kinda silly.
-
But this does beg the question.
-
What exactly is a “fourth aunt”?
-
In order to answer this question, I decided
to consult some of the brightest minds on
-
the entire internet.
-
So naturally, I took to twitter dot com and
asked my followers for their thoughts on the
-
matter.
-
Thanks to a very knowledgeable and patient
person known as Sage, I was able to uncover
-
the truth.
-
“Fourth aunt” isn’t really a thing.
-
Perhaps a fourth aunt is just your mother
or father’s fourth sister.
-
That would be the easiest explanation.
-
Or a fourth aunt could be a fourth cousin,
once removed, which would be someone who shares
-
great great great grandparents with your parents.
-
This would imply that, given none of the Snail
Shamans participated in inbreeding, a huge
-
family tree of at least 133 other Snail Shamans
must have existed to facilitate the relation
-
between these two characters, let alone the
third uncle and larger cousin and whoever
-
the hell these people who are and their relation
to the Snail Shaman.
-
And that’s not even considering the sexual
reproductive habits of actual snails.
-
And if the Shamans are anything like that,
well, things become much more complicated.
-
Youcould argue that these relations are more
sentimental than genealogical.
-
Sorta like dog moms.
-
While that excuse might work for the relatives,
we still have to counter with the fact that
-
these Shamans are deeply tied to their ancestors.
-
The spirits of the Snail Shaman’s ancestors
are apparently watching over the Ancestral
-
Mound.
-
This not only reinforces the idea of the Shamans
being biological creatures that aren’t just
-
created, but it also raises another complicated
question.
-
Can Void beings even have spirits?
-
Void creatures aren’t technically alive,
hence the White Lady saying that the Knight
-
died in the Abyss.
-
Obviously Void creatures like the Collector
and James Corden have no Soul, but creatures
-
like the Hollow Knight do give off Soul, so
maybe they would count?
-
But being a living creature animated by Soul
is very different from being a Void creature
-
that can contain or hold Soul within its shell.
-
I don’t think you could say the Hollow Knight
really has its own “spirit” in the same
-
sense that a regular creature would have a
spirit.
-
Or maybe I’m reading way too far into the
concept of spirits and Team Cherry just wanted
-
an excuse to put cute little faces on the
Hollow Knight’s attacks.
-
Either way you slice it, there are some weird
questions that pop up around the Snail Shamans.
-
If they truly are Void creatures, why are
they unaware of the Abyss?
-
How were they created?
-
Why do they refer to each other as relatives?
-
If they aren’t Void, why do they explode
into black balls that the Knight sucks up
-
and then gains Void spells from them?
-
Why do they still seem to be aware of Void
and its shadow-like nature?
-
In the end, the Snail Shamans don’t have
a clear answer.
-
Looking strictly at what’s in the game,
it seems more likely that they aren’t Void,
-
since the Void ball phenomenon is easier to
handwave than the dialogue we actually get
-
from the Snail Shaman.
-
And even if we ignore the Void stuff, there’s
still the big question of what the older generations
-
of Snail Shamans were doing.
-
The fact that they had a charm like the Soul
Eater implies that they were a much more dangerous
-
force in the past.
-
What were these ancient snail people doing
exactly?
-
How powerful were these overcooked hotdogs?
-
I’m gonna hold out hope that Silksong somehow
illuminates the Snail Shamans for us.
-
Just gonna go and add it to the Silksong Bingo
card right next to more Macebug lore and Funky
-
Mode.
-
I mean William did say we might get some Snail
Shaman lore in a Reddit AMA post from 3 years ago
-
So it’s basically confirmed.