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New Silksong Riddle Characters Examined

  • 0:08 - 0:13
    So it’s been about 3000 years since Team
    Cherry gave us a blog update about Silksong.
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    It almost seemed like Silksong was just some
    shared fever dream we all hallucinated for
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    over the past year.
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    I was about to nuke the channel and become
    a foster parent.
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    But luckily, the Hollow Knight community has
    been tossed a succulent bone by a most unlikely
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    ally, Leth.
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    In case you didn’t know, Matthew Griffen,
    AKA Leth, has begun providing us with Silksong
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    updates in a most unusual way.
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    Remember when I mentioned that theory that
    Silksong was going to be released on June
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    12th?
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    Well, this resulted in another theory that
    Team Cherry was going to make an announcement
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    on May 29th, since Hollow Knight’s trailer
    dropped two weeks before the game came out.
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    Of course, nothing was announced on May 29th.
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    But Leth did post a riddle in the Hollow Knight
    Discord.
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    He figured that giving our starving community
    something to do would help ease the sting
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    of Team Cherry’s deafening silence.
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    The riddle didn’t reveal anything, but it
    was just nice to be able to interact with
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    Leth as people tried to piece together the
    riddle’s meaning.
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    But as it turns out, William and Ari really
    liked what Leth was doing.
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    So they started giving Leth content that could
    actually be revealed from these riddles.
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    These reveals happened every Monday for the
    past four weeks.
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    And Leth even gave me one part of one of these
    riddles to post on my Twitter for people to
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    find.
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    Now, I’m not going to spend a lot of time
    discussing these riddles.
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    I would recommend looking at fireb0rn and
    TacoTV’s channels if you want more details
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    on what these riddles were and how they were
    solved.
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    They’ve done a good job documenting all
    of this stuff.
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    And I know I’ve talked about the Hollow
    Knight Discord a lot on this channel, but
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    I really do have to say that it’s a great
    community.
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    The people there deciphered Leth’s riddles
    incredibly quickly, and they’ve done a ton
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    of digging into Hollow Knight lore and Silksong
    speculation.
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    So yeah it’s a good group.
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    For this video, we’re just going to focus
    on what was actually revealed and what stupid
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    nonsense we can speculate from it.
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    First up we have this character, commonly
    referred to as the Huntress.
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    Basically Leth would post a zip file along
    with a riddle.
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    The answer to the riddle would be the password
    needed to open the zip file.
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    The answer to this zip file was Huntress,
    hence the name.
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    Inside the file is a character portrait, a
    short animated gif, as well as a few lines
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    of dialogue and a brief description.
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    The Huntress appears to have set up camp in
    this small alcove possibly somewhere near
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    Bonebottom.
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    We can also see that bags have been strung
    up in the room.
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    Also, notice how these objects are slowly
    swaying in the room.
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    It’s a pretty neat detail that wasn’t
    really used for hanging objects in Hollow
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    Knight.
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    The Huntress begins by noticing that Hornet
    is carrying the “organs of others”, and
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    asks if she would be willing to offer these
    organs or even her own organs as “birth-meal”
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    for her brood.
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    The Huntress is described as a towering old
    predator, waiting for the arrival of her children.
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    She scorns the Citadel above and the hapless
    pilgrims who are ascending towards it.
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    Now we’ve all met people like this in real
    life, asking to feed our organs to their young.
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    In this instance, Hornet might be able to
    give this character some kind of collectable
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    taken from other enemies.
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    We know that quests will play a big role in
    Silksong, so we might see a lot more of these
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    types of items.
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    But as of right now, the only items we have
    seen enemies drop are rosaries and shell shards.
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    She also says Hornet could offer up her own
    organs, but I doubt she would agree to that.
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    One interesting note about this character
    is that she looks vaguely like the creatures
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    we saw in one of the images Team Cherry gave
    us for the Forest of Bones back when it was
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    going to be in Hollow Knight.
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    Could these hideous freaks of nature be her
    children?
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    The Huntress is also quite aware of what is
    going on in Pharloom and she doesn’t appear
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    to be a fan.
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    She holds a disdain for the Citadel, which
    we saw a brief glimpse of in the trailer.
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    This area is likely controlled by the bell
    cult, and appears to be the destination of
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    many bugs travelling through Pharloom.
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    So the Citadel probably isn’t a great place,
    but then again, this lady wants our organs,
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    so maybe we shouldn’t value her opinion.
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    One final point, the HUD in this gif appears
    a bit odd.
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    For some reason, the right end of the spool
    is missing, and the silk itself is thicker.
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    This might just be a buggy UI issue, since
    the game is still in development after all.
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    Or it could be possible that the silk spool
    itself can break, similar to how the soul
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    vessel in Hollow Knight breaks.
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    However, this bobbin symbol in the corner
    is not lit up either, which we have seen is
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    supposed to light up once you have a full
    spool of silk.
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    We even see it light up in a later reveal
    as well.
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    So I wouldn’t be surprised if this UI was
    still buggy.
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    The next character revealed appears to be
    named Grindle.
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    Grindle is a snitchbug that can be found locked
    up in a cell somewhere in what I assume is
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    the gilded city.
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    Once freed, he will offer Hornet information
    in exchange for rosaries, but his intell is
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    apparently not very good.
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    So chances are he’s going to give us bunk
    lore, because god forbid we have a character
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    that gives real lore.
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    From his dialogue, we know that Grindle has
    been locked up for a while.
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    We also know that Grindle plans to take advantage
    of Pharloom’s ailing state, though there
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    is no more detail on what exactly is happening
    to Pharloom.
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    We know that it is haunted by silk and song,
    but the exact details on that still remain
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    pretty hazy.
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    Grindle is described as being a snitchbug,
    which isn’t a real thing according to Google,
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    but his head has a similar design to the enemy
    we saw in the Silksong reveal trailer, indicating
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    that we might see more of this species of
    bug throughout the game.
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    There are quite a few other details in the
    provided gif that we should talk about.
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    First of all, we actually see another prisoner
    in this area.
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    This bug looks similar to some of the other
    enemies we have seen in trailers, except this
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    guy isn’t wearing a headdress.
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    Perhaps he is a defector from the cult, or
    maybe they just removed his bedsheet as punishment.
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    They let him keep his bell staff though, so
    that’s nice.
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    We also see that in Grindle’s cell there
    is a work bench covered in throwing daggers.
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    Not sure what weapons like those would be
    doing in a jail cell.
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    Was Grindle about to shiv some bitch?
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    Regardless this might be the location where
    Hornet obtains the throwing dagger tool.
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    Finally, there is another additional HUD element
    that we haven’t seen before.
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    There appears to be a little green bead on
    the end of Hornet’s silk spool.
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    This might be the result of some kind of tool
    Hornet has equipped, but I’m not sure what
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    it would do.
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    We can see in the tool menu in the reveal
    trailer that some green object appears next
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    to a Weaver-type tool and some kind of device
    that looks like it could weave silk.
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    I’ve mentioned before that there appear
    to be different classes of tools in Silksong:
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    red, blue and yellow.
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    My guess is these blue tools will be related
    to modifying Hornet’s silkspool in some
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    way.
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    We can also see that the right side of the
    spool is missing in this gif as well, so the
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    bead might be related to that in some way.
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    The third reveal we got from Leth was for
    a caravan of fleas.
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    Now, we have actually seen these fleas before
    in the Silksong E3 demo.
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    They appear to operate like the grubs of Hollow
    Knight, getting stuck in different areas and
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    needing rescued.
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    According to their dialogue, we can tell that
    the caravan is not from Pharloom, and that
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    they have but a single, humble wish.
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    The caravan didn’t realize how dangerous
    Pharloom was, however, and instead of watching
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    their kids like responsible ass adult fleas,
    they let their children get lost all throughout
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    the kingdom.
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    These fleas are said to carry bountiful food,
    powerful drinks and surprising amenities.
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    So these characters probably give Hornet these
    different foods as reward for returning their
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    fleas.
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    The fact that these are foods and drinks makes
    me think these are perishable items, which
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    wasn’t a super prevalent mechanic in Hollow
    Knight.
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    It will be interesting to see how exactly
    that will work in Silksong if this is the
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    case.
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    These fleas appear to be making a pilgrimage
    to the Shining Citadel at the top of Pharloom,
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    which is a very common theme throughout this
    game.
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    Of course, we have characters like the Huntress
    who distrust the Citadel and all it stands
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    for, but a lot of other characters seem interested
    in making it there.
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    There’s a pretty interesting parallel to
    this in Hallownest.
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    Bugs would make pilgrimages to Hallownest
    to see the Pale King’s kingdom as well.
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    There’s even a path in Hallownest called
    the Pilgrim’s Way.
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    And while the Pale King is a morally dubious
    character, it’s not like his promise to
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    pilgrims was some completely malicious lie.
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    So it will be interesting to see what exactly
    it is these pilgrims are expecting at the
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    citadel, and what it is they actually get.
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    Looking at the HUD, we can see that Hornet’s
    spool can in fact be increased in length.
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    I don’t think anyone doubted this would
    be the case, but it’s nice to have this
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    confirmed.
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    Also, we can see that one of Hornet’s health
    masks has another mask placed on top of it.
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    This might be like lifeblood, giving you extra
    health, but honestly, that seems a bit redundant.
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    This mask has a crack on it, which might imply
    that it can take multiple hits before it breaks
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    completely, similar to the Balder Shell charm
    that everyone forgot exists.
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    And now we come to the final reveal of Leth’s
    riddle madness, Seth.
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    Seth is a boss fight that appears to occur
    somewhat late in the game.
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    Seth guards a secret located at the base of
    the Citadel, and he attacks anyone who gets
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    too close, including the bell cultists.
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    There appears to be something a bit unnatural
    about this character.
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    He is described as being ancient, and has
    somehow been imbued with stamina and strength
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    beyond a normal bug.
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    We do have a hint about what the source of
    this strength might be.
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    Team Cherry provided us with one line of dialogue
    from Seth that simply reads “The Voice…
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    has chosen me.”
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    But this isn’t the first time we’ve heard
    about this voice.
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    Another character, Trobbio, has been described
    as being Master of the Stage, the Brush and
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    the Voice.
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    And Trobbio and Seth have somewhat similar
    designs.
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    From one of the provided gifs, we can see
    that this feathery thing is actually some
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    kind of cloak, which means Trobbio’s might
    be as well, and honestly, I really don’t want to imagine
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    what he looks like without it.
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    The connections between Seth and Trobbio are
    interesting, but they don’t really make
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    sense.
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    Seth is this hardened warrior protecting some
    ancient secret, while Trobbio appears to be
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    some performer who is obsessed with fame.
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    Not really sure what to make of that.
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    Perhaps the Voice is a more nebulous element
    that has a broader context we just aren’t
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    aware of yet.
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    Looking at the two gifs, we can see that Seth
    appears in Greymoor as a passive NPC.
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    But we also see him in a boss fight with Hornet,
    which appears to be a different location.
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    We know that this is the base of the Citadel,
    since it features the tangled roots mentioned
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    in Team Cherry’s description.
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    We also see what appears to be some kind of
    snow falling from above, similar to the ash
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    we saw in Kingdom’s Edge in Hollow Knight.
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    So does this mean Pharloom also contains some
    kind of Wyrm in it, similar to the Pale King?
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    Well, not so fast.
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    Another theory for what those might be are
    flower petals.
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    We have seen at least one area in Pharloom
    filled with petals, and there is another argument
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    for this.
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    Leth actually locked this reveal behind two
    passwords, which were “protector” and
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    “bloom”.
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    The former password obviously refers to Seth,
    while the latter could imply that what we
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    are seeing here is related to plant life.
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    We also have those roots in this area too,
    indicating that plants and trees are growing
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    somewhere nearby.
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    The boss fight itself looks awesome.
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    Seth is fast, and utilizes his cymbal as both
    a shield and a frisbee.
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    Another small detail about this fight is that
    we can see Hornet perform some kind of aerial
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    move where her dress puffs up.
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    This seems to stall her fall speed like some
    sort of glide mechanic.
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    We know that Hornet’s cloak is an actual
    item in Hornet’s inventory, so it seems
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    like the cloak itself can be upgraded.
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    Seth is a character designed by Seth Goldman,
    a Hollow Knight fan who got to meet Team Cherry
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    through a program called the Marty Lyons Foundation,
    which grants wishes to children with life-threatening
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    illnesses.
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    Unfortunately, Seth passed away earlier this
    year, but his character will live on in Silksong.
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    And I’m sure the Hollow Knight community
    will remember him for years to come.
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    And that’s about it for Silksong news.
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    We’ve received a few glimpses of what new
    abilities Hornet will gain throughout her
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    quest.
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    And we also met a new cast of colorful characters,
    including a thief, a band of fleas, a guy
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    who hears voices and a girl who wants our
    organs.
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    I’m excited to see what else Team Cherry
    has in store for us.
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    Maybe a ladybug that commits tax fraud, or
    a grasshopper that wields a mace, or maybe
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    even Jeff Bezos.
Title:
New Silksong Riddle Characters Examined
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
12:41

English subtitles

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