What's the deal with Zote the Mighty, a knight of great renown? (Applause)

Ladies and gentlemen, Zote the Mighty.

Arguably one of the most complex and developed
characters in all of Hollow Knight.

In fact, Zote has more dialogue than any character
in the game with over 2600 words of dialogue,

much more than Seer, Lemm or Elderbug.

But despite all of this dialogue, Zote is
still one of the biggest mysteries in Hallownest.

Debates over his origins and impact on the
story have torn apart friends, families and

redditors alike.

There are so many questions.

Where did Zote come from?

Where is he going?

Who are his parents?

Where was Zote on 9/11?

Why won’t he submit to a polygraph test?

Is he hittin’ thank?

Well, today, we’re going to get to the bottom
of these mysteries.

Because what the fuck else would we be doing
with our lives?

Zote shows up in the game pretty early.

He is established as a comic relief character,
constantly needing the Knight’s help to

save him while also proclaiming that he is
a Knight of great renown.

Eventually the Knight fights Zote in the Coliseum
of Fools and it’s fucking pathetic.

It’s like shooting a fucking dog, jesus
christ.

So yeah, Zote’s a joke, and yet there’s
one thing about him that causes a total shit

storm for those of us trying to understand
the game’s lore.

Zote looks an awful lot like the Knight, more
so than any other NPC in the game.

This is kind of a big deal.

If you don’t know why this is important,
I’ll give you a quick run down.

The Knight is basically one of several hundred
failed test tube babies created by the King

and Queen of Hallownest in order to stop Mothra
from taking over the world, who were then

locked away in the basement because they had
too much thought.

So the fact that the Knight has several siblings
mixed with its uncanny resemblance to Zote,

has led to some interesting theories.

And the idea that Zote is one of these failed
Vessels has been posited by some.

If you go to the Hollow Knight Wiki page,
which is where all Hollow Knight lore whores

go to get their information, you can see that
a few users have posted the idea.

So I’m not making this shit up.

So yeah, that’s the big question.

Some people think that Zote is one of the
Pale King’s failed Vessels who escaped.

And the others say that Zote is completely
unrelated to the Pale King’s experiments.

So what’s my shitty opinion?

Well, I think that Zote is probably unrelated
to anything involving the Pale King.

The idea that Zote came from the Abyss just
doesn’t hold water when we look at all of

his dialogue.

But, in case you didn’t know, I’m the
kind of person who pretends to hear both sides

of an argument before continuing to cling
to their biased decision, so let’s hear

the evidence for why Zote is a sibling.

Now remember when I said that Zote has the
most dialogue out of any NPC in the game?

Well, while that is true, most of his dialogue
is completely irrelevant to anything important.

After finishing his sidequests, Zote winds
up in Dirtmouth teaching Bretta his Fifty-seven

Precepts.

And most of these Precepts are either common
sense or just plain bad advice.

Like Precept Forty-four that says you can’t
breathe water.

Or Precept Nineteen that says only to attempt
something if you know you will succeed.

Or Precept Thirty-eight that talks about a
mysterious force.

Wait, what?!

[X-Files theme intensifies]

But within Zote’s dialogue, we do see a
theme begin to emerge.

Basically, Zote has daddy issues.

During the fight in the Colosseum, Zote has
Dream Nail dialogue that reads as follows.

“I’ll kill a thousand more...Will that
be enough, father?”.

Zote mentions the word “Father” again
in Precept Fifty-Two.

The precept is titled “Beware the Jealousy
of Fathers”.

Zote explains in the precept that fathers
believe that their children must “serve”

them, and that fathers should be either vanquished
or abandoned.

The use of the word “serve” here is interesting.

This word appears when the Knight dream nails
the molds that were used to make the Pale

King’s void constructs.

Zote also mentions that mothers will always
betray you, in Precept Eleven, which is titled

“Mothers Will Always Betray You”.

And we know that the White Lady isn’t exactly
proud of her participation in the creation

of the Vessels, maybe because she also views
it as a betrayal.

Geez, sounds like Zote had a really bad father.

Hey, you know who was a bad father?

The Pale King!

Zote is the Pale King’s son confirmed!

Well, not so fast.

What about the fact that Zote has a personality?

Aren’t vessels supposed to be completely
void of mind or thought?

Isn’t that the whole point?

There are two explanations for this.

The first is that it is possible for siblings
to have personalities and voices, since we

know that Hornet is a sibling.

The second argument is that maybe Zote was
one of the really early experiments, so the

Pale King didn’t know how to make Vessels
that were empty.

So in other words, Zote is just a really fucked
up experiment.

Since we don’t know much about the finer
details of the Pale King’s experiments,

it’s hard to argue the second point, but
the Hornet explanation is on shaky ground.

Hornet was not created with the intention
to be used as a Vessel.

She was a gift to Herrah from the Pale King
in exchange for her help with combating the

infection.

And no reason is given to explain why Zote
would have been created differently from the

rest of the Siblings.

Precept Twenty-Two also fits in nicely with
narrative.

Zote mentions that he left his birthplace
as soon as he could.

He says not to linger there, since there’s
nothing worth staying for.

And I’ll admit, the Abyss doesn’t sound
like a very nice place to stay.

There’s also this dialogue from Zote.

He mentions that Dirtmouth is dreary and ghastly,
and that it reminds him of “home”.

I think you could interpret this dialogue
either way, but I’ll share it here since

it seems relevant.

If this was all the information we had to
decide if Zote was a child of the Pale King,

then this theory would actually be pretty
plausible.

But once we look at some of Zote’s other
dialogue, it becomes difficult to justify

this theory.

Before I get into what I think the biggest
issue here is, I’d like to mention a few

things.

The Hunter’s Journal entry for the Broken
Vessel mentions that it looks similar to the

bugs of Hallownest.

So, it sounds like the Vessels themselves
might not be very unique in terms of their

appearance.

Bugs like Elderbug are probably what the Hunter
is referring to.

Elderbug has a shell with features similar
to Zote, the most notable one being his mouth.

The Knight, Hornet and the other siblings
don’t have mouths, even though Hornet can

still talk?

[X-Files theme intensifies as mossbag realizes that calling Hornet a Vessel doesn’t actually make sense]

So maybe Zote and Elderbug are the same species,
and their resemblance to the Siblings is just

a coincidence.

Anyways, here’s the one big problem with
Zote being a Sibling who was made from the

Void.

If the player character dream nails Zote once
he moves back to Dirtmouth, Zote mentions

that he “came to this kingdom”.

So Zote is not originally from Hallownest,
or at least he doesn’t remember being from

Hallownest.

At this point, we’re going to have to talk
about the lands beyond Hallownest.

The problem is, we basically know jackshit
about the lands beyond Hallownest.

While the player is never able to leave Hallownest
during the game, we do get a glimpse into

the outside world, thanks to the Quirrel comic
that Team Cherry released to their Kickstarter

backers.

This comic follows Quirrel as he makes his
way from the wilderness back into Hallownest.

The comic starts off by establishing that
the bugs of the wilderness do not have minds.

They shed their thoughts and chose to rely
on instincts as a way to survive.

This jives pretty nicely with the lore tablet
that can be found at Howling Cliffs.

During his journey, Quirrel comes across Boon
another bug who is able to communicate through

speech.

Quirrel eventually makes it to Hallownest
where he is confronted by Hornet.

Hornet tried to murder his ass, but discovers
that Quirrel has some pretty serious plot

armor and decides to let him pass into Hallownest.

So what’s going on with this guy? Quirrel
was once an assistant to Monomon the Teacher.

Quirrel lived in Hallownest, but eventually
left the kingdom for unknown reasons.

But in this comic, as well as during most
of the game, Quirrel shows no recollection

of his previous time within the kingdom.

Why was Quirrel’s memory forgotten?

Is it because the sands of the wilderness
clouded his mind for so long that it took

him a while to remember?

Does leaving Hallownest cause bugs to lose
any memories of life inside the kingdom?

Is Quirrel’s memory loss entirely unrelated
to leaving Hallownest?

Well, to better understand this, let’s look
at the other bugs who travel to Hallownest

during the game.

Aside from Quirrel and Zote, Tiso, Cloth,
Cornifer and Iselda all seem to have ventured

to Hallownest from some other location.

All of these characters seem to have all of
their memories intact.

They never suddenly remember things long forgotten,
and what they do remember seems to imply that

they have never lost their memories the same
way that Quirrel did.

Cloth and Tiso are two other Kickstarter backer
characters that the player can interact with

during the game.

Admitly neither character outright claims
that they are from beyond Hallownest, but

it’s heavily implied.

Cloth is a cicada-type warrior with a big
club who is on a quest to find Nola, a character

that she mentions throughout the game.

Cloth was designed by a Kickstarter backer
named Noah Sturtridge.

She was originally a male character named
Burlap, who wore a burlap sack on his head.

Team Cherry changed Burlap’s name after
they realized that burlap doesn’t exist

in Hallownest.

Not sure why they changed his gender though.

I guess it’s just Team Cherry trying to
shove more of their progressive agenda down

our throats.

Tiso was created by Tiso Spencer, and his
design is pretty close to what made it into

the final game.

In the Team Cherry post that revealed Tiso,
it was mentioned that his story would have

an interesting conclusion, and well… he
dies offscreen.

Tiso travels to Hallownest because he wants
to fight in the Colosseum of Fools, which

he has heard rumors about.

Tiso’s knowledge of the Colosseum of Fools
and Cloth’s memory of her friend shows that

these characters still have their memories.

Then there’s Iselda and Cornifer.

Cornifer mentions that he moved to Dirtmouth
as soon as he could, after he had heard about

the Kingdom of Hallownest.

You know, this being Cornifer’s kingdom
to map does explain why the map of Hallownest

he draws is so fucking shitty, but that’s
beside the point.

Iselda also mentions that she used to be a
fighter, but gave it up to be with Corny.

But this dialogue might be hinting at a future
Iselda boss fight.

But anyway, the point is, these two bugs must
have lived somewhere beyond Hallownest before

the start of the game

So yeah, there are examples of intelligent
bugs beyond Hallownest.

As for Quirrel, the best we can say is that
he originated from Hallownest, lost his memory

and his time back in Hallownest helped him
recover his memory.

So, where does that leave Zote?

Is he like Quirrel, or is he like the others?

If he was from Hallownest before and lost
his memory, why does he not remember anything

about Hallownest during his quest?

Is it because he’s not as inquisitive as
Quirrel?

Maybe, but doesn’t it seem more likely that
Zote is just from a different part of the

world?

Zote has specific memories about his past,
just like Iselda and the other travelers.

There isn’t any evidence that Zote has lost
his memories, and he doesn’t act like he

has ever been to Hallownest before.

So yeah, this “I came to this kingdom”
comment is the nail in the coffin for me.

So why include all this dialogue about Zote’s
father if there’s no connection between

Zote and the Pale King?

Does Team Cherry just like getting their jimmies
off to pissing of their fans and making them

confused as hell?

Well, it might have been included as just
another way to contrast Zote and the Knight.

While they both have fathers who probably
aren’t going to be getting any “World’s

Best Dad” mugs at Christmas,the Knight continues
with its quest regardless, while Zote rejects

his family and lives a life of self absorption.

So yeah, I think that pretty much sums up
what we know about Zote.

If I missed anything, which I definitely did,
someone will eventually come along and set

the record straight in the comments, so go
check those out.

And like I said before this is just my interpretation
of the evidence.

It’s definitely one of those things in the
Hollow Knight lore that Team Cherry could

definitely change by adding more stuff in
through a content pack.

And who knows, maybe one day we’ll get a
Zote DLC, and my life will finally have meaning

again.