Hollow Knight Godmaster Lore Explained

[Deep sigh of regret]

I gotta be honest guys. I’m really disappointed
in this latest content pack. I just feel like

Team Cherry really dropped the ball on this
one. Nothing really seems to connect to the

main game, and a bunch of stuff that they
promised in their updates is just completely

missing. Something about Gods and Glory™
is just wrong. I really don’t know why Team

Cherry went in this direction with their newest
content pack. This update sucks. It’s almost

like I accidently downloaded and played an
entirely different game, thinking it was a

Hollow Knight expansion because they happen
to share the same incredibly generic, but

still somehow trademarkable, name.

And so the final free update for Hollow Knight
is here, and, spoiler alert, Godmaster is

fucking amazing. The new boss rush mode is
fantastic and carefully crafted. The new bosses

are mostly fun, with one glaring exception.
My boy Nosk finally got its wings and I am

so fucking happy. Yeah, he’s still a little
bitch, but he looks so badass so I don’t

care. But I’m sure you already knew that
Godmaster was amazing, so I’ll just shut

the fuck up and start talking about the lore.

Now there’s a Zoteload of lore to go over,
so let’s just start with probably the biggest

new piece we got. Team Cherry has finally
listened to their fans and given us more information

on Flukemarm. In case you somehow forgot,
the Flukemarm is a giant boss found in the

Royal Waterways. She is the creature responsible
for all of the parasite creatures wandering

around underneath the City of Tears. So what’s
the new lore surrounding this thing? Well,

in Godhome, there are statues that represent
each of the bosses in the game. With these

statues come short descriptions of each of
the bosses. And for Flukemarm we get this:

“Alluring God of motherhood.”

That’s right, according to the Hollow Knight
lore, this thing is “alluring” or in other

words, attractive, which mean that Flukemarm
is now canonically a MILF.

Not only that, but we also get a new character
related to Flukemarm, the Fluke Hermit. We

meet Fluke Hermit high up in the Junk Pit,
below the Nailsmith’s hut. She is surrounded

by a pile of… whatever, and she is poking
a little fluke with a stick. Dream Nailing

the Fluke Hermit show that she is scared of
her mother, who we know is Flukemarm. Maybe

this is why she chooses to live high up above
where the other Flukes live. The Fluke Hermit

mentions that she gathers up the Flukemarm’s
treasure. You can see that this shit in her

hideout is also in the room where the Flukemarm
fight occurs. The Fluke Hermit also uses the

words “Grow” and “Little Sisters”,
which makes me think she is trying to help

her sisters grow up from the materials she
took from the Flukemarm room. Finally, if

you wear the Flukenest charm and talk to the
Fluke Hermit, she freaks out, because... well...

you know. We killed her mom. And then she
starts wondering if she is the new Flukemarm.

So what exactly is the point of this new character?
Well, my guess is that the Fluke Hermit will

become more important in the upcoming Hornet
DLC, since the new ending implies that it

will be a sequel. Maybe Team Cherry just wants
an excuse to give us another riveting Flukemarm

fight boss. Either that, or Team Cherry just
put her in to try and flesh out the pathway

from the Junkpit to the City of Tears.

Another new character introduced in this update
was the Pale Lurker. Unfortunately, there

isn’t much to go on with this girl. How
do I know she’s a girl? Well that’s what

the French translation says, so I’m just
going to assume that is what it is. She can

be found behind the Colosseum of Fools and
has a simple key in her possession. From her

Dream Nail dialogue, we can see that this
lady was bonkers. But from the Hunter’s

Journal entry, we know that her madness has
nothing to do with the Radiance’s infection.

The journal entry also mentions that the Pale
Lurker was once a champion in the Colosseum

of Fools. With her name including the word
“pale”, the King’s Idol found in a nearby

cave, and her Dream Nail dialogue using the
word “King”, I think it is safe to say

that this character is somehow connected to
the Pale King. But other than that, I don’t

think she really helps us better understand
anything connected to the Colosseum of Fools.

Alright, it’s time to talk about the Godseekers.
And oh boy, is this lore dense. The Godseekers’

origins begin in the Land of Storms. The player
can actually travel to the Land of Storms

in game by completing each of the five pantheons
with all bindings. Thankfully, you don’t

have to have all the bindings on at once,
but it’s still hard as fuck to do. The Land

of Storms is a desolate wasteland with high
winds, rain and lightning. The area is just

a long straight pathway that leads to a room
containing Godseeker masks piled up on the

ground. In the background you can see the
silhouettes of two large bugs. We can get

a better view of these bugs by ripping the
images from the game.

The Land of Storms also contains an item that
unlocks a Journal entry for the Weathered

Mask. The description of the mask says that
it originates from a godless land, and that

the design of the mask allows the wearer to
focus their thoughts through the crest. There

is also a quote from a poem titled “Lament
of the Godseekers”, which explains that

the previous Gods that the Godseekers worshipped
abandoned them. It’s hard to say what the

Godseekers did to cause their gods to forsake
them, but it must have been something horrible.

Or it’s possible that their gods just died.
Maybe these silhouettes are of the Old Gods’

corpses. Regardless of why the Old Gods are
gone, it’s clear that their departure had

a negative effect on the Godseekers. And it
has to do with how the Godseekers’ mind

works.

The Godseekers have a shared mind. The Godseekers
we talk to in the update almost always say

“Our mind” as if they share one singular
mind. The Godseekers in Godhome also mention

that their mind is a sea. With this shared
mind, the Godseekers’ attempt to connect

themselves with the Gods. The description
on the Weathered Mask mentions that the wearer’s

thoughts are focused through the crest of
the mask. It is through this focus that the

Godseekers are able to communicate with the
Gods and “ascend” their own mind. The

Godseeker in the Royal Waterways puts it best
when she says the following:

“By attuning Ourselves We clutch at their
greatness, their immortality. Their unknowable

splendour.”

During the Pantheon of Hallownest the Godseeker
also says:

“We live only to serve the gods, to seek
them out.”

So what happens if there are no Gods around
for the Godseekers to attune with? In their

Lament, the Godseekers mention a woeful silence
after the Gods of Thunder and The Gods of

Rain departed them. Also, there’s this line
from the Godseekers where they ask what gods

will save them from their silent mind. So
yeah, the Godseekers really want to be around

gods otherwise their mind suffers in silence.

Which brings us to the next part of the story,
the journey to Hallownest. Turns out there

is yet another hidden area in the new DLC.
This one happens completely by random when

you Dream Nail the Godseeker in the Royal
Waterways. Instead of being taken to Godhome,

you are taken to a strange area that looks
similar to the Howling Cliffs. Here we see

the Godseeker hiding in a cave next to a strange
contraption. The Godseeker talks about how

they will find their way to their new gods.
After you look at the device, you get kicked

out of the area and booted back into Godhome.

This scene appears to be a memory from the
Godseeker, showing her journeying out of the

Land of Storms in order to find a new God.
The device is likely an older version of the

God Tuner, an item the Knight receives after
opening the cocoon that the Godseeker was

sealed in. The God Tuner seems to have a couple
of different abilities, one of which being

the ability to locate powerful beings. It
is with this device that the Godseekers were

able to find Hallownest. In the Pantheon of
Hallownest, just before the Pure Vessel fight,

the Godseeker mentions that the lingering
power of the Pale King’s presence in Hallownest

was what lead the Godseekers to the kingdom.
The Pale King’s afterglow must have been

picked up by the Godtuner, leading them straight
into Hallownest.

This is where things get a little weird. The
next time we see the Godseeker, she is inside

of a cocoon with a lock placed around her.
The Godseeker probably didn’t place these

chains upon herself, unless she used some
sort of reverse David Blaine maneuver, so

it was probably someone else who did this.
In one of her dialogues she mentions that

her sleep was a “forced hibernation”.
I think it’s worth pointing out that this

cocoon is also called a coffin in the game’s
text files.

I speculated in my last video that it was
the Pale King who locked the Godseeker up.

This doesn’t make sense however, seeing
as it was the Pale King’s afterglow that

lead the Godseeker to Hallownest in the first
place. So who else could have done this? Well,

there’s the Weavers, but it seems like they
would use spells or spool rather than chains

and a key. So maybe it was one of the Five
Great Knight? Possibly the Dung Defender,

the Grey Mourner, or Hegemol, if he’s still
alive, that is. Or maybe it was Hornet. But

it seems weird that she wouldn’t warn the
Knight about the Godseekers if she knew they

were in Hallownest. So yeah, I am clueless
on this one.

Once the Knight opens the cocoon, the Godseeker
falls out and drops the Godtuner. When you

first pick up the Godtuner, a description
of the item pops up. It says:

“Seek the gods of Hallownest. Tune their
power. Through their strength, ascend.”

The Godseeker will tell the Knight that they
are listening for the Gods but that some of

them are still distant and must be awoken.
So it’s up to us to seek the Gods and with

the Godtuner, attune them to the Godseekers’
mind. I don’t know why the Knight keeps

agreeing to perform errands for all of these
random bugs it finds. It does know it’s

allowed to say “no”, right?

And so, as you encounter all of the different
bosses in Hallownest, they become attuned

to the Godseekers’ mind, where they appear
in both the Pantheons and the Hall of Gods.

At this point, I think I should point out
that some of the bosses that are classified

as “Gods” are a little strange. I’m
not sure why anyone would ever consider the

Massive Moss Charger to be a god, but hey,
maybe the Godseekers are onto something. Maybe

you could make a religion out of this.

Anyways, let’s talk about what happens inside
of the Godhome. The Godseeker starts off by

calling the Knight a cringer. Rude. She then
tells the Knight to get lost, because it is

too puny to be in the home of Gods. From this
point the player now has access to the Hall

of Gods, a place where they can refight bosses
on a variety of difficulties. But the main

thing we want to look at are the Pantheons.
This is where all of the new bosses for the

update can be found, including the Nailmasters,
Sly, The Pure Vessel and the Absolute Radiance.

These bosses weren’t integrated into the
base game, so it appears that the Godseekers

can attune with at least some beings without
needing the Knight to go fuck them up beforehand.

Let’s look at the Nailmasters first. Unfortunately,
we didn’t gain much new lore for them. The

first fight is between Oro and Mato. In his
Dream Nail dialogue, Oro mentions how his

path is his alone, which is pretty much what
he said in the base game. Mato’s most interesting

line is “Don’t leave me behind!”. Which
really doesn’t tell us much. Probably the

best part about this fight is this moment.

“GASOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

Lorewise, I want to say that in this moment,
Oro and Mato are setting aside their differences

and working together to try and beat the shit
out of one of their pupils. Inspiring, isn’t

it? Sheo gets all philosophical on us in his
dream nail dialogue. Saying stuff like “What

is a God, if not an artist?” and “Are
we all seeking something different?” Well,

I’m seeking lore, and this shit is a waste
of time to me, Sheo. What the hell and I supposed

to do with philosophy? Actually make something
of myself achieve happiness and self-actualization?

Yeah right.

Sly’s new dialogue doesn’t add any new
lore either. He’s still a badass boss though.

I especially like the part where he starts
jumping all over the fucking walls. But why

exactly didn’t he teach this technique to
the Nailmasters? Some teacher. Also, what’s

the deal with Sly’s voice?

[High pitched grunting and shouting that would
make any human baby cry]

Does Team Cherry just let any random person
off the street record lines for these characters?

Of course these bosses each have their own
new entries in the Hunter’s Journal. They

still don’t give us any new lore for the
characters, but there is some interesting

stuff related to the Godseekers. Each entry
includes a prayer from the Godseekers. In

each of these entries the Godseekers make
it clear that they are looking for one god

in particular, the one they call the God of
Gods. This God of Gods that the Godseeker

is referring to is the Radiance.

During each of the Pantheons, the Godseeker
will show up and talk with the Knight. For

the first three Pantheons, she just talks
about how we are going to get crushed by the

gods. But the fourth Pantheon is where things
start to get interesting. This dialogue happens

right before the battle with the Pure Vessel,
which is a younger version of the Hollow Knight.

The Godseeker explains that while the Hollow
Knight’s body is currently in a state of

ruin, the glory of its pure form still endures.
She then says that the Pure Vessel’s power

will attune her to the God of Gods. If you
Dream Nail her, she also says that they are

seeking the God sleeping within.

The Godseeker also ponders what connection
the Knight shares with the Hollow Knight before

stopping herself. She then freaks out, claiming
that we are sowing blasphemies in her mind.

To me, this is a really important moment.
The Godseekers are finally starting to take

the Knight seriously. This could be a sign
that the Godseekers are beginning to attune

with the Knight. This is important because
it seems as though attunement is a two way

street. The Godseekers desire to attune with
gods, and when they do so, the gods are restored

to their prime strength. The Pure Vessel is
a prime example of this.

But let’s put a pin in that discussion.
Because we need to talk about the Pure Vessel.

This boss helps us better understand an important
aspect of the Hollow Knight. The question

of how the Hollow Knight grew has generated
a lot of theories, and while my theory never

really gained any traction, there was another
theory that floated around for a while. This

theory basically stated that the Hollow Knight’s
growth was due to it taking on the infection.

The evidence for this was that there are a
lot of other creatures in Hallownest that

changed form due to the infection. This new
boss debunks that theory, since the Pure Vessel

shows no sign of infection.

The Hunter’s Journal entry for the Pure
Vessel says the following:

“Chosen vessel, raised and trained to prime
form.”

I think this is the best explanation we are
going to get. The Hollow Knight was raised

and trained to prime form, so that’s why
it looks different than the other Vessels.

Another interesting thing about the Pure Vessel
is that it has both of its arms.

Alright, boys and girls. It’s time to dive
into some speculation territory. It’s impossible

to Dream Nail the Pure Vessel, but what’s
interesting is that there is Dream Nail dialogue

for it in the game’s code. The same thing
happened to the Hollow Knight in the base

game, but in that instance, there was a ton
of other unused dialogue that got left in

with it. For the Godmaster update, there really
isn’t too much unused dialogue here, which

makes me think Team Cherry did this intentionally.
These are the Pure Vessels actually thoughts,

we just aren’t allowed to see them in game.
If this is true, then the fact that it has

dialogue at all indicates that the Pure Vessel
isn’t truly hollow.

[Cue sappy music]

Looking into what the dialogue says is pretty
depressing honestly. The Hollow Knight is

basically just telling itself to stop thinking.
So if the Hollow Knight is actually thinking

these thoughts, then that means it must have
been told what its purpose was, probably by

the Pale King. So it knows what is at stake,
and it knows it isn’t truly hollow so it’s

trying its best to keep itself from thinking
or feeling anything for the sake of the kingdom.

The Hollow Knight wanted so badly to save
Hallownest from the infection. But that feeling,

that desire, that hope was what ultimately
doomed them all.

Kind of ironic,

♫IT’S LIKE RAAAAAIIINNN!!!♫

♫IT’S LIKE RAAAAAIIINNN!!!♫

[Angery Radiance roar]

After the battle we get this cutscene.

[Angery Radiance roar]

[Angeryer Shadelord roar]

The scene shows the Knight in the same pose
it makes after teleporting somewhere. It then

looks up and catches the Hollow Knight’s
eye...holes. This stare seems to imply some

sort of camaraderie between the two Vessels.
This camaraderie is shared by the other Vessels

who observe this in silence. There is definitely
room for more interpretation here, but I personally

don’t think there is much else going on.

Then a light shines down from above, and we
hear the Radiance’s trademark roar. We then

hear another roar as a wave of Void covers
the screen. So we are all well acquainted

with the Radiance’s roar that happens in
the scene, but what is this new roar we hear?

The name of the audio file implies that the
roar comes from something called the “Shade

Lord”. We’re going to be seeing the Shade
Lord a little bit later, so let’s table

this discussion for now.

I want to mention a few miscellaneous things
before we move on. There is a lifeblood room

that can be accessed in Godhome. You have
to complete at least 8 binding challenges

in the Pantheons to open the door. Inside,
there is an object you can strike to activate

Lifeblood Cocoons that will show up during
the Pantheons. On top of that, you can also

see our friend, the Abyss Creature. So what
does this tell us about the Abyss creature

and lifeblood in general? Pretty much nothing
other than that this thing classifies as a

god which is obvious.

Some of the bosses in Godhome have new Dream
Nail dialogue. Hornet appears to know that

she has been pulled into Godhome, but she
seems unsure of what exactly is going on.

From looking at his Dream Nail dialogue, it’s
obvious that Grimm is fully aware of what

is happening. In fact, he even bows to the
Godseeker before each fight. Both of these

characters have some sort of Godlike status.
Grimm is a Higher Being, for sure. As for

Hornet, her father was the Pale King, so she
is, like, half Higher Being, or whatever,

so this is possibly why she is only somewhat
aware of what is going on.

And now we move on to the fifth and final
Pantheon. This is where you have to fight

almost every single boss in the game without
dying. Yeah, it’s hard as fuck. In fact,

it’s harder than fuck. If this is fuck,
then this is the Pantheon of Hallownest. The

biggest problem people seem to have with this
Pantheon is that there are new endings for

the game locked behind the 42 boss gauntlet.
I can see why this would upset people. Personally,

I don’t think Team Cherry made the wrong
choice by putting the new endings behind such

a difficult challenge. But I also wouldn’t
be mad if they made it a little more accessible

either.

When we first see the Godseeker in this Pantheon,
she marvels at how far we have come, and tells

us that the Godseekers will be listening closely
to us. Again, this is important. The Godseekers

are beginning to pay attention to the Knight.
If the Knight talks to the Godseeker again,

she will tell it to continue its combat and
to continue its ritual.

We then get to see the Goodseeker talking
about a few of the other Gods of Hallownest.

Okay so I don’t know why I have been pronouncing
this as Uun. The spelling clearly indicates

it as Unn. I guess Uun just sound more like
a name for a slug. I don’t know, sorry.

Basically the Godseeker confirms that Unn’s
strength has faded from what it once was.

This explains why she has stopped appearing
to her children in Greenpath.

The next God we see missing out on the party
is the White Lady. The Godseeker says the

White Lady is easily able to avoid the attunement
process as if she were intentionally diminishing

her power to avoid detection. If we Dream
Nail her, the Godseeker says something else

that’s interesting:

“The chance of meeting is too rare.... but
thine resonance! Could you be one of Them?”

What does Godseeker mean by “Them”? We
know next to nothing about the White Lady’s

origins. Could this be a hint at future character
development for everyone’s favorite tree

lady thing?

Finally, we have the Pale King. The Godseeker
mentions that the Pale King’s afterglow

lays heavy on the kingdom of Hallownest. She
also says this:

“A God so strong... Yet erased so completely.
How could it happen?”

I think she is referring to the death of the
Pale King here. Now if you believe that the

White Palace in the Kingsmold’s mind is
real and not a dream, and you don’t think

that the Pale King reincarnated a second time
somehow, then you would probably think the

Pale King is definitely dead. But like the
Godseekers, we don’t actually know what

killed the Pale King. This dialogue makes
me think that Team Cherry is going to actually

give us an answer to this question in the
upcoming Hornet DLC. Or you know, maybe they’ll

just give us more Fluke Hermit lore instead.

After this room, all that’s left are two
more battles, the first of which being with

the Pure Vessel. After defeating it, the Radiance
reveals herself. But this isn’t your daddy’s

Radiance. This is the Absolute Radiance. She’s
got blades that curve, attacks that overlap

on each other, and there’s this really tricky
section at the end where she goes full ballistic

on the Knight. If you’re able to dodge this
bullshit and land the final blow, the Knight’s

shell breaks and it turns into a gigantic
monster with eight eyes, the Shade Lord.

This giant creature doesn’t just consume
the Radiance like in the Dream No More ending,

it completely destroys the asshole. One important
thing to notice about this fight is that as

the void comes up to confront the Radiance,
there are no shades in sight. This is quite

different from the first Radiance fight. If
we go back to the cutscene from Pantheon Four,

we see the void cover the screen along with
all of the Vessels. I think this is establishing

that the Shade Lord itself is responding to
the Radiance’s call, whereas in the regular

Radiance fight, it was the fellow shades coming
to help the Knight. The fact that the Shade

Lord covers over the Vessels may also indicate
that the Vessels or the shades have actually

become a part of the Shade Lord. But it’s
hard to tell.

So why am I calling this thing the “Shade
Lord”. It is never called this in game,

but there are files in the code that refer
to it as the Shade Lord. It is also called

the God of Gods. But I see that as more of
a title. So I’m just going to call this

thing the Shade Lord for now. Also because
I’ve already said God like 128 times in

this video.

So, how the fuck did this become this? Let’s
start by looking at the Knight statues in

the Hall of Gods. If you are able to defeat
every boss in the Hall of Gods, you are given

access to a room containing a statue of the
Knight. The statue will take three different

forms depending on what difficulty you have
beaten each boss on. The first statue simply

shows the Knight in its traditional form.
Inspecting the statue gives you the following

description:

“Not bug, nor beast, nor god.”

Examining the statue will also give you an
entry in the Hunter’s Journal for an item

called the Void Idol. The Void Idol is described
as a rare artifact from a time before Hallownest.

It also says that the idol contains a drop
of liquid from the Abyss. There is a quote

from Relic Seeker Lemm saying that the ancient
bugs worshipped the darkness itself.

The second statue takes the form of the Knight
during the ending of the Radiance battle in

the base game. The statue’s description
says:

“Void given form.”

I think this is referring to the fact that
once the Knight obtained the Void Heart, it

was able to command the Void and summon it
during the Radiance boss fight. The Void Idol

description for this statue states:

“Volatile liquid of the Abyss writhes within”.

This implies that while the void has form,
it isn’t completely controlled.

The final statue takes the form of the creature
that we see in the Embrace the Void ending.

Interestingly, the description for this statue
has actually been changed since the first

release of Godmaster. In update 1.4.2.4 it
read:

“Void given mind.”

But since update 1.4.2.8 it now reads:

“Void given focus.”

The Void Idol description for this statue
reads:

“Rare artifact from a time before Hallownest,
its spires twined in a unified form. Contains

a large amount of liquid from the Abyss, perfectly
still.”

So in this last form, we can see that the
Void is now calm, as if something has total

control over it.

Hopefully all of this information didn’t
confuse you. I wanted to give you context

for all of this, but it’s the last statue
that I really want to discuss. Basically all

we have to figure out is how the Void was
“given focus”. Because this is how the

Lord Shade came to be. I am going to present
my current theory of how this happened. I

think there is plenty of room for other interpretations,
and I would love to hear them in the comments

below.

Let’s start with the Godtuner. Remember
what the item description was when we first

picked it up?

“Seek the gods of Hallownest. Tune their
power. Through their strength, ascend.”

The Godtuner tells the Knight to attune itself
with the Gods of Hallownest. This attunement

happens through combat, according to the Godseekers.
The Godseeker explains:

“Through sacred combat are We attuned to
this Kingdom’s greatest beings.”

When redoing the Pantheon of the Knight, the
Godseeker asks us if we too are seeking to

attune with the Gods, implying that it is
also possible for the Knight to do so. Which

means this line from the Godseeker also applies
to the Knight:

“We shall attune Ourselves to thee and ascend
ever higher!”

So what does it mean to ascend? Well, the
Hall of Gods features ascended versions of

all of the bosses, which are more powerful
than their original versions. So I think it’s

safe to say that ascention makes a being more
powerful. The Knight’s ascension happens

at the end of the battle with the Absolute
Radiance. The flavor text for getting the

Embrace the Void achievement reads:

“Ascend the Pantheon of Hallownest and take
your place at its peak”.

So the Knight attunes to the bosses through
combat and ascends them when it beats the

Pantheon of Hallownest.

But what exactly drives all of this? What
is it that allows the attunement and ascension

to happen in the first place? Well, the Godseekers
have to be involved. Because none of this

confusing attunement garbage was important
until they showed up. But what is it about

the Godseekers that makes them special? They
aren’t Gods. The Godseeker in the Junk Pit

admits this herself when she says:

“Ye must think Us Godly. Amusing, foolish.”

So what is it about the Godseekers that makes
them so special? It all goes back to the Weathered

Mask. The mask allows the wearer to focus
their thoughts. In the Pantheon of the Sage,

the Godseekers tell us the following:

“Until through Godly focus do We attain
communion with that great power sleeping in

the Kingdom’s heart...”

I think this “Godly focus” is what makes
Godhome work. It’s what allows creatures

to be attuned back to their prime forms and
what allows them to become more powerful through

ascension. All of the abilities that the Godseekers
have come back to this Godly focus.

For the first four Pantheons, the Godseekers
have no interest in the Knight, seeing it

as a weak and meager... cringer. At the end
of the Pantheon of the Knight, however, the

Godseeker mentions how the Knight is beginning
to get into her mind. Not long after this

moment, we hear the Lord Shade’s roar for
the first time. Once the knight makes it to

the Pantheon of Hallownest, the Godseeker
starts paying attention and listening to us.

By the time the Knight has finally defeated
the Radiance, all of the focus from the Godseekers

is pointed towards this tiny little bug. And
with all of that Godly focus being directed

right at the Knight, who just so happens to
be unified with the Void thanks to the Void

Heart, the Lord Shade finally makes a formal
appearance. The Godseekers have given focus

to the Void.

Before we get into the ending cutscene I wanted
to talk about the new Lemm quote we got. It

reads:

“Inspired or mad, those ancient bugs. They
devoted their worship to no lord, or power,

or strength, but to the very darkness itself.”

So this pretty much confirms that the ancient
civilization before Hallownest worshipped

the Void. To what extent we don’t know.
Did they worship the Lord Shade, or just the

Void in general? Did the Lord Shade even exist
in the past, or did it only come into being

because of the Godseekers? A more involved
Void does jive nice with the Radiance’s

dialogue where she calls the Knight her ancient
enemy. Did the Radiance combat this Void monster

in the past?

Alright, let’s move on to the cutscene.
So the Lord Shade comes down from the sky

and gives the Godseeker a friendly hug. You
can hear the Godseeker’s voice in this scene,

and to me, it sounds like she is more in awe
than she is scared. After all, the Godseekers

were looking for the most powerful God, and
now, there’s one in her presence. Also,

in Godseeker mode, Godseeker keeps talking
like she gets off to being pulverized by a

god, so this all makes sense. After this scene
we see the Void leaking out of the Godseeker

in the Junk Pit. The Void then erupts out
of her, seemingly unleashing itself into the

land of Hallownest.

The final scene takes place at the Temple
of the Black Egg. Hornet watches as the Radiance’s

infection fades away, and we hear the sound
of footsteps and rattling chains. A figure

appears in front of the camera and Hornet
prepares herself for battle.

We can tell from this scene that the Radiance
is truly dead, since the infection is fading

away. Why does killing the Radiance in Godhome
kill the real Radiance? Since it Radiance

was already in the Dream world, maybe attuning
to it works in a different way than normal.

One of the Godseekers in Godhome says “A
bridge”. Maybe all the Godseekers did was

find a way to bridge the Godhome with the
dream inside of the Hollow Knight’s mind.

Getting back to the cutscene, some people
have said that the infection is being turned

into Void, but I think these vines are just
normally that dark.

Let’s talk about the figure approaching
Hornet at the end of the cutscene. It’s

obviously the Hollow Knight. We hear its chains
rattling, we see the bottom part of its shell

and we also see it’s nail. And since the
Radiance is dead, the Hollow Knight would

presumably no longer be infected. But this
does raise the question. How the fuck did

the Hollow Knight free itself from the chains?
This doesn’t make a lick of goddamn sense

to me. Seriously, did it somehow pull off
some sort of reverse reverse David Blaine

maneuver? I mean I get what Team Cherry is
trying to do. After all, ending it with Hornet

just standing there like a dumbass wouldn’t
have been that exciting. But it still bothers

me.

This ending totally caught me off guard. I
honestly thought the Hornet DLC was going

to be a prequel. In fact I had a whole video
planned where I was going to go through and

predict what I thought would happen. Luckily
I was too lazy to get that done before this

update came out. But now that the new ending
seems to be strongly hinting at a sequel,

I am actually really excited. The Shade Lord
looks absolutely terrifying, and I have no

idea how Hornet is going to stand any chance
against it. Yeah, I don’t think her needle

is going to do shit. However, thanks to an
alternate ending, we do have an idea of how

the Void might be defeated.

If the player has successfully delivered the
Delicate Flower to the grave in the Queen’s

Garden, more flowers will begin to grow in
that spot. These flowers can be taken to various

other NPCs in the game. This is probably what
Team Cherry meant by romantic options. Still

can’t give one to my waifu though. Taking
the flower to the Godseeker unlocks an alternate

ending where the Godseeker and the Void disappear,
presumably stopping the Void from tearing

into Hallownest.

The description for the flower says that it
glows with a pale light, which is usually

a sign of something having a connection to
the Pale King. Turns out that’s not true.

Eternal Emilitia tells us that the flower’s
pure aura is no match for the light of the

Pale King. The White Lady also tells us that
the flower is not even from Hallownest, implying

that Mysterious Ze’mer brought it with her
from some other land. We have no clue where

that was, but there is something about Mysterious
Ze’mer that is worth pointing out. After

completing the Flower quest, Ze’mer nopes
the fuck out of existence, similar to how

the Delicate Flower caused the Godseeker to
also disappear. That’s about all we know

for now. It seems pretty likely that the Hornet
DLC will get further into exactly what is

going on here.

And that’s it. That’s all of the lore
I can mercilessly beat out of this update.

Okay, there is one more thing, you can now
find the Nailsmith’s body floating in the

water near the Junk Pit. I’m glad Team Cherry
gave us that image. But yeah that’s it.

Well, there’s also the Eternal Ordeal. This
is a minigame of sorts where you have to fend

off against an endless stream of Zotes. It’s
a cool area, but there isn’t any lore to

discuss. For some reason, Team Cherry didn’t
add Journal entries for the additional zotelings.

This is unacceptable. Alright I actually am
done this time. There’s nothing left in

the game to talk about.

But there is something not in the game that
I need to talk about: Glorified charms. In

case you hadn’t noticed, they kind of don’t
actually exist. Rumor is these charms would

have required the entire game to be reworked
so that they wouldn't completely break everything.

But Team Cherry hasn’t put out a formal
blog update saying why the charms were cut

or even what they would have been like, so
I don't really know for sure. This update

is still amazing regardless, but it is still
a bit of a bummer. I just hope Team Cherry

fills us in on how the charms were going to
work at some point in the future.

So where does this update leave us? This isn’t
100% confirmed but it looks like Hallownest

is about to get totally fucked by the Shade
Lord, and it’s up to Hornet to stop it.

How will she do that? Hell if I know, that’s
Team Cherry’s problem now. They’re the

ones who have to come up with a solution to
this problem that actually makes sense. I

mean, I’ll try and figure it out, but my
theories can be as ridiculous as I want as

long as I put the word “speculation” in
the video title. That’s the beauty of having

a lore channel after all.

Speaking of which. I know this happened like
two months ago, but thanks for 10,000 subscribers.

I’ve really enjoyed being able to make these
videos for the Hollow Knight community, and

I love hearing your theories in the comments
section and on some of the other websites

like Twitter, and Discord, and Reddit and
LinkedIn. I promise to continue doing whatever

it is I am doing. See you in 12 weeks!