Why Hornet isn't Void

I recently posted a poll here on YouTube asking
whether or not Hornet was made of Void.

And 60% of you said “yes”.

So today, I am going to explain why 60% of
you are completely fucking wrong.

Now, I don’t blame anybody for thinking
this.

In fact, in my Zote video, I flat out said
that Hornet was made of Void.

Let this be a reminder that any Hollow Knight
lore video you watch on YouTube is probably

going to have missing evidence or a few flawed
conclusions.

This shit can get fucking confusing.

So please don’t take anything I say as gospel.

That being said, Hornet is 100%, definitely,
irrefutably not made of Void.

This issue has caused so much debate that
it’s starting to turn into a meme.

So just call me “Pewdiepie” because it’s
time for this meme to die.

Let’s start off with the most obvious observation
that might lead one to think that Hornet is

made of Void.

She’s black.

“THAT’S RACIST!”

But this doesn’t actually prove much of
anything.

Several characters in Hallownest have black
portions of their bodies, so to just say that

they are all made of Void might be a bit drastic.

We need more concrete proof.

Another characteristic worth pointing out
is that Hornet’s shell does not have a mouth.

This is a feature she shares with the Vessels,
beings we know are composed of Void.

But while their shells do share this design,
it isn’t because of a relation to the Void,

but a relation to the Pale King, who is also
lacking a mouth.

Hornet, the Knight, the Hollow Knight and
the Vessels are all children of the Pale King.

Yeah, this guy fucks.

But there’s a lot to unpack here, so I’m
just going to start off by explaining why

Hornet is the Pale King’s biological daughter.

In Deepnest, Hornet tells us that Herrah is
her mother.

She says:

“We do not choose our mothers, or the circumstance
into which we are born.

Despite all the ills of this world, I'm thankful
for the life she granted me.”

The phrase “life she granted me” shows
that Herrah was directly involved with Hornet’s

birth.

There is more evidence for this thanks to
Midwife, in that her name is literally Midwife.

A midwife is someone who helps a mother through
childbirth.

So it’s safe to say that Midwife was Herrah’s
actual midwife during Hornet’s birth.

It’s a little on the nose for Team Cherry,
but I’m not going to complain.

In fact I wish more characters had names more
closely tied to their character arcs.

The White Lady also has dialogue confirming
Hornet’s origins.

She says that Hornet has the striking reflection
of her mother.

Hornet and Herrah do share the same shape
for their heads, showing a connection, but

“striking reflection” might be a bit of
a stretch.

You gotta remember that the White Lady is
blind.

The White Lady also points us to who Hornet’s
father is.

She says:

“I never begrudged the Wyrm's dalliance
as bargain.

In fact, I feel some affection for the creature
birthed.”

The White Lady’s dialogue here is a bit
archaic.

She is basically saying she was okay being
cucked by the Pale King, and that she has

affection for Hornet despite Hornet not being
her own child.

The word “dalliance” here is what proves
all of this.

A dalliance means “a casual romantic or
sexual relationship”.

And I doubt that the Pale King was having
a romantic relationship with Herrah, since

he’s like a fucking God and she is just
a common beast.

I don’t know if you’ve ever read any Greek
mythology, but let’s just say Zeus wasn’t

exactly taking any of the humans out to Olive
Garden.

There is also this line from Midwife that
emphasizes Hornet’s connection to the Pale

King.

When talking about Hornet, she says:

“Pale gift to the Nest and the Beast, fair
trade for sacrifice made.”

She calls Hornet “pale”, a word usually
tied to the Pale King, or sometimes just Higher

Beings in general.

The Pale Ore is used to forge strong weapons.

Also, in a Reddit AMA, Ari Gibson said that
the Pale Ores are related to the Pale Beings.

Godseeker refers to the White Lady as “pale
mother”.

There is also the delicate flower.

It is described as having a pale glow, but
we don’t know if it is tied to the Pale

King in any way.

Regardless, this pale attribute Hornet has,
along with her visual similarities, all point

to her being the biological child of the Pale
King.

I think some of the confusion here is that
Hornet is constantly referred to as a gift.

This sort of implies that Hornet was given
to Herrah after she was already created.

But I think this is just saying that the Pale
King’s gift is… you know… his dick.

Going back to the White Lady’s line “I
never begrudged the Wyrm’s dalliance as

bargain.”

The phrasing here implies that it was the
dalliance that was bargained, not the actual

child.

So in other words, the Pale King was offering
sexual activity in exchange for payment in

the form of Herrah’s help.

Unfortunately, whenever one topic of Hollow
Knight lore comes up, it ends up being tied

to another topic.

In this case, since we’re talking about
Hornet’s birth, it would be worth talking

about how the Vessels were created.

So let’s turn our attention to the other
side of the Pale King’s family tree: the

family he created with a literal tree.

We know that the Vessels, or at least the
creatures that became the Vessels, were born

in the Abyss.

We have the Pale King’s dialogue where he
says that the Hollow Knight was “Born of

God and Void”.

Hornet calls the Hollow Knight “our birth
cursed sibling".

Note that Hornet says “our” here because
she shares a relation to the Vessels through

the Pale King.

It doesn’t have anything to do with Void.

The lore tablet in the Pale King’s throne
room also mentions a cursed progeny, or a

cursed offspring.

The Kingsoul charm description says it opens
the way to a birthplace, which is located

in the Abyss.

Finally we also have the words of the White
Lady.

If you talk to her while wearing the Kingsoul
she will say:

“If its curiosity wills it, it should seek
out that place.

That place where it was born, where it died,
where it began...”

She then also calls the Knight her spawn when
talking about Grimm.

And then there is also her dialogue where
she admits her shame in participating in a

deed and implying that this deed had to do
with propagating herself, or in other words,

breeding.

From the lore tablet in the Ancient Basin,
it seems pretty obvious that this shameful

deed was the creation of the Vessels.

All of this evidence proves that the Pale
King’s and White Lady’s children were

born in the darkness, but the White Lady also
says that the Abyss is where they died.

Also, Hornet calls the Knight “ghost”
multiple times throughout the game.

This “death” probably occurred when the
Void became a part of the Vessel’s bodies.

But how did this happen?

There are several eggs in the Abyss, one of
which is completely black with void tentacles

connected to it.

Did the Void fuse into the egg before birth?

Or did the Void enter the bodies after they
were born?

Or maybe after they died.

I don’t think it matters too much how this
happened, just that it did happen.

There is evidence to support the idea that
Void is capable of combining with living creatures.

We have the royal husk in the Queen’s Garden.

Its Dream Nail dialogue reads:

“Too long spent together.

We become as one.”

This bug is found holding the Love Key, which
is used to enter the Tower of Lover, where

the Collector is located.

I think this Dream Nail dialogue is saying
that this husk gazed into the Collector so

long that the Void within the Collector gazed
back into him, resulting in the Void we see

around the husk’s corpse.

So what does this tell us other than that
Team Cherry are big fans of Nietzsche?

Well the phrase “become as one” hints
at the possibility for living creatures and

Void to combine in some way.

Now let’s take a minute to talk about the
idea that the Vessels are the artificial creations

of the Pale King.

We know that the Pale King is capable of making
such things, given the Kingsmoulds and the

Wingsmoulds.

But for the Vessels to be constructs, we have
to completely ignore all of the evidence I

just presented, and there is more evidence
to counter this view.

Why is there so much regret involved in the
creation of the Vessels if they were just

constructs?

Why all the mentions of children and progeny?

If the Pale King built these things in his
workshop, where did the shells come from?

There isn’t any explanation for how they
got made.

Also, the Dung Defender was surprised to see
the Knight, proving that he thought only one

Vessel existed, the Hollow Knight.

This is just speculation, but judging from
the thousands of shells found in the Abyss,

it seems unlikely that the Pale King would
have been able to create all of these Vessels

and transport them to the Abyss without one
of the most loyal members of his Pale Court

finding out.

Alright, let’s summarize the nature of the
Vessels and why Hornet is most likely not

one of them.

The Vessels are the spawn of the Pale King
and the White Lady.

The eggs they were born from were placed in
the Abyss, resulting in their bodies becoming

hollowed out and replaced by the Void.

They consist of an outer shell created by
the Pale King and the White Lady, as well

as an inner shade, composed of Void.

Hench the phrase “Born of God and Void”.

So the creation of all of the Pale King’s
offspring involved the act of dirty, possibly

kinky, bug sex.

The Pale King didn’t artificially create
any of his children, so he doesn’t actually

need Void in order to create a child.

So why would Hornet have any Void in her?

There is no need to drop an egg of Hornet
into the Abyss, since she was not going to

be used as a Vessel.

The fact that she is the only child of the
Pale King not to be placed in the Abyss is

what grants her the name “the Gendered Child”.

When the Vessels were consumed by the Void
and turned into “ghosts” as Hornet puts

it, they lost their gender.

On top of that, there is strong evidence to
support the idea that Hornet was born in Deepnest,

not the Abyss.

When talking to Hornet at the top of the Abyss
she says this:

“Ghost.

I see you've faced the place of your birth...”

Notice that Hornet says “your birth”,
not “our birth”.

And, like I mentioned earlier we have the
guy from “Spirited Away” which implies

Hornet was born in Deepnest.

Now let’s jump into one of the most interesting
lines used by both sides of the Hornet is

Void debate.

Hornet says:

“Though our strength is born of similar
source, that part of you, that crucial emptiness,

I do not share.”

So if you were to argue that Hornet is Void,
you would say that the “similar source”

is the Void but that the “crucial emptiness”
is being a truly hollow Vessel.

We have evidence that creatures made of Void
have the potential to have thoughts and feelings,

from both the Collector and the fact that
the Hollow Knight was imperfect.

But this line can also be interpreted where
the “similar source” is the power of the

Pale King and the “crucial emptiness”
is the Void itself.

The Pale King’s offspring all share the
benefit of his power.

Both Hornet and the Knight are referred to
as being “pale”, and the Hollow Knight

is described as having a “holy shell”.

Hornet is also one of the few bugs who realizes
she is in a dream in Godhome.

The only other bug that can do this is Grimm,
a Higher Being.

As for the “crucial emptiness” line, the
word “emptiness” is used a couple of times

in the game and are used to refer to the Void
itself.

The Void Heart is described as an emptiness
by both the game menu and the White Lady.

There is also the Hunter’s Journal entry
for the Siblings, which mentions that the

Abyss contains a “pervasive empiness”.

In the next line, Hornet says:

“Funny then, that such darkness gives me
hope.”

When Dream Nailed Hornet also says:

“It faced the void, and ascends unscathed...

Could it unite such vast darkness?...”

So Hornet is specifically referring to the
Void when using the word “darkness”, since

the Void is what is united in the Dream No
More ending.

The encounter the Knight has with Hornet at
the Temple of the Black Egg also implies that

Hornet is not made of Void.

She says:

“I won't be joining you in this.

That space is built to sustain your likes.

Its bindings would drain me were I to join.”

This line clearly separates Hornet from the
Knight.

And this line makes sense when we consider
that the Knight contains Void inside of it,

while Hornet does not.

Void is the only significant quality that
separates the nature of the two beings.

Alright, so now I’d like to go through some
of the arguments posted in my poll.

A lot of people were mentioning the fact that
Hornet gives the Knight soul when she is hit.

This doesn’t prove anything.

The Pure Vessel gives off soul despite having
Void inside of it.

The only beings that don’t give off soul
are the siblings and the Collector.

These enemies are composed entirely of Void.

The Vessels have shells, which is a possible
explanation as to why they still give off

soul.

The Sealed Sibling achievement seems to imply
that Hornet is a sibling to the Vessels.

This is true, but it isn’t the Void that
makes her a sibling, it’s her shared relation

to the Pale King.

There is this idea that Hornet has some Void
in her, but not as much as the Vessels.

There isn’t any evidence to support this.

The Vessels themselves are an outer organic
shell with an inner Void.

There is no explanation how Hornet could only
be part inner Void?

There is an argument that Hornet is a defective
Vessel.

The only defective Vessel we know about is
the Hollow Knight, and its defect was not

noticeable at all until later.

So we really don’t know how extreme a defective
Vessel can get.

So there you have it.

Undeniable proof that Hornet is not made of
Void.

But I know that there a few holdouts who still
refuse to believe me.

And that’s just fine.

You are allowed to believe whatever you want.

While we’re at it, let’s pretend that
the Tooth Fairy is real too,

or that Santa Claus exists,

or that the Earth is actually
round.