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dragoler · 1 year
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A Desolate Waste
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dragoler · 2 years
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A King’s Lament
A toast to you, my kin forlorn For kingdom's sake, from darkness born No cost too great, please understand Why your fate was my command.
My world is burning, don't you see? That ancient grudge returns for me My people walk in dreaming haze Behind their eyes her wrathful blaze.
Empty stares, I see them all A sacrifice to stop the fall Can they still hear my voice? Their sombre end, I had no choice.
Minds regressed, their fangs are bared To instinct fallen, none are spared Through my streets they roam as beasts Homes are broken, madness feasts.
Hope at last, one rose from dark Kingdom's saviour, Wyrm and bark My child, please know your lot is pain A gift to all, so we remain.
Ambition bloomed in scholar's dream Promise whispered, a mind pristine Countless slain to cure the blight They served her will and thought it right.
Bargain made, three bugs to sleep New heir born she could not keep Watcher serves his King in rest Teacher did what she thought best.
Seal the doors, lock the gate Rest their souls, oh cruellest fate Thousands gone, my deepest fears The rain reflects a city in tears.
Raised for strength, you grew so fair Trained by greatest knights, my heir Mastered art of spell with speed Your shoulders bear a weighty need.
Even death won't grant them rest Tortured groans sound through the nest By sweetened mist rise husks reborn She'll not allow us chance to mourn.
Raise your nail, my soul and kin Don your armour, my greatest sin Eternal, unchanging, no voice or will Thanks to my curse, your mind is still.
Charged with fate, you seal the light To end her hate, and bind her spite Enshrined by minds of dreaming three Forfeit lives for eternity
And in the end it was for nought By my care your impurity brought No cost too great, to chain the wild But a cost too great, to lose my child...
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dragoler · 2 years
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You did mention that Truthseeker has a hatchling. That made me thought about vessels and their capacity to reproduce.
Though vessels being hollow obviously lack the organs to do so naturally, I don't think it would be completely outside the realm of possibility for them to be able to reproduce. Vessels are innate soul users, the Knight is able to focus its soul to heal without any apparent training, and learn spells quickly. This is probably a hereditary trait as its parents are both "higher beings" or gods. Though we don't know much about the powers of the White Lady (unless it's growing particularly lush gardens, or producing copious amounts of offspring) we do know the Pale King has particular power over the mind, as well as some power over dream, as he's able to pull the entire White Palace into the dream realm when his plan to contain the Radiance fails; he was also almost certainly the one to teach the Pure Vessel spellwork, as its spells strongly resemble the bladed elements found within the palace with added pure nail markings.
The specific powers shown by the parents of the vessels is irrelevant however, as the magic system of Hollow Knight is a soft one, with no clearly defined rules as to what can and cannot be done using soul, essence or any other substance associated with supernatural power. So then how do we know where the limits lie? Thankfully we don't need to speculate if procreation is within these limits, because the game has already answered this question. The Glowing Womb charm found by the corpse of a dead aspid mother converts soul directly into vessel-aspid hybrid offspring. From Salubra we know that this charm, like most others, was created from a dying wish.
Few ways a charm appears but mainly it's from final wish, a dying bug's potent desire crystallised into these gorgeous, powerful trinkets.
And is literally made from the soul of the bug who died.
Just think of all the little bug souls that went into creating your collection! It's like a crowd of strangers in your pouch, or purse, or...err....wherever it is you keep them.
So this is basically a soul spell, crystalised into a charm, and it was made from the desire of a beast no less. The hatchlings from the charm are temporary and disappear as soon as the charm is unequipped, but what if a being of greater power were to focus their soul into making something a bit more permanent?
"Soul of Wyrm. Soul of Root. Heart of Void", the phrase may only be a poetic way to describe the composition of the vessels, but taken with our knowledge of the power and significance of soul, combining souls could be all that is needed to create new life. There is one small snag - the void. Void is hostile towards life; it is even hostile towards vessels! Though vessels contain void they are not in harmony with it by default, as the Knight must "unconstrain" the "emptiness hidden within" before even its own shade will cease attacking it. So how much of a dampener does this put onto our hypothetical? Well, the Glowing Womb charm somehow works with vessels, and is even able to incorporate the void element into its hatchlings, so I suppose the answer comes down to method and personal interpretation. Creating new life could be as simple as the charm makes it, so long as enough soul and focus is put in. It could be that a powerful vessel would be able to manage, but due to the conflict of their shadowy nature the process is more dangerous and difficult than it would be for a regular bug. Or it could be that a vessel could never muster enough power to make it work, or would even die in the process of trying. We may never know for sure, but we can always speculate on the possibilities!
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dragoler · 2 years
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Great art all round! I love how feral Scally looks!
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The top 3 of this year’s Wolfling Run! Rybbin by Verm, Scally by Dragoler, and Alice in Wonderland by Karithina! I did the art of Rybbin, and Civvi did the art of Scally and Alice!
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dragoler · 2 years
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About Vessel Cloaks
I’ve been thinking about Ccmaci's video about vessel cloaks, and though the video is well researched, I disagree with the lines of logical deduction used which focus on things such as the way the cloaks are drawn, a questionable interpretation of a cryptic lore tablet, and claims about parental inheritance with no supporting evidence. I want to offer a simpler alternative explanation for why the vessels have cloaks, and i'm going to go through the evidence for that here by way of a basic set of questions.
Are the cloaks a part of the vessel's bodies?
Several vessel bodies found on platforms within the Abyss have cloaks.
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 As do bodies seen in the background of the Birthplace. 
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Which contains potentially millions of vessels. As other evidence points to the vessels having been born and died here, it is very unlikely that they'd all be individually given cloaks, which makes even less sense in a kingdom where most denizens wore nothing at all, as can be clearly seen throughout the game.
Cloak is okay. Otherwise the bugs wear no clothes.
- Developer notes
We can conclude that the cloaks were most likely a physical part of the vessel's bodies.
Are there any other bugs who's cloaks are a physical part of their bodies?
Yes, the moths. The Seer
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Thistlewind
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And Markoth.
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All wear cloaks, and in their cases their cloaks are actually wings.
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Just to make the connection even more clear, the Mothwing Cloak is one of the earliest items the Knight can acquire, though this cloak is only threaded with moth wing “strands”.
Do either of the vessel's parents possess wings?
The Hallownest Seal, symbolizing the authority of the Pale King and his Knights depicts six wings.
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Like those of the notably named “monarchflys” and the item collected from them.
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This would connect the wings to the king, but did the Pale King actually have wings? It seems the answer to that is yes, though they are only ever shown on the king himself on his silhouette in the background of Ogrim's dream.
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Other times the Pale King is seen he is not shown to have wings, but is rather wrapped in a long, white robe. 
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Hmmm...
So is there any evidence that the cloaks of the vessels are wings?
Yes! When the Knight collects the Monarch Wings its cloak extends and transforms into a set of six wings.
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Just like the Hallownest Seal, Monarchflys and the Pale King himself, but that's just the power of the item, right? Well, this is what the description of the item says:
Wings of ethereal matter that shimmer in the darkness.
And this is in the prompt upon picking the wings up:
Use these ethereal wings to sail above enemies and discover new paths.
The use of the world "ethereal" here would suggest something otherworldly, magical and/or not quite physical, just like the monarchfly’s themselves appear to be, and we do indeed see wings of white light behind the Knight when it performs a double jump.
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However, less noticeable is that its cloak also transforms into wings during this action. 
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So why do the Monarch Wings transform the Knight's cloak, when the item creates wings of its own? My theory is that the wings are inactive and require the right power to be activated, or perhaps vessels always had the ability to use their wings, but it was not practical to do so, or they weren't aware of their capabilities. Given the parentage of the vessels, if they don’t posses this power innately, they probably would have it, had they not been hollowed. At the very least this shows the cloaks possess the potential to become wings when the right conditions are met.
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dragoler · 3 years
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Bugs marvel at your silver crown beneath etheric lures, Its precious jewel shines upon our waters and our shores, When pretenders ruled within your halls we bowed our heads in fear, Unaware behind nightmarish walls our torment you could hear, In deepest dream your guiding voice whispered through the flame, 'The shifting sands of Starreign's heart unites this world again', It arrived from wastelands at your word, a saviour shining white, To nail and spell pretenders fell, we rallied to its might, But soon we learned the truth of our protector from the wild, Two forms of one, you claimed its shell but why'd you choose my child? - 'Ode to the Spiralwyrm' by Grand Archivist Yeri
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dragoler · 3 years
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I’ve been doing a lot of digital painting over the last few months but not a lot of posting, so here’s a dump of the compositions I’ve completed. Truthseeker and their hatchling belong to me, Nox, Kyin and Moro belong to Unknown, Tyxaar and Giuseppu respectively from the Join the Shadelord Discord server and subreddit.
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dragoler · 4 years
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Monarch In the Dark
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dragoler · 4 years
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When the Knight uses the Monarch Wings their cloak morphs into wings as well, so what if the Pure Vessel’s cloak was capable of the same? I’m sure their wings would make their father proud.
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dragoler · 4 years
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This is a beautiful piano cover of the Crossroads by Ganmue, also featuring some of my old art.
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dragoler · 4 years
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Hello, I am going to be making videos where I showcase some Hollow Knight fanart and I quite like yours, so I wanted to ask whether I could show some of your art? Naturally linking and crediting. Specifically, I am right now editing a piano performance of Crossroads, and your art would looks amazing. So, can I show it?
Go right ahead, I’d love a link to the video once you’re done!
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dragoler · 4 years
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You know, vessels would make for ideal super soldiers. They start empty, but can be imprinted upon to make them totally loyal, and they possess strength born of gods and the power of the void. If the Pale King had continued waiting at the top of the Abyss and taken out the first six vessels to ascend rather than just one, not only would he have his Hollow Knight, but a guard that could demolish the Five Great Knights. Looking at it this way, the Pale King showed great restraint. He saw the vessels as tools, and he chose only to take what he needed and no more. I wonder if he was tempted? Or was the thought of using his own reanimated offspring in such a way without the need a step too far? Perhaps in his own way, he sees closing the Abyss as a mercy, so that his other children can rest.
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dragoler · 4 years
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I have a couple of things to add. Firstly not all vessels lost their cloaks, you can find plenty in the background of the Birthplace who still have them.
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But more importantly you forgot to factor in the eggs.  
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Every vessel would have had to hatch from an egg, many of which are very large and most likely held multiple vessels. These would take up a considerable amount of space.
sometimes i read posts that estimate the casualty count for the vessels in passing: “the pale king killed hundreds of vessels” or “thousands of vessels.” and a thousand is a big word, y’know? you don’t wanna overshoot the kill count.
and i’m like ok, well, let’s do some basic math: assuming that one vessel is approximately one meter long (i know they dont have meters in hallownest and vessels aren’t that big, just bear with me), a 2D square plot of land of 10x10 hallownest-meters would be covered in 100 vessels. 
a plot of 100x100 meters is 1,000 vessels. 
a plot of 1000x1000 meters is 1,000,000 vessels. 
so we’re already in the millions, and the lengthways section of the abyss is probably longer than 1,000 hallownest-meters. the section of the abyss extending into the background is definitely longer than 1,000 hallownest-meters.  (for reference, 1,000 meters is only 0.6 miles.)
and this isn’t even getting into the fact that the abyss, as we find out in the search section for voidheart, goes downwards–that’s not a 2D plot of land covered in dead vessels, that’s a 3D volume of dead vessels.
so here comes middle school math again to calculate the volume of a cubic shape:
10x10x10 is 1,000 dead vessels.
100x100x100 is 1,000,000 dead vessels.
1000x1000x1000 is 1,000,000,000 dead vessels.
i’d say the abyss is probably bigger than the 1000x1000x1000 dimensions, though.
calculations do not account for the fact that vessels are definitely shorter than a hallownest-meter, and that the abyss would probably have them scrunched up together rather than laying them out neatly per cubic hallownest-meter. realistically, you could probably shove maybe four or five vessels into this fictional cubic meter… so multiply everything by four or five.
billions is an unfortunate term that’s so large that it basically loses meaning, but considering the size of the abyss and the density of the vessels, we could probably use that word regarding the pale king’s genocide of his own children.
which makes the pale king the jeff bezos of murderers, i guess.
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dragoler · 4 years
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I don’t usually do these because I hate my sketches, but here’s a sketch dump of my vessel OC Truthseeker and also King (King is fun to draw). It includes speculation on how vessels might moult to grow. I’m not sure what to do with them here, but I want to use them some time.
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dragoler · 4 years
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The Hollowness of the Knight
This is a theory post about Hollow Knight and contains spoilers, so if you haven’t completed the game you should probably not read this post.
There is a debate I see often within the Hollow Knight fan community and every time it comes up I ignore it. This debate is on the purity of the protagonist Knight as a vessel, and sometimes by extension the purity of the Hollow Knight at the time of its choosing. Here I want to explain why this is a fruitless debate, and how the topic may be better approached from a different angle.
Let's begin with the iconic lines said by the Pale King about vessels during the Birthplace memory:
No cost too great. No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering. Born of God and Void. You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams. You are the Vessel. You are the Hollow Knight.
The part that I am going to focus on here is 'No will to break' because it’s the point of hottest contention. It's no real secret that the Knight displays a will throughout the game, this is even referenced in NPC dialogue, such as when it refuses to trade with Steel Soul Jinn:
...It refuses to trade...? It has a will... all Its own. Can refuse. Jinn will keep waiting... until a gift comes.
This obviously runs counter to what the Pale King is saying, but the situation gets more complicated than this. Five other important characters (sorry Mask Maker) in the game have in-depth knowledge on the vessels, what they are, how they were created and what is needed for them to be pure - The three Dreamers, The White Lady and Hornet.
Let's ignore the Dreamers (they have little to say) and start with the White Lady. Upon first meeting her she will gift the Knight a White Fragment and then urge it to take over the duty of the Hollow Knight, believing it pure enough to succeed in the task:
I implore you, usurp the Vessel. Its supposed strength was ill-judged. It was tarnished by an idea instilled. But you. You are free of such blemishes. You could contain that thing inside.
Her perception is obviously not perfect as she didn't seem to notice the impurity of the Hollow Knight until it was too late (possibly she did but they were too far into the plan so ignored it, as the Path of Pain implies the king may have done). Though this could also suggest that all vessels start out pure and only lose their purity if something were to tarnish them later. The next part is more interesting though, if the Knight returns to her with the Kingsoul charm equipped she says this:
The Kingsoul... What is at the heart of it I wonder? If its curiosity wills it, it should seek out that place. That place where it was born, where it died, where it began...
Here she directly encourages the Knight to follow its curiosity, something which should be counter to what a vessel would feel and also insinuates a will. After acquiring the Void heart she comments this:
That pulsing emptiness... Truly, it has been transformed by the revelations it found. Does it... feel anything? Triumph? Or hate? If it does, I cannot sense it. The fate of our Kingdom, our Hallownest... that future belongs to you now.
This dialogue strongly suggests that the Void Heart has somehow made the Knight more empty than it was before, and yet the description of the Void Heart also directly references a will:
An emptiness that was hidden within, now unconstrained. Unifies the void under the bearer's will.
Now onto Hornet. When Hornet first fights the Knight she thinks it is weak and would kill her mother, only to fail at the Hollow Knight and unleash the Radiance onto Hallownest. After she is defeated she concludes that the Knight has gained resilience from 'two voids':
I'm normally quite perceptive. You I underestimated, though I've since guessed the truth. You've seen beyond this kingdom's bounds. Yours is resilience born of two voids.
The second void mentioned refers to the wastelands outside the Kingdom, known to rob bugs of their 'minds':
Higher beings, these words are for you alone. These blasted plains stretch never-ending. There is no world beyond. Those foolish enough to traverse this void must pay the toll and relinquish the precious mind this kingdom grants.
This seems to translate to bugs losing their memories, as Quirrel is shown to have lost his own memory when he left Hallownest:
Twice I've seen this world and though my service may have stripped the first experience from me, I'm thankful I could witness its beauty again.
So the Knight losing its memory has made it resilient and therefore more 'pure' right? Well, there are problems with this. To start with resilience =/= emptiness, you don't need an empty mind to have a strong body. It also seems unlikely that she is talking about physical strength here because the threats of Hallownest are more dangerous than those on the surface. From Quirrel:
Your nail looks a fine instrument, but it's showing signs of wear. I'd wager up there it would take you far. Down here however, I suspect you'll soon meet dangers the surface world can't match.
What Hornet is actually referring to is resolve - willpower. This is supported by the names of the achievements you gain after defeating her: 'Test of Resolve' and 'Proof of Resolve', she even makes reference to a will directly in dialogue later:
You could do it, if you had the will.
This weirdly suggests that an empty mind directly contributes to an increase in willpower, something running completely counter to the king's words. It also makes her very next move seem quite counter-intuitive; she encourage the Knight to learn the things it has forgotten about its past:
It's no surprise then you've managed to reach the heart of this world. In so doing, you shall know the sacrifice that keeps it standing. If, knowing that truth, you'd still attempt a role in Hallownest's perpetuation, seek the Grave in Ash and the mark it would grant to one like you.
If a lack of knowledge would make a vessel more 'pure' this goes against her own best interests, so we can also rule out the effects of the wastelands contributing to the purity of the Knight.
By now you will probably be saying that Hornet doesn't want the Knight to seal the Radiance, she wants it to kill her. Hornet doesn't actually consider the possibility of the Knight uniting the void until after it climbs out of the Abyss:
...It faced the void, and ascends unscathed... Could it unite such vast darkness?..
And even then considers the possibility as almost an impossibility:
...Could it achieve that impossible thing? Should it?
She is perfectly accepting of the fact that it could chose to seal the Radiance instead, and doesn't voice any concerns about its fitness to do so:
Ghost of Hallownest, you possess the strength to enact an end of your choosing. Would you supplant our birth-cursed sibling, or would you transcend it?
Even if killing the Radiance was the only possibility she considered, shouldn't the Knight becoming an avatar of the void itself make it as empty as it could possibly be?
The conclusion here is that the evidence is incredibly contradictory. Multiple knowledgeable characters encourage the Knight to exert its will despite the Pale King saying vessels shouldn’t have one, and even a loss of memory isn't considered better for purity.
Onto the second part, what can we say for sure DOES contribute to purity? It should be safe to assume that everything else the king mentions about vessels still holds true. Vessels do not speak and have no voices, whenever a vessel roars with a voice the sound comes from the Radiance and not themselves. They do not think. This is an odd one because there is Dream Nail dialogue for the Hollow Knight and Pure Vessel, but because it isn't accessible within the game it can't be taken as canon (though that is a debate in itself). Ignoring these outliers, there are five creatures that give Dream Nail dialogue of '...' which are Broken Vessel/Lost Kin, Fool Eaters, Gulkas, Shadow Creepers and Nosk. The Fool Eaters and Gulkas are plants so naturally they have no minds, Shadow Creepers are found near to and within the Abyss where it is strongly suggested they are inflicted by the effects of the void:
Found only in deep, dark places. Has never been observed to eat or drink anything.
The Broken Vessel is a vessel so it makes sense for it not to think, even when inflicted by infection. Nosk however is an interesting case, and I theorize the reason for its lack of thought is in its nature as a mimic:
In the deepest darkness, there are beasts who wear faces stolen from your memories and pluck at the strings in your heart. Know yourself, and stay strong.
Nosk does not only mimic the body of the Knight but also its mind, so when the Knight Dream Nail's Nosk it is seeing its own empty mind reflected back. Interestingly, if the Pure Vessel and Hollow Knight's Dream Nail dialogue are to be taken as canon, that makes BOTH the Knight and Broken Vessel more pure than it, supporting the theory that all vessels start pure until tarnished. So what causes tarnishment? An 'idea instilled' is rather vague, but the existence of the Path of Pain strongly suggests that the idea instilled into the Hollow Knight was an emotional bond with its father, supported by cut Dream Nail dialogue:
"...Father?..."
Perhaps the king should consider replacing 'No will to break' with 'No bonds to break’? Maybe then he wouldn't have messed up his plan as badly as he did.
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dragoler · 4 years
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I wasn't going to respond because there's no way to do so without repeating myself, but I'll give it one more try to properly explain. This will be my last post on this thread and I won't be quoting evidence that has already been quoted in a higher post.
When bugs have regrets, they leave them behind like black stains in the world which we’ve already established to be void. Most of the time these stains likely go unnoticed and simply float around in the air like soul does:
Naturally formed within a crystal over a long period. Draws in SOUL from the surrounding air.
- Deep Focus charm description.
This is supported by Jiji’s comments on the murkiness of the air from the regret that has built up in the time she’s been asleep.
If these stains are not addressed then hope starts to drain from the bug, sending them into a depression. There are other bugs in the kingdom like the Seer and the Grey Mourner who also have regrets, but they both find ways to deal with them. The way they die even seems to act as an indication of their regrets being dispelled. After atoning for her people’s sins by assisting the Knight the Seer becomes essence, a light connected with the Radiance who spawned her tribe:
The folk of my tribe were born from a light. Light similar to Essence, similar to that powerful blade, though much brighter still.
- Seer
While the Grey Mourner notably keeps delicate flowers which are shown to react to void by banishing it. They may well have reacted to her releasing her regrets after the flower was delivered to her lover’s grave site, though this is speculation.
The king meanwhile handled his regrets by not handling them at all. He ran away into a dream with his palace to escape from the Radiance and his responsibilities, then isolated himself in his throne room behind a gauntlet of spikes, thorns and buzzsaws. Up there the weight became too much to bear, the massive regret spilled out of him, darkening the whole room and he died drained and hopeless upon his throne. So in a way the void did kill him, but not really. He wasn't killed by void rising up against him, he was killed by his failure to deal with the void building up inside his own mind. The void formed by the regret of a million dead children, one child chained up alone in the dark, and an entire kingdom who relied upon him for leadership left abandoned.
Back to the subject of the palace itself, just because a figment is dreamed into existence doesn't mean it can't kill you. The ghosts can kill you, the Radiance can kill you using her attacks made from essence and in fact the followers of both the Radiance and Unn were originally created from a dream and can physically do harm to you:
The greater mind once dreamed of leaf and cast these caverns so. In every bush and every vine the mind of Unn reveals itself to us. The Green Children walked from the dream unto these lands. Here we now shall wait, patient, for the call to return.
- Greenpath lore tablets
The Pale King is a god with similar powers over dream, hence his ability to shift an entire region of the map into one. It is perfectly within his power to create dream figments capable of killing for real.
I don't know what more to add about the dead Kingsmoulds, they show no signs of combat damage as their armour is still perfectly intact, and the void is starting to melt and return to its natural state which I already explained. My reasoning for thinking they died from neglect is the huge amount of time that has passed since the kingdom fell. The White Lady comments that the kingdom has been in ruin for longer than Loyal Ogrim of the Five Great Knights had served under the crown:
...That scent. Does another travel with you? Is that you Ogrim, my mighty Knight? I cannot see you, but then time has clouded my eyes and I cannot see much. Even your booming voice falls silent upon me. Only this small one I register, if maybe because it shares some piece of myself. This one stands clear upon a misted world. Ah.... But my my, that potent smell does recall such joyous memory. Only a short moment we had together, compared to ruin now endured, but what shining times they were.
What is a construct built to serve to do when no more commands come but wither away and fail?
On the subject of the Abyss, we know the king used void from the other side of the lighthouse because that's where the birthplace is. It would also be ridiculous to assume that he didn't know about the Abyss before building his palace in the Ancient Basin, nobody is going to build something that important without carefully checking the area first. The void is not ‘an enemy to everyone’, it is more equivalent to a force of nature. In the same way you don't want to step in boiling acid you don't want to get near a pool of void, the void doesn't actively hunt bugs down. You are also really set on the point about the lighthouse but I honestly don't think it's as important as you think it is. I'll link to another post I made which goes more in-depth on the nature of void and the lighthouse keeper here.
The Pale King - Death From Regret
This is a theory post about Hollow Knight and contains spoilers, so if you haven’t completed the game you should probably not read this post. This was originally posted to Reddit but i’m putting a copy here too. I am of the belief that the Pale King was not killed by the void, nor did he take a new form, but instead died upon his throne from his regrets.
To start with i’ll explain why the void probably didn’t have a hand in his death. The Pale King’s corpse when you find it is intact, there is no void in his eyes and no cracks on his shell, the only tell that he is dead is a raggedness to the bottom of his robes. This indicates there was no struggle and that void did not get inside of him, which seems to be the way it kills other bugs within proximity to it.
Next is the void itself. The void begins without unity, as mentioned in the dream nail dialogue of the Abyss creature holding the void bowl:
…Void… Power… Without unity…
The argument can be made that the shades of the Vessels have wills of their own, but it still seems unlikely for them to go after the king. To start with most vessels died very shortly after they were hatched so would likely lack the knowledge needed to be vengeful towards him. Secondly the shades don’t appear to be very sentient, they attack the Knight on sight despite being siblings of it, until the Knight acquires the Void Heart which grants the Knight control over the void. This suggests that the shades, despite taking on the form of the Vessels, simply act as the void would and have no strong wills of their own remaining (in the Hunter’s journal they are described as having only a fragment of a lingering will). Lastly there is the White Palace itself, which the King brought with him into the dream world when he fled, meaning that if any shades were to leave the Abyss they would still be unable to find him without a guide to lead them into the dream realm.
So now for the explanation of the darkness in the throne room, my main source for this will be from Confessor Jiji. Lore wise Jiji helps bugs come to terms with their regrets, which she describes as ‘black stains’:
I am Jiji, and if you have found your way into my chamber you must need my help. You see, sometimes we leave our regrets behind in the world, like black stains. If we don’t deal with these regrets, hope starts to drain from us.
She also comments on the darkness of the kingdom in her dream nail dialogue:
How long I must have slept. This land is so much darker now, so thick with stains of regret. Even the air is murkier. If I sleep again, will the darkness creep in here and swallow me whole?
Void and regrets are interlinked, whether regret may be the source of the void is unknown, but this does explain is why the throne room is the only room within the White Palace besides the void workshop that is dark.
The evidence for the king’s regret can be found in the lore tablet outside the Abyss:
Higher beings, these words are for you alone. Our pure Vessel has ascended. Beyond lies only the refuse and regret of its creation. We shall enter that place no longer.
And in his dream nail dialogue:
…No cost too great…
The pause at the end is telling to me, it suggests that he had been telling himself this phrase over and over again, but had stopped believing it.
So now why are the Kingsmoulds on the way to the throne room dead if the void did not rise up? The White Palace is a mix of dreams, memories and reality. The Path of Pain is an obvious example of this, holding a memory at the end which the king guards with an even more brutal platforming section than he guards himself with (which also serves as further evidence for the depth of his regret). The majority of the White Palace is likely constructed this way, but I believe the dead Kingsmoulds are the indication that the end section of the White Palace is REAL. Without the king to command and maintain them, the Kingsmoulds simply died from neglect. I would also use the nature of the White Palace to rule out the void that killed the king coming from the void workshop. The void workshop can be accessed from the lower right of the room you find its entrance in, but upon exiting it you end up in the top middle of the same room. This geometry makes no sense, suggesting that this room is likely to have come from a memory rather than being the real deal.
Lastly why I believe the Pale King is dead for good. When the Wyrm became the Pale King it created an egg-like structure within its body where you collect the Kingsbrand, which is mentioned in the Wanderer’s Journal. This suggests that metamorphosis requires a cocoon and there is no indication of the king having created one in the White Palace.
Thank you for reading, and do tell me if I’ve missed anything!
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dragoler · 4 years
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My hyperfocus manifests in intense lore analysis, so when making this reference I wanted to include all my reasoning and evidence too. Hope this might be of help to other lore nuts out there.
1. Though most vessels have symmetrical horns resembling mandibles - the horns of the Knight and Hollow Knight in particular resemble the mandibles of stag beetles - a few vessels found in the Abyss, and most notably Broken Vessel, have asymmetrical horns that look more akin to tree branches.
2.3.4. Void naturally takes the form of a liquid or vapor when at rest and tendrils when provoked, it must be poured into a mould and imprinted with a will or directive to take on a new form. The evidence for this is the mould found in the hidden void workshop imprinted with the order to serve, and the description of the Siblings in the Hunter's Journal:
Fragment of a lingering will.
In order for the shades to take their forms void needs to have completely filled the vessel's shells, this is supported by the Knight's broken shell shown during the Dream No More ending which is completely empty.
5. Having been created from unhatched bugs filled with void while still in the egg, there's no reason for the vessels to have lost their external mouthparts. There is also evidence for these parts having been retained, the items 'Isma's Tear' and 'Crystal Heart' are 'consumed' upon pickup, and Isma's Tear is described as having an effect once ingested, suggesting it was eaten:
Once ingested it provides protection from the searing, acidic pools found in certain parts of Hallownest
To further support this, Broken Vessel/Lost Kin, the Hollow Knight and Pure Vessel all roar from their heads at the start of their fights. Although the voices of Broken Vessel/Lost Kin and the Hollow Knight belong to the Radiance, Pure Vessel's roar is its own and therefore silent. Many bugs within Hallownest speak without visible mouths, so it's not a stretch to chalk the lack of visible mouthparts up to art style.
6. During the birthplace memory we can see the Knight scale the Abyss, ending in a scene where the young Hollow Knight is taken out by the Pale King before the door is sealed. This is hinted to be the Knight's first memory shortly after hatching, and shows that vessels are probably born with cloaks as a part of their bodies. The most likely body part for the cloaks to represent are repurposed wings, which in beetles are hardened into elytra. There is also some evidence that vessels have a degree of control over their cloaks. The Knight holds its cloak neatly against itself unless it uses the mothwing or monarch wing upgrades. The Broken Vessel is dead so has lost control over it's cloak, which may be why it appears too long for it. The Hollow Knight has a longer cloak on the side of its body where it seems to have lost an arm, which I think is because the infection caused it to lose control on that side. Pure Vessel's cloak is also long when armoured, but it retracts back when fighting so it doesn't get in the way. Much of this is pure speculation of course.
7. We can see by the Knight's broken shell shown in the Dream No More ending that the head shells of vessels are quite thick, while Broken Vessel serves as the only example we see of a dead vessel with its body shell left intact. Though it's likely that the cloaked vessels found dead in Greenpath, Nosk's Lair and the Abyss still have their bodies intact but simply obscured, a thinner body shell would explain why head shells seem to persist much better than any other part.
8. Whenever the Knight takes damage both black and white particles spray from its body, this happens regardless of whether the Knight has soul in its soul gauge or not. The implication here is that soul must be a part of a vessel’s makeup. Soul is found in flesh and likely also blood, as uninfected bugs bleed white when hit:
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?
- The Hunter, talking about Soul Twisters
The knight containing some sort of blood is supported by Joni's Blessing, which 'transfigures vital fluids into blue lifeblood' by turning all the Knight's normal masks into lifeblood masks. As the vessels are otherwise empty, the most likely place for this vital fluid to be would be just under the shell. In this way the vessels would be much like trees, with a dead/hollow 'core' and all important processes for life taking place in a layer just beneath the hard outer 'bark'.
9.10.These structures are shown pretty clearly on the Hollow Knight and Pure Vessel, but not shown on any other vessel.
Additional notes:
Vessels have no sensory organs for scent so cannot smell:
There's a potent odour about these caverns and far worse for me I suspect. My trunk is quite sensitive whereas you don't seem to possess a scent organ of any kind... Is it that you cannot smell at all?
- Cornifer in Fungal Wastes
Vessels also lack any scent of their own:
You carry a lot of smells on you, but you don't have one of your own. Funny little thing...
- Divine if you have no fragile charms
This wasn’t intended to be a long post but I suppose it became one. I’m willing to discuss any of this if parts need more elaborating on.
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