// You want it darker

We kill the flame //

The other day was having a semi-joking discussion about what types of creatures may exist in hollow knight and one thing led to the other and..

random traditional drawings I did, some rain world and hollow knight spoilers

poke doges, one of them has a beeg knife and the other is certified face tank

buffer for the two spoilery ones

sillies :)

first time doing something mostly with pen, making another half with scug endings soonish maybe

didnt have much time to draw today :PP

Now that I've slept on this stupid idea, it branched into two paths in my head. I'm going to call them Balanced and Imbalanced for AU names and I'm just going to word spew for a bit in here.

This is probably going to be long, but maybe someone else will scream with me over these ideas. Thus joining me in this trash can I created and fell into.

So Balanced is basically what would happen if the Higher Beings would actually try and win the "Don't fight one another for territory" challenge. Mainly with Radi and the Void. Because let's be real with the few contextual clues we get in game regarding Radiance and the Abyss, Radi def fought some aspect of the Void when she moved in and took over the Hallownest area before Pale King showed up. Which actually gets into my thoughts on the entire Higher Beings need to balance one another out to keep their kingdoms from dying out like they have been in the canon timeline.

Like we kinda figure the Abyss was there first and had its worshipers and such, but since it's the Void that all will return to, it kinda had no checks or balances to keep it from doing what it naturally does. Add in my thinking that the Void got its Will and Mind from its worshipers at first it means that when they kinda started to die off from Void poisoning or got taken/killed off by those who came with or started to follow the Radiance it lost a lot of its ability to think and reason. Thus why Radiance actually won whatever slap fight they got into when she rolled on up.

Now if we go with the process that each Higher Being needs one to Balance it and they actually knew this on an instinctual level and didn't go "MINE" first when settling into a place I think that the Void and the Radiance are like that two halves of a coin thing. Their difference being Light/Dark and Dreams/End. But I am certain both use some form of a hivemind/togetherness regarding the mortals that follow them and empower them. (Which is a thought that goes into a whole Rant about why I think it's this hivemind aspect that actually explains a lot of why the Vessels behaved the way they did in canon.) That and imagine the kind of religion that would spring up when the followers get like the sweetest of a final dreams from the Radiance before the Void takes them at the end of their lives. Like that kinda sounds pretty comforting knowing that when your time comes that due to your faith you're going to go out dreaming the best dream you ever have before you just become part of the Void.

So with this partnership settling I could see them sorta halving Hallownest in general. Like from where Dirtmouth is down to what would be the City of Tears in game would be more Radiance inclined due to her whole Sun motif and thus her worshipers would want to be closer to the sky. (I'm going on the assumption that Dirtmouth actually can see the sky or is where you can go to get access to the sky.) Then from City of Tears area on down would be more where those that lean more towards Abyssal followings would be. Deepnest, The Hive, Greenpath, and City of Tears Area (Which I just know likely had a different name at some point but I"m too lazy to find/make one up right now.) would be more like neutral areas and not really part of either. Especially when Unn kinda vibed in and both sorta just let em because they weren't harming anyone and their influence actually helped out everyone in the long run with the vegetation and wildlands that were created from them existing there. (Fungal hellscape I'm pretending to not perceive for my own sanity.)

Which then kinda leads into the White Lady showing up from wherever she came from. Because I'm pretty sure she kinda was already there when the Pale King showed up. And White Lady kinda becomes the balance for Unn in that Unn is of the wilds and untamed wilderness and White Lady helps show how to cultivate and nurture wildlife for the benefits of the masses. Aka I'm making White Lady the one people ask for blessings to for agriculture and other horticulture aspects and thus make her whole Queen's Garden less her just yoinking land from Unn but them vibing and sharing a domain due to how similar their aspects are and being a lot more chill since they are a balance of one another. (I still think in canon WL just stole that land without a second thought but that's Thoughts for another time.)

So with all this everything kinda already has a strong foundation and flourishing kingdom set up that in no way needs the Pale King right? Well, not exactly. Because outside of the White Lady, and even then you could argue she also kinda does since Roots and such. All these Higher Beings are kinda a hivemind mentality. Which didn't rock the boat with Deepnest and the Hive since the Hive is all for that and Deepnest pretty much has the whole for the clan mentality alongside their survival of the strongest set up. So individuality isn't really a thing, and that kinda feels like a big part of the Pale King's schtick alongside with intellectual pursuits.

So Pale King is definitely needed to allow for individual growth which is what leads to innovation and growth of a kingdom through advancement. Though it likely was a bit Tense when he showed up, especially as I am 100% certain that wyrm kinda started simping very hard and quickly for White Lady when they first met. Though, I have no idea if there is any canon Higher Being that could balance Pale King in this regard since I think Grimm with how they set up the Nightmare Heart it would be more in the Hivemind aspect then individuality. So probably would just need an OC who is like creative inclined and likes to enhance people's individual artistry and likely drives Pale King up the wall because they are pretty opposite in how they do things/personality wise, but like after they get used to one another they basically do what friends with opposite personalities do. Where the OC would help drag PK out of the lab and get air, actually connect with people, etc. While Pale King would make sure the OC would stay on task and such.

So, yeah Hallownest goes through a really odd sort of growing pains era with all these beings all converging on this area. Which probably means that like there is something Significant with this area for why even in canon everyone keeps trying to own this area. Like a leyline or something that makes Hallownest like spiritual powerful.

The Vessels still happen, but in a more controlled and actually all of them living sort of way. Aka they kinda act as bridges/heirs/etc. for the various higher beings. Like some are full on children of the PK and WL and some are kinda created as a means to show the bugs of the kingdom that all the higher beings are you know working together. So like PV/Hallow would like be PK's heir and eldest and like Ghost is like a knight of the Void and Radiance hence why they have the Dream Nail and have a lot of Void powers. Hornet is still a child of PK and Herrah, more as a political move to tie Deepnest more to the rest of the kingdom when Herrah's husband die. So like various vessels have various abilities due to whichever group of deities helped create them.

So like it's a lot of political drama and small fights between factions as everyone kinda test boundaries and sets up what area of life falls under someone's domain. This kinda makes a pantheon of sorts within Hallownest which probably makes the Godseeker kinda try and roll up in here even more then they did before. Which could be interesting considering like bruh y'all could just join the society without that whole make everyone fight and assimilate thing.

Though, that could be like a cool antagonistic aspect that would cause the vessels to have to go feral on a hivemind. More so Ghost and Hornet would would both kick down the door with a few of their more violent siblings to go "This is the wrong neighborhood" at Godseeker when they all kinda realize what exactly Godseeker is up to in regards to their collective parents.

Also this is getting long and I haven't eaten lunch yet/done my dailies in XIV so I"m going to just leave it here for Balanced and do a different post for the Imbalance AU branch where things follow canon, to a point and it's up to the vessels to basically take over domains and balance Hallownest before it just falls apart.

Okay. I already had 'As We Fall' on the Lurimol playlist as a song, but consider:

Lurien dragging an infected Hegemol down to the abyss, knowing that his husband and long-time friend is very close to finally succumbing to the Radiance. Knowing that the King has put all of his attention into the new plan, and can not (will not, he thinks) spare his magic to save him. Lurien, a scholar in his own right, probably helped the King in some way to design the lighthouse. He knows that it's a massive well of the king's own power. If nothing else will work, that has to, right?

He shatters the lighthouse to get to the kings' light, only for the Void Sea to come alive in a way they never expected. Tendrils lashing out to grasp at both of them, to drag them down into the depths... Only the void doesn't devour them. Not this time. I'm not sure how it would happen, but perhaps the void could tell that they were both beings graced by the king -- and both beings now scorned by him, as it was. They both awaken at the edge of the sea, their blood replaced with black -- and their desire to see an end to the king's folly kindled just a bit stronger.

Since the void can be made into things like solids, liquids, gases, physical beings and can even mimic a soul (The shades)...do you think that The Void could replicate emotions? Like they'd be expressed differently but they'd still be present in some way. Perhaps even imprinted upon The Void forever, leading it to lash out in anger, weep in sadness, long to be loved...

I don't think that it's a possibility, I think that it's canon. For one, the entire tragedy of Hollow Knight is based upon the Pale King's and the White Lady's fundamental misunderstanding of the Void- the assumption that because it is not like them, it is incapable of feeling pain, sorrow, or some form of existence similar to a lightbased being. They weren't trying to be intentionally cruel, they just were not capable of understanding the experiences or tells of a being so fundamentally different from them. And it wasn't just them- people who still play the games assume that Ghost is hollow despite a myriad of evidence pointing otherwise, simply because they do not speak, write, or use body language that is close enough for us to easily understand. To pick up on what they are trying to tell us, we have to first accept the lack of similarities between how a vessel emotes and how we do- which is not something that many people are capable of, or willing to try. Everyone wants to feel like they know more than others in the room, and so it is simply much easier to assume that the lack of familiar cues they pick up from Ghost indicates that they feel nothing at all (or, in reverse, they project their own emotions and desires onto them to 'humanize' something that is very much not human, thus crowding out the subtle cues of their personality that we DO get in-game).

Similar things happen in real life, for example- people assume that animals that can copy human speech are more intelligent that others, and a great variety of nonverbal or crudely-speaking human beings are treated as nothing more than dumb beasts despite speech itself being a poor indicator of one's intelligence. Many times, it's not intentionally malicious- it's merely due to our own human bias, as a species that communicates exclusively through sight and sound. We are not unique from other animals in the advanced nature of our communication skills; we merely have the most complex version of auditory communication to accommodate our similarly-complex behaviors, and somewhat limited range of body language. Unfortunatly, this complexity has lead us to assume that because we react in a specific way to certain stimuli, like pain, love, or displeasure, then other animals that don't are incapable of feeling the same way. Therefore, it's not too far off to believe that gods like the Pale King or White Lady would be incapable of understanding their own children until it was far too late, simply because the gap in communication would have led them to falsely assume that none of the vessels- and the void themselves- were fully autonomous.

So yes, the void does feel, and it reacts as a living being, but compared to most other beings or gods in Hallownest, it's extremely alien and hard to understand. Whether it does so because the Pale King essentially induced life into it via the vessel process (hatching children, killing them, and returning their shades to the Sea), or because it clings to some scrap of life that it had before the Radiance felled it in battle isn't clear, but it does experience some sort of emotion. We're just not sure what that is

Laws Of Life Will Stay, Laws Of Death They Mock

Rating: Gen

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: The Radiance, Lord of Shades, The Void, The Dream

Summary:

The Void was death given tangible form, a great sea rising to consume all that it could reach. Or, at least, it was what Dream feared.

Ao3 link here!

Construction of VOID

An idea that was inspired by @sophi-s ‘s story, Tales of Hallownest, as to how the Lord of Shades came to be. Any ideas and Criticisms are Welcome. Enjoy!

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Nothingness and division. For most of its existence, that was all the VOID knew.

In the nothingness, the bleak and empty state of existence, Darkness ruled over the dull caverns. It was so from the dawn of time and possibly even beforehand. It didn’t care for it to be this way. It couldn't. VOID had no Mind, no Will, no Voice. At an unknown time, division came forth. 

A strange, yet not unwelcomed, presence appears. Descending the Basin, the presence became more and more apparent, more and more... divided.

When the foreigners, full of life and warmth, Minds, Wills, and Voices, tried to contact the liquid darkness, for the first time in its existence, VOID felt the thing to accompany it throughout the eons.

Hostility.

Almost immediately, the VOID lashed out, creating long and thick Tendrils that snapped and whipped in any direction, with no clear purpose or Will, only feeling disdain for those who dared to interrupt the dark silence of its existence.

VOID felt the Tendrils impact various surfaces, though it couldn't truly distinguish them from one another; cold and hard, warm and soft, thin and snapping. It didn’t care; VOID simply wanted the intruders AWAY.

An unexpected thing happened when a heavy, warm form fell into the Abyssal Sea. The object lashed out as it drowned, but in fear and terror, unlike the-

Wait. VOID halted the rage and hostility in its being. What is this? A Voice called out, with no clear indication or answer. It sounded deep, raspy almost.

How do I know these words? Why can I think now? VOID asked itself, baffled and almost amazed at this new sensation, not noticing the rest of the intruders fleeing to the shore and up the caverns, even as liquid darkness slowly ceased writhing.

Words, sounds, memories, and emotions, were flowing from the corpse of the fool to the entirety of the Abyssal Sea. Of banishment from the bug's settlement for forbidden arts and a long, excruciating journey to a safe haven.

Treking through cliffs of loud whistles. Decension to the caverns of green creatures, territorial claw bearers and acidic lakes. 

Escaping warriors and defenders of Leaf and Root, grieving over those who tried to fend off the hostile bugs. Descending to caves and caverns in which all color is reduced, feeling the pull on a mysterious presence even more below, at the bottom of this world.

But never a moment's rest. Always escaping, running, cowering in fear.

This fear was disgusting; it drawn those bugs to a corner from which they could not escape but even more so, it was all too familiar to the hostility VOID felt, but hiding underneath it.

As the Abyssal Sea finished absorbing the bug who became its first stepping stone into consciousness, VOID made its first- and only- eternal promise to itself. 

They will never be afraid ever again.

When there's nothing left, You spiral-- twist and circle into a fossil (all that's left of You)

(Different versions have different line weights)

Deaths of a Wyrm.

How I think the pale king died both times. So I wanna preface this by saying this is virtually entirely headcanon and doesn’t even have any backing which is something I normally avoid. That said let’s start

Wyrm: So I saw this one painting someone did of Bardoon watching a different Wyrm being killed by the Radience and it really inspired me. I think that the Pale Wyrm killed the physical form of the Radiance and was mortally wounded in the effort. This would explain the sort of I trial one sided animosity the two have going, the Pale king initially didn’t really care he died because Wyrms die and get reborn all the time, but the Radience cared a shit ton because he essentially robbed her of her physical form. She normally wouldn’t care about it too much, being the goddess of dreams, but it’s really more about her not having something Grimm does. Like she’s loath to be less than him in any way, including having a body. Ironically destroying her physical form actually made her more powerful in her domain.

PK: So I think it’s fair to say that the void was what did him in in the end. Or more accurately the way void can manifest/is associated with regrets is what killed him. He physically and metaphysically drown in his own regrets and left behind only his afterglow. It also explains how such a powerful god could be completely erased, he gave in to despair and not even a Wyrms inherent void resistance could save him then. It was made even easier by the fact he sealed his dream and the palace inside a kingsmould, which you know, is void.

Au where Hollow and Ghost survive and then SILKSONG happens but- hear me out, hear me out-

Hornet was so, so young when the infection destroyed Hallownest. All her abilities in silk are derived from violence and hunting— unlike her weaver brethren, she never delved deep into the arts or healing beyond the basics to survive the destroyed husk of the kingdom.

This has direct consequences when Hollow survives in HK. Despite Hornet’s best attempts, Hollow’s wounds don’t heal quite right.

Hornet can’t forgive herself, never mind the insane reality she managed to save a voided godling from the brink.

(When Pharloom steals her, when she realizes there’s a history of thread, where she can learn how to spin silk maybe to heal-

-at the terrible cost of herself to save people she loves?

Hornet’s never been great about self preservation. All her life, she’s watched other people throw themselves into the abyss.

Now it’s her turn.)

Alas. Her siblings do not agree with that mindset. And they’re going to get their sister back, hell or high water.

ANYWAYS SOME OTHER DOODLES

Here’s more of this au if people wanna see!

At least she got enrichment in her enclosure now

made this yesterday out of boredom

enjoy

This was the first thing I thought of when I saw this post and I laughed a little too hard about it