Fanfic / To Reclaim a Dream

Art by TyrantChimera.

"A cost too great.
A mind plagued by regret.
A will left broken.
A voice that cried suffering.
Born a god, and now marked by the void.
You shall overcome your failure against the blinding light.
You are the ruler of Hallownest once more.
You are the Pale King."
—Ghost to the Pale King, in a dream.

To Reclaim a Dream is a Hollow Knight Alternate Universe Fic series by ReverseInverse, weirdpianist (a.k.a. Nike) and TyrantChimera, hosted on Archive of Our Own.

After ascending to godhood and becoming the Shade Lord, the Knight (called Ghost in the fic) returns to the White Palace and drags the Pale King^note (who in the fic is still alive, including when Ghost smacked his half of the Kingsoul off of him) with them back in time, with the goal of preventing the atrocities done by the King to deal with the Infection.

The installments are as follows:

• Sins of the Father (Apr 7 - Aug 15, 2021)
• Imaginary Friend: An Interquel set within the first Time Skip in Sins, written by TyrantChimera. (May 30 - Oct 16, 2021)
• Dreams of the Father: The Immediate Sequel to Sins. (Aug 18, 2021 - ongoing)
• Screams of the Father: A one-shot Crack Fic written together by all three authors. (Apr 4, 2022)
• Sins of the Father in a Nutshell: An "abridged" version of Sins in all lowercase letters, written for April Fools' Day. (Apr 1, 2023 - ongoing)

Tropes of the Father:

Tropes for Sins of the Father

• Action Dad: The Pale King (who soon enough becomes a dad) is himself capable of some badassery, such as taking on the four Mantis Lords without breaking a sweat.
• Adaptational Sympathy: The fic portrays the Pale King as being genuinely repentant of the actions that led to his kingdom's downfall, as well as (through Ghost) gives him the chance to redeem himself.
• Alien Blood: Those made of void, naturally, bleed black. And also cry it. And puke it.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Upon possessing the Seer and infecting the Moth Tribe, the Radiance uses them to launch an attack on the White Palace, resulting in a massacre on both sides.
• Alternate Self:
  • In this new timeline, the vessels, while still being void, were never thrown into the Abyss, and live in the White Palace as the Pale King and White Lady's children.
  • Herrah eventually has a dalliance with the Pale King to have Hornet, like in the game's story. Fortunately though, Herrah doesn't go into an eternal slumber. Hornet is also void now!^note (sorry, mossbag)
• The Atoner:
  • Guilty over what he did to preserve Hallownest, the Pale King takes the opportunity given to him by Ghost and elects to right his wrongs before they happen, starting by leaving the Abyss alone as well as scrapping the Hollow Knight plan before his and the White Lady's eggs can be tossed in.
  • The day after the Radiance's attack, the Seer pledges allegiance to the Pale King in repentance for causing it and is let into his inner circle.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Ghost and the Pale King enter the dream realm through the Radiance^note (Ghost by literally going inside her, and the Pale King by using the Dream Nail) and put an end to her for good.
• Big Bad: The Radiance, just like in the game.
• Big Damn Reunion:
  • During the palace massacre, Ghost finally shows themselves (as the Shade Lord), and once they've exorcised the Radiance out of the Seer, they finally talk with the Pale King after spending so long not approaching him, and pull him into a hug.
  • After the massacre, Lurien brings Thistlewind to the Pale King, who lets him know that the Seer's alive, leading to a tearful reunion.
• Big "NO!": The Radiance's last word before being snuffed by the Shade Lord.
• Book Dumb: Despite not being one for school and learning, Wander has shown to put together some rather good plans for eluding palace guards.
• Break the Cutie: A few Pale children are broken by the loss of bugs they'd formed a bond with in the Radiance's attack on the White Palace.
• Calling the Old Man Out: While the Pale King is heading to the Mantis Tribe to teach Lord Gris a lesson, the latter's daughter Jadia just about has it with him about how he's always seen her as "improper" no matter how hard she tried to please him.
• Came Back Strong:
  • Being revived as a void being, Dryya has control over it and can communicate telepathically with other void beings such as Ghost, the Pale King and his children. This also applies to everyone else resurrected or saved from death thanks to the void.
  • After killing the Radiance and falling into the void, the Pale King fuses with it even more and is reborn as a mightier, larger, more silvery being.
• Came Back Wrong: Dryya is at first devastated by having been turned into a void being by Ghost, believing herself to have become a monster.
• Chekhov's Gun: After being resurrected, Dryya snuck into the Moth Tribe and took the Dream Nail as per Ghost's request, but it wasn't much use in the end. But later, when the Pale King discusses the dream realm and ways to enter it, Dryya remembers she still has the Dream Nail and shows him it.
• Chekhov's Skill: By the time the first year passes, Dryya has learnt the Nail Arts from Ghost. She uses one of them to strike Markoth down during the Radiance's attack on the palace.
• Chrome Champion: As a result of merging with the void, the reborn Pale King has gone from pure white to a more silvery hue.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Upon receiving a letter from Mantis Lord Gris insulting his choice to ally with Deepnest, the Pale King visits the Mantis Village and challenges Gris to a fight. He proceeds to spend a few moments having him miss each hit, to then beat him with a single blow. Gris' sisters join in and get the same result.
• Dads Can't Cook: Inverted in the case of Alume's dad. The man^note (well, bug) bakes some fine bread! Owns a bakery too.
• Deal with the Devil: It's revealed that following the theft of the Dream Nail, the Seer had performed a ritual to allow the Radiance into her body, but was betrayed by the goddess, who completely took over her body and infected the rest of the tribe (minus Thistlewind, who'd left them beforehand).
• Defector from Decadence: After a year, Quinn just about has it with the Soul Sanctum's practices and sends a letter to the Pale King warning about them and pleading to shut the place down. Unfortunately he's found out by the Soul Master and, it doesn't end well for him...
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Sadly, a few characters that die or are found dead in Hollow Knight still die in this new timeline.
  • Markoth, decapitated by Dryya during the attack on the palace.
  • Likewise, most of the Moth Tribe die off as well, killed in the Radiance's attack on the White Palace rather than however they may have died in the game.
  • The Soul Master. After being possessed by the Radiance and fleeing the Sanctum, his infection-ridden body is found during the climax, no longer useful as a host to the goddess.
• Disney Death:
  • During the evacuation of the Abyss, on the final lift ride out, the lift gives out and plummets down into the void, as does Dryya, despite the Pale King's efforts to fly her back to the top. Believed dead, a funeral for her is held. Eventually though, Ghost manages to resurrect her, albeit as a void being.
  • The Pale King appears to die along with the Radiance, both outside^note (his head breaks in half along with hers) and inside her dream world.^note (as it implodes, he falls down to the sea of void below before he can take Ghost's hand) He gets better though.
• Disowned Parent: Silas is shown to not consider Gris his father.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Pissed at the Pale King's alliance with Deepnest, Mantis Lord Gris gives him a piece of his mind through a letter... which prompts the King to give the tribe a visit and put him in his place through a duel.
• Dream Weaver: Being a god, Ghost is able to manipulate dreams.
  • In a dream, they give a speech to the Pale King mirroring the one he gave to the Hollow Knight. Dr. Binwinn has a similar dream, but Ghost remains quiet this time.
  • They construct a dream world at one point to have a spar match with Dryya in.
• Evil All Along: Upon sneaking into the Soul Master's office and looking around, Quinn discovers his goal of "pure focus" became only a front for him simply being Drunk with Power.
• Elevator Failure: Just as the evacuation of the Abyss is finished and the Pale King and Dryya are leaving, the elevator breaks and starts falling with the two inside.
• "Eureka!" Moment:
  • When Herrah brings up the Mantis Tribe's alliance with him, she and the Pale King come to the conclusion that a grand gesture should be done in order to prevent relations with Deepnest from straining. It's here when the King remembers Hornet and proposes to give Herrah a child.
  • When Ghost and Dryya walk in on a discussion between the Pale King and Dr. Binwinn regarding the Radiance and the fact her weakness is the void, the King thinks to involve Ghost in his idea to use void to scare the Radiance away from the populace.
• Explosive Breeder: The eggs the White Lady has laid amount to 71.
• Face Death with Dignity: Despite being at death's door, Quinn is satisfied that he was able to warn the King of the Soul Sanctum's misdeeds, and hopes that the Soul Master will get what's coming to him.
• The Force Is Strong with This One: Being a god, Ghost can be sensed strongly by those connected to the void.
• Forced Transformation: Downplayed, as despite now being full of void, the Pale King remains the same on the outside; the only clue that something was wrong being that his bodily fluids were pure black.
• From Hero to Mentor: After seeing Ghost's fighting prowess in the dream realm and losing to them, Dryya asks them to teach her. She learns the Nail Arts as a result.
• Ghost Amnesia: Upon dying and becoming an incorporeal mind in the Abyss, the Pale King struggles to remember who he was.
• Go and Sin No More: A more forceful instance; Ghost warps the Pale King to the past so that he can right his wrongs before he does them.
• God in Human Form:
  • After resurrecting Dryya, Ghost decides to commission a mask from the Mask Maker in order to have a less terrifying form.
  • In Kingdom's Edge, Dr. Binwinn and his expedition find a large infection egg that then hatches, and the Radiance comes forth in her new physical form.
• Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Downplayed. The word "shit" is replaced with "dung", but the rest of cuss words are still used.
• Healing Factor:
  • Thanks to now being void, Dryya's wound from being stabbed by Markoth quickly heals shortly after she flees the tribe. The same happens to the Pale King when stabbing himself to confirm he'd become void too.
  • The Radiance's physical form can easily heal wounds as well.
• Healing Hands: The Pale King can focus SOUL to heal wounds.
• Heel–Race Turn: After the Radiance's attack, Arla, Vera and half the Mantis Tribe come to the Pale King and pledge allegiance, explaining that they've gotten sick and tired of Gris, Xillya and the other half being extremely hateful of the King and wanting to strike back.
• Helicopter Parents: Mantis Lord Gris has been this to Jadia, constantly trying to get her to be what he considers "proper" and never being quite satisfied, much less accepting her relationship with Ze'mer.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: The Pale King still has some moments of self-loathing from his actions in the old timeline.
• I Am a Monster: Early on, Dryya is mortified by her new void form, believing she can't go back to her old life as she's no longer the same as the other bugs, but a monster. And this belief is strengthened by the moths' reaction to her removing Markoth's nail from herself like it's nothing.
• I Am What I Am: An exchange between Dryya and the Pale King reveals that in a year, she eventually accepted her status as a void being and no longer sees herself as a monster; especially not after seeing how much more of a monster the Radiance was by sending her own tribe on a massacre.
• Identical Stranger: Dr. Binwinn resembles Quirrel so much despite not being related, it's a running joke among his peers that they're brothers. To Binwinn's chagrin (and despite the fact he already has a brother, Renem).
• Immune to Mind Control: The Pale King has Monomon create a way to prevent the Radiance from invading bugs' minds. Eventually she presents a mind seal that keeps the user safe from all mental influence (including telepathy).
• It's All My Fault: Part of the reason Ghost is upset the day of the final plan against the Radiance is because of a prank by Wander. After the Radiance dies and Ghost goes missing, Wander blames themselves and tries to swear off pranks before being reassured otherwise by Champ and Hallow. The latter does admit they should tone it down a bit though.
• Large and in Charge: The Pale King's new form, in addition to being silver, is now larger.
• Lodged Blade Removal: During Dryya's scuffle with Markoth while stealing the Dream Nail, he manages to pierce her with a soul nail, only for her to easily pull it out of herself.
• Manly Tears:
  • When the White Lady's eggs hatch, the Pale King stands there watching their offspring emerge. Until one of them comes up to him... the Pure Vessel. The King breaks down and hugs them.
  • When learning from Lurien about the Radiance's attack and the death of his people, Thistlewind doesn't cry at first. Not until the Pale King has him reunite with the Seer.
• Memorial Statue: Following Dryya's "death", the palace is full of small statues made by Ogrim in her honor.
• Mind over Manners: Ghost obliges Dryya's request to not read her mind. Though there's a few times when they can't help but do it anyway.
• My God, What Have I Done?: The Pale King is extremely regretful of his actions, and deemed what he thought was going to be his death at the hands of the Shade Lord a fitting and fully deserved end.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: At some point after the Pale King's "death", Dryya and a few of his children suddenly start uncontrollably laughing. When Dryya asks what's happening, Ghost chimes in and answers: "Father is alive!"
• Naked on Revival: When the Pale King is reborn and emerges from the void lake in the Abyss, Ghost notes that they'd never seen him robeless.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • The vessels, being raised as children in the new timeline, have all been named. Including: Wander (Ghost), Hallow (the Hollow Knight), Atlas (the Greenpath vessel), Kindred (Broken Vessel/Lost Kin), Champ, Whisper...
  • The Mantis Lord family are given names for the fic: Arla (eldest), Vera (middle), Xillya (youngest), Gris (Traitor Lord), and Jadia (Traitor's Child).
• New Baby Episode:
  • Chapter 15 focuses on the Pale Couple's eggs hatching and the palace dwellers meeting the offspring.
  • Chapter 37 sees the hatching of the new timeline's Hornet.
• No Nudity Taboo: Implied. When Ghost points out the Pale King is Naked on Revival, the narration then states that "nudity isn't awkward per se."
• Off with His Head!: Merimm's demise at the hands of Markoth during the Radiance's raid on the palace. Soon after Markoth shares this fate by Dryya's hand.
• Offering a Hand: When it's revealed to Dryya that the Pale King is void just like her, he reassures her that void or not, she's still a Great Knight, and offers his hand asking her to come back. She accepts.
• Only Mostly Dead: A few characters reach the brink of death but are brought back as void beings. The fic doesn't have the tag "Major Character Undeath" for nothing!
  • Dryya plummets to her death in the Abyss thanks to an Elevator Failure, but is soon after resurrected by Ghost as a void being.
  • A heavily wounded Alume is imbued with the void by Dryya during the White Palace massacre.
  • After losing an arm during their fight against the Radiance, Isma is imbued by Dr. Binwinn with void from a vial. He suffers fatal injuries as well and is himself imbued by Dryya once she finds him.
• Orifice Invasion: In the final confrontation, the Radiance's body is unexpectedly entered into through every orifice by an enraged Ghost.
• Person of Holding: A benefit of being made of void is being able to store objects inside you! ^note The Pale King briefly notes his kids using this ability has been rather troublesome.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Hallow and Wander. Hallow is more responsible and prefers to focus on learning, while Wander likes to run around, spar and pull pranks, and can't stand lessons.
• The Power of Love: After dying and ending up bodyless in the Abyss, the Pale King senses the White Lady praying for him through his half of the Kingsoul, allowing him to remember who he is and be reborn.
• The Prankster: Wander eventually picks up pranks as a hobby. It gets worse when Hornet teams up with them.
• Protective Charm: In order keep the Radiance at bay, the Pale King, Dr. Binwinn, Alume and Ghost carry out the creation of blackstones, small stones with a vial of void inside them, given to citizens of Hallownest.
• Rank Up: During the one year skipped in the story, Alume has gone from Prefect to Commander. After the Radiance's raid, the Pale King promotes her to Magistrate, as well as bring her into his inner circle.
• The Runaway:
  • Fed up with her father's mistreatment of her, Jadia runs away from the Mantis Tribe. Eventually she's found by Ze'mer, Isma and the Pale King, who accepts the two's relationship.
  • It's revealed that Silas is Jadia's brother and he, too, had exiled himself from the tribe, before becoming a scholar in the Pale Court.
  • Ever since the theft of the Dream Nail, Seer and Markoth have been getting more irritable, culminating in Thistlewind leaving the Moth Tribe.
• Sequel Hook: Once the reborn Pale King has gotten out of the void, he and Ghost head up to the Abyss entrance to return to their family.

"My loyal servants… my dearest Root… my children… I am coming home."

• Side Bet: While discussing the Pale King's summons for a meeting, Monomon playfully suggests that Binwinn bet 500 geo on himself getting somehow wrapped into the King's business. Fast forward to a one-on-one chat with him after the meeting, the King lets Binwinn know he now considers him a confidant, prompting him to briefly lament not taking the bet.
• Sole Survivor: After the Radiance's attack on the White Palace, Seer and Thistlewind are the only moths that remain alive.
• Sorry That I'm Dying: As he is about to be decapitated by Markoth, Merimm apologizes in his mind to Atlas, the Pale child he'd grown close with, for no longer being there for them.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Whether or not the Pale King is truly dead when found by the player in the game, he is 100% alive in the fic.
  • The Dreamers don't go into eternal sleep thanks to the Pale King cancelling the Hollow Knight plan.
  • Thistlewind, having long left the Moth Tribe, indirectly survives the massacre at the White Palace; contrary to the game where he's met as a ghost.
• Storming the Castle:
  • In response to Quinn's letter about the Soul Sanctum, Alume, the two Mantis Lords, three Great Knights and some Red Shirts storm the Sanctum and encounter retaliation from just about everyone.
  • Dr. Binwinn is sent along with Isma, Ogrim and Ze'mer to the Radiance's final hideout in Kingdom's Edge to carry out their final plan and finish her off.
• Time Skip:
  • After the Pale King hands the Mantis Lords their asses and Jadia reunites with Silas, Chapter 22 skips to 1 year after the children's hatching.
  • Chapter 41 skips to year 2.
• Touch Telepathy: After reviving Dryya, through taking their hand, Ghost shows her their memories of their doomed timeline.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Upon being defeated in the Soul Sanctum, the Radiance (in control of the Soul Master's body) flees through a window.
• Villainous Breakdown: The Radiance spends her last moments in sheer terror in the presence of an enraged Shade Lord.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: When waking up in the new timeline, the first thing the Pale King does is barf up some void.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 26, "...Until the Sun Goes Supernova". The Radiance sends the infected moth tribe to attack the White Palace, massacring guards and retainers alike, some who the Pale King's children had grown attached to.

Tropes for Dreams of the Father

• Ascended Extra:
  • Felnum, a wasp guard from Sins of the Father that only had a mention and later one or two appearances, now has a bigger role in Dreams, allying himself with the rebellion and eventually being personally chosen by the King to be a K.I.A. agent after the uprising ends.
  • Xero, who when the player meets him in Hollow Knight isn't much more than a boss battle with a bit of lore, in the fic is the Voice of the Resistance, and later becomes a K.I.A. agent as well.
• Assassination Attempt: Amongst the civil unrest in the City of Tears, Lurien is the target of an assassination plot, eventually carried out by his butler. Luckily, it fails.
• Asshole Victim: Following the insurrection, Xillya and Emilitia are imprisoned, the latter sentenced to do clean-up work in the Royal Waterways and the Queen's Gardens.
• Breather Episode: After the rollercoaster that was the climax of Sins, the first several chapters of Dreams focuses on some fluff and slice of life.
• Break the Cutie: The Silver King notes that while Wander didn't truly die at the hands of Gris, the experience must've been no less real, and after the attack Ghost can sense them going through post-traumatic stress. It's also noted later on by Jadia that they've toned it down with their pranks.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Soon as the rebellion's attack on the capital begins, Lurien has his life attempted on by Tetra, his butler, as part of a plot.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Duchess Emilitia, the unsympathetic owner of a property company that's been contributing to the rebellion's reason for revolting.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: During the revolt at the capital, Gris dies brutally crushed by the void tendrils of a newly imbued Jadia.
• Cruel Mercy: Mantis Lord Xillya is incarcerated for her involvement in the creation of the mantis Child Soldiers and the subsequent invasion on Hallownest, against her wishes to simply be executed, as was customary for her tribe.
• Defusing the Tyke-Bomb: Following the mantis invasion, the White Lady adopts the surviving brainwashed mantis youths, giving them names and therapy. A scene in chapter 39 focuses on one of them, now named Sonna.
• Disowned Parent: While played straight with how Silas feels toward Gris, it's averted toward his aunt Xillya, who he visits regularly following her imprisonment. She doesn't really appreciate this though.
• Fake Kill Scare: At one point, Ghost finds the library burning and sees Wander falling into the fire... only for it all to turn out to be a prank by Wander with illusion magic.
• Forgot About the Mind Reader: During her interrogation, Emilitia and the Silver King chat about her company and business practices. When the conversation ends, he stops her from leaving and reveals that not only has her guilt on various crimes been discovered, but he had also been reading, quote, "her wicked thoughts" during their talk.
• Government Agency of Fiction: King's Internal Agency, or K.I.A., founded by the Silver King following the uprising to investigate and help prevent incidents like that from happening again.
• Healing Hands: By the third year, Hallow is a physician-in-training using SOUL healing, learned from their father.
• Kissing In A Tree: Upon returning to the palace, the first thing the Silver King and the White Lady do when reuniting is hug and give each other a passionate kiss, which prompts this trope from their children.
• Locked in the Dungeon: Xillya and Emilitia are locked up in a dungeon under the White Palace after the attack on the capital.
• Meaningful Rename: After rising from the Abyss in his new form, the Pale King takes on the new name "the Silver King". Likewise, the Pale couple's charm, the Kingsoul^note (the King's half of which has transformed as well), is renamed to "the Silver Crux".
• Mid-Season Upgrade:
  • During the mantis invasion, the void spilled by Alume imbues itself into Jadia as Gris is killing her.
  • Sometime after year 3, Thistlewind has begun to ingest nightmare essence, allowing him to pick up a few tricks with nightmare flame.
• Murder in the Family: Between Jadia and Gris. Both ways! During the uprising, Gris finds Jadia, Alume and Wander, and after dealing with the latter two, skewers his daughter... who then is brought back by the void and crushes her father to death with void tendrils.
• Never Given a Name: The mantis youths put through rebirth by blood weren't given names, being raised purely as tools for war.
• Noodle Incident: Alume mentions the "Knotty incident", which seems to have involved Knotty spreading Hornet's void silk all over the Queen's Gardens. The three perpetrators (likely Knotty, Hornet and Wander) got away scot-free.
• O.C. Stand-in: Esmy, who in Hollow Knight is only mentioned by Sly, appears in the fic, working with the rebellion.
• Off with His Head!: Serris, a magistrate in the city guard, meets this fate by Esmy's hand during the revolt.
• Official Couple: With some (unsolicited) help from Olga and Alume, Felnum is taken out to dinner with Arla, where he finally confesses his feelings for her, which are requited.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Downplayed in the case of Thistlewind; starting to eat nightmare essence didn't really make him evil. Only change is the new eye glow and the complete absence of his crush on Grimm.
• Related in the Adaptation: The Radiance is established to have been Grimm's sister. The two didn't get along very well though.
• La Résistance: A rebellion has been forming in the City of Tears due to the upper social castes economically preying on the lower ones, as well as corruption in the city guard. Eventually it culminates into a violent uprising, costing the lives of many bugs.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Rather than be executed for turning against the King like in Hollow Knight, Xero is personally approached by him after the insurrection, with plans for the newly founded K.I.A.
• The Speechless: After Alume temporarily dies to Gris and becomes a shade, Ghost gets her a mask from the Mask Maker. However, since it's only a mask and not an actual body, she no longer has a voice to speak. From then on she communicates through writing.
• Stop Worshipping Me: When Xero and Ghost find a cult of void worshippers, Ghost expresses a dislike of the idea of being treated as a god rather than just a bug.
• Surprise Incest: Downplayed, as the most there was between Grimm and Thistlewind romantically was unrequited attraction from the latter's side, which died out after learning that Grimm is an ancestor of the moths.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: The first few chapters see a payback prank being prepared for Wander, culminating in them being stuck to a door with honey and fed meat pie by Vera.
• Time Skip: The fic does this again in chapter 37, now reaching year 3.
• Tyke Bomb: Eventually, Mantis Lord Gris reinstates a forbidden fourth initiation rite, known as "rebirth by blood", resulting in the younglings becoming deadly, emotionless walking weapons with no sense of individuality or autonomy.
• Wedding Episode: The first scene of chapter 37 sees the wedding of Ogrim and Isma.

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