Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
The size of the bugs
- So, how small (or big) exactly are the denizens of Hallownest? Given they're insect people, are they actually bug-sized or not?
- Given the weapons the MC and Hornet use are described (respectively) as a nail and a needle, I'd say yes, they're bug-sized.
The bench trap in Distant Village
After an incredibly harrowing journey through Deepnest, you find yourself in a new subarea called "Distant Village". You go inside one of the nearby structures and see several villagers milling about, alongside a bench. They speak to you strangely, insisting to you that you are safe, they are your friends, and that you should rest.
Of course, the instant you sit on the bench, spiderwebs immediately trap you to it. You can wiggle and squirm, but you cannot move. You cannot escape as the music begins to distort, and the villagers begin to close in on you.
The screen goes dark. Several violent sounds somewhat similar to the Knight being attacked occur. A mighty roar tops it all off, before everything goes quiet. When you can finally see again, you're wrapped entirely in spiderwebs in an entirely different room. By the time you finally make it back, the villagers are gone, their masks discarded.
The whole situation is extremely weird for several reasons:
- Attempting to Dream Nail them gives you nothing. Dream Nailing other creatures with nefarious intentions, such as the Grub Mimics, works with no problem. What are these villagers, that they apparently have no mind to read? Are they empty shells being puppeteered by spiders, like many of the walking corpses that function as enemies in Deepnest? Are they somehow able to entirely block the effects of the Dream Nail? Do they even exist at all?
- They are dressed similarly to the denizens of the City of Tears. Where and how did they get these clothes? Are they former city residents, or perhaps the corpses of former city residents? Did they steal them?
- Where do the villagers go? Their masks still remain on the floor when you finally make it back to where you were. The fake bench you formerly sat on is now broken. These guys never appear anywhere else in the game, before or after their trap. What happened to them?
- I think it's safe to say Hornet kill them and breaks the bench, even if she doesn't appear to you after you wake/destroy her mother.
- What exactly happens when the screen goes black? It would seem like a reasonable assumption that Hornet helps fight them off and prevents them from killing you while you're indisposed, if not for the fact that Hornet doesn't appear in Deepnest at all unless you've fought her in Kingdom's Edge. If these villagers were planning on killing and eating you, as evidence by the pile of corpses wrapped in silk in the room just below them, what stopped them?
- When the screen goes black, the followers tie the Knight up in spiderwebs and store him in the "pantry" to eat later.
- The extremely loud roar that tops off the sequence is pretty similar to one that a boss might make. Monomon has Uumuu guarding her, and Lurien has the Watcher Knights. Why is there no boss guarding Herrah, who is right above the room that the trap takes place in? It would make sense for there to be a boss battle here in order to get to her, just like the other Dreamers. There's even a bench quite close by at the nearby Stag Station, making it easier on the player so they don't have to trek back through the hell of Deepnest for a rematch against the boss. If there is no boss, why bother including a boss-like roar at all?
- Good questions, although "why didn't they kill the Knight?" is an easy one to answer. Wrapping up their prey and carrying it to a larder to eat later is just a spidery thing to do.
How long ago was it when Hallownest fell?
- Elderbug is an elderly bug, yet he wasn't alive around the time the Infection spread and ruined Hallownest. And the original name of the City of Tears is apparently lost to history, which would suggest the fall of Hallownest happened several generations ago. However, you can encounter many bugs who still remember the days before the Infection, such as Quirrel, Emilitia, Sly, the Nailmasters, Dung Defender, etc. With most of them, there's nothing to suggest they are immortal or super old, which would mean the fall of Hallownest wasn't that long ago. What's up with this discrepancy?
Why not disarm the Hollow Knight?
- So the Knight walks into the Temple of the Black Egg and sees the Hollow Knight all chained up with their nail sticking out of the ground. What's stopping the Knight from stealing the Hollow Knight's nail and hiding it somewhere the Hollow Knight can't find it? The Hollow Knight is all chained up and can't stop the Knight. Besides, fighting an unarmed Hollow Knight would be way easier than fighting an armed Hollow Knight.
