WMG / Hollow Knight

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

In a future content pack or Hornet's DLC, you will be able to Dream Nail and fight the rest of the Great Knights.

Just about all of their corpses are intact, and Hegemol is implied to be able to survive without his shell by Word of God.

• Jossed for Hollow Knight itself- the Great Knights cannot be fought and there are no other content packs planned for the game. Silksong is another matter.

The Hollow Knight contains the will of the Pale King.

When you find the Pale King in the White Palace, his last thoughts are "No cost too great," but the White Palace is a memory, not a currently-extant place. He's been described as having vanished somewhere else. Furthermore, when Dream Nailed, the original Hollow Knight may respond with "...Father?" and multiple characters describe the Knight with the Kingsbrand as having the same feel as the King himself. Given that the Vessel is supposed to lack much personal initiative, this might explain why it still engages in various sidequests with little benefit beyond benefiting the quest givers.

The entire plot was actually the King's fault, and he is the true Big Bad.

The Radiance is not the actual Big Bad of Hollow Knight. The plague is an unintended side effect of attempting to break free, or even something the King himself accidentally set in motion by attempting to steal the Radiance's power — driving her insane, or else prompting the release of the plague in an effort to defend herself. This would explain why there are friendly characters that play a prominent role in bringing about the Radiance's own demise that strongly imply their true loyalties still belong to it (The Seer most prominent among them). All evidence provided to the contrary is either second or third hand, the King's official story; or given by Bardoon, who was asleep for most of it.

• "The Old King of Hallownest... he must have been desperate to save his crumbling little world. The sacrifices he imposed on others... all for nothing."
• "No cost too great."
• Of course it is the King's fault. Everywhere we witness his works or those of his closest followers, it is humongous piles of corpses and horrid experiments. Everything in his official story about Hallownest being the the only kingdom in the world, because he uplifted its denizens from a savage state is a blatant lie (as revealed by existence of travelers from other kingdoms, from Cornifer to Grimm, existence the Seer and her words, existence and independent nature of the Mantis tribe and the Fools' tribe, Arcane Eggs, and so on). Ghosts of the Pale King's courtiers seem to offer themselves to the Hollow Knight for consumption when they mistake him for the King. And when the Radiance's infection grew too strong, the Pale King apparently tried to enact his personal escape, leaving his subjects to perish. That said, the Radiance we see at the present is either driven insane by imprisonment, cannot control her power anymore, or is an unbelievably powerful vengeful ghost, lingering in the dream world. While the Seer speaks of her tribe's betrayal of the Radiance with clear regret and shame, she could have ensured the total victory of whatever the Radiance became now by simply doing nothing, yet she helped us.
  • Uh, no. While the King is guilty of experimenting with his children, the victims of the Soul Sanctum were experimented on against his will by the Soul Master, who sought their souls thanks to what he saw in his dreams, caused by the Radiance. She is in full control of the infection, able to influence it's victims into carrying out very specific tasks. And the Moss Prophet's inevitable fate shows just how little she cares for saving anyone. The Radiance ruled as a hive mind before being usurped, that's the savage state from which the Pale King took Hallownest from. She is no tragic monster, but a malicious monarch with a lot of creativity for cruelty.
  • If Radiance has any control of the infection, why is she not entirely free yet, given that lairs of two of three Dreamers are overflowing with the infected, and the third could have been drowned in bodies once over 99% of Hallownest got infected? If she ruled over hive mind, how moths could even exist? (See the note on the Seer's opinion above, with a hive mind in place betraying the Radiance wouldn't have been a matter of choice to feel regret and shame about.) What makes you think that the Pale King took anyone from the savage state, besides his official propaganda line, which is repeatedly proven to be, again, blatant lies?
• It is also worth noting that the King is responsible for the original Vessel failing to contain the plague. At the end of the Path of Pain, we see a cutscene that shows the King with the original Hollow Knight while still young. It is implied the King may have treated the original Vessel as somewhat of a son for a long time, despite having initially created it as no more than an empty vessel to contain the plague. Upon defeating the Radiance, we see the Void sealing her away, implying the power of the void is required to combat the plague and Radiance. It is this power that causes the emptiness and lack of will in Vessels. By treating the original Vessel as his own son, the Pale King may have given it hope, and worst of all, the ability to dream. Why is this bad? Well, we know the Radiance manifests itself through dreams. With the vessel capable of dreaming, the Radiance gained a foothold within the very being meant to contain it, causing it to ultimately fail in doing so. This may have been what resulted in the plague as encountered in the game.

Brumm wasn't banished with the rest of the Troupe because he was with the Knight when they destroyed the Nightmare Lantern.

Either the Nightmare Lantern anchored Brumm to Hallownest, the Knight's presence interfered with the Troupe's summoning power, or the Troupe rejected Brumm for his betrayal. The latter is particularly likely since the Grimmchild also disappears when the Troupe is banished, regardless if the Knight has the charm equipped or not while breaking the Lantern.

A future content pack will add in a new world, which is the surface.

The surface will be a strange place populated by colossal beings.

• Jossed: there are no planned content packs for the game anymore.

Zote's father is (or was) a knight of great renown, and may have inspired the appearance of the Hollow Knights.

A lot of people have speculated that Zote is a Vessel due to his resemblance to the Knight, but that seems to be untrue. However, from Zote's Dream Nail dialogue "I'll kill a thousand more... will that be enough, father?" it can be presumed Zote's father wanted him to be a great warrior, but was disappointed by Zote's lack of talent. Perhaps Zote's father was indeed a renowned knight of the kingdom, and while likely not on the level of any of the Five (since there are no tales or legends about him anywhere) he must have impressed the King enough at some point for him to have styled the Vessels in the vague likeness of Zote's father. Assuming there is any resemblance between Zote himself and his dad, this could explain why he and the Knight are so close in appearance.

The Knight's respawn is canon, and has something to do with the lands past the Howling Cliffs.

The resilience born of two voids Hornet speaks of is actually Resurrective Immortality the Knight obtained somewhere in the lands outside Hallownest, in whatever adventure caused the Knight's nail to become so worn. This allows the Knight to pull its void bits together after death, returning to wherever it last rested. The shade is whatever bits it couldn't grab, which in turn reformed themselves. Whatever it went through to accomplish this also led to it rejecting the Void, hence why it needs the Void Heart and why its Shades are initially hostile. It also caused the 'hollow' part of the knight to be filled, leading to its infection in the base ending (its eyes glow orange right at the end).

The Vessels are Plant People

The White Lady appears to be based on a plant, so it would make sense her children would be partially or entirely plant matter. It's possible the vessels' cloaks are part of their actual body and are made out of grass. Notably, Hornet lacks said cloak and is the only child of the Pale King not mothered by the White Lady.

Nymm is Brumm after being freed by the Grimm Troupe's curse, but he's lost his memory.

There are a few pieces of evidence to support this.

• They both play Accordion like bugs that have identical appearance.
• They have the same head shape and fur coat.
• Nymm appears conveniently close to the location of The Grimm Troupe's birth flame after it's banished.
• He recognizes the charming aura you give off after your interactions with Brumm.

Isma came from Greenpath

Her tear is also a fruit that grants resistance to acid, her body is either overgrown by mysteriously appearing plants or took root when she died, and she resided in a grove. Acid and plants are both local to Greenpath, and the denizens of Greenpath are plant creatures.

The infected are immediately cured once The Radiance is defeated

Since there is no source nor leader of the Hive Mind, the infected bugkind will regain their original self and sanity if she's gone. This brings in mind some theories about specific characters who were infected.

• Jossed by clear indications of the Infection being explicitly fatal to most beings past a certain stage; if it's at the point where beings emit gas or show blisters they're already dead, and will collapse when the Radiance dies.

• Myla could wonder what she's doing in the Crystal Peak, as she was in the first stages of the Infection.
• Although it was cut with a Smash to Black, the scene in the Godmaster endings where the Hollow Knight breaks free alone and faces Hornet outside of the Temple could mean that it's merely just wandering and confused on what happened. The Hollow Knight at best, is still a friendly being before the infection. Hornet might have just raised her needle as a sort of a self-defense instinct, but the Hollow Knight is non-hostile at this point.

There will be no traces of the Knight in the Godhome endings

There will be no more left of it. Consequently, the other characters will keep on wondering where the Knight has been up to, especially for Hornet, who expected the Knight to meet her in the Temple of the Black Egg.

• For the "Embrace the Void" ending — Given that the Knight merged with the void itself to become the Void Given Focus, its shell is no more, and will wander outside to unleash the apocalypse on Hallownest.
• For the "Delicate Flower" ending — Since the Knight (as the Void Given Focus) and the Godseeker both ascended and Disappears into Light, this ending is a total removal of the Knight from existence, with no dire aftermath in Hallownest and no indication that the kingdom was saved from the infection by a certain warrior.
• This theory is disproven by the existence of Godseeker Mode, which has been stated to canonically take place after the Godmaster endings.

Events that could lead as an Interquel between this game and Silksong

Taking the fact that the playable Knight dies in all of the possible endings:

• "Embrace the Void" and "Delicate Flower" endings - Hornet will leave Hallownest in the hopes of finding out where the Knight has been up to, considering that it never showed up for the final battle at the Temple of the Black Egg. Even if the Hollow Knight woke up, she had to go on an adventure alone, maybe after spending too much time in Hallownest without meeting the Knight for the final time.
• "Dream No More" ending - Looking at how the Knight's shell has been split in two, with no other traces, Hornet tries to carry the remains into herself, hoping that someday, she can resurrect the Knight even if it takes venturing to kingdoms outside of Hallownest.

Quirrel's fate in the Blue Lake

The only clear evidence that we have is found in the game's files — Quirrel's weapon in the lake is labeled as "quirrel_death_nail", implying that he died there. But the question is "How?"

• He might have died by suicide, given that his lines sound something along the lines of wanting to find the end, or having found the end of the journey already at that time:
  "Be on your journey then, and allow me rest a time. With the deed complete, I begin to feel my age."
• He may have jumped into the lake to drown himself, but intentionally left his nail in his dying moments so that others will still remember his time there.
• This video sheds some light about most of these, affirming Quirrel's death and other statements leading to it as written above.

The "Ritual" ending will be canon for The Grimm Troupe

Since evolving the Grimmchild is basically the entire point of the content pack, it could be a wasted potential to have the troupe banished when this game's story would branch into sequels.

• The Grimmchild will grow as the next Grimm, but he will still remember the days when he had adventures with the Knight in Hallownest. Eventually, he will still long to go back to this kingdom, but visiting a memorial of the player Knight instead, to respect the Knight's self-sacrifice in saving Hallownest.
• Or he could team up with some of the Knight's friends who are still alive by that time when he grows up:
  • Hiring the Last / Old Stag to join his troupe and explore other kingdoms.
  • Joining Hornet in her quest outside of Hallownest. In fact, what if Silksong has a massive Time Skip and Hornet acquired the services of the Grimm Troupe's ride and caravans in order to journey into Pharloom?

Nightmare King is not Grimm...

... but the Nightmare's Heart using his shape and powers to fullfil the ritual. This also explains the Empathic Environment and why the Boss Subtitles mirror the Radiance's: unlike her, it doesn't kill the Knight because it actually requires its collaboration to ensure Grimm's resurrection.

The Zote DLC / expansion / game will take place after the events of this game

It goes without saying that the canon choices would involve the Knight having saved Zote back in Greenpath and Deepnest, having fought him in the Colosseum of Fools and Zote ending up in Dirtmouth.

• Bretta could also have left Dirtmouth when she saw how fake Zote really was. With no one else to listen to his 57 precepts and maybe the Elderbug getting bored of Zote being a Broken Record, Zote will decide to leave Hallownest for good, since there's nothing left there, or that he had been traumatized by what happened.
• There's no way Team Cherry would make a clumsy, useless Zote playable. So as an in-story justification, any content regarding playable Zote will involve a long Time Skip where he had to train a lot offscreen in order to be considered a real "mighty" knight by the time we get to play as him.
• Eventually, somebody (maybe Sly) would give Zote an actual weapon to start off with, even if it's like the Old Nail that the player Knight used from the start of Hollow Knight.

The Pale King could have gone for another Kingdom

There is no concrete proof that the Pale King is 100% dead (in fact, his corpse in the White Palace may just be merely a dream projection). So while, it is very ambiguous that he could still be alive but went into hiding, what if he left Hallownest for good after realizing his previous kingdom is now in ruins?

• First of all, the official manual labels the King as "missing". Yep, there's a possiblity that he's still alive.
• Maybe that's just how Wyrms do things? Remember that the Pale King came into Hallownest, which could mean that Wyrms are travelling beings with no original home, they came to civilize bugkind in one way or another.
• Maybe he's currently in Pharloom? That's why Silksong takes place in that Kingdom, and Hornet decided to check it out because she wanted some questions answered directly from the Pale King and followed him?

In the Godmaster endings, how did the Hollow Knight free itself from its chains?

• Some fans claim that the chains detect the infection from the Hollow Knight, so when the infection is gone, these chains also break free. This is even supported by those who claim that the chains have a will of their own, as shown in "The Hollow Knight" and "Sealed Siblings" Endings, where these chains automatically bind themselves to the Knight after it absorbed the infection.
• Another suggestion states that these chains are made of void, which is why they don't appear in the aftermath of the "Dream No More" ending. To correlate this with the Godmaster endings, maybe the Void Entity absorbed all of the void objects (except the Shades and Vessels since we don't see them rising in the Godhome)? So it is just natural that these chains "dissolved" on their own, thus waking up and freeing the Hollow Knight.
  • Yeah, no. Close observation of endings A and B clearly show that the chains are metal, not Void.
• The Hollow Knight is strong enough to break its own armor, so its not a stretch to say that it simply used brute force once the Infection drained out of it.

Jellyfish are Monomon's attempt to create hollow vessels

The jellyfish of Fog Canyon are drawn with distinct orange cores, a colour usually associated with the Radiance. The oomas, when killed, release an orb that explodes. This explosion is identical to that produced by the furious vengeflies, volatile gruzzers, and violent husks, all creatures thoroughly infested by the Radiance. Uumuu himself explodes in a violent burst of orange smoke when killed, like Radiance-infested bosses do. This would suggest that the jellyfish creatures are counted among the infested, right?

Well, perhaps not. The jellyfish creatures also differ from Radiance-infested creatures in several significant ways. Most notably, the jellyfish do not take aggressive action towards The Knight at all. Uumuu is employed by Monomon as a guardian, a role he still loyally performs despite the large amount of Radiance infestation visible within him. Dream nailing the jellyfish also suggests that they are all still loyal to Monomon, with no references to the Radiance at all.

So, how to reconcile this? Well, within The Teacher's archives, you can find a number of lore tablets. While written somewhat oddly, these tablets seem to allude to Monomon's knowledge of the Pale King's plan to create a hollow knight to contain the radiance. The hollow knight was an artificial creature which was supposed to be without will, created to contain the Radiance. The hunter's journal dialogue suggests that Uumuu is an artificial creature. Coupled with them clearly containing some levels of Radiance infestation while not serving the radiance, this would suggest that they function similarly to how the vessels were supposed to serve.

This leads to some possibilities regarding the exact order of events. The first option is that the concept of vessels came first, with the Jellyfish being Monomon's imitation. The second option is that the concept of the jellyfish came first, serving as uncorruptable guardians during the early infestation, and inspiring the Pale King to later create the vessels. There is also a third possibility, that the jellyfish are actually very early iterations of the Hollow Knight project, created by Monomon for the Pale King. Seeing that the Jellyfish were good for little but drifting about, the Pale King would then switch to the more radical and dangerous idea of using the Void for his hollow vessels.

Why Oro and Mato have a grudge.

They both mention there is one, but never elaborate why, and when Mato shows up, they briefly Death Glare at each other. Further, Sheo has no idea what happened.

Living in Hallownest grants people very long lifespans

Whether it's a property of the land itself or something granted by the Pale King isn't clear, but the fact that so much time has passed since Hallownest's downfall that people living outside of it find it to be a mystery and some characters from Hallownest are still alive (ex. Hornet and Quirrel) suggests this.

The Radiance statue on Hallownest's Crown used to be made entirely of Pale Metal.

Only a fragment of it remains now, but imagine how glamorous the statue would have looked in its prime. Obviously in his effort to Unperson the Radiance, the Pale King defiled this monument to her.

Sly is Hegemol

A rather common goofy theory is that after the Maggot stole Hegemol's armor/shell, he retired to Dirtmouth to live as Sly. Points in favor:

• We never learn what weapon Hegemol himself preferred; the mace is the Maggot's weapon. The nail Sly likes also looks sized for someone much larger than a tiny firefly.
• The maggot could control Hegemol's armor despite its limbs being tiny; maybe Sly could do the same.
• Hegemol is Sheo's favorite knight.
• The "Esmy" he references could be a nickname for Isma.

The vessels can't dream normally

When the Pale King was making the "perfect container" for the Radiance, his use of void helped in two ways:

• The void naturally eats away the desires that normal bugs have (food, water, fame, etc.), so the Radiance can't use these desires to gain a foothold in the vessel's mind.
• The void is the anti-thesis to dream essence, so anything that is mostly void usually can't dream.

We see this inability to dream on multiple occasions. In order to possess the Broken Vessel, lightseeds poured into an opening at the top of its head. While we don't know how the Hollow Knight took in the Radiance, the Knight has to physically harm the Hollow Knight until it breaks enough for the Knight to absorb the Radiance into its shell. Whenever the Knight falls asleep on the bench, it never falls into a dream.

It's only outside circumstances that allows vessels to fall into the dream realm, like being forced into the dream realm by dreamers; using a dream nail on another bug; or being possessed by the Infection from the outside world. Otherwise, the vessels can't dream and thus can't be taken over by the Infection.

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