History Characters / HollowKnightProtagonists

** Spell-focused builds also have to worry about replenishing soul via other means (such as the Dream Nail) since basic attacks aren't enough. Plus, the timing is also crucial since spells can miss and waste soul. But to compensate, spells can damage enemies and bosses in phases where nail attacks will just bounce off them.

* CharClone: Has a lot of elements of the archetype: She's TheRival to the Knight, challenging them in combat while giving them occasional advice; she wears a red cloak; her RazorFloss gives her a distinct advantage over the Knight in terms of speed and maneuverability; and, to top it all off, [[spoiler:her being the child of the Pale King and Herrah means she's the Knight's half-sister]].

* AirDashing: The knight learns this ability fairly early in the game, and it allows them way better horizontal range. With a charm, they can improve it to dash downwards as well.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: [[spoiler:The Knight was one of the few Vessels that managed to climb out of the Abyss — a shame they got there second, as the Pale King already chose a pure Vessel. The Hollow Knight weakening allows them to have a second chance at fulfilling their duty, and they eagerly take it.]]

** Likewise, the Knight is supposed to be completely mindless, with no will to break and no mind to think. However, certain player-decided actions seem to disprove this: It can do quests that serve no direct purpose in completing its own mission (such as saving the grubs and taking the flower to the Mantis daughter's grave) and even act in ways that no one ever requested of them, such as giving the flower to other [=NPCs=] like Elderbug. Jinn in the Steel Soul run [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this if you refuse to give them a rancid egg.

* BadassAdorable: A cute little bug, who constantly fights creatures ten times bigger than them [[spoiler:and can challenge and defeat the local goddess]].

* CollisionDamage: The knight takes damage when it bumps on hostile bugs, but it can also do the same with the Thorns of Agony charm, the Sharp Shadow charm (when dashing), and the super dash ability given by the Crystal Heart.

* DeadHatShot: Following the Knight's [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice to destroy [[TrueFinalBoss the Radiance]], only their broken Vessel shell is left behind]].

* {{Determinator}}: The player knight is exceptional even among its kin. Even in the cutscenes, it refuses to [[spoiler:be left for dead in the piles of other failed vessels in the Abyss. It nearly climbs out of the Abyss only to see the Pale King seal the Abyss away with the knight still inside. Offscreen it still managed to find a way out and carve its way back to Dirtmouth, according to WordOfGod.]]

** Defeating [[spoiler:[[TrueFinalBoss the Radiance]] in either the base game or the Godmaster scenario]] also counts as this. The Knight beats [[spoiler:her]] back all on its own with [[spoiler:the Void only coming in to back them up in the final stages of the fight, and either the Hollow Knight's shade arrives to help it deal the final blow or the Knight ''ascends into godhood'' and becomes the Void Entity to finish her off themselves.]]

* DivineParentage: The White Lady [[spoiler:aka the Queen of Hallownest]] directly refers to the Vessel as [[spoiler:"her spawn", and recognizes a "piece of herself" within the Knight that allows her to see them clearly despite her blindness]]. Within the White Palace, there is a secret room that reveals [[spoiler:what looks like a cradle next to a tall chair with an imprint that resembles the White Lady, and a constant tune plays in the room that is the same tune played when the player approaches their Shade]]. An Ending Achievement also confirms that [[spoiler:Hornet and the Knight are siblings, with the Pale King as their father]]. By extension, [[spoiler:''all'' the thousands of Vessels and left-behind Shades in the Abyss were once the Pale King and White Lady's brood, [[OffingTheOffspring sacrificed]] in attempts to create a perfect Vessel for the infection]].
* DreamWalker: [[spoiler:First, the Knight is imprisoned to the Dream Realm by the Dreamers, only to escape with the Seer's help and after receiving the Dream Nail, which lets them read minds and enter the Dream Realm for special boss fights and locations.]]

** [[spoiler:This is played with, however, as a certain NPC's dialogue]][[note]][[spoiler:...It refuses to trade...? It has a will... all its own.]][[/note]][[spoiler:shows that the Knight is not Hollow, just like their predecessor. There's also the fact that they can take part in some sidequests completely unrelated to their mission (like saving the grubs and challenging the Colosseum).]]

* EscapedFromHell: [[spoiler:Upon their birth, the Knight attempted to rise out of the Abyss but fell after another one was already chosen to become the Vessel by the King. Oddly, the game gives no explanation or hint of how the Knight escaped and came all the way to Howling Cliffs after that. In fact, [[ShrugOfGod not even the developers themselves know.]]]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: In the middle of a fast and tense fight, the Knight's sprite can be hard to see when casting spells. The upgraded, void versions of the spells will have frames showing the knight in their shade form (best [[https://youtu.be/SIJtfr-PO4Y?t=240 explained here]]), but even the small details such as void tendrils in that form can be hard to notice as well.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:In the normal ending, the Knight gives their life to become the new vessel for the infection, while the Dream No More ending sees them give up their restrained form to become one with the void, consume the Radiance, and destroy the infection permanently.]]
* InformedAttribute: Some characters state that [[spoiler:the Knight is an emotionless shell like they are supposed to be, but depending on the timeline, they have the potential to be kind, vengeful, thoughtful, heroic, curious, sad, respectful, determined, etc. In terms of story, all they really need to do is kill the Dreamers, then the Hollow Knight to take their place; everything else the game has can be ignored for the most part. This is reflected in other endings such as the Dream No More ending where instead of being a new vessel for the Infection, the Knight instead TakesAThirdOption and destroys the root cause of the plague instead of doing their duty and make sure they do not potentially start a new cycle of infection. In another set of endings, they take the fight directly to Radiance without killing their predecessor in the process.]]

** Bretta calls the Knight as their "White Saviour" when you rescue her in Fungal Wastes. Later variants include "White Wanderer".

** If you complete the Journal, the Hunter calls the Knight as one of his own, a "Hunter". Otherwise, he refers to them as a "little squib", although this becomes more of a term of endearment the closer the Knight is to filling the Journal.
* ItIsDehumanizing: The Knight is commonly referred to as "it" in third-person. Justified as [[spoiler:the Vessels don't have gender identity]], and the friendly [=NPCs=] do not know what other pronouns to call the Knight either.

* KidHero: Played with. They're still physically a child during the events of ''Hollow Knight'', but they're at least as old as [[spoiler:their sibling, the Hollow Knight]]. This is probably a consequence of [[spoiler:their death and beginning by the Abyss]].

* MeaningfulName: Hornet nicknames them "Ghost (of Hallownest)" and "Little Shadow." [[spoiler:This is more-or-less what they are; one of the Pale King's children twisted by the Void, as with all Vessels]].

* {{Necromancer}}: In a specific way, however. Their basic spell is to [[ShapingYourAttacks conjure an angry ghost]].

* NoBodyLeftBehind: When they die, the only thing they leave behind is their mask.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Maybe. The Knight can carry around Fragile Flowers to help the Grey Mourner and to gift certain other characters with. However... [[spoiler:It turns out those flowers somehow amount to kryptonite for beings of void. If the Knight happens to gift one to the Godseeker, then the flower ruins their attempt to burst out of her as a mass of darkness at the end of the ''Godmaster'' campaign.]]

* OlderThanTheyLook: They're small size compared to other bugs (especially [[spoiler:their living siblings]]) makes both in-game characters and players to assume their a child. while really they're [[spoiler:as old as the Hollow Knight, making then anyone except Quirrel.]]

* ParentalAbandonment: It is eventually revealed [[spoiler:that the Knight, Hollow Knight, and all Vessels and Shades are siblings, and at one point the offspring of the Pale King and the White Lady. It is not clear exactly what the Pale King did to his children in his desperation to create the perfect Vessel to contain the infection, but he left thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of Vessel corpses and wandering Shades in the Abyss. Eventually, he sealed them away and refused to return to them once he thought he had the perfect Vessel]]. The Knight somehow managed to escape and make their way to the Howling Cliffs at some point, before the events of the game.

* PlayerDeathIsDramatic: Exaggerated with the player knight, as not only is the knight's death dramatic, what with it violently disintegrating, but even ''taking damage'' is emphasized with a brief freeze-frame and glass-cracking effect[[note]]though the glass effect is absent on low visual quality settings[[/note]], a loud thud, and any background music cutting out for a second before fading back in.

* RedBaron: Hornet would sometimes expand on the "Ghost" [[InSeriesNickname nickname]] she gives the knight, formally calling it the "Ghost of Hallownest".

* SoulPower: The Knight can fill their soul gauge through various means, mostly whacking other bugs with their nail.
** They then use souls to heal themselves or projects them in various directions to deal damage.

* TakeAThirdOption: The ''Godmaster'' update adds two more endings that deviate from the choices in the base game, both of which involve the Knight [[spoiler:killing the Radiance directly in the dream world (via entering the Godhome), preventing the need to fight their predecessor Vessel just to kill the Radiance (in the "Dream No More" ending). This choice also avoids the consequences of the Knight absorbing all the infection into itself (in "The Hollow Knight" and "Sealed Siblings" endings). Naturally, this instead leaves the Hollow Knight waking up in the Temple of the Black Egg and confronting Hornet outside]].

* TheUnchosenOne: [[spoiler:The Knight is a vessel who tried to crawl out of the Abyss to be selected by the Pale King for their quest to seal away Radiance. Upon reaching the top, they fell back into the Abyss after finding out that a different one had been chosen. The game begins as they surface an indeterminate amount of time later, seeking to complete their task after being called back to Hallownest by either the Hollow Knight or the Radiance.]]

** In the Deepnest, [[spoiler:there is a bench covered with web and surrounded by the distant villagers. It is actually a [[ShmuckBait trap once sat on]]. The knight will wake up in the Beast's Den and must fight its way out]].

* WallJump: The Mantis Claw allows the knight to automatically cling to and slide down walls when not on the ground. The wall-jump can be done in limitless successions (allowing you to scale up most walls) until the Knight touches the ceiling or reaches a ledge.

** The Fragile set of charms give powerful effects but will break upon death and can only be repaired by returning to Leg Eater and paying a small fee. Two of them become very practical on the Dream Bosses, and the trials in Godhome, because the knight doesn't die if it fails these difficult bosses, so it can use the Fragile charms freely. You can also turn them into the Unbreakable set [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin which never break]], for a very steep cost.

** Wayward Compass is by far the most useful travel pin; for one charm notch, it actively marks where the knight currently is on the map. For those who aren't the best at keeping track of where they are, this is really useful.

** Most of the charms that focus on the knight's nail, such as Long Nail, Mark of Pride, and Quick Slash, aren't very flashy but are highly effective. The Long Nail and Mark of Pride charms extend the reach of the knight's nail, and Quick Slash makes its strikes faster, substantially increasing its damage per second.

* HyperspaceArsenal: It isn't explained where the Knight keeps all the approximately 40 charms on their person, but as an added gameplay mechanic, you can only swap charms when sitting on a bench.

* IAmWhatIAm: [[spoiler:{{Downplayed}}, considering the Knight is an EmptyShell, but their accepting both their emptiness and the fact that they [[TheUnchosenOne never truly became the Hollow Knight]] during their visit to the Abyss seems to be part of how they managed to turn the Kingsoul into the Void Heart.]]

* MookMaker: The "Glowing Womb" and "Weaversong" charms spawn kamikaze flies and spiderlings, respectively.

* MookMaker: Not on their own, but they can create friendly monsters of their respective types by equipping certain charms
** Glowing Womb (flying mini-knights, or, when paired with Defender's Crest, flies)
** Weaversong (baby spiders)

* PhlebotinumOverdose: Known as "overcharming". If you have at least one empty charm notch, you can still force a charm that won't normally fit the notch count. This is done by attempting to equip a charm five times; on the fifth try it is equipped, an image of glass breaking appears, and a message states that the knight is now "overcharmed" and will take double damage.

* PowersAsPrograms: You collect a variety of charms over the course of the game that grant abilities to the knight. However, you have a limited number of notches to use, starting at three. The good stuff will usually use two notches at minimum. If you have at least one notch unused, you can [[PhlebotinumOverdose force a charm]] that requires two or more to fit. However, doing that will halve your defense. These can interact in certain ways. Defender's Crest, for example, grants them {{Fartillery}}, and it interacts with Flukenest to turn the Knight's [[ShapingYourAttacks Vengeful Spirit]] spell into a [[FastballSpecial poison gas grenade]].

** Equipping the Sharp Shadow with the shade cloak will transform the knight into a six-eyed void creature for a [[FreezeFrameBonus split second]].

* TwoHalvesMakeAPlot: In order to unlock the path to the Dream No More ending, the knight must obtain the Kingsoul, a legendary DismantledMacGuffin charm that symbolizes a "union between higher beings". The first half is obtained from the White Lady in the Queen's Gardens after some difficult platforming and a tough boss battle, and the second half is found in the White Palace inside the dream realm, after an even tougher platforming challenge than any that came before.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Shape of Unn allows them to become a slug when charging up a heal. This stacks with other charms to turn them into a snail or fungal husk. [[MorphicResonance Their face always stays the same regardless of the transformation.]]

A mysterious wanderer wielding a needle and thread. She confronts the Knight at various points, attempting to force them to abandon their quest for unknown reasons. Also the protagonist of the second game, ''Hollow Knight: Silksong''.

* EleventhHourRanger: [[spoiler:She'll throw her life on the line to hold down the Hollow Knight to allow the Knight to strike at them with the Dream Nail, enabling them to face the source of the infection.]]

* AntiVillain: She is determined to prevent the Knight from completing their quest, because [[spoiler:she knows that simply replacing the plague's vessel is only a temporary solution that ultimately won't solve anything]].

* DefrostingIceQueen: She starts out very hostile to the Knight, but becomes more civil to them as it seems more and more likely that they can actually [[spoiler:destroy the infection for good, to the point where she risks her life to help them in the final battle]]. At one point, she even reveals her parentage to the Knight, something she has kept silent about until then.

* EarlyBirdBoss: Absolutely brutal in that regard, since she guards the item that allows the Knight to dash. Without it, they cannot even access the Charm store to get any useful charms that would help you fight her. And she is much, much more relentless than the False Knight. This turns her into one of the hardest bosses in the game despite being only the second boss.

* OlderThanTheyLook: They're small size compared to other bugs (especially [[spoiler:their living siblings]]) makes both in-game characters and players to assume their a child. while really they're [[spoiler:as old as the Hollow Kight, making then anyone except Quirrel.]]