Fan Nickname / Hollow Knight

• The game itself is often called "Bug Souls", or to expand, "Dark Souls with Bugs".
• To some, the game is nicknamed "2D Dark Souls", something that is also commonly used to call Salt and Sanctuary before it. But it's not a bad thing! Both the Hollow Knight and Salt and Sanctuary communities are Friendly Fandoms with each other and are well aware of how their 2D Metroidvania games share a lot in common with Dark Souls.
• The Player Character is officially referred to as "The Knight", following the title used by Team Cherry (or "The Hollow Knight" in the game's endings), but players sometimes refer to them as "The Ghost" or "Little Ghost", Hornet's In-Series Nickname for them.
• The Grimmchild has some fans calling it "Grimm Jr."
• Any memetic line spoken by the characters can also double as their fan nicknames, especially the short and easily memorable ones. For example:
  • Iselda is often remembered as the "Bapanada" NPC.
  • Brumm has been called "Babagundala".
• Some abilities from the Knight and the various enemies are given names by the community to help in discussing them in guides and walkthroughs:
  • The aerial downward slash attack is called "Pogo Jumping" or "Pogoing" since the nail has an upward recoil when you hit enemies with the attack, allowing you to reach higher areas and navigate paths other than the intended means of double-jumping and/or air-dashing on the platforms. It is also used to refer to the way of cheesing enemy waves and boss fights by spamming the attack airborne.
  • "Shadow Dash" for either the Shade Cloak upgrade or the Sharp Shadow Charm, both of which turn the Knight into a Living Shadow while dashing to avoid collision. Community walkthroughs and guides seem to use the name for the latter (Sharp Shadow) however.
  • The ability granted by the Crystal Heart is officially called Super Dash, but often nicknamed "Crystal Dash".
  • The community has also taken a liking in naming Grimm's Bullet Hell phase as the "Pufferfish Attack" since he transforms into a spiky spherical object that continuously pulses and emits numerous fire orbs.
  • Grimm's projectile move is commonly called the "Fire Bats" attack.
• Characters, bosses and stages get acronyms or abbreviations that are easier to type out/say than their full names:
  • "THK" - The Hollow Knight
  • "AbsRad" - Absolute Radiance
  • "NKG" - Nightmare King Grimm
  • "GPZ" - Grey Prince Zote
  • "PV" - Pure Vessel
  • "PK" - Pale King
  • "WD" - White Defender
  • "PoA" or "P2" - Pantheon of the Artist
  • "PoS" or "P3" - Pantheon of the Sage
  • "PoK" or "P4" - Pantheon of the Knight
  • "PoH" or "P5" - Pantheon of Hallownest
  • "PoP" - Path of Pain
• The Void Entity that the Knight transforms into during some of the endings have several names or titles for its two forms, like "Lord of Shades", "God of Gods", "Void Given Form" and "Void Given Focus"... But the fanbase just collectively refers to the Void Entity in general as "Shade Lord", based on a line from the game's code referring to it.
• The Soul Master is often called "Doctor Strange" because of how he looks with a red cloak and his reliance on soul-based magic attacks and teleportation.
• Some of the most obvious or blatant Expy cases in this game are oftentimes just called using the name of the third-party entities that they are referencing:
  • "Dracula" for Grimm.
  • "No Face" for the Midwife.
  • "Sans Charm" for the Dashmaster charm.
  • "Abyss Watcher Knights" for the Watcher Knights.
• The Precursors of the ancient times don't have official names. "The Ancient Civilization" is often called by fans to refer to them in lore discussions. However, there are also other fan names used for them like "Ancient Caste" or "Black Kingdom".
• In the A Weird and Wonderful World trailer, a "Dream Diving" demo showed a younger self of the Elderbug. Sadly, this mechanic and the NPC didn't make it into the released version. Nonetheless, some fans who watched the video for archival purposes referred to him as either "Babybug" or "Childbug".
• Moss Prophet is sometimes called "Mosses". Yes, it is a Punny Name based from the Biblical character.
• Temple of the Black Egg (a sub-location in the Crossroads) sounds like a mouthful for most, so they go with "Black Egg Temple" instead.
• Maskflies are simply called "Birds" because of their behavior of flocking in an area then quickly flying away like birds when the Knight approaches.
• A lot of players call mask shards "Pieces of Heart" due to their similar function.
• Of the various Zotelings fought in the Grey Prince Zote fight and The Eternal Ordeal, only those that appear in the former have entries in the Hunter's Journal, and with those official names. Other Zotelings have fan nicknames, such as "Zote's Curse" for the one that works like Salubra's Blessing in reverse.

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