Studio Musician | Hollow Knight OST: Boss Themes Part 1 Reaction & Analysis

[@Jhulian_R]

Part 2 now available! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWnOmJl_qM-SgtE

[@Vonias]

Christopher Larkin is high-key a musical genius. I'm salivating over the potential for this game's sequel's soundtrack. I need it.

[@mikendez_]

you maybe called it man

[@ellisg5623]

The hollow knight soundtrack is epic, you should check out some of the area themes next especially greenpath and city of tears

[@Bliss467]

And the white palace

[@jakubpilarski2102]

@@Bliss467 In a game too! But be aware of the buzzsaws! 🤣

[@xela953]

"soul master" is actually "soul sanctum" which is an area theme. some of the area themes have "action" segments, and the soul master uses the action segment of the soul sanctum theme. the collectors theme is actually a warped version of "decisive battle" (which plays during a few insignificant fights).

[@HajpeQ123]

Uumuu

[@xela953]

@@HajpeQ123 i keep forgetting uumuu exists lmao

[@bug-deal]

​@@xela953monomon would be devastated

[@ЛилияЯмилевна]

33:52 Me: "Wow I still can't believe that Zote of all characters got this ost. It's so beautiful!" Jhulian just seconds later: "It IS beautiful, man!" That actually caught me off guard XD what a funny coincidence

[@AeternalisTheAbyssalAlchemist]

Soul Master is unique in that, his theme also includes the theme of the area leading up to him. There is also the section of his music not included in the official soundtrack but plays in game at the end of his fight, "Mage Under Glass", which sounds like a chorus of warped screams, laughs, and whispers. It's incredibly unsettling to listen to. The OST for the Soul Sanctum stands out a lot, for me at least, compared to other areas. Not just because the boss theme is directly part of it, but because the vibe is so starkly contrasting all the other areas of the game, including the melancholic them of the City of Tears which houses the sanctum. While the city and sanctum do share a leitmotif, the Soul Sanctum takes a completely different direction with it. The music is so distinctly sinister, evoking a feeling of foreboding dread. It makes you ask, "What the hell happened here?..." This feeling is amplified when confronting the Soul Master on the rooftop of the sanctum, as the music greatly intensifies. For veteran players, Soul Master isn't much of a challenge(until you meet his dream form "Soul Tyrant"), but for first and even second timers this fight is quite intense. The music helps amply that feeling of intensity, as the Soul Master unleashes a relentless onslaught while quickly teleporting around the arena giving you limited opportunity to actually fight back. This is especially true of his Tyrant form which is much faster and more aggressive. I also think Soul Master is the only character in the game that is considered to be "true evil". While the final antagonist could be considered evil, her motives at least can be rationalized, while the Soul Master is just utterly deranged in every sense of the word. He is truly selfish and sadistic. In lore, the Soul Master was employed as a sort of thaumaturge by the Pale King to find a means of curing/slowing down the Radiance's plague. But what he did was capture, torture, and kill hundreds if not thousands of bugs, using the souls of those bugs to infuse himself and his occult following with magical abilities, and for himself to cheat death. Some would be killed and have their souls extracted, others would be subject to experiments often mutating into "Mistakes" or "Follies", while those loyal scholars under the Soul Master may have been blessed with the gift of magic.

[@pommedeter7407]

By the way, the collector is supposed to be a distorted version of a «normal» battle theme, that explains the weirdness

[@kobarsos82]

Christopher Larkin is nothing short of pure genius. No words can describe the variety of amazing feelings you can get when experiencing the whole world of hallownest with this mindblowing soundtrack. There is absolutely no track worth skipping. The area themes are equally great if not greater! They may try time and again, but VERY VERY few games out there, ever come close to this level of musical perfection. Its insane.

[@nonsenf.]

Dude there is no way you noticed the first and the last song were connected. In-game there is actually a deep lore connection between the boss you fight with the first soundtrack and the boss you fight with the last soundtrack in this video. It's crazy you noticed their connection just through the music!

[@chebikitty5566]

One thing i noticed about the boss themes of hollow knight(and a few other games out there) is that the bosses of the song have an attack pattern what fits with with the beat of the song. If the song is 4/4 time the boss attacks in 4/4 time, if the song is in 3/4 time the boss attacks in 3/4 time.

[@FalhaViva]

THE GRIMM TROUPE OST!

[@cursesin]

So glad to see you analyse the hollow knight soundtrack, definitely one of my favourites. Since you only to boss themes (except the first half of soul master i guess) I’d recommend you to check out some of the more chill area themes like „city of tears“, „greenpath“, „dirtmouth“ and my personal favourite „crystal peak“. In terms of boss themes you should definitely check out the big three: „sealed vessel“, „radiance“ and especially „Grimm“. Thanks for the great video!

[@tapwater000]

Amazing to see you give a listen to Hollow Knight's OST! Can't wait for part 2 dude!

[@thefluffyaj4119]

26:06 absolutely, this is the theme of a boss that is basically the kings experimentation gone wrong. most of them turned out successful, but this certain little void creature slipped away out of its mould! it has an extremly protective nature, so much so that it will trap and "collect" anything that it sees. this is because a plague has destroyed the city, the colector is trying its best to contain and save what it can through twisted methods. but, two problems. the collector is a creature of void, stolen from its collective and forced into a mould. it doesnt understand the needs of living creatures. the bugs within its collection eventually suffer a slow death, as the collector doesnt understand it has to take care of its wards. the second problem is the infection is ine of the mind, and it spreads not through physical means, but dreams. the bugs it tried to lovingly protect got infected with the radiance's light anyway, and they slowly starved to death in a pridon they couldnt escape. despite the collectors dream nail dialouge being very sweet and revealing it has nothing but good intentions, the result is very twisted since the poor creature doesnt understand mist things about its world

[@lawsofminecraft6303]

Very nice reaction, added my upvote. Also, yes I want to see you react to the rest of the boss themes, and then I would actually love to see you react to all the area music after that. The boss themes are more dynamic, but the beautiful melancholy of Hollow Knight's area themes is second to none. If you do end up doing the area themes, I recommend starting with the menu music, as that is the first music you are exposed to in the game and has one of the clearest forms of the repeating leitmotifs.

[@puglife658]

Hollow knight legitimately has one of the best videogame OSTs I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. It’s up there with Minecraft and Undertale IMO.

[@rubensanchezramirez7028]

It’s crazy how you can tell what every enemy is like based only on their theme. That’s a great soundtrack.

[@Bliss467]

You’ll adore the song Lace. A preview track for silksong

[@korreollonborre]

You should just listen to the whole ost, you will definitely like it!

[@nonsenf.]

This was so cool! Still waiting for part 2 tho. I hope he actually does it and didn't forget about it.

[@oranski3299]

We need more of this, watching your reactions to this wonderful soundtrack was so enjoyable. And there are so many more incredible tracks yet unheard

[@pommedeter7407]

Hollow knight is my favorite video game of all time and the music is definitely a highlight

[@canhyrti]

Thanks for the reaction! Hollow knight is definitely my favorite soundtracks of all time. Im sure you'll love the rest of the songs too!

[@bledwinn1241]

Lets get more Hollow Knight! Literally any theme reaction would be dope!!!!

[@StianGlundberg]

This was an awesome reaction video :D

[@Professor_Wisteria_]

Team Cherry made a game about little bugs in a little bug world and Christopher Larkin decided to make one of the most beautiful orchestral OSTs for it lmao

[@Malisteen]

so many all time great teacks on this game's ost.

[@korreollonborre]

Aaah I needed this!

[@Valtsu_1]

Nice to see you react to OST of yet another master piece of a game

[@Bliss467]

The second part will be epic, especially if it includes pale vessel, radiance, grim troupe and daughter of hallownest

[@ccfffvbbbbbffg1774]

Love this soundtrack!

[@nonsenf.]

"Imagine listening to this at 3am". Me watching this video at 3am 😐

[@lesvideosduboncoin506]

Hollow knight on the channel ?!!! Nice👍 One of the best indies game out there and my favorite one.

[@CyanPhrog]

After hollow knight i suggest listening to Cuphead OST, it has jazz+big band music, really good

[@bug-deal]

I assume the video you're watching was put together by the requester. I'm curious about the "mage under glass" part, which is not a titled part of the soundtrack unless I'm badly mistaken. put in to cleanse the palate?

[@bug-deal]

I like the use of the visuals to set the setting without directly showing the subjects.

[@Jhulian_R]

Well this video wasn't actually a Patreon request, some people suggested in the comments and when I saw it had quite a big OST, decided to give it a try!

[@limonlx7182]

According to some other comment, "mage under glass" plays during the second phase of the Soul Master fight, and I assume it didn't fit in the Soul Sanctum soundtrack and wasn't very notable to get its own.

[@Kayta-Linda]

I’m confused. What is “Mage Under Glass”? I’ve literally never heard anything like that anywhere near Hollow Knight.

[@nezzaUwU]

It seems to be what plays in the final phase of the soul mater fight. You're fighting a mage after he smashes through the glass, leaving you underneath.

[@sairenray0153]

pity you missed grimm, nkg and sealed vessel those 3 boss tracks are some of the best of hollow knights ost

[@Valtsu_1]

For real, those are like the best boss OST's

[@pabloandresvargas9125]

The title says part 1 so probably (hopefully) those will be on another video.

[@Slygrond]

They'll definitely be in part 2

[@genovesan003]

you should definitly listen to pale court. It's not in the actual game, but it's still part of the ost.

[@anengerling3502]

More please

[@Aimad_99]

oh wait till you see SILKSONG

[@pri_oji]

from part2

[@Iiiiii258]

Could you do a dark souls 3 ost reaction?

[@mirai749]

Thank you for your reaction! I advise you to watch Guilty Gear Xrd "Storyteller" from chanell Orangey, one of the main themes of Xrd

[@ElCuco-zm5qq]

A pretty mediocre soundtrack if you ask me 🤔 I could do better with my eyes shut. It's so clever how you can guess so much from such a poor ost and game, thanks for the video my lord!

[@pixelatedperplexities8104]

Wow! You suck!

[@AA-sw5pb]

You must have a sad life

[@The_Pimba]

This is bait

[@goosewithglasses167]

@@The_Pimba -|

[@bug-deal]

​@@The_Pimbait's too cute to even get mad at