The Biggest Mysteries left in Hollow Knight

The mysterious stuff, indeed. To celebrate the sixth anniversary of Hollow Knight, I decided to talk about Hollow Knight lore for the first time in over a year. Feels good to be back.
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Links to Lore Archives and Bee Movie script:
docs.google.com/document/d/1O...
docs.google.com/document/d/1K...
Void doc I mentioned in video:
docs.google.com/document/d/1A...
Link to script/list of songs:
mossbag69.blogspot.com/2023/0...
Translate this video into another language using Amara:
amara.org/videos/KIBUZY5kkJJO...
Thanks to all the folks on Discord who shared their thoughts on the script/debated these lore topics with me:
Sumwan
Mola
Serrara Mayfield
AppleEgg
Kirb
nECROMANCER
Araraura
Sulman
shalun
Jojoker
Cyn
Video Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:58 Lands Beyond
04:15 Blackywyrm
07:51 Origins of Void
11:37 Mask Maker
15:04 Charms
16:56 The Collector
21:47 Vessel Escape
23:33 Lifeblood
26:36 Isma
28:43 Why Hornet is Hornet
32:22 Who the heck is Dashmaster?
32:59 White Lady
34:00 Pale Ore
35:43 Oro and Mato
39:23 Esmy
41:04 Deepnest Shrine
43:04 Ancient Civilization
48:19 Pale King's Prescience
49:57 Mister Mushroom
51:42 The Masters
53:03 Delicate Flower
54:51 Godmaster Endings

[@Catfishade]

I think the name Hornet might possibly be a subtle and clever reference to hornets, from the hit videogame Real Life. Admittedly I've never actually played it, though I have seen it's anime adaptation, Family Guy.

[@Hadi-wf7ze]

So brain

[@persona3chainsawman]

so brain

[@urhoelmeri]

So brain

[@SpiderSpiderOnTheWall]

So brain

[@mrdunklestein]

So brain

[@NikoFromOneShot]

The biggest mystery actually is how did all the abyss vessles died if there's no fall damage in this game.

[@craz2580]

Skill issue

[@hasargel]

Nice Omori pfp

[@Sobeitut]

i love how you can fall from 10 feet and be fine yet barely touch a spike and take damage

[@HXGNL_RHMBS]

I don’t know maybe the pale king just Sucker punch the vessels really really hard so they died before they hit the ground

[@mkks4559]

That's how the Pale King knew which Vessels were hollow. Hollow Vessels don't care about physics.

[@nautil_us]

A thought I had while watching this video: the reason why wyrms are the ones who create kingdoms is because they are the only ones big enough to create the tunnels everyone lives in. Normal bugs are too tiny and not cooperative enough to dig them out, only to create much smaller corridors like in deepnest. The wastelands are like that because worms in real life fertilize the ground, and since all wyrms died out the soil eroded to the wasteland.

[@U20E0]

interesting point

[@niklasnymark7955]

This is actually a really solid theory!

[@lecarbonator]

So what about the kingdoms that preceded the Wyrm and Hallownest? What‘s your take on those caverns?

[@kalemen0]

@Le Carbonator Just like in real life. That is, there are rocks and water. And some rocks are dissolved by this water

[@ere4t4t4rrrrr4]

I like that this also explains why Grimm refers to the Wyrm as worm. It's not (just) to make fun of it, it's because it *is* really just a worm!

[@BagWyrm]

One of my favorite small details in Hollow Knight is that the battles in Godhome are supposed to represent the bosses at the peak of their strength and capability, and the battle with Oro and Mato is them fighting The Knight along side each other. This shows that they are strongest when they work together, but due to their feud there's a good chance they will never reach their highest capability. It's beautifully tragic in a very specific way and it exemplifies the type of subtle writing, where it's completely possible to not even notice if you aren't analyzing everything in the game, that I absolutely love Hollow Knight for.

[@coloquintedetoux6899]

I never considered this before ! The amount of depth they managed to put into a single game story and lore wise just blow my mind !

[@samandom8772]

Meanwhile, Sheo's the strongest when channeling his inner Bob Ross

[@bubblegumcupcake3216]

@@samandom8772 *Paintmaster Sheo*

[@Someone-kb8rh]

Tiso is strongest when dead

[@TheMoonlight1711]

@@Someone-kb8rh exactly

[@santiagoacosta3372]

I always thought that the phrase "The last and only kingdom" was a straight up lie the pale king made to have a stronger influence towards the kingdom

[@Numbabu]

I got that sense too. Even if he really believed it, it mainly strikes me as an exaggeration.

[@fowti1470]

You think someone would do that? Just go make a lore tablet and tell lies?

[@dr.banana47]

I agree.

[@dachigobeja8490]

​@@fowti1470 yes.

[@Crabgar]

considering the size of bugs, they likely can't even comprehend how big even a real town would be

[@engineer8248]

The biggest mystery is: will mossbag lose every bit of his sanity before silksong is released?

[@durnsidh6483]

"Will"? He already has.

[@pedrorosa9893]

He lost after the fandom decided to sacrifice him,

[@thewanderingartists]

He lost it, it was his sanity that was sacrificed by the community recently.

[@tiagocosmos]

an even bigger mystery still is: will we?

[@skyesyd221]

Hm

[@iandig]

I just want to say that "the daughter of three queens" sounds cool as hell

[@Mythraen]

I assume you mean poetically. I immediately started trying to figure out how that was supposed to work literally. I'll get back to you after I do the research. Should be around 3-5 years. I'll give you my preliminary hypothesis now, though: it doesn't.

[@azalakhir918]

@@Mythraen I think a major problem in this might be that Pale king was actually reaping bitches and fucked Hornets mom. Therefore making Hornet actually a normal daughter

[@nm9688]

And gay

[@NeroTheDarklord]

Since the Radiance refers to void as "ancient enemy", I firmly believe that void is a primordial force that is opposed to light. It is one of the elements from which the entire world is crafted and it just so happens that at the very bottom of hallownest is a large pool of pure void, that upon the pale king's discovery he started experimenting with precisely because he knew void and light are always in conflict with each other.

[@Blue14113]

Interesting idea that VOID is a fundamental building block of the world. Could it be some sort of a Primordial Chaos type thing then? It's possible given how many creation myths involve water or a liquid substance being present.

[@NeroTheDarklord]

This is just wild speculation, but I like to think of it in a way that there are multiple primordial forces. Shades and twilight are created by light and darkness intermingling. Since there has been no real emphasis on any other elements, I do believe that light and void are the two, and potentially only two, fundemental base elements and all other elements are a result of various degrees of light and void intermixing. Just from how dark and bleak the world of Hollow Knight is, even in its most vibrant regions, I like to think that this is evidence enough that void can be found everywhere, just in extremely thinned out concentrations as just darkened, dulled and muted colors.@@Blue14113

[@traumatizedcritic8679]

This really reminds me of the creation story of Greek mythology. Before the Gods, before the Titans, and even before the Primordial Beings that constructed the cosmos and Earth, there was nothingness, this nothingness being called Chaos. Chaos is timeless, genderless, and devoid of anything that would indicate an existence. This to me is a very similar idea to the Void.

[@Blue14113]

@@NeroTheDarklord Interesting ideas. But with the Radiance being dead, does that mean the scales have tipped in favor of VOID and the balance is lost? Or would a new/hitherto unknown entity take Radiance's place as Deity of Light? It seemed from the endings that VOID was not only the only thing able to beat the Radiance, but it also was far more powerful. Makes you wonder what this stuff even is to begin with. Edit: I just saw this other comment. For some reason, it isn't appearing when I click on replies.

[@-MidnightOwl-]

@@Blue14113 The Radiance is dead, but I don't think the idea of "Light" has. I believe that Rad was a personification of it, kind of like how the Shade lord is a personification of the void, but there is still other void in the form of the abyss and other siblings.

[@sabisgambi3818]

“But the complete lack of the United States military anywhere in Hallownest” that line took me out back and shot me for my luscious untapped oil fields

[@msellards9356]

hell yeah brother

[@pineapple6567]

I was looking for this comment😭

[@vispaino5308]

ye i was so sure this was gonna be here

[@sweet-nessu]

It’s really strange that they changed the name of “Silksong” to “Pizza Tower”. Still, Im glad they finally released it! The game is awesome :)

[@thermophile1695]

I heard that Team Cherry is planning on releasing a DLC with the original name in 5 years.

[@sweet-nessu]

@@thermophile1695 “Pizza Tower: Silksong”

[@cheddarsunchipsyes8144]

LOLLLLL

[@zephra1675]

Accursed

[@conic2721]

the new mc, Peppino Spaghetti, is really cool and interesting, his lore is pretty deep

[@TheAdvertisement]

It's insane that after all this, after 6 years since Hollow Knight came out, Mossbag still can make an hour long video about what's still unsolved.

[@user-yu7ys6yd4t]

It's crazy that after six years of Hollow Knight, I'm watching the walkthrough and lore video again for the sixth time.

[@WaterBisquitte]

Its been six years…

[@epilepticsquid8856]

I always thought that charms worked by the more expensive the charm, the bigger it is. Each charm only slots into 1 slot, but covered up the other notches nearby, blocking them from use

[@thepotatoportal69]

I always though the Dashmaster and the Sprintmaster were relatives of the soul master, mainly just because they look the same, but also because if you wear Dashmaster and Sprintmaster, you run at the same speed as Soul Tyrant.

[@ghostmcghost3768]

that's cool as fuck

[@WhatIsMyPorpoise]

@@ghostmcghost3768 agreed

[@jstar3382]

That's kinda just what basic bugs look like?

[@WhatIsMyPorpoise]

@@jstar3382 nah they kind rounder than the rest

[@ghostmcghost3768]

@@WhatIsMyPorpoise yea they built different

[@Muzazabi]

Fun fact: mossbag was holding a corn plate while recording this video.

[@reformedorthodoxmunmanquara]

Wow, I didn’t know he was a fan of Echanto

[@dexiomine1232]

I never noticed that!

[@barrybee4610]

As in Iowan, I salute Mossbag.

[@darkmoon137]

The whole "you knew what would happen but not how, and from that you will unwittingly bring about the events you wish to deter" is such a great way to humble an egoistic character, or bring some impermanence or greater perspective to a story

[@gfghdgfghd6391]

Reminds me of the story of Perseus from Greek mythology. There was a king of a city-state in Ancient Greece, who visited the oracle. The oracle told him his grandson would kill him and become king. So, he locked his daughter in a dungeon before she could have any kids. Zeus, the god of the sky, saw this, and was like, “Why is a lady in a dungeon?” He went down to meet her, and Zeus being Zeus, they had a child named Perseus.” Seeing this, the king got very angry, so he trapped the daughter and her son in a box, and nailed it shut. He threw it into the sea. Eventually a fisherman found the box, and opened it. Perseus grew up in another kingdom, with a strong hatred for his grandfather, who was the king. Being the son of Zeus,he was the most powerful fighter in the kingdom. He went home and killed his father, fulfilling the oracle’s prophecy.

[@CTM162]

​@@gfghdgfghd6391The backstory to Zeus himself is this, as his father Chronos swallowed him in order to prevent him from overthrowing him (which of course he did after Rhea, Chronos' wife, rescued him). There's also the story of Oedipus, who unknowingly murdered his father and married his mother while ironically attempting to thwart the prophecy stating he would do so (which itself occurred because his father also attempted to thwart it by casting him away to die as an infant). The Greeks loved their tragedies as a way to explore the human condition in general.

[@leilaclarridge5807]

Lands Beyond: Maybe Hallownest is located somewhere that makes getting to and from it so dangerous that it makes travel outside of the kingdom impractical? It might as well be the only major civilization in the area when Blackwyrm: I have seen two theories about this that are pretty cool. One is that the Blackwyrm is a female of the Wyrm species that came to Hallownest to woo the Pale King via violence, but because he was already taken he had her driven off or killed. The other is that "Blackwyrm" is actually an organization, a group of rebels or an army that intended on overthrowing the Pale King to either free the kingdom from his rule or to simply take it over, depending on how charitable you're feeling about him. Origins of Void: Void is oil, 'nuff said. ...Ok, fine, I'll elaborate. Oil is made from the decomposed remains of plants, animals and other organisms that died hundreds of millions of years ago. Since the Void looks like oil, maybe it's actually the liquefied remains of lifeforms that lived in the land that would become Hallownest, and in a magical world like the setting of Hollow Knight, it might also be made of the regrets of those very same creatures along with their souls. We do see that the walls of the underground, especially in the Abyss where the Void itself is, is made from fossils of ancient arthropods, so Hallownest is literally made on the corpses of prehistoric creatures, so maybe there was a mass extinction event that killed everything that lived in the region millions of years ago, thus creating the Void. Mask Maker: I theorize that masks allow otherwize unintelligent creatures to be sapient. Give a tiktik a mask, and it can do taxes kind of thing. In Hallownest, the Pale King does basically the same thing, so masks aren't necessarily needed, but people probably still wear them as a part of tradition. The reason why Hallownest still has wildlife is probably because the Pale King can probably choose who to ascend to sapience, so for the sake of maintaining the underground's ecosystems and to give the people stuff to eat he didn't ascend some animals, like miktiks and maskflies. Charms: They probably come in different sizes, and they less need to slot into multiple notches and more just cover up nearby space, leaving less room for other charms. The Collector: The Collector probably developed a fondness for caring for plants and animals when they were a Kingsmold, likely from guarding the White Lady who was a gardening fan. Instead of having them recycled as a defective, the Pale King took away their armor and handed them over to a biologist dandy to be taught how to study plants and animals, after which they became known as the Collector. It seemed that the Collector and dandy became close, but overexposure to the Void in the Kingsmold likely corrupted them, forcing them to run away, but not without locking the Collector away either for their safety, or for the safety of everyone else. As for the jars, they might actually be terrariums. In real life, a lot of people use jars to make terrariums that either just contain plants, or are used as enclosures for small animals. The Grubs were likely collected to keep them safe because they're children and are likely the ones who will repopulate Hallownest in the future after the Infection is destroyed. Vessel Escape: What you're saying is mostly what I'm thinking. I doubt that the Abyss is airtight, so there must be holes all over the roof that lead out into the tunnels above. Also, we don't actually know how far it extends since we only see it in 2d and it probably extends far off in all directions that we don't see. There's also the Lifeblood room in the Abyss that extends into the background, and while the tunnel back there is occupied by the Lifeblood Creature, there's probably gaps the little Vessels can fit into to escape, or maybe the LbC just moves out of the way to let them pass since it at least seems passive and maybe is even friendly considering the beneficial nature of Lifeblood. The Abyss probably has tunnels that lead outside of Hallownest, allowing the Knight and who knows how many other Vessels to escape to the lands beyond. Maybe we'll see some grown up Vessels in Silksong who don't remember what they really are? Lifeblood: Could the Lifeblood Creature be a Higher Being? They can be found in Godhome in the Lifeblood Room along with the Abyss, where there's also a Dream Essence, which are normally associated with the most powerful of Gods. Maybe they're a dream being like them. If whether or not it's friendly or not is unknowable, but since it never shows even an an ounce of hostility, the Lifeblood is entirely beneficial, and while Joni lies dead surrounded by Lifeblood flowers, none of them are growing out of her like what Infection would, it might be either entirely passive, or even benevolent. As for why drinking Lifeblood is a taboo, if the Lifeblood Creature really is a God and is the source of the Lifeblood, the Pale King probably illegalalized possession of anything associated with it to keep them from gaining power through followers. Isma: She might be from Greenpath. As a plant being, she might be a creation of Unn, or is descended from her creations. As for why she became a Great Knight, I guess she heard that Hallownest was in need of powerful warriors to defend it and decided to test her luck there, only to impress the King and White Lady so much that they hired her on as a Knight. Why Hornet is Hornet: In regards to the canonicity of Team Cherries' statements on lore, considering how mysterious everything is in the game, we might as well use whatever we can. Sure we're meant to interpret things how we like, but that might include statements made by the developers. What they say can prove enlightening, no matter how much salt we're supposed to take. That aside, the idea that Hornet had three mother figures is one of my favorite headcanons about her. As for why Vespa would have named her, just because the Hive didn't have very good relations with Hallownest, that doesn't mean that it was cut off from Deepnest as well. Maybe Herrah and Vespa were good friends, so Herrah trusted her good friend to teach her daughter to fight. Dashmaster: He was probably minor athlete of not enough renown to be remembered much. White Lady: Many believe that the White Lady is not a plant but a fungus. It would explain her white color and lack of leaves, and her "roots" may actually be mycelium. It would fit the underground vibes of the kingdom. As for where she came from, she was either from Greenpath or the Fungal Wastes on account of being a plant/fungus, or she's from outside the kingdom like the Pale King. She might have lived in Kingdom's Edge since a lot of those white "plants" can be seen there and they might be associated with her or her species in some way, or she could have hitched a ride on the Pale King's original Wyrm body as an initially mindless parasite that gained intelligence from the Pale King's intelligence granting aura. Pale Ore: Not much to say here. I wonder if it's Pale Being bits? Though I do wonder how the Knight got their nail if it was really a Pure Nail all along and not just a regular nail upgraded into a Pure Nail. It probably has something to their trip outside of Hallownest. Oro and Mato: While there's not much to say here without getting into headcanon territory, there is a sad air about these two. Whatever happened must have been tragic, and it's too bad we don't get to learn even a little more about their backstories, along with those of Sheo and Sly. Esmy: While you talked about characters having deceased lovers and refer to Esmy as a female, there's no hint as to what their gender is nor their relationship with Sly, and the brothers for that matter. They're truly one of the more mysterious characters, and there's not much to say without getting into headcanon territory like with the incident that drive Oro and Mato apart. Deepnest Shrine: The creature depicted by the statue seems to be a horseshoe crab or a trilobite. With the Void likely being made of ancient bug juice and the walls of the underground being decorated with their shells, it's possible that the arachnids of Deepnest revere prehistoric arthropods as their most ancient ancestors. The statue itself might even be a trilobite fossil. The seal is probably just there to protect it from damage. The Ancient Civilization: This is one of my favorite things to speculate about. They're so mysterious, but unlike a lot of other things about Hollow Knight there's actually a lot of clues that help to piece together many different theories. Like I've been saying, Void is probably oil made from the matter of ancient creatures and their thoughts and Souls, but who were these creatures? Were they the Ancient Civilization, or did the AC come after the Void Sea was created? Who, or what, is the Shade Lord? Are they The Knight, an amalgamation of all the Vessels, or are they related but not the same as them? What destroyed the Ancient Civilization? Themselves, or an outside power, likely the Radiance? There's so much to think about that it would take too long to type out here. Pale King's Prescience: Whatever your opinion on the guy himself is, there's something distinctly horrifying about the idea of being able to see into the future but not being able to do anything about the horrible things you see. The Pale King saw the ruination of everything he worked for, did unimaginable things to preserve it, only for it all to fall apart horribly. It makes me wonder why he has that power in the first place. Mister Mushroom: Could he be omniscient? He's able to peer into other games and communicate with the characters in them, so he's definitely no normal fungus. Even the Gods never show his kind of power, so could he be a Higher Being as well? The Masters: They certainly don't sound friendly, that's for sure.

[@Shalakor]

While I'm not actually dismissing your thoughts, I do have to extrapolate that the argument that "since the void looks like oil, it literally is oil" is the same as arguing that "since the Radiance's infection looks like orange juice, it literally is orange juice" when it comes down to it. ...Then again, maybe it literally is orange juice, since oranges are heavily symbolically tied to the sun, and to face the Radiance is to face the sun itself? And the acid pools are literally lemon juice that cuts through a being made of Void oil (and organge juice just combines into another form of citric acid, so of course the infected dissolve) but not a healthy bug like Conifer, with Isma's tear being a lime fruit since Isma's leaves resemble lime leaves.

[@luisjoseherrera408]

You forgot speedmaster

[@Blue14113]

I like your thoughts. The Blackwyrm being a political opponent to the Pale King sounds really intriguing. It really is his exact opposite. PK being the Pale/White Wyrm and the other being Blackwyrm. They could be opposed to the PK because of him going so far and investing so many resources into a solution that wasn't even guaranteed to succeed. Not to mention the Blackwyrm also could've condemned the crimes of the Soul Sanctum and all the unethical solutions made to combat the infection as well as the PK's disregard for consequences, or rather "doing whatever it takes", I mean his motto literally is "No cost too great". Then, a "Battle of the Blackwyrm" implies the PK did some sort of crackdown on the BW and snuffed out their rebellion through violence, which honestly doesn't seem too far for him to do at this point. As for the Vessels escaping the Abyss, I think there might be tunnels or whatnot out of the Abyss into the Wastes, and PK probably didn't bother much to close them off as he considered the remaining Vessels "impure". He could've just thought to himself that they'll just be killed off in the Wastes and never cause an issue. Hornet is also patrolling Hallownest and killing off any Vessel she sees, so in a way the Seals are protected against any Vessel that could go near them.

[@knockknock.whosthere1785]

As a terrarium hobbyist, I like The Collector more now lol, also I REALLY like the Blackwyrm idea, I was thinking maybe it was an individual posing as a wyrm, but I like your idea more.

[@-MidnightOwl-]

EVIL FANTA@@Shalakor

[@barrytheshark3892]

For your 4th video this is pretty great, can’t wait to see what you do next! Maybe you could dig deep into why Team Cherry gave Salubra so much sex appeal

[@hahahahahaha1946]

i fear that we will never know for sure 😔

[@oscarlittle639]

The biggest question left unanswered is why quirrel looks so damn good in that mask. I don't blame him for *definitely leaving* , I would too if I lost my hat.

[@matthewgallaway3675]

He dead

[@oscarlittle639]

@@matthewgallaway3675 I refuse to believe this

[@valeriocapanni]

Quirrel lost his fav hat and just quit from the game. Actual canon.

[@jackmahoney1001]

DEFINITELY LEAVING

[@filiurwish1858]

Maybe the void is made of ghosts of the dead who are unable to move on, and the pale flower allows them to do so. Which is why Grey Mourner wanted so badly to place on on her lover's grave, to prevent her spirit from becoming void as well.

[@azzkin9401]

But then, what about the warrior dreams or the other spirits found trought the game?

[@filiurwish1858]

@@azzkin9401 maybe they are too young or have strong unfinished business to become void yet?

[@Vexatious_Humanoid]

⁠@@filiurwish18582 months late but some spirits and warrior dreams have dark tears coming from their eyes, possibly they are in the process of joining the void? Idk, I’m not a theorist

[@adalwolf8328]

There is some Hunter dialogue that seems to imply this as well from the Shade journal entry. *Each of us leaves an imprint of something when we die. A stain on the world. I don't know how much longer this kingdom can bear the weight of so many past lives...* I think the pool of void in the bottom of Hallownest is an accumulation of matter from all the dead bugs, that started forming in the times of the ancient civilization. Maybe Radiance tries to prevent her "ancient enemy" from growing by keeping the dead bugs in an undead state.

[@benblack5126]

I always thought maskmaker was commissioned by the king to make masks for the vessels. The line "To define, to exist, to focus" references harnessing void by giving it an identity. And what a powerful effect it has. Even in death the Siblings cling to the form they were given. The masks also grant the siblings the ability to focus, evidenced by it being the knight's starting spell, and description in godhome. Maskmaker knew the details of why the king needed millions of masks, which is how he knows of the knight's "face that lies beneath." Heck, he probably saw a few faceless vessels so he could get measurements. The high volume of the job order, combined with the knowing the fate of every mask recipient, drove this bug to insanity.

[@realNom2mooncow]

My theory for the Blackwyrm is that the Blackwyrm is a name taken on by an insurgent of Hallownest, meant to represent the opposite of the Pale Wyrm.

[@RacingSnails64]

It not self-declared, then coined by others. The fact it's lowercase makes me think the bugs were trying to emphasize that this Blackwyrm does not have the same divinity or authority as the Pale Wyrm.

[@zxidenbel7000]

We know heretics were common in Hallownest because of Joni and Xero. It's sensible to assume there were more who turned against the Pale King.

[@SamueL-td7fb]

given the nature of Wyrms, I can imagine some would wage war against each other to conquest their lands, perhaps that's the reason of their disappearance?

[@robert.7230]

​​@@zxidenbel7000 Xero was most likely infected

[@geway1067]

I always connect the Blackwyrm with the Temple of the Black Egg in the game. I mean the temple looks like a worm and I like the theory that the Blackwyrm came from the surface to defeat the Pale Wyrm (Pale King), who send his knights to fight it.

[@marcuswestphal4955]

One thing thats interesting about Mask Maker is that he is in the spider area. Literally referred to as 'beasts den' and things like Hera the beast. Maskmaker is in the area of hollownest that isn't actually hollownest, rather owned by the spiders and beasts. These beasts need sentience, hence Maskmaker

[@mblaze3150]

Really good observation, perhaps then it wouldn't be crazy to think he may have shifted his focus from hallownest to the beasts den after the arrival of the pale king. Still though mask maker is definitely one of the stranger side characters, he doesn't seem to care much for anything else occurring and his knowledge of things like the void kingdom and those who predated hallownest raise way more questions.

[@jonathangough9967]

Mask Maker's the poor bug's Pale King

[@michaelchaney2336]

In Lord of the flies masks are described as lies. From this literary tradition, masks teach bugs lies so that they recognize the truth. For bugs who can learn but need help to be sentient.

[@M.Datura]

It could also be that the Maskmaker hid away from the Pale King because their work opposed the Pale King's intention of keeping bugs in Hallownest, whilst the Maskmaker enables even less sentient bugs to move, though not fully of their own free will. Or even because the Maskmaker's masks could be used to shield themselves from the "thrall" of the Pale King.

[@serraramayfield9230]

@@M.Datura masks don't inherently give people sentience, it's a metaphor

[@YorkJonhson]

My theory on Isma is that she was originally a follower of Unn before serving the Pale King, hence her connection with plants. Maybe she isn't dead so much as in stasis, becoming one with the grove to protect it (and by extension herself and Ogrim) from the Radiance's encroaching infection.

[@grinstrashcan]

I think Void being regret makes a lot of sense, especially since Radiance (dreams, desires) calls Void it's ancient enemy.

[@milk_choc7889]

The best explanation I've seen for the Delicate Flower ending is that the flower is a funerary token, and it lays the Shade Lord-a collection of the restless ghosts of the Vessels-to rest in the Abyss.

[@MMOplayeerr]

Thats actually genius.

[@lucasriddle3431]

OK, sure, but then why would the white lady say it's so dangerous? Perhaps if the knight died while holding it its shade would be "put to rest" as well? It's unclear how much respawn mechanics are canon... of course you can't die while holding the Flower because it's so, well, Delicate. OK nevermind I came up with an answer to my own question.

[@Couch_Banana]

Theoretically, you CAN die with the flower, but only if you obtain it with 1 health point.

[@lucasriddle3431]

@@Couch_Banana Yeah... but I assume the "flower broken" message comes up still. Straight away. While your death animation is still playing (i.e. your shade is still emerging). So unless the message doesn't show up for whatever reason, I think it's still a defensible theory.

[@KirbyDerbi]

Unless Team Cherry says otherwise this is head cannon for me for now on

[@o-mega7515]

"Isma could still be alive, even if it's not in the same way you or I are alive" Bold of you to assume I'm not a sentient plant, Mossbag

[@inachos5759]

the capitalization

[@bubblegumcupcake3216]

How do we know *HE* isn’t a sentient plant?!

[@collectorofmyst2107]

@@bubblegumcupcake3216 He's a bag of moss. Duh.

[@Durrutitv]

Plants are alive, sentient or otherwise.

[@EsgXEnder]

You capitalized the m in mossbag

[@magnusarsmagna5896]

Sprintmaster is the runniest of all bugs. He can run so fast but he can't outrun his loneliness of being faster then light. Thus his only friend, the Darkness, made him into a charm... So no one can be lonely like Sprintmaster ever again.

[@verylostdoommarauder]

With the multiple endings thing, I imagine the justification is that if it is a sequel, then Hornet being taken to Pharloom is some kind of canon event where she ends up there regardless of the Hollow Knight ending you play. But there is an opportunity for a small feature where, if you have Hollow Knight installed, the game will alter the dialogue or have a different opening cutscene based on the last ending you triggered in Hollow Knight.

[@--astro--]

what i'm wondering is how in the unholy hell they would do that with the sealed siblings ending, as hornet becomes a dreamer and is trapped inside the black egg, presumably in eternal comatose

[@xervilenine615]

A possible explanation for the Mask Maker continuing with his task after the arrival of the Pale King is Deepnest. If I'm not mistaken, Deepnest never accepted the Pale King, and thus, wasn't part of Hallownest, so its inhabitants would have needed the masks. This could be backed up by the location of the Mask Maker, the creatures wearing masks that greet you when entering the Beast's Den, Midwife, the Stalking Devouts (if you consider their claws a pseudo mask) and the general savagery that permeates all of Deepnest

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

The kings beacon of light barely reaches deepest. Which explains why they're only halfway sentient. And require masks.

[@Rondobondohondo]

​@@aydenrozzelle7691they are not "halfway sentient" they are seemingly entirely sentient. Also, the pale king lives basically right next to them???

[@azeria1]

It makes me wonder what bugs are naturally sentient mantis presumably are maybe bugs with queen's like bees and ants with them acting as a substitute wyum

[@Randomperson-qp7cv]

That would explain the mask maker but the real question is where did nosk originate from he’s like a mimic but more evolved or a parasite

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

@@azeria1 bugs we see as smart in the real world. Most of the world see spiders as beastly and savage, but clever.

[@bluehen9533]

I kinda forgot about hollow knight for an entire year and seeing this videos intro has made me realise there is an entire encyclopaedia worth of knowledge in my head about this game

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

it was in the lost and found of your brain.

[@HollowKnightReference]

Quirrel in real life.

[@kuale]

@@HollowKnightReference damn facts

[@NovaShards_Scarlett]

Literally same 💀

[@matthewmoran1866]

me too

[@eclipse1353]

"An emptiness that was hidden within, unconstrained. Unifies the void under the bearer´s will." in immense anger or grief, you may feel quite literally heartless. you get a weird feeling in your upper body along with the will to end it all - being on the giving or receiving end of the blade, only depending on just how infuriated they are. but with this emptiness and the adrenaline of the rage in agony, you become numb and strong. you could keep fighting for hours without realising that soon, there is no more blood that can boil. nothing to course through your veins like this and make your death feel like your uprise. if one experiences this enough, like the knight did, they become numb to the numbness and can quickly kill the will to end a thing. the knight was left alone in their most desperate moment, after an endless, near impossible climb. and when they came back up and witnessed the memories of the world, they saw what could have been, causing more rage. the knight has not obtained, but rather formed their own void heart. when all ends, the world fades out in all senses... you lose sight, then hearing, then touch... if this heart is impaled, it is not removed but released. released, free to put others in that same pain, regret to rage to agony to more rage, spreading like a wildfire. but it is never enough to satiate its hunger... to heal its bloodlust. but if controlled by anybody, it is an instrument of war. it strikes harder than lightning, pierces armor like not even the sharpest, purest nail in the world could... it can kill gods in seconds. radiance consumed by the shadows it was eager to illuminate, a pale king eaten up from the inside after having to watch it... that is where void comes from. what it is. what it does. what it does to a man and what a man can do to a kingdom.

[@mintbrownieangelfish-6114]

wow you're amazing

[@dinobits7955]

Just an interesting Idea, the "The Battle of the Blackwyrm" could be a reference to a battle in Game Of Thrones called "The Battle of the Blackwater", a battle in the War of the Five Kings that was an attempt by Stannis Baratheon to take King's Landing, and to seize the Iron Throne from King Joffrey Baratheon.

[@christophermarsh1580]

A fourth wall breaking delusion? Yeah, i could see that

[@user-sg7rl8be1s]

shut up

[@robbiirvine1038]

I've always thought of Bardoon saying "With its like gone, the world is smaller" to mean more: "the last of the giants inhabitants are dead, and now those who remain are small." More akin to him saying that he's like- lonely being the only Big Guy left.

[@matthewmoran1866]

my favourite wacky hollow knight theory is that Bardoon is the pale king 3.0 in some capacity, although almost certainly oblivious to that fact.

[@krisalis_]

I think we should arrange a date between him and the Unn. Both of them really deserve to finally move on...

[@truthwatcher2096]

Bardoon is shaped like a friend. I just want to hug him so badly

[@Maya-he2de]

it could be like without wyrms to dig up huge areas the world is literally smaller

[@hisshoes1107]

I really appreciate you putting the Bee Movie script in the description, it was really helpful and saved me a lot of time!

[@mossbag69]

Glad it was helpful!

[@YOUAREANIDIOTHAHAHAHAHA1]

@@mossbag69 reed mæï théorè-ee ïnne kōmment ßection please. Read my theory in comment section please please please :)

[@hisshoes1107]

@@mossbag69 oh yeah, btw the video was good too

[@theblueguymohammadkassem8788]

@@hisshoes1107 Meh the bee movie is better

[@ayo123]

​@@mossbag69 idk how you keep this up😂

[@RipJaws1]

For a while I've believed that the Pale King and the White Lady just let a few of the Vessels out of the Abyss. The White Lady says "one like you was awaited" when you first meet her, and the giant mushroom in the Fungal Core says that the Pale King could "foresee a demise unavoidable." I think that the Pale King basically was able to foresee the events of the game, or at least "blurry" details. He could see his own death, he could see the Hollow Knight failing, and he could see another Vessel either destroy or successfully contain the Radiance. Knowing that a Vessel could stop the infection in Hallownest, he grabbed a good couple handfuls of Vessels and let them out into Hallownest before he retreated to the White Palace Dream, either in an attempt to circumvent his demise or because that's what his prophecy told him to do

[@reallyanotheruser7290]

So i think: The vessels were created for the purpose of sealing the Radiance. When the Radiance was sealed by the Hollow Knight, the surviving Vessels had no purpose anymore and thus just wandered around aimless. Only as the Radiance began to break free, the Knight felt the need to fulfil its purpose again and thus was drawn back to Hallownest

[@spimuru5040]

As a person who has gone camping around 8 times in my life, I can confirm that tents are one of the forces of nature of all time.

[@liquidpurple7350]

I remember reading a theory about the Blackwyrm that said it was the lifeblood creature, and that it was sealed away in the abyss. And that this is why the pale king sees using lifeblood as such a taboo

[@clementcate4730]

Honestly, "Battle of Blackwyrm" sounds a lot more like location or named character (like Blackbeard, or Pendragon, no dragon involved lol). Could be a very powerful bug, nicknamed Blackwyrm, but not being a Wyrm. But Blackwyrm being somewhat liked to the void is interesting as well.

[@camdenewing7501]

The only thing i have an issue with here would be that there isnt really any mention of void and black being interchangable. I have a slight feeling if they wanted an interchangable word theyd make it more fancy such as a descriptor like “pale” Like, we never see pale beings refered to with the descriptor of white, so it seems kinda weird that tc would do that with a void creature

[@pengoo1933]

@@camdenewing7501 Is the white lady not a pale being? This isn't meant to be sarcastic btw

[@camdenewing7501]

@@pengoo1933 shit youre right i completely forgot lmao, yes she is a pale being. However im still gonna stick to my argument, opinionated may it be, because she feels more like an exception than a pattern. Like she is the only pale being referred to with the prefix of white, and it could be argued that she is called the white lady instead of the pale lady as a way of signifying her downplayed power once she cocooned. Plus on top of that weve never seen the pale king referred to as smth along the lines of “white king” or “white wyrm”, the same reasoning applying to pale ore. Ik its kinda opinionated at this point and i can definitely see why people would think a void wyrm could be called the blackwyrm, but it just doesnt sit right for me.

[@pugglesmchuggles]

Blackwyrms might be different from regular Wyrms, which could explain the limbs and interior of the creature if we assume that that's what the Blackwyrm is, though I think a stronger argument would be that the creature's interior and exterior appearance have likely been altered a bunch, which they have if you take one look and realize that most creatures probably aren't born with Colosseums in them.

[@SolidTrako]

How Hornet received her name is one of the important plot points of Silksong.

[@sirreginaldfishingtonxvii6149]

1:38 It's clear that Team Cherry took lots of inspiration from their local area. Can't believe I didn't realise until just now that the lands beyond is just Australia.

[@danieldubrovin8813]

Pharloom will still be a better place to live than coober Pedy in the summer

[@banjodawson2250]

As I live in Australia, I can tell you that this is not true.

[@randomaccount4950]

@@banjodawson2250 liar

[@banjodawson2250]

@@randomaccount4950 I'm not lying. We do have a lot of bugs, but it is still not true.

[@Officewaffle]

The lands beyond is the edge of team cherry's couch. Pharloom is the desk they haven't opened for 14 years.

[@johhnycash45]

Hearing William and Ari explain why they’re so coy about lore that they talk about actually gives me more of an appreciation for them. They’re not doing it just to be cheeky. They’re doing it because they appreciate the time, effort, and love that the community puts into crafting their own theories.

[@mcgoldenblade4765]

But let's be real, they absolutely love fucking with us.

[@_peepee_]

i bet sometimes the community comes up with better ideas than they do

[@kenpanderz]

and also they probably dont want to catch the ire of those who have already decided their headcannon as being objectively true. those people exist in every fandom, so its a smart move to avoid getting angry emails from them. but it also means those who want closure on what the actual intended truth was supposed to be cant get that closure, which sucks. everything's a double edged sword

[@zacharyberridge7239]

Keeping mystery is a helluva hook. Look at how many franchises that have been damaged by someone's notion to explain a mystery in it? I'm looking at you, Alien franchise. Still not over an android creating the alien.

[@dodiswatchbobobo]

So we don’t ever get to learn the real story because less than a tenth of people who played the game are too obsessed with their fake story? That just plain sucks. It reminds me of how Infinity Train’s creator would just say any character died after their season ended when someone asked, because he somehow thought that would force people to think up their own headcanon. Unsurprisingly they all spread the death info as dogmatically as anything else he could have said. Writers, man. They genuinely have no clue how nonwriter fans think.

[@fadyzain]

The real biggest mystery is when silksong will release.

[@hellandruby]

"who the f@ck is sprintmaster?!" Oh boy... * bonetrousle starts playing*

[@_P2M_]

I thought she was named Hornet because of the needle she always carries around, like an actual hornet carries its stinger.

[@miklyways]

​​​​​@@gregoryford2532 Yeah, there doesnt need to be some big explanation for it. She just fights like one and it sounds cool. Them saying that it originaly came from vespa/that the name has a bigger meaning but then specifically not want us to take outside lore bits as canon is really off putting though. I overall dont get the point of dropping lore outside if they dont want us to take it seriously.

[@bubblegumcupcake3216]

@@gregoryford2532 I READ YOUR NAME AS GREGORY FOOD-

[@yominishijama6204]

The naming of Hornet is not a mystery at all imo

[@-MidnightOwl-]

We know, the OP for this comment was just saying what they originally thought that Hornets name originated from.@@yominishijama6204

[@christophereven359]

same

[@Treyway31201]

Nola is actually a clever reference to the character "Nolo Pasaro" from the hit movie series Hot Wheels: Acceleracers, who was the leader of the street racing team, The Teku, after his brother Tone was killed by Tork Maddox, the leader of the rival Metal Maniacs

[@omarmalik7335]

BRO....

[@WonderlandSnack]

Can’t just drop the hot wheels lore* and dip

[@Treyway31201]

@@WonderlandSnack It's all connected, I'm merely doing my part

[@evangillespie7922]

Another Acceleracers fan, you sir are doing God's work.

[@BunnyOnASnuman]

Banger movies

[@brainrot8802]

I actually really vibe with the Three Queens idea for Hornet. Makes sense with her spider like characteristics from Herrah, the care and compassion the White Lady harbors for her, and some of her attack patterns mirroring the Hive Knight that guards Vespa. Not canon, but a fun idea nonetheless

[@theshadowpizza7133]

I think the collector was created to preserve the life of creatures incapturated for future generations. The Pale King knew they that it was over for them (because of the infection) so maybe he wanted to preserve some creatures for the future to be studied or cured, in some way.

[@boredgamer181]

The vessels are basically just children, insanely strong children, but children nonetheless. It makes sense for a child who was never taught anything, and can’t speak or think for itself to just kind of wander around. That’s why I think the knight left Hallownest. The knight lived alone in the abyss for a long time, and had no concept of what Hallownest or a kingdom was, so it just explored. It never knew that it had left Hallownest because it didn’t know what Hallownest was.

[@FirstnameLastname-sb3hj]

dead baby pit

[@symantares9171]

"The only one spared was one with no mind."

[@Dylan-su3wj]

We tried and we tried so you could pause time (hollow knight song to the king by tykim)

[@crazyandevilareusuallydifferen]

That's what happens when Noone around you teaches you anything and makes you do everything yourself except things which are easier to do alone

[@SirLuckySlime]

I kind of thought that it heard the call of the Hollow Knight and took it as a sign to replace it.

[@jakerman999]

On the topic of masks vs. Wyrm given sentience, I believe the difference might be in how Wyrms pull bugs into their thrall. A bug that's been raised by a Wyrm is devoted to it by nature of the elevation, and is why Wyrms command so many followers. A mask however grants independence with the identity that one receives.

[@jayfox5602]

Theory two, maybe masks let bugs have Identity out of kings thrall, like outside hallownest or other kingdoms? I think it fits well, masks before the king, check, common thing between mask wearers? Traveling, visiting lots of places, example godseekers and Grimm. Maskmaker is not making masks for bugs in hallownest, he's making it for bugs to leave it.

[@tteottaninguiayami]

That makes sense, considering the Godseekers pretty much just pirated their sentience from their old gods

[@OrangeSlices185]

That also fits with Quirrel keeping his sentience in the wild lands, since it's implied that Monomon's mask was protecting him.

[@serraramayfield9230]

@@tteottaninguiayami no, they were sentient to begin with and don't need their masks to live

[@Drewgoza]

Does them saying "whatever we say outside the game is not canon" make what they said not canon? Which would mean what they say outside the game IS canon

[@SvelaPrisera]

Regarding Isma and her "willfully" giving the Knight her tear, I think it has to do with how plants can release fluids for varying purposes. One of the main purposes (based on my brief google search) is to expel excess water similar to how animals sweat. There's also the fact that carnivorous plants like the Venus Fly Trap and the Tropical Pitcher Plant release fluids that are sweet smelling as well as sticky. While there is little to suggest it, I'd like to think that maybe Isma became aware of the Knight entering her grove through the plants, and prior to them entering the final chamber she willfully caused the tear to coalesce at the tip of that central vine. If this is true and she can indeed "see" through the plants that originate form her body, then perhaps she could also see us fight the Dung Defender as well as any other action we end up doing. It would of course depend on how far her specific plants reach, but it's something to think about. Edit: I made my inital comment before the video finished. After continuing to the Pale Ore segment, I thought of how you asked why the Pale Wyrm chose this place to set roots and create a kingdom and why the pale ore is seemingly in random places. We know that the Wyrms are the sources of bug civilization (or at least, most bug civilization) and that the Wyrms were a dying breed. I wonder if maybe those "random rocks" aren't just rocks. What if they are eggs? I had this thought after thinking of the Last Stag. We know that the last Stag believed themselves to be the last of their kind until they bring us to the stag station where a recently hatched egg was found. Obviously to any creature the propagation of their species is important, doubly so if they know their kind are dwindling. What if the reason the Pale Wyrm chose this place is because it was an old nesting ground for his kind? Maybe the Pale King was hoping that bringing civilization to this nest would bring life back to the eggs? Maybe the king just wanted to die where he was born, in the comfort of his birth place? Or maybe the Pale King chose this place so as to better accumulate power and resources so he could find a way to revive the dead eggs and thus revive his dying race? It could explain one of the reasons why the experiments into the void were done to begin with aside form the Radiance, and why it was spearheaded by the king himself. Another thought that comes to mind is how this could correlate to the White Lady. We know that she is very virile, having a very strong desire to spread her seeds to the point where she has to literally restrain herself. This, coupled with the Pale King's desire to bring his species back from extinction, would explain why the Pale Wyrm chose this place in particular to die and be reborn as a King, and why he chose the White Lady as his Queen. Edit 2: I didn't know the Pale King wanted to make his kingdom eternal and wanted to use the Void to do that, so the above was written before I got to that part in the video. Would still like to think the above is possible, but now I'm not so certain.

[@coloquintedetoux6899]

Very interesting thoughts, thanks for sharing 👍

[@Blue14113]

I really like your thoughts. I always just thought Pale Ore was just old Wyrm body parts, like broken off scales or mandibular pieces and stuff like that. Them being eggs adds a layer of complexity to their use and makes it kinda sad, like PK knew he couldn't revitalise them so he allowed them to be smelted and made into weapons. As for Void, I've seen someone else theorize it's Soul imbued with regrets, which doesn't make it more understandable but it's interesting. Another thing I question about the Wyrm King is: did being reborn and molting off his Wyrm form weaken him? I've wondered why PK didn't just take a whole bunch of Vessels with him and go fight the Radiance himself. The Shadelord made killing her look easy imo. It might be because the Radiance is basically invincible in her domain(aka the Dream Realm) and only VOID can kill her there, but idk tbh. As for Isma, I do think she is in some form of stasis. The plants growing around her could actually be delivering her nutrients and such. I think Ogrim states that she "gave Ghost" her tear, which implies she is conscious in a way. On a side note, we see on a sign that Ogrim signs his name as "The Defender", not "Dung Defender" specifically. Makes me wonder if Dung Defender is a name people started calling him by to mock him since he lives in, well, dung. He's defending Isma's Grove but people thought he was defending dung, or maybe they thought Isma was dead and Ogrim went crazy from grief.Ogrim really is one of the most tragic characters in this game.

[@ronniewhitedx]

The bee movie script is essential to understanding the connections between the void and the wyrm. Thankyou for bringing awareness.

[@robert.7230]

It also explains how the hive connects to hallownest

[@miraclewillow1]

I also like to imagine Lifeblood is to the void what infection is to the radience, not only do their colors contrast eachother but the lifeblood room is kinda awkwardly placed in the abyss if it wasn't somehow related. It could be a taboo cus the Pale King doesn't like people partaking a void-related substance as he knows it's potential and origin, and in the way infection makes you stronger, so does lifeblood increasing your resistance. Even the abyss creature's face (that's the only asset of it in the files anyway, a head) looks like the other void-related items, artifacts, and maybe even ancients themselves. As well as infection and liveblood often having like vines or veins of it around. It all adds a neat layer to the parallel theme of light and dark the game has

[@miraclewillow1]

also forgot they both have seeds. Like literally just recolors of the same sprite

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

​@@miraclewillow1 that's a good point.

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

I believe it shows up in any place of multiple minds united. Like godhome and the abyss before it became un-united.

[@Randomperson-qp7cv]

I like to think life blood comes from a giant godly butterfly that had blue eyes that’s even what I thought the creature was in Joni’s room I also like the idea that the lifeblood is like a drug that makes you addicted and you overdose with more and more lifeblood spreading from your body which is also like a fungal infection like cordycepts

[@Mikeinator_]

Then he could have made a demigod by mixing lifeblood, the infection, and void. The lifeblood makes it tanky as fuck. The infection makes it strong as fuck. The void makes it braindead as fuck. Simple!

[@ere4t4t4rrrrr4]

About the "regrets" theory of void around 11:00: I think that team cherry just meant that you, the player (and by extension, the knight), regret not being careful while dying in inaccessible places. You only come to jiji when you regret your errands. Then, they went along with this analogy in some other dialogues.

[@nat-cj8be]

this was my take away as well

[@shearedsheep7009]

I think Esmy might be the radiance coaxing Sly into getting himself killed. The only time we hear about them is when Sly is infected. Plus, TC said she lingers in his dreams.

[@Impossiblegend]

Wrong, I solved them all. The solutions were revealed to me in a dream

[@Napstalone]

In my opinion the biggest mystery in hollow knight is how the knight survived all of this time without eating any apples

[@philltheotherguy1868]

There are no doctors in hallownest that it would need to keep away.

[@plzletmebefrank]

They're just so juicy. And without them I get all twisted up and start doing headstands uncontrollably. It's not pretty.

[@brem-]

My theory on Esmy is that they were Sly's master. Going off of real life martial and fighting arts, somebody trained to use a weapon, they then perfected it as much as they can, they then teach it to somebody new so that the arts don't get lost, the new person then perfects it and might even invent a new move, and this then goes on and on. So what I think is that Esmy taught Sly how to become a nail master, and the line "Esmy... how much deeper do we have to go" could be Sly remembering training under Esmy and going down to the training area, because these old, wise teachers like to teach in unreachable places like mountains and such. So Sly learns everything from Esmy, becomes a master, and then finds the triplets, he teaches them but something isn't right, he isn't getting the same results Esmy got with him. That would explain why although they all were taught by Sly the triplets each have a unique move, because they couldn't grasp Sly's teaching. Sly probably tried to teach all the moves to them, because we see him use them in his fight in Godhome, but he couldn't for some reason. Thinking he failed Esmy and the teachers before he sends the triplets out to find their own path or something, claiming that their training was done or that this is part of it, but in reality he gives up on the arts, becoming a simple merchant instead. Then the Knight comes and goes around learning all of the moves, becoming a master, this somehow gets back to Sly, either the triplets relay the information or the spirit of Esmt visits hime, seeing how ghosts and such are real. This then makes Sly go to the shrine thing in his basement, trying to contact Esmy again or something but then the Knight drops in. Sly notices that the Knight has learned all the arts and has become a master, therefore returning hope to Sly that all was not for nothing, because his teachings and therefore the teachings of the masters before him were passed down to a new student, even if his own students couldn't become full masters. but that's just a theory, a gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamme theory

[@jeckup9943]

I appreciate the Bee Movie script being put above the Hollow Knight lore document in the description

[@channelknightfadran7901]

And here we have a Wild Mossbag in its natural habitat: desperately pumping out lore in a vain attempt to stave off their inevitable sacrifice for Silksong.

[@Xedlord]

My prediction is that absolutely nothing will be revealed or expanded upon in Silksong, all of Hollow Knight's mysteries will stay mysteries forever.

[@yurifairy2969]

Most things will probably remain unexplained but we know void is gonna be back because the steel masters are in the game.

[@solar901]

Also lifeblood appears in Silksong.

[@gonko638]

I mean, there are already a lot of connecting threads (lol) to Hollow Knight in the Silksong trailer. We probably won't get many huge answers, but we will for sure get some.

[@Notkikc]

@@yurifairy2969 i definitely don't think that's the case, we will have some info on weavers and that's it

[@JHWaWa]

Zoteboat

[@kitchaos1118]

With mask maker: one thing that is important to note is that most of the travelers we see who do not get infected have a "mask" or coverage of some kind. Sly, who does not have a mask, begins to get infected, as he does not have one. It could be that the Pale Beacon is a mass alternative to individual masks, allowing many bugs to gain sapience at once.

[@thomaswolf1143]

Love you Mossbag, your videos are so great. I love the humor and how it contrasts your consistent interest in the HK series.

[@savakirilov5263]

41:00 the elder bug line made me burst out laughing , no wonder the community wanted to sacrifice you

[@duane6386]

Also 54:45

[@NewTelephone]

Wanted? Past tense?

[@syntruss]

Team cherry is a clever reference to hollow knight, as hornets cloak is cherry

[@ayo123]

Stop

[@matthewgallaway3675]

Is it really?

[@leeselph3842]

So thankful that you been doing it for so long. Love your vids!

[@eyesofdeath01]

I read your bee movie script. 11/10, work of art. beautiful, beautiful.

[@exnihiloyoutube]

Isma's dream nail dialogue I think adds some credence to your theory. "Ogrim...there's no time..." Maybe Isma was rapidly metamorphosed before she and Ogrim could continue to share precious final memories. That could explain why she was sequestered, and then later protected, as if by her own instruction to the Dung Defender.

[@Randomperson-qp7cv]

Could isma be a moss person from green path and all moss people eventually turn into tree’s

[@rangedweevil6150]

​@@Randomperson-qp7cv it seems unlikely. The mission of Greenpath are all the dreamborn children of Unn, and it seems that they all serve her and carry out her will so they may one day return to her dream. These bugs aren't truly plants, most of the "plant" based bugs in green path are explained to be smaller bugs who shroud themselves in leaves and moss in order to hide from predators and seem larger and more intimidating (not notable example of this are the moss chargers). Isma being on the 5 great knights who served the pale king would seemingly contradict this, as she would no longer be serving the will of Unn. Her silhouette as we see in the White Defender dream battles far more closely resembles the bugs of Hallownest, and her shell, or at least her face, was white, unlike the mosskin who are green. The mosskin also all seem to have fern-like antennae that isma seems to lack.

[@ethicc168]

I like to imagine that when team cherry were thinking about the vessels getting out, they were thinking about how some bugs like flys somehow get in your room without any open door or window.

[@TheGlader2]

Man I love this channel, makes my day every time.

[@Azurious]

I think the colleseum of fools being the Blackwyrm actually makes sense because the body of ot kind of looks like the shade creature from the void ending with the 3 eyes on each side so I think it was a wyrm that was attempting to take over Hallownest for itself

[@cimtenyato]

when the world needed him most, he returned

[@TheAntlionGuard]

when the world needed him moss, he bagged

[@aspoon4801]

God frowns upon you.

[@beagrothus7916]

​@@TheAntlionGuard ok

[@tono_lagos8765]

When the bag mossed the most he Worlded

[@seelcudoom1]

"black wyrm" could possibly be some sort of abyss creature that took a form mimicking a wyrm, as we see the pale king did extensive experimentation with creating life from the void, its possible that his original plan was to create a new void based body so he could combat the radiance himself, with using children that were half-wyrm being the compromise when the blackwyrm got out of hand and had to be put down

[@evryon1810]

I like this theory

[@venust9806]

great theroy

[@tkienjoyer]

The lifeblood creature might be blackwyrm? Idk just a thought

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

Pretty good theory

[@cawareyoudoin7379]

This may be wild speculation, but I like the idea.

[@diego_villena]

Dude four days ago I came to the channel looking for another mossbag lore fix and left bitterly disappointed. Now, I get almost an hour’s worth. ❤

[@thomasyoung2201]

Thank you for the script to the bee movie it was a good read.

[@graysonshipley929]

I always thought the fascination with grubs was because they all seemed kinda immune to the infection with the dandy trying to find a way to harness their power? Similar to how the soul master's obsession with soul consumed him so too did the husk dandy;s obsession with grubs. However whilst soul master and his underlings became infected, the husk dandy and collector were instead affected by void? idk.

[@konstiyo]

Im getting made in abyss vibes from this, and not the good ones.

[@michaelchaney2336]

Civilization causes enhanced evolution in virus and other living things. Grubs evolved because of hallownest.

[@guiblacksteel1519]

My theory is that they probably evolve to moths at some point. And they seem immune to radiance...

[@Draedoon]

A small bit of information I think you missed, after the void is "absorbed" by the delicate flower, the flower loses one of its petals going down from 9 to 8.

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

Ya I think they just cancelled each other out. And just stopped existing.

[@magnateze]

Im pretty sure hes mentioned this in his other videos

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

To add on to this thought. Destructive interference is when a second, opposite sound wave cancels out the external. We know attunement creates a ringing sound. And the flower also rings with a similar sound. It may be able to destroy gods by canceling out their "godly focus".

[@mintbrownieangelfish-6114]

therefore there are 9 voids of power in one flower. wow. I kinda think that's why it breaks so easily, like if it gets mildly damaged it can't take it and explodes.

[@KodasGarden]

I think the entire world is the inside of a vacuum cleaner that the owner refuses to empty

[@soldier660]

Thank you for this video, its always good to reflect on the lore of this great game, thanks again ^^ !!!

[@fredranzalot4849]

On void and regret, it might make sense if the amount of void created was somehow related to the regretor's metaphysical power. Perhaps ordinary bugs create a minuscule amount, but the Pale King can darken a whole room. Leaves you to wonder what could be so powerful as to make the whole abyss, or maybe it's the result of regrets all throughout history seeping down and pooling at the bottom.

[@crispybanana3198]

actually really cool theory and the primal void came from regret of creation of universe

[@bubblegumcupcake3216]

@@crispybanana3198 well, that’s just *too* much regret to fill a large room

[@Vexatious_Humanoid]

@@bubblegumcupcake3216Maybe said room doubles as a pocket dimension /j

[@recursiveslacker7730]

I do think there’s some merit to the “child of three queens” idea in that both Hornet and Hive Knight use similar fighting techniques including quick dashes and summoning balls of spikes in the air.

[@gingerkitty7077]

With the charms I've always thought of them as having pins similar to a lock. So they get inserted into the notch and then lock in with a pin. So heavier ( more powerful) ones need to use up other notches pin slots to secure themselves.

[@AB-gh5be]

you absolute madlad, you really _did_ link the entire bee movie script in the description

[@YOUAREANIDIOTHAHAHAHAHA1]

About the Mask Maker, all enemies who do not give soul either have armor or are void creatures with no mask, meanwhile the Pure Vessel, which is void but has a mask does give soul. I think that masks focus your soul into a physical object, just like how the Knight can conjure soul into spells. This ability to create vessels for souls is literal, as void creatures with no mask do not give off soul. It is also common knowledge in Hollow Knight lore that only creatures with soul can have dreams or connect to the dream realm, and the Hollow Knight had a mask. And where does the Radiance, a dream realm creature, come from? The Hollow Knight's mask. The dream realm then conjures ghost with essence, which stay in the world due to being remembered, as people who have tombs, which are meant to have people remember you, have ghosts. And you can't tell me all the mini tombs in the Resting Grounds don't have ghosts so I'm wrong, they do. There's ghost shaped particles flying through your screen if you pay attention. So your soul goes into your mask, which grows into a personality, which can later be manifested into a dream ghost when you die. So, following basic logic, if you were to remove your mask and put it on another person, because all your soul and essence is in that mask that person would inherit your personality and your entire identity because that's where all your soul goes. I think that also tells us what Void actually is and why the Pale King failed in trying to contain the Radiance. It's a living matter that has no soul, so it cannot grow as a human being. It's personality cannot evolve over time as it does not have one. It is just a pure mass of emotion and thoughts frozen in time. The Collector's only characteristics are that they like collecting stuff and it makes them happy so they giggle. That's all. They aren't a complex human being like Hornet, they're just.. there. They like collecting, so they'll collect. That's why the Pale King failed. The only thing that could seal the Radiance is Void, as shown by the true ending where you become pure Void to seal the Radiance. The Pale King could have done that with pure Void but it gave that Void a soul, dreams, a personality. It grew too attached, it inherited the Pale King's emotions because of it's soul as a mask and emotions, dreams are what the Radiance controls. Also it's very ironic how the thing the Pale King dismissed and didn't use to fight the Radiance ended up lasting way longer than the Pale King's kingdom, meanwhile the Pale King thought that ignoring the Void was gonna be what made his kingdom last long. Edit: This also implies that Nymm's mask, "Brumm" was someone before Nymm came and took that person's mask. The Grimm troupe does rituals so the Nightmare King (Grimm) lives forever through a new body each time, so it's not that hard to figure that Brumm put their mask on Nymm to keep living in that person's body. Makes Nymm's quest ending feel way better. Edit 2: The faceless still exist. The Mask Maker isn't crazy, he's just smart enough to realize that the Pale King's kingdom isn't the entire world. He knows soon the kingdom will go away, and soon it will become a wasteland so it keeps giving masks to prevent a wasteland and to create civilization. Without masks, a very VERY big majority of bugs would be basically animals, so the Mask Maker is like a more benevolent, charitable Pale King. He doesn't give people intelligence so they can help them in their hopes of creating a kingdom, he gives people masks so they can start their own kingdoms. The Mask Maker was granted intelligence and he thinks it's unfair that only he gets it, so he works all day to help the less lucky to have what he had. What a nice lad :)

[@tasty_arsenic]

Really interesting theory and super well written

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

To have a face is to have a mind to focus your soul and settle it as a liquid. When you can do this without deformation to the mind is when you have a pure focus.

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

To be pure, is to be without mind. The knight does not become pure void. It united the void under one mind. Settling it.

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

The kings beacon allowed for bugs to focus. And obtain a united mind. Allowing them to dream. So a mask isn't required.

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

But yes, pure vessels do require a mask. Since masks work as a separate mind in which, yes, your soul can take form in. But this isn't the case for pure vessels. They are unaffected by this mind. They have no soul, so they take from others. To protect the void within.

[@produccionesr7168]

FINALLY, waiting for a mossbag lore video feels almost like waiting for silksong

[@carlosthesecond4126]

except that mossbag lore video is out and silksong isnt

[@coltonwilkie241]

Silksong doesn't exist. It's all in your head.

[@AbzoneGaming]

@@coltonwilkie241 these guys just don't get it!

[@minj8059]

@@AbzoneGaming nooooooooooooo

[@ejfri]

the husk dandy’s dialogue could also be representative of the process that grubs go through when they all get eaten and then become one

[@matijamatija1354]

I'd love to see a chase sequence in Silksong where a massive Wyrm is trying to chase you

[@saniancreations]

Biggest takeaway: Mossbag has both played and not played Undertale, finally confirming he is actually a quantum being.

[@Officewaffle]

Sort of like how he was sacrificed but is somehow still posting videos

[@h2o848]

@@Officewaffle schrödinger's mossbag

[@skelly-eh8qb]

Let's goooooo the best hollow knight fan fiction writer is back!!!!!!

[@kirbo251]

My guy really threw a shout out to my favorite show Thank you so much

[@adamdinar376]

When I played the game my explanation for mister mushrooms dialogue was that he gives you hints for his next location, which would make sense from a game design perspective. This lines up with a few of the dialogues, before he shows up in deepnest he talks about how there are dangerous bugs that will try to kill you, and before he shows up in ancient basin he talks about family and brothers. Unfortunately this doesn’t really line up with the other locations. Was nice trying though

[@Anonymous-Shade]

I honestly commend you for making a Hollow Knight video in 2023. With everything going on in the community with the entire drought of content, It's surprising how much there really is to still talk about...even if it is mostly speculation. What I'm trying to say is, good on ya

[@TimeturnerJ]

If masks fulfilled the same function as the Pale King's beacon, wouldn't Quirrel, who has been wearing Monomon's mask ever since he left the kingdom, not have lost his memories in the wilds? I don't think that's quite it. In actuality, I think masks might be more common in Hallownest than you assume. I interpret _most_ of the white face plates a lot of bugs have as "masks", even if they look like a natural exoskeleton. Who knows, maybe there isn't actually that much of a difference at all there, as far as the Mask Maker is concerned. Just look at Monomon. Her mask is clearly a _mask_ - and yet, it is her face and her identity at the same time, because we know that she is quite literally incomplete without it. Likewise, the Grimm Troupe appear like living bugs during your dance with the Troupe Master, but you can later find a room where their masks are stowed away like props, empty and lifeless. I think "masks" in Hollow Knight might simply be completely removed from our real-world definition of masks. To them, they're a necessary component of existence, perhaps.

[@cawareyoudoin7379]

There is a real-life phenomenon with masks. It basically boils down to: different people act, move, and speak in a similar manner when wearing the same type of mask. Masks literally change your behaviour- and in the world of Hollow Knight, perhaps even your personality. I agree that most white faces are masks- whether bug-made, or natural- like the vessels, Elderbug, Zote, Hornet seem to have.

[@aydenrozzelle7691]

If he put on the masks his mind would once again be destroyed and he would take the identity of monomon. This is why he keeps it off.

[@totalineptitude9165]

My reading of the maskmaker was that they were implying *all* of the bugs in Hallownest wore masks, because of how a vast majority of them share the same pure white face with empty eyes (particularly the husks). Note that Maskmaker, Midwife and the Devouts all have masks that are largely indistinguishable from normal bug faces, but when they're removed we see that they have visible eyes. This has always been my understanding of it, but there are quite a lot of exceptions so its hard to be sure.

[@phoenix1045]

the guy actually put the bee movie script in the description what a legend.

[@apenasumabatata4741]

I appreciate that mossbag linked the entire Bee Movie script in the description. I have never watched the movie itself, only its anime adaptation, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, and a lot of the original story seems to have been cut out, so it's really interesting to see how much they changed it.

[@natebob409]

I'm thoroughly convinced at this point that Ari just took a bunch or random stuff he drew an said, "that would look pretty cool in the game somewhere, lets just throw it in" and then just sat back to watch KZbinrs like mossbag try to decipher the deep hidden meaning behind his squiggles.

[@astropurn5939]

And he would make the best theories for those squiggles canon.

[@myakuza4366]

tbh I'm working on a game and yeah, sometimes you just wanna put something somewhere and you let time create a justification

[@eckoratt3692]

Radiance: “haha pale king, your kingdom will fall, no kingdom lasts forever” Pale king: (summons gold expierience requiem)

[@d00ro779oi]

i could go to bed, or i could stay up and watch a nearly 1 hour long mossbag video