The Fate of the Pale King

[@flashjamer6075]

He built that tramway cause he has the money, that’s why he says “No cost too great.”

[@thecommentguy9380]

yeah further proven with the amount of saw blades and spikes

[@cooldude8570]

U r the smart

[@purpellent]

“no electric bill too great”

[@yourladbrennen3130]

that line has NOTHING to do with the goddamn mountains of money that PK probably has lying around.

[@cameron-yo6zp]

obviously, or that could have been the first tram serving as proof of concept

[@victroooo]

inception with bugs??? I N S E C T I O N ??????????????????

[@theoschuh4571]

BAAAUUUMMM

[@charliemalhe]

Your profile pic makes this comment better

[@ahmadkazan7994]

Lol

[@swwetsour7697]

I thought B U G C E P T I O N

[@mothbaby4867]

OUT OF THIS HOUSE

[@gm_prkr1003]

The third piece of furniture is obviously just the grey mourner. She rented herself out as a rather stylish piece of home decor.

[@javivichusd]

That's a serious fucked up kink we are talking about

[@Ash-oi9je]

Looks like a dildo to me

[@lfestevao]

So that's where she went to! Hiding in shame

[@DISCO-munication]

it actually looks more like lurien's statue

[@TidepodTodcycle]

GM_Prkr I thought that too lol

[@pricerowland]

Clearly the Pale King was killed by Zote the Mighty, who of course got there before the knight would have, and only needed to kill a few Kingsmoulds because he is a master of stealth.

[@aredhanush2300]

or what if the pale king re incarnated (As he is a wyrm) into ZOTE HIMSELF

[@doodlethestickman740]

Y e s

[@awesomesmileyguy]

He read The Forbidden Excerpt 69 and couldn't take it anymore

[@Renaiiii]

Dare stop him from killing the wyrm and you will find out why they call his weapon 'Life Ender'

[@wa11ie]

it’s true, zote told me so himself

[@cinders5305]

I always thought he actually killed himself. I mean, everything he promised Hallownest, an eternal kingdom, freedom from the Radiance and protection from danger, had failed. Wyrm did terrible things to protect his subjects, he murded thousands of children just for having a mind of their own, he caused his nemesis to plague the bugs with the infection, his beloved wife abandoned him and the one vessel who could fix everything failed because the King loved them, and they loved him. So he went into exile, and ashamed by how terribly he had failed those who looked up to him, took his life.

[@littleskeleton420]

ikr, why is nobody talking bout this

[@dreamofyouandi]

my idea was that wyrms have some internal switch where they can just choose to die at any moment. because i find it hard to believe that the wyrm in its first form made it all the way to hallownest before conveniently dying by accident. so i think tpk did that a second time after his experiments failed and he no longer had a reason to go on

[@asurveillancecamera3392]

No, it was an accident because he ate a void sandwich instead of an essence sandwich

[@aceskeletonne7446]

He killed himself cuz he realized how pathetic his tramway was and did it out of embarrassment

[@ula437]

I think people want to view the pale king and the radiance as absolute evil and selfish because it makes it easier to hate either of them though there are different interpretations. I have seen fanfics where the king is good(had good intentions but got bad outcome) and the radiance is evil, I've seen ones where the king is the evil one, some fics portray both as bad and some others where the radiance is just mad at her tribe and just trying to survive as being forgotten is the true death for higher beings

[@Kirbio]

C'mon Team Cherry, we need to see the Pale King's autopsy report.

[@computer_dude]

Autopsy report: He's dead.

[@xardinlume7345]

Autopsy report, addendum A. Conversation summarizing the autopsy results. "So how did he died? - Oh yeah, he's dead, totally. - How? - Look, he doesn't move. Completely dead. - Okay he's dead. When did he die? - That could've been five minutes or a century ago, I dunno. - You can't be more precise? - Look, I'm not even a doctor and I don't know who that corpse was. - That was the king. - THE KING IS DEAD? OH MY HIGHER BEING"

[@dededeletethis9940]

That autopsy report is... outdated, your honor.

[@computer_dude]

@@dededeletethis9940 Edgeworth... you son of a bitch. Even godot is better than this.

[@voidknight4639]

Death by hunger

[@VV-sq6yb]

The glorious Mossbag has once again emerged from his habitat. A creature of few words, everything he says should be taken with utmost regard. -Journal entry on Mossbag

[@spikeruth1674]

I think "few" is a bit of an understatement

[@xorangespley6156]

-Kahem- ...everything he says should be taken as a threat and cryptic signs of future

[@aserta]

Shock! Mossbag is the Pale King.

[@ManoredRed]

Mossbag's words as good as the word of god.

[@moosemeesen3174]

so ya murdered him? That's why he's been gone for so long...

[@jwilker94]

I have a much better theory... ... the king was taking a nap, and the knight comes and freaking murders him.

[@juanalos3049]

no he was walking for the palace and was killed for a buzzsaw

[@elrond2036]

he slept in his cloths while sitting on his throne.

[@jwilker94]

Jason Prometheus better than a buzzsaw

[@ahmadkazan7994]

@@idiot1684 yes but no you have no feelings or emotions you are the perfect vessel yet the king chooses another vessel and you are not hollow knight until you beat the hollow knight and be sealed instead

[@richardstimmel278]

Cold Diamond he just said “the knight”. This is an extremely common way that people refer to the player character, as he still is a knight.

[@reesesmemesandmore818]

"And some people may stare really hard and see something that really isn't there" *Hornet is void*

[@polyblank2]

(Obligitory haha im like 69)

[@sassas1487]

WHEN REESES MEMES

[@TheZenGrenadier]

I think they answered how the Pale King died. My guess is grief. The Pale King wanted a tool to seal away the Radiance. He made the Hollow Knight for that purpose. After a while, both the King and the Knight started to become more like a father and child. That's why the vessel failed. It started to think, speak, hope. And Dream. All because the King started to treat it more like his child than a tool. The cutscene from the Path of Pain proves that, along with the existence of the memorial in the City of Tears. You don't create such a grandiose memorial for a tool. You create it for the loss of a loved one. In the end, the Pale King couldn't take it anymore. He sacrificed his own child to save Hollownest. Regardless if it was the original intention all along. It probably him him really hard, to the point where he took his palace and screwed off into isolation. He just didn't care anymore. About anything. There's no ingame explanation on why he left. It just states that the White Palace just disappeared one day. He didn't care about ruling his kingdom, What was the point now that he lost the most important thing in his life? No cost too great, right? But what if it was your child? His own words to justify his experiments became his mantra of despair.

[@drgvgfg391]

@@kingping3555 well hornet can speak and she does not have a mouth

[@earthone4939]

@@drgvgfg391 ya but hornet isn't a void being

[@drgvgfg391]

@@earthone4939 well she does not have a mouth either

[@mohammadfakhoury1187]

Well I hate to destroy this theory but he didn't care about the other siblings. Infact he threw them away like trash. Pretty ironic since they were the ones who defeated the radiance. The pale king didn't die. I'm just sure of it. There is no way he could die so easily. That's my opinion though but I'm still so sure he isn't dead. He is alive. I'm also sure of one thing. That the palace's disappearance is connected to the foreseeing ability.

[@ahmadkazan7994]

But how he would have gave up easily while hornet is his actualmdaughter (right?)

[@Kucoz]

Hey mossbag. I almost quit this game. I just wanted to tell you that your passion has inspired me to not only beat it, but clear the white palace. Keep being awesome

[@ItsMiss5p1d3r5]

combination of Hive Blood, Deep Focus and Grubsong will get you through with patience, my friend! You can definitely do it!

[@gweatgawivarietydunk]

Believe. Before you know it youll have beaten the absolute radiance.

[@cthulhu8976]

Yeee ! (Do we tell him about the path of pain and co. ?)

[@ofirrolev]

@@cthulhu8976 If he watched mossbag's vids, I think he knows what he will have to face. Also, 0:47

[@uwirl4338]

I'm way worse than the average in this game. Beating Lost Kin took me over 20 attempts, The Radiance took me something like 30, and I didn't even bother counting how many times NKG killed me (but it has to be at least 60), yet at any point did I consider quitting. This game had me more hooked than any other game I've ever tried since the very first minute.

[@ManoredRed]

I think we all know who the Pale King reincarnated as. Zote.

[@bronzekilla]

OH MY GOD I CSNT EVENANDOKIOJVV. CCVIOOOOOOIOIOOOOOIXCJF!!

[@scado5679]

that means vengefly king is stronger than a literal god

[@bakedice6767]

That's why zote is so arrogant. If you were a former king, I think suddenly being in a worthless body would anger you.

[@yuvalsela4482]

@@scado5679 I mean, it is canonically a god.

[@sambat3394]

That's "Zote the Mighty, a knight of great renown" to you

[@thebitten1]

Something I wanna add, comes from the Godmaster dlc. Just before the final two battles of Pure Vessel and Abs Rad, we see the Godseeker looking over the scenery of the Pale Kong’s thrown, and questioning what happened to him. And the final line of dialogue really caught my attention. "A God so strong... Yet erased so completely. How could it happen?" And wouldn't you know, but 2 battles later and we see an example of this happening with the Shade Lord erasing the Radiance. Only unlike the Radiance, which in the dream was a being made of energy, The Pale King still had a physical body. So if he was killed by the void, it could be argued his shell was left behind. I'm not saying it was the Shade Lord itself that could've done him in, but the void does possess the ability to combat powerful beings.

[@CazDesignStudios]

But why is there no sign of void any where else? I think their may be something to help us in Silksong,

[@staringgasmask]

I think he was "erased" because he stopped being in the real world. He was in a walled off section of the dreamworld, actually in a very similar way as the godseekers. Keep in mind they can still sense other hiding gods that are still in the real world, such as the White Lady and Unn. They notice their existence, but acknowledge the White Lady's voluntary restraint of her power and the diminisment of Unn's. But the Pale King doesn't exist on Hallownest anymore. He was erased from reality and basically moved to a pocket dimension.

[@Blu3Spot]

If void is made by regret, I think this has the most truth to it. Whatever ended up being the killing blow, the void was a part of it in some significant way or another.

[@Ragnarra]

He’s probably either dead or no longer in Hollownest, but why leave his shell behind? Did he turn back into a wyrm or did he go into hibernation? Perhaps one day these answers will be found maybe they will be answered in Silksong or maybe not.

[@TheKrazyguy75]

I just had a realization... it might be that the king literally did wither away. They even made an obvious hint to it: "Too long spent together, we become as one." The king spent too long with the void. Experimenting with it, living in a palace filled with void guardians, inside a void guardian. He made the same mistake as the owner of the tower of love, on a far bigger scale. The void literally just drained the life from him.

[@Mkananoja]

nice hypotesises you have had come up with but at the last minutes i noticed you started ommiting few things and also said "king would not be stupid", missing the 'humane' part of living beings. putting white covers over furniture is used to cover paint and other stuff, sertainly. but what is also used, and quite commonly so, is to protect furniture from dust. it is common practice to cover furniture when you are gone for long time, whenever it is unused room or second house altogether, waiting for owner's return. why did king cover them? Sentiment, finding comfort in pretending that he is just going away for a while, despite knowing that he will die, either by void or whatever he was planning to do that lead to his death. either that, and/or the answer for reduced number of visiting people and staff, making the maintnance much more manageable yet ready for use at moments notice. Cleaning dusty furniture is very time comsuming afterall. The lighthouse failed, and king knew that void was coming to him. thus he moved his entire palace to dreamworld, into the dreams of one knight and enchanted it probably in hopes of preventing void seeping in. it evidently failed. Void has invaded the white palace. Thus final sacrifice was made, whenever for creation of second chard, or simply last act of defiance agaist the void by robbing it the chance to corrupt him both in live and death. King might have known that everything he did was just to delay the inevidable and it was only used to buy time. for either just to extend his own life as much as he could in hopes the crisis would resolve itself or time needed for preparation towards whatever he was planning. Or maybe the king was just a coward. Cannot blame him much tough, most of us are when death is invovled, especially horrid one.

[@mossbag69]

That is a good explanation for the sheets over the furniture! Thanks for sharing!

[@Arcaryon]

But doesn’t covered furniture also imply that the owner is already dead? Wouldn’t the followers of the king who we still see alive and kind of well in the palace mourn the king just like the outside followers? It all comes down to what void is and wants. Is void the cause or just an effect?

[@randomnerd4211]

@@Arcaryon tbh the Retainers may not be real bugs. I mean you slap em and they explode into dream stuff, and their dreamnail dialouge seems to indicate they themselves were just puppets to serve the King in the dream.

[@Arcaryon]

@@randomnerd4211 I would agree but we can find their corpses outside of the white palace at the fountain.

[@wyattmason8838]

@@Arcaryon If their corpses are out there then they didn't go to the dream world with the rest of the palace

[@ChuckShnozwell]

Oh mossbag, our prometheus. What fire of lore do you have for us mortals today?

[@infinitypilot]

Hahahaha Okay Jontron

[@starman6795]

gotem

[@Ash-oi9je]

Looks like one of the skins from Fortnite

[@InskayDanork]

Blessed profile

[@natotornado2853]

Fallout 76: create something as pathetic as me Pale King: *creates tramway*

[@Ash-oi9je]

Fair

[@bluethunderbolt9631]

Fallout 76: You weren't supposed to do that!

[@TidepodTodcycle]

@@bluethunderbolt9631 Ben drowned: hey that's my line

[@MidasVoid]

@@TidepodTodcycle wat

[@TidepodTodcycle]

@@MidasVoid kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYSvhmZqh5adn8k

[@Appi94]

“I fu***ed up” - Pale King, 2017.

[@thepaleking8440]

Yes.

[@valyyk3627]

@@thepaleking8440 You... WHAT...

[@Viscidsquare040]

Fuckeed up?

[@hllwknghtslksng]

i mean. he did really fuck

[@anannoyingtoaster3888]

He didn’t die, he wanted to take a nap and the knight broke his favourite mask >:(

[@tiantian329]

Pale King’s gonna have to reincarnate himself again. The knight’s a jerk.

[@thepaleking8440]

Im Not Dead.

[@themyconidwitch]

@@thepaleking8440 do you regret your Actions?

[@thepaleking8440]

@@themyconidwitch No.

[@petermarsella6537]

@@thepaleking8440 spoken like a true king

[@gamergril5940]

The sound effect that plays when you read the lore tablets is the Pale Kings asmr

[@GyroTheBallsGuy]

ASMR: You're uncomfortably close to the pale king and he starts talking

[@mettatonneo1147]

It’s my headcanon that Gorb was the Pale King’s architect and he starved because the kitchen was stuck behind buzzsaws and spikes

[@Bubblegum-Cupcake]

Uh…..where does Gorb fit in to this….?

[@Whosurpa1004]

@@Bubblegum-Cupcakeeverywhere

[@mettatonneo1147]

​@@Bubblegum-CupcakeThe Great Mind

[@mirrormimi]

I'll be honest: I didn't even notice the void tendrils in the Kingsmould until watching this video. I'll be even more honest: my mind immediately went into weird tentacle scenarios. Poor Kingsmould :(

[@ernestoernestez6537]

Kingsmut

[@rinnnnnnnnnnrinRinOnishi]

Void nut

[@mr.cup6yearsago211]

Same for both of those.

[@deadlydingus1138]

Void balls

[@mimic6494]

so it all happened because of one kinky kingsmould smh

[@archdruidbookwalter951]

I like to think that he was killed by the Void, cause it's a very poetic death. Don't play with fire, or you'll get burned. In fact, the noise his corpse makes when you hit it, and how it cracks when it falls over, makes it seem like his corpse has been hollowed out. Just like the vessels.

[@staringgasmask]

Just like the discarded Wyrm corpse, which also has a symbol of immense power inside it. I'd say he reincarnated, he's left behind an empty husk with a symbol of his power before, he can do it again.

[@wildfire9280]

@@staringgasmask Losing 90% of his body mass again? Unless he became a flower, I’m not seeing it.

[@staringgasmask]

@@wildfire9280 he just becomes a tiny slug that mind controls people. Shrimple

[@dyer4677]

Late to the party here and i'm gonna be sending off some major pretentious nerd alarms here but hear me out. The Pale Kings death makes way more sense if you see it as symbolic/metaphorical than if you try and figure out the hyper literal way he -specific- way he died. Though for this theory to work you gotta run on two main assumptions. 1. The Pale King and Hallownest are one in the same; I don't mean this literally but several sources in game, most obviously being the "Elegy of Hallownest" at the start of the game, tend to conflate the two as one entity and it makes total sense. Hallownest is only the way it is because of the Pale King, the mind it gives, its order, everything originates from him. And in turn what is the Pale King without his Kingdom? His greatest creation that he poured his mind body and soul into. So thus it makes sense that the state of one reflects the other. 2. Void is Death; Though the Radiance is the one killing his Kingdom its still death, the slow degradation of age that the Pale king fears the most. Which makes sense since while both the Radiance and the Pale King feud what they consider their "greatest enemy" is a black empty void that seeks to absorb all. A vast unknowable -thing- that lashes out randomly without warning or reason. Putting these two together it becomes clear that the Pale Kings story while is about trying to save is kingdom is more symbolic of him trying to defeat death much in the way many other classical figures like Gilgamesh sought out to do. The Pale King wished to create a eternal kingdom, something so grand that it and himself could last forever. But when the end started to approach he tried everything to stop it, but nothing no matter what he did ever could stave off the inevitable, only draw it out into a slow, painful, and unnatural drag. Hallownest is dead, its people slain, its works destroyed, its foundations crumbling. How fitting is it then that it's creator, a king so great and powerful he was seen as a god died alone on his throne. That no matter his efforts both himself and his kingdom could not escape death itself and his rabid pursuit of avoiding it only gave him regret and pain.

[@boxcarz]

The story of Hallownest and it's king (the non-speculative canon parts, anyway) look awfully similar to the plot of Dune, to be honest... Especially the whole 'giant worm king' point.

[@mewmewnyagirl5448]

This needs more links

[@CyanicCore]

I like this, and it could easily be canon, but for the overall message you may have to think a little bigger. (This likely belongs on a different page than a comment section, so strap in), I believe Hollow Knight is about society as a whole. In every scenario a mind is involved, it is developed from spending time in one of these societies, and the majority of game interactions relate to this as well. The first societies formed around their gods/religion such as the moths organizing about the Radiance. Groups such as the Godseekers appear to share a hive mind, but this is because all they think about is the same religious quest. Hallownest was the first society with a monarchy - civilization as we know it. I'll avoid making any examples here to avoid crucifixion, but even the infection applies to an extent, a radicalized ideology. Hallownest's perpetuation isn't (necessarily) about his eternal life, but modern civilization, with the void in its natural state being less of a "thing that lashes out randomly" and more of entropy, a natural chaos that could easily be all that remains. Perhaps this is why it is required to eliminate the concepts of the Radiance, along with the symbolism of the Sun and Night of course (I'm not sure if the Pale King is the Moon for relevance or any other star).

[@xerxBreak]

To me it looks like the "corpse" may be just an empty shell, i mean it really is just the same mask and rags the siblings all have, no body parts or anything

[@RoseDragon529]

1:55 more like whole new can of wyrms

[@Ash-oi9je]

Nice Pun

[@jvcmarc]

haven't watched the video yet, just gonna put my theory: when you get to the king, he's resting at the throne, his mask is whole then you beat him with the nail his mask cracks and he falls dropping the kingsoul charm what if the king was alive, but he lets you kill him so you can then kill the radiance "no cost to great" the "cost" could be his own life, as he needs to die in order for you to get the kingsoul, open the birthplace and get the void heart or maybe "no cost to great" is just about how expensive where all those buzzsaws

[@beehappy120]

Or maybe he was just taking a nap and you killed him accidentally.

[@jvcmarc]

@@beehappy120 wonder what he would be dreaming about... can you even dream inside a dream?

[@beehappy120]

He's probably dreaming about having sex with trees and making useless tramways.

[@diegog1853]

@@jvcmarc But why would the guards be dead? And i mean if that was the case i think that he would actually talk to you and explain the plan.

[@jvcmarc]

@@diegog1853 maybe the king can't speak, but that's farfetched. It was just a throw away theory I have not, and I will not, develop it

[@funkinfunkhead]

"This opens a whole new can of worms" Don't you mean *"This opens a whole new can of wyrms"?* Alright that was terrible, I know.

[@mateololero4091]

I'm so pissed have a like

[@aldguton]

Dragons don't fit into cans :< /s

[@thepaleking8440]

.

[@boxcarz]

@@aldguton But have you ever TRIED to put a dragon in a can? Didn't think so, LIBERAL! DESTROYED! also /s.

[@zenmasterandy]

I always thought the Kingsoul charm was literally the Pale King’s soul, extracted from his body and split in half. The King splits it in half after the shameful ordeal of building the HK, gives half to the White Lady as a symbol of their union, then retreats with the other half into the dream White Palace. The full Kingsoul gives you infinite and ever-refilling Soul, but just half the Kingsoul does nothing, so the Pale King becomes effectively mortal and dies of old age ruminating on his throne.

[@Comboowo]

The White Lady's dialogue when you're wearing the complete Kingsoul mentions that she "feels like I'm once again in the presence of my beloved Wyrm." If the Kingsoul really is the Pale King's soul, it'd make sense that another higher being would recognize it as such. You might be onto something...

[@ra1nyran]

6:30 "After intensely studying balls for about 20 minutes-" -mossbag 2018

[@nexirall3431]

I'm halfway through the video and I'd say it's dark in the king's workshop because light makes it inert. The light house in the abyss is specifically there to stop the sea of void from moving. I guess he needed the void in an "alive" state until he placed it inside a vessel, where it cannot be damaged by light. And now I realise I fucked myself over with the existence of the collector. More or less. Maybe void needs soul to "live" in light. The sea of void is an utter blackness, but the white eyes of the collector and every vessel suggest they may have become infused with soul or whatever is making the Pale King's lore tablets light up. Probably soul, as you hear whispers whenever you focus or use sorcery or when the bugs in the Soul Sanctum fire their projectiles.

[@CutMeSomeSlackTheVII]

When the collector melts, his eyes melt too

[@diegog1853]

I don't know, to me it seems that the dialogue "no cost too great" should refer to a final action the pale king took to stop the radiance, that ended his life. But most likely made him transform, since its said that wyrms don't die. Maybe he wasn't killed by the void, but he let the void absorb him and gain all his power, so that it could fight the Radiance (which the pale king is desperate to kill or keep at bay). After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That would explain the "he wouldn't be that stupid" part Maybe there is a relation between the pale king and the arrival of the Shade lord, after all, if a wyrm only transforms, then you would imagine that he would transform into some kind of higher being still, and when you look at the list, there aren't really many options.

[@MagicGonads]

I do like the idea of the shade lord being the pale king.

[@android19willpwn]

and the reason the flower kills the God of Gods is because the flowers have pale energy, and that little spark was enough to reawaken the pale king within the void, allowing the pale king to kill the sentience that had taken it over. And these flowers were so important to his plan, to reawaken him once The Radiance was sealed, that he entrusted their safekeeping to one of his knights and had her hide out in a hidden glade by the kingdom's edge. Unfortunately she got stuck to the floor, so she had to get the knight to re-plant them to make more and just kinda hope he would keep one on him.

[@diegog1853]

@@android19willpwn yeah i do like the idea of the pale king being a long time player. He has to be alive, no doubt about it, and assuming he can somewhat transform at will, some kind of transformation to kill his worst enemy would be kind of the obvious move. We almost have to remember that we see the empty shell of the pale king twice, one is the huge shell of his worm form, and the other his seemingly empty body in the throne room.

[@fiendfi7119]

we literally see the knight becoming the god of gods and it's the final form of the void idol... and pale king was reborn from a wyrm intentionally, I think. since the radiance can die, I think pale king can die normally as well, without being reborn.

[@diegog1853]

@@fiendfi7119 i don't know its never specifically stated that the radiance can't die. But with wyrms its stated, and i believe that would be kind of a pointless dialogue if then you find it dead. I know that the knight became the god of gods, but its also implied that the void is made up of all the different bessels. So its not just the knight. I'm not trying to imply that the pale king IS the shade lord, but that maybe he had something to do with it being born with some kind of transformation. I mean for starters, the power of the pale king is responsible for the god masters arrival. Every corpse in the game that was killed by the void has those kind of void tears. But the pale king is just an empty shell, and i think it could be kind of like the empty shell that you find of his wyrm form.

[@localfoolthecreature]

I just noticed something. When you sit on the throne in the White Palace after knocking the king’s corpse down, the Void seems to stop appearing. Some speculation here but maybe the Pale King is an ally with the Void and he seems to control it, hence how he was able to make the Kingsmoulds and Wingmoulds. But both have a common hatred toward the Radiance. Back to the video about why Hornet doesn’t have any Void, the Vessels are basically Void being restrained by a shell. Your Shade attacks you when it sees you without the Void Heart, meaning the Pale King might have either gotten some brave servants to get buckets full of Void and bring it to him or he actually is in control of Void like he has the Void Heart. Also, if he and the Void were enemies, why did he build his palace so close to it? If he really needed Void but was enemies with it, he should have build a tram or elevator or something to make it accessible without the risk. There’s one exception for all things Void obeying the Void Heart and that’s The Collector but he’s just crazy, sort of like the Pale Lurker’s madness compared to the madness from the infection. Anyway, long enough rant about lore, I just came up with this really late at night so if it’s dumb or crazy, that and my ineptness with lore theories would be why.

[@pixelsandink-i4w]

Maybe the pale king is the equivalent to the shell that kept the void restrained?

[@cowboybarbaryn1302]

I lost it at “committed die”

[@Alchemyst326]

My theory is that yes, the Kingsoul is literally the King's Soul. We know that Soul can be manipulated, as shown by the Soul Sanctum, Snail Shamans, and your own spells. And it seems clear that one needn't use their entire soul at once, since you can cast spells for only a part of your entire vessel. I'm not sure if that's how it works for innate, life-force soul as opposed to the harvested soul used by the various magic-users, but if anyone could manipulate their own soul like that, it would be the Wyrm. So my theory is that, with the help of the Pale Lady, the King split his soul in half. He knew that the Kingsoul/Voidheart would be necessary for the good ending, killing the Radiance permanently (remember, the Wyrm had the gift of foresight, either from prophecy or just from being really smart.) But he also was aware of the risk that, even hidden in a sealed dream, the Void might find him. He couldn't just keep the whole Kingsoul with him, even if he went into hiding, for fear that the Void would find and absorb/destroy it. So my theory is that the King and Pale Lady split the King's soul in two, creating the two halves of the Kingsoul. The King kept half the soul himself, allowing him to continue living long enough to hide the White Palace in Dream, and left the other Half with the Pale Lady, and then finished his half of the Kingsoul in his throne room, leaving his body empty except for the traces of memory you can read when Dream Nailing him. There's some holes in my theory, obviously. The Kingsoul is described as being 'born from a union of two Great Beings', and my idea that the Pale Lady just helped make it is kinda weak. Also, I'm not sure how only having half the Kingsoul on him would prevent the void from destroying it. Similarly, this plan of the Kings would assume that he knew that the first Hollow Knight would fail, or at least that it couldn't kill the Radiance, only contain it. It's a bit of a stretch to think that all this was according to the King's keikaku. Still, this is my theory, which is mine, because I made it.

[@KuraSourTakanHour]

The King Soul was made from the union of the King and Queen, it could simply mean from marriage. When King and Queen separated according to their own responsibilities/wishes as the kingdom fell into ruin, the King soul broke into 2 pieces because they could not remain united. The king soul was only 1 part of the plan, he needed to unify it with void to attain a force that could both get close to the Radiance, but also destroy it; he and the Radiance are both light beings, he cannot destroy it without void. So he experimented to imbue his soul into a void vessel, to create a being of light AND void. Only a hybrid being has the ability to destroy the Radiance

[@KuraSourTakanHour]

We see this happened when the King soul charm is consumed by void and becomes the Void heart. The King's Soul, inside the Void Heart

[@GeneralTaco155555a]

Just a correction since it seems this is confusing people: the description says "Holy charm *symbolizing* a union between higher beings." Not "born from," it says "symbolizing" The Kingsoul is essentially a wedding ring. Therefore, it reasons that it being split in 2 symbolizes their separation. The Pale King doesn't necessarily need the White Lady to create a symbol of their union, especially if it is his soul itself. And for whatever reason & whenever it happened, he left her, and split the symbol of their togetherness, leaving her with half. I think it's fairly obvious that he hid in the dream after the Radiance began leaking out of the Hollow Knight, after realizing that it was all for nothing. That is most likely when he split the Kingsoul, and if it was literally his own soul, it just shows how much guilt and shame he felt, if he would split his soul in two, just to give his wife some memory of him as he left to wait in the dream until he died.

[@wildfire9280]

Translator’s note: Keikaku means plan.

[@pyv0x733]

“The radiance and the void aren’t exactly pen pals” lol

[@Anonymous-Shade]

The Radiance was nearly forgotten, right? What if the Pale King was forgotten due to the Infection taking over the minds of every bug in Hallownest? Only hole in my theory is the Mantises, with them keeping their promise to hold deepnest off and a couple others like the Relic Keeper

[@goosemanVEVO]

Decent theory. Thing is, the Radiance exists only in the dream realm as far as we know, explaining why her influence fades when less people remember her. The Pale King has a physical body, and so this rule shouldn't apply to him. Also, he was able to reincarnate into his bug-like body and grant bugs higher intelligence straight away without needed them to know who he was. So I doubt that he is bound by the same rules as the Radiance.

[@lorax1274]

@@goosemanVEVO But he entered the Dream World to escape What if entering Dream World make You this way Also Radiance was living in Hallownest, but it was the Pale King who made moths seal her in Dream World to be forgotten...

[@goosemanVEVO]

@@lorax1274 We don't know if she was sealed in the dream world. As far as we know she was always there, and since the Pale King got the moth tribe to stop worshipping her they might have just kind of forgotten she existed over the generations.

[@Anonymous-Shade]

@@goosemanVEVO That's true, even if the Pale King has a physical form it's still possible. The dreamers sent the Knight to a place in the dream realm to 'fade away'. The Knight can interact and talk with physical bugs, so he is physical. I bet if everyone forgot the Knight in that state, it'd fade like the Radiance was about to before the infection spread. To add to my theory, perhaps his physical body faded? Only leaving his Pale Shell behind?

[@fiendfi7119]

the radiance could be sealed by forgetting her because she lives in the dream realm. I doubt she even can enter the living world. but the pale king was physically there, and he's the one who gave them minds. his power doesn't depend on the bugs of hallownest, and the bugs who are still sane don't tr to forget him because it wouldn't do anything.

[@0Mindmachine0]

i think the king bored himself to death since noone was visiting him anymore after he bought every damn buzzaw in the world.

[@Kenz305]

Watching a video that uses the words "Hornet DLC" reminds me of simpler times. Before the era of excitement and the subsequent long dark wait...

[@dinoahmad182]

The Pale King was a pretty interesting character to me. Despite all he did, I can't help but feel a LITTLE bad for him. I'm going to guess he probably killed himself. Though I do like the idea that he probably reincarnated himself. These are some nice ideas, mossbag!

[@kkblar28]

The pale king starved to death since there's no kitchen in the palace and delivery couldn't get in because of the buzzsaws...

[@yellow4633]

like a third of this video was talking about balls

[@gabedresen592]

That’s why we love him

[@Ash-oi9je]

Because semen

[@jrydkndy]

@@Ash-oi9je *pale sauce

[@wildfire9280]

@@jrydkndy*pale ooze

[@ODCrab]

The delicate flowers nope stuff out of existence. I would like to think that is how the palace got into the dream world, just so I know what the flower is even doing..... Also, what is up with that big white trees in the background? Maybe it isn't even the dreamworld (somewhere in between?). That would explain why you have real deaths there. Edit: On second thought the dream essence trees are white and leafless, just like the background trees! And they have the dream particles appear when active. This would support the idea that it is not the dream world.

[@Glitch0Angel]

In the topic of void idk if you said it yet but I just noticed that sharp shadow makes the knight turn into a mini shadlord and I that adorable, like a tiny eldritch beast just shwooping about

[@hailow01]

When I heard “void yours is the power opposed” I always think that he’s talking about the radiance. Yknow the radiance called the void her ancient enemy so it kinda makes sense to me

[@gabedresen592]

What do you think about marmu? Her dialogue is all about waiting for the queen, and that she is almost here. I heard a theory that the queen she is waiting for is the radiance. Think about it, marmu is based on a puss moth caterpillar which obviously turns into a moth. He says the queen is almost here and the white lady seems to have been in the queens gardens for quite a while. The radiance on the other hand would have supposedly broke free from the Hollow Knight very soon. Marmu is a dream warrior so that could also have something to do with it. This theory doesn’t really explain why a statue was built for marmu, and why she is said to have defended the gardens. Great vid as always.

[@lorax1274]

Marmu was a double secret agent of Radiance Confirmed

[@avelvett]

wait isn't marmu female? it's hard to guess also i thought that no eyes was a boy for a really long time, so i am probably wrong and in portuguese it says that marmu is female ;-;

[@gabedresen592]

Is he/she female? I originally had it as she, but then thought I was wrong

[@someguy4405]

The Radiance was never called queen.

[@bigzero7720]

Gabe Dresen Or maybe the White Lady was smaller and had legs. (In the White Palace's secret room there's a normal sized chair with the shadow of the White Lady on it).. But nobody informed poor Marmu, that his/her queen turned into a root system...

[@gabedresen592]

Those eggs are also where you find pale ores, and they look very similar to arcane eggs. It all seems connected somehow...

[@Ash-oi9je]

The Pale King and Void smashed

[@DISCO-munication]

An ore is not alive though, just a metal so i doubt it :> he seems more into trees anyway

[@gabedresen592]

eiennosenshi, the developers have confirmed that the pale ores are related to the pale beings

[@spiralhaze2070]

16:31 That's clearly Ze'mer. Playing hide and seek in the palace.

[@torterranartist4469]

After the nailsmith reaches Sheo's hut, they both mention that they were around before the infection took over and the nailsmith also says when he forges the pure nail that he didn't expect to create the pure nail so soon in his life. My point is that the infection didn't take over that long before the game began, the White Lady just guesses how long has passed because she can't leave her garden to tell how long it's been, that or The White Lady and the Pale King were only a thing because trees produce a lot of seeds

[@Desgax]

I always thought the tramway in the crossroads was the "test" or "proof of concept" tramway to show that it works, and since that got done they started to build the actual fully tramway that got stopped by the bugs in Deepnest.

[@NuclearChedder]

The one thing I don’t get is that if the white palace was literally placed within the Kingsmould, then why is the outside/door still there but also simultaneously within the kingsmould?

[@android19willpwn]

they built a new one in the dream

[@NuclearChedder]

Android 19 that actually makes sense that they’d repair it

[@nintendhoe4050]

NuclearChedder the kingsmould that you dreamnail at the broken doorway of the white palace is also at the dreamed doorway to fight you

[@mrscreamlad6572]

I know this is like a year old but I think maybe leaving part of the palace behind would make it easier to put it back in the physical world if needed.

[@possombull4059]

10:59 i think that breathing sound sounds more like a child, possibly even the hollow knight?

[@eba56]

Oh wait you where being serious when you said you where working on a pale king video

[@anonymoushuman6651]

10:32 mossbag: "There's a certain sound effect that plays when reading these tablets." The ad that popped up directly after: "MMM POP TARTS TOASTER PASTRIES--"

[@yeetmcyeetalot5979]

“How can a god so strong yet erased so completely “ -every hollow knight theorist at some point in time

[@yxlotl]

"that time he built a shitty tramway 10 feet" so basically elon musk then?

[@AllisonFleisch]

the pale king was actually sued to death for tweeting too much

[@gabedresen592]

The pale King got totally faded on a podcast and blacked out on his throne...

[@Tubeytime]

@Pa So he's actually a pale being? Neat.

[@devilvocano420]

Pa Nope rich guy wasting money on dumb projects

[@MidasVoid]

But elon musk is fucking useful

[@attilaschweininger6867]

The lady in the City of tears said that the Delicate Flower's light isn' t as strong as the Pale King's glow. And because the Shadelord got countered in the Godmaster ending, then that would mean, that the Void couldn't even touch the Pale King.

[@iwilltakeyourpassword453]

What if its a different kind of light? Or perhaps, a way to teleport someone/something else In another location, much like the dreamgate? I mean, it might've just teleported the shadelord in some other random location.

[@gebdemedici]

@@iwilltakeyourpassword453 I mean, I think it's pretty heavily implied that the Delicate Flower destroyed the Void. You can see some Void dripping to it, and it just evaporates it before the Godseeker explodes, and then you can see the flower in the ground partially destroyed. Probably because of how much power it took to destroy that Void.

[@michaelc.8712]

To me it seemed more like the flower just cut contact from the void to Hallownest. It was coming out through the Godseeker, and the Godseeker kinda... disappeared, so now the void's just stuck there.

[@BE-fw1lr]

The lady in the city of tears is also a sycophant who was one of the Pale King's subjects, why are you saying she's a reliable source on powerlevels?

[@staringgasmask]

@@BE-fw1lr because of the sheer amount of power the King is described in other instances. Among other things, he's said to be immortal, he's very able to make life out of thin air or even nothingness (void), especially considering Unn can create sentient life, and we can all agree the Pale King is stronger than Unn. Oh, he's stated a bunch of different times to be able to see the future. So I'd say it's pretty safe to assume the King is more powerful than that flower

[@walemaa5631]

I always imagine all those saws to be some sort of Kingsmould trying to reject the Knight from his memories, thus putting obstacles in places they never been, as a way to resist the intruder in his memory. But honestly, it's all just because it is a good place to put some platforming challenges.

[@bigpapa5972]

My theory is that the Pale King’s plan to contain the Radiance was actually succeeding (with the Hollow Knight/Pure Vessel) and that the kingdom was still thriving as it was before the infection began but then the void forced the royal retainer to disable the lighthouse, and started creeping up to the white palace (the sea of void is actually directly below palace grounds in game). Then, since the Pale King had his full focus and resources on helping the Hollow Knight contain the radiance, he wasn’t prepared when the void began infiltrating the white palace and killing his royal retainers and other bugs (maybe even some of the 5 knights?). At this point the pale king knew he had lost and withdrew the palace and his servants, kingsmoulds and wingmoulds to the dream realm. This only delayed the inevitable, and eventually the void influenced the kingsmoulds guarding the pale king, causing the void within them to kill the pale king.

[@axelsalmeron]

What if the Pale King fused with the void in order to reanimate our Knight, to make it perfect?

[@ConFlow247]

The knight isnt perfect tho

[@maby191]

What if when the void entered the dream it took control of the kingsmolds? If the pale king had to fight them off it would make sense why there are so many dead outside the throne room. It would also explain why there isn't any tendrils or void leaking out of his eyes, since they would've attacked him with their scythe-like weapons. The problem with this is that the ones near the throne room are all facing away from it. Its possible that they attacked the pale king while he was walking to the throne, and then after the fight he was so exhausted and wounded that he just passed away, or possibly left his shell, but at this point I'm just rambling speculation.

[@gabedresen592]

They could have also been defending him from something since they are facing away from him, but there is no real evidence to support that

[@maby191]

Yea. Another thought I had was that possibly when the castle was moved to the dream some of its inhabitants where already infected, and they may have been able to overpower the kingsmolds, but then again, why stop at killing the king and not everyone in the castle? This is one of those things that's frustrating how little evidence there is to go off of.

[@mikaelm5367]

I've always thought of the void/abyss/darkness as a more metaphysical "unbound potential energy," kind of thing, the raw stuff of creation, which may not even be sentient. It strikes out instinctively in every direction without some kind of structure imposed on it to render it more usable/docile. This is why it hates the Radiance so much, because it imposes absolute unyielding structure on everything Presumably, the Pale King has this same ability to mold Order out of Chaos (the light that is always described to come from him), and this is what turns Bug-kind from savage beasts or slaves into sentient beings. It seems that upon defeating the Radiance the first time, he saw fit to allow them some degree of freedom with this gift, although he still installed himself as Autocrat (which to be honest I can't really blame him for considering if there is anyone who can legitimately claim to be an Enlightened Absolutist its the guy who literally grants sentience to those in his presence). And thus, the Hollow Knight, the raw power of the abyss caged channeled, given form, direction, and purpose by the works of the Pale King and the White Lady. It should be no surprise than when that barrier is broken, the Radiance doesn't stand a chance. Of course, now everyone's kinda fucked cause that void given form and function has its own free will and is probably gonna want to unravel all of reality. Thanks, Godmasters. PS: If the Absolute Radiance is whatever the Pale King fought the first time, I kinda wanted a glimpse of (or better yet a boss fight with) the Wyrm.

[@goosemanVEVO]

I like the idea that the Pale King reincarnated himself again. But until we get confirmation, he seems pretty dead right now.

[@TheRealWalt]

Hallownest residents: *begging for help* Pale king: *uses his most favorite vessel as the Hollow knight, seals him and his palace inside a random corpse, and is idiotic enough to die from the void seeping from the abyss nearby, and made a tramway that wasnt needed* Also Pale King: oh yeah, this is big brain time

[@acerpilotddo8686]

Theory, the steel faction sent an assassin after him. We know they have assassin's capable of using void from Sharpe, so if they sent a stronger assassin it might be able to kill the pale king if he was weakened enough. The assassin used void tendrils to breach the seal somehow, and then snuck past the guards and servants, before killing the kingsmoulds near the king, hence why they are facing outwards, and then killing the king, as he might have been severely weakened from other causes.

[@williamhenning4700]

3:17 - To be fair, so does dying to the Radiance. Though, that's somewhat of a special circumstance I suppose.

[@masterfernando7518]

God, I miss his work gets better and better each time with a new video. Keep on going mate, your the best.

[@madd9152]

when we beat The HK, we focus to absorb The Radiance into our body. maybe that is why Pure Vessel was trained to prime form. He need to be strong enough to beat The Radiance, then absorb her.

[@hollow1279]

These theories do a pretty good job of explaining how the void _could_ have entered the White Palace, but in the end are somewhat redundant, because the Void already is in the palace. And no, I'm not talking about the kingsmolds, I am talking about the workshop. Not only is that place extremely dark, but it also is filled to the brim with pots and vessels (the normal kind, not the son-of-the-Pale-King one´s) that are filled with void, but a handful of these are sealed with void stone, all but one very big pot that appears almost as if it spilled over some Void, and the lid of this one is right over in the floor. This one pot could very much be the responsible for the void that killed the Pale King and also responsible for the black pillars of smoke seen over the throne room.

[@bronabon]

hi due to my severe adhd i can barely pay attention to your videos but your voice is very soothing and great at being background noise as i scroll through twitter thank you

[@megakiller999]

I think "no cost too great" is in reference to the hollow knight himself. As the dlc and path of pain show, there was a connection between the two and this was ultimately their downfall. As for the short tram, it's obviously so the pale king can control travel across the borders. You don't work at ice anymore, so I don't blame you for not realizing that.

[@aname4508]

I believe that it is most likely that the king, who was filled with such guilt and grief of what he had done to his kingdom, to his children and to himself allowed his body to rot away in the palace until only his shell remained ironically, leaving him as hollow as the knight themselves

[@Niviso]

Ay the end of all, what we find is just the “Shell” of the pale king; so he might have just left it there to buy some nice Gucci T-Shirts.

[@bmosk94]

I really appreciate that you wrote your own subtitles instead of letting youtube auto generate them. With added jokes!!!!

[@SalemWolf]

I'm so glad mossbag does captions for his videos, and I love the audio descriptions. Don't ever stop.

[@hongryyy3303]

i wish you can narrate every game and talk about their lore

[@MasterIsabelle]

It’s calming to watch your lore videos while being lost by taking the wrong bus

[@adreamer5920]

Dude I have to take a test tomorrow

[@ErrorNumber404]

“I made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgement, and I don’t expect to be forgiven, I’m simply here to apologize.” - Pale King

[@peachesaupear8455]

"Hornet DLC" Ah, the days of blissful ignorance of the eternity if waiting

[@ishanj2021]

7:30 It's impossible for The Pale King to not realise that as he had the power of foresight. So we can only say that this was all according to The Pale King's keikaku.

[@darth_door932]

You know a HK vid is old when they’re talking about the hornet DLC

[@Icanbarelysing]

Or when they’re saying that the Hive doesn’t have a boss.

[@yell245]

16:05 don't people cover their furniture in sheets when they're leaving or smth? Maybe the servants thought that they will run from the plague, but the pale king placed the palace in kingsmould's mind

[@luffdziedzic]

Every night. I get home from my job i load up hollowknight and listen to your videos. Thank you so much for helping me better understand this amazing world.

[@emmmy-rose2457]

I always just thought the king starved to death cause no one could reach him to give him food

[@galacticpotato833]

I can just imagine the pale king saying hello, with an ominlus echo, while waiting for a servant to come with his chiken nuggies

[@oneelecho7285]

Mossbag, I think there is one detail that I’m certain you missed. When inside the throne room, the void particles were a good catch but the music is nearly identical to the music you find in the void. I’m almost certain this confirms that the void did something to the Pale King

[@liamvt2]

When you talk to Confessor jiji it becomes clear void, at least void shades are created as lingering regret. It is my belief void is a being deeply connected to regret. I think it didn't enter the dream.. It seeped out of the king as he was a being with great regret. The void wasn't united. How could it seek out the king for assassination? It also explains why the shade we see throughout the game has a different shape from what it has in any of the endings and why we can still move without it. It's not our entire void self. just a piece. an actual regret the knight has leaking out upon death. It plays the melody found in the crib in the palace. Which i believe was there to raise hornet in. It was likely played while we were still in the egg and is part of the original child before the void consumed the knight i think. It attacks us, the possessors of it's old body and nothing else in the game i don't think. I think the void seeping out of bodies... Is regret seeping out from the bodies to back into the abyss see down below.. Not necessarily crawling up, at least not in all cases. Maybe it collects its own and is drawn to it. which is why it pools. That would explain the tendrils near the sharp dash charm too. Maybe it corrupted the charm... OR maybe it was an artifact and the void felt drawn to it. The ghosts plucking out their own and their childs eyes too. The regret coming from within seems like a distinct personality.

[@CyanicCore]

I favor the void possibility. Regardless of why the King and palace were in a dream world, both particles and some explanations ARE present. Sure, he doesn't have streaks from his eyes, but that could be chalked up to his godly biology. At any rate, there's something I don't see discussed often: Based on the context given, could the Kingsoul really be a fragment of the King? If this is true, PK would be much weaker, and it would explain both why he hid and why any of these deaths are plausible.

[@Saltboi1823]

In my honest opinion, The pale king was nothing more than an old man that couldn't bring himself to accept change

[@DynamicMagi]

I think the pale king may have died because of a lack of faith from his servants. Like the radiance almost died because of noone believing in it anymore. The radiance could stay alive but only barely. So I think the faith of Ogrim and the white lady might have not been enough. Or maybe it weakened him long enough for the void in the kingsmolds to become unstable and kill him. The guys in the white palace that believe in him aren't real since they don't leave a body behind, they are only memories.

[@justahollow7951]

The colector's shape is similar to the Kingsmoulds Blow your mind with caution

[@karlm115]

He died because he watched KZbin Rewind 2018

[@rampage75_25]

Remember the deleted line for the pale king? "False one... you cant reach me in here". I think it relates to the radiance. Since the radiance is able to reach through the dream realm, she could have send an assasin or an avatar to the white palast. But whatever came, it didn't find the true pale king. It was a mere copy, only containing everything from the king but not the king himself. Whatever came killed all the kingsmoulds and whent for the king, but didn't find the real one. Instead, the assasin was overwhelmed by the void from the kingsmoulds. Pretty vage, but i think that could be one explanation

[@peperoniezflakers719]

* dies in white palace Mossbag: goes back to DIRTMOUTH

[@J.R.Unbound]

The Pale King became MatPat, and is in denial about dying.

[@youngarchaeotech189]

That one second intro killed me.

[@leoriley5709]

Missed opportunity to call it “Insect-tion”

[@piwnica_jpg3370]

12:33 I see some type of buildnings at background

[@DevilBoySeattle]

I love the “spoiler alert” at the beginning of all these lore videos. They aren’t necessary tho. I experienced all these events in-game, but needed these videos to make sense of it. I’d say more like “clarification alert”

[@ceciliamcglynn6461]

Actually when I heard that long voice clip my fist though was that it was a child. Like a frightened child. And I kinda thought it was the Hollow Knight. Idk considering it’s a kind of heavy and emotional moment, it tied into the mood of it. Of course as I type this, I’m realizing vessels probably don’t need to breath. Or make noise. So there’s that