A Story Analysis of Hollow Knight 

Unn IS calling to her people, they can't hear her because of the Radiance. And the Hive is not in disarray, but actually working in perfect harmony, and that's also because of the Radiance, the bees were obedient drones before the infection, and after the infection they just carried on as normal, now with a new Queen, and part of a true hivemind.

FYI Grimm is the Higher Being. He is the vessel for the nightmare heart and its manifestation. This is why he understands what's happening in Godhome, just like Hornet. Though due to Hornet being only 50% higher being she is hazy about what is happening. NO other boss other than these two and the Radiance herself have new dialogue/show any semblance that they understand that they are within the Godseekers' pantheon. Only higher beings are shown being able to see past this dream.

I have never played a game like Hollow Knight, and I am afraid I never might again. This was truly a once in a generation experience.

The reason Godhome is an ending (and why Grimm bows to Godseeker) is because it’s a dream. With all other bosses they aren’t *really* there. You’re fighting dream versions of these bosses, however, Nightmare Grimm and the Radiance are dream entities. They ARE the dream. So when you fight the Radiance in Godhome, you’re fighting the ACTUAL Radiance. It’s not just a fight you’re doing for fun like all the others, you are fighting the final boss of the game for real, so killing her ends the game, since the goal of the game is to kill her. You basically accidentally stumble upon a different way to go toe to toe against the Radiance by invading her dream realm without having to go through the Hollow Knight.

About Tiso, I think his purpose in the story is to showcase the kinds of travelers that elderbug talks about, to show the mentality that those explorers and adventurers have when they go visit hallownest's ruins

path of pain was worth every agonizing moment, all 45 or so tries it took to clear the last room literally had me shaking at one point. This game is a real gem.

The hive was likely a late addition, as the boss and vespa too were added in an update. And kingdoms edge was where team cherry put everything they wern't sure where to put. If a character name has "By X" that means it's a backer character made by someone who donated to the kickstarter

A story that keeps on giving. I'll never forget my first playthrough.

You can actually save Cloth, if you kill the traitor lord without having collected the pale ore piece from ancient basin. If you go to the ancient basin later to find Cloth hiding, after having already defeating the TL, then, instead of going to queens gardens, Cloth will now go to dirtmouth, and take a short rest there, before leaving hallownest very much alive. I see this as the 'good' ending to her story for three reasons. One, because I feel that Cloth's self-loathing and desire for death is tragic, not something to be encouraged or wished for. Better for her to find some new meaning in this life, rather than end things permanently out of present grief and shame. But secondly, and more importantly, the game gatekeeps Cloth's survival behind a 'harder' gameplay task. If you cant get the last pale ore, you then can't face the TL with the pure nail. You have to kill him without the last nail upgrade. Generally speaking, if a game like this makes something more difficult, it is because it wants you to strive to achieve a more worthwhile outcome. Thirdly, the game already has shown form in suggesting that tragic thoughts and feelings in the way of ending one's life, should be treated with caution and patience. I am of course referring to the nailsmith, and his eventual finding of new purpose and happiness with Sheo. This is why I always make a point of saving Cloth after I kill TL, in new playthroughs :) . I like to imagine that she eventually gets past her grief, and finds happiness :) . (I disagree about godhome btw. I think it unlikely anyone would complete p5 without completing the other three main endings first, and I thus see the additional endings as precisely this: an appropriate reward for beating p5. You literally become a god, and transcend the mundane requirements of the main game's critical path, saving absolutely everyone in the process. I could also say more about how I feel the lore rewards from this dlc are sufficient in my eyes, but I'll limit myself to commenting on the flower. I see that as more of a countering and neutralising force, than as a teleportation token. Again, it comes back to the game potentially gatekeeping a more worthwhile resolution behind a harder task: if you got the flower down to the godseeker successfully, then it prevents the somewhat disconcerting consequences of otherwise unleashing the shadelord upon Hallownest outside of the dream world - which is seemingly what happens if you dont give them the flower before triggering the ending. )

36:27 The revelation of Elderbug being one of the few younger character in the game is never not funny to me. Like did his parent named him Elderbug when he was borned? Did he changed his name to Elderbug when he grew up? Was it a nickname that people gave him because he looks old and it just sticked? Or is that simply what the Knight call Elderbug, since Elderbug never really gave us his name. The last of them is the funniest because it would assume that the Knight decide to call Elderbug Elderbug despite being much older than Elderbug simply because Elderbug looks old.

Hollow Knight was the first metroidvania i played, and i loved the exploration of hollownest. The experience of the story exponentially unravels before you is masterfully done.

Few things to mention: the vessels could have had some sort of path to nosk's lair as you can see multiple corpses of them there and both locations are close on the map. Also hornet is your half sister not step sister.

one thing I find interesting is that The radiance calls the knight "my old enemy" implying that the relationship between her and the void goes waaay way back. and another thing is what does the Abyss Beast have to do with the void and the radiance and with the shade lord we turn into in the last ending. He resides in the abyss and he is the source of the lifeblood that's why lifeblood is considered forbidden in the kingdom but what exactly does the Abyss Beast has to to do with the void. what's the connection between lifeblood and the void. there's this theory that the abyss creature doesn't have any connection with the abyss but simply he's a higher being just like the wyrms and Unn. he gains followers through lifeblood (for example Jonny) but since the pale king wants to be absolute he declared that the lifeblood was heretical (maybe because he started to convert the followers of the pale king) and drove the abyss beast into the abyss (or he ran to the abyss) and imprisoned him but why doesn't the godseekers attune with him?

Because of Tiso as a fakeout in the Brooding Mawlek fight and Brooding Mawlek actually appearing in the last trial of the colosseum I assume that he was killed by one, which to me implies he almost made it to the end. This is why I believe he was actually pretty strong, perhaps even stronger than a brooding mawlek and he died due to already being exhausted

Personally, I feel that Godhome was pretty sound. Though there was little added, that is because there was little they wanted to add, and the actual experience was the focus. It felt like it was meant to bee a challenge and the tidbits it left were rewards for the strong willed. I don't know, I really liked it.

i feel like the whole godhome dlc isn’t that much of a problem, it is a boss rush and it doesn’t focus on the story. it has some story elements yes but it’s trying to be a boss rush and if it focused on the story too much it might take away from the gameplay. i dont see much of a problem with its existence, and your whole issue with the ending after p5 seems a bit silly. its a reward for completing an incredibly difficult challenge that many players aren’t going to be able to complete, its not like you can walk into p5 with just the dreamnail and voidheart and get a whole ending without doing anything else, you need a lot of skill to be able to beat p5. you also need to beat all of the bosses in the game to do pantheon 5, including bosses like the watcher knights who you need to defeat to get to dreamers. you make it seem like it’s significantly easier than it is to get the ending as if anyone on their first playthrough will get this ending before doing anything else when you have to beat practically every boss and have enough skill to be able to complete the pantheon in the first place.

The ending to godhome isn't necessarily the canon one, the way I understood it is that it's similar to the first in that it's also a bad ending for the game, instead of exploring and learning we simply fight our way to the top, claiming the devotion of the godseekers in the process. Because of this at the end we don't save hollownest, we simply replace the tyranny of the pale king and the radiance with the tyranny of the shadelord, forcing the bugs of the kingdom to endure another rule until it too eventually fades like those that came before, it's a continuation of the cycle, just of a different one than keeping the radiance contained. Although this only works in the regular ending, I have no idea what's going on with the delicate flower other than "the kindness of the knight saves the kingdom from the shadelord".

Hollow Knight is one of those rare games I wish I could forget so I could play it all over again.

definitly one of my favourite games of all time. at first the "discover it yourself style of story was an eyebrow raiser but with due time i was genuinely interested in the world and the narrative it provided. Certified masterpiece

To clear things out, you do need to defeat almost all of the game bosses to face them in respective pantheons in which they appear which makes godseeker endings a more of an extension to the original endings which both explains something's but also creates new confusing connections between original and dlc endings Also as always awesome video ❤

Hollow Knight is one of those game where the gameplay is fun, lore is dark and interesting but the character designs are adorable despite being insects.

I played the Bee section a long time ago, but I figured the game told about them getting Infected from the gameplay. Every time you hit one of them, they sweat or bleed the Infection. The game does tell you they’re infected and when the Queen thanks you for freeing her powerful Knight, that would mean the lesser subjects almost certainly got infected, too.

It's weird because the story of Godhome immediately clicked for me especially after finishing the last gauntlet. In simpler terms, you the Knight are ascending as the God of Gods, who has bested each and every boss in the game both in the current strength and in their prime state. That's why you needed the Voidheart as you keep ascending the Gods Seeker device keeps tuning to it. That's why on the earlier stage the God seeker keeps trash talking you for it thinks that you are not worthy to be there and only tunes in on the other "Gods" of Hollownest. You can also see it happening as you fight the bosses as the Godseeker only follows the movement of the bosses you are fighting. Only when you reach the final pantheon that you finally got the full attention of the Godseeker and they start to tune in on you which also appears in-game where they start watching you instead while doing the gauntlet which culminates when you finally beat Absolute Radiance and the Knight becomes the Void King which immediately destroys, not banish but actually destroys the Radiance putting an actual stop to the infection.

You can't start a pantheon until you encounter all the bosses inside one. Except Zote iirc. So you should still complete most of the game

Tiso wasn't actually made by Team Cherry, in fact the majority of the NPC's weren't made by Team Cherry. They're characters that Kickstarter backers came up with and we're put in the game as a reward for them. So, that's why Tisp exists in the game, because someone paid Team Cherry to put their character in the game, hence why it says Tiso is by someone called Tiso. Also, regarding what you said with the endings. All of the DLC's were originally intended to be features of the game when it released, but due to constraints they had to cut it. Hence why they released the two endings with the DLC, because they needed to wait to get more money to make the game. Also, Team Cherry has confirmed that there is no 'canon' ending. We can decide what ending is canon.

About the hive part I'd like to mention that thus game was developed by 3 people who went bankrupt in the developing process. It would be fair to assume that the hive's development was halted when the devs ran out of resources and had to release the game. Many things were scrapped due to this reason but it didn't affect the game as much due to team cherry's game design which followed the principle of making the core game first and then adding more content so at any point if development had to stop the game released would be technically complete.

I have seen theory's about how the Knight and their siblings escaped the abyss, the theory speculates that there are paths in the abyss that we cannot see in game that lead to different places like Deepnest and then from there out to the Edges of the Kingdom if not further out, that would explain why Nosk had so many corpses of the siblings and how the Knight originally got out to roaming the wastelands before the game starts or the boss sibling guarding the monarch wings. Great video cant wait for Silksong.

44:25 - One of the two bosses who deal 2 masks of damage? Oh, you sweet summer Grimmchild.

Very uhh... optimistic reading of Quirrels ending. He is super dead.

I’ve never had much issues with the godmaster dlc. Opinions really got strong at that section

I’m so giddy you’ve finally done a video on this absolute gem of a game and it’s super intensive lore that I cherish wholeheartedly

The community has learned a lot about the lore through interactions with team cherry (devs), and a sacrifice (mossbag) But yeah, the reddit post is a perfect example of this ongoing lore and world building, but I loved the process, including the community

GINGY, this and mossbags cover are going to be my favorite hollow knight explanations

As a kid, I like story Now as an adult, I love lore

Never been more excited to watch an hour long video on a game I have no intention of playing. Gingy has been my therapy lately 😅

Enjoying it so far, gonna edit as I go 1. Millibelle doesn’t run after time, she runs after you deposit a certain amount of geo. It’s best to give her the max amount. -2. The Great Wyrm, Was the pale king.- 3. Not seeing any enemy dream-nail dialogue ( I’m at the bees) 4. The point to the “useless npcs” is just to show that they are content. Most have an objective, and those who’s hubris lead them to seek a fight, pretty much always end up dead. 5. If you fight Grey Prince Zote enough, Bretta leaves, and goes past the howling cliffs. 😢 6. Cornifer Yes, But MYLA? Don’t get me wrong I love her, but Quirrel is Very Beloved. 7. If you avoid a specific instance of meeting Cloth before the Traitor Lord fight she goes to Dirtmouth. (and then I think past Howling Cliffs.) 8. Yes, he’s a flesh cocoon. Dream-nail confirmed. 9. I never thought hornet was hunting us, that corpse always looked old to me, idk why. -10. The Pale King And Mom didn’t Use us, they made us, We’re supposed to be literally empty.- 11. The maggot found him dead. When you dream-nail his brothers (for soul) before his Dream fight, they’re telling him to wake up. 13. Ok here’s the dream-nail dialogue part. (Also if you Dive in The Mask Makers room, there’s more Dream-nail dialogue I think) 14. Hornet is our half Sibling, step is if they’re married. Step don’t have to be related by blood, but I think half siblings under marriage probably count as both.

When setting, music, atmosphere, and gameplay are blended so well you get a special game. I can say only a handful of games I've played do this well and hollow knight is one of them.

You should do a dishonored analysis😋 the world is so beautiful and the dynamics between your choices, even though death of the outsider was slightly disappointing

Someone once noticed in the comment section of a different video that the brooding mawlek only shows up in the third trial of the colosseum. Pretty deep in as well. So if tiso died to the mawlek as is implied, than he must be decently skilled. I believe they cut his fight out due to time constraints.

Not to mention, the music is now ICONIC. Nothing captures the spirit of this game and its story more than its soundtrack to me.

Your comment on Zote on being able to speak and think points to that he is not a vessel made me think that he is actually a vessel. Maybe he is the most failed of all vessels due to him having the abilities to do so

Hollow Knights story is so good because it isnt told directly. It’s told through the world that you explore. Seeing and learning the history of hallownest and how it came to be the way it is is a gaming experience I will never forget

I’ve waited for this video from you. This game has always fascinated me. Thank you for covering it.

I have been looking forward to this video for so long. I hope that one day we will get the Pathologic 2 video, it is the most underrated game I've ever played.

I don't think the criticisms of Godhome hold up. It's additive, not a replacement. You make a point that you only need a couple items to beat the entire game, but that isn't at all true. In order to beat Godhome, you have to find and beat every single boss in Hallownest in order to unlock their pantheons. As to the ending, I love it, it's extremely satisfying. Godseeker is built up as an arrogant and also foolish prick the entire time, and seeing their plan literally bite them in the face is the height of catharsis. The Godseeker and Godhome are also intensely mysterious and strange, and plant the seeds for so many questions. Godhome is a boss rush, and it didn't need a story attached, but I'm glad to have it, especially for its difficulty. It feels like a worthy cap to what will be a player's final challenge in Hollow Knight. The third ending is fantastic as well. I wonder which, if any, endings will be drawn from for Silksong?

Quirrel's mask isnt just a replica of Monomon's mask, it is her mask as when the mask is broken monomon can be dreamnailed

On your comment on the godseeker being the only game that ties story(and more) elements to a Boss rush, theres also Kirby, that becomes something else entirely when It comes to its Boss rush the True Arena (and the Ultimate Choice on Kirby Star Allies that IS the most story heavy Of the séries) and they ALL give extra value to its lore with their pause descriptions In fact the mode in its entirety reminded me a Lot of Kirby game's arenas

I genuinely can't believe this video was over an hour. Felt like 15 minutes of just pure lore butter. Excellent video and script and delivery and editing and all the usual shit you fkn crush every goddamn time. GOAT.

I waited so long for this. Thank you gingy and keep up the good work 💪🏿

You're giving me what I wanted without even realizing it. Thanks, keep it up!

I get so excited when I come across a new video of urs ur voice ur cadence and mannerisms are wonderful and I could hear the smile in ur voice when u described holoknight making u reminiscent of dark soul keep up the FANTASTIC content and I know we all can't wait until u blow up big Gingy

Yesterday I stumbled upon your channel randomly and watched your video on the story of Blasphemous, and I told myself that it would be great to have a video on Hollow Knight made by you... Lucky me you've read my thoughts

As always another great amazing video really enjoyed it appropriate all the hard work that was done to make this video. Thank you for making this video. Excited for more upcoming videos

It's a great day when I see Gingy upload. Thank you man!

I Probably knew at least 90% of your dark souls videos and this one. But I enjoyed 100% of my time watching your stuff! Amazing videos and you have reawoken my love for these games. Will be checking out more of your vids! thank you :)

This game is a masterpiece. Thank you for covering it.

Gingy with the HOLLOWKNIGHT analysis?? I’m bout to go hike and this is perfect! After hike check in: almost died at the top of the crater but we had dlc to talk about so I survived.

allways waiting for you to upload, your game selection is so great. Love it

YOOOOOOOO Let’s go! Another fire video to enjoy! Thanks Gingy! Keep up the amazing work!

amazing video! i'm definitely going to have to pick up this game again.. i played it on stream a long time ago and never finished it lol thanks for the kind words, i'm so happy you commissioned me and you were so lovely to work with as well :)))

We’re making it out of Hallownest with this one‼️🗣️🔥🔥

i legitimately cannot wait for silksong. im a solid 45 playthroughs and maybe 600 hours into the game. absolutely fell in love with thr lore and i need more. amazing video as always man.

Thank you so much for this great video! I really enjoy your stuff!

Literraly i beat the game yesterday!!! I knever went to the bee hive or the white palace a lot of ways to get to the ending it took me 48 hours and after going to the void of videos about the lore, now i want to go for another crack on it, thanks for the video and great work keep it like that 🔥

34:58 It’s explained somewhere in game but they’re infected flies and function similarly to the light seeds

So I'm addicted to Long-Form Analysis of games and your channel is like an all you can eat buffet. I binged them all by now.

I literally fall asleep to your story analysis videos ❤ thank you for your soothing voice 😂🎉

I love how progressively snarky you get through this video. I am dying. Definitely gonna subscribe.

i've watched a lot of videos like this but this games story never gets boring

Good video, I enjoy how you describe the game and your feelings!

I freaking Love Hollow Knight and your Videos.

Love all the videos keep up the good work!

wish I could play this for the first time again. Very excited for the next one

Ngl i love you for this!!! One of my favorite games full stop!

I’m fairly sure that you’ve played it or heard of it, but I’d like to HIGHLY recommend you try “Death’s Gambit”. I’m terms of graphics and gameplay, it’s similar to “Blasphemous”, but focused on a more straightforward plot and with a otherworldly life/death/and beyond vibe to it instead of a religious angle. I think you’d like it.

I do believe Team Cherry has stated all the endings are canon so that at least means in “different timelines” ig the 3rd and best ending is a true ending as well.

I am now calling the Vessel for the Radiance "John Hollowknight". That's amazing.

idk how many of these I saw already, but I loved every one of em.

It’s finally here! So excited for this one

Very nice video! Thanks for creating it :)

Hollow knoght was my first Metroidvania. I fell in love with this genre ever since. Hollow knight lore is amazing. I remember when i finished the game sitting thinking about the game for days. Truly master piece of a game.

I love these series from you. I wonder if Deus Ex would be worth it, as one of my favorite series.

Another crazy good video, nice!

I was just thinking I haven’t seen a gingy video in a while and you posted one about one of my favorite games

I really, really enjoyed Hollow Knights approach to story-telling. I love exploring the world and finding some pieces of Lore scattered here and there. I hate watching 2h of cutscenes when I want to play an actual game. I remember after beating the game for the first time, I immediately jumped on RU-vid and Reddit to get a good summary of everything. But I did that because I wanted to and because the game hooked me. Not because I had to.

Thank you for making another interesting video!!

I'm so stoked for this!!!

Hey Great video. I just wanted to share a few thoughts on some of the criticisms you mentioned. I actually appreciate the fact that you can't learn anything about the Hive's lore in game. It's realistic to what you would actually experience exploring the Hive as the Knight in that time period. It's how really history is recorded and sometimes you just can't know. I think the external sources are just tidbits for those who want the extra details outside of the game. Also I took Tiso to be a character who symbolizes the tragedy of the world. It's not that he's strong. He exemplifies the experience of the game. Seeing what is this beautiful and powerful world, but never actually being able to witness their full glory due to tragedy.

I think the concept of the godhome ending is that The Radience lives in dreams and so by killing its perfected form in the Godhome dream you have technically killed the Radience

nice, excited to watch

Unfortunately, Quirrel definitely dies at the end. He doesn't just leave: his dialogue suggests his death and his nail is left behind, which he would never do.

I waited so long for this ❤

55:36 Shame upon the editor who did not show the epic scene of Hornet and the Knight hitting the Hallow Knight with the dream nail.

Been waiting for this like more than a week now good vid can't w8 for the next hop u can do deep dive like this for final fantasy 16

I disagree with your assessment of Godmaster. I think the fact that there is a completely disconnected way to complete the game actually makes the world feel more alive. Like, sure, there's a critical struggle of Godly entities going on in the city, but here's the cult here to take advantage of all the power going around and their goals, if accomplished, will completely interfere with the ongoing timeline of the world. Whatever goals the knight and the peoples of hollownest may have had can be completely disrupted by the interference of an external force. This is very much a realistic depiction of how factions can interact in a living world. I also feel like what little story is there is specifically a tiny reward for those who want to do the boss rush that is this DLC. It's minimal on purpose, so that those of us who will never play through it aren't left out on important lore, but those who put in the work are rewarded with some amount of lore. Most players engaging with Godhome will be doing it _for_ the gameplay, and probably not expecting any kind of real lore to come from it, so it's sort of just a nicety. It's disconnected enough that skipping it won't prevent you from understanding the world, but succeeding at it will flesh out the world a little bit more.

my crackpot theory for the godseeker ending (and seeing shade like enemies in silksong), is that the flower didn't fully save the seeker but transported them with the shade lord sealed in them like the radiance was in hollow knight, and hornet has gone to the nest that we got transported to and proceeded to infect with the abyss

The reason some of the less interesting NPCs exist is because one of the kickstarter backer tiers was to create A character to the game some of which are cloth tiso and the dream ghosts.

Gingy and hollow knight well that is all i needed to see, great video Gingy and thank you for making a video of hollow knight! Been waiting for a good minute 😅 side note. This game was a masterpiece to me gameplay wise. This was my first metroidvania game, which was absolutely AMAZING but a curse.. i cant seem to find and enjoy another metroidvania well except Blasphemous but it does have slower combat etc. I loved hollow knight for that insanely smooth movement, combat etc. I'll never ever forget my first playthrough of hollow knight and getting 100% thinking i was finished, till i needed that extra 12% and i couldn't of been happier to know i needed to play more. This is a game i suggest everyone absolutely gives a try, also it's 20$ and for 20$ you'll have plenty to do, oddly more then a 70$ triple A game offers. I simply just need silksong 😢

This was brilliant thank you

if I remember correctly No eyes is a mother warrior who ripped the eyes of her actual children and herself. those flying ghosts she uses as weapons are the children. those backer bosses have some messed up lore lmao