Hollow Knight's Grimm Troupe Lore Explained... Again 

“I’ve read Judith Butler” Anyone can do tha- “Twice.” *gasp*

maybe they like grimm because he’s tall and stick-like and also has a mouth.

“So Grimm uses the nightmare realm to find other kingdoms” Ok now I think the nightmare realm is just the nether.

I think another cool thing should be mentioned. When Grimm is Dream-Nailed after his battle in the tent, he says the following. “Masterful! Even a *vessel* discarded bears fierce strength. Fine craft, dear Wyrm, and perfect tool to prolong the heart of Grimm.” This means that Grimm is not only aware of the Pale King (this kinda makes sense since they’re both higher beings) but also of the Knight and its origins. So there’s a chance Grimm knows of the Radiance too.

Precept Forty-Eight: 'Be Careful With Fire' Fire is a type of hot spirit that dances about recklessly. It can warm you and provide light, but it will also singe your shell if it gets too close.

"Like most things in Hollow Knight, it all comes back to vore." Please never change, mossbag.

mossbag: “it’s not like they would have a map on a piece of paper or something” Cornifer: *am I a joke to you?*

Hey, who wouldn't simp for grimm?

9:33 “looks like a Gen 7 Pokémon” *shows Gen 8 Pokémon*

“Why does the world of Hollow Knight vaguely look like a cock and balls?” -mossbag 2020

“He looks like a gen 7 starter” He says, showing gen 8 starters

Alright, my theory is that Divine isn't a "real" member of the troupe and just travels with them to sell her poop charms. Which is why she's in a separate tent to everyone else, and why she stays behind if the Nightmare King is defeated but you haven't bought all her charms yet. It would also explain why she only wears that half-mask. Because she's not there to further the cause of the Grimm Troupe, they don't care about fully controlling her.

Ok but why didn’t you mention the inauguration of Andrew Jackson how is this even a grimm troupe lore video without it

I have never seen that secret room in my life, this game never ceases to surprise me

I see a lot of similarities between the Grimm Troupe and the Godseeker. - nomadic group - come to places like hallownest to harness sth. - internal dream realm populated with distinctive mask wearing beings - watch their higher beings battle (Pantheon/Circus)

I personally think that the “chart” in the secret room is actually a manequin thing, where they make masks. It would explain the abundance of masks in that room

Grimmchild BETTER call home after he moves away! He knows damn well that I raised him better than that

The secret room is just grim's smoking room, change my mind.

I was kinda sad when Grimm wasnt around anymore after the NKG fight. Makes me feel better to know i have a little version following me about who might be snapping his/her dapper fingers and dancing in the future

Grimm might actually be a spider since it's shown that he can do a four-legged walk similar to Hornet's during his attack where he launches those fire creatures -if the knight stays too close to him-

Silksong is taking so long that we basically have the time to see the remastered verion of the lore videos

"And when the world needed him most- he said eh why not"

I just need to say I love both Grimm and The Child with all my heart and I will never banish the troupe on a casual run. I'll do it once for completionists sake, but any other time I'm completing the ritual. I'm actually doing a run where I obtain companion charms asap and never take them off, even if it overcharms me. I've never felt so attached to a fictional character before

mossbag: He looks like a Gen 7 starter Pokémon. Also mossbag: *shows Gen 8 starters*

I feel compelled to point out that the map of the US shown for “New Jersey” in fact highlights New Hampshire.

"he looks like a gen 7 starter pokemon" Never have I been offended by something that I absolutely agree with

In grimm's stagger state he turns into a bat and when he is found sleeping upside down hanging from the ceiling. He is definitely supposed to be a bat.

I've always liked Grimm as a character and a fight. Ho boy, that second fight... Also, I've always thought that Grimm just IS the nightmare heart, being called the nightmare king and all

I think the underworld is a nicer place than tumblr

HK community: I thought you were dead mossbag: My death was greatly exaggerated

Has no one ever thought that Zote, pronounced Zo-te, could be a reference to Don Quixote( I have seen many different ways of writing the characters' name) , with the whole knight of great renown thing?

I somewhat disagree with your reasoning behind why Brumm rebelled. His dialogue makes it seem like he believe Grimm is also trapped in the endless cycle, and it is his desire to free his master.

9:40 In my headcanon grimm is just a really edgy butterfly

how many times are you going to use that footage of the dead nailsmith

Forget Silksong, Zote needs his own 57-part series

9:40 I actually think he's a batwing butterfly, specifically a red-bodied swallowtail. (It looks a lot more like him). The vampire connection might be that bug pinners find them harder to kill without ruining their wings than other butterflies. Pinching their thorax, which kills most butterflies, just stuns them. Their caterpillars also eat a plant called birthwort, that looks a lot like the Nightmare heart.

Higher beings, these words are for you alone: THE MOSS GOD IS BACK

11:38 ARE WE JUST GONNA IGNORE THAT SCHMOVEMENT!

If divine can strengthen charms, then it would make sense to have here because the grimmchild is a charm.

Grimm is absolutelty one of my favorite characters of all time! He looks hot literally, Best boss fight ever, Perfect OST, looks cool, and the Lore and story

Mossbag just saved me from my Silksong depression

Actually I always thought Grimm was a Vampire Butterfly, better known as a "Blood Butterfly". It's a lesser known Butterfly Species that's red and black in color, newer species so we don't know much about them yet. But seeing his color palate and bat motif, I think he's actually a Butterfly. Plus the Vampire Butterfly can be found in hot climates, so seeing how FIRE is associated with the Grimm Troup kinda furthers my assumption. Just my two bits on the "he's a moth" theory, which is a good idea, but I just don't see it.

I think grimm is a bat, which would make sense as he's kinda the yin to the radiances yang, and bats eat moths

I'd be curious to hear more about the relationship between Jiji and other higher beings ... including Jinn

5:38 I heard "Can of Wyrms" God help me

"Like most things in hollow knight, it all comes down to vore" Well spoken

the ghost heckin slapped grimm in the kneecaps while bowing, how disrespectful

My first reaction to the Grimm troupes three talking members: Grimm: He’s cool -visibly gets distracted by Grimm’s dance whilst fighting- Divine: did you just eat your lover anyway I like you Brumm: oh god if I leave will he get lonely I DON’T WANT HIM TO BE LONELY * Proceeds to stay by Brumm’s side for two hours *

“New Jersey?” *shows map with highlighted New Hampshire* I knew there was a reason I subscribed to this channel.

One of my theories about Grimm is that when he does his stagger, each of the grimm children that we see represent a kingdom that the troupe has both visited and had a completed ritual. Since you can choose to banish the troupe and end the ritual early in the game, there might be other kingdoms where the ritual wasn't completed

I wonder... did the Nightmare Heart was able to see into the Knight true form? I mean as a Void being, cause if it can subjugate bugs will to it bindings, why didnt he do it to the Knight? Here is what I think, every member we see in the audience was actually someone who had done the ritual before hand, but never had the troupe being able to fully finish the ritual last dance, so they all get trapped in the nightmare, but when Grimm saw the Knight, he saw the golden opportunity, a being of Void, able to exist in both reality and dream and influence both, and someone able to complete the last dance, the troupe didnt disappear because the cycle repeated again, but rather, because it finally got completed, Grimm Child is no longer bound to the nightmare relm, but through the Knight, became a real being, HE is the troupe now, it is now all in him, in complete physical vessel created thanks to the ritual with the unknowing help of Void

6:12 *Nightmare Essence Theory* A theory of mine is that well-according to this hint here of some sort provided by NKG, I’m thinking that the line ‘Nightmare Binds all’ means that there is Nightmare essence everywhere. Lighting the Nightmare lantern possibly causes the essence to show itself, and allow the Grimm Troupe to harvest it for the Nightmare’s Heart. I don’t have much evidence from this one line and my theory isn’t a solid claim, but I just wanted to share what I have so far :D Thank you for reading up to this point ^^

8:30 Rain and thunder don't necessarily indicate the surface. For example, there was a NASA building that was so large it started to have its own weather conditions inside.

"how does wind blow towards one specific spot?" an updraft

Maybe a vid about steel soul mode, with its changes and new npc (Jinn) could be next And also I heard once that Grimm is supposed to be a moth because of his dream/nightmare connection, but also a bat because what scary night animal both connects to vampires and eats bugs? Bats. And the Grimm Troupe uses fire themes a lot because of the phrase “a moth to a flame”... that’s it for me.

LOVE the scene at 19:18 - 19:26 . Considering that The Knight & The White lady are Son & Mother technically. When One dose that “Equip all Badges” Hack which includes the various Partners that can assist the Knight. It makes it look like a Small Family gathering with the Knight introducing his “Mother” to all Her new “Grandkids” that he adopted. C:

having had problems with them where i used to live, i'd like to think Grimm is a spotted lanternfly because it'd be a neat pun and also they're dramatic ass little bugs that are also an invasive species not native to the realm- uh i mean Pennsylvania

"It all comes back to V O R E" No wonder Willoh's voice was in the beginning of this video. 🤔

I has Theory about pure vessel and oh sweet radiance it’s a gud one: see, the pure vessel fight is the dream of the hollow knight when the radiance tried to take him. Cos at the end of the fight, the light of the radiance appears. So the godseekers can access lingering memories in the dream realm, then they use these memories to attune to gods linked to the memory. Simple.

2:19 I don't remember all of the Greek underworld being that horrible...

Grimm has a lot of really cool fan art that you should look up on the internet without safe search on.

Disney consumes other companies and easily creates forgotten fandoms... DISNEY IS NIGHTMARE CONFIRMED?!?!

Since Divine specializes in charms, (well she doesnt really specialize in them she just kind of shits them out), maybe her role is to convert the grimmchild into charm form for the convenience of whoever is helping them. Idk why shes left behind when the ritual is completed though.

It would be interesting that team cherry would make comic about the grima troupe travells, and how this bug reached to end in Hallownest.

“How tough are ya?” “I read Judith Butler” “So?” “Twice” “R-right this way, sir!”

I've always thought is was weird that the ritual with the Grimm troupe has no real downsides. I mean sure, Grimm could kill you, but anyone who's a decent fighter can beat him. And once you're done, you have an angry murder child who fights for you. It just seems odd that a higher being such as the nightmare heart, which binds it's members to it and has one of them basically kill himself, doesn't take more from the bugs that participate in the ritual

19:10 The Grimmchild looks like they have a really happy face plastered on their head

Hey mossbag! Thanks for all your videos, you’ve really helped me learn more about the complicated lore of Hollow Knight and helped me appreciate this beautiful game even more! I’ve noticed that you don’t have any videos about charms and was wondering if there was lore about why charms are a thing and if so you should make another vid about that!

WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT GEO

new mossbag videos are starting to get more rare than silksong news

*Wait a second,* there are RED BEADS on that chart thingy, and if my memory of the SilkSong Trailers is true, Pharloom has plenty of Red Beads, and some of the Architecture seems to look like the Architecture seen in some of the shots of some trailers (EDIT: yep, looking back at the Silksong trailer, there's lots of those metal wires, most prominently seen in Hornet's Cage, and during the Lace fight with all the Petals. And in the Demo Gameplay, the beads are strung from the ceiling in the Deep Docks.) There is also a SEAL on the chart, and in the Silksong Demo, there was a purple seal on the Bell, if im remembering correctly (EDIT: also true, located towards the end of the trailer, just before the second clip of Lace fighting before the Title appears, the bell is show ringing with a purple seal on it.) So, perhaps the Chart has something to do with Silksong? What I find more interesting, is that the seal is red, that and the fact that it is located in the Grimm Troupes tent, ties it to Grimm and the Nightmare Heart, and the seals in the White Palace/Path of Pain are White, possibly related to the Pale King, so these Seals are: - closely related to Higher beings - have color related to the Higher Being they represent. So now we get to the Seal on the Bell, it is purple, so, we can assume based on this, that there is likely a Higher Being in Pharloom, closely related to the Color Purple, so who could that be? Well... Look at my Profile Picture, what color is it? THATS RIGHT, IT IS I, ANGSTY GAY DUDE, RULER OF PHARLOOM!

I've gotten into Hollow Knight recently and when I saw Grimm I just can't help but think of Stolas from Helluva Boss. I know Vivzie's art style is inspired by Hollow Knight and Invader Zim. Among other things I bet. But I can't help it. Same eyes, same head shape, wears a cloke and has demonic powers. I wonder if others experience this but vice versa.

"Now of course, an art file name is by no means canon" You know EXACTLY what you're doing here lol

The idea of the Grimmkin using their masks as conduits actually does make sense, as all the warrior dreams have something physically existent that tie their ghosts- that don't know they're dead- to the real world Markoth has his body and Dreamshield, No Eyes, Gorb, and Marmu have stone statues in honor of them, Galien has his old weapon, Elder Hu has an altar and necklace, Xero has a grave. Since all those bosses were once alive, and relatively powerful, they are able to interact with the physical world but require something to project from, right? So maybe the Grimmkin ghost things were never really alive to begin with, and are just Nightmare constructs that lack anything physical to anchor them, so they use the masks as their mediums.

16:20 That's a profound statement on the nature of anonymity in online spaces, as well as real life. You gain protection from being directly targeted, but you also lose the softer edge of your personality. Social media doesn't actually bring out the worst in people, it just dampens their perception of the harm they may cause. The really interesting part is how masks that are worn long enough stop being masks. My user name has a history and a reputation, even if I'm the only one who can see it. I've transferred my belief in reputation to my user name, so my online behavior won't devolve into carelessness and disregard, despite my anonymity.

I actually belive that the Grim Troupe is inspired by the 1950ish novel 'Somthing wicked this way comes.' I'm which there is a traveling Carnival similar to the Troupe, and better yet... the leader, named Mr Dark, feeds off of the fears and nightmares of the towns they travel to. So I thought that was a little interesting.

I have two exempted finals today and this is just what I needed to see in my recommended

8:04 “New Jersey?” *shows New Hampshire*

12:03 "We Dream Nailed into Grimm... Killed the Nightmare Grimm inside it" Not me though, I sure as hell can't do it lol

2:35 as someone who was once studying to be a theoretical physicist specializing in cosmology, that hurt. "Once studying" because I quit after 6 years of struggling. That was more brutal than attempting Pantheon on Hallownest of Steel Soul.

When you play this don’t let Devine eat me please

15:57 "My first girlfriend turn into the moon"

i love your intro where it just says mossbag with a random noise from hollow knight its my favorite intro of all time and i can tell you put a lot of effort into it. thanks mossbag

The beginning of the game is in King's Pass, but if you take a specific route in the Howling Cliffs, if you jump down, you go to the same place as you start the game. If you go to the top of the Howling Cliffs and try to crystal heart through to escape Hallownest, the WINDS blow you away so you can't escape. It blows to DIRTMOUTH, where the Grimm Troupe arrives, and it leads to HALLOWNEST, just like how they say the wind led them to Hallownest.

tumblr: is called the underworld twitter: "am i a joke to you?"

9:32 "He looks like a Gen 7 Starter pokemon" *gen 8 intensifies*

Grimm seems to be made of the same big he gives you so he might be revived every time the ritual happens

I always choose the Brumm / Nymm ending. I just prefer it. But man I love Divine and Grimm. So I take my time doing the ending

Theory: the bats in the grim fight are all the past grimchildren/vessels for the nightmare heart and represent every ritual completed If there is evidence pointing away from this can you point it out in the comments

If you're redoing outdated videos, you should redo your Cuphead Lore and Plot Explained. I mean, there have been so many new things added, after all.

8:09 he finally said it 😂😂😂

congrats on 200k! i used to watch your videos awhile ago and have started rewatching as i picked up hollow knight again to play godhome

Grimm can’t be the nightmare king without pumping some iron.

Mossbag seems like he’s the weird kid who’s actually really fun to hang out with when you get to know him

I really love the memes and jokes and references jou put in the video! Made me laugh multiple times. Keep up the good work :D

I'm just as much excited for your videos about silksong, as the game itself

Can't wait for Wind Lore Also I just noticed: the eyes on the Troupe's tents look like they have Void leaking out of them.

14:04: Only "Ben Shapiro Plays Sonic Adventure 2" is fully watched in the screen. ...I love it.

Now I hope the Grimm Troupe show up in Silksong and we get literally the exact same battle.

Why does he sound like he's been smoking that pack for 20 years is the real question