The Lore of Every Ending in Hollow Knight Explained 

If you enjoy this type of content, I have 6 other Hollow Knight lore videos available for you to watch! Here's the playlist for your viewing pleasure: ru-vid.com/group/PL7vmj1OCwEMNQmkSvO43Ungq3y4rT8PWj

On the bright side, Team Cherry has said they don’t like the idea of a “true” ending and have worked on making all the endings fit with the start of the sequel if possible

In ending #4, the Shade Lord, formerly known as The Knight, or ghost, or... Well, not actually really formerly known as anything, really, bursts forth from the Godseekers body. With the newfound power of unifying the whole strength of the void itself under a single focus, it LASHES OUT in its GODLY RAGE, as it travels to one specific place, where all of its rage is directed: Kingdom's Edge, where it uses its incredible strength to bring the Primal Aspid population to extinction.

Personally, I think that the Knight, or Shade Lord, survives in ending 3 as a shade but not as the shell.

I really admire hornet, as according to my interpretation, she was fully aware that she might end up as a dreamer/ die if you go for the sealed siblings ending. She says multiple times throughout the game that we have a choice to make: we can either "supplant our birth cursed sibling" or destroy the Radiance. She only advises us to choose the latter once, because it's better for Hallownest. She assists us in the final fight even though she knows it could spell her doom depending on our choice. Can't wait to play as her in Silksong.

I love that Team Cherry is like 'all endings are canon, including the one where Hornet is eternally sealed in the Black Egg with you, despite the fact that she somehow winds up in Pharloom some time later!' lol.

Even though a lot of people already know this, its beautiful to see people still uploading these videos for anyone else, also it can come in handy when silksong is released and new people want to play the first game before silksong

Regarding the "Quirrell death vs Hornet orphan" question, Quirrell was actually quite old already anyway, and his dialogue and likely method of departure indicated that he was entirely ready to face his fate, maybe even amiable towards it. Quirrell's story, its ending included, was by no means a tragedy, and is only made such by the players who refuse to let him go. Momento mori, my friends.

I personally believe that in DNM, the reason the knight “dies” is actually because it had completed its mission and wanted to put both itself and its siblings to rest with. Because it was Lord of Shades, it could will the void to do anything. Including becoming still forever.

The knight is a real embodiment of “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain”

I am so full of feelings about Dream No More. The Pale King was so certain that the only way to contain the Radiance was with the singular best, strongest, purest vessel, so he isolated the Hollow Knight and discarded the rest of the vessels. But the Radiance is actually defeated when the Knight, the Hollow Knight, and Hornet help each other, with the rest of their siblings rising up to support them.

You just need to only kill monomon an lurien -Hornet is no longer an orphan -Quirrel is alive -Lurien won't have to be sad about his crush dying

"There arent many bugs left to start society" Yeah now that weve killed them all lmao

There are select moments in this video where the music creates such a POWERFUL vibe and they ALL happen whenever the radiance is on screen. Nosk music is PERFECT for making her seem ominous and sinister and then the BANGER for when you show off her absrad form xD Genius and very appreciated

14:10 I really like how is everyone in this image. Elderbug seeing Cornifer happily working in his maps, Dung Defender inside the fountain, Emilita Laughing at the Little Fool while Willoh is asking herself whether to eat him (probably?), Bretta in awe at Hornet, and Zote being Zote. Great video, well summarized, well explained and entertaining. Good job. By the way, that spin-off of Elderbug and Oro has become my new impossible dream: after the official release of Silksong, Team Cherry reveals they're working on a new adventure, Hollow Knight Savehome! :0

I'd actually disagree with the knight losing control of the void. This is mainly because of the godseeker mode, which is implied to take place after one of the pantheon of hallownest endings, as the godseekers acknowledge their past ignorance of your godliness and ask to be punished. Constantly referring to the knight as the God of gods. You can do whatever you want here, all charms, all everything and it's YOU, the knight, who is doing all of it. It's just that we really shouldn't assume that a being, divine from childbirth due to pale and abyssal heritage, who had to claw their way out of the abyss to have the privilege of being born, wandered the wastes aimlessly for most of their days, with their only real goal in life, sealing the radiance, having failed from the very start, driven to hallownest only by their own sibling's failure. Someone who has a strong enough distaste for the gods to shove the corpse of the pale king off his throne, someone who the world has thrown everything it has against them to kill them, now having killed the God they hate most and having ascended above and beyond what any mortal or God could imagine. Yeah I really don't think the knight is the baby a lot of people have assumed them to be. They literally have all the reasons to act the exact opposite of someone who is innocent of vice.

Thinking about ending 5 just appears to me that the flower is similar to the King's light. It seems to also appose Void, so its reaction to being affected by Void is either eviscerating it, or simply containing it in another place, trapping the Lord of Shades in Godhome. At least that's my theory on ending 5. There's probably some other, more logical theories. Also, I would find it pretty wholesome if Hornet shows The Hollow Knight all of Hallownest before she leaves. Or says "bye" to it in her own way.

is still kinda sad that we dont gonna see anymore the knight, i like to think that maybe, being free from his vessel the knight returns to his home where all his brothers are, resting till the end of time in the void

I feel like once the Knight gets the void Heart and all the stuff that leads up to it etc that it truly gains a will, which makes the sealed siblings ending even sadder in my mind bc we know it’ll eventually fail

15:47 there is actually a really easy answer here, quarrel gives the mask to monomon, and hornet isn't an orphan, heres the thing though, if you don't talk to quarrel, he doesn't die, he rather just sits there in the blue lake, so if you don't talk to him, he doesn't die, win win scenario 😊

This is awesome. Every time I watch a lore video, even after playing through the game, every fresh one just evokes so many feelings. AND OMFG THE ENDING! Peak outro.

Ending #4 and #5 could make great games! Ending #4 could have hornet and thk try to beat the shade lord and bring the world back to normal, and ending #5 could be the duo trying to regroup the rest of hallownest and trying to revive dirtmouth!

This reminds me you can do godhomeending without having to kill the dreamers That means that neither quirrel or hornet's mom would die right? and the hollow knight inside the egg might survive too. sounds like the best ending imo

At 6:43 , the other big shade we see holding the Radiance actually looks like the Hollow Knight's Shade, as it has the crack on its head, the same long horns, etc.

I haven't seen anyone bring up Godseeker Mode in lore videos, which chronologically happens after either Ending #4 and #5. In it, we can see both the Godseeker and the Knight are alive and well, even if only in Godhome. Granted, the mode has no plot besides "Shade Lord returns to Godhome as the Knighy to play around and Godseeker wants it to spank her" so the canonicity of it may be in question.

I was talking to someone on Mossbag's server and we both agreed that it'd be AMAZING if Silksong checked your HK data to see which endings you got on your playthrough. That way, if you never played HK, the game could work on its own with no references to its endings whatsoever. However, if you got any of the endings, Silksong could show a prompt asking from which ending from your HK you'd like to continue. That could allow for Hornet mentioning her siblings, for example, and how they are now "freed from the great light's power and resting in Hollownest". It could allow for Hornet mentioning Ghost, talking about they're sacrifice for the Kingdom or how their 'new form' aka Shade Lord either wrecked the place or united all the shades under it. I'd DIE for this to be the case but we won't know until we have it in our hands so fingers crossed!!

My hints Ending 2: the garden is a lot bigger, you know? How about you explore it and meet someone strangely family-er. Ending 3: did you ever listen to Hornet? How about you do as she asks. She might even help you on that path. Ending 4: did you know, there's actually 4 simple keys and one of them you need another key, let your instincts guide you. Ending 5: someone as magnificent as the godseeker deserves a gift of equal magnitude. I know that these are less useful, but I just wanted to Wright them for fun. :D

I like to imagine that as The Knight travels through Hallownest, it becomes more and more a thinking, feeling being, mourning lost companions, and becomes increasingly anxious about not being able to Seal the Radiance. It rests on the Dirtmouth bench one final time, and Dreams. It dreams the first three endings, wakes, and finds the Godseeker. There it ascends to the Lord Of Shades, destroying the Radiance and retreating back into the Abyss, where Hornet and The Hollow Knight eventually make contact with it and begin reparations of Hallownest.

The answer to the query about Quirrel is that if Monomon is able to share his knowledge then Mender bug will have more signs to fix and he can obtain hereto unheard of levels of sign mending technology. It’s for the greater good.

I think Monomon being alive would probably keep Quirrel from dying, to be honest.

I've never really heard this anywhere, but the vessels seem to have the ability to nurture void. The hollow knight's shade is way bigger than that of the others.

I needed a new Hollow Knight lore video... and you didn't disappoint at all!!!

I think I know what happened to Esmy. You know how charms come from the last desires of someone who died according to the charm loving slug? Charms resemble either the person or what they were doing before they died. Nailmaster's glory looks like a nailmaster. Coincidence? THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES!

Being faster than discord

I like how Hollow Knight’s downfall in self esteem started when he saw Ghost behind him and pale king in the abyss. Curious why Ghost has never grown yet it seems Hollow Knight did grow.

Daaaaaaamn a new ccmaci video hecc yeah

I’ve been obsessed with this game for several years now, even so, im still watching this because Im absolutely starved for anything hollow knight related, even if it’s nothing new to me. I’m grateful for people like you who continue to make content from this game. It’s entertaining and comforting to watch

2:13 was so smooth

Honestly I really love the mix between lively commentary and MEMES. This is why I subbed

Great presentation, narration, and performance!

This was great video, do you think you could potentially do one about what it means to be truly hollow and if the night is or not, and if the Knight lore wise can exist without their shade or if the Knight is the shade with the outer part being the corpse and shell sealing it. They say the Knight is a ghost meaning the Knight is dead but does that mean it is shade covering it's soul or if it is souless with a shade alter ego that looks like it. Only thing that would make sense is how it can make decisions and do anything without a brain with it being physically hollow and without a will to do anything with it being hollow mentally. Does Hollow mean to be selfless and have no desire other than the mission and purpose it was given kind of like the other void constructs.

Why does lost kin turn into a ghost instead of a shade when you beat it?

Did you notice when you are slapping the radience in the 3rd ending the shade that comes to help you is actually the hollow knight?

YAY! thank you! I loce these videos of yours about specific stuff like the masks and vessels, thank you!

fantastic video! _also, is anyone else in the Hornets Mom Getting Revived Gang? is it just me.._

15:40 he doesn’t die, he just goes somewhere you can’t, perhaps whenever you come near he’s just swimming and can hold his breath for an absurd amount of time.

Thanks for the perfekt Vid. I was able to enjoy every ending by my own, and then listen to the story by you. Thanks a lot man.

Hollow Knight is one of my favorite games of all time, therefore Ive watched many videos about it, many lore explanations, essays, theories...That being said, this video has to be one of the best Ive seen by far!

So, the meaning of the game imo is either Nothing lasts forever, you cannot create something eternal Or The knight is not a "chosen one", it is a failure, a rejected vessel, another usseles experiment but regardless you killed the infection and once again joined the void.

Either Silksong can't exist if all endings are cannon, because Hornett is sealed away in one of them. Or Team Cherry is both wishy-washy AND very good at writing themselves out of a corner.

I’m a sucker for happy endings (i.e. as many characters alive as possible). Godseeker ending gave that to me with us saving the Hollow Knight. The game says he began to have some kind of thoughts, feelings, sentience, etc. Whatever hope or ambitions there are in him, I hope may at least be referenced in Silksong, because the Hollow Knight, like all of the vessels, got the short end of the stick.

U deserve so much more credit for the amount of work u put into each video u make

I just realize because of ending three that the Radiance is the real victim

I like to think ending 5 is the real ending do to how much effort you have to put into it just taking the flower

Oh man, found this video after just getting ending 3. It was so satisfying slapping the Radiance silly after many many attempts at that fight.

I like the editing of the video where you had the timer bar for spoiler warnings. That, and the thumbnail in the right corner is a great way to present the content.

You really changed my view on ending 5, and yeah now I think it's the best one, except for the fact you have to kill a bunch of bosses to get it Poor guys

The radiance is kinda cute

yet another lovely video, congratulations

Dude this was so informative for a 17 minute video, thank you!

Omfg I got so many goosebumps while watching this

Oro and Elderbug's Bizarre Adventure would be an absolutely lovely story to see in any medium

I love ur vids so much. Keep it up 💗

1. The cycle continues 2. The Cycle continues, despite your efforts. 3. The cycle ends. 4. The cycle ends and a new begins. 5. The cycle ends and hollow nest is spared

I like how doing a quest wrong creates a new ending

Quirrel should live forever. My reasoning: Quirrel

I'm a few years late but i really enjoy how you drop those hints. It's playful and helpful.

freaking amazing and made me realise that the shade lord/hollow knight at the end of ending 4 might be in silksong

i love how the community collectively decided on 'true ending' for the dream no more ending despite TC saying there is no true ending. to be fair, it does function how true endings usually do: extra content/requirements need to be fulfilled to unlock it, and it plays out a different cutscene than the 'normal' ending. anyways, neat little quirk

I just connected to things to the depressing lore The whole night in a fleeting final effort to kill radians does a suicidal act that he knows will permanently end him yes he has enough determination to hang on for a few seconds and take full of vantage of the shades power.

I love the editing of this video

Hollow knight complete lore: Before Hallownest existed, the land was split between tribes of insectoid and arachnoid beings: the moths who worshipped The Radiance, plant-like beings in Greenpath who worshipped Unn, the mantises, the mushrooms, the spiders and so forth. Then a higher being known as the Wyrm traveled to the land of Kingdom's Edge and metamorphosed into the Pale King. He shrank himself to appear like the bugs that inhabited the land, and built the kingdom of Hallownest. Ultimately he sought to expand his kingdom to encompass all of the nearby lands and tribes, whether it was through diplomacy or force. One way or another the bugs began to follow him, and in doing so surrendered their old religions. Among them were the Moths, who abandoned their old deity, The Radiance. The Radiance began to appear in the dreams of bugs in an attempt to re-establish its following. These visions caused most of them to go insane, which became known as The Infection. The Pale King countered The Radiance by creating Vessels, living insectoid beings made from Void, which the Radiance was powerless against as they had no dreams or free will. Though thousands of Vessels were created, the Pale King only chose the purest Vessel to become the “Hollow Knight”. This Pure Vessel was then used as an instrument to seal The Radiance within itself and locked inside a vault called the Black Egg Temple. For extra protection, the Pale King appointed three bugs, known as the Dreamers, to make a seal that would stop the Infection. Monomon was a jellyfish-like scholar and teacher, Lurien was the enigmatic watcher of the City of Tears, and Herrah was the rebellious queen of Deepnest. Monomon and Lurien volunteered to become Dreamers while Herrah made a deal with the Pale King to produce a child. The Dreamers entered stasis to protect the Hollow Knight's slumber. The Hollow Knight’s shell eventually cracked due to a small flaw in its purity (its emotional attachment to its creator and father the Pale King, who raised and trained it). The Infection began to leak out, corrupting the minds and bodies of everyone in Hallownest. The kingdom came to ruin, and the Pale King vanished in the chaos, along with his court and palace. The story of The Hollow Knight begins with the protagonist, The Knight, arriving in Dirtmouth on the border of the old kingdom. The Knight begins their journey through the ruins of Hallownest, seeking answers to the mysteries of their own past

What if silksong allowed you to choose which ending you continued from and the gameplay would differ from that point on?

The pale flowers hold a small fraction of power similar to the power of pale beings like the pale king and the queen and I’m sure it destroys the void meaning it’s paper, sizers, rock with pale energy beating void and void killing the radiants and the radiants killing the pale king The pale flower just destroys void

Congratulations for 75k subscribers, ccmaci🎉

I already knew all the endings, I really just wanted to watch the video and great Jon.

In Ending 4 and 5, I think the dreamers are considered dead. This is because hornet would only wait for you in front of the black egg after you've killed all the dreamers (At least, that's what I think. I didn't try acquiring Void Heart before killing any of the dreamers)

best ending is ending no 5 radiance is dead hollow knight is free from the radiance shade lord isn't anymore most of the characters survive maybe the dreamers awaken as the black egg seems to be unsealed.

My view of the Shade Lord is like a Primordial force that never had focus or direction and wanted just to erase life. After getting both focus and form it has now the capacity to delete the very existence of everything. My favorite final

yo, i love hollow knight, and the lore of it, but that video was so well built that i loved so more

Poor Radiance, she got forgotten by her worshipers and then just wanted bugs to remember her light again :(

I definitely think endings 3 and 5 are the best endings: as both end the tyranny of the Radiance whilst also not allowing the Void to rampage and consume all. Ending 1 is just a dark souls kindling, so it just perpetuates the need for Hollow Knights. Ending 2 condemns Hornet to die (and if Radiance leaks from the temple as it did before, it condemns the kingdom as well as the dreaming Hornet is locked inside the temple as it's sealer). Ending 4 is the opposite of problem of the games premise: the darkness comes to consume our knight and seeks to usurp the Radiance in darkening the world instead of making it bright. The Knight becomes the Dark Lord.

Wow you explain these really good

🖤I love each ending for what it is. No matter how back water it is to get those endings. This is basically the story of one family and the tragic circumstances that surround them.💙

My personal headcanon for ending 5 is that the dreamers do wake up, and at first Quirrel is all depressed, but he only gets halfway to the Blue Lake before being ambushed by Sheo and the Nailsmith, who march him back to Greenpath where they teach him pottery, crochet, and life-appreciation. Happy ending for everyone! 😊

i think silksong will start after ending 3. that would also explain how little ghost / the knight isnt there in silksong

2:13 is noone gonna mention that amazing transition

This video is amazing, very good job.

Man, I just wanted a happy ending for the Knight

that whole "all endings are canon" is bullshit, if we ever find out the fate of hallownest through silksong one of these would have to be true.

I like ending 3 the best and I feel it makes the most sense

To get each ending, you need to find what else to do from the previous one. Using the dream cutter thing, discovering the origins of the vessels, taking the throne of the god of god and doing the flower quest. Pretty darn cool.

That's funny, none of them make sense

No ending where the Wyrm survives. Trash gme! 😡

I am happy to see this in my recommendations

While I knew basically everything in the video, I never considered that containing the Radiance could be an intrinsic want of the vessels (and by extension, the shades), adding a reason to why the shades all dissipate in the Dream No More ending. Wait, this would also add to the futility of trying to contain her, as the vessels would be marred from their inception...

Everyone's gonna die anyway and Quirrel is one of if not my favorite character and he basically has his whole life ahead of him, so why make a sacrifice to some one whos probably gonna turn to dust in the next 5 minutes due to starvation and thirst

Dream No More seems like the best ending to have for hollow knight and would make sense if that one was considered a base line for silksong, with the Radiance, The Hollow Knight, and our knight being dead and hornet being alive, i feel like that perfectly seta up Silksong and nothing could go wrong unlike with the other 4 ending. Ending 1: the knight could fail, leaving hallownest in ruin Ending 2: i dont even need to explain this Ending 4: the shade lord could ranpage hallownest, killing hornet possibly, or the hollow knight kills her Ending 5: this one just doesnt seem like it SHOULD be cannon, just a extra bonus ending for the pantheons

Thank you so much this is literally so useful I just finished hollow Knight for the first time a while ago and it confused the living daylights out of me

My headcanon is that in ending five the god seeker and the shadlord/the knight are teleported far away... To farloom! And the hallow Knight is no longer under control and he can finally feel emotion freely, once he realizes that hornet is not a threat he vows to protect hallow nest if the his brother/Shadlord/The Knight comes back and Hornet goes to farloom to either tame the Shadlord or kill it.