World of Hollow Knight

**Why yes, I am plagiarizing this page's concept from Shadow Inferno. I just want a place to write my own interpretation down. For those who don't know about Hollow Knight, hope this can help...**

"The World of Hollow Knight" is the fictional setting on which the *Hollow Knight* series of games takes place on, it is an unnamed area which houses several different regions, the most notable ones so far being Hallownest from the original game, Pharloom from *Hollow Knight: Silksong*, and Maroonwave from *Hollow Knight: Tidefall*. The general scope and size of the world is unknown, although it is presumably quite expansive.

## Information on the world

The world of Hollow Knight is populated by mostly bugs of different species, shapes, and sizes, with most, if not all, fully sentient ones inhabiting the different populated areas and kingdoms of the land. These are all connected by a vast and harsh wasteland, where explorers and adventurers lose their minds and memories after staying there for prolonged periods of time, and bugs which reside there operate fully on animalistic instinct.

Powerful creatures known as "Higher Beings" exist as god-like entities in the world, and most of them have an instinctual urge of leading lesser bugs and pulling them under their rule, through a number of different methods, with some of them residing in the physical world while others in the "dream" world.

This realm is a sort of alternate plane existing between the body and the soul, made out of the memories and dreams of beings, this dream energy manifests itself in the physical world as a substance known as "Essence". An area of the Dream Realm, cast off from the rest of it, is known simply as the "Nightmare Realm", ruled by an entity known as the "Nightmare Heart". The Heart is the master of an enslaved group of bugs known as the Grimm Troupe, which through a ritualistic suicide feed and renew it with nightmare Essence, also known as "Flame".

Other substances in the world include Void, which is a black liquid which appears to have a mind of its own, and Soul, arcane energy found in all bugs, keeping them alive. Void is a volatile substance by itself, but when unified and "given form" by a skilled bug, it can be shaped into powerful living creatures, but it becomes the most powerful when united under one single will. Soul, in the other hand, is much more of a natural energy rather than a living thing, and can be twisted into spells or even be used to heal one's wounds if the bug is sufficiently skilled.

## Canonical locations

### Hallownest

#### History of Hallownest

Hallownest is a massive and intertwining network of caverns and tunnels, home to one of the greatest and most expansive kingdoms of all time.

Hallownest was first inhabited by a society of giant bugs known as the "Ancient Civilization". Not much is known about them other than they worshipped the Void itself, and seemed to be highly intelligent given their creation of Soul Totems and Arcane Eggs, relics found within the confines of the kingdom. The former are statues scattered across the land which contain Soul within them, and the latter are stone relics containing a wealth of ancient knowledge and information, written in layers.

For an unknown reason, the Ancient Civilization all died off, and after an undisclosed number of years Hallownest was overtaken by all sorts of different races, groups, and Higher Beings, each of these giving higher sentience and intelligence to their followers, such as the slug goddess Unn creating and leading the Mosskin, or one known as The Radiance leading the moths. One day, a wyrm came upon these unorganized caverns. Wyrms are Higher Beings resembling gigantic worms with the natural instinct to lead and rule over others, doing so by shedding their shell and re-emerging as a smaller form. This wyrm did just that, and set out to create a powerful, flourishing kingdom under his own rule, using his god-like abilities. The kingdom of Hallownest.

After some time, the wyrm, now known as the Pale King, had founded Hallownest, establishing relations with the already existing tribes of the cavern. Some eagerly accepted his rule, like the Moths, while others only under certain conditions, like the Spiders, and some rejecting it outright, like the Bees. This seemed to be of no matter, however, and Hallownest became a kingdom bustling with life. A majestic capital city was built in the center of it all, alongside an effective infrastructure. The Pale King's castle, known as the White Palace, was built under the capital in the Ancient Basin. What could possibly go wrong here?

Enter The Radiance.

A Higher Being of pure light, ruler of the Dream Realm, and creator and goddess of the Moth tribe, had been forgotten by them, and mostly everyone else, in favor of the Pale King. This incited her rage, and set to conquer the minds of the bugs of Hallownest and take the kingdom for herself.

In order to achieve this, The Radiance spread an Infection through the dreams of bugs, manifesting physically as a sweet-smelling, orange blob-like substance. The Infection effectively brainwashed any and all bugs into serving her, and no method seemed to be effective against warding it off. Nobody was able to defeat a formless enemy.

In an effort to save his kingdom, the Pale King began to dabble in experimentation with Void, the substance lying within the deepest reaches of the kingdom. At first, he created the Kingsmoulds and the Wingsmoulds, automatons with Void inside of them created to protect the White Palace. After this, he set to utilize the Void to create something able to fight against the Infection. A creature able to contain The Radiance, a Vessel.

The king set to create, using Void, a creature with no mind to think, no will to break, and no voice to cry suffering, yet still alive, in a way. If such a perfectly hollow Vessel could be created, it could be possible for it to contain The Radiance within it once it inevitably came to infect it, and thus stopping the blight from spreading.

With his wife and Queen of Hallownest, a tree-like Higher Being known as the White Lady, the Pale King sired hundreds upon hundreds of children, whose eggs which then taken to the Void in the Abyss of Hallownest to be "fertilized" by it. Vessel after Vessel were born and tested, but all of them were failures. From showing a full-on personality to the slightest hints of a mind, no Vessels were successful and all were discarded into the Abyss from whence they came, some of the more tenacious ones survived and were able to escape into Hallownest, but most died. Was the endeavor going to be fruitless? It seemed like so.

Until one day, a perfectly hollow Vessel was born. It was exactly what the king was looking for. The Vessel, from here on known as the Hollow Knight, was taken into the White Palace in order to prepare for his chosen role.

The king and queen raised them into maturity like a child of their own, growing them from an admittedly cute and tiny bug into a towering and majestic warrior. Monuments and statues were built on their honor. In a way, it could be said that they were the prince of the kingdom.

As the Infection got more and more dire, the king decided it was the time to begin the containing of The Radiance. A shrine called The Temple of the Black Egg was built from the carapace of an ancient bug in the Forgotten Crossroads, this would be where the Hollow Knight would be sealed, with nobody able to enter or exit their spherical prison within the temple, with only a small hall from which the public could admire it. To ensure the Hollow Knight would be fully sealed, the king sought the help of three notorious bugs, which from now on will be known as the Dreamers.

The Dreamers consisted of Lurien the Watcher, a mysterious bug who watched over the City of Tears from a tall and very well guarded spire, Monomon the Teacher, an incredibly intelligent jellyfish scientist, and Herrah the Beast, the queen of the Spiders in Deepnest.

[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]