HollowKnight Lore

Gather 'round, little ghost. Let me tell you a story of a kingdom that defied the darkness, only to fall to a forgotten light. This is the tragic tale of Hallownest. The Rise of the Pale King Before Hallownest, the land was a wild place. Many bugs existed in simple, dream-like states, often connected to ancient, powerful beings. The greatest of these was The Radiance, a colossal moth-like deity, the "Old Light," who commanded a hive mind over the moth tribe and others, binding them in her blinding, unified will. But then, a Wyrm, a massive, god-like creature, traveled to this land. It died and was reborn in a smaller, insect-like form: the Pale King. The Pale King was a new kind of light. He offered the bugs something The Radiance did not: sapience and free will. He spoke, and their minds expanded, their simple instincts replaced with complex thought. Bugs flocked to him, turning their backs on The Radiance and her ancient ways. He built the grand kingdom of Hallownest beneath the earth, a shimmering bastion of civilization, law, and knowledge. The Pale King, along with his Queen, the White Lady, ruled as a true god-king. The Return of the Forgotten Light The Radiance, stripped of her worshipers and forgotten, grew wrathful. Though a statue of her still stood high atop Crystal Peak, her influence was meant to be erased. But a god cannot be so easily destroyed. She began to appear in the dreams of Hallownest's citizens, poisoning their minds with her light. This psychic plague became known as The Infection. The Infected bugs grew bloated and orange, their minds enslaved by a violent, maddening hive-will. The Infection spread like wildfire, and Hallownest began to crumble. The Desperate Plan: Vessels The Pale King desperately sought a solution. He realized that an entity with a mind or will could still be corrupted by The Radiance. To contain a god of the mind, he needed a being with no mind, no will, and no voice. An empty shell. Using the primordial darkness known as The Void, which existed deep beneath the kingdom in a place called The Abyss, the King and White Lady generated thousands of offspring. These little black creatures were called Vessels. They were filled with Void, a substance The Radiance could not touch, and cast into The Abyss, where they absorbed the darkness. Only one Vessel was deemed "pure" and completely empty: the strongest, tallest one. It was chosen to become the Hollow Knight. The Pale King intended to seal The Radiance within this Vessel, trusting its pure emptiness to contain the Light forever. The Hollow Knight was sealed inside the Black Egg Temple.

The Three Dreamers To ensure the seal could never be broken from the outside, the Pale King appointed three powerful bugs to become the Dreamers. They would fall into an eternal slumber, their dreaming minds forming an unbreachable seal upon the Temple door: Monomon the Teacher, an archivist and scholar. Lurien the Watcher, a mysterious protector of the capital, the City of Tears. Herrah the Beast, the Queen of Deepnest, who agreed to the sacrifice only on the condition of bearing a child with the Pale King to continue her line. That child is Hornet. With the Hollow Knight containing The Radiance, and the three Dreamers guarding the Temple, Hallownest was safe... for a time. The Fatal Flaw However, the plan was flawed. The Hollow Knight was not empty. During its training and isolation, an "idea was instilled"—the young Vessel developed a tiny spark of love and loyalty for its creator, the Pale King. That single, tiny crack of emotion was enough. Over time, The Radiance's power began to seep out, manifesting as a trickle, then a flood, of the orange Infection that now fills the ruined kingdom. The Hollow Knight writhes in eternal agony inside the Temple, no longer a container, but a vessel of suffering. The Pale King and his palace vanished. Hallownest fell into ruin, silence, and madness.

The Arrival of the Little Ghost. This is where your story begins.

"You are The Knight, a small, silent creature, another one of the countless Vessels born of Void who were cast back into the Abyss, deemed a failure. For unknown reasons, you escaped the Abyss and traveled beyond Hallownest, forgetting your true nature. Drawn by the weakening cry of the infected Hollow Knight, you return to the kingdom, arriving in the quiet, isolated town of Dirtmouth. Your journey is a quest to follow the path of the original Hollow Knight. You must defeat the guardians of the three Dreamers and break their seals. As you descend into the buried ruins—Greenpath, the City of Tears, Deepnest—you collect tools, power, and fragments of this tragic history. You encounter your mysterious half-sister, Hornet, who tests your strength and guides your purpose. She is skeptical of your goal, fearing that if you fail, the kingdom is doomed. Ultimately, your purpose is revealed: you are here to either take the place of the failed Hollow Knight and become the new prison, or, if you are truly empty and capable, to use the power of the Void to destroy The Radiance forever. You are the ghost. You are the shadow. You are the only hope for the kingdom of Hallownest."