The long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong has turned fans of the series into real detectives. While some are replaying the original in circles, others are piecing together information about where the franchise is headed. After studying the history of the world, the evolution of the combat system, and Team Cherry's perfectionism, we tried to look beyond the horizon of Pharloom. We'll tell you how the conflict of the Higher Beings is changing the rules of the game, why the Knight and Hornet may be replaced by the graceful Lace, and how the series' combat is mutating towards Sekiro mechanics.
Eternal cycle
At the center of the events of the world of "Hollow Knight" are the Higher Beings, which include the Pale King, the Pale Lady, and the Radiance from Hollow Knight, and the Supreme Mother of Silk from Hollow Knight: Silksong. Higher Beings embody pure emotions and ambitions — they endow bugs with reason and will so that they serve them forever.
The Darkness of the Void opposes the light of the Higher Beings. It is a dark substance whose essence is the end of all things. When its time comes, the Void devours life, corrupts bugs, destroys civilizations, and the Higher Beings themselves.
Hollow Knight
The game's events begin with the conflict between the Pale King, who is fighting for order, and the Radiance, who desires absolute control. The victorious Pale King founds the kingdom of Hallownest. But the Radiance's anger takes the form of a plague that turns the kingdom's inhabitants into lifeless puppets.
The dead kingdom reflects the essence of the Knight: an emotionless hero who arrives in Hallownest to fight the plague. However, the lack of emotions does not mean that the Knight has no character: he challenges some bosses to a fight and voluntarily saves Hornet's life. The survivors he meets along the way perceive him as a person and make him a silent listener to their stories.
Since the essence of the Knight is simple, controlling him is also simple, although the process is not without its nuances. In battle, you need to dodge attacks and choose the right moments to deal damage. Abilities gained during the journey, as well as amulets that give bonuses, will help you achieve victory. Even with all the improvements, the essence remains simple: try not to die and deal as much damage as possible — the hero acts as a resilient fighter.
Through the Knight's efforts, different endings can be achieved. Being born from the union of the Pale King and the Pale Lady, he can follow his imposed destiny and become a vessel for sealing the Radiance. Or he can accept the Void within himself and become the end of eternity.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
In the kingdom of Pharloom, the Higher Being named the Supreme Mother of Silk ruled. She turned spiders into weavers so that they would forever play the song of silk for her. But the weavers rebelled and captured the ruler at the top of the Citadel. While imprisoned, the Supreme Mother of Silk used her threads to enslave the inhabitants of Pharloom. She ordered the capture of the weavers, including Hornet, the faithful defender of Hallownest and the main character of the game.
As in the first part, the environment of Hollow Knight: Silksong reflects the essence of the protagonist. Pharloom is at a crossroads — the kingdom is both dead and capable of rebirth and greatness. Since Hornet is both Void, the daughter of Higher Beings, and a weaver, she must decide her fate.
Hornet is a nimble huntress, and she should be played accordingly. She is not as strong as the Knight: in battle, she has to be especially fast and deadly. You need to constantly move and aggressively sting the enemy with your faithful needle. Advantages can also be achieved with the help of cunning traps. Unlike the Knight, Hornet does not suffer from silent protagonist syndrome. She is a pragmatic and confident warrior who communicates with the bugs she meets — many of whom have become her friends.
If Hornet follows the path of the Higher Being and the weaver, then, having defeated the progenitor, she will transform into a full-fledged Higher Being. She can turn to the Void to devour the Supreme Mother of Silk. But there is also the most difficult path, which will allow her to choose her own destiny.
Further fate of the franchise
Fans love the franchise for the developers' policy at Team Cherry. The developers used the money from Hollow Knight sales to add the content promised on Kickstarter. The additions were also free, among which the two largest stood out:
- In The Grimm Troupe add-on, you can go through a chain of quests of the infernal troupe of bugs and challenge the charismatic Grimm to a fight.
- In Godmaster, you will have to test yourself by fighting all the bosses to get the true ending.
In the last addition, Hornet was supposed to be the main character. However, it turned out to be so large-scale that the developers announced the creation of a sequel — Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Due to Team Cherry's commitment to perfectionism, the gap between the announcement and the release of Silksong was 6 years — by the time of release, only loyal fans believed in the game's existence. The game turned out to be larger than the first part, and the developers continue to expand it: they have already announced work on the Sea of Sorrow addition, the face of which is Hornet.
In the original Hollow Knight, a lot of attention was paid to Hornet, who later got the main role in the sequel. Something similar is happening with Lace — a character from Hollow Knight: Silksong, with whom Hornet shares a history of rivalry and forced cooperation. Just like the Hollow Knight and Hornet.
Lace is a unique creature made of silk and cannot exist for long without being nourished by this material. The Supreme Mother of Silk created her as a faithful and eternal child, but she developed into a wayward personality who experiences complex emotions towards her mother. If the situation with the last addition to Hollow Knight is repeated, then Lace will become a new playable character.
According to the tradition of the series, the environment from the new content will reflect Lace's personality. The heroine who has gained freedom must develop as a person in order to lose the status of "eternal child". This state will be reflected in the emerging kingdom, where bugs are fighting for ideals and a vision of the future. The situation with the Pale King and the Radiance may be repeated, when the Higher Beings are behind the conflict. But this time, the protagonist will be able to choose: prevent the disaster or become the Higher Being herself to rule destinies.
The Knight was a mobile and resilient fighter, and Hornet is a hunter who relies on somersaults and cunning traps. Lace uses not a nail or a needle, but a pin that is perfect for fencing. Her fighting style is based on sharp lunges, parries, and counterattacks. And instead of spirit or silk skills, she uses combat techniques.
She will be revealed not in an open space, but in small arenas. It is safe to assume that the addition with Lace will be a set of arenas like the Godmaster addition, but with an emphasis on parries and counterattacks — like Sekiro or Nine Sols, but from the world of bugs.
If the ending of the third act of Hollow Knight: Silksong turns out to be canonical, then the main characters of the new stories will be Lace and Hornet — Lace cannot exist without Hornet's silk. It remains to be seen whether Team Cherry will eternally expand Silksong or announce the creation of a new game and force loyal fans to wait for another miracle.
