#Deepnest

[noto-yellowrabbit]

Distant village

[eliduck]

experimented a bit

[cupcakeshakesnake]

This is quite possibly the dumbest joke I've made in a while

[gem-is-still-bored]

deepnest.jpg

[tonythr]

A tribute to my favorite quote from Hollow Knight. My biggest finished artwork so far

[lavanatwt]

Hollow knight fanart i made last year

[potatosoupwithcornandstuff]

I love (HATE) Deepnest!!!

[avianoutcast]

When you thought a bed of flowers in cozy Underground would break your fall... but instead you are greeted by the Deepnest title XDDD

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Ah shit it is. Deepnest got me again😭😭

(hahaha help)

[primepalindrome]

I hate it here

[flame-shadow]

Quirrel..?

I found some inspiration and a couple grey markers and had some fun making this last night :) Here's the post that inspired this comic:

[id in alt]

[billyfinnp]

my hollow knight fanart....

[craniumknight]

Paintmaster Sheo's Map of Hallownest

(prints and stickers)

individual images below the cut!

[dragoler]

The Pale King's deal with Herrah was actually genius

I'm sure this question has crossed many people's minds when they've played Hollow Knight: why is Herrah a dreamer? Monomon and Lurien were both followers of the Pale King and probably volunteered eagerly for the position; Monomon to preserve the kingdom's diversity, and Lurien because he would do anything in service to his king, but Herrah? She is a foreign queen, furthermore, she did not volunteer willingly for the position, but had to be persuaded through a deal. Well to start with, let's look at Deepnest.

Deepnest is not a friendly place

The first sign of Hallownest's tumultuous relationship with Deepnest is the failed tramway. Granted, this project may have failed due to aggression from the region's wildlife and not the actions of the Distant Village, as we already know Hallownest had a deal in place with the Mantis village to keep those away:

The truce remains. Our vigil holds. The beasts are kept at bay.

- Mantis lore tablet

But it reflects well the attitude the Distant Village likely had about the expansionist empire at their door. To start with, those creepy puppets who tell you to rest on the bench in the Beast's Den. They look like upper-class Hallownest bugs, which is odd, because why would the denizens of Deepnest even know what they look like, given their isolation, and why would any bugs wearing these robes ever step foot in such a dangerous place? Here's my theory, they are the shells of real Hallownest bugs, as we can find the webbed remains of similar bugs who've been deceived by this ruse in the other building:

…Not friends…

Furthermore, they are the shells of diplomats sent by Hallownest to negotiate with the bugs of the Village, which would explain their upper-class fashion. That didn't turn out so well though, did it?

Even if they aren't the actual shells of Hallownest's representatives, the way they're used is already damning enough.

Ah, but the weavers are now infected, which is why they have become so aggressive. While it is true that the infection increases the aggression of its host, it isn't really known to make its hosts more clever, in fact, quite the opposite:

For quiet retreat did I climb up here, away from spitting creatures. Ormmph… Yes. High up. Away from simple minds, lost to light. Theirs is a different kind of unity. Rejection of the Wyrm's attempt at order. I resist the light's allure. Union it may offer, but also a mind bereft of thought… To instinct alone a bug is reduced…Hrrm…

- Bardoon

And that, was quite a clever trap. Probably too clever for an infected mind, especially given how clearly those puppets speak. Moreover, we do see an uninfected weaver in their hidden den, so we know not all of them have fallen to the infection.

If there needs to be more evidence that this is behavior we should expect from intelligent Deepnest bugs, we only need look to the Midwife. She is an uninfected servant of the Nest, who despite claiming to be a friend, will always try to eat the Knight at the end of her dialogue. This is probably how the Nest has acted for most of its existence, and again following Hallownest's fall, but something happened in-between…

Something changed

In the later months or years of Hallownest, bugs stopped using stone tablets:

In its declining age, this city switched from stone to parchment woven of spider's silk. It's a small tragedy, but the moisture in these towers has rendered most of those texts illegible.

- Relic Seeker Lemm

We can see spools of silk in the weaver's den, Deepnest stag station, and the hidden station at the palace grounds, so almost certainly this new silk came from the weavers.

Furthermore, we know the Nest worked alongside the Pale King with his vessel plan, as we can find a prototype of the seal that was used to bind the Hollow Knight within their hidden den.

So what changed? An acknowledgement of a shared threat, bringing both communities together? I don't think so. Before the Pale King arrived in what would become Hallownest, all tribes in the area seemed content to stay within their boundaries:

No bug has ever laid claim to this whole. Even the beasts knew their limits and bound their realm at Nest's edge.

And it is only upon pushing those boundaries that collapse becomes inevitable:

It is the ancient caste that made attempt at such vast rule. Hallownest's ruin reflects well those fared attempts.

- Both quotes from Mask Maker

The Radiance and the moth tribe coexisted with the other tribes and gods around them for an unknown period of time before Hallownest started expanding into their lands. Besides the Hive which shut its doors to the outside world, the Nest was the last frontier Hallownest really had left to conquer. Given their isolation from the kingdom, the Nest would have every reason to believe the Radiance was not their problem, and if she returned, Hallownest might fall but the Nest would keep going on all the same.

Although, if weavers were happening to become infected at this time, their general hostile and isolationist attitude would make it unlikely for them to seek or accept the aid of Hallownest of all places.

No, the reason Deepnest suddenly got friendly with Hallownest was because of The Bargain tm.

Why the bargain was genius

We don't have definitive proof of who came up with the deal. There is dialogue from Herrah which states that it was the Pale King, but because this dialogue is unused, it of course cannot be used as evidence:

Wyrm, your attempt may prove futile, but your offer I could not refuse.

That said, it was probably still the Pale King's idea. To start with, let's look at the Midwife's dialogue:

That village above here, home to a sad creature. Hers is a tale of tragic exchange. Cost her and her people greatly, though I suspect she bore no regret in making it.

This deal cost not only Herrah, but her people greatly as well. It was not a deal made lightly, but seemingly one she couldn't refuse. We know that she once had a husband, as the mushrooms mention him in one of their lore tablets:

This border bounds the twisting, scratching things. Their dead sire, once of honoured caste. Their sealed mother, but the common beast. No peace with them we make.

He was of "honoured caste", we don't know what this means, but as Herrah is a queen and yet still described as a "beast", he must have been a notable creature, likely a higher being of some sort.

Herrah it seems married well above her station, but as a now widowed mortal queen she was in need of an heir, and not just any heir, an heir of appropriate caste. In this deal she'd lose her autonomy, and never get to see her child grow up. What does the Pale King get?

He gets everything.

The Queen of the Nest is now out of action, and his own blood sits upon its throne, but as Hornet is too young to rule, the Nest is essentially leaderless. Furthermore his own queen is either raising Hornet, or at least has a strong influence on her, as she was close enough to the princess to develop a bond:

It faced the Gendered Child? She's a fierce foe, strong in mind and body, striking reflection of her mother, though the two were permitted little time together. I never begrudged the Wyrm's dalliance as bargain. In fact, I feel some affection for the creature birthed.

Hallownest now firmly has its claws in the Nest and its future, making the Nest a vassal of the kingdom, and this manifested in cooperation and trade.

So why did the Pale King chose Herrah and not one of his own subjects? Because it let him execute his plan to save Hallownest and conquer his final rival in a single move. Oh, and it would have been a perfect victory, if it wasn't for that dang impurity in the Vessel.

All images taken from hollowknight.wiki

[witch-with-scissors]

Fanart in collage technique - the list of ingredients I used you can be found HERE ✂️

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Maybe I'm weird, but I like Deepnest. (I shed many more tears in the Crystal Peak mines...) I'm not afraid of spiders, and I'm pretty sure it must have been an interesting place before the plague. 🕷️🕸️

That's why I enlarged the collage with Hornet - our princess in the darkness of Deepnest. The spiders were obvious. The spools of thread are justified, you could find similar ones in Weavers' Den, for example. And of course the mask in the background, similar to the Weaversong charm. Or maybe it's Stalking Devouts?

[wyrdzpiral]

Day 21 - "Doppelgänger"

(REPOST BECAUSE TOUCH UPS) Sadly I needed a tutorial to find nosk the first time around but they still creeped me so much, such an amazing concept for a boss. (also yeah im a bit late again ssshhh)

[snizzardd]

Herrah the Beast and Hornet, Hollow Knight

"Then you've met her perhaps? Her who'd guard the mark, the Gendered Child. A spritely thing, isn't she? Pale gift to the Nest and the Beast, and fair trade for sacrifice made."