#hollow knight headcanon

[mebis-art-dump]

kingdom Pathologia, part 2: Crystal Poisoning

Also known as "Gleamshell" or "Miner's jewels", this crystal growth mostly affects the workers of Crystal Peak.

It is caused by shards lodging into the shell, although it has been recently proposed that inhaling the dust from the mines can also cause it.

It does not distinguish between bug or beast of burden, thus daily checks are realized in the mine's exits.

As the crystals grow they cause more, acute pain. Other symptoms include:

- Prolonged lethargy

- Difficulty breathing

- High fever

- numbness

- Auditory hallucinations

- Stiffness

(Shards quickly grow and branch out)

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Crystal poisoning has no cure, and must be constantly taken care of, resulting in the classification of three stages of crystal growth:

1- Initial discovery. The growth is minimal. Checks in the mines are aimed at finding these, and treatment seeks for it to not progress past this.

2- Great Crystal Growth. Critical state. Extreme action must be taken and the survival of the patient is not warranted. Searing fever and hallucinations are to be expected.

3- If action is not taken in time, Great Crystal Growth can turn into Greater Crystal Growth —also known as "Glass Tomb" or "Gleaming Cocoon"— at any time. The victim is considered dead at this point.

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Daily treatment consists of the careful extraction of any visible crystals; it is custom for the entire treatment to be paid with the crystals extracted this way.

Afterwards it is suggested to balance out one's breath, soul and water to further reduce the growth speed. The assistance of a priest or sage is recommended.

The common method is meditation to spread the soul and to inhale incense to balance both water and breath.

It is not recommended to visit Hot Springs, for its heat and streams will quickly throw water and soul out of balance.

(There aren't any Hot Springs on Crystal Peak for a reason...)

..................................................................................

Unfortunately, there's a rather sad trend growing between miners: to hide away the sickness and let the valuable crystals grow on their shell, to sell the shards for some quick Geo; this practice has lately gained the disease the new monicker of "Greed's Glaze".

There are already many poorly made jewels on the city, even in noble houses.

They shatter easily, and crystal poisoning outside of the miner community is on the rise.

(so brittle...)

To avoid shame, affected aristocrats will refuse to be publicly treated, and resort to... unorthodox methods.

(so unsanitary...)

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Previous chapter: Fungal Growth

Next chapter: Sleepwalkers (wip)

Directory/ Masterpost

[artymcartist]

My favorite headcanon, besides the messy text. I rewrote it, just not on the image itself lol

1. "Small 'vessels'*2 typically have square heads."

2. "Vessels* in this context just refers to any child of the Pale King, not the literal vessels."

3. "Heads start rounding out and elongating as they're raised. Neglected 'vessels'*2 usually stay small."

4. "Chins may stay a bit round, but typically will make a point. Heads elongate to their final size, new points may grow in."

5. "The Hollow Knight is abnormal, and grew to an unusual size. Can happen if raised right. The weight of their head means their posture is usually hunched."

[brennustheskeleton]

Nosk headcanon break!

Wanted to think about my nosk son, Damson. But also how the rest of his species work. So I just wrote and illustrated my silly thoughts for you all.

[ruthlesslistener]

sometimes I wonder out of all of the tribes that do not have a higher being, only the mantises managed to not get infected.

The bees make sense why they succumbed, vespa was dead so they latched onto the next best thing. The mushrooms are a similar case.

But deepnest?

I feel deepnest also has a warrior culture and I feel that Herrah is a strong enough leader and has people who respect her enough that she could have pulled off a quarantine like the mantises- though I can see why a larger territory would become an issue

My only explanation is thar while deepnest valued strenght it also valued the arts, what with the weavers and whatnot. And with the arts and dreams being interlinked it made them rather susceptible to the infection.

What do you think?

I think that the reason why Deepnest fell is not because Herrah and her kin weren't strong enough, but because the Radiance specifically targeted them after Herrah chose to become a Dreamer. I think there's some dialogue in game hinting to it, iirc? But I could be misremembering, so don't take my word for it. Either way though, Herrah was essential to the plan that sealed away the Radiance, and so the Radiance retaliated as such. In terms of being involved in the war, they were pretty damn involved, and, well...that damned them

The mantises, on the other hand, stayed neutral during the entire fight. Sure, they might have had a treaty with Hallownest, but they were no means friendly with the residents. And given the fact that the Traitor Lord and his followers willingly took the Radiance's infection into themselves, its likely that Radi knew they were sympathetic to her cause/easy to manipulate and simply chose to bide her time so that she could maximize the amount of followers she got out of it. Better to have half of them come to her than to force compliance and lose the whole tribe

[anhilliator1]

I will mention that a headcanon that I have that I think a lot of people share is that in the days leading up to the sealing, a part of the Pale King was desperately hoping that PV would show a sign, any sign, that they weren't, in fact, pure, just so that he wouldn't have to actually go through with it.

It's why I've always liked how fans tackle PK receiving a clear revelation that PV isn't hollow. Generally, it's around this moment that the full emotional weight of what he's done and what he's about to do end up hitting him full-force with interest, and it's always an interesting exploration of his character to see how he reacts.

[vulturereyy]

"There's too many, Lord Lurien! If I can get you to the gates--" "Nonsense, my dear old friend... This is my city. I will not flee as it falls." "It would be safer to--" "Hush, and stay behind me, Hegemol. Besides, I believe it is about time... That I returned the favor."

(Secret) Soul Mage Lurien now lives in my head rent free. (There's a lot going on here but Lurien's also healing Hegemol with his left hand)

May polish this up more at a later time, but for now... Teehee

[phantomgrape]

A lot of people see the vessels shades as a sad thing, but I believe the truth is that their shades are the vessels at their most free.

The shell that the Pale King imposed onto them is a prison, not only to the Radiance but also to their own void. The siblings in the abyss attack ghost not because of vengeance or anger but it's because they want to free you from your prison.

With this perspective in mind, I believe that Dream No More is the happiest ending, because it means both Hollow and Ghost are free from their burdens. Embrace the Void used to be my favorite ending because it had the possibility of Hollow being alive, but.. after all they've been through, what if being in their shell is torture?

[samstudios8108]

Hollo Knight AU idea generating

Thinking about that one au idea I posted about a while ago…

have some sibling fluff

[littlebittyhollowbugs]

another hk headcanon of ours, is that this in fact the black wrym, but the battle is not named after it as a being, rather as a place.

The theory is that the death of the black wyrm happened long before Ogrim was around, who we know was involved in this mysterious battle, but its body was being used as a war fortress at the time, and was central to the conflict that took place (probably between Hallownest and intruders coming in from the east.)

[feathers-feathers]

@goblinboykoko recent post gushing about the Embrace The Void ending for Hollow Knight got me thinking again.

All of the endings for Hollow Knight have one of two very simple things to say. The overarching theme of the game is largely being about stasis - being stuck in a singular situation and refusing to leave. Reflecting this, most of the endings say one thing in particular. "We're not done. Keep going."

You only get the first two endings if you haven't done enough in the game. You may be done, but Hallownest isn't satisfied. To get the next ending you have to do much more, discover and learn much more. The finality of the Dream No More ending is potent. Bringing a close to it all, it is the perfect ending for wrapping up and preparing for something else entirely. The one ending that says "We're done here. Let's go."

While the first two endings ask you to keep going, and the third is satisfied with that you've accomplished… there is still far more that Can be done, more to see. So what happens when you keep going, beyond what even the narrative is asking of you?

Where Dream No More would stop for a satisfying rest, Embrace The Void instead Violently Screams "WE'RE NOT DONE, DAMMIT. KEEP GOING." And then it locks the door.

But the game has so little left to offer by that point. And with everything that is already in it, it would be ridiculous to expect more. The balance has shifted - where the narrative once demanded more of us, we are now demanding more of it.

And it's very interesting, because it's just… completely true, isn't it? We're not done here. We want more. And I don't mean more from Team Cherry - Silksong is coming, yes, but that's not why we're still here. We want more from Hollow Knight - from Hallownest.

It is simultaneously demolishing the stasis and keeping it alive at the same time. The Sheer Raw POTENTIAL of what could happen next is nigh limitless. Take a look at any detail big or small presented in that ending - they could lead to so much, but not ONE of them has a definitive say in what is happening or what will happen. It is bias and interpretation all the way down.

And that's why it is my favorite ending. If we stopped at Dream No More - Hollow Knight would still be my most favorite game of all time, but I wouldn't be here any more. I'd be on something else entirely. Instead, I've been stuck dreaming up headcanons and theories, AU's, crossovers, sequels and prequels, all for 4 years now and it hasn't shown any signs of stopping. All because of Embrace The Void - The perfect ending to keep going, on Our terms.

TL,DR: Embrace The Void is fanfiction bait.

[orionym]

Anyway I have some HK headcanons that I wanna share... but for one about Little Ghost... I imagine that they are actually the true "Hollow" Knight. Unlike THK in the game, it genuinely has no emotions and no real will. It is just hollow. It's what the Pale King THOUGHT THK was, and he just made a mistake in choosing THK over Little Ghost. This is why in one of the endings, Ghost seals the infection. In my headcanon they succeed forever in doing so.

And I think there are many different interpretations of what The Pale King meant by "no will to break" but I think that just means that they DO have a will (to fulfil their purpose of sealing the infection) but it simply cannot be broken. Nobody can change Ghost's mind about sealing the infection/defeating the Radiance, they just wanna do it.

Also they're just very stoic and dead set. They'll listen to someone speak but they won't ever try to communicate back. If they want something they can and will get it themselves, without asking for help. They don't really have any feelings. Just kill and survive I guess lol. But everybody likes them because they are cute and sometimes they sit on benches. What's not to love

[mebis-art-dump]

Are those lotus seed beds?

if they are, imagine the view during Unn's prime...

mountain sized lotus flowers floating in the acid lake

quick sketch before going to sleep, got another art piece in mind to do on this idea soon-ish

[flarebean]

thinking about the pale king designing the UGLIEST and MOST UNCOMFORTABLE soul restoring benches ever and then running it by lurien

tpk: check this out, i designed something!

lurien: sire this is the worst bench i have ever seen. it's so spartan. it's so raw I'd expect it to be shipped out directly from the mines. tell me more about the soul channels so i can redesign this bench in it's entirety to something people will actually sit on.

[queruloustea]

he's got two hats now (ghost is very impressed that he's not been explode-ified yet) :)

[ruthlesslistener]

Can I pls have Herrah for the headcanon ask meme and uh insert symbol for bedroom / personal quarters thing I can't get it to copy on my phone lmao

Oh fuckin mood lmao, I'm answering this quickly on my phone before work and it's also not working on my end

Bedroom/house/living quarters headcanon- There has always been a designated spot for the rulers of Deepnest to build their homes, but Herrah was the one to make it the Beast's Den when she drastically expanded the size and expanse of those living quarters with her own silk (the previous rulers and her old husband had been weavers, small delicate spiders with small needs). She was the one who turned it from a small hut to a massive den where multiple of her suboordinates could be housed, as she connected close living quarters to the Queen's Abode. Despite that, her own bedroom is very plain and small, sporting only a bedside table, a sleeping hammock, and a small shelf for records. All the ornate fancy stuff is placed outside of her pricate quarters, where others can look at them. Herrah married into the ruler's caste from the warrior's caste and thus does not have much of a desire for anything that's fancy over functional.

As for how Deepnest housing works- it's all circular rooms with cylindrical corridors woven out of dense silk from many spiders. Many of them are only big enough to accomidate their largest members, and seem claustrophobic to outsiders as a result, even if the spiders themselves consider it very cosy.

[glow-and-vamp]

Every January-February we come back to Hollow Knight and write very self-indulgent RPs

Here's old doodles PK from random scenes in unrelated threads.