#lurien the watcher (Team Cherry)

[ceruleanbug]

I love these bugs with all if my chest

[neptuniadoesstuff]

Lurien Altemoss (KoD AU)

(Contains spoilers for HK)

Welp. Here's another if the dreamers, this time Lurien. (Btw I edited this so it would show his age)

I made a extreme change to his design, which may or may not make some ppl mad (But this is a au design & it's my design, or well concept design). Infact I think alot of ppl might not even consider this as "Lurien". But then again it's kinda a silly thing + in canon he doenst rlly look like a bug, imo.

This version of Lurien is a Ozznok, descendants of a now extinct race of Humanoid creatures. He was actually from the surface, but was adopted by 2 bugs from Hallownest. He was the founder of the City of Tears, a semi-modern ish city built under a huge blue lake, in which he watches over now. In KoD, he's kinda rich (but not too rich, bcs he isn't a royal, but ig his adoptive parents were nobles in the pale court), he wears fancy looking clothes, however these clothes are dark in color. He is quite silent, only talking to ppl he trusts (like his Butler) or needing to. If there's one thing he doesn't truly talk about is how he became blind in his right eye or why he even covers it. When the infection came into existence, he became reclusive, but only out of orders of the pale king (as he was loyal to him). This reclusitivity didn't last long though, as he eventually became one of the 3 dreamers, a seal to hopefully not allow the infection to spread any longer, but before, he reassured his butler that he was gonna wake up after the infection was over (Unfortunately that never happened..). As a dreamer, his form is quite similar to the original sprite, having no visible features other than some black body, & one single blank eye. When he woke up after the extremely long slumber, he found out the place he founded was now in ruins, & his butler... was pretty much ded now.. (Not due to the infection, but due to being smushed). Going under a extreme & utter state of despair since that was the person (Well bug) he cared for the most... He now wanders aimlessly in the ruins of Hallownest, searching for meaning... Maybe even going up onto the surface... the place he was born in.

(All of this is my own lore btw, as there's nothing about about Lurien other than he was one of the dreamers & he has a butler who is left unnamed, but if I were to give his butler a name, it prob be.... Yiiren.)

Oh yeh btw here's a link to the unshaded version: *insert link here*

Btw a link to Monomon (My version) & Herrah (My version).

Character belongs to Team Cherry but design is entirely mine. (Again ppl might get mad at me for making Lurien into a weird human thing)

Art is mine.

Program: Ibispaint x

Bubs' TOS: Plz don't repost/steal, trace, or recolor my art WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! If you do, I'll take yur femur and pelvis.. SO, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT! (The PNS on my blog's pinned post clearly means "Please No Steal" plz follow that rule.) If you do post my art on anything like yur blog or somewhere else (With my permission) PLEASE CREDIT ME!

[hawshii]

Wip of an art trade with @alecz-obssesionz !!!

Will be finished someday when we have more time 🥰 I love lurien and pk sm........

[violetdawn001]

What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 3.9 Ballroom and Resting

Now, Lurien's patriotic nature is quite famous in the community. Let us discuss a room that is not talked often about: Lurien's ballroom.

Also known as, the Boss room for the Watcher Knights. People scarcely remember that this boss room was a ballroom once just as often as they remember that Lurien canonically had 15 Watcher Knights, not just 6.

Could you imagine attending a ball here? The wide space surrounded by huge windows that allow you to see the whole City of Tears? Massive chandeliers that allow you to dance the night away till dawn? The drapes that offer a chance to prank a fellow guest…or sneak a kiss. If you want a closer look at the chandeliers, here is the best shot I got.

Goodness! Lurien could have taught Hornet or Hollow how to dance here!

 What does this ballroom tell us about Lurien's character?

For one, it hints that the Watcher duties included some social aspect. One does not need a ballroom unless the person has a formal event. (Unless you need to transform the room into an emergency kitchen and shelter. Though usually, I've seen it the other way around where someone transforms a commons to a dancefloor.)

While we do not know who would attend these social events hosted by the Watcher's Spire, all these events must have been fantastic by the sheer view alone. The host of the social events has a very good chance of being the Watcher himself, as he is the Keeper of the Spire. Though the possibility remains that someone could have rented his Spire or Lurien could have lent his ballroom to any committee or guild in need of it. We do not have any evidence of this, however, so this is just speculation.

What is certain is that Lurien had a ballroom and it had to been used at some point. The Watcher, hosting a grand formal event, is not exactly an image that appears often in the fandom. Usually, Lurien is portrayed as an introvert who retreats from society rather than invites society into his home. 

Yet there appears to be a place for Lurien to remain an introvert while hosting these grand balls. Behold the chart below.

Red arrow points to the ballroom (plus the above area where you get your reward of geo) while the green arrow points to the room with the three little watchers. Blue arrow points to Lurien's office.

Lurien has created a buffer zone between him, his work, and the ballroom. When Lurien is hosting a party and feeling overwhelmed by all the company, he can duck out into either the green arrow zone or use the zone to sneak into his office. Whereas when Lurien is too tired from his work, he can slip down the elevator to the green arrow zone or the ballroom for a dance. Again, if work came up at the ball, Lurien can pull the person aside into the green arrow zone and into his office if need be. Then, as soon as work was completed, Lurien can return to the ballroom after taking a breather in the green arrow zone.

Lurien knows himself and the duties required of him, whether it be his guardsman duties or his social duties, and so created a space for him to meet both duties while giving himself a breather room, literally.

Speaking of a breather, let us turn from the ballroom to the room which Lurien made to allow anyone to rest, the bench room.

This is personally my favorite bench in game, though the one in the Queen's Gardens is a close second. The soft sound of rain while surrounded by the glow of the lamps, all while Marissa's song echoes in the background. The whole room is beautiful, allowing you to take a breath not just from the brutality and decay outside, but for awe that Team Cherry creates in their game.

Unlike the other Dreamers, Lurien does not have a unique bench. The bench within his Spire is standard across the kingdom. While it does save Team Cherry time, I believe the standard bench speaks to Lurien's character as well. The standard Hallownestian bench is for anyone to sit, and so anyone and everyone is welcomed to rest at Lurien's Spire. Note the placement of the bench, directly underneath the bridge connecting the Watcher's Spire to the Commoner/Worker side of the City. Anyone from that side would immediately have a place to rest when they arrived or about to depart. As for the nobles, the room is so beautiful and costly adorned that they would have no reason to complain. Once again, the bench area’s predominantly colored purple, showing how anyone could rest there in beauty.

Sidenote: I find it interesting that the glass lamps Lurien used for this room were first and only seen on the Commoner/Worker side of the City. The nobles only have round spheres or crest-like ovoid.  

If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.

Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here

Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here

Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here

Part 3.25: Lurien's Spire: Windows and Colors: Here

Part 3.5: Even More of Lurien's Spire. Here

Part 3.7: What is WRONG with Lurien's Spire?: Here

Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here

Part 4.0 What We Know We Don't Know About the Dreamers' Houses: Click Here

Link to essay on Ao3: Here

If you have thoughts you wish to share, please feel free to comment or reblog! Artists! How does the idea of Lurien teaching Hornet how to dance sound?

[grisifu]

The Watcher

Another old drawing. The City of Tears is definitely my favorite location in the game.

[sector-z-knd]

An audio fanfiction by Nym_P_Seudo. All voices done by me. 

 Read the fic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17822231/chapters/42049733

Listen to the author's recording here: youtube.com/watch?v=FHZKyACSz5E&t=134s

 All Hollow Knight characters belong to Team Cherry 

 Note: Please do not compare my recordings with that of the original author's recordings. I drew a heavy amount of inspiration from his recordings and have really liked them!

[netmors]

“The Fading Realm” - Chapter 3.

Lyrics - Lazy Moonkin. Based on the lore of Team Cherry - “Hollow Knight”.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 4

[hvm-art]

A dream is endless, but a Kingdom is not. The power to wake this world from its slumber... you only need to reach out and take it.

[ospreyeamon]

hornet and the giant spider that wasn’t there

Unlike for Monomon the Teacher and Lurien the Watcher, there is no boss fight gating access to Herrah the Beast. This is a source of disappointment for some players, especially since there is a cut content screenshot of a very, very large spider.

What Team Cherry was planning [Image description: The Knight stands on a platform in the foreground. In the background four huge eyes, each larger than the Knight's entire body, are visible. Most of the chamber and the giant spider is hidden by darkness.]

What Team Cherry went with [Image description: Hornet sits beside the altar that held Herrah's body in the central chamber of Deepnest. The room is filled with cobwebs and candles, torn banners showing a emblem with six eyes hang from the ceiling.]

From an out of universe perspective this is probably the result of Team Cherry running out of time/money, not being able to refine the fight to an acceptable quality, wanting to give a different feel to the three Dreamers, and/or prioritising Hornet’s moment of characterisation in a game that has plenty of other boss fights.

In universe, the reason the Knight doesn’t have to battle a spider fifty times their size is because Hornet follows them into Deepnest to call the spider off.

When the Knight awakens from the Dream in which they have killed Herrah, they find Hornet sitting on the altar beside her mother’s body. She knows that the Knight must destroy the three Dreamers to break the Seal on the Black Egg Temple – Hornet is trying to guide the Knight towards the Dream No More ending – and so her mother must die if there is to be a chance of saving Hallownest. It still grieves her. This is the first time that the Knight leaves Hornet rather than Hornet skipping away from them; she remains in the chamber to mourn while the Knight continues their quest.

Hallownest’s glory cannot be renewed, but Hornet is determined to save as many of the realm’s inhabitants as she believes can be saved. After the Knight proves themself in their battle in Greenpath, Hornet begins to offer advice and even a rare instance of help.

Calling off the giant spider isn’t something Hornet does for the Knight’s sake though – she does it for the spider. Hornet by this point has lost her foster-mother Vespa, sire the Pale King, is about to loose Herrah, and has doubtless seen dozens of bugs she has known have their minds destroyed by the Infection or be killed by Infected bugs. There aren’t many survivors left past Hallownest’s fall – only the Midwife, the Mask Maker, a single skittish Weaver, and the not-friends remain in Deepnest that we see, contrasted with the swarms of Infected enemies. Herrah’s guardian must be someone that Hornet knows. Someone who, like the Midwife, was part of Herrah’s inner circle and so part of Hornet’s childhood. If the spider guardian remains unInfected then Hornet can request they stand down rather than risk the Knight killing them; naturally Hornet chooses to do just that.

[ah-foof]

my awesome lurien redone in game thing ykyk (copy and pasted from insta jic if the format gets weird.)

NOT TO COMPLAIN ABT HOLLOW KNIGHT LORE OR ANYTHING BECAUSE THE GAMES STORY BITS R SOLID BUT TEAM CHERRY DID LURIEN SO DIRTY.

firstly,

- only dreamer tht doesn't have some living counterpart (herrah -> hornet, monomon -> quirrel.)

- his area in the game has the least amount of context/content (watcher's spire in general is just barren, there's only really the watcher knights and his ONE DIARY ENTRY. city of tears is also just generally lacking and literally has less lore about it than greenpath which is Weird because it's one of the only parts in the game [aside from royal waterways and MAYBE collo?]) that's actually JUST hollownest and wasn't previously/currently under uun's or radience's control.)

secondly,

- he is the only dreamer who is ACTUALLY ONLY A DREAMER BECAUSE OF HIS DEVOTION TO PALE KING?? monomon is a solid MAYBE on that but she's the reason you're even able to kill her because she calls quirrel back so she can be released and black egg seal can be broken.

-> i think it would've been more interesting if thise point was actually developed on but it's just...Not?? and even being able to see that he's incredibly devoted (unlike herrah and monomon) is hidden in dreamnail dialog and, again, his /one hidden/ diary entry.

It sucks He is so forgettable.

so my proposal to 'fix' this/just large ass headcanon;

- make him the only dreamer with a fight. he is essentially a character foil to soul master (think his devotion to pale king vs. soul master outright hating him) and since we can assume that soul master's fight is either because he wants to resume power for himself or because he thinks that the vessle is trying to 'free' hollownest from radience's dream (the place he got power from) you can use lurien as a ''real life'' foil and have him fight so it can (in his mind) stay under pale king's control.

- go the monomon route and give him a shit ton of tablets.

- more of a stretch but add hedgesmol after/before watcher knights and he can give some info/lore to lurien OR city of tears. also it'd be funny to see him without his shell.

[bsa-fantasy]

🎐 QUESTION-TIME🎐

This characters are some of my favs from HK and HK Silksong~!

What is your favorite character?

Hi again maybeleecry~!🌟😁🌟

Oouuuhhh, a very good question.🤔

I've many favorite characters of HK...😅

An example are the pure vessel/the Hollow Knight, the Grimmchild and Hornet.

I'll make a picture list of all my HK favorites. It needs a little bit time. 😉

Let you all surprise~!🌸😁🌸

[lizbot]

So, uh, hi! I'm new to the HK fandom, just finished the game last night actually, haven't read any wikis yet, just started browsing the HollowKnight tag. And, I can't help but notice, why do people ship the Pale King with Lurien the Watcher and/or Nightmare King Grimm???? Where did that come from????? I thought the Pale King and the White Lady are married????

PK and WL are married yes, but they are immortal gods so they might as well allow themselves to have mortal partners. (Maybe not at the same level of greek mythology but still...)

I like PK and Lurien as a ship because I like them as characters, I guess.

Lurien refers to PK as his "King Beloved" so maybe that was a "hint" that team cherry left us, or maybe that just means that Lurien respected his King and they were just roommates, who knows?

Also, both PK and Lurien are cute <3

I don't really ship PK with NKG so I dont know about that one.

Ships don't need to adhere to the canon after all. It's just people having fun with the character that they like.

[ghostlemerofhallownest]

Me, wandering through Watcher's Spire: Team Cherry give me Lurien Lore

[violetdawn001]

What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 3.0 Lurien's Spire

Okay, we can all agree that Team Cherry put a LOT of thought into crafting the backgrounds and environments of Hollow Knight. But why is nobody talking about the designs for the Dreamers' houses?! Especially compared with their base forms?  Well, let's start talking about it!

The Last Dreamer, Lurien the Watcher! A.K.A. The guy who is responsible for this whole essay.

His design is the simplest among the three Dreamers.

Taken from Hollow Knight - Lurien the Watcher

A design so simple that it leaves the fans in relentless debate on what species of bug he is.

So tell me, why is HIS HOUSE the one with the most freaking complicated design!?!?!?! It's as if Lurien is living in a cathedral here!

Okay, Lurien living in a cathedral might be an exaggeration, but take a look at complicated his Spire is! Look at the floors! Notice the window designs! The hanging banners! The lanterns! And goodness gracious, the dude has wallpaper throughout his whole Spire!

Did I forget to mention the wallpaper?!?!!

The insane amount of detail!!!

And we haven't even gotten to the fact Team Cherry went out of their way to incorporate 3D into a 2D POV! You can clearly see it in this window here.

As we start the walk here…

We can't help but notice…

How the pillars framing the window "move" as we do.

Could you believe that a team of four people made all of this? Team Cherry truly wasted no detail in the Watcher's Spire, from the simplest wallpaper to the famous Telescope.

And here is the Telescope! In all its very-difficult-to-draw glory! Speaking of it, the design clearly costed tons of geo. The cost paid off, however, as the Telescope still works despite the lack of maintenance due to the Infection.

Of course, that can be easily seen by anyone who played the game in a rush. In terms of Lurien's character, the fan can see how he earned his namesake, Watcher.

Yet...has anyone stopped to consider how Lurien set up his office? In particular, how Lurien can position his Telescope anywhere in his main office?  Check out all the windows!

Did you all notice it? Every single window is open, yet each window is nicely framed with the glass plane. And before you all comment, “what about this window? It's closed!”

The window design is different from the ones behind Lurien's bed…and matches up with the window where the Telescope is currently at. This implies that this window can open up at any time should Lurien wish it. As the Telescope is NOT facing that direction, there is no need to keep that window open. Lovely for us, as that window keeps Lurien's butler in. If you need proof, check out the photo where the Telescope is again.

With this in mind, what does the Telescope and open windows tell us about Lurien's character?

First, Lurien is very dedicated to his duty as the Watcher, so much so that he will spend as much money as needed to craft the best tools he needs.

Second, Lurien favors practicality as seen by how every window is either open or has hinges to open it. The Watcher must watch over the WHOLE City of Tears, not just the left side (or commoner side).

Third, Lurien loves beauty. It is not enough to have the windows open; goodness, Lurien could have not added windows at all! But he insisted on a lovely window design that framed the view into the City. And we're not even talking about the pillars and the curtains which frame it as well. 

Fourth and finally, Lurien was able to get both practicality and beauty in the same window. I cannot stress this enough as Herrah and Monomon choose practicality over beauty. Yes, there are beautiful details here and there, but when push comes to shove, both ladies choose practicality with a dash of beauty on the side. This really makes Lurien stand out amongst the Dreamers.

I hope you enjoyed part 1 of Lurien's Spire. Unfortunately, I must stop here as this is merely 1/4 of Lurien's section of the essay. Please feel free to comment and reblog as much as you would like. It's fun reading your thoughts.

If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.

Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here

Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here

Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire (You are here.)

Part 3.25: More of Lurien's Spire : Here

Part 3.5: Lurien's Spire: Pillows and Patriotism: Here

Part 3.7 Lurien's Spire: What is wrong with Lurien's Office?! Here

Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here

Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here

Link to essay on Ao3: Here

[violetdawn001]

What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 4.0 : What We Know that We Don't Know

At last! We have analyzed all the Dreamers' houses!

One last thing about the design of the Dreamer's houses and how they reflect each Dreamer's character. Throughout this analysis, we have been discussing what we can tell about the Dreamer's character from what we see, but we have yet to discuss about what we don't see.

With Herrah, we see the entirety of her den while we are barred from most of the Village. As such, we can guess more about Herrah's character than her people. Though I must admit that there is a bunch we can’t see due to being part dragon and part plant, but not part spider. Which means we can’t climb to the ceiling. But we DO see most of her house compared to most of the Dreamers. How this translates to the essay is all that we don’t see of Herrah is because we don’t have access to Weaver culture.

But alas, I still must guess how much we don’t know we don’t have access to in Herrah’s den. We must be missing more than Hornet's baby clothes!

With Monomon, we can guess that there is more to the Achieves, such as the classrooms, but that is a mere guess so we cannot comment on Monomon's character in that regard. But with Lurien…

We are canonically barred from seeing the entire Spire. 

The green arrow is pointing to another hallway which we cannot enter in game. We know that this is another hallway as the wallpaper design is blurred out due to distance, unlike the wallpaper right next to Little Knight.

For reference, this screenshot was taken right after you successfully got past the part which requires Monarch Wings and takes you up into Lurien's Spire. AKA. Right at the bottom of the Spire.  Which means THERE ARE ENTIRE SECTIONS OF THE WATCHER'S SPIRE RIGHT UP TO THE BALLROOM WHICH WE DON'T SEE! Check this map here!

Yellow marks the Door on the second level. Blue is the entire area that we are barred from seeing.

This is not the only section we are barred from seeing.

The Red is the entire section of the Spire which we don't see. Remember, we only go up the elevator to Lurien which is reflected in the map.

Now, do you remember these hallway pictures I showed you? The ones where Team Cherry showed 3-D in a 2-D world?

In order to achieve this effect, that window must be some ways away from the main hallway where we are standing.  Far enough to create enough distance for a hallway by the window. Meaning there is a WHOLE ANOTHER HALLWAY leading who knows where!

There is another possible section of the Spire that we are unable to access.

These appear to be supporting the Watcher's Spire. Now, they could either be pillars and thus inaccessible to anyone, not just the player. Or, they are other towers supporting the main tower to the Spire, which means that not only is there entire section worth the height of the main Spire which we can't see, but whole towers as well!

Again, this is speculation. If anything, these towers outside Lurien's Spire are most likely supports for his own Spire as something needs to support the weight of the tallest spire in the City.

And we haven’t even touched the rooms belonging to the servants!

Remember this?

From: Hollow Knight: How To Defeat The Watcher Knights

This hiddie hole belongs to the rope that holds the chandelier which we can drop on one of the Watcher Knights, dropping the 6 bosses to 5 bosses.

How many hidden corners and passages are in the Watcher’s Spire? How many are we unaware of? Does every chandelier have a little hiddie hole like this one?  Did Lurien ever use one of these servant passages and hiddie holes himself?

Now what about the Watcher Knights themselves? You cannot tell me that these guys lived in Lurien’s ballroom, not when there are pillows on the floor!

This begs the question, where were their barracks? Where did they keep their weapons and gear? Where did they train? Surely Lurien wouldn’t outsource his Watcher Knights’ gear and training from his Spire, opening himself to possible assassination attempts? This bug had 15 Watcher Knights. I think he was concerned about getting attacked. So where do these Watchers sleep, train, and relax?  We have half an entire Spire unseen.

Another question regarding Lurien’s servants. Remember how Lurien has a butler? Depending on how much Team Cherry wants to draw on medieval history, Lurien’s butler could have a different responsibility than modern day butlers. Modern butlers handle everything in the house: managing the daily operations of a household, keeping inventory of household supplies, maintain the cleanliness of the estate, etc.

Note how I said modern butlers. In medieval times, all those duties belonged to the head steward. The butler had a different job. He was the most trusted servant and confident of the head of house. He had to be in order to be trusted with the keys to the wine cellar! Or as it was called, the buttery. If Lurien’s butler had this job, then where is Lurien’s wine cellar? Where are the kitchens?

Of course, this doesn’t impact Lurien’s character too much as we don’t imagine him cooking. And we need to beeline towards Lurien to break the seals and open the Black Egg Temple, so we can’t take a detour towards the kitchens.

Doesn’t change the fact I would love to see Team Cherry or the fans develop the Dreamers’ houses more, especially Lurien’s Spire.

All the locations mentioned above beg a serious question: how much of Lurien's character do we not know simply because we cannot see his entire house? If everything that we do see speaks of a fortune worth of information, how much more is hiding from us?

Now take this to Herrah and Monomon. How much of them do we not know? What about their interactions with each other? Team Cherry had originally planned to give us individual boss fight rooms for each Dreamer. How much of Herrah, Monomon, and Lurien's characters will we never know because we never saw those rooms?

With that, I shall end this essay and leave you to your thoughts! It has been a long journey and I hope you dear reader learned something new. Please reblog any of your thoughts or ideas inspired by this essay!

If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.

Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here

Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here

Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here

Part 3.25: Lurien's Spire: Windows and Colors: Here

Part 3.5: Even More of Lurien's Spire. Here

Part 3.7: What is WRONG with Lurien's Spire?: Here

Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here

Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here

Link to essay on Ao3: Here