#Vessels are zombies

[its-rat-time-babey]

I watched Mossbag’s new video on the Pale Kng’s Biology and it made me realize something about Vessels.

They’re dead. More specifically they’re zombies.

As Mossbag points out, the eyes of Vessels are sunken, like the inside of their shells are hollow, just like the many corpses found in Hallownest.

Vessels are made by taking an egg from the Pale King and White Lady and sticking it in the void, where the void seems to literally fuse with the egg. Given how void reacts to basically every living being like some sort of fantasy radioactive material, slowly poisoning them from exposure until they die with void leaking out of their eyes, this no doubt kills the child in that egg.

But the egg still hatches, and out comes a walking corpse, an empty shell reanimated by primordial darkness.

It has no mind because it is dead.

It has no will because it is dead.

It has no voice because it is dead.

Ghost and the other vessels don’t appear to ever grow because they’re not alive. Their bodies are not capable of growing because their bodies are dead. That’s also why they don’t seem to need food or water (or sunlight honestly, as their mother is some sort of plant).

This even explains a thing about focusing.

When Hornet heals herself in the Silksong demos and trailers, she swiftly surrounds herself with silk and seems to quickly patch up all of her injuries, sewing wounds shut and healing damage, made easier by the soul, the lifeforce of a bug that keeps them alive, infused into her own silk.

It’s quick and it heals several masks, several injuries, at once.

But when a Vessel focuses:

The process is slow, drawn out and requires several seconds of focus from the vessel where they cannot move. Where Hornet’s healing is quick and seems to be a technique with her silk that was developed by her and practiced until it was good enough, Vessel focusing is slow and seemingly built into the Vessel as a base ability, with both Ghost and the Hollow Knight being capable of it.

But then consider what Vessels use to focus. Soul. The literal lifeforce of other bugs. Another thing worth pointing out is that out of every creature capable of using soul, only vessels can focus. None of the bugs in Soul Sanctum can. Hornet can’t. Only Vessels can focus.

Focusing isn’t just magical healing done through soul. It’s the Vessel, an undead creature, forcing the raw energy of life into its body, forcing its dead body not just to live and begin the natural healing process, but speeding that process up so even the largest wounds heal in a matter of seconds. Focusing is forcing life energy into an dead body to get it to briefly act like a live one. That’s why it takes several seconds of the Vessel standing perfectly still and focusing to just heal a single mask while Hornet can heal several in a fraction of the time. Hornet preforms actual healing on herself, sewing up wounds with magical silk. A Vessel forces its own body to live and heal itself naturally in a fraction of the normal time.

And that’s not all. The only Vessel that’s actually grown by any amount is the Hollow Knight, who lived in the White Palace and was basically supercharged by the soul produced inside. Living inside the White Palace didn’t just give the Hollow Knight more power, it made the Hollow Knight’s corpse of a body alive again, giving it the ability to grow like a living creature.

Vessels are Zombies, and focusing is a surprisingly fucked up process.

[daily-vessels]

belated halloween pic!!!!

psst while you’re here maybe 👀 check out my commissions 👀👀

[grismavessel]

Inktober: Week 5

Happy Halloween!

"Agree to disagree, we both know who's right"

I thought about what other wacky stuff I could do with the vessel au.

What if Volo became a vessel for Giratina? What if he made himself a vessel on purpose and stole Giratina's power?

Originally the two were cooperating with one another but once Arceus tried to fix everything via a vessel/proxy, Giratina suedo abandoned Volo's plan a little (still mulling over the plot in my head) and left Volo without answers or assistance.

He would feel absolutely cheated. The most damning thing to refute all of his ideals and thoughts that the world was unfair and unjust.

He was abandon by Arceus and the one it outcast from the realms.

He is not the grand hero everyone loves.

He's had no just reason for all the wrong that has happened in his life.

He'd be furious. Insulted. He probably is plotting revenge of both god and vessel.

So if a pokemon won't listen, there are other ways to capture it. The red chain can steal back Giratina and bind it to him, making himself a vessel for a god instead of Gris.

But it doesn't work very well. Giratina's too big, too much for a mortal to house it without consequences. While Gris held off and fought off the possession, Volo foolishly takes on more than he could carry.

He's too blinded by rage, by the need to have victory over Arceus that he doesn't care if it's splitting him apart, or that he'll forever bind Giratina to his body due to the red chain's hold.

If Volo steals Giratina, he would become an imperfect vessel, a violitle bomb ready to lose his mind and tear the world apart.

(also I wanna add design notes so the tendrils are meant to be like tainted angel wings and I took artistic liberty to make the red chain more ribbony to add to the evil devilish flow going on.)

[angeart]

Howwwww did you angst the world tour?? 🎀

this question made me giggle so much oh i'm glad you asked :3c there was so much yummy grian angst in the hc world tour!

it's all about grian and his penchant for destruction. he doesn't even mean to! he's not trying to be pesky; quite the opposite. he's curious but restrained, trying to be good, trying to follow instructions. he's not malicious at all! he's just there to see what people were up to, open and friendly and curious, eager to look and learn and praise. not a bad intention in sight... and yet things seem to break wherever he goes. everything he touches goes wrong.

the guilt churns, acidic and overwhelming, and grian's miserable. why is he like this? he's trying so hard, why is this the only way he can ever be? why can't it stop?

spoilers for grian's world tour video below <3

plantie pointed out to me how, during the tour of scar's train, when grian got rid of scar's arrows—the glitched ones that doc put there—he was so desperate to point it out after scar just glossed over it. as if he wanted to show that he can do something good. he can be helpful, he can fix things instead of just breaking everything.

but then we have all the other things, right? grian can't escape it.

when he was with etho and the mushroom farm exploded, he sums it up in a wretched if confused apology: "i'm so sorry. the two times i tried to use it, i broke it :( and created a water source floating— which i don't know how it happened— and flung the TNT, which i really don't understand—"

they move on, but it's so clear it lingers.

etho isn't blaming him. he's amused and brushes it off and moves along, unbothered, but grian himself can't wrap his head around it. about that propensity to breaking things, even unintentionally. the way nothing is safe around him.

he tells etho: "i can't stop thinking about your mushroom farm. why does everything i touch break, in new and unexpected ways?"

(not to mention when etho's showing him frogger and grian plays, almost instantly etho goes: "uh-oh, the game's broken", with a little huff of laugh. it wasn't exactly tied to anything grian did, but still something i wanted to point out, since grian was there for it <3)

and then grian goes to zedaph, right?

the very first game zedaph shows him. the very first. grian plays the way he was told to, the way he was meant to, and— he breaks it.

zedaph just laughs and moves them on.

(just sprinkling in a side note that zedaph's furnace minigame also didn't seem to work the way it should've—)

by the time grian gets to pearl's, it's starting to be a pattern that's so clearly eating away at him, making him anxious. he doesn't want it to happen again!

and yet.

pearl invites him to play her wordle game, and grian mindlessly goes and pushes the wrong button trying to start it... instantly stepping away with a quiet groan of a dread-filled "...oh-" followed by: "i just— ruined it already."

there's something about the mood switch. the way he seems more restrained and tame, silently upset with himself, trying so hard not to mess things up further. questioning why this is happening again. why he can't stop making it happen.

he walks over to the reset game button and asks, carefully: "can i press reset? is it gonna hurt? 🥺👉👈"

pearl reassures him he can, with a sigh noting that it'll just take a while.

there's an almost hysteric laugh from grian, followed by an exasperated, upset scream. "everything i touch breaks! when i went to e— i broke etho's thing when i went to— not frogger, his— his mushroom farm i— it blew up."

"you blew up his mushroom farm?? how? what did you do?!"

"yeah, i— i broke zed's game, instantly, pretty much, it's—"

"oh my gosh :("

"sorry 🥺"

pearl is quick to reassure him, though. "well, luckily for you, this is— you doing that (pushing the wrong button) does not break the game. it's just, you now have to wait for it to reset."

she makes sure grian knows that he didn't mess up anything terribly here. he didn't break pearl's game. it's okay! it's fine!

and then grian right clicks to open the book, and instead makes bonemeal pop out of a composter.

i think at this point pearl is a little bit taken aback by how wrong everything really seems to be going around grian. she makes sure to say, "it's fine," again, just so grian won't start worrying about it all again. "you're clicking on everything that people do not usually click on today. but it's okay. it's still not broken! it's not broken, it's alright, it's okay— i've got failsaves for people like you."

it's so sweet how she really tries to soothe him— and yet she can't help but let out that last remark.

people like you.

those few words surely lodge in more than all the reassurances. they're like splinter, proving grian right.

eventually, he gets to skizz.

during the tour of skizz's base, skizz shows him a horse statue and starts talking about how he lost his first horse at an event that grian was also a part of. and grian's stomach instantly sinks.

he asks hushedly, a bit confused, trying to remember: "was i there?"

skizz laughs. "you were absolutely there, dude."

which leads grian to ask, uneasily: "did i do it?"

skizz waves his hands, quick to easily reassure that no! that's not it, grian didn't do it!

grian lets out an oh with such palpable relief, and goes on to explain about how, "i remember witnessing it, but sometimes it's hard to disentangle whether i did it or not. coz i tell you what, on this tour i've broken everyone's stuff."

nobody was upset with grian when things broke, but here he is, several hermits down, still unable to leave it to rest. because it's him. it's him who did all of that, somehow, and he didn't mean to, but it doesn't matter. it happened anyway.

and now he can't even tell what is and what isn't his fault anymore.

the guilt is deep rooted, leaving anxious assumptions and dark, jagged precipices. how much did he destroy? what else should he be feeling guilty about? how far does this go?

he keeps breaking things, and it's such a blur that he can no longer tell what is and what isn't his fault.

the tour continues, and he delves into skizz's pyramid. and it's just— it's just a tunnel to swim through. nothing to mess up, besides potentially dying to suffocation, right?

and yet you can hear skizz shrilly exclaim: "oh he's going to end up breaking something!!"

and, (plantie's words: ) grian hearing that and just wondering, is that all i'm good for? is that all i'm known for? is that all i am?

there's no room for doubt; not really. that is what grian does, all the time, whether he wants to or not. he breaks stuff. he just— he doesn't mean to. and this tour is one big show of how powerless he is against it. (how everyone expects it from him anyway.)

despite it all, grian perseveres, trying out skizz's game, stubbornly dedicated and trying to win. (to pass; to have something to be proud of, at least—) and he gets to the powdered snow section.

there, he jumps across to a pathway that he was meant to circle to through the snow instead.

it's not breaking anything, not really. not even the rules. it's not cheating! he's just— he just did something skizz did not expect, but that was entirely possible within the game's design, even if not intended. he exploited it to his advantage; a risky, tricky shortcut.

and yet skizz remarks with a laugh: "this is what grian does! he breaks games!"

no matter what grian does... is that all he'll ever be?

is that all they'll see?

he fails getting through skizz's game, is thanked for play-testing, praises it all, they talk it all away, and...

and then grian goes to tour mumbo's base.

and fails to even die properly to his llama—

and then mumbo shows him his archive machine, and instantly panicks when grian gets curious about it, begging him not to touch anything. and grian says: "your stomach just fell through didn't it?" and after mumbo's immediate agreement, he adds: "and rightfully so. coz, almost everything i've touched on this tour has broken."

there's not a sliver of surprise to mumbo's anxious rushed: "yeah, yeah yeah! please stop now." because, of course things have broken. of course what grian touches is bound to go wrong. of course—

and then mumbo very carefully tells grian what to do with the machine.

grian does as he's told.

mumbo looks up and pauses, a frown crossing his face as he takes it in. he notes that grian probably did it too fast—

(something went wrong)

(something broke)

mumbo says: "i can't believe you come along and every single thing in my base starts [going wrong/breaking/malfunctioning]"

and then grian mysteriously ends up with an extra book from mumbo's machine, much to mumbo's dismay. grian's confused, cogs spinning as he tries to figure out what did he mess up this time to result in this.

it's clear mumbo wants grian away from his machine. it's not safe. (grian isn't safe.)

"maybe just give that to me and maybe just step away from the contraption. and then— maybe just leave me to—"

grian's upset and bewildered voice cuts in: "i didn't do anything wrong this time :(("

he's trying so hard.

he's trying so hard to be good and do things right and not mess anything up.

(it isn't working.)

(it's never bound to work, is it?)

mumbo ushers him away, and ends up showing him another cool invention—an elevator. except the second mumbo hits the button, a creeper shows up and explodes it. (it's midday.) (it wasn't even meant to be there.)

this one isn't grian's fault at all, but with everything that's happened— well, it's easy enough to link it to grian's presence. like a bad luck omen.

apprehensively, grian asks if the elevator broke, and mumbo—a bit bewildered by the reality of it—says that no, it seems to still work. "amazingly," he tacks on, disbelieving.

grian's relieved. "ohh, i thought we were in big trouble there!"

besides himself, mumbo anxiously agrees: "augh. i was like, if every single creation that i show breaks in some fashion, i'm just gonna quit."

because this isn't normal. none of this is, least of all everything at once. it simply doesn't happen.

(not when grian isn't there, anyway.)

mumbo notes that he needs to work on his lighting, and grian nods wisely saying it's a perpetual issue, but the anxiety is digging its talons in now, unrelenting. (what else is going to go bad in grian's presence? what else will he mess up? what else will he break? why is he like this?)

another remark that comes after this is mumbo's nervous: "i've actually just built up the automatic sorter which does this—which you're not gonna touch. we're banned from touching any redstone contraptions!"

and what can grian do but oblige? (but he can at least look, right?)

but does it ever change anything?

does it matter?

-

at the end of the day, the others don't think too much about it.

they all say their part, pass their judgment, wave their hands, dismiss, move on. it doesn't keep them up at night.

... i think it might keep grian up at night.

a cacophonous collection of word snippets, aimed at him or woven around him, digging under his skin until it bleeds. a noose of inescapable fate, a tightening band around his chest that promises he can only ever be one thing:

a vessel for destruction.

it doesn't matter if he wants to be.

shackles and chains and a cosmic inevitability written into his skin, etched into his bones, tangled into his bloodstream. and an ever-rising guilt like stormy sea, far above his head now, drowning him.

(maybe he's not meant to be near other people and their things.)

(maybe he's not meant to touch games that were constructed with so much effort and love and passion poured into them.)

(maybe he shouldn't—)

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bonus screenshots from discord DMs (with extra sprinkles of hmtb mentions):

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bonus hmtb quotes because i kept thinking about it:

He always destroys the things he loves most, after all.

and:

He destroyed everything he touched, and when there was nothing left, he destroyed the only remaining thing: himself.

-

[ileadthefl0ck]

so uh

Haha guess what I made

(not all of them fit, damn it)

(One thing, I got that Copia photo from Pinterest where it wasn’t linked to who made it, and I couldn’t find it so if you know then please share ‼️‼️‼️)

[the-southern-cereal-king]

Hollow Knight and the Last of Us can be considered ‘zombie’ games for the same reasons

[askamnesiamoonjumper]

Me when I edit my ref sheet for a!mj for the millionth time: :3👍 (technically a repost of old ref sheet but I’ve edited it so severely since posting it I’m considering it new in my brain, but the last image of the eyes/hands/mouth/soul is new! But it is a redraw of an old ref image I’ll include it under the cut!)

(Close ups bc I know tumblr with screw over the quality)

Og vers of the extra ref image: (SCARY….)

[muttsterion]

And as quickly as it began Zombie Kenny's reign of terror comes to an end...for now the immortal returns to being a guardian angel until his undead curse is reignited next October....

A reminder for me to change my icon and bg when I get home to my computer. XDD

[vgtrackbracket]

Video Game Track Bracket Round 2

Sealed Vessel from Hollow Knight

vs.

Main Menu from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

Propaganda under the cut. If you want your propaganda reblogged and added to future polls, please tag it as propaganda or otherwise indicate this!

Main Menu [Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare]:

It's just so funky! You just gotta listen up to the 10 second mark, it's a very nice song!!!!

[foundationsofdecay]

another thing about ii and the wires is the notion that given all the times vessel talked about wires and those being bitten through or the mainframe going down and that messing him up, after that happened, sleep plugged them into ii instead. similarly, vessel used to held up with strings like a marionette or made a puppet or mannequin(doll) and now that's what's visually happened to iii. sleep learned from what happened with vessel and honed his craft

[daisywords]

what's up with the very important key and the disembodied hand tho 👀 (also ur writing is delightful to read. i would gladly read a whole book of this rn)

sdfghjk thank you!!

Ok so the key is a legendary object that's supposed to have divine/cosmic significance and be able to open any lock. Trip ends up with it by convincing everyone that he can use it (he can't; he's just good at picking locks) and is thus the prophesied bearer of the key

the hand is because this world has basically fantasy zombies with the twist that every human that dies will be reanimated/possessed by something within a few hours of death. This applies to matter as a whole so if you damage or chop up the body, the parts will still move independently. hence the disembodied hand going for the key.

and it's blue mostly bc I wanted a distinguishing characteristic for the body lol

[anonymousbathtub]

Introducing Petr, the protagonist of my Divine Decay uni project - he’s a young, recently chosen Vessel of the Voice on his first crusade up to the surface world! Unfortunately something goes... wrong, during the battle, and he’s left stranded in the wilderness, hundreds of miles from his mycellium network, and with only a human for company.

(Boy, I sure hope he doesn’t discover any divine heresies while exploring ruins on the way back that will fundamentally alter his worldview!)

[alirex-art]

I have sooo many hnk oc ideas in me so l will vomit them here:

It has been long after Kongo-Sensei's unfortunate death. In his absence, 3 sisters lead the gem-kind.

White Opal

Honey Calcite

Shungite

White Opal, the head of 3 sisters, is the one who took Kongo's role. Every gem considers this expected as they are the kindest gem anyone has ever met, friendly and mother like. Yet few knows there were many opposing the view at that time.

Honey calcite took Rutile's role. Older gems seem to avoid talking about what happened to hard-working doctor Rutile, but nobody needs to worry! Hon, though they may be a little bit of a "crazy" doctor, does their job excellently. They are also very invested in science and developing new tools for gems.

Shungite fights and protects the gem kind! Soon after Lunarians stopped attacking gems, a new enemy formed. Vessels, named by Hon, are gems who were not formed properly and seem to attack only gems. Fortunately they are no match for Shun, the hero of gems, who fought Lunarians back in the day and even has been to the moon!

You have met the big three! Nowadays new gems don't care about Lunarians, Kongo or old stories like these anymore. All is not more than a fairy-tale to them. Yet maybe... One gem would be curious enough to dive into the secrets of a now called ancient age.

[nimoy]

how are you in a room with harrison ford for more than 3 milliseconds and dont physically explode from wanting to fuck him so bad

[isa-ah]

🫵 I have to stay in bed and do nothing today send me asks

[random-cat]

💧random angst headcanon for Ace :3

In his canon story his nightmares start off as just memories of his childhood but slowly changes to make up scenarios where he fails his team and it causes him to bottle up his emotions more and hide away from the people who truly care for him. They start after he gets his ass whooped for the first time. Since he is the only human he does realize that he is a liability. And it scares him. He just jokes it off with the others tho.

This is subjected to change as the story processes more