#anyways Hollow Knight is peak game

[otiksimr]

There's a lot left for interpretation, but I dare ask for the Shade Lord from Hollow Knight? If not that, then the titular character itself?

We still waiting on Silksong right?

[tonythr]

The Watcher's telescope view is a social commentary and here's why

Ok so let's set some things right first. City of Tears is amazing.

(Yes, Pale Court is also an amazing mod)

I've played Hollow Knight many times, and City of Tears is probably the one location I never get tired of. The scenery, the lore, the room layout, the music, the atmosphere - it's all perfect. It's the culmination of Halllownest's beauty, the peak of the game's art style, and the narrative's most essential location. City of Tears is the heart of Hollow Knight.

This game is a story about a Kingdom and its death, a tragedy of a society that was built on dreams of light but ultimately was consumed by the light so much that darkness became its only hope. And City of Tears stands at the center of this story. So it's fitting that the themes of corrupted dreams, society flaws, and dark hopes are what shape the lore and atmosphere of this beautiful, gorgeous location.

Did you ever notice that the tears of this Kingdom are dark despite them originating in a glowing blue lake, and the waters that flood the streets are almost as dark as the void in the Abyss? Do you ever think about how the vibrant blue color of the City is basically a culmination of how the color blue is presented in other locations (Howling Cliffs, Forgotten Crossroads, and later Royal Waterways being more of a remix of it), and how it's tied to the very essence of Hallownest (and how Resting Grounds, the location that contains Blue Lake and also uses a bright blue color, represent the very foundation of Hallownest's history, that being Seer's story about the Moth Tribe's betrayal that started the war between Pale King and the Radiance)? Do you feel like Soul Master basically represents the thunder and the lightning in this never-ending rain? Do you get it????

Anyway yeah, there are many things that can be said about City of Tears, and this is hopefully not the last time I make a post about it. What I want to talk about here is the City's society.

Basically, Monomon said it better than anyone could:

It's a very complicated topic. The narrative basically explores the inner mechanisms of a free mind, how its primary need is finding a purpose, and how its purpose turns out to be a constant need of... something. Anything. As long as there is something to want, a free mind will want it. As long as there is something to yearn for, something to enjoy, something to dream about, our minds are going to move in its direction, never wanting to stop. Because a stasis is worse than death. Because a world without dreams is an empty world.

But then again, isn't constant yearning another instance of, well, constance? If dreams never end but also never evolve, doesn't that create another kind of stasis?

Like I said, it's very complicated. Let's go back to what I was getting at in the first place. What I actually wanted to say is this:

Theese guys fucking fucked up as a society.

It's classic dystopian shit (or maybe I'm using the wrong word, but you get the point). Rich people are living in luxury while the rest are suffering. They're making gold a fucking religion and are seeing it as the only beauty in the world. The corrupt upper class are using heavy gatekeeping on the lower class.

Literally.

What's interesting is that, at first, we barely see any lower class bugs in the City. There's suspiciously few regular husks in this location, compared to how many rich guys are on the eastern side. But then we get to Soul Sanctum and it all starts to make sense.

There are no red cloaks in those corpse piles. Only the poor were killed for those experiments. It can't be a coincidence. It's straight-up elitism-based genocide (again, I don't know if I'm using the right terms, correct me if there's a better way to say that, but the point is clear).

Also, see how many streets are flooded on the western side in comparison to the eastern side.

Point is, the bugs that ruined the kingdom by always wanting more (what Monomon wrote about) are most likely theese rich ones. It's a very fitting thing for this dystopian narrative: neverending greed that leads to the downfall of a civilization.

There's a note in the Hunter's Journal that describes it in the best way possible:

For every location in the game, there is a place that functions as the center of its essence, its narrative heart, the culmination of its themes. For Queen's Gardens it's the White Lady's cocoon, for Greenpath it's the Lake of Unn, and for City of Tears (or at least its eastern part, the one with the upper class) it's the Watcher's Spire. The tallest building of the great capital. The home of (evidently) the most rich and influential bug of the City's high society. Literally the top of this social hierarchy.

He is also arguably the most mysterious dreamer out of all three. I mean, why does he have only one eye? What type of bug is he? How did he get this much power? Does he really have some kind of connection with the Collector? Is he a motherfucking fluke? Why does he seem to have an obsession with serving the King?

That last question is kinda answered by the cut content though.

That last sentence is kinda confusing. Is it regret? Is it humility? Is it pride in his sacrifice? In any case, here we see that Lurien actually knew that the Pale King was literally a god, and desired to worship him, like any other bug yearns to worship some kind of deity. So while other bugs of Hallownest worshiped PK because he was a monarch, albeit a godlike one (for all they knew he could be just an extraordinary bug, but a bug nonetheless), Lurien worshiped him as an actual god. And the intricacies of worshiping a god are one of the central themes of the game. From the moth tribe's betrayal of Radiance leading to the birth of the Infection to the Godseeker's shenanigans leading to the birth of the Shade Lord - the game makes multiple statements about gods, religious devotion and the semantics of divine power. Just that one idea that a god takes its power from the ones that worship it deserves its own post - heck, it deserves its own book.

So yeah, Lurien's devotion to the King is an important part of the story. He sure is an important character in this narrative. He also got a cool house. Being able to observe the entirety of the Hallownest's capital is badass.

But there's one thing I find odd about all that, and it's the moment we get to actually look through his legendary telescope.

Is it just me, or does this feel kinda... Underwhelming? Almost disappointing? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love this view, it's beautiful, and I would certainly love to be able to see something like this with my own eyes irl, but, looking at this picture, I can't help but wonder...

Did he actually see anything from up there?

In cut dialogue, Lurien talks about how he loves the City's streets, and his hidden lore tablet contains words about his love for bugkind, but... I see neither any streets on this image, nor any bugs (that are not vengeflies). Only spiked rooftops and rainy fog, clouding the view of the actual City.

And sure, the Spire has many windows and even had multiple watchers who were helping Lurien with overseeing the capital...

But his own spot was always this one.

His telescope was sealed in one place, letting him see only a small portion of the City and its life. Almost like his own worldview was stuck in one perspective.

Notice the wording here. It's not "The Seals must remain". It's "Bonds must remain". He's not thinking just about the Seals containing the Infection. He's thinking about the whole Kingdom needing to stay unchanged. His dream is the stasis that the Knight (and also Monomon, Hornet and, in a sense, even Radiance) want to end. The stasis that the Pale King wanted to create in order for his Kingdom (and therefore himself) to be eternal. The stasis that would allow for both Pale King and Lurien's worship of him to remain forever.

But there is always a cost to ascending higher than others, and it's that you can no longer see what's going on below or who's suffering down there. I think Lurien, sitting atop the tallest tower, was actually detached from the struggles of regular bugs. He and his Spire are the culmination of the City's upper class' ignorance towards the ones who were below them on the social hierarchy. A dreamer who dreamt of watching over the very heart of the holy civilization lived so high up he could no longer see his beloved world in its complicated, detailed entirety – and the tears of the stasis created by those like him only blinded him more.

All those flooded streets, those broken buildings, those empty halls, those starving bugs, those sealed doors - even though he watched over them, he couldn't see them.

I'm pretty sure Lurien didn't even know about the Soul Master's experiments, despite the fact that the Soul Sanctum was located right next to his Spire.

Or maybe he knew but chose to turn a blind eye to it (pun intended).

But it's kind of poetic, isn't it? It's the beauty of the tragedy of this game's characters. A Beast who had to surrender everything to the opposing civilization. A Teacher who could no longer teach. A Watcher who couldn't see the truth.

And all that makes me wonder... How much suffering could the Pale King see, standing on that platform at the top of the Abyss, facing away from the pit where his children died?

TL;DR: Lurien's point of view was too high up to actually see what was truly going on down there, both literally and metaphorically. His desire to worship the Pale King made him ignorant of the struggles of regular bugs. Similarly, the extreme elitism of the high society of Hallownest lead to ignorance, discrimination and greed, which ultimately caused the sprawl of the Infection. This side of Lurien's story might also parallel the Pale King's with his ignorance towards the discarded vessels.

TL;DR²: Eat the rich

[bestgameostcrownduel]

Round 1, Side B: Undertale (2015) vs Hollow Knight (2017)

Undertale | Hollow Knight

Campaigns under the cut!

Campaign for Undertale:

i don't know what i can even say about the undertale soundtrack except that Toby Fox's mastery of mood and leitmotif is just masterful, and as good as it is on its own it feels absolutely mindblowing in-context.

Look there’s a REASON why “megalovania” became a meme and it’s because it genuinely is that good, and it’s not even the best track in the game!!! There have been multiple cases of professional musicians blind reacting to the soundtrack and A: loving it and B: managing to accurately predict the events happening while a given track plays in-game based purely on the leitmotifs and composition techniques used. Sooo many video essayists and such use undertale music in the background of their videos, and not even the big well known tracks but the calmer more incidental music, because it’s just so good. The soundtrack is good enough to justify a whole orchestral concert of just music from this game. My personal favourites are the title track “Undertale”, “Hopes and Dreams”, and “Waterfall” and even narrowing it down to just those three just now took me ages because every track is a banger

it's undertale

TBH Undertale isn't the music that has changed my brain the most but it is the one where all the discourse is so old it is now stupid. Anyway. Sans Undertale website. Psionic warriors vote for the funny bone man and his funny bone music.

It's got so many good songs. Fallen Down is my personal favorite but it's got amazing boss music and I have to mention Megalovania. A lot of it is composed with the same notes just in different patterns. Which, I know that's whay music is but I can't explain it better. all the music fits together well.

Campaign for Hollow Knight:

every song is specifically made to fit with the area/boss it plays for. Crystal Peak includes "shimmery" noises to evoke the image of crystals, Soul Sanctum has a haunted sort of feel to it, Nosk feels like skittering and it's very quick- anxiety-inducing if you will. it has an uncanny feel to it, which helps with Nosk's role as a mimic luring you in as prey. Sealed Vessel is very emotional, high-energy but resigned and tragic. as the Hollow Knight weakens, its song does as well and it directly leads into the Radiance's theme. point being that all the songs have a purpose and very well designed for said purpose

Hollow Knight has an incredibly atmospheric soundtrack. It's got great area themes that just feel exactly like what they're trying to represent, and its boss themes, especially, are phenomenal - which is important for a game with so many bosses, as it works well to distinguish them and make them memorable. It's also important for a game where you'll be fighting said bosses over and over again lmao

[aleksanderscult]

What other fandoms do you follow? I mean in movies, series, book etc etc

Hmm.... Actually I don't follow any fandoms. The debates and discourses are so toxic like you can't believe (*cough HotD *cough*). Honestly the Darkling/Darklina fandom is the only one I'm in (because everyone is amazing and sensible here).

But I can tell you which movies/series/books I like. It's also an opportunity for you guys to get to know me a little since I don't talk about myself and my interests much.😊

Favorite movies:

The Lord of the Rings trilogy (I don't like them. I worship them. I grew up with them and I would die for them)

Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2, 3 (I don't really like the other two movies. Especially the fifth one)

The Dark Knight (2009). But the other two movies were amazing too.

The Mummy (1999)

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Crimson Peak (2015)

The Ring (2002)

Scream (1996)

The Woman in Black (2012)

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Amadeus (1984). I recommend it btw. A wonderful movie with incredible performances that got me into classical music.

Schindler's List (1993)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). One of the best movies ever created. Period.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

King Kong (2005)

City Lights (1931)

A Christmas Carol (2009)

The Hangover (2009)

The Hangover: Part II (2011)

Due Date (2010)

Favorite series:

Merlin BBC

Peaky Blinders

The Musketeers (2014)

Cold Case (2003)

Charmed (1998)

Game of Thrones

House of the Dragon

Vikings (2013)

Gran Hotel (2011)

North and South (1985)

I'm currently watching "Hannibal" which I really, really like and enjoy and "Breaking Bad" which I cannot say the same here. It bores me and I find it overrated.

Favorite books:

Grishaverse (minus the duology)

Harry Potter (fuck JKR tho)

The Mortal Instruments

A Song of Ice and Fire (all the books that this world includes anyway)

Iliad and Odyssey by Homer

Any work from Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde's and Sylvia Plath's poetry

(I would put PJO but I no longer have any respect for them. Fuck it and the author)

You can also see my interests on my main blog. Whatever else I like, I post it there.

[priceofsilence]

do you have any game recs btw 👀 i feel like you generally have good taste and im looking for a next game to play. as you know i rly like lobcorp and disco elysium but tbh id be open to just about anything; i just beat outer wilds and thought that was p good

sorry for the wait I saw this just before work kajsndkjas. I tried to categorize them in some way. Also some of these I dont know/remember if you have played already or not sooo.

SO I HAD A WHOLE LONG ASS POST WITH IMAGES AND EVERYTHING IT WAS SOOO GOOD AND SHIT AND THEN IT ALL GOT DELETED???? ANYWAY i will make it short... er. I'm,,, im tired

games where you manage things (?):

Dwarf fortress (colony simulator): complicated, might have to look up things like, 'how to make a well without flooding your entire fort?' or 'how to make cheese?'. I love this game and my idiot dwarfs

Beholder (bitch ass simulator): got this one for less that a dolar on a sale lol. you are a landlord (cringe) who lives in a shit 1984 nation. Since you are already a bastard the pigs tell you to spy on your tenants. You make desisions, you tell people to fuck off, you can help other people escape the country, or try to escape with your family yourself, or try to make some change on this shit world. Extremely stressful, but good overall.

games where you read a lot:

Your Turn to Die (good death game simulator): Ever wondered what would Danganronpa be like if it was good? If it didnt suck ass? If the characters were not like that? Well here comes yttd with the steel chair and free of charge. dont read the manga tho, it doesn't exist.

games that i like but dont go in either category:

Rain World (little creachur simulator): 2D survivor with a really good art style and lore that still has me on a grip. The AI on these beasts is fascinating and the world feels so fucking alive and you are just another animal trying to survive. It's one of those "unfair" games where they just tell you the basics and after that you are left to your devices. This might be one of my favorite games ever, but I'm insane so maybe dont listen to me.

Katana Zero (PTSD simulator): fast-paced action platformer. The story is really good, the art style is also really good, the soundtrack is also also really good, i dont know what else to say. It's peak 👍

im tired these are others i really like and i dont want to make this be much longer:

Hollow Knight (metroidvania)

Cat in the Box (RPG maker horror)

Hyper light drifter (action RPG??)

[foxtriestobiteandmaimandkilland]

omg i just noticed that. i have 21 hours in hollow knight. this is DEFINITELY exposing me at Bad At The Game Like Holy Shit I Am So Bad BUT. its ok. bc a lot of those 21 hours were spent being new to any sort of challenging game bc the hardest thing ive done is probably play minecraft like im Not A Gamer SO IM PROUD OF MY 21 HOURS. anyways i got my shade gonna go to peaks now ^-^

[bluejaybytes]

Top 5 viddy games

Wait I can change text colours on anon??? NO FUCKING WAAAAAAYYY

YOU CAN CHANGE TEXT COLORS ON ANON???????? HOLY SHIT ANGNDNGNDJDKDNSHANSHSHS

ANYWAYS top 5 viddy games :3

1. Horizon Forbidden West <3 I am so autistic for this game its not even funny. The insane incoherent essays I've written in DMs. Its genuinely my favorite game of all time. Elisabet Sobeck is my wife

2. Hollow Knight! My top recommendation for literally anyone ever. The best soundtrack I've ever heard for a video game. I'm not joking when I say Sealed Vessel is the most emotionally impactful piece of music I've heard in my life

3. Subnautica. I love stories about people you know didn't make it, but getting invested anyways. Bart Torgal Character Of All Time.

4. Stardew Valley. I've loved farming games for a LONG time, and its the peak of its genre even still. I actually wrote and submitted an essay on Stardew Valley recently, got an A on it even

5. Splatoon 3. Frankly there's probably a bunch of games I could put here but I'm really hyperfocused on Splatoon right now so that's what comes to mind. I'm S+ rank and have 400 hours in it, and I'm a Dapple Dualies Nouveau main. I love those squids

Honorable mentions are Horizon Zero Dawn (Honestly the majority of people would say Zero Dawn is better than Forbidden West, and I definitely agree somewhat, I'm just insane and autistic for Forbidden West specifically), Subnautica: Below Zero (it definitely falls in a few places and doesn't fully live up to Subnautica's standards, but I genuinely loved it anyways), Breath of the Wild (yeah everyone's heard how great it is, its fantastic and all that. I like killing Lynels), and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (second best soundtrack ever. Genuinely fantastic story. Time Gears is the 2nd best piece of music Pokemons ever made, only being beat out JUST SLIGHTLY by Vs. Turo/Sada)

Moral of the story is I love viddy game

[mindymortondev]

Jumping Animations

Originally written on January 19, 2023.

First things first-

I finished the character model for Mindy, at least for now.  I’ve actually already started on the process of redesigning her spots, since they are kind of small and “un-lady-bug-like,” and I’ll make them bigger and warp around her form more.

Also, in the past two days, I’ve managed to have her idle animation 90% finished, aside from her dots.  All the most and base color are there though and are in a usable form! You can view it here. YouTube forced it to be a short 😑

The next thing on my list of things to animate is jumping animation.  Above is an example of Hollow Knight’s jump animation, sprite-by-sprite.  This kind of stuff is particularly useful for seeing how many “in-betweens” another game may use so I can use it as a standard on my own.  This seems to range from game to game.  

Hollow Knight has virtually none while some have maybe 2-3 frames of in-betweens max, followed by the actual “jump” animation.  There’s also an animation for the peak of the jump where the legs and cape change direction, and a landing animation which is more or less its own set of 2-3 frames. 

 If I had to guess, Hollow Knight’s launching frames are reused in his landing frames as well, especially since he’s such a simple character.  I was already planning on reusing a frame or 2 from the idle animation for the jump animation, so perhaps I’ll end up using them for the landing as well.

For more examples of jump animations, I recorded some jumps from a few different games I own that have a similar feel to what I’m going for--

Anyways, time to animate!

[kimmkitsuragi]

and now that i pretty much know the whole game seeing Some npcs for the first time again im literally like 😥

[soroneir]

broken vessel but make it iridescent

[voidheartedsoul]

Actually now before I forget

So when I first played I wanted to explore on my own obviously without tutorials but I got stuck in the crossroads for 2 years until 2020 cus I didn't know hollow knight was genuinely masterclass just thought it was "a pretty yet little game"

I didn't know about snail shaman so I couldn't go to greenpath, and I was convinced the mawlek was the next boss so I died to it over and over before seeing Vinny suddenly had a new attack I didn't when playing along to his streams. Yes I legit did the spike pogo up to mawlek's room, or at least damn tried lol. And yes I guess I just never went left of false knight or maybe I didn't even beat him cus I was too scared or felt underpowered :p

Anyway progress happens finally and I find the ancient basin (calling it Voidheart to my brother cus I only saw the menu theme which resembles it) and eventually found Broken Vessel. I thought they were mega plot relevant cus other characters say "I hope you find what you seek below" and stuff and I interpreted it as the knight finding their family, further believed with the name Lost Kin; so I wanted to like beat the dream fight convinced it was progress and story. Idk eventually I did beat it and I guess realized oh I've greatly misinterpreted lore lol

Other first playthrough quirks: thought Jiji's door led to the next "level" or region or village, thought rancid eggs were like some kind of good ending thing that would hatch later, thought the soul hud being cracked had significance, my brother thought THK in the intro was a goat, I liked to save lumaflys from their lanterns without realizing they'd just be put back in when erased from the RAM lol, I'd dreamnail ghosts on accident cus I wanted more dialogue (a common occurrence I've heard) with Joni being the first victim lmao, uh before I fought soul master I thought dashmaster was used to destroy the platform into crystal peak, I thought the dreamers were aliens cus like look at them and the black egg door wasn't actually like a door just some kind of cool tablet of art idk

I might remember and add more but that's all I can recall atm lol

Oh boy this got long

I'm gonna tell my broken vessel story from first playthrough later

[greentrickster]

...

...look, we all knew it was just a matter of time until I found a green outfit I liked, okay? The brown and purple one is still very peak, but, like.

Green.

Also, holy crap this game is so much fun? I can actually see myself getting better at it - I can even use traps pretty effectively now! And I’ve figured out the right assist settings so it feels like a good challenge but not like I’m kinda cheating when I want to take another swing at getting my third boss cell. Or just... harvest normal cells. To unlock stuff. Because I’m an item gremlin. >_>U

Anyway, point is, good game, very fun! I miss the much deeper lore and characters of Hollow Knight, but the quick pace and constantly shifting options and enemies in Dead Cells are super fun! I feel like a ninja, or some character out of a xianxia! It’s great!

[stxleslyds]

Jason doesn't show up in DC's animated series (though the does "spiritually" show up as Tim Drake in Season 2 of Batman the Animated Series).

Jason has a strong presence in the video games, though. So what is your opinion on Jason's characterization for Arkham Knight? He is a DLC for the Injustice games as well. Judy be warned that I did watch some clips of Arkham Knight and the torture was too gruesome for me.

RED HOOD IN VIDEO GAMES.

Hey there friend, thank you for the ask!

INJUSTICE 2.

I had to do some research on Red Hood’s appearances in the Injustice games because I was never really in touch with that story. Here is what I knew about it, there are two games for PC, one of them is Injustice and the other is Injustice 2, the games also have the comic books that give context/background to the lore of the game.

I used to play Injustice: Gods Among Us on mobile phone, and I had Jason as a playable character there, I also found out way too late that “Nightwing” wasn’t really Dick Grayson, it was Damian because he took on the mantle after he and the rock killed Dick in the comic (forever mad at that ridiculous death and the kinda scary art that comic had).

I looked for information about Red Hood’s backstory in wikis and all that because I refuse to read an alternate universe book written by Tom Taylor, there are things that I am just not willing to do.

All in all, I think that this Jason was in surface level, the same as his canon comic counterpart up until the time of his resurrection. Given that the world was at war and the League of Assassins wasn’t working openly, he and the others had to live in the shadows, he seems to have been trained proficiently by both Batman and the LoA so he is a very hardcore opponent. There are some bits of his story with Damian and a place called Gorilla City that I do not understand because I haven’t read the comics but I am fine without it.

The thing is that this Jason is pretty cool, he sticks to his morals and fights for what he believes is right, he doesn’t look like the kinda guy that takes sides in this war which is probably the best idea. Both Batman and Superman seem to be on the wrong side of history with they ideals.

What I did see and I loved eternally was the ending to Red Hood’s story, I will link the video here! But I will also copy and paste all that he says there because I think it’s really important and where I was able to see more of his characterization.

"That. Felt. Good. Titanium composite hollow point bullets with a C4 kicker. Fastest, most explosive ammo in the world. I made them myself. With the invasion over, Bruce and Superman started fighting again. I wasn't down with either of them. On the one hand, the Regime's right. Scumbag murderers and rapists deserve to die. But on the other hand, I'm no fan of government authority. Especially the dictatorial variety.

So, while the world's finest fight each other, I fight for the people. The weak. The innocent. Anyone who can't protect themselves. When they cry out for a saviour, I'll answer. As for the criminals that threaten them? They need to know that their actions have consequences. That the Red Hood is coming for them.”

This is excellent, I absolutely love this, this Jason knows his morals and doesn’t bow down to anyone and in the end, he is truly a hero to the people that need heroes the most.

Him saying that he believes that some criminals have to die but that he can’t really join Superman’s side because he cannot associate with it because he isn’t a fan of dictatorial ideas, I love this man.

I feel like this is a fair characterization for Jason, I believe that if something along the lines of what happens in Injustice happens in current continuity then Jason wouldn’t join any sides, he wouldn’t be neutral per se but he will fight for his own ideals. And his ideals in most universes are protecting people and I think that’s great. I love to see a world where Jason is seen as more intelligent and put together than the Batman.

Something that I find quite funny and interesting from this game is the dialogues that characters have with each other when they fight, I found this video compilation where you can see all the dialogues between Red Hood vs Robin (Damian Wayne), they are so fun and I love the animations too.

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT.

Oh, ArkhamVerse Jason, my beloved.

He is, to me, the epitome of this meme.

I have actually watched the whole game playthrough, several times, and Jason had a DLC as the Red Hood for that game (Nightwing has one too and I will talk about it later because I love this version of him). And, yes, the torture scene is very gruesome, it was incredibly sad and it made me feel bad. But I also think that they made it that way so it could support the kind of storytelling they were going for.

The reality is that this Jason suffered his whole life, and was constantly introduced to lifestyles that he never wanted to be part of. The world around this Jason wasn’t kind at all to him and there is a long list of people who did him wrong.

Although ArkhamVerse Jason didn’t die, like his comic counterpart did, he suffered the most. And his suffering really drove him to be the best version of an unhinged Jason Todd. But it’s clear, his brutality and murder intent isn’t laced with his Red Hood persona or at least not on the same level as it is with his Arkham Knight persona.

This Jason’s characterization works to perfection, but it only works that way because he was well developed within the game lore and the comics. This Jason was extremely well trained, he is probably the smartest version of Jason, his mind and his level of preparedness are unparalleled when it comes to other Jason Todd variants (a little MCU Loki talk right there).

I would go as far as to say that this Jason would be an excellent match to peak Dick Grayson from before New 52 in comics. Those two would clash so immensely, but man, it would be one hell of an intellectual and physical fight. Two Kings doing what they do best.

Anyway, for now take my word for how well characterized Jason is in the ArkhamVerse, I will make a post were I deep dive more on his character both in game and comics. There is so much to say about him, he is truly interesting and very complex.

Now, I will be a little cheeky and I will use this ask as an opportunity to talk about my man, ArkhamVerse Nightwing aka Pretty Boy.

I love him so much! In the game when you get to meet him (I will link the video here! it’s five minutes long, and worth the watch) you get to see both Nightwing’s and Dick’s personalities. Nightwing is fun and relaxed, he is a little bit cocky and doesn’t let Batman be a pain in his ass, he is truly a beast. Although he is never seen without the mask in a moment when he is alone with Bruce you can really see Dick’s personality shine through. He obviously has had issues with Bruce in the past but there is also this palpable respect coming from both of them to the other. Bruce wants to protect Dick but he acts like a jerk instead of telling him what is on his mind. Dick wants to help Bruce at all costs, he refuses to leave Gotham until they solve something that he was already working on before Bruce needed his help.

There is also this sort of goodbye scene between the two (I will link it here!) that is extremely sad because Dick doesn’t believe Bruce when he tells him that he is proud of him. Dick cuts him off just when Bruce was trying to open up and I think that scene speaks volumes about how rough their relationship was. Dick never finds out that Bruce was “dying” after being infected with the Joker’s blood/gas, so it’s very bittersweet.

There is also the Nightwing DLC, where we get to see Dick being the best of the best, he is so skilled and funny and smart. It is amazing how much this game made me love their Nightwing even though he doesn’t appear much, his dynamic with Penguin is just perfect, Dick literally makes Penguin’s life very difficult. All of the people working with Penguin kinda fear Dick a little bit, some of them are even impressed by his skills.

Oh and, when Nightwing gets captured at some point in the game, Penguin’s men are saying something along the lines of “I was sure Batman will come in” “how come?” “what’s tied up downstairs and getting the crap beat out of it?” “Oh yeah, Nightwing” and that is so true, if I were Batman, I will also risk my life for Nightwing.

I just love Nightwing, he makes me so happy! He is the best here!

Anyway, enough of me loving Nightwing uncontrollably, I will make a separate post where I only talk about ArkhamVerse Jason so, yeah, be ready for that one because I love that Jason too, he is hot.

[chilei-the-hotsauce]

Hollow Knight Ask Game: um. All.

are you trying to get me killed?

anyways, answers under the cut

either pure vessel or grimm

there's just something in no-eyes that just really put me off for some reason. also, soul master

pale king & grimm ???? idk, im not much of a shipper surprisingly

SLY FOR THE WIN cornifer and lemm really do be up there tho

pure vessel really hit hard, literally. also, HIVE KNIGHT HIVE KNIGHT HIVE KN-

nightmare king grimm for sure

no-eyes

the grub ass looking dead guy, who was it?

hiveling!

g r e a t h u s k s e n t r y and also the small crystal fly

greenpath 👍

WHITE FUCKING PALACE PATH OF PAIN SHIT ASS-

crystal peak oh lord. as well as hive knight theme. or just all the gods & glory themes

the grimm troupe definitely

i have to use the compass 100% of the time. i have a shit sense of dirction. but i also like steady body & long nail

too scared to check män

this is something i actually dont know

big fat spoiler alert!!!! alright so everyone probably knows the birthplace scene where the pale king takes the pure vessel out of the abyss. and the player's character hangs onto the cliff thingy. so what if pure vessel KNEW. what if they knew it wasnt going to work. what if they knew the radiance would win. what if they knew, but still did their best to appear hollow to save their siblings. and the love they felt for their family is what led radiance be able to take over their mind. and the part they stab themselves in the fight? what if they're doing it so they can help their sibling kill off what's inside? what if it's them trying to stop hurting little ghost? might make a whole ass au outta this one

the whole game.

uhuh, sure as fuck have

nope. and probably never will unless im streaming or something

[static-void]

I feel like I'm qualified to do this. Given that HK is without a doubt one of my favorite games and I love the OST.

It's long because I try to give my reasonings behind each song (although sometimes I'm just taking a shot in the dark-I haven't watched all the POVs). Additionally, some characters have multiple songs. A couple of them only have one.

There are mild spoilers, mostly in the names of the songs, so if you're worried about Hollow Knight spoilers then I'd be aware of that. Aside from that, go ahead & knock yourself out.

Bdubs: I am sorely, sorely tempted to say Greenpath. But it works better for someone else, and also it doesn't work that well for Bdubs. I will say that the Queen's Gardens Action theme works well because of the tension in it. Just the action theme-the calm version has the same sort of vibe that makes the Greenpath theme not work too well. Nosk is a second, I think. Good tension. Though I think the Nosk soundtrack fits the concept of the Boogeyman in general pretty well, it works very well for Bdubs as the boogeyman.

BigB: This could be wildly off-base because I don't have a solid Grip on his personality yet but. the dream world theme (just called Dream in the OST) fits him. In my brain. Maybe also Hive Knight. He seems pretty upbeat and friendly most of the time.

Etho: Because of his whole thing in one of the sessions where he went around pretending to be the boogeyman, I think he gets Broken Vessel. The theme itself is frantic in a consistent way, which seems to match what he was doing. In my opinion. I did consider giving Etho the Nosk theme but it fit Bdubs more. The Nosk theme is less planned chaos, more pure chaos.

Grian: I really wanna go with a Grimm Troupe soundtrack. I really do. However, he's not red right now so as good as it may be I'll refrain. I have no basis for this, but I'm leaning towards the Shade Theme.

Impulse: Hm. Maybe Fungal Wastes? It's a fairly chill soundtrack. He's hard to assign for. I mean this in the nicest way possible but he seems like a Very Normal Person. Fungal Wastes has a very normal feeling to it.

Jimmy Solidarity: Just putting Jimmy felt weird. Anyways. He's another one hard to give a song for. I'm thinking of going with False Knight? Yeah False Knight is probably okay.

Joel Smallishbeans: Again. Just Putting Joel Felt Weird. Kingdom's Edge. It's a lonely sort of theme. Also The Collector's theme. It's a distorted version of the normal battle theme.

Lizzie: Queen's Gardens and Greenpath (along with the Greenpath Action theme). First off, because of the Plants, second off, because both themes have chiming notes that kinda remind me of fairies a bit. They sound nice. Bonus because it's a damn good track: Lace (Silksong).

Martyn: Haunted Foes could work. I haven't been watching his episodes, but I know I've heard discussions about the voice or w/e he has going on.

Mumbo: Dung Defender (I Know.) and the Crossroads theme probably? Specifically the Crossroads Action theme. Do I have any justification for this? No. Am I putting it anyways? Yes. (Also Bonebottom, from the Silksong OST)

Pearl: Hornet. I think Hornet's theme fits for Pearl. Also I just saw she has bees in her icon, so she also gets the Hive (Ambience). Yes it's ambience, but there's some Notes.

Ren: Ren is a solid amount of the reason behind this list. There's so many knight themes in hollow knight. Might go with Mantis Lords. They aren't knights, but the soundtrack fits in my opinion. (Bonus: for The Red King: Nightmare King. if Anyone gets NKG's theme it's Red King.)

Scar: Crystal Peak. Crystal Peak. And while it isn't recognized as a song in the OST, Brumm's accordion song. It matches him I think.

Scott: Someone needs to get Truth, Beauty, and Hatred. I guess it can be Scott. Why? Personally, I just like the theme. He can also have Resting Grounds. As a treat. Also because if I just give him Zote's theme I'll feel bad.

Skizz: Oh Boy. Furious Gods, maybe? I don't know a whole lot about Skizz.

Tango: Dream Battle. It Just Fits In My Brain.

ZombieCleo: Cleo is the other solid amount of why this list exists. Soul Sanctum (the entire thing. I think the shift from the normal to the tense versions works really well) and also Radiance. Radiance because it sounds angry.

[feralphoenix]

SONGS OF RESISTANCE: The View Myla Grants Us Of Hallownest’s Moths

hello again hollow knight fandom, i am back with my picante takes and ready to discuss two things i love: myla hollowknight and the moth tribe! Let Us Be Sad About Them Together.

as with my previous essay i’m going to be putting this fellow up on dreamwidth later for accessibility purposes since my layout text may be too small for high-res pc users. this time i’ll be attaching that in a reblog to avoid this post getting eaten by the dread tungle algorithms.

CONTENT WARNINGS FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay discusses colonialism and genocide both in real life and the fictional depictions in Hollow Knight, as well as racism in the zombie horror genre and in fandom.

ALSO: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay

SONGS OF RESISTANCE: THE VIEW MYLA GRANTS US OF HALLOWNEST’S MOTHS

In this house we are all love Myla.

Well, in all fairness, there are probably plenty of Hollow Knight fans who aren’t interested in her character, since which fictional characters one attaches to is always a matter of personal preference. But she’s still well-loved for a minor NPC and inspires a high level of devotion in her fans. There’s nothing that whips folks into a frenzy like a cute character you can’t do anything to help, and unlike some other characters in Hollow Knight Myla’s fate leaves no room for ambiguity. Once you pick up the Crystal Heart you’re left with only two choices: Avoid her, or kill her.

A lot of Hollow Knight’s world is designed to make you care about it so that it will hurt more when Ghost’s violent skillset proves too limited to save something or someone. The consequences of Hallownest’s founding and policies have directly or indirectly caused a great deal of damage to everything, and chief among those consequences with massive damage and a wide splash range is the Infection. Much has been said elsewhere by other people about Hollow Knight’s predominating mood being a struggle against futility, with Ghost arriving at the eleventh hour and every new tragedy designed to make the player more desperate to find something actionable, only finding out by trial and error what’s beyond your personal ability to save.

Myla, in that sense, is a typical example of that worldbuilding. She’s a particular kind of stock character in the zombie horror genre, the innocent who falls victim to the plague and cannot be saved, wrenching audience hearts and demonstrating the stakes.

But Hollow Knight plays with the trappings of zombie horror in a very unusual way, one I find thematically fascinating.

For a quick overview, the “zombie” as we know it in popular culture is an appropriation of a voudou (the Black American spiritual practice) concept that deals with the fear of slavery killing one’s spirit. (People more versed in/with roots in voudou culture can give a much more comprehensive overview than this simplistic one.)

The zombie horror genre, especially in Western media, is part of the great white fragility stock plot trifecta (the other two being alien invasions and robot uprisings). Zombie horror in particular expresses white fears that marginalized ethnic groups will rise up violently in revenge for their mistreatment and destroy white society. The fear of “that which is human, which ‘humanity’ is not” (to borrow mecha visual novel Heaven Will Be Mine’s pithy term) and the extreme levels of violence towards human-but-not bodies typical of zombie horror are often an expression of such bigotries. This is, again, a subject that’s been discussed in greater depth and with more nuance elsewhere.

But what Hollow Knight does is take the ugly metaphors and it makes them literal, makes it harder to ignore the toxic subtext of the genre. The Infection is literally a native god’s revenge on the settlers who committed genocide* against her people. How the Pale King’s colonization of the crater negatively affected the preexisting groups of bugs underpins every level of the worldbuilding, as does Hallownest’s cruelty towards its neighbors.

Hollow Knight is a game that is about the tragedy of Western imperialism. It is one of the work’s central themes. There are a lot of conversations that need to be had about the ways these themes manifest and, on a real-world level, about fandom’s predisposition to avoid the subject.

But, for now, let’s get back to Myla. If she fits such a stock zombie horror archetype, and Hollow Knight uses zombie horror tropes to underline the conversation it attempts to have about colonialism, then what has Myla got to teach us about the overall worldbuilding?

There's two topics I’d like to broach here: First we’ll get into how the circumstances of Myla’s infection fit in to the implied role of Crystal Peak in pre-Hallownest society. Then let’s take a long look at the lyrics of Myla’s song and what it implies.

MYLA, THE CRYSTALS, AND THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

If you think about it, Myla is an interesting outlier compared to the other NPCs we encounter on the verge of succumbing to the Infection. Both Bretta and Sly are unhappy: Bretta is a lonely, anxious bundle of abandonment issues yearning for someone to sweep her off her feet; Sly misses his pupils and loved ones who’ve left him in death (we never learn who Esmy is or what they were to Sly, but we sure can tell they’re not around anymore). The temptation to dream away those sadnesses seems to play a part in their vulnerability to the Infection, and also why Ghost’s interruption brings them back to reality.

Not so Myla. She appears to be blissfully unaware of her fellow miners’ fate, and most of her dialogue prior to her infection (besides the song - we’ll get to that later) is about how much fun she’s having at her job and how much she enjoys Ghost’s occasional company.

Yet she still winds up infected when Ghost’s back is turned. Why?

Not to discard the possibility that Myla’s got her own issues too, but in her case there seems to be another likely cause at hand: The crystals. If hit with the Dream Nail before infected, she mentions that she can hear them “singing” and “whispering”.

Under the The Hunter’s Hot Takes section of the Hunter’s Journal entries on various Crystal Peak enemies, we can learn more about the crystals - particularly in the entries for the Husk Miner and Crystallized Husk.

Crystal Peak’s crystals were thought of as particularly precious in Hallownest and harvested en masse for use in luxury items and the like. To do so, the mining operation was set up throughout most of the mountain, though the area around its peak still remains largely untouched. However, there’s more to the crystals than just that. Like Myla, the Hunter notes that the crystals can be heard to sing very very softly if one listens closely enough.

Perhaps of even more interest than that is this particular comment he gives us, from the Crystallized Husk journal entry: “There is some strange power hidden in the crystals that grow up there in the peaks. They gleam and glow in the darkness, a bright point of searing heat in each one.”

I don’t think it’s a particularly revolutionary idea to point out that there’s some connection between the crystals and Radiance’s power; this is something many players have intuited just based on Myla’s dialogue. But, in order to understand what Myla is demonstrating about the game’s world I think it’s important to think about what that connection is.

Speaking of which, the local Whispering Root has two important clues for us: The phrases “light refracted” and “energy contained”.

The very top of Crystal Peak is one of the only places in the crater where the moths’ architecture has escaped Hallownest destroying it, and is the only place in the entire game setting where their religious iconography remains fully intact. There are stone monuments covered in their language (which has been destroyed with the rest of their culture) and the statue of the Radiance - this is easier to see in the Wanderer’s Journal tie-in book, but the huge stone arches upon the Crown represent Radi’s halo and its rays and encircle her when viewed head-on or from a distance instead of the side view we get in the game.

The crystals grown here were used by the moths to store and cultivate Radiance’s light. It’s impossible to know what sort of architecture/infrastructure existed inside the mountain before Hallownest stole it from the moths. But between the massive scope of her statue and all the texts at the Crown, and the fact that the moths were working with their literal actual god’s freely given power here, it can be safely asserted that Crystal Peak was a holy ground to them.

Hallownest didn’t care about the mind-boggling level of spiritual significance Crystal Peak must have had to the natives, though. To the Pale King and his people, the crystals are just a natural resource to be harvested for personal profit.

This is unfortunately a conflict that still plays out in colonized countries today. If you’re American, #NoDAPL probably comes to mind; Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are filled with these sorts of horror stories too. Settler disrespect for indigenous sacred grounds is a huge problem that needs addressing. If you’re looking at the story of Crystal Peak and thinking it’s very on-the-nose... maybe it needs to be.

Anyway, Myla is nowhere near as miserable as Bretta or Sly, but she still notices that something’s up with these crystals. She hears the voice coming from inside, and she’s curious, and she tries very very hard to listen to it... so she DOES end up hearing Radiance’s voice. Radiance’s real voice, not the songs and whispers inside the crystals: The voice of a frightened, angry, grieving god who knows there’s a new vessel running around in Hallownest, and doesn’t want any part of that. A voice that’s pleading for someone, anyone to kill this dangerous creature, and save her from the threat Ghost poses.

Between how freaked out Radi is to know Ghost is poking around, the tendency we see in her boss battles for her to panic and kneejerk blast things at full volume/vibrance when she’s panicking, and the way her dream broadcast seems to be only a one-way communication line while she’s in the Black Egg... naturally this spells disaster for poor Myla.

Similar to the Moss Prophet, this small tragedy is a demonstration of the eleventh-hour state the conflict is in: The Pale King has escalated this situation so far, and Radiance is so traumatized and isolated, that bystanders who might in a kinder timeline have become Radi’s allies instead get caught up in her AOE. Myla’s definitely not as aware of the overall situation as the Moss Prophet, since she’s a Hallownest bug and not an indigenous one the way they are. But she noticed things were not as they seemed, and she was curious. Who knows what new possibilities could have opened up, if Radiance was able to truly communicate with bugs in the outside world?

Small side note before we move on, but I’ve noticed a tendency among some folks who notice the missed connections to come down extra hard on Radiance and chalk Myla’s infection/Moss Prophet’s death down to deliberate cruelty on her part. I’d like to gently push back against this.

Living in a post-colonial world we all absorb some level of prejudice from our surroundings, and it’s important to take a look at our first assumptions about people (or, in this case, fictional characters lol) to examine whether these prejudices we’ve inherited have influenced those assumptions.

So, if your first instinct is to look at this situation and say the problem is that Radiance is being too harsh and too angry where she should have stepped back and softened her emotions for others’ benefit to gently persuade them to her side... Please think about how when people of color and non-Christians express anger or hurt at our treatment, or even so much as calmly assert our boundaries, white/Christian viewers often view us as much more aggressive and threatening than we actually are. The “angry black woman” trope is a good example of this stereotype. You may want to look up the HuffPost article “Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism” and its discussion of white fragility to further understand this phenomenon.

It is absolutely essential to remember the complex power dynamics in play in Hollow Knight and that the Pale King deliberately imprisoned Radiance (who had at this point already gone through an extreme amount of trauma) in a way that would compromise her ability to communicate with others. If you can extend compassion to characters like Ghost or the Pale King and empathize with their motives/feelings when their actions cause harm, but you are not willing to do the same with Radiance... it’s important to sit down with yourself and examine why that is.

THE MEANING BEHIND MYLA’S SONG

Okay, let’s switch gears and take a look at the lyrics to the song Myla sings, since it’s got some interesting things to tell us too.

The first verse, which you can hear from Myla the first time you meet her/before you acquire Vengeful Spirit, goes:

Bury my mother, pale and slight Bury my father with his eyes shut tight Bury my sisters, two by two, And then when you’re done, let's bury me too

There’s not much particularly story-related going on here except foreshadowing that Myla may in fact wind up dying. Most of what we get here is that a) this is a song about burying the dead and b) it’s morbid as fuck.

Curious, a new player might think of the mention of burying the dead; there are a lot of corpses just lyin’ around all over the ground - something that might lead one to believe Hallownest didn’t have such a custom. Later players will discover the Resting Grounds, confirming Hallownest did bury its dead... and that the gravekeepers are all dead too.

Let’s look at the second verse, which Myla remembers and will sing after you pick up Vengeful Spirit:

Bury the knight with her broken nail, Bury the lady, lovely and pale Bury the priest in his tattered gown, Then bury the beggar with his shining crown

This right here is where it gets interesting. The first verse describes the singer’s family as dead or dying, but the people we’re burying now sure do have some parallels to Hallownest's ruling body, don’t they?

Among Hallownest’s Great Knights, three of them - Dryya, Isma, and Ze’mer - were women. They are also very dead or might as well be: Dryya was killed by Traitor Lord’s resistance, Isma is a tree spreading acid through the kingdom’s waters to cut off access to the City of Tears, and Ze’mer hung up her nail after her mantis girlfriend’s death and only lingers on as a revenant.

While there aren’t any characters who are described in-text as “priests” in Hallownest, the idea of a tattered gown might bring Lurien the Watcher to mind, or perhaps the Soul Sanctum’s magicians before they went rogue.

The lovely, pale lady in the song can only refer to the White Lady, Hallownest’s queen. And there’s only one man in the game who has a shining crown: The Pale King. The lyrics are particularly derisive towards him in a way they aren’t to any of the other figures listed, too.

So, it seems like whoever came up with this song didn’t think much of Hallownest. With that in mind it’s hard to think that it originated from any sort of faction loyal to the king.

We’re missing a line from the third verse, which Myla sings after you’ve beaten Soul Master and she’s beginning to become infected. But what we do see of it is Huge in terms of lore:

Bury my body and cover my shell, [...] What meaning in darkness? Yet here I remain I’ll wait here forever ‘til light blooms again

So. The “protagonist” of this song’s family has died, and they expect to die as well, but even unto death they're waiting for Hallownest to fall and the light to return.

The moths became Hallownest’s gravekeepers after the Pale King forcibly assimilated them. Under the Pale King’s light, the moths forgot Radiance and most of their original culture, but Seer tells us in her final monologue that a few individuals remembered just enough to pass bits and pieces down through the generations. This secret resistance among the moths was what kept Radiance alive and prevented her from being sealed away entirely.

This song Myla sings comes from that moth resistance.

Code songs amongst oppressed ethnic groups are very much a real thing, especially when groups have to communicate or signal each other within hostile parties’ hearing. Since I’m American (and had a big ol crush on Harriet Tubman as a little kid lmao!) the first thing that came to mind for me when I made this connection was the working songs escaped Black slaves used in the Underground Railroad.

These have another point in common with the moth gravedigger song Myla sings, in that they enter the general cultural consciousness through out-group people who don’t know the true context. If you ever pick up a book of American baby songs, you’ll probably find some Underground Railroad code songs in there - often because generations ago white kids heard these songs from Black slaves or servants, and went on to sing the same songs to their children with zero awareness of what the songs were really for.

So some Hallownest bug somewhere probably heard the moths’ song and liked it and sang it in a context totally divorced from its original one, and it got spread around and passed down to become one of Myla’s old favorites, with her seemingly not realizing the meaning behind the lyrics. The moths’ song of devotion to their lost god survived them as a people.

This is some VERY realistic and layered worldbuilding. There is so much to glean from just one NPC’s dialogue when put together with other clues. Of course all of it is SAD and DEPRESSING, but Hollow Knight is a tragedy with a super unsubtle point to make about the unsustainability of Western imperialism.

What happens to Myla is awful, and upsetting, and unfair. So was what happened to the moths and their sacred ground, and to Radiance too. It’s important to understand the scope of the conflict that led to all this happening, trace it to its roots, and lay it at the feet of the ones responsible for engendering all this tragedy in the first place: Hallownest and the Pale King.

*A NOTE ABOUT MY USE OF THE TERM “GENOCIDE”

This is a tangent, but since there’s some debate about whether it’s appropriate to define the Pale King’s actions towards indigenous bug nations as genocide, allow me to cite the official definition of genocide here.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention for short) defines genocide like this:

Genocide is any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, religious, or racial group, as such:

A) Killing members of the group

B) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group

C) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part

D) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group

E) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Among the abovelisted, Hallownest is guilty of A (Deepnest and the moths), B (Deepnest physically/the moths vis a vis brainwashing), C (the mantis tribe and the hive), and E (the moths, which we know from Marmu, and possibly the mosskin also - Isma is mosskin).

Then there is cultural genocide, i.e. acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, religious, or racial group's way of life. Let’s look at the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) and how it defines cultural genocide:

A) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities

B) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources

C) Any form of population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights

D) Any form of assimilation or integration by other cultures or ways of life imposed on them by legislative, administrative or other measures

E) Any form of propaganda directed against them

Hallownest is guilty of every item on this list. A: The moths, attempted with Deepnest. B: The moths, the mantises, the flukes, the mosskin; also attempted with Deepnest. C: The moths, the mantises, the flukes. D: The moths; attempted with the mantises and Deepnest. E: The mantises and Deepnest.

Any sort of discussion of the wide-reaching harm Radiance caused MUST include the context that the Infection is her response to multiple levels of genocide. Discussion that does not include this context loses nuance and simplifies the conflict and power dynamics portrayed in the game in ways that reflect real-life racism and Christian supersessionism.

Now, this is NOT some sort of holier than thou Fandom Purity dunk to say that it’s Bad or Wrong to care about Hallownest’s nobility. Like, one of my favorite characters in this dang game is the White Lady, who spent a long ass time enabling her husband’s actions before she finally walked out on him over the mass infanticide thing. You can, and it is okay to, love TPK and want rehabilitation for him while acknowledging that the dude has done objectively bad things.

I just feel that it’s important to keep things in perspective so that we don’t wind up stirring a bunch of real-world bigotry into our fandom funtimes. A lot of us don’t have the luxury of turning our brains off and simply Not Seeing It, because these same sorts of dynamics are behind a lot of the hardships that threaten our everyday stability.

It’s pretty hard to have conversations about those things in real life if one can’t even recognize them in fiction. So, this might be a good opportunity to start practicing anti-racism so we can better utilize that ideology in real life, where the stakes are much higher.