#hk voidheart

[demgozellegs]

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die." H. P. Lovecraft, from The Call of Cthulhu

Instead of doing another redesign, I decided to extend on my own AU with the final form of the Nightmare King. This is the Nightmare God, the most powerful form of the Nightmare King. Basically in my AU, the Nightmare King consumes the Void after the Knight defeats him in the dream realm. Having no power left to take on his mortal Grimm form, He crawls his way to safety in the Ancient Basin, eventually falling down into the Abyss, where he becomes one with the Void. The nightmare flames of his form fused with the Void, giving him limitless power.

Like the Radiance and the Pale King, the Nightmare God is a Higher Being, almost the same as a Pale Being. But instead of being a Pale Being, the Nightmare God is an Infernal Being, a creature born of flames, void, and sin. They cannot die, but in exchange for their immortality, they lose their mind. Much like the Vessels, Infernal Beings have no true will, other than their innate hunger for the souls of bugs and the scarlet nightmare flames.

I quite like writing my own lore! It gives me the opportunity to experiment with designs and characters that already exist. I feel as if my series of redesigns have improved how I approach character designs.

But anyways-

I'm hoping to add to my lore as I design more characters!

[coatsinkleaf]

made the kingsoul x voidheart charm into an ACTUAL CHARM!! and its also double sided!!!!

[warlordfelwinter]

got all three dreamers i think this is officially the farthest ive made it in this game. certainly unmodded, i cant remember how far i got in my modded version

[hollowknighthelp]

Hey I'm here to gove an updt on my HK playthrough :)

Got Voidheart

Fought Hollow

Beat Hollow

Fought Radiance

Haven't beat Radiance

Beat The Collector

Got Hiveblood

Got Grubberfly's elegy

Haven't beaten Grimm but got him to phase 2

Ayyy, nice!! Congrats on your progress!! And yeah, I'd recommend saving the Radiance for later. Might as well be as powered up as you possibly can be before taking her on! (But still, for the future, Abyss Shriek is THE Radiance Killer)

Since you've gotten (at least what I consider to be) the most annoying Pale Ore to get ((the Grubfather reward)), I assume you've got the Pure Nail now too?

Anyway, Troupe Master Grimm!

I'll put it under a cut, since the post is fairly long.

So. The funny thing about Grimm is that I've actually gotten so used to fighting Nightmare King Grimm and his attack patterns that when I fight regular Grimm, it. Looks pretty pathetic lmao

Still, I'll offer what tips I can!

Back when I first started fighting NKG, I used a pretty much exclusively nail-based playstyle for him. Normally I'm a very big advocate for using spells because they're Great, but for him? SOUL was used pretty much exclusively for healing during his staggers. Nowadays I do use spells during his fight, but since you're trying to win for the first time and it's for his sidequest? A nail-based build might be worth considering!

Mind you, that's Nightmare King Grimm. Because Troupe Master Grimm is a lot slower, there are probably more opportunities to sneak in some spell attacks. But, even so, your Charm Notches are limited! Especially due to Grimmchild completely wasting two of them. So, this is a very rare occurrence where I'd say Shaman Stone might not be worth equipping!

Instead, focus on Nail-based Charms! Quickslash is probably the one I'd recommend the most (and thus Steady Body would be a good choice as well, since those two pair great together). Fragile/Unbreakable Strength is, of course, amazing, but if you haven't been able to make it Unbreakable yet, then I totally understand not wanting to use it.

Grimm staggers after you've done 14 hits! And while he's staggered is the best time to heal. Assuming you have the SOUL for it, I believe you should be able to get at least two masks healed during his stagger, maybe even three. I honestly wouldn't even bother attacking him while he's staggered unless you don't need to heal (or don't have the SOUL for it), since you can only deal a maximum of 50 damage to him while he's in that state. And, sidenote, at least for NKG, I find that his first stagger and his first Pufferfish attack normally happen at around the same time! Not sure if the same is true for Troupe Master Grimm though.

Speaking of the Pufferfish, that happens a total of three times, specifically at each time he loses a quarter of his max health (i.e., 75% left, 50%, and 25%). You can use that knowledge to track how far you are in the fight!

As for evading that attack, it's... Mostly a matter of practice, I think. Stick to the far side of the battlefield, and avoid using the Monarch Wings as much as possible. You can use the Shade Cloak to dodge through the fireballs if you're really in a bad spot, but it's risky and might just make you collide with the next ball. I think avoiding damage using Descending Dark's invincibility frames should be a viable option, though? At least for Troupe Master Grimm anyway.

For Troupe Master Grimm, I think his floor spikes attack might be slow enough for you to safely get one heal in? But I'm not 100% certain. That said, if he happens to be close to you when he uses that attack, it's also the prime time to get a ton of damage in on him.

His lunge attack from the ceiling to the floor: thanks to Nightmare King Grimm, my default response to this attack is to use Descending Dark and its iframes. It's not as necessary to do that for Troupe Master Grimm, but it does still work!

His uppercut attack from the floor to the ceiling, with the falling fireballs afterward: dash through him with Shade Cloak when he dashes forward, then walk toward Grimm. You don't want to get under him, since a fireball drops there, but right next to him is a safe spot. ...At least, again, that's what I do for NKG, but I believe Troupe Master Grimm works the same way.

Fire bats: ...This is the attack I constantly take unnecessary damage on now because I'm used to NKG's version of it lmao. I no longer remember what I used to do to avoid it, but it might have been Jump, Double Jump, Shade Cloak? But I'm not certain.

If you're good at dodging the Pufferfish attack, then it might be worth getting that extra damage in at the start of the fight by hitting him while he bows to you (especially if you have Quickslash). Of course, this also comes at the cost of being a Horrible, Rude, Disrespectful opponent, but! Hey, whatever it takes to win, right? Alternatively, I think you should also have enough time to Dream Nail him while he bows (which doesn't bother him) and allow you to start the fight with a bit of extra SOUL

[lulu-nightbon]

@radiance1 SO the ambiance of hk title screens got to me lifeblood/classic - laying down in the rain. floating along a river, holding a flower. peaceful and alarming at the same time godmaster - some statues have mariana's essence/likeness. let's say someone happens to walk in on her connecting with the statue (probably ase). she's literally glowing- radiating bright light. her hair almost looks white with golden tips, as her form is ascending to the point of that which you cannot look upon and survive- a god. there's an overwhelming pressure that pours out the moment he opens the door, forcing most to kneel, as while it was similar to theirs, it was more like... demanding respect and worship. something about it, about her, was regal now. he can hear the shimmering noise even before opening the door, the faint, almost wind-chime sound. it grows quite loud when the door is opened. it isn't meditation, but it isn't praying, either- she's somewhere in between the two 52 precepts - no. i won't be touching on the achievable ones either- eternal ordeal's the only one i have so far voidheart - kneeling in the void, abyss wrapped around her. frail, drained, hopeless. there was no light to speak of. her eyes were dull. they may have to seek out dusek to enter and retrieve their poor, beloved mariana before it's too late- assuming alaric doesn't just do it himself. she's dying. it is her opposite, after all. she's bound to be consumed sooner or later. hidden dreams - almost shimmering, but reminiscent of a dreamcatcher. hital can see the glow, after having mariana deposit part of herself in him to save his life, though everyone can hear the shimmer, it's just louder for him. he can hear her whisper for him to pick it up. in the version where she's dead, it seems to be his way to rebuild her. by the time she no longer has the strength to speak to him, he knows the drill grimm troupe - she kneels, surrounded by flames. she's accepted her fate. might as will bring out the candelabra for one last show. HJIEOKFJNHUJOISEK you can tell which one i liked best

[thelanor-s-astame]

You're generally incredibly lgbtq+ friendly, so I have to ask, why is it that you consistently misgender the vessels?

I promise I'm asking in good faith. You trust me, don't you? I'm random anonymous person on tumblr, your most trusted confidant!

Very good question! And unfortunately with a good question the answer is a little complicated. But I'll do my best to try and explain Now I'm amusing that you're talking about how the Vessels are non-binary, if it's not, then I'm not sure what you mean. And if that's the case it's because I did not know I was misgendering them and legitimately do not know what you mean lmao But assuming the former is true. The answer is, because, at some point, I couldn't tell you when, but HKR became a different story then Hollow Knight. And quite a bit of that story is about the Dude Currently Haunting The Narrative, The Pale King In HK proper, The Pale King was *correct* about what he was doing. Moral implications aside, he did create void vessels that could trap or even destroy the radiance, he was trying to save his kingdom, no strings or frills or secret plots. That's what he was doing. The vessels are nb, because they are Void. They Were Built For A Job kind of like a machine. The Pale King just chose the wrong one. When The Hollow Knight started feeling, even if it was a little bit of love for his father, the machine broke. Despite it all, he was a good enough father that one of his kids loved him, and thus into downfall, and horrible tragedy. The Main Character Vessel, especially after turning the kings soul into the voidheart and being able to capture the Voids essence, was proof that the plan did, actually, work, it just took some more time. In HKR the pale king, spoilers, is kind of a Lying Bastard who is mostly interested in continuing his hegemony at any cost. He created children who he beveled were empty vessels that he could put anything into, that would continue to grow his empire. Charlie is not that. He chose a name and a gender for himself (and did for his compatriots too, even if they didn't entirely like it.) He was a person even if the world saw him, and constantly told him that he was a tool for his father's plans. (Big reason I'm lgbtqia+ positive is because I'm queer as shit myself, and so I got daddy issues that go STRAIGHT into the fanfic lmaooooo). when he got out of that he met several men that were kind, and caring, and honorable and he wanted to emulate them. Hornet did the very same thing except there were women around her, and that's who she felt most conformable identifying as. They're both extremely similar in that regard, but, like the siblings they are, took very different roads to the same destination. That's why I voice both of them! As for everyone else essentially immediately assuming Charlie and the rest of the vessels are male, That one is easy. Hallownest is a patriarchal society that used to be a matriarchal one, is bordered by matriarchal societies, many that it has subsumed into itself, and is, even after it's death, trying to assert cultural dominance. You know how it is. This sort of didn't really come up as a thing in the game, because the game wasn't terribly interested in that aspect of it's world and didn't really need to be. I'm just a freak about that sorta thing. So, I guess the main answer is, due to the theming of these two stories and how I sorta divested from cannon somewhere along the way The Knight is Non-bianry Charlie is not Now, does that mean that the other vessels might've been non-binary if they were given the same opportunities as charlie?, and charlie might be jumping the gun a little by just gendering them all as male? Yeah. But he's not the brightest bulb in the box. Or even thinking about any of this consciously. The only one who is, is Hornet. And she's only thinking about it in, like, an early 2000s girl power sort of way.

[bob-the-cemetery-ghost]

now i am. Extremely bored

i dont wanna play hollow knight cause i already did white palace, traitor lord, white lady, kingsoul, voidheart, saved cloth, unlocked NKG, etc

and i feel like thats enough for today so i dunno

do you want me to draw bob in hk form

cause i will if you want im just extremely bored and dunno what to do

[You can draw Bob if you want, tbh I'm just watching a show if you want we could rp or smth]

[pinky-lemon]

"would you like a cup of vessels on the side?"

[benevolence150]

I decided to make a Hollow Knight oc because I wanted to.

[thehoneyknight]

Redesigned human-ish Knight!

[coatsinkleaf]

I’m sorry everyone

[hellafa]

oh god oh fuck... i got the sealed siblings ending

[cielleduciel]

the most chilling part of HK for me really was that climb up out of the abyss in the dream from when you dreamnail The Egg. just, the utter darkness, and the music, and the vessel corpses falling as you climb past them, and the king's horrific monologue over it all, and the very end with that scene at the top, where ghost's and hollow's gazes meet for a single second. the whole thing wreaked havoc on my emotions it was unbelievably good and i still think about it

[fly-sky-high-bug-games]

UH

So, I didn't really find any prompts I wanted to work with for art october so I made some myself based on charms/charm sets!

Here's to also pulling through the month because I made these myself and it would be silly if I don't (a little bit of self pressure shouldn't hurt haha...) 🤞

Will be tagging these as #hk artober '22

List of the prompts with the charms they're based on under the cut

Wayward Compass: DIRECTION

Gathering Swarm: COLLECTION

Starwart Shell: COWER

Soul Catcher, Shaman Stone, Soul Eater: LIFEFORCE

Dashmanster: SWIFT

Sprintmaster: TIME

Grubsong, Grubberfly Elegy: HOME

Unbreakable Heart/Greed/Strength: PRICE

Spell Twister: DRAINED

Steady Body: STURDY

Heavy Blow: ESCAPE

Quick Slash: DAMAGE

Long Nail: REACH

Mark of Pride: STAND

Fury of the Fallen: MORTAL

Thorns of Agony: SPIKE

Baldur Shell: PROTECT

Flukenest: OFFSPRING

Defender’s Crest: HEROES

Glowing Womb: OUTNUMBERED

Quick/Deep Focus: CRYSTALIZE

Lifeblood Heart/Core, Joni’s Blessing: TABOO

Hiveblood: EVERLASTING

Spore Shroom: GROWTH

Sharp Shadow: DEEP

Shape of Unn: ADAPT

Nailmaster’s Glory: MENTOR

Weaversong: TRADITION

Dream Weilder/Dreamshield: PAST

Grimmchild/Carefree Melody: COMPANION

Kingsoul/Voidheart: UNITY

The meme version had:

Heavy Blow: USELESS Flukenest: BROKEN

[elvesofnoldor]

The Abyss as an area in hollow knight--with the black and white colour scheme, the general bleakness of the entire area, the empty yet oppressive atmosphere, and the lighthouse--reminds me of both of playdead’s games

[ruthlesslistener]

Kind of! The way that I interpret it is that the original Shade Lord is completely dead- all that lingered within the abyssal sea is the memory that it was once alive, which is why it corrodes living creatures. What was once one coherent whole is now fractured into many small pieces that crave unity, so it requires a great strength of will (as well as the focus to unify the void) to bring all of it together into one being again. What Hollow did was tap into a good chunk of that pooled power to kill Radi, instead of just fighting back with just the void that they had alone. Instead of rejecting the void and acting passively like they were taught, their fear pushed them into channeling that power and pulling a larger amount of it forward to kill the Radiance. Essentially, her breaking them gave them the willpower and focus to shape it that they normally lacked before.

As for needing the voidheart to become the next Lord of Shades (or raise the void, period), my interpretation was that Ghost specifically needed the kingsoul as a means of confronting their past and reclaiming their memories so that they had the willpower to raise the void. From what I recall, Salubra mentioned that charms are formed from potent desire that manifests into a magical talisman, so I saw the voiding of the Kingsoul to be Ghost taking their father's wishes- something that caused them and their siblings so much pain- and then twisting it to fit their own desires, after they remembered their past. They would fulfil the purpose that they were made for, but it wouldn't be for him, and it would be by their rules. So it does make things a great deal easier, but it's not strictly necessary for a vessel to control the void if they have their memories and have the will and focus to ascend into the next God of Void

Really love all your writing and Im glad I found your blog, look at all these quality headcanons. If youre still doing questions what do you feel Hollows relationship towards the void is emotionally? Is it another parent to them, just a part of them, etc.

Eyyy I’m so glad you found my tumblr account! As for your question about Hollow’s relationship with the void, it’s...a little complicated. My interpretation of the whole Shade Lord scenario is that the original Lord of Shades was felled by Radi long before the Pale King came to Hallownest, and that the Void Sea contains the lingering, instinctual will of the elder god to be alive, which is why it fused with PK and WL’s eggs rather than completely obliterating them. So it’s not really a parent at all, but it IS a major part of their body, mind, and elemental abilities. Instead of Soul reformed into flesh, like PK is, they are made of Void and Soul both. 

Aaand they don’t have the...best relationship with it. Personally, I headcanon them to be afraid of it, and to only attempt to use it when they are desperate enough to justify it. This is bc they were hyperaware of just how dangerous they were to everyone around them, because Void is a far denser, more corrosive magical element than Soul, and no bug left in Hallownest knew how to properly wield it. So instead of using their knowledge of soul-based spells to grow more attuned to the power that is more natural to them (like we see Ghost doing in-game), they instead opted to conceal and ignore it instead of learning how to harness it- which we kind of see in their bossfight, as the only two void spells we see them use are their teleport (which may be just them moving their shade from point a to point b, not inherently void-based) and their tentacle attack, which only happens after they need to bust out the stronger moves to win, and looks wildly uncontrolled compared to Ghost’s spells, which follow the set pattern of the spells they already learned to use, just with void as a base over soul. 

Which is why Ghost was able to gather enough willpower and acceptance to become the Lord of Shades to kill the Radiance, while Hollow did not. Theoretically they could, but their fear of their own power (instilled, of course, by their father) prevented them from doing so