#okay maybe herrah

[anonymous-utility]

ye

[algonavtor-art-jungle]

Inktober prompts exotic and navigator. Yeah, that's an awkward 'meet the family' episode, but what if everything was okay and Ze'mer could have a happy ending???

Featuring not yet traitor Traitor Lord and his sadly nameless daughter :(

While the mantises would likely be against this relationship, Ze'mer would probably be competent enough of a knight to prove herself to them. Plus, they're allies with Hallownest, and the Pale King would be more chill about it. His wife is a plant, AND he agreed to whatever he and Herrah did in the bedroom at least once...

Maybe in some peaceful timeline, this could lead to a better Mantis-Hallownest relationship.

Sketchbooks spreads so far and some more sketches, including the cursed way I headcanon the Pale King eating

[cloudyswritings]

Okay but why do all of the best fanfic ideas pop up when you’re trying to sleep.

Me: Nearly snoozin

My Brain: okay but what if we made a fic following Herrah after Embrace the void as she tries to run a crumbling deepnest, figure out what exactly happened, and try(and fail) to connect with the person her daughter has become.

Me: no, big eepy time!

My Brain: (starts creating scenes and dialogue), also what if it was the first in a trilogy, with the second being Monomon working on preserving the records and remains of the kingdoms and helping Quirrel through his depression, and the third following Lurien and Hollow as they work together to rebuild Hallownest, and then Hollow ends up making Lurien king(mfer was already basically running the city) and he has a whole breakdown over taking the Pale kings places(he’s so freaking gay + hero worship) and then Herrah beats his ass and helps him through his trauma. Also let’s have hollow change their name to Atlas halfway through the fic because they don’t want the association to their old title but they do feel their burden is worth remembering. Also…

Me: please… enough…

My brain: well if you don’t like that how about this!! Ghost, but their adventures before Hallownest and how they helped liberate an ant kingdom from an imposter queen who killed the real queen and supplanted her, but also that’s not what it really is about because it’s actually about ghost becoming a world class chef and then their adventures to other kingdoms and building their cookbook. Also maybe we see them after canon too, like a book 2 type thing as they and hollow stop at a few other kingdoms on the way to pharloom to rescue Hornet.

Me: Fuck it, this is gonna be a tumblr post(fumbles around and knocks over lamp while looking for phone).

[luoisalunitic]

I need to get this out of my system man

Just imagine, where Hornet goes around and helps the remaining alive vessels with HK, maybe helping Lost Kin if it’s still okay and aliveish . Imagine that she just brings them to a house thing and helps them regain their senses n stuff

IMAGINE HK, dying and finally getting closure in Dream No More, peaceful living in the heaven bug realm thing, finally being able to get express its own feelings, and finally being able to hug its own dad

IMAGINE FELLAS (gen neutral), In Embrace the Void, Ghost feeling at peace for once, bugs visit them often in the junk pit, Ogrim decided to take care of Ismas grove and the part of the junk pit, in honor of everyone’s little friend. The dreamers woke up, Lurien finally being able to talk with his servant, Herrah taking back control and maintaining peace in Deepnest, Monomon spending Quirrels last minutes beside him. The White Lady finally coming out of the cocoon, the pale king being put to rest, Hornet and HK traveling together after such a long time apart. The residents of Dirtmouth are coming back and enjoying their time, but only Sly, Iselda, Elderbug, Cornifer, and Bretta remembering their small friend. And finally, the stag ways bustling with Stags, enjoy your essay of a happy Hollownest :)

and feel free to make an au based off of any of these ideas!! Just know I already have a somewhat similar idea as the last one :)

[spectruminterests]

What other ideas did you also have for the Hollow Knight Modern AU?

I have… a lot. (For context: I originally posted about my Hollow Knight Modern AU here). I tried to type some things out and then tumblr erased it, so instead you get my unorganized ramblings that I have on my notes app. (Under the cut so not everyone has to read them). Essentially, Pale Royal (the Pale King) is the mayor of the oddball town of Hallownest and the somewhat negligent father of five chaotic children.

Character names:

Pale Royal (= The Pale King)

Blanca Royal (White Lady) 

Hollis Royal (The Hollow Knight/Pure Vessel)

Kinsey Royal (Broken Vessel/Lost Kin)

Hornet Weaver (Hornet- her mom insisted she should have the Weaver name)

Herrah Weaver (Herrah the Beast)

Greene Royal (Greenpath vessel)

Knight "Ghost" Royal (The Knight/Ghost/player character)

Grimm Nightmare Sr. (Troupe Master/Nightmare King Grimm)

Grimm Nightmare Jr. (Grimmchild)

Dr. Sophia Monomon (Monomon the Teacher, I chose the name Sophia because it means wisdom or knowledge)

Quirrel Monomon (Quirrel, Monomon's adopted son)

Morningstar Claw (Mantis Lord)

Lance Claw (Mantis Lord)

Arrow Claw (Mantis Lord)

Mace Claw (Traitor Lord) 

Bretta Scriber (Bretta)

Tiso Shieldsmith (Tiso)

Sybil Erebis (Seer)

Pale and Blanca have an open relationship - Blanca and Herrah get along fine and Pale having a child with Herrah wasn’t a problem for Blanca. Blanca is also bisexual and in a relationship with Dryya, the Hallownest Chief of Police. 

Tween Hornet: What are you talking about I have no interest in girly things I like ninjas and swords! *hides princess book under the bed* 

Ghost: second grade Force of Chaos

Grimmchild/Grimm Jr.: Second grade arsonist and Ghost's best friend/accomplice 

Pale King and White Lady: parenting is easy! Just let the kids figure it out for themselves! 

Teenage/Young adult Hollow Knight: the only responsible person in the household. Is slowly going insane taking care of four younger siblings. 

Troupe Master Grimm/Grimm Sr.: Similar parenting philosophy to PK and WL. Is *fabulous* Actively encourages his son to be a ball of chaos. 

Herrah: Like a crazy cat lady but with spiders. Her home is not a place for the faint of heart. 

Teenage Mantis Lords: Sisters Morningstar, Lance, and Arrow. Leaders of the student-run Fencing Club which is really just a veneer for a bunch of kids who want to be TOUGH WARRIORS! Members include Hornet and Cloth. 

Traitor Lord: Mantis sisters’ older brother Mace. A deadbeat high school dropout who makes a living as a drug dealer. The family doesn't talk about him. 

Lance: "Yes I'm a girl and anyone else who'd like to comment gets STABBED!" 

People know better than to mess with these kids. 

When Grimm gets a call from the school: "Oh? My son set a fire in the boys' bathroom, you say? Did he tell you why? Because toilet paper is very flammable, he said? Oh well, kids will be kids, it sounds very much like something I would have done at his age... Suspended? Surely that's a little harsh? With all due respect, I think this behavior is teaching him important life skills! Surely that should be more acceptable in a school?" 

I'm imagining Grimm Jr. asking Ghost to run away and join the circus with him 😆😆😆

"You'd be a great act, Ghost! I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind having another kid! You could be an acrobat or a clown or a mime... (at this point Ghost gives him a look).... okay, maybe not a mime."

The town of Hallownest is technically their "hometown," but the Nightmares travel. Grimm Sr. just drops his kid off at the local public school whenever he's too busy to take care of him, never mind whether or not he's actually enrolled. Cue a lot of teachers trying to figure out where the hell this kid came from. How much the kid is actually learning, missing school so often and being dropped in random classes is... questionable, but everything is fine! The Hallownest school system has already given up. Grimm Jr. really only goes to school because Dad is too busy to deal with him full time 😆

He's doing his best to just push his kid off on a stranger like in-game 😆

Ghost also often begs for Grimm to come sleep over, which of course causes more chaos than usual in the Royal household. Poor Hollis, trying to maintain some semblance of order. 

Bretta is already writing fanfic. Ghost once saves her from a bully by dropping onto him from a tree, at which point Bretta decides she’s in love. Then Bretta mentions this to Greene. Bretta: “Oh, is he your brother? He’s so hot! 😍😍” Greene: “… sibling. And they’re seven.” Bretta: “Oh… so that’s why he’s… they’re… so short….” *is mortified*

Bretta later develops a crush on Hollis and writes fan fiction about them.

Grimm just drops off his kid at the Royal house with no notice and no indication of how long he'll be gone 😆

The whole Royal family is autistic in some fashion, because look at them. Pale is an inventor in his spare time and is always thinking about how to optimize infrastructure in the town of Hallownest. He also works late and forgets to eat or sleep when he's hyperfocused. Blanca (White Lady) spends more time with her garden and her large variety of houseplants than with her children, and everything has to be clean and Just So or she'll make a fuss. She always adjusts her children's and stepdaughter's clothing before they leave the house, much to Ghost's and Hornet's chagrin.

Hollis couldn't break a rule to save their life and comes off as stiff and robotic when trying to interact with people. Their parents are proud of the former and entirely oblivious to the latter. 

Kinsey is sensory-sensitive and awkward. Loud noises, bright lights, and busy rooms drive them crazy. This does not stop them from being kind of an extrovert or from getting into trouble with Hornet. 

Hornet, for her part, has some sensory issues with clothing (and hates the fancy things her stepmother tries to shove her into with a passion) and speaks in a very blunt but also overly archaic/wordy manner (if you've seen her dialogue in game you'll know what I'm talking about). She has little interest in socializing with people unless a) they're her mom or siblings, b) she's causing trouble, and/ or c) it's something violence-related. 

Greene takes after their mom with their love of plants. They also love animals and are better with animals than people. They're super shy and awkward lol

Ghost is well, Ghost. They often struggle to speak/experience speech loss and have a raging case of ADHD in addition to the autism, making them constantly chasing after new and interesting things, unwilling and unable to pay attention unless they're interested, and entirely oblivious to social norms. In other words, they're hell to deal with 😆

Quirrel is Miss Monomon's adopted son and a giant nerd. He's 14 and a sophomore in high school because he skipped a grade as a kid. He has an I ❤️ isopods (group including pill bugs) pin on his backpack and is really into "bugs" and other invertebrates. 

Hollis, nicknamed "Holly" by their siblings, is Very Tall (like 6 foot 5 or something), rather gangly and skinny, and AMAB (in part to make their height more plausible lol). At first they look kinda intimidating but they wouldn't hurt a fly, and are just about the quietest, shyest person ever, with one exception: if you hurt their siblings, you incur their wrath. Other than that they will take anything that's thrown at them - bullying, name-calling, way too many home responsibilities for a teenager, etc. - with a stoic front. They have just about no self-esteem and have a bad case of "awkward tall person syndrome," always hunching over and trying not to stand out despite the fact that they are literally head and shoulders above their classmates. Like all their siblings they have white hair (which they keep long), pale skin and very dark eyes. 

Blanca (the White Lady) is an albino, thus the white skin, white hair, and very light blue eyes. She's also something of a Karen and acts like being an albino makes her an oppressed minority or something.

She also never leaves the house without makeup.

Tiso Shieldsmith is Hollis's classmate and maybe-friend who moved to Hallownest last year. He's kind of an idiot teenage boy and he calls Hollis "Stick Bug" thanks to their stick-bug-esque physique. He's, obviously, in the martial arts and fencing club, and he's kind of trying to be a tough jock but not always succeeding. I love the way he interacts with Hollis: 

"Yo, Stick Bug, my man!  I mean, my non-binary guy... I mean, uh...whatever. How are you doing, pal?" 

*Hollis stares at him in an expressionless way as Tiso rambles.* 

Hollis always refers to their parents as Mother and Father instead of just saying "Mom" or "Dad." It's out of respect mainly, and also because Blanca tends to like everything fancy. The outfit I drew Hollis in is what they normally wear to school, at their mother's request XD

Radiance is a local celebrity with a cult-like fan base. Miss Sybil (Seer) is the school's history teacher and the students are shocked when they discover she's an intense Radiance fan. “Radiance” is a stage name and she's Grimm's cousin (a relationship neither of them particularly care to mention most of the time). Pale hates her for reasons unknown, to the point where Pale has tried to pass all kinds of town restrictions on shows and circuses specifically because of Grimm and Radiance. Grimm either ignores the anti-circus ordinances or finds loopholes, and protesters stormed the town hall at the restrictions affecting the Radiance, enough that Pale had to undo them. 

Grimm has some level of ability to break the law in Hallownest in part because the police in Hallownest don't want to deal with him either (lol) and in part because Blanca has used her influence and her relationship with the Chief of Police, Dryya, to discourage the Hallownest Police Department from prosecuting him. “Oh, Mr. Nightmare can’t be in jail, his son is my youngest’s best friend, and the poor man is a single father. I can’t imagine what that would do to poor Grimm Junior. Not to mention I’ve heard that Radiance is actually a relative of his… do you want her fans storming the police department?” (This is, of course, behind her husband’s back.) 

Grimm is also very good at finding loopholes, twisting people's words, and generally being a pain in the arse to anyone who has issues with him. 

Herrah has dark skin and a fat but very muscular figure. Usually around Hornet and the Royal kids she's all motherly and sweet, but when dealing with people she doesn't like she's intimidating AF. 

Obviously the Royal family is white af because... a) they're entitled jerks, at least to a degree and b) look at them. 

Hornet has brown/light brown skin but still has the white-blond hair and almost-black irises that run in Dad's side of the family. She gets strangers trying not to stare occasionally, but at least she isn't so pale she could be mistaken for a corpse XD

In fact I imagine that several of the characters often get strangers trying not to stare- Hollis and Grimm Jr. come to mind.

Grimm has dressed his son in red and black since he was a baby; it’s not every day you see an 8-year old dressed in a fancy black and red suit with a cape and makeup that looks like a cross between "vampire," "emo," and "circus." 

Tiso: Yo, Stick Bug! What's with the dress? You look like you're going to prom or something! 

[Hollis is wearing a white frilly dress that's too long to be anything other than one their mom ordered specially made, along with a fancy necklace and earrings]

Hollis: Mother has tea with her gardeners' club this afternoon and would like to show me off to all her gardening friends (said in a completely calm tone, even with a slight smile) 

Tiso: "Show you off?!?” You say it like you're her favorite doll instead of her kid! Are you expected to do anything at her event? That sure doesn't look like gardening clothes. Your mom is definitely being weird, you sure you're okay with this? 

Hollis: Of course. It means Mother is proud of me. 

Hollis has issues.

They're shy and desperate for approval and their parents are (somewhat unintentionally) walking all over them. They need love and support that's not tying their value to being "perfect." Luckily, their siblings don't want Perfect Obedient Hollis, they want the real, happy them. 

[therealslimscreamer]

Yo it's ya boi again

So I saw the Dreamers are actually alive still in this au and I was wondering how that affects Hornet and Quirrel? I mean, watching your mother / mentor figure die only to find out they're not only not dead but also God now has gotta be a little bit wild right

Also, what are the Dreamers like as deities? Like, what / where do they rule over, what do they do, ect

OOOO really good question!!!

okay, so, starting with quirrel. i’ve thought abt him wayyy more to be totally transparent, and that’s partially because i feel like there’s a lot more nuance to him than with hornet purely because of his amnesia. i’ve always viewed it as something monomon did to protect him, so he wouldn’t come back to hallownest in like the height of the infection and not only get himself killed but also eliminate a layer of protection on her seal. but i don’t think she would have considered how he would feel if… you know… she lived and he remembered it all.

like, pretend with me for a moment, you’re quirrel. you’re an academic and an explorer and you’re full of whimsy, and you decide for mysterious reasons to go to this kingsom that you realize you’ve never been to before. how odd! you go check it out, and wow is it beautiful even in ruins, and even despite of the dark caverns and freaky infected zombie-bugs, and you meet your little vessel friend and help them fight this odd jellyfish creature and even though you’ve never seen it somehow you know what to do, and you go to this place and-

you remember.

and maybe it’s just me, but wouldn’t that be sort of terrifying? to learn that you already lived your life once, but you didn’t remember any of it, and now that you do you just feel like… a witness? to remember laughing and smiling and talking with this person but it’s through a lens- because you don’t remember, not really, and to know they did this to you? you devoted your life to them, and they did this to you, because they thought it wouldn’t matter because they would be gone- would you not think of them as selfish? as cruel?

i think quirrel would struggle a lot with that- his current self, as he is, feeling raw and betrayed while simultaneously having to deal with his past self who cared so deeply for monomon. understanding this was the wisest course of action doesn’t make it feel any better.

hornet, conversely, never forgets her mother or anything that comes with her, and thus i feel she may be less guarded. of course, there is still overcoming the grief- of mourning someone you thought dead- and the oddness of that while herrah isnt physically here she is still alive, but would not have nearly as many grudges to hold as quirrel. plus, i think she would want to bond with her mother, and i don’t think hornet would take a second chance like this for granted.

as for what they are deities of!! fortunately i am incredibly obsessed with both hollow knight and mythology and made some rough charts a while ago:

Lurien

Epithets:

The Watcher

Three-Eyed

All-Seeing

Symbols:

Butterflies

Eyes (usually in form of charms or brooches)

Mask w/ one eye

Telescopes

Willow Tree

Patron of: Researchers, Musicians, Astronomers, Lawyers (+ City residents)

God of: Lucid Dreaming, Creativity, Arts, Law/Justice, Foresight

Herrah

Epithets:

The Beast

Noble Queen

Strong-Armed

Motherly

Symbols:

Spiders

Swords/Needles/Spears(?)

Mask w/ six eyes

Oak tree

Webs/Webbing

Patron of: warriors, rulers/monarchs, mothers (+ Deepnest residents)

Goddess of: War, Strategy, Leadership, Motherhood, Reason 

Monomon

Epithets:

The Teacher

Ever-Curious

Ambidexter

Symbols:

Jellyfish (technically Ouma ig)

Books/Papers

Mask w/ four eyes

Acid

Patron of: Scientists, Engineers, Historians, Archivists, Doctors (+ Archives)

Goddess of: Science, Architecture, Logic, Innovation

if you see parallels to greek gods. yeah its because i wrote these while studying for my mythology exam. (parallels are lurien to apollo, athena to herrah, hephaestus to monomon) i may go back and workshop these a bit but for now i’m pretty satisfied with them i think

[ninvic-rbs]

Now tell us YOUR PK HEADCANONS!!!!!!!

Sorry it took me a while to get to this I was thinking about it bc to be honest I had never really laid them out

Okay! So!! All of these are based off canon, since I don't really have an AU. I'm gonna bulletpoint cuz I don't know how else to do this

He's definitely an introvert, I know a lot of people consider mbti kinda cringe but I'd say he's either intj or istj

His body looks like PV's!! Since their anatomy is quite similar to Hornet's and neuther Herrah nor WL look like that. They must've gotten it from somewhere (though I really like the weird centipede kinda designs)

He and WL never actually got married, it's not really a thing among gods. Who would even officiate that

He's not very good at picking up on social cues, or at maintaining a conversation about anything he doesn't know about

He knew about PV not being pure, not from the beggining but from that moment at the balcony from the path of pain. He knew but sort of ignored it until after the infection started spreading again after sealing hollow, then he couldn't ignore it anymore

He can fly!!! Not sure how much of a headcanon this is but I want it on this list

He never hated Hornet, but at first he didn't really want to see her bc she reminded him of a lot of things he'd rather forget. By the time he thought about maybe reaching out she already didn't want anything to do with him

He was very reluctant to sacrificing Monomon and Lurien, but even more Herrah bc he knew how it would look, ehich is why he offered the whole Hornet thing (cut dreamer dialogue based take)

Even though I like palewatcher I don't really think it would've been canon, but if it was, I dont think it would have started being a thing until after WL left. Like maybe PK started coming to Lurien for support more and more often end eventually boom. Gay

Buuut also this means that when the sealing happened PK would've been even more alone

He hates Grimm's guts and the feeling is very much mutual, Grimm just happens to enjoy provoking him while PK just wants to get away

He still has a lot of leftover wyrm instincts, which range from sleeping curled up under a whole bunch of pillows to repressing the urge to literally eat people. In this way it helps that WL is a plant, since wyrms are exclusively carnivore

He doesn't need to eat or sleep as long as he has other forms of sustenance, such as a whole kingdom adoring him (bc of god biz) and this is why after the infection resurfaced he became weaker

When he run away, it was partly in fear but mostly in shame and despair. Like after the infection resurfaced after the sealing he couldn't deny the truth about his vessels anymore, not even to himself, and between that, his crippling loneliness, and the knowledge that he couldn't save the bugs of Hallownest he just couldn't deal with it anymore and just Fucked Off

He would never admit this even under torture but he got the idea for a vessel from Grimm

He's an engineer at heart, and a damn good one at that. The only thing he enjoyed about the vessel plan was experimenting with the void and building kingsmoulds and wingsmoulds with it

I think that's it!! So far at least. Might add onto these sometime in the future. I'd like to shoutout @/ruthlesslistener and @/payasita bc their interpretations of PK are heavy inspirations to mine. Go read their fics!!!

[violetdawn001]

My take on what Lurien the Watcher is:

Okay, if you're new to the Hollow Knight fandom, time for me to introduce to an ongoing debate-> people have no clue what kind of bug Lurien the Watcher is. Concerning his fellow two Dreamers are not bugs (Herrah is a spider thank you and how did Monomon the JELLYFISH get into Hallownest!?!)

Anyways, people debate on what kind of bug Lurien is. Is he secretly a moth? (Oh the drama!) A dragonfly (that looks cool!) or maybe he is void! Many, including myself, say that Lurien is most likely a butterfly. They never mention what KIND of butterfly he could be...

So what if...

Lurien is a Blue Morpho butterfly?

First of all, Blue Morphos are blue, keeping in with Lurien's theme.

Second, Blue Morphos are one of the largest butterflies in the world with a wingspan of 5 to 8 inches! Which allows Lurien to be terribly tall, but not the tallest bug in Hallownest (which is true).

Third and finally, Blue Morphos have an interesting defense mechanism against predators: two different wing patterns. The back is blue (incredibly easy to spot) but the front (seen when the wings are closed) are brown with many pairs of "eyes", spooking predators into leaving them alone. And who in Hallownest has the reputation of seeing everything???

Also, cool fact, the blue on the Blue Morphos' wings are called by a light reflection. Combine that with the dark brown and suddenly the butterfly seems to disappear and reappear while flying.

There are so many more facts that I could share, such as Blue Morphos living longer than most butterflies or the fact that they go to sleep in caves and high trees so no one catches them. But this seems to be getting rather long. 😅

[flukeseveryday]

Okay here we go. Bretta, hornet, mantis lord x 3, midwife, cloth I think, traitor lords daughter, divine, the queen, at least 1 husk, myla, all the flukes I believe, godseeker?, flukemarm, fluke hermit, confesser jiji, salubra, tuk?, millibelle, iselda, Jinn, herrah, monomon, the seer, the radiance, the grey mourner, eternal emiltia, vespa, all the mother aspids. That’s prolly close maybe.

Drawing Zoteevery day until we get Zoteboat: Day 256

He was not in fact able to name 100 women

This is the original

[quikyu]

thinking about a winged hornet in @/payasita’s will terribly au

[vivifrage]

Mm actually thinking of Herrah being badass enough to stare down Destiny's paracausal forces like, I think that also goes into the themes of each story, from what I have seen?

Like, Destiny, it's in the name. There is something you are there to do. You are the Traveler's chosen, Eramis calls you a pawn, etc.

Hollow Knight, in contrast, is about denying destiny/stagnancy.

Both involve like, Light/Dark and stasis/change, in different ways, including their format. Yes they're both video games but they're such different genres, plus Destiny is much longer-running with two games plus it being live service. You could probably make a goof about Hollow Knight being relatively stagnant right now with all its DLC done and Silksong still being worked on, while Destiny is live service and all.

Okay themes though and I'm putting it under a cut just in case.

Okay so like, Destiny. Traveler's chosen, pawn, the Gardener and Winnower's game, etc etc etc. Hell, even in the gameplay, from what I have seen you are largely doing as someone else asks. You do your missions to someone else's instructions. Forsaken is a bit of a break and that was "the Guardian is causing problems with their vengeance quest."

Hollow Knight, yes, the Knight is called back to Hallownest to end things, but if you want to do it right, you have to be what people do not expect. Heck, to do it wrong you still have to change things up.

A huge part of Hollow Knight is the necessity for change. Vespa's ghost mentions it. The Dreamers, at least partially, admit that for things to get better, they have to be taken out because otherwise things will remain as is and "as is" is Bad. Both the Pale King and the Radiance's antagonism comes from wanting things to stay the same - but the difference is they think their idea of the same is better, thus the other/the unbelievers must be destroyed.

Even in going and fighting and freeing the various ghosts, you have to enact change to improve things. The ghosts are stuck as is, unable to move on - many to the point they don't realize they're dead. Often, ending the fight includes them changing their minds/behaviors, or at least explaining it.

The "better" endings are ones where something changes. It's not just the vessels changing, it's the Radiance being ended once and for all, in a way the Knight was not expected to when the Pale King made the Vessels. They're an active player in their choice to kill the Radiance, not a passive, well, vessel for her to be poured into.

It is still a video game, so in a way it is doing as others tell because you have to find things out somehow. But there is so much less direction in Hollow Knight. You get some instructions but by and large you have to wander around and figure things out yourself. There's not really much in the way of explicit progress markers except in the Hunter's Journal and maybe Seer tracking your Essence counts. Destiny, meanwhile, gives you instructions for strikes, bounties, patrols, the quests, pretty much everything, both in terms of outright progress markers like the bounty counts and NPCs giving orders. You're doing your job.

Interestingly, Hollow Knight also splits stasis/action pretty evenly between Light and Dark. Both the Radiance and the Pale King had their kingdoms flourish, but both tried to make their rule eternal when that is just not how nature works. The Void is thought to be pure emptiness/nothingness/stillness, but it acts on its own, thrashing all about, the Knight has to take an active role in the plot as mentioned above, and it seems like it also had a kingdom. Meanwhile, in Destiny, Light seems more attuned to growth while Dark is more attuned to stillness, with less in between. The game seems to be heading more towards a need for balance between them, but they're still at odds. In Hollow Knight, the strongest spells incorporate both Light and Dark, but in Destiny, while we may use both, it's not melded together in the same way.

Grimm also adds an interesting new dimension with his comment on shadow and fire dancing together so prettily. In Hollow Knight, Light and Dark are not the only choices. There's other aspects out there. However, I don't think Destiny has introduced anything beyond them, at least not as major players.

Hollow Knight's story is, presuming Silksong doesn't get as much into Light and Dark, pretty complete. Which, reflecting on it and looking forwards in Destiny, makes me curious how the latter will go. I think we're starting to see that balance, but in what form will it take? Will we be freed from the orders and games and turn the game's very name on its head?

[weaverlings]

none of this goes anywhere but i haven't had a good ramble in a while okay i'm having fun <3

so like a thing w/ hornet is that team cherry didn't actually include the "child of three queens" details in hollow knight itself, but like, it still makes sense and it is mentioned that hornet didn't get to spend a lot of time with herrah so like. it tracks

at the same time i've wondered if that means she wouldn't have been raised in deepnest? we know she was cherished there, if perhaps sometimes in a way that could sting ("pale gift"). and she was supposed to be THEIR princess; she wasn't the heir to hallownest, though it still makes sense that pretty much everyone involved would want her versed in the politics and history etc of the kingdom (iirc, teaching her that was the white lady's role as one of the three queens involved). she didn't get much time with herrah, but maybe she didn't have to leave and maybe the pale king designed the lower tramway with this in mind... like tbh i think it would have just made more sense and been better for her to stay in deepnest? there's no evidence that she didn't i want to say?

except what seems to be her relatively minimal knowledge of handling silk. given that it seems like she's going to learn more, maybe a lot more, about it in silksong? it's been stated that the seal she's kidnapped in drains her power, so she has to restore that, but would that effect her knowledge of technique? all we see her do in hollow knight is casting/positioning strings of silk and the "storm" she creates around her body - which is a pretty messy thing. if she knew more, wouldn't she have used that knowledge in testing ghost, especially thing 2nd time? she admits to underestimating them at first, but after that she's explicit about not holding back.

i can only imagine the weavers or SOMEONE would have taught her more, if she'd stayed with them, but then like, why take her? assuming it's more than a sort of. biological "ward" situation where one royal/noble is raised by another or w/e went on with that and ofc she was the pale king's daughter

well. it is suggested that pk wanted a child/a family. that's... an aspect of the tragedy in the game, though i really don't have much sympathy for pk personally or like. any. but he does have that Moment, that shared idea, with thk and also there's the nursery in the white palace which i thiiink gets associated w/ the white lady a lot of the time but tbh she doesn't actually act all that "maternal" when you meet her and like. silly thing here but the chair in the nursery is way too small for her. AND the white palace is really (imo) designated as the pale king's space. white lady almost certainly had a place there but it probably wasn't that.

so the pale king wants a family. wants a child. and he does... have one. he lets herrah keep hornet for the time until she goes to dream, then he takes hornet partially sure for some political reasons but also partially or even mostly because. he wants her. and as much as there's the idea of what he supposedly sacrificed at play, i really don't think he's actually very good at telling himself or hearing "no." i mean. arguably that's why we get the game so.

he has this child that he tries to raise but she's a demigod who just lost the parent she was much closer to and is probably like 5 and doesn't understand any of what's happening and like. anyway. no wonder she developed a "lonely nature"

i can only imagine their relationship as being. bad. not for lack of trying on his part, though; he just fundamentally wouldn't Get what even a half-mortal would want or need from a relationship. like for him... acknowledgment of another is a big deal, so he feels that just by spending any time with her silently or sharing a word, sharing HIS interests, etc, he's giving her a lot. but she doesn't get any room to share, he doesn't know that he SHOULD care about these things and that he needs to express an interest, where maybe another higher being that he could co-exist with could assert themself differently? so he tries but it doesn't do her any good and have i mentioned that i hate him because i hate him. anyway.

he also doesn't get that she maybe, y'know, should have peers. relationships with others. so he doesn't encourage that or see/process any issues she's having with this.

and tbh i really think the white lady would have been worse, if anything, because she expresses some "affection" for hornet... hornet is who she is supposed to be. hornet has upheld her duties even with the kingdom having fallen. her duties to hallownest, of course, not deepnest. hornet did not fail, no matter how much harm she might have done herself in the process of "succeeding" through it all. and so the white lady (now) feels some affection for her.

so backtracking like all the way, hornet was already a princess. that's an elevated status of course, but like... for all the good it does her, personally. and then i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that even though the siblings/vessels were unusual in quantity, bugs would still usually have clutches. so hornet was either from a rare single egg or the ONLY survivor of a clutch when there might usually be at least a few who lived.

so they'd cherished her in the nest, but from the way midwife talks about her, they'd definitely placed her on a pedestal so it's debatable how well they ever knew her as a person. not even getting into her own sense of personhood, whatever that was like or ended up as.

and then herrah goes to dream and she's brought out of the depths and maybe suddenly she's made very aware of being half-enemy to the residents of the white palace and while she certainly had expectations placed on her in the nest, in hallownest there's a lot more expected re: specific behavior. more stock in appearances and image.

in the nest, in deepnest (she hears that name more now), she may have been set apart. she may not have had many chances to get close to others or felt awkward around them or just been too young to really understand her situation and develop relationships outside of being close to her mother. but in hallownest, she doesn't like these people. she's not comfortable around them and she doesn't Want to get to know them, frankly.

so she's been lonely but like, she had her mom, she had people who loved her even if she didn't have peers. she gets lonelier.

eventually she reaches the age where she gets to go train at the hive, but by then she's probably been longer in hallownest than deepnest or at least as long and she's done some maturation there. she's grown a lot more reserved and seems more severe. she's still never had a chance to form relationships with peers! the hive becomes a refuge for her but she's still very aware of her position/status... i like to imagine she gets close enough with some of her training partners etc to like, laugh or grouse with them and genuinely enjoy the company. but she doesn't share much and tbh i don't know that they would either - the bees have their own responsibilities and they have their lives in the hive after hornet goes home. i love the idea of hive knight as a brother figure, though, hopefully she got some support there...

(as for vespa, i think she tries. but she doesn't want to push hornet's by then very firm boundaries and is aware of her own position as a foreign queen to hornet. and ofc she's very much not a peer)

and then eventually everything falls apart. the infection resurges, pretty much everyone hornet knows dies or worse, she spends presumably a lot of "static" time alone guarding the corpse of a land that in her own words "will only grant death." she's alone and yet it's sort of self-imposed. there were a few survivors but it's clear she avoided them wherever possible.

like where. where were her friends in all this? not guardians, friends. peers. where did she get a chance to form close bonds? like, no, seriously... realistically she probably did have some friends in the hive but how much could they do when everything else about her was so isolated, so given to isolation?

i'm worried about her

[soft-quirrel]

Well you should still do it but i might sketch it out in class

tridents are the beast weapon because more prongs = good

[mothfishing]

hornet? for the ask thing :]

hornet my girl...

favorite thing about them

she is weird

least favorite thing about them

hmmmmmmm. not anything i can think of...

favorite line

the FUNNIEST line of hers is the cut line where she says, after pinning hollow down before sealed siblings/dream no more, "Go! Make your choice! Did you know this is an important gameplay moment! By the way this choice determines your ending! Did you know either using the dreamnail or the regular nail here determines your ending! By the way - "

brOTP

can't say this better in words than i already drew it here and here [thinking really hard]

i just think SOOOOO HARD about like. hornet is really cold to ghost, like, she flat out says she'd feel no sorrow in a weakling's demise. i think there's a lot of complicated reasons for why she would be like that (and i also tend to treat it as like...she says a lot of harsh things she doesn't really mean), but i also think that it would. not be very nice for ghost.

i know this is before the unpopular opinion section but i wrote that before i wrote this answer - a lot of my hornet opinions come from my very first playthrough LOL so my first thoughts at her introduction were like, i had no idea she'd fight me! i just knew she was ghost's sister, so i ran after her expecting to talk only to get a fight...so like that ended up being something i really think ghost would feel too, they wanted to talk to her but she kept running away until she stopped only to fight them...

it's scary! they're little. and i still think all the time about the potential of hornet nosk...like they chased after her in greenpath and fungal wastes, what's one more...and this time it's yet another disappointment. (imagining this happening after they spoke to her in city of tears but before kingdom's edge)

and i think about what if hornet saw this...what if. because i think it would be a shock for her that like she could generally be fairly harsh and dismissive of them but they were so attached to her that she was that thing tried to lure them with...

but now their roles are reversed because ghost is avoiding her - that was one scary experience too many! - and she doesn't really know how to talk to them either, so she's just...following from a distance. now she's the one lurking and watching them...

and maybe eventually they get a little more comfortable with her being around, because she scared them quite badly but she hasn't done anything scary in a while...and then the abyss cutscene happens and ghost has their flashback and they're ready to fall again, one of many abandoned children, but this time is different...it doesn't have to be the same way again...

and i think they like. cry on her cloak and stain it permanently a little but it's okay. and then they don't let go of her hand for the rest of the game.

random headcanon

not a headcanon per se but i like drawing her with stinging nettles, both from horNET and because of symbolism around protection and boundaries...

unpopular opinion

very non-serious opinion but i think she's older than hollow. i think maybe the common thread between my hornet opinions is that i think something at the start of the game and then i never change this opinion...like i went in with no spoilers beyond:

hornet and ghost are siblings

they have another, taller sibling

and i just assumed hornet was the eldest and maintained that. and i also thought she was a beetle. and i won't let go of either of these things.

BUT anyway. it does make sense to me because i kind of get the impression the weavers helped with a lot like not just herrah being a dreamer...the reason being that there's no reason to get herrah on board if just anyone would do, considering how the weavers and hallownest were not on good terms, and also how hallownest is full of sycophants. so getting their assistance early would be important and so would

i also like her being the oldest sibling because i think a lot about her like as a really young child resenting hollow for being "the reason she wouldn't be able to spend time with herrah"...and then the weird queasy feeling when she gets older and learns a bit more about the specifics of their situation. and also like guilt in general over everything even though it's not like she was in any position to stop it

also i like drawing stuff like this

[ID: Two drawings of the young Hollow Knight and Hornet. Hornet is slightly older and taller than they are. In the first drawing, they are hiding under her cloak while Hornet tilts her head and makes a confused expression. In the second, they are napping on her lap. Hornet is also dozing off. End ID]

song i associate with them

belly side up by bent knee makes me think of her...

favorite picture of them

[ID: Two sprites of Hornet side by side. They show her with her cloak flared out behind her and her legs flailing. End ID]

sphere

[lagt-duck]

Grown vessels talk

Okay so since i came this far with the comic (like i noticed my first ideas were like august of 2020 so holy shit)

I want to talk about my ideas and all

I don't remember exactly how i came up with the idea but @mrslittletall fic "off balance" made me think

"mmm i wonder where ghost and the others vessels are in this timeline"

Then i wanted to try and draw how they would look like in the "mature" form. But how would this happen

And this kinda went in tandem with another idea i had at the time

That was loosely

"every vessel corresponds to a god"

Ghost was the vessel for grimm, hollow for the radiance, greeny for unn and so on

But then if they were to live on the radiance needed to be dealt with

And dreams makes us see the past and they also keep "a bug's hopes and dreams" meaning hey radiance can see snippets of future maybe

But she can see seer's only because she is the last moth, her faith is so strong and her memories are very painful

Lurien has a whole subplot with pk, because he isn't just a mindless follower

If you notice no one calls hornet by her name except in pk's dream

That's because in the current timeline she hasn't received her name (but pk took a peek to see if she would be fine)

Quirrel is dating the hive night because i am the author and i say so

(also because kingdom's edge is one of the only places you don't find Quirrel)

What else... Ah yes, herrah doesn't hate pk or despise him, she is an ally despite their differences and she can understand sacrificing everything for her people

Grimm wasn't supposed to be in the abyss. Quirrel at first was the one who should have went with pk and lurien but in the end it didn't make a lot of sense, Quirrel isn't close with anyone except maybe lurien's staff

Oh the watcher knights names are all combos of O R and A

Lurien kinda took em in as kids and they trained to show how grateful they are (even if he asked them not to)

I actually have a lurien under the cloak design but he isn't a butterfly. I actually made him a flying ant (the rest is kinda spoilery so I'll stop at that)

White lady isn't included because she is a big plot point after all the "oh shit the vessels are kids and the radiance calmed down" mess

Don't expect an unconditional loving mother I'm just saying

Uuuhhh... I dunno if you have asks about the comic ask em right away!

[tribus-mantodea]

[ listen, ]

do I even want to talk about this dear lord. okay. my yearning channeled aside, I will say I was originally going to keep the photos under a read more but I liked how they came out. said images started off with a “maybe I won’t draw a bug today,” resulting in whatever this was. you can see I hate skin (/joke)

I’m not entiiirely settled on it but more or less:

horn helmets! notched accordingly as per the lords’ own horns in-game (they’re supposed to look the same I promise). birth order denoted in engravings and weird uh... necklace stuff

their hair is somewhat long/tied even if impractical because first, I like how it looks; second, I’m sure they aren’t so bad about it that it’d caught/be detrimental/whack someone in the face, right...; and third, I Like How It looks.

I also like the thought of them wearing scraps of what they’ve hunted in a not-too restricting way towards their agility. masks can probably be hooked onto their waists as well as slid underneath the front of the helm.

as for the ones with actual blades/claws, hand-held as usual but probably also affixable to steel(?) arm braces to ensure it stays... (???) would also free up their hands

concerning appearances, I tried to make them look ambiguous for the most part (albeit it’s been a hot while since I last drew any humans so uhh hoohghhg). just in case we’re touchin’ any body headcanons, yeah? granted I don’t have the fluidity for my own interpretations (though mine don’t stress over it much if at all)

-

now for something significantly worse: (crack)ship doodles for solely fun! well. I say that but I am tempted to finish them out,

(1) caption: herrah’s real name is merrah the beast at otome games because harrem..............

alt: homoerotic fighting tension.

(2) caption: Two Gals Chilling No Feet Apart Because They Can