This article contains major spoilers for both Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Like its predecessor, Hollow Knight: Silksong is a game that leans heavily on its lore. The highly anticipated sequel to the original Hollow Knight continues the series' tradition of phenomenal world-building, with the Kingdom of Pharloom harboring a deep and complex history that influences its current events in many ways. While this new location largely stands on its own with a surprising amount of history, the events that took place in the original title's Hallownest Kingdom have a big impact on its sequel.
Although the history and tradition of both Hollow Knight games are often implied rather than explicitly stated, much can be inferred based on information presented to the player. With the most significant events from the Hollow Knight endings having major consequences SilksongSince the first game, there have been some notable changes to the world that impact the Hornet's journey through Pharloom.
A considerable amount of time has passed
The old one
It's never been established exactly how long it's been since The Knight made his way through Hallownest in the first game, but there's plenty of relevant dialogue. Silksong to indicate that it has been quite a while. Specifically, interviews around both Sršň's age, associated with a specific optional item from Hollow Knight lead us to believe that it has been many years since the Hornet assisted her silent sibling in his search.
IN SilksongShaman snails are controversial creatures that primarily study the Void and its dark ways. Present to some degree in both games, these creatures are studied by historians of the ancient ways of the world they inhabit, for better or for worse. With that in mind, the fact that they refer to Hornet as “The Old One” gives us a little insight into how long our newest protagonist has been around. One of her journal entries also states that she once sought a romantic partnership, but none of her potential partners were able to match her longevity. This is largely explained by the Hornet's story, as she is literally the child of two god-like beings in her world.
One of Silksong's more obvious implications regarding the amount of time that has passed between the two titles comes from a common recurring quest in the Hollow Knight universe. An event in the game requires Hornet to obtain the Delicate Flower, which many players will recall Hollow Knighthardest side mission. When the Hornet needs to get her hands on one of these flowers, she retrieves it from memory after claiming to have known such a flower “in the distant past”. While it wasn't widely known that the flower still existed in the events of Hollow Knight, it was definitely still present at the time. If Hornet's memory of this flower is from a time close to the events of the first game, when we last saw the Delicate Flower, that would mean Silksong much further into the future than many of us thought.
The effect of Radiance is destroyed
The healing process begins
Radiance is the primary antagonist Hollow Knightposing a more significant threat than the title character himself. In fact, The Radiance's corruption is the reason Hollow Knight is a threat to the Knights and the Kingdom of Hallownest in the first place. This corruption is the reason for the Hollow Knight's imprisonment in the Black Egg Temple in the first game, and his awakening during the opening cutscene is what calls the Knights into action.
Influence is The Radiance's most powerful tool, with any acknowledgment of its presence allowing it to penetrate the minds of the game's bugs and corrupt their souls. The Hollow Knight is conceived as a perfect being who counters this influence as he is born as an empty vessel, which is what inspires the “hollow” part of his name. His creator, a god-like individual known as the Pale King, makes one fatal mistake that destroys the Hollow Knight's potential in this regard: he learns to love the Hollow Knight as his own child. This affection manifests within the Hollow Knight as a semblance of consciousness—a soul, if you will—and the presence of this soul renders the would-be hero susceptible to the corruption of The Radiance. Because of this, he is sealed in his black egg, a prison meant to stave off any further corruption until the perfect vessel is born.
IN Hollow Knight'The Knight with a true ending is created as a fully realized version of the same concept. She is an empty vessel, free of the corruption of The Radiance, as well as the affections of the Pale King. In the final moments of the game, he enters his sibling's prison and does battle with the Hollow Knight. Depending on your actions throughout The Knight's adventure, Hornet herself will join him in this fight, helping the Knight enter his ancestor's consciousness and allowing him to face The Radiance herself. After defeating The Radiance, the realm is finally freed from its corruption, allowing the afflicted kingdom to begin its healing process before the start of the second game.
Hollow Knight: Silksong – Things you should always buy from merchants
If you're having trouble deciding what's important to buy from merchants in Hollow Knight: Silksong, here's a quick guide.
The knight rules the void
The end of Canon
Hollow Knight is a game with multiple endings, with significant differences between each potential outcome. While some of these potential solutions are better for the kingdom (and the Knights) than others, each option leaves the world significantly altered. Silksonglike many game sequels with optional endings, it basically makes one of them canon. Based on the events that occur during the Hornet's odyssey, it is clear that the Knight returns to The Void and uses it to defeat The Radiance, embracing this power as his own as he takes ownership of the overwhelming darkness present deep beneath Hallownest.
What's more, the Knight's siblings joined him in this space, freed from their masks and acting as one. The Void is essentially the force that brings them to life, acting as a replacement for a proper soul and allowing them to become the perfect opposite of The Radiance's influence in the original game. Based on SilksongThe true ending, only reached by completing the game's hidden third act, would seem to be that the Knight and his kin have mastered their mastery over this force by the time the events of the game take place.
Grand Mother Silk Spreads Her Corruption Once More
Before Hollow Knight, And then Before Silksong
Unfortunately for Hornet, The Radiance is not the only influential force present in this world. Far from Hallownest, in the distant land of Pharloom, there is a similar divine being known as Grand Mother Silk. Before the events of both games, ancestress Silk used the power of her mind-altering silk threads to grant sentience to the wild, primordial spiders of Pharloom, creating the Weavers. Silk grants Weavers great power, allowing them to produce some incredible things on their looms, but it is also the very power that makes them susceptible to the influence of the Silk Progenitor. The power of this silk is not based on an intangible recognition of the Grand Mother Silk's existence, as with The Radiance, but on the physical damage that spreads through the body of its prey, altering their state of being.
Weaver was able to temporarily break Grand Mother Silk's influence with a special song created to lull her to sleep. While free, they spread to other kingdoms, including Hallownest, where a community of Weavers created a small village in the dark corners of Deepnest. This is the village where Hornet grew up. When Hallownest began to show signs of corruption, these Weavers returned to their homeland of Pharloom, leaving the Hornet to watch over the kingdom's ruins and protect its history. With the revival of ancestress Silk, she has regained control over her corrupted subjects, and between the two titles she can send her minions out into the world to retrieve the stolen Weavers she lost.
Where to find all creatures in Silksong
Find all the enemies in Pharloom to complete the Hunter's Journal and the Bugs of Pharloom wish in Silksong.
The Hornet Is Captured In Hallownest
Beginning of Silksong
Regardless of how long ago the first game took place, the Hornet probably stuck around Hallownest for a long time after The Knight's adventure. After all, she was present in the kingdom before the initial game took place, protecting the sacred history of the land as its most nefarious forces began to gain power. She continued to do so even after the end of the journey, which eventually led to her capture by the foremother Silk, who tracked her down.
Word of the Hornet's escapades trickled back to Mother Silk as she sought to bring the escaped Weavers back into her grasp. Again under the influence of the mind-altering silk, the corrupted bugs of Pharloom are sent to contain the Hornet. Despite her formidable strength, they are able to capture her and place her in the cage we see her escape from at the very beginning Silksong.
