Hallownest | Hollow Knight Wiki

Hallownest Information and Lore

"Bear witness to the last and only civilisation, the eternal Kingdom. Hallownest." - Lore Tablet located in King's Pass.

Hallownest in Hollow Knight is the main location where the game, Hollow Knight, takes place. Hallownest was once said to be a thriving kingdom in the center of a wasteland, but later fell into ruin after the Infection spread.

The Geography of Hallownest

The kingdom of Hallownest consists of a boundless network of tunnels and caves, inhabited by sentient bugs, wild bugs, and other creatures.

At the beginning of the game, players find themselves on the surface above the kingdom. A dark, quiet, and lonely town called Dirtmouth stands near the entrance to Hallownest. The majority of the travelers that need to reach the kingdom usually pass through Dirthmouth via King's Pass. However, as the Infection spread, the residents entered a state of frenzy. The roads were closed, and the bridge of King's Pass crumbled away.

Below the surface, past the Forgotten Crossroads, a new ecosystem has sprung. Life teems all over Hallownest, from verdant Greenpath in the West to Fungal Wastes in the South and more.

To the East players can find Crystal Peak: a cave system filled with deposits of crystals, where countless miners worked to gather a bright pink mineral. Just below the crystalized caves lie Hallownest's Resting Grounds, filled with tombs. The path does not stop there, as you can find the Kingdom's capital, the City of Tears, further below.

The City of Tears has been deserted and is now filled with infected bugs. Water can be seen pouring down through the cracks of the capital's roof, causing the city to be half-submerged under non-stop rain.

Deepnest can be found bordering the kingdom underground. Technically Deepnest is not a part of Hallownest, as it was a sovereign kingdom before the Infection. It's a dark area full of cramped spaces, tunnels, and chasms. On the other side is Kingdom's Edge, which was sealed away from the capital.

The deepest point of Hallownest is the Ancient Basin, where the Kingdom's monarch built his White Palace. The palace itself disappeared after the spread of the Infection. Further down is the The Abyss - the heart of the lands' darkness, its entrance closed and sealed by the king himself.

The Pale King

The inhabitats of Hallownest strongly believed that it was the Pale King who is responsible for creating the entire world and everything in it. Once a giant creature known as the Wyrm, he's said to have shed his shell to be more like his subjects. While it's also claimed that he granted them sentience and free will, multiple hints point at this being a lie, suggesting the monarch to be far from benevolent.

Although he was rarely seen outside the Palace, everyone looked up to the Pale King as a god. Devotees worshipped him through the King's Idol, an icon which depicted the King. Across the kingdom of Hallownest, you can find various statues and shrines of the Pale King.

The Radiance

Before the Pale King's arrival as the Wyrm, an older higher being known as The Radiance, goddess of light and dreams, was worshipped as a god. A statue of the Radiance was built on Hallownest's Crown. After the Pale King took the throne, the Radiance was enraged, and its anger manifested as the Infection. This reduced the bugs of Hallownest into mindless, violent husks of their former selves.

The History of Hallownest

It's said that before Hallownest, an ancient civilization stood in its place. Its inhabitants worshipped the Void, a substance that lies at the bottom of the Abyss. Eventually, this ancient civilization ceased to exist due to unknown causes.

The Void's enemy was called the Radiance, a higher being who had power over the Dream World. The Radiance was supposedly responsible for creating the Moth Tribe who in turn worshipped it. Apart from that, several other tribes then existed, such as the Mosskin, the Mantis Tribe and the Spider Tribe.

At some point in time, an enormous creature known as the Wyrm appeared. He shed his shell and transformed, becoming the Pale King. Just like the Radiance, the Pale King was also a higher being. He usurped the Radiance's place in the eyes of its subjects and conquered most of the tribes, forming Hallownest. Some parts were seized by force, while others submitted on their own.

Hallownest became a rich kingdom, drawing in myriads of travelers. However, its expansionism would eventually be its downfall.

The Hollow Knight

During the Pale King's rule the Radiance was nearly forgotten. Enraged, the Radiance began to appear in the bugs' dreams in a last effort to be remembered. This resulted in the Infection, a plague of the mind and spirit, causing the bugs to enter a state of frenzy.

In order to stop the Radiance, the Pale King invented the Vessels. A Vessel is a being infused with Void. It cannot dream, which makes it resilient to the Radiance's power. The purest Vessel was trained and raised in the White Palace, and was named Hollow Knight. Many other Vessels were also created, but they were abandoned and sealed away in the Abyss, deemed impure.

To strengthen the seal that allowed the Radiance to be kept within the Hollow Knight, three bugs were appointed as Dreamers. The Dreamers were put into an eternal sleep, holding the Hollow Knight in stasis at the Temple of the Black Egg.

With this, the Dreamers also succumbed to an everlasting sleep. The Hollow Knight was hailed as a hero throughout Hallownest (as illustrated by a monument built in the City of Tears).

The Fall of Hallownest

At some point, the Hollow Knight’s purity as a Vessel was tarnished due to its attachment to the Pale King. The Radiance used that flaw to influence its mind, causing the Infection to reemerge and poison the minds of Hallownest's inhabitants. The Hollow Knight lost ability to contain the Radiance and its Infection. Most of Hallownest's inhabitants would succumb to the Infection. Some resisted. The rest perished.

As the kingdom fell, the Pale King mysteriously vanished together with his White Palace. 

With enough power and influence, the Radiance was able to break out of the Hollow Knight, cracking its shell and spreading the Infection throughout the kingdom. This prompted the return of the nameless Knight (the protagonist) to Hallownest.

 

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