If the Knight has obtained the Void Heart, Hornet will aid the player by immobilizing the Hollow Knight long enough for the Knight to be able to Dream Nail the Hollow Knight and enter their mind. The Knight engages the Hollow Knight in combat and ultimately succeeds, absorbing the Infection leaking from the Hollow Knight and becomes the new Vessel to seal the Infection. The regular ending, if the Knight has not collected the Void Heart. This will start the player on a quest to obtain the Void Heart, which will unlock two additional endings. If they have collected enough Essence, the player can use the Awoken Dream Nail to gain access to the White Palace. They began a quest to either defeat the Hollow Knight and replace them as the Vessel of the Radiance, or to enter the dream of the Hollow Knight and defeat the Radiance once and for all.Īfter the Knight absorbs all three of the Dreamers, the Temple of the Black Egg will be opened for the player to fight the Hollow Knight. The Knight, another Vessel, was compelled to return to Hallownest after a call from either the Hollow Knight or the Radiance.

However, as time went on, the Hollow Knight's impurity became their demise, as the Radiance managed to break out of the Hollow Knight and the Black Egg, causing the Infection to return. The Dreamers went into a permanent rest, and after some time, the King and the White Palace mysteriously vanished, leaving Hallownest struggling to survive on its own. This prevented anyone from entering the Temple, as well as preventing the Hollow Knight from escaping their confinement. The King asked three prominent bugs, the Dreamers, to form a seal on the outside of the Temple. However, this vessel was discovered to be impure, implied to be because of their parental bond with their father, the Pale King.Īfter sealing the Radiance within itself, the Hollow Knight was chained up inside the Temple of the Black Egg. They were taken to the palace and were raised by their parents: the king and queen. Only one vessel was shown to escape from the Abyss- the Pure Vessel. This meant that she could eventually escape from an impure Vessel. These Vessels were required to have no mind or will of their own, as the Radiance had the ability to break minds and enslave wills. He and his queen, the White Lady, created these vessels- their children- with the intention of sealing the essence of the Radiance inside them.

When a higher being known as the Radiance plagued the dreams of the inhabitants of Hallownest, the Pale King, the ruler of the kingdom, came up with a plan to seal her away using the Void. The Hollow Knight was one of the many mysterious life-forms called Vessels, created using Void at the bottom of the Abyss below Hallownest.

Hollow knight endings