The Holy Nest, in the game, is shaped into a great and prosperous country.
But, no matter how prosperous the kingdom has been in the past, the moment we enter it has decayed, even destroyed.
So we can hear Querro's description of the past at the Queen's Station: "Can you imagine what this place looked like in its heyday?" Large swarms of bugs are traveling around the kingdom, antlers are ringing non-stop, and the station is bustling and vibrant. ”
But we can also hear the Worm Elder's description of the current decay: "Hello, Traveler. I'm afraid I'm the only one who stays to welcome you. You can also see that our town is deserted right now. The other inhabitants, they all disappeared. Descending this well, one by one, you enter the cave below. There used to be a great kingdom beneath our town. It had been in ruins for a long time, but it still attracted the bugs to the depths. ”
We know that many of the bugs that are attracted to it end up infected by the plague and become the walking dead in the cave.
It is such a country that makes many bugs pay for it with their lives.
But it is also such a country that is the hotbed of wealth that many bugs dream of.
This information is revealed all the time in the game, and it is precisely because of weakness and destruction that it can have greater feats.
So the words left in our first stele are exactly: "Concentrate your soul, and you will be able to build the feats that other bugs dream of." ”
Yes, the game encourages us to take risks, but it also teaches us that taking risks may mean nothing.
So in the words of the worm elder, the last thing to die is not greatness, but plainness, and he will continue to speak to us: "Wealth, glory, enlightenment, the darkness in the depths seems to contain countless possibilities." I'm sure you're also seeking your dreams below. Maybe dreams aren't that good things. ”
Yes, dreams are not entirely good things, because the dream of the Nest, or the dream of the White King, is what makes the Nest immortal, and this immortality is established at the expense of another species.
Therefore, we can see the sculpture of the hollow knight that people look up to forever in the City of Tears.
Its text reads: "Under that high black dome." Its sacrifice makes the Nest immortal. ”
Of course, it is not only the Void Knight who sacrifices for the eternal life of the Holy Nest, but also the Dream Keeper who surrounds the Void Knight, but it is easy to ignore its existence.
We can clearly see in the game that these dream keepers are not completely dead, and although their will is in the dream, their bodies are still alive in the nest.
If the purpose of the Void Knight's existence is to seal the spoke light under his mask, in the dream.
One of the purposes of the Dream Keeper's existence was also to seal the flesh of the Void Knight within the Black Egg Temple.
The Dream Keeper and the Void Knight became mutually restrained and interdependent beings.
If there were no Void Knights, there would be no need for the Existence of the Dream Keepers.
So we can see one of the endings in the game,
When the Little Knight defeated the Spokes and returned to the Darkness, not only did the Black Egg Temple no longer need the Void Knight, but even Bumblebee, one of the Dream Keepers, no longer needed to take on his mission.
This mutual relationship has also become the subject of our analysis in this issue.
So why did the production team deliberately create a being called the Dream Keeper?
Wouldn't it be possible to seal the Radiance if only one Void Knight was needed in this game?
What exactly does it mean for a Void Knight to be a Dream Keeper?
Why do the bugs of the Holy Nest wear masks?
What exactly is the life of the Nest Worm for that exists and continues?
What exactly does the higher beings mentioned in the stele refer to?
This issue is still entered by my dog brother into the last issue of the empty study - "The Dream Keeper and the Continuation of Life"
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Who is the higher being? </h1>
As we enter the beginning of the game, the first stone tablet we see reads, "O higher beings, these words are only for you." ”
At this moment, a question immediately popped out, who is the higher being?
And then you will find all the stele, whether at the Wuthering Heights or at the entrance to the abyss, and the first words of their opening chapter are: "O higher beings." ”
If we continue to look at the words on the first stone tablet, it will tell us: "Your mighty power has made you stand out from us." Concentrate your soul and you'll be able to build the feats that other bugs dream of. ”
There is no doubt that the next action reminder is aimed at the protagonist of the game we operate, the little knight.
And he is a higher being.
Then you will see all kinds of clues in the game reminding us of the difference of the little knight.
You'll hear him in Tisso's mouth calling us incessantly: "Pale fellow." ”
You'll hear her say of us from Bumblebee's mouth: "Your soul comes from two voids. ”
You'll see the corresponding account in Brothers: "Fragments of the wandering will." ”
You will also see the corresponding message when looking for the last soul fragment in the White Palace: "Soul of Worm." The soul of the root. The Heart of the Void. ”
From all kinds of information, we know that the Little Knight and the other hollow knights who resemble the Little Knight are composed of the greatest collection of power in this holy nest.
They are the souls of the White King, they are the roots of the White Lady, and they are equally the Abyss.
Oh yes, they were not born by their own reproduction, as Green said, "It's wonderful!" Even an abandoned container holds such ferocious power. Your craftsmanship is really good, dear Worm, this is the perfect tool to continue the heart of Green. ”
They are one of Worm's incarnations, the tools made by the White King.
But it was this tool that became the mission to save the Nest, but he also bore the curse of saving the Nest.
Bear the eternal curse of the Holy Nest for an infinite time.
As the Queen of the Hive said, "Although this hive exists in the nest, we have nothing to do with its hope for eternity." Confrontation is naturally foolish. Everything will come to an end. ”
The Nest is indeed a kingdom that wants to fight against nature, which may be the source of its curse, and perhaps why it needs to base its continuation on the sacrifice of another species.
At this time, a very interesting meaning was revealed in the game.
The survival of the insects in the sacred nest must depend on other species, and this dependence can be cooperation and exchange, for example in the mantis village they have their own independence, but their mission is to prevent the invasion of worms without will in the deep nest.
So you can see countless spears and the corpses of deep nest bugs behind the room where you fight the Mantis Lord.
For example, in the Tower of Bliss, you can see the bugs that provide food to the nobles of the City of Tears, who not only need to sacrifice their flesh and life, but also their faith, and it is your mission and great glory to be food.
We can see the greatness of the Nest, which greatly perpetuates the space for the bugs to reproduce and breaks up their respective living areas, as the mask maker said: "Never has a bug ever asked for so much." Even the beasts knew their limits and did not dare to let the territory exceed the edge of the nest. Only ancient ancestors have tried such a vast adventure. ”
But this unbridled expansion for the sake of reproduction also raises the corresponding question, which is not only the class antagonism between the nobles and the commoners in the City of Tears, but more importantly, the sacrifice of certain species themselves is needed to maintain the prosperity of the nest itself.
Just as the little knight was born in the abyss, he also gave his life for the prosperity of this holy nest.
This is an extremely twisted problem in this game, and if you want to continue, you must have others to sacrifice.
Everyone understands that this is not right. But there was nothing anyone could do.
Thus you can see at the entrance to the abyss the inscription on the stele: "Our pure vessel has risen. All that remains is rejection and the remorse for creating it. ”
But you can also see the words in the heart of the White King in the White Palace: "Whatever the cost." ”
In the same way, this contradiction can be seen in the dialogue of another central figure of the Holy Nest, the White Lady.
When we first met her, she would express her remorse to us: "I can still feel that impulse. It will never go away. Spread the greedy desire to sow seeds to the earth, allowing itself to expand and multiply. ”
Even if the White Lady who tied herself up, although she has remorse, she will still use her own ability, and she still spreads her roots on the earth.
So she would also say, "In my roots, I can clearly feel that the container is weakening." ”
Yes, as the White Lady had said, even though she was aware of her greed, she was still uncontrollable, still using the root system to spy on the land of the Holy Nest.
The eternal nest, in the words of the White Lady, derives another meaning—it is also eternal reproduction.
In the game of the Hollow Knight, everything has a superficial relationship with each other, which is reflected in the fact that you are a higher being, but the place where you are born has a darkness that devours life.
You are a fragment of the will, but you need a shell to contain itself.
You gave your life for a country you were not familiar with, because that was the mission that made you.
You are a higher being, but you have to bear a curse that has almost nothing to do with you for other lower beings.
So in the game, the moment we enter, we see not only the decaying holy nest, but also the gods hiding everywhere.
In this country, the more advanced gods have gradually disappeared from their own figures.
Because they have fulfilled their mission, they have broken the boundaries of bugs.
They popularized the role of masks and created higher beings.
How the world will develop, the god gave the choice to the little knight, and when the little knight becomes the new god, he will also give the choice to other lower bugs.
Yes, we clearly felt that the power in the Hollow Knight was handed over layer by layer.
The superior beings will always create inferior beings and give them the mission of continuing the world, and gradually disappear themselves.
This may be why there is this DLC of the God Seeker, these gods-seeking bugs, in their world, the gods have delegated their power and then disappeared from their own form.
These seekers tell us another possibility, that when the gods leave and the power of choice is handed over to a wider and mediocre being, these lives may not be as the gods imagined, and they may still need God's guidance.
So we can hear the true words of these bugs in the House of God: "Our thoughts, the same ocean." ”
When the gods disappear, they choose to create new gods, which is the only place in the game where we see lower beings trying to create beings higher than them.
As for why the gods are hidden, perhaps our answer is also why the White Lady wants to tie herself up.
Because, it will never go away. Spread the greedy desire to sow seeds to the earth, allowing itself to expand and multiply.
If the balances created by the Divine Clan's own hands are not hidden, these balances will also be broken by their own hands!
For these gods, only by hiding themselves or transforming themselves can they give their offspring more possibilities of life.
Just as Worm transformed into the White King, the White King created the Nest, but by the time we reached the point in time of the game, the White King had long since disappeared.
If it weren't for the fact that the White Lady still had a mission, in order to guide the little knight, perhaps she would have disappeared long ago.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > dream keeper and prophet</h1>
The Dream Keepers are clearly defined in the game, and they are the three lives that seal the Void Knights — Hera the Beast, Monomon the Teacher, and Lu ryan the Watchman.
The three of them represent, respectively, wildness, knowledge and order.
The purpose of the Dream Keeper is as recorded in the sculpture of the three Dream Keepers we see in the Resting Place: "The Dream Keeper is sleeping to protect the vessel." Through their devotion, the Nest endures forever. ”
The so-called protection here is to seal the second layer when the seal of the Void Knight is broken.
But we also see a corresponding phenomenon in the game, no matter how hard the Dream Keeper tries, once the mask of the Void Knight is broken, the plague of light will still spread.
Therefore, the insects in the holy nest will still be infected on a large scale.
This infection, which has been told to us in the Prophet's words, is an inevitability, so that we can hear the dialogue: "But the memory of the ancient glory remains, and the whispers of faith are spread... Until all the worms of the Holy Nest began to dream of the forgotten light. ”
Yes, the overflow of the radiant plague is inevitable, for these sins, or whispers, have long been buried in the dreams of all the worms of the Holy Nest.
Thus we will also hear another saying from the prophet: "Their seal, though it has little hope, is very wise." I wonder how long they think the seal will last? I'm not looking down on them. It's just that time flies, the past is repeated over and over again, and I'm numb to these things. ”
It is not clear how many times the prophet's repetition was experienced, but it is also implied here that the ancestors were not necessarily the first void knights to seal the spokes.
And the little knight of our game may not be the last.
The dream keeper's responsibility is not to seal the plague completely, but to delay the time when the plague breaks out to provide enough buffer to find a new container.
So in the opening animation, when we see the masks of the Hollow Knight shattered and spewed out, the masks of the three Dream Keepers immediately appeared on the black eggs.
The mask is a symbol of strength and status at this moment.
When we enter the Temple of the Black Egg, we will also see the three masks of the Dream keeper still floating on the black egg.
So the first time we meet a Dream keeper in a game, they'll say to us, "Is it going to try to break the seal?" The seal cannot be broken. The seal must be broken. ”
Each of the three sentences indicates the attitude of the three Dream keepers to whether the seal needs to be broken—neutrality, agreement and opposition.
And this time, the conclusion was that the seal could not be broken.
So we can hear their final conclusion: "Let's sleep little shadow." Return to the darkness to which you belong. Give us peace. ”
The second time they met the Dream Keepers in the Resting Place, they would say, "Don't go any further, little shadow." What drives it to crawl out of the darkness? And what drove it back to this holy kingdom. ”
From their words, we know that in the first place we came from the wilderness outside, perhaps really in the time of the White King, and we were left far beyond the Holy Nest.
The First Dream keepers did intend to put us to sleep, but they didn't succeed.
The reason why they did not succeed was told to us in their subsequent conversation: "A call from outside the seal? Is it from the container, or is it the light that is imprisoned? ”
Yes, an interesting message suddenly revealed at this time, that did not make us sleep, and that we were awakened from afar to the Nest, may not only have our mission, but more likely this mission is also guided by the spoke light, that is, the "imprisoned light" in the dialogue.
So we can also get an interesting clue in the prophet's words: "I don't know if the dream keepers were watching you while you were collecting, and even the old king may have noticed you." ”
In the mouth of the prophet, the old king referred to only one, and that was the radiance of what they had believed in.
The second meeting still ended with not being able to break the seal, so these dream keepers would pull us into the dream and trap us.
But this time we were saved from our dreams by the prophets of the race who believed in the radiance.
The Prophet will speak to us, "What a cruel fate they have brought you. Throw you in the gap between body and soul. Will you accept their verdict and gradually wither away? Or will you raise your weapon and blaze your way out of this forgotten sad dream? ”
After that, the sword we pick up is the only dream nail in the game that can shuttle dreams and reality.
And the Prophet's mission in this game is as his words: "Take care of these tombstones, guide the wavers... It's all about repenting of past crimes. But only then can you prove yourself to be the man our tribe is waiting for. ”
If we hit the White Lady with the Nail of Dreams, she would say to us, "It can invade thoughts? Then its sharp blade can definitely break the seal. ”
Heck, when we're analyzing this, we suddenly find a clue that's linked together.
From the words given to us by the Dream Keeper, we know that it was not they who awakened the little knights, and from the words of the White Lady, she did not know about the Dream Nail.
The Dream Nail, then, is not the object of the White King and the Nest, but where it exists is a race of prophets who once believed in the Radiance and then betrayed the Radiant.
Now the prophet is waiting for the waver of the prophecy in order to pay for his sins, and we are the bearers of the nails of dreams.
In the finale, there is only one way we want to see the spokes, and that is to strike the Hollow Knight through the Prophet's Dream Nail. If we hadn't used the Dream Nail, we would have simply defeated the Void Knight and we would have ended up sealing the radiance again.
Then we understood that the Dream Nail was the key to breaking the seal, the key to completely defeating the spokes, and the key to completely liberating the spokes.
But for Spoke Light, being sealed by one container after another was tantamount to death, so the Little Knight's breaking of the seal and the use of the Dream Nail were double-edged swords, but for her it was also the only hope.
Of course, it is a pity that the production team did not make a completely liberated ending.
If the Hollow Knight is the core of the Nest's breaking of the laws of nature, it is built on sacrifice and dedication.
The Dream Keeper becomes another core of the Continued Nest – wildness, knowledge and order.
These Dream Keepers are not saviors like Hollow Knights, they can't seal the plague, they can only block.
In other words, the Void Knight may not be the savior, he can't seal the radiance for a long time, he is still just trapped.
Radiance became the sin that the White King had to face when he created the Nest, and this sin would persist with the existence of the Nest.
Just as the prophets will always retain their sins because of their betrayal of the radiant light, this sin will only disappear when the prophetic race disappears.
And the sins of the Holy Nest can only disappear after the Holy Nest is completely destroyed.
So the Prophet will also say to us, "May the sins of my tribe dissipate as soon as possible, as is the rest of this kingdom." ”
The words of the Prophet and the final dissipation still offer another possibility for the end of our game, or the end of the Nest.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > dream keeper</h1>
Yes, dream keepers also have their own dream keepers.
If the first Dream Keeper guards the Dream of the Void Knight, the second Dream Keeper guards the body of the Dream Keeper who is trapped in the dream.
So we can see in the City of Tears that Lurion's Dream keepers are watchmen knights.
In the teacher Monomont, she saw her dream keeper for herself, and at the same time one of the seals she gave herself, Quillo.
And the last dream keeper, the beast Hera, she also has her own dream keeper, her daughter Bumblebee.
So when we use the Dream Nail to free Hera's seal, Bumblebee will tell us, "Mother... Please forgive my inaction... But maybe we can choose a different path. ”
Alas, when we analyze the dream keepers and their own dream keepers, we understand what bumblebee means by inaction, she is her mother's dream keeper, but she chose another path.
She didn't stop us from breaking the seal.
Interestingly, among these dream keepers, the first to be infected is not others, but order.
Perhaps the production team conveyed to us their understanding that when the plague occurs, the first thing to destroy is the order that already exists.
So we see that the city of tears, which was originally the most prosperous, was the most corrupt in the face of the plague, whether it was the soul master or the guards in the city, even Lu Ryan's own dream keeper was also infected by the plague.
We can also see the judgments and options of other dream keepers.
Monomon's dream keeper, the teacher of wisdom, is Querro, and if we want to see Monomon hidden in a water tank, we must be approved by Kroo.
So what Quirrell says to us at the end is, "In order to save the Nest, the Teacher voluntarily became sealed, but she also gave herself an extra layer of protection." Don't hesitate. It was she who chose change, not me. ”
The same bumblebee, who is the representative of the wild, is not only a guide for us to break the seal, but also a tester in the game.
So we can play against Bumblebee many times in the game, and she will tell us where we are going, but she will also judge whether we are qualified to continue to use force.
At this time, another interesting topic seems to be revealed, if every life has a corresponding dream keeper, then who will be the dream keeper of a single life?
Is it revealed in the game?
So our eyes stayed in another place.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > mask is the dream keeper of life</h1>
If every life has a guardian, then in what way does a single life manifest itself as a dream keeper?
So at this time, our perspective falls into a strange setting in the game - the mask.
Masks keep appearing in the game, each with their own words facing each other, and the most informative is a single NPC in the game, the mask maker.
When we first met him, he would tell us, "It saw the face below!" Or is it another mask? The truth of the Holy Lair is buried deeply. How many layers it has to pry open to see the truth. ”
At this point, you will find that the Black Egg Temple is the mask of the black egg, the black egg is the mask of the Dream Keeper, the Dream Keeper is the mask of the Void Knight, and the Void Knight is the mask of the Spoke.
What about the Holy Nest?
The Holy Nest is the mask of this land, and it uses another name to mask the fact that this land once belonged to the spokes.
And this is when we listen to the prophet's words: "No bug can live forever, so we want the living to remember us." Keep something in your heart and it will continue to live with you. But if she forgot it, she was permanently sealed. That's the real death. ”
Therefore, the phrase that runs through the game: "The Holy Nest will never fade", has also become "The White King is eternal and immortal".
But just as the White Lady gives us the choice of path, whether to degenerate or replace, in the game of the Hollow Knight, the creation of a thing is always two-sided or multi-faceted.
The Abyss is, the Nest is, the Radiance is, and the same is true of us, the little Hollow Knights who emerge from the Abyss.
What about masks? Aren't masks?
So we see the latter dialogue of the mask maker: "Change your face, cover it completely with another face... It is a strong protection, but it will bring a tragic end. The original mind is destroyed, but the person who has always been tenacious may still have a trace of the old mind. I will answer all the begging for faces. It's not a mission, it's about reaching out and giving a gift to the world that deserves it. ”
Yes, masks are naturally not just a cover-up, they are also a kind of protection.
Even if you know that this protection will lead to a tragic end, for the mask maker, it is a helping hand, a gift to the world that deserves this gift.
The Dream Keeper is the mask of the Hollow Knight, which has brought a long period of prosperity to the Nest, but it has also brought destruction to the Nest.
The Nest is the mask of the nation ruled by Worm, as stated in the opening text of the "Nest Elegy": "You have brought the worms and beasts a world they could not have dreamed of." ”
But equally, this new world, the new Nest, is also facing an unavoidable plague.
This is also the weirdness that I often feel throughout the game, and almost everything here shows both sides.
Until the end of the world, we never know whether the nail in our hands is a weapon to save the world or the key to destroying it.
Just like our little knight, whether it is the angel who saves the Nest or the demon who destroys the Nest.
So the ending of the DLC of the Seeker tells us information that the other endings have not revealed, at this moment, the species born from the abyss will destroy all the creatures of this holy nest.
Perhaps it is true as the Worm Elders told us when we first entered the land of the Holy Nest: "I believe that you are also seeking your dreams below." Maybe dreams aren't that good things. ”
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > last</h1>
Higher beings are an interesting topic, and you'll find that the term in the game doesn't just refer to the little knight, but sometimes it seems to be said to us players as well.
Every sentence in it is either a reminder of the game's operation or a background notification of the story.
And as gamers, for the characters in the game, this is indeed a higher being.
The setting of the mask has always been very concerned about since the beginning of the parsing game. But I never found a good idea to explain why the production team made the mask.
It wasn't until I extended this issue through the Dream Keeper that I discovered that the mask was a dream keeper in a different way of life.
Under the mask we can have more courage and express ourselves more faithfully.
But the same is true as soon as we put on the mask, the mask becomes one with us.
After that, even if we want to change the mask again, although the inside is the same, you will not be you anymore.
Because the mask has long been you, you have long become the mask.
Do we who wear masks live for ourselves or for masks?
Of course, you can also take off the mask to survive and make yourself a more simple being.
But if the mask you wear is really so easy to take down, there will not be so many bugs in this world who will choose to wear a mask that hides its true appearance all the time.
In this issue, we also offer a possibility for why the little knight came to the Holy Lair.
The little knight is awakened by the spokes to save himself.
When we turn our perspective slightly to the spokes, we find that the Sacred Nest is nothing more than a kingdom constructed on many sacrifices.
When the old king of this land, Radiant Guang, wants to reoccupy this land, is it Ray Guang's fault, or is the White King's fault?
This becomes another issue that requires our consideration.
And we are also with this question, ending our analysis of the Empty Knight.
The game still has a lot of puzzles, and when the second game, "Song of Silk", comes back to the game to see what puzzles can be solved.
I hope that you and I have received the harvest we deserve in this time that has spent nearly two months of parsing.
I'm a dog brother, and we'll see you in "Silk Song"!