Best Endings In Hollow Knight, Ranked

Summary

Hollow Knight offers five different endings, each reflecting possible outcomes for Hallownest's future.
All endings are canon and focus on stopping the infection to break the land's stasis.
Ending choices vary in satisfaction, with different implications for characters like Hornet and the Knight.

With so many approaches to taking on Hollow Knight's story, having multiple endings perfectly reflects any player's desired journey through Hallownest. While the base game offers three potential conclusions, the introduction of the Godhome DLC adds another two possible outcomes to the game.

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By Madie Bostwick

Given how open-ended the main goal in Hollow Knight is, the various ending options offer glimpses into five different futures for the lost kingdom. Additionally, all endings in the game are considered equally canon. As the main plot focuses on ending the infection that's creating zombies and keeping this land in an unending stasis, all possible conclusions incorporate the varying degrees of success that defeating the infection could include. Ranked based on how satisfying each ending is, the five options instantly fall into line.

5 Sealed Siblings

Doomed Kingdom

Easily the least satisfying ending, Sealed Siblings presents the most doomed outcome for the kingdom of Hallownest, Hornet, and the Knight all at once. With the Hollow Knight now defeated, and with Hornet stuck unconscious within the Temple of the Black Egg, the infection has been guaranteed to continue, with the only bug intent on stopping it now trapped forever inside.

Beyond this ending confirming that the infection haunting and perpetuating this dead kingdom will continue, it also indirectly confirms the death of Hornet. As she tells the Knight before the fight with the Hollow Knight that entering the Black Egg would be deadly for her. Now that the Knight has absorbed the light and resealed the Temple with Hornet marked as a Dreamer, not only will the infection continue to persist, but no other hero can attempt a solution, as Hornet is as protected as possible, preventing anything from unlocking the door.

4 The Hollow Knight

Endless Perpetuation

The ending, simply titled The Hollow Knight, passes the torch from the initial Hollow Knight to the player, the Knight. The greater outcome of this ending is slightly more mysterious than that of Sealed Siblings.

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By Enricko Ozoa

As this ending shortly concludes after the Knight absorbs the Radiance into itself, it can only be assumed that the state of Hallownest is roughly the exact same as it was with the previous vessel. Hornet is still available, however, making it likely that her goal of ending the infection will only continue. This ending is satisfying in a poetically dark way, as it seems that everything the Knight worked toward has led to the exact same result prior to its intervention.

3 Embrace The Void

The Ascension Of The Abyss

One of two extremely difficult endings to unlock, Embrace The Void requires something only the most skilled, determined, and patient players can achieve. Unlike most other endings, Embrace The Void requires players to complete a 42-boss gauntlet in Godhome of practically every boss in the game, including DLC, before asking players to defeat a powered-up version of the true final boss, Absolute Radiance.

This is an immensely difficult feat, making this ending even more special for those who can actually achieve it. Unlike the endings that require defeating the Hollow Knight, Embrace The Void instead shows the possibility of defeating the Radiance in an unconventional way affecting the real world, with this particular method also causing the Void within the Knight to completely transform and probably consume Godhome, with more Void spilling out into the real world. This ending concludes with the implication of Hornet meeting the no-longer infected Hollow Knight, opening up all kinds of potential for Silksong.

2 Dream No More

Tomorrow Finally Comes

Easily the most distinct ending within the base game, Dream No More offers a concrete end to the infection possessing the decayed kingdom and a satisfying, if tragic, conclusion for both the Knight and Hornet. While the Sealed Siblings and Hollow Knight endings are two variants of the same idea, Dream No More is entirely different.

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By Enricko Ozoa

The most notable component of this ending is how it requires the player to kill the Radiance instead of the Hollow Knight, taking down the infection at the source. Once the Radiance is destroyed, the scene shifts to the Knight's split shell, before then showing all the other siblings of the Knight, Hornet, and Hollow Knight sinking back into the Void, at rest. The endless dreams that have been keeping Hallownest in a terrible, zombified state have finally come to an end, and the world has started to truly change.

1 Embrace The Void: Delicate Flower

Powerful Pale Light

The alternate version of Embrace The Void, this ending requires gifting the Godseeker in the Junk Pit a Delicate Flower, alongside defeating the boss gauntlet. Mostly the same as the initial version, the addition of the flower's pale glow offers a less destructive outcome for Hallownest now that Hornet and the Hollow Knight are freed of their respective duties.

Everything about the Delicate Flower version of Embrace The Void is the same except, after the Void takes over Godhome and Godseeker (who is now holding the Delicate Flower), the escaping Void, Godhome, and Godseeker all vanish, leaving behind the Delicate Flower. The Hollow Knight being released alongside Hornet feels even more true now, as the threat of the Void has completely been eliminated. Every ancient threat holding Hallownest at a standstill in Hollow Knight is no more, letting its princess and knight go free.

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