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 into its lore. The highly anticipated sequel to the original Hollow Knight continues the series’ tradition of phenomenal worldbuilding, with the kingdom of Pharloom housing a deep and complex history that impacts its current events in a number of ways. While this new location stands largely on its own, with a surprising amount of history, the events that took place in the original title’s kingdom of Hallownest have a large impact on its sequel.
Although the history and lore of both Hollow Knight games are often implied rather than explicitly stated, a lot can be inferred based on the information presented to the player. With the most significant events of Hollow Knight’s endings carrying major implications over into Silksong, there have been several noteworthy changes to the world since the first game that have an impact on Hornet’s journey through Pharloom.
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A Significant Amount Of Time Has Passed
The Old One
It's never made clear exactly how long it’s been since The Knight ventured across Hallownest in the first game, but there is enough relevant dialogue present in Silksong to imply that it’s been quite some time. Specifically, conversations around both Hornet’s age, coupled with a particular optional item from Hollow Knight lead us to believe that it’s been many years since Hornet assisted her silent sibling on his quest.
In Silksong, the Shaman snails are controversial creatures who primarily study the Void and its dark ways. Present in some capacity across both games, these beings are studied by historians of the ancient ways of the world in which they reside, for better or worse. With that in mind, the fact that they refer to Hornet as the “Old One” gives us a small glimpse at how long our latest protagonist has been around. One of her journal entries also states that she once sought romantic partnerships, but none of her potential mates were able to match her extensive life span. This is largely explained through Hornet’s backstory, as she is quite literally the child of two god-like beings in her world.
One of Silksong’s more overt implications regarding the amount of time that has taken place between the two titles comes from a common recurring quest item in the Hollow Knight universe. An in-game event requires Hornet to acquire a Delicate Flower, which many players will recall from Hollow Knight’s most difficult side mission. When Hornet needs to get her hands on one of those flowers, she retrieves it from a memory, after claiming that she knew of such a flower “in the distant past.” While it was not common knowledge that the flower still existed in the events of Hollow Knight, it was definitely still present at that time. If Hornet’s recollection of this flower is from a time close to the first game’s events, when we last saw the Delicate Flower, that would place Silksong much further into the future than many of us thought.
The Radiance’s Influence is Destroyed
The Healing Process Begins
The Radiance is the primary antagonist of Hollow Knight, posing a more significant threat than the titular character himself. In fact, The Radiance’s corruption is the reason that the Hollow Knight is a threat to The Knight and the kingdom of Hallownest in the first place. This corruption is the reason for the Hollow Knight’s imprisonment inside the Black Egg Temple in the first game, and his awakening during the opening cutscene is what calls The Knight into action.
Influence is the strongest tool of The Radiance, with any acknowledgment of its presence allowing it to seep into the minds of the game’s bugs and corrupt their soul. The Hollow Knight is conceived as the perfect being to counter this influence, as he is born as an empty vessel, which is what inspires the “hollow” portion of his name. His creator, the god-like individual known as the Pale King, makes one fatal mistake that ruins the Hollow Knight’s potential in this regard: he learns to love the Hollow Knight as his child. This affection manifests itself inside the Hollow Knight as a semblance of consciousness — a soul, if you will — and the presence of this soul makes the potential hero susceptible to The Radiance’s corruption. For this reason, he is sealed away inside his black egg, a prison that is meant to ward off any further corruption until a perfected vessel can be born.
In Hollow Knight’ s true ending, The Knight is crafted as a fully realized version of this same concept. He is an empty vessel, free of The Radiance’s corruption as well as the Pale King’s affections. In the game’s final moments, he enters his sibling’s prison and does battle with the Hollow Knight. Depending on your actions during the course of The Knight’s adventure, Hornet herself joins him in this fight, helping The Knight to enter into his predecessor’s consciousness and allowing him to take on The Radiance itself. After The Radiance’s defeat, the realm is finally freed of its corruption, allowing the afflicted kingdom to begin its healing process before the start of the second game.
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The Knight Masters The Void
The Canon Ending
Hollow Knight is a game with multiple endings, with significant differences between each potential outcome. While some of these potential resolutions are better for the kingdom (and The Knight) than others, each of the possibilities leaves the world altered significantly. Silksong, like many sequels to games with optional endings, essentially makes one of them canon. Based on the events that transpire during Hornet’s odyssey, it’s made clear that The Knight returns to The Void and uses it to defeat The Radiance, embracing the power as his own as he takes ownership of the overwhelming darkness present deep below Hallownest.
What’s more, The Knight’s siblings join him in this space, freed of 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 antithesis of The Radiance’s influence in the original game. Based on Silksong’s own true ending, reached only by completing the game’s hidden third act, it would seem that The Knight and his kin have mastered their dominance over this force by the time the game’s events play out.
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 exists a similar god-like being known as Grand Mother Silk. Before the events of either game, Grand Mother Silk used the power of her mind-altering silk threads to grant sentience to wild, primordial spiders of Pharloom, creating the Weavers. The silk grants the Weavers a great deal of power, allowing them to craft several incredible things on their looms, but it’s also the exact force that makes them susceptible to Grand Mother Silk’s influence. The power of this silk is not based on an intangible acknowledgment of Grand Mother Silk’s existence, like in the case of The Radiance, but a physical corruption that spreads through the bodies of its prey and alters their state of being.
The Weavers were able to break free of Grand Mother Silk’s influence for a time, using a special song crafted to lull her to sleep. While free, they spread to other kingdoms, including Hallownest, where a community of Weavers created a small village within the dark corners of Deepnest. This is the village in which Hornet was raised. When Hallownest began to show signs of corruption, these Weavers returned to their homeland of Pharloom, with Hornet remaining to oversee the kingdom's ruins and protect its history. With Grand Mother Silk’s resurgence, she regained control of her corrupted subjects, and between the two titles, she can send her minions into the world to retrieve the estranged Weavers that she'd lost.
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Hornet Is Captured In Hallownest
The Start Of Silksong
Regardless of how long ago the first game took place, Hornet likely stuck around Hallownest for a long time after The Knight’s adventure. She was, after all, present in the kingdom even 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 after the end of the journey, which eventually led to her capture by Grand Mother Silk, who tracked her down.
Word of Hornet’s escapades managed to travel back to Grand Mother Silk as she sought to return the runaway Weavers to her grasp. Once again under the influence of the mind-altering silk, corrupted bugs from Pharloom are sent to apprehend Hornet. Despite her formidable strength, they’re able to capture her, placing her inside the cage that we see her escape from at the very beginning of Silksong.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Released
- September 4, 2025
