Cloudysideas

So with skong out and us getting a look at another pale being I feel like it’s time to revisit the way goods work in Hollowknight games.

To start with: Pale Beings

All pale beings we see are gods that physically exist in reality. The White Lady, GMS, and the Pale King(specifically in wyrm form) are all beings seemingly teathered to the physical/real world.

This, amongst other things, seems to translate to a vulnerability to physical damage and death in ways essence based gods like Radiance are less susceptible to.

They all seem to be aligned with Order and Soul. Order in particular is very visible across all three of these gods, as the Pale King sought social order and expanded intelligence, GMS literally controlled her subjects directly and formed and advanced/orderly society, and the White Lady—while resembling a god of the wild or essence based god like Unn—actually primarily manifests her powers through the creations of gardens and other ordered/contained forms of plant life.

So, the soul thing. Both GMS and PK seem to have made extensive use of Soul instead of—for the most part given the white palace being in dreams—essence, which to me, suggests a great affinity for Soul amongst pale beings. I imagine the White lady would likely have an easier time producing plants that give soul when hit or plants with specific purposes than Unn could.

Additionally, unlike essence based gods, pale beings don’t seem to be capable of actually creating life on their own. Through first sinners cutscene we know GMS made the weavers from uplifted Pharlids, and it’s heavily implied that the pale king did a similar thing for the beetles and other mindless bugs that were in Radiances hive mind at the time. Also all of the plants in Queens Gardens are mutated/changed versions of plants present in greenpath, suggesting the White Lady merely built on what Unn had already dreamed. For contrast, both Unn and Radiance were said to have directly created/dreamed up their subjects, and the Grimmkin Grimm has don’t resemble any natural bug, possibly meaning he made them.

They all have a drive to dominate, or otherwise overtake as a key feature of their personalities. The White Lady would grow without restraint unless stopped, PK is fighting Radi for dominance, and GMS supplanted the native gods of Pharloom. Even Hornet acknowledges this in her conversation with the Green Prince in Lost Verdania. Hornets ability to consume crests/bind the natures of others also plays into this theory and does a lot to convince me that my theory about Pale Beings being divine cannibals/serial killers of a sort(devouring and suppressing native gods to achieve their immense power) is correct. Also, small side note but it’s interesting that none of the Pale Beings we meet—aside from maybe the white lady? But given her encroachment on Unns lands this is doubtful—are not native to the kingdoms we see them in. GMS took Pharlooms old kingdoms and lands by force. The Wyrm arrived in what would become Hallownest from the wastes, and Hornet isn’t native to Pharloom but does very much usurp GMS in the weaver queen ending. Basically Pale Beings are the divine equivalent of invasive species, invading an ecosystem and completely rearranging its order around their needs, often destroying fragile systems in the process and driving native species to extinction.

Finally, Pale Beings seem to have an ability to spread their power—which they have exceedingly large amounts of, even for gods—quite widely compared to other gods, as GMS covers nearly all of Pharloom and the “afterglow” from PK was noted to be extremely powerful by the godseekers.

Okay, so what then? Well, to me, the implication here is that Pale Beings are so Order aligned and so rigid that it bleeds over into their spiritual aspects as well. They can be harmed by physical means BECAUSE they are aligned to order, and thus to some extent have more limitations on how they use their power(and how physical they are) when compared with gods like Radi who just decided to become a plague one day. Moreover, they’re seemingly tied to their titles and roles, the Pale King is first and foremost a king, GMS embodies the role of motherhood to the point of sacrificing her whole kingdom(and weaving silk from her own life force to hold off the void) for the safety of her child. The White Lady follows this trend too, she bears the title of Lady in its association to both politics/scheming seen by her giving the important quest item in BOTH games(the goat fr) and to Fertility and her desire for children. Which, is in line with how Ladies in a court were typically relegated to the role of producing heirs for their husbands(and occasionally fostering the children of other nobles. Looking at you Hornet). None of these gods are ever referred to with, or given a name beyond their title, contrasting greatly with Unn, Grimm, and Nyleth.

Basically, all Silksong has done is really highlight how Pale Beings differ significantly from other gods.

So I know this is way different than my usual stuff(creative works) but I’ve been feeling a certain way lately given politics and world events and felt like sharing some poems and other odds and ends that I find both profoundly beautiful and shockingly relevant.