Tundra

To Bind Our Echoes That We May Be Whole

The apocalypse has come and gone, and against all odds, Pharloom remains standing. The time has come for Hornet to return to Hallownest, accompanied by friends and allies: Shakra hopes to explore the mythical land beyond the wastes, and properly lay to rest a member of her own tribe; Lace fears unraveling without the aid of a Weaver, while contending with the immensity of a future free of her mother’s threads; and the Green Prince lives only only to spite the Citadel, passively seeking a more honorable end than might be found in the rubble of his homeland. Meanwhile, Hornet returns from Pharloom with magic and knowledge that might aid in the slow recovery of Hallownest and Deepnest–and perhaps offer the chance to call home the sibling she once thought lost to her forever.

Chapter 8: Is It The Light You Fear, Or What It Might Illuminate

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Lace, Hollow, and Shakra are chilling together in the Queen's Gardens; meanwhile, it's time for more Mantis Politics! A look at what's happening with Deepnest, Hornet's immediate future plans, and Vise's leadership ability.

Also, the Green Prince has a bit of a crash out! It was probably a bit overdue...

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Hollow Knight Fanart Masterpost

Transcript:

The Amur Leopard and Clouded Leopard (which recently celebrated its 50th cub born at the zoo!)

The Sumatran Tiger

The Red Ruffed Lemur and Ring-Tailed Lemur

The Cotton-Top Tamarin and White-Cheeked Gibbon

The Colobus Monkey and De Brazza’s Monkey

And the Mexican Spider Monkey!

(Spoiler Warning)

From the beginning, the state of Pharloom has always been bleak. By this point, you've seen both the Citadel's rotten core and its ruination of the lands surrounding. And now, things are somehow worse--your attempts to free yourself and the people you've come to care about instead personally initiated the apocalypse. You descend from the cradle injured, barely able to stand at points, only to be confronted with enemies many times more powerful than they should be.

You survive the encounter, but you're far from safe. But your attempts to push on result immediately in collapsing amid the rubble of a Citadel that is barely recognizable. The screen fades to black and...

When your senses return to you, you're back at Songclave under Sherma's careful watch--wounds likely patched with the medical supplies that you helped him secure, in what now feels like another life altogether. It's far too grim to call the moment beautiful, but it is a relief, the first that you've had since the god-trap snapped shut.

But what marks this moment as significant to me isn't this spot of safety in the middle of an ongoing apocalypse. It isn't the relief that Sherma has survived, or even the pride at the mantle he's grown into as a leader and caretaker. What's most important to me is how you arrived in Songclave at all:

Many a poor pilgrim has already been lost to the destruction. You might have been too, if not for some fleeing pilgrims who found you fallen and carried you back to us.

Therein lies one of the core philosophies of the Hollow Knight games: that the world is inherently uncaring and cruel, but those circumstances do not create people who are inherently uncaring and cruel.

You survived because some random pilgrims found you, and though they were fleeing for their lives in the middle of a world-ending disaster, chose to carry you to safety.

This wasn't a friend like Sherma or the Second Sentinel; this wasn't a designated rescue crew looking for survivors. This was a group of random refugees, who could have endangered themselves further by rescuing an injured, unconscious stranger.

You never learn who saved you, never get to learn their motives or thank them for their help. The incident as a whole is never mentioned again.

To Bind Our Echoes That We May Be Whole

The apocalypse has come and gone, and against all odds, Pharloom remains standing. The time has come for Hornet to return to Hallownest, accompanied by friends and allies: Shakra hopes to explore the mythical land beyond the wastes, and properly lay to rest a member of her own tribe; Lace fears unraveling without the aid of a Weaver, while contending with the immensity of a future free of her mother’s threads; and the Green Prince lives only only to spite the Citadel, passively seeking a more honorable end than might be found in the rubble of his homeland. Meanwhile, Hornet returns from Pharloom with magic and knowledge that might aid in the slow recovery of Hallownest and Deepnest–and perhaps offer the chance to call home the sibling she once thought lost to her forever.

Chapter 7: The Shape of a Future You Can't Yet Grasp

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It's been ten thousand years since we had a chapter properly focused on the green bean, but it looks like he's finally stopped dissociating long enough to participate in the plot. It's probably because of the Emotional Support Grubs, let's be honest.

At any rate, we're kicking off his plotline properly, with mantis politics and the introduction of the only major original character in this comic--Vise, a mantis who until recently existed in my notes exclusively as "Himbo Mantis."

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Hollow Knight Fanart Masterpost

Transcript: