#plasmium

(The) Hollow Knight Art Month 2026 where I make every prompt about THK

Day 1: Hornet

Half of this may need to be split into a reblog

These two tools are essentially one and the same, only the type of phial and application is changed: a hollow steel needle designed to act like a syringe to either fill or empty the attached phial

In fact, this needle seems to be the same or at least remarkably similar to the steel spines needed for infestation operation

Your tool certainly looks sharp enough to pierce my shell, sir, but why should I want to do so?

This is what Hornet says about the plasmium phial

It's Steel Spines I need. A full bundle of them, forged hard and sharp. Tougher than I've ever had. Tough enough to crack stone! And to pierce your thick shell, bzzt!

And this is what Yarnaby has to say

the steel spines even have that same compression and release motion in the cutscene, although repeated in a motorized cycle

Now, Zylotol's master discovered lifeblood Plasmium in the salty waters of Pharloom's Bay, to the right of Bilewater, to the right of Sinner's Road, while Yarnaby is to the left; Benjin and Crull are quite the providers of medical and research equipment huh, who would've thought

Just in case: Yarnaby is not Zylotol's master, she doesn't seem to have ever moved beyond Bellhart or her current location, outside of maybe visiting Crull and Benjin in Sinner's Road; she's also not really interested on the stuff or really seems to know about it

(Hornet) Madam, my shell has been overcome by a foreign force. Plasmium, it has been called in your land. (Hornet) Though the substance provides some regenerative aid, I feel my mind at dangerous risk of being overtaken. Bzzt! Maybe overtaken is good? Better even? Why go thinking yours is a mind so precious? The great Yarnaby treats the sick! Not those that benefit from their afflictions. Enjoy its advantage and leave me in peace!

Her dialogue might go one way or another but she's merely responding to the info Hornet gives on plasmium

Remember my assessment that at least some "glass" vessels in Pharloom were made out of treated glands or eggs? well, the plasmium phial visibly deflates when expended, implying it is made out of a flexible material

The shading of the empty sprite, of course, is quite similar to an empty flea brew bottle (I'll cover the poison interaction when I get to the pollip pouch)

"Spear-phial" as a descriptor for the plasmium phial reminds me strongly of voltvessels, which is a tool created in Memorium's Materium section, notable for its multiple phials; I think it is likely the spear form of the vessels didn't just work as a lightning rod, but also as a needle to extract the pink, charged fluids from the volt worms

Btw it annoys me greatly that the plasmium phial is obviously designed to look like two lifeblood masks, and the very first trailer even reflects this (although the second mask barely starts forming before it cuts off, was very hard to get a screenshot, and it is a pretty shitty one), yet the tool only gives one mask at a time now! I'm sure it was because of game balance, but damn

Funny that the tool icon was updated but the animation wasn't

Understandable though

Now, let's look at the rest of Zylotol's equipment

We can see multiple bottles and phials, multiple bone scrolls, the characteristic pumpkin shape on the larger vessels, all above a cart

I wonder if the constant boiling and bubbling coupled with the similarity to the flea brew bottle is a reference to the alchemic process of fermentation

You'll notice I included the vessels used by weavers in the Abyss to research void, this is because both sets have interesting similarities in the way they seem to have a modular aspect to them, being able to dock into each other to move the fluids around or be separated to test samples differently, as well as the use of needles and tubes

I'm not saying the two are directly related, but once I see the similarities I can only think "of course weaver research implements inspired later equipment"

Now, I'm left wondering how many of those spiky tops so often seen in bottles are really just decorations or if more of then than I thought are actually hollow needles; the use of glassy phials to extract and study void also reminds me of a certain asset by the void mould in the Pale King's workshop

Maybe these bottles in PK's workshop were actually syringes used to inject void into the mould, through the tube/notch/path at the top of it

Now, before I jump into the elephant in the room that is the Infection parallels, I want to get into lifeblood itself and establish some stuff

First off, the name: lifeblood is just straight up a word in english, an expression, and plasmium is a play on plasm, which is a word used in many things, but here seems primarily referencing blood, with maybe cytoplasm as a secondary reference for the lifeseeds

Blue blood as a panacea is likely also a reference to horseshoe crab blood (don't worry, they are alive, they aren't killed for this)

The blood of a horseshoe crab contains cells known as amebocytes.[63] These play a similar role to the white blood cells of vertebrates in defending the organism against pathogens.[64] Amebocytes from the blood of Limulus polyphemus are used to make Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL), which is used for the detection of bacterial endotoxins in medical applications.[64] There is a high demand for blood, the harvest of which involves collecting the animals, bleeding them, and then releasing them back into the sea.[65] Most of the animals survive the process; mortality is correlated with both the amount of blood extracted from an individual animal and the stress experienced during handling and transportation.[65]

In its natural state, lifeblood manifests as plant-like blue vines with bright leaves, grass and flowers(?) resembling butterflies

In Hallownest's Abyss, within a great lifeblood cave that is seamlessly connected to both dream and waking, exists a massive creature that may or may not be connected to and may or may not have command over all of lifeblood

As I've pointed out before, this creature seems to be made entirely out of lifeblood, with a shell made out of hardened vines and several plasmid eyes

Where it flourishes, it often forms a fruiting body known as a "cocoon", also described by Zylotol as a "bud" that "ripens", further emphasizing the bug-plant nature of lifeblood

These buds appear as a shell holding a sack filled with lifeblood and seeds, very reminiscent of pale oil glands, and shellwood growths to an extend

Many of you said I "predicted the conjoined heart" in this work of mine, but in reality I just based it off of the lifeblood heart and core charms

Btw, "saviavida", the ingame spanish translation of lifeblood, means "lifesap" as in plant sap + life

Similarly, Zylotol refers to the liquid lifeblood within young buds as "nectar"; nectar here could be referring to the drink of gods, ambrosia, but in this context I think it refers to plant nectar as well

Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide herbivore protection. Common nectar-consuming pollinators include mosquitoes, hoverflies, wasps, bees, butterflies and moths, hummingbirds, honeyeaters and bats. Nectar is an economically important substance as it is the sugar source for honey.

Nectar is derived from Greek νέκταρ, the fabled drink of eternal life.[3] Some derive the word from νε- or νη- "not" plus κτα- or κτεν- "kill", meaning "unkillable", thus "immortal". The common use of the word "nectar" to refer to the "sweet liquid in flowers", is first recorded in AD 1600.[3]

Going back at the Abyss lifeblood cave, its entrance is locked behind several small lifeblood buds that glow in response to the presence of lifeblood, specifically above 14 or 15 lifeblood masks, more than enough for a bug to already be plasmified

These buds are specifically called "fruits" in the wanderer's journal, just like Isma's tear, with which they share the same shape, that of a magatama or perhaps the cashew's true fruit (or a wonky tear, I guess)

Perhaps those fruits are the living core of the lifeblood heart charms

(Here's what I interpret that coat of lifeblood to look like)

I also wonder if those fruits lie dormant and darkened because of being so close to the void, like trying not to disturb it or trying to preserve energy in so stagnant and barren place

#HKAM26 Day 2: Plasmium