#unn

Cat sized slug is god.

Two kindly bugs

Lie resting in grottos of their own

Their blessings, an aid

They ease passage

To the hiding place

Of Great Beings

"The Higher Beings"

[They are known as a god-like creatures in a world of bugs had exist above all others. They have certain powers and abilities that regular bugs but they had a different for each higher beings by heart, mind, role, to rule, and control.]

In this year, I've drawn the Higher Beings In Hollow Knight after I broke down all informations on internets and videos on Youtube. (If there's another higher beings on Silksong DLC or more, I'm gonna draw more😊).

We know some things about Pale beings:

Although mortal, they have a seemingly infinite natural lifespan

Pale beings are a type of creature, not one species

A lot of Pale beings have some kind of supernatural abilities; though it isn't clear whether or not that is because they're Pale beings

They seem to have an innate drive/urge toward domination; although the Pale King cared for his subjects, he still ruled them as a god monarch and although Grand Mother Silk cared for her daughters, she could only express that through her dominance over them

But what then is a Higher being? Is it just a catch-all term for any god-like creature? The Hollow Knight Wiki seems to think so. My problem with this definiton is that it partially relies on developer input instead of in-game information. The White Lady for example is listed as a Higher being only due to a Reddit AMA answer.

I thought a definition——or at least something approaching one——of "Higher being" would be possible without out-of-game information due to the Dream Realm and its connection to Higher beings.

The Radiance has power over the Dream Realm obviously, and so does the Nightmare Heart, seeing as it split the Realm into two parts. Unn then is also a Higher being as she created the Mosskin though Dream. The Pale King would also be a Higher being as he was able to transport his palace into the Dream Realm. The Lifeblood creature found in the Abyss might be counted among them too, as distinctive blue dream particle can be seen in its domain.

However, the term "Higher being" is actually used rather sparingly throughout the two games. The Radiance (who probably everyone would accept as a Higher being without question) is only explicitly called a Higher being in the Reddit AMA, while Grand Mother Silk, a creature who doesn't display control over the Dream Realm is directly called a Higher Being by Hornet.

A common discussion of hk lore I often see is the difference between pale being and higher being. There’s a lot of debate of what makes a pale being so special compared to a higher being. Some people say that pale beings are more powerful or above higher being but I think the answer is simple but could be seen as boring. Pale being are called that because they are… white. That’s it.

Okay but in seriousness, I feel like maybe pale beings are just called pale beings because they are just ‘pale’. That’s not to say they’re just that, pale being such as the pale king and the white lady are capable of manipulating SOUL in versatile ways, so pale beings have better range of control of SOUL than regular higher beings.

SILK is an extension of SOUL as stated by its description.

‘Fine thread spun from the soul of its creator. Highly coveted for its remarkable strength and mystical properties. Used to heal wounds, extend life, and weave powerful runes.’

Pale beings are also bright, giving off a pale light as shown by the pale king, the white lady, grand mother silk and the pale stag

Okay. The pale stag is debatable if it even exists so I won’t even bother with her.

My point is that pale being like the pale king, the white lady and grandmother silk gives us an overall view of what pale beings are like, they give off a radiant pale glow, have a greater control over SOUL than regular higher, extremely old and are… pale. That’s it.

I know this might seem boring as to why they’re called pale being but that doesn’t make them less special. They are still powerful than most higher beings.

However, It’s still possible for specific higher beings to be more powerful than pale beings. Higher beings like Unn, the Nightmare Heart and the radiance are example of that exception. And I guess the abyss creature if it counts as a higher being.

Unn is a higher being that was able to create all of greenpath and all the native bugs that inhabits it.

The nightmare heart reside in its own realm with its own creatures.

While not exhibit from gms, pale beings can also passively affect their surroundings environment.

The white lady and her roots passively jutting out of the ground and out of her cocoon.

The pale king wyrm carcasse blowing wind, his root out and making it snow.

The radiance is also able to affect her surrounding area passively. On two occasions, the crystal peaks is filled with crystal that refracted her light, containing a mere fraction her energy. The infected crossroads is a result of breaking the seals and is self explanatory.

There’s an argument to be made about the radiance being a stand out from the other higher beings and make the argument that she’s above pale beings.

Granted my only source of evidence is based on a boss difficulty setting but stay with me for a second. It’s possible that this means a lot more, we all know that attune is the standard difficulty, ascend is the harder difficulty and radiant is the ‘you get one shotted’ difficulty. That’s how I’ve always saw it as but the more o think about, I began to see it as a hierarchy. The bronze adornment represents higher beings, the ascend adornment represents pale beings and the radiant adornment represents… radiant being? the radiance?

If we go off by this logic, this means that radiance a higher being or ‘radiant’ being (what terrible title, I know) that stands above the rest of the higher being and pale beings.

There’s even the argument that absolute radiance may not truly be the radiance in her prime.

‘Woe! Thou Speck! To achieve victory, even if only against mere imprint of that most brilliant deity. Thine battles proves strength enough to impress.’

‘But couldst thou ever hope to overcome that mighty God tuned at the core of dream and mind, when met in perfect state, at peak of all others? We think not!’

Now of course, this could also meant that the absolute radiance in the hall of gods isn’t the same as the absolute radiance in the pantheons but the absolute radiance in the hall or gods and in pantheon shares no difference between one another other. If we truly interpret this as absolute radiance being a ‘mere imprint’ of her ‘perfect’ form then it really puts into question on how powerful she truly was in her prime that she was able to cripple and possibly destroy the ancient civilization and its ancient bugs. it would make sense why the radiance and the void be considered ancient enemies to one another.

But yeah… that’s it.

Also, I thought of this as some interesting detail. There could be some symbolism or I just got the wrong idea because it looked cool. The absolute radiance and the knight in its ‘void give form’ form (I’m not funny). Light and dark. Essence and regrets. Radiant Moth and shadow beetle yet is also not a beetle? Ying and yang type shi. I just thought it look cool and interesting how these two gets their own separate room for their statue.