Hollow Knight comic about the life of the Pure Vessel before the sealing. Run by DaTing Under the Rock. Who is happy to answer questions, eventually. They have to overthink the reply.
I have like, 5 others asks in my inbox and every single one of them, I have to draw a comic about. I don't get a say in this. My creativity has taken over. I tried negotiating. It refused.
ok- I don't normally do this but I could not get it out of my head- I normally like to keep all my SS stuff separated in my head buttttttttttt what if pk found out about lacenet? maybe he's just normal parent dating worried then finds out lace in hornets abductor's child and that they have fought SEVERAL times
Before answering, I want to make clear to everyone that in Progeny Cursed AU, Lacenet is not a thing. The overall comic, story, and little spin offs focus on family dynamics. Be it birth families or found families. And I personally do not ship lacenet.
That being said, I can still answer this ask as a hypothetical. So the data is cannon, but the ship is not. Enjoy.
As many may know, in this AU, as a wyrm he doesn't have a sex or romance drive. So he doesn't understand dating or romantic love in general. It has always confused him. So he tried to learn it the best way he could think of. Reading.
Which wouldn't be a problem in modern times. However, he has been with Hallownest from the very beginning. Think about all the books throughout human history about dating advice and how to woo someone. All the inaccuracies, all the horrible stereotyping, the kinks of one person being projected onto the masses(looking at you Freud), the various forms of sexism and objectification. Hallownest had its own versions of all of that. And the Pale King read them thinking they were accurate data. As well as reading literal fiction books thinking they were also accurate. Guy read the Romeo and Juliet equivalent thinking that was a real and normal romantic interaction.
Thus his knowledge of romance is misguided, conflicting, and sometimes outright fictional. After a while, all the inconsistencies and contradictions just made him give up on the idea of understanding it. And he just takes the 'you do you' approach with the topic with pretty much everyone. Including Hornet. And since her main dating life would have been when she was not on speaking terms with him, he has little to no baseline for what Hornet's 'normal' dating life is like.
So if he were to ever find out Hornet was dating someone she had fought with several times, who had attempted to kill her, and who was the offspring of her kidnapper, the conversation would boil down to this:
"The one you are dating has not only tried to kill you several times, but is the offspring of the god who kidnapped you."
"I am aware and have made peace with it."
"You are certain you can beat her in a fight in case she ever turns on your again?"
"I have beaten her soundly no less than 3 times. One when she was corrupted by void. She could never hope to defeat me."
"Works for me. Have fun."
End. Him wondering off trying to remember if the relationship he read about that was just like this, was from an old inaccurate book, a new maybe accurate book, or a romance novel.
How did the Pale King react to Hollow being impure? Like when the infection returned. Like before the whole dream realm plan and all that. Did he feel guilt knowing that the vessel was alive the entire time? Or just saw it as something he could have predicted?
We will get to see the Pale King realize Hollow is impure in the comic. As well as his take on what the 'impurity' is.
Hornet finally did it. She found the end of the Pale King’s patience, and now must reap the consequences.
Yes. That is Loam. Yes he is free, because he deserves better than what he got.
Yes. That is Pilby. Yes he is alive, because dam you Team Cherry.
This interaction is before act 3 in case anyone is wondering.
BTW Hornet and PK are communicating via their thoughts. Entirely through PK. He can read minds as well as project his thoughts into them, so it is all happening because he is doing it. Meaning he is the only one who can ‘hang up’ when he wants. Which he did. Then promptly teleported away to leave her to her fate.
hi I absolutely love how you draw and write the pk. it's so good!! genuinely my favorite version of him that i've seen
Thank you! It is always good to hear people like my interpretation of PK. And to think when I started this comic, I thought he would only play a minor part. How happy I am that I was wrong. I love my friendly yet oblivious eldritch spiked noddle nerd that he has become.
I'm so curious as to how the Pale King would react when Hornet gets kidnapped by the flies in the slab. would he be angry or more of a "how did you not see this coming lol" reaction?
Definitely more of “Another group of mortals thinks they can contain her? Morons.”
I image when the silk seals on the cage came down, he would have noticed something was up. As the cage interfered with his ability to sense her somewhat. It didn’t block him from seeing her, it would be more like the signal got a little fuzzy. He would have just observed for a while knowing that Hornet would be pissed if he didn’t let her try to free herself first. Then he would have just enjoyed the show when she broke out and started causing chaos.
He wouldn’t have much of a reaction really. Hornet interacts with so many people in Silksong, Styx and how he interacts with Hornet would not be note worthy in the Pale Kings eyes. Styx doesn’t attack her, good bug. He outwardly praises her, as he should. And he gives her gifts that help on her journey, like a good devout follower. So the the Pale King doesn’t pay him any mind.
In my head cannon Hornet does not have the revival ability, so she is playing in Steel Soul mode the whole time. I’m thinking the silk eaters in her run would function more as immediate and full healing. That being said, I haven’t thought about it much, but since she is technically in Steel Soul mode, I wonder if at some point, Styx becomes Skynx. I am undecided on this but it is an interesting thought.
And the Pale King would not have much of a reaction to Skynx either. He still doesn’t attack Hornet, good animal. He still trades with her, smart animal. And, assuming Skynx is indeed a Nosk (or something similar) the Pale King knows Hornet can handle those things. She grew up in Deepnest, she doesn’t need his help to kill the thing if it tries to attack her.
Just wanted to say that your comic is peak, thank you so much for making it! I really like your conlang too for the vessels, I always try reading it before checking the translation and it's super easy to understand even without the guide post. Can't wait for the next update!
Thank you! You have no idea how much I had to fight myself from creating a whole void language before I started posting the comic. My brain wanted to have the grammar, sentence structure, etc completely planned out before even considering posting the comic. But I KNOW MY BRAIN!! I knew dam well that if I made the entire language, assuming I would even get through it all, I would be burned out and would never have actually started posting the comic. I probably would not have even kept drawing the comic. So I beat my perfectionism back and told myself figuring it out as I go would be fine. Best artistic decision I ever made.
But do you think there are plushies of him for the wee ones too?
I would not be surprised if there were. They wouldn’t have the same connection as the idols for sure. And though I doubt that it would ever make a connection, no matter how much a child worshipped it. But the idea of a child with a stuffed wyrm toy accidentally summoning the Pale King into the family room is just, objectively funny to me.
I feel like Hornet wouldn’t react very well to finding out her Weaver-kin were worse rulers than her father was since they specifically created the citadel to be a giant cage, force simple bugs to help out (using faith to attract them), used silk to make the lesser bugs live longer, used their SOULS as light and life for automatons, and left when they found out GMS was still waking up and shoved responsibility on said lesser bugs
All the while GMS was asleep and only recently started the haunting and creation of her silk children; Lace and Phantom for what may have been the latest century or so (time is hard to estimate in the hk universe)
I have a personal head-cannon that Hornet was aware from an early age that the weavers fled from their homeland. Not the exact reason why, just that it was severe enough that the proud weavers fled instead of fought. So when she was exploring Pharloom, not only was she looking for the one who kidnaped her, but also to learn what her ancestors fled from. She was expecting it to be bad.
As she learned the worst of it she did start to feel shame for what her ancestors did. Leaving an entire people and all their decedents to suffer so they could flee from their maker. So both sides of her linage fall back on dooming others to suffer to solve their problems. Disappointment all around.
But girl must have been so DONE when she was kidnapped and learned of the haunting. Like she JUST went through this shit at home, why does she have to go through it again. I wonder if she also stayed in Pharloom out of spite. Thinking, this threat is physical. I can kill the physical. I can take out my rage on whatever being is doing this.
So the reasons Hornet stayed:
To confront the one who kidnapped her
To learn what was so bad to cause the weavers to flee.
to release her pent up rage for a god she could not kill on a god that she can
Out of spite to prove to her ancestors that their was a better way to deal with the problem than enslaving an entire people and their decedents. Just kill the bitch.
When it comes to her father, a large part of hate for him stems from the Hollow Knight plan. First he takes away not only her mother, but her sibling. And while it worked for a while, it did ultimately start to fail, which caused more resentment. Then he disappeared, leaving her alone to watch what was left, fall. For all that, she was always critical of his rule and anything he did really. So her hatred for him is more personal than political.
Learning that he is by higher being standards, rather tame/benevolent irritates her as it is further proof that he isn’t as bad as she wants him to be. Making it harder to demonize him in terms of higher beings. But when it comes to everything else, she demonizes him just fine. So no matter how bad GMS was, her opinions of PK will not change.
The Pale King is a very calm, very level headed individual. It takes a lot to upset him. Yarnaby found one of the few things that could piss him off if poked at, and hit it so hard she nearly speed ran a brutal death.
But at least he finally got his chance to examine her cloak at the low low cost of not killing Yarnaby.
For me, the quest line to get the witches crest was filled with many moments of just,
“Hornet… what the fuck.”
When finding the twisted bud, I am not sure if it was a feature at the time or a bug, but the twisted buds cries could be heard AT ALL TIMES. Inside the inventory, outside the inventory, and while playing the game. It. Never. Shut. Up. I am so happy I knew where to take that thing right away or I would have lost it.
So I dropped the thing off, and talked with the Greyroot and she has another wish. And I was flabbergasted that Hornet asked NO follow up questions. Like, GIRL!! Has this plant not been creeping you the fuck out since you met her? Because I trust her about as far as I can throw the entirety of Pharloom. But Hornet was just like “Yup! I’ll do whatever you need! No questions asked!” Just agrees to the wish outright. Like. WHAT!?
So when the bitch jumps Hornet and snaps her neck, behind my indignant rage, was just resigned exhaustion and a little voice just going, “Yah. Saw that coming.”
When first waking up, I had one mission: find that greyroot bitch and beat the shit out of her. Only for my rage to be denied when I find her and she WAS ALREADY DEAD!!!
Stumbled to Bellhart, talked Pavo, then with the hermit, then Creige, then finally to Yarnaby. Only to discover I have to go out AGAIN with this parasite that prevents me from using spells, tools, or healing. I am so lucky I had been playing long enough to know where to go.
I am a little ashamed to admit, this was the quest where I learned Crull and Benjiin were a thing. Even then, I didn’t go back to them to do their quest that game. I only got the tacks during act 3. Oops.
Also, again, not sure if the features had not been implemented yet, or I had a bug, but the infection animations did not show when I first played. When I tried to heal, Hornet did not get wrapped in the vines.
Anyway! When I get back to Yarnaby, I am once again, blindsided by one or Hornet’s decisions. Girl gets on the operating table WITH HER CLOAK ON?!?! What. The. Fuck. That thing is literally a electric powered meat tenderizer. Yarnaby claims to be a genious, that the townsfolk ousted her unfairly. But after seeing the extractor- girl you are an idiot and a butcher. Butcher, because that thing would kill everything short of a demigod. And an idiot, because the thing has to go THROUGH the straps holding the victim to the table! Medically moronic, and logistically imbecilic.
So yes. Several points in this comic are based off reactions I had when doing the mission myself. Enjoy!
I LIVE! Having clawed my way out of the biggest mental health smack down of the year. Mostly.
My radio silence was because of this clusterfuck. The post project motivation crash paired with the holiday season just stopped me dead in the middle of answering asks. Dam thing hit me so hard I couldn’t do anything. Not write, not draw, not anything remotely creative. I’m beginning to think me and this time of year are just not compatible.
But I am clawing my way out. The holiday season is over, and the new hyper fixations ruthlessly devoured the post project crash with enough vigor it propelled creativity and motivation off their asses. I was actually able to finish two Silksong ‘mini’ comics. Which I will be posting in the coming days. Celebrations all around.
I will be working on the asks as best I can. But one of them is taking longer than I would like, as my fixation fueled creativity doesn’t understand the concept of “keep it simple.” I am over 6000 words deep and this beast still ain’t done yet. While I would like it to calm down, the fact it is willing to work on something that is not its current hyper-fixation is nothing short of a miracle. So I will take what I can get.
For all that they voice doubts about the Pure Vessel’s hollowness, I’d wager many more share them but wouldn’t dare raise them with their own Monarch.
During the training, very few people are aware of the vessel. Fewer still are aware of its purpose and why they are not to engage with it. Those in the know tend to either trust the king completely, or they themselves are so desperate for the plan to work they deny those thoughts as well. The few that remain, indeed, don’t bring it up with their monarch.
By the time the larger Hallownest population is shown the Hollow Knight, they have been trained so well, people believe it is hollow as they react to nothing. They show no signs that it is even alive.
Which is all the more tragic really. If the Pale King had let more people work with the vessel, more regular people see and interact with it, someone might have been able to see the vessels were not hollow AND have the guts to argue with the king that the vessels were not tainted by being around people but had minds of their own. Because they would have to argue with him about that. There are very few people willing to argue/debate with him. Let alone out right tell him he is wrong.
Oh right I had a question. I was wondering how do you think the shade lord would communicate in your void speak? Especially given the act three spoiler hint at the shade lords nature
I never really thought about it since they wont appear in the comic, but I image it would be very similar to regular void speak. Maybe it would several voices talking at once, but that would make it harder to understand then so I don’t love the idea. I’m thinking it might be more like the speech image would get a lot more detailed.
But no matter what it would look like, I think when the shade lord spoke, though non void beings would still not hear it as speech, they are so big the world around them would shake.
I love your writing and art! Your world building is very interesting and well thought through. Of course my very favorite is your void speak! No other depiction of vessel communication has felt so right for my understanding of them.
Thank you!! It took me ages to figure out how best to show void speak. They needed to be able to communicate but having them talk via text just felt… wrong to me. Eventually I figured, I think in images, why not have them talk in images? I’m already making a comic, I’ll just make some more pictures!
I did have to stop myself from full on creating a new language(because I have done that before) and not actually making the comic. Thus my trial and error, ever evolving void speak that’s been going on along side the comic.
Wow, when the Pale King fusses over her, Hornet radiates such “I’m so tired of your crap” energy that it could kill a lesser beings
She radiates such a degree of hate that anyone walking anywhere near her gets radiation poisoning.
Except Sherma. That boy is so dense to the world around him that he could walk into the fallout zone that would be the general vicinity of Hornet, and not even notice anything is wrong.
