I’d like to add a few things to that!
First of all, let’s look at the character of Plague Knight as a concept:
Why “Plague”? Sure, his mask resembles that of a plague doctor, but healing really isn’t his thing, and none of his effects are “poision” like (DPS or debuffs). So why “Plague” insted of siomething more fitting like “Alchemy Knight”
“Plague”, as we all know, is mostly used to refer to the “Black Plague”, a disease. And our minds have evolved to find healthy people attractive. So right off the bat, Plague Knight is associated with unattractiveness, add to that his short stature, especially in comparison to Mona, and the inferiority complex is sure to come.
Moreover, gameplay- wise, Plague Knight is far weaker than Shovel Knight: Where Shovel Knight runs fast, jumps high and uses one tool to it’s fullest potential, Plague Knight is slow, a bad jumper, and relies on external items much more than Shovel Knight- His many MANY bomb combinations, along with Life Tonics make him much more arsenal dependent and clumsy that Shovel Knight.
Next, let’s talk about the Magicist. Black Knight is convinced that she is Plague Knight’s romantic attraction, and so does she. Throught the game she seems interested, but in the end goes with “A real man” (Percy) insted. Character- wise, she is more traditionally beautiful than Mona, with fair skin to Mona’s green, blonde hair, more complacent personality, etc. But Plague Knight isn’t interested in her, he wants to be with quirky, bomb- happy, more flawed Mona. And that’s not from a “You’re probably the best I can get” place, but probably from seeing Mona as a better version of himself- a confident alchemist who shows their face.
Which brings us, finally, to his MASK. Masks usually symbolise hiding one’s self, but Plague Knight’s mask does a few more things:
First, they allow self projection of the player onto Plague Knight, the same as Shovel Knight’s helmet. Since the character is faceless, you- the player, can project a lot of you onto them. That’s why a lot of video game characters are silent, btw.
Second, that mask itself becomes a representation of Plague Knight’s mad scientists asperations. It’s his persona who seeks the ultimate potion to have ultimate power for himself, the persona who is cruel.
Don’t believe me? We’ll come back to that in a minute. Before we do, however, there is one last thing to discuss: The Final Boss.
The final boss has two stages: Plague of Shadows, and Corrupted Essence.
Plague of Shadows is just a Plague Knight silhouette which fights like Plague Knight in the original campaing. This is referance to the psychological term “Shadow”- one’s subconncious identity, the Mr. Hyde to Dr, Jekyll. In the case of Plague Knight, it’s his self image, This is further cemented in the next fight, agains the Corrupted Essence:
Corrupted Essence is, in essence (BA DUM TSS!) am exaggerated parody of Plague Knight: His mask is now not a mask but part of his physiology (and, when open, his weak spot) and he rides on what seems to be a giant bomb. The mask, again, representing Plague Knight’s mad scientist side, and the bomb being a reminder of physical weakness. Also, one of CE’s attacks is launching a few exploding Monas, which represent using Mona only as a tool, expandable (Which Mona accuses Plague Knight of doing after the 2nd battle with Black Knight). All this shows a clear image of what Plague Knight hates about himself, all his guilt.
When defeated, Plague Knight recieves a clear potion of ultimate power, but chooses not to drink it, but use it to blow up the tower, benefiting all his allies.
But in the end, Plague Knight doesn’t change a lot- the mask is still on. All that’s changed is that Plague Knight recognises his two sides- the gentle side that wants to be happy in the lab with Mona, but also his “Mask- side”, his scientific asperations, but not at all costs like before. The quote Mona and Plague Knight end on is “The bigger the explosion... The better the alchemist”, showing they haven’t given up their goals, but are shown to be not evil, but misunderstood. They just like blowing stuff up. In the end credits we see Plague Knight being knighted by the king (wasn’t he a knight before...?), collaborating with Mole Knight, having a date with mona, hosted by Propeller Knight, etc. The world has accepted Plague Knight. But we also see him throwing a bait bomb at Treasure Knight. He is still a mad scientist, but the moral here is that mad =\= evil.
All that, I believe, ties in with Plague Knight’s self image, as influenced by the outide world. I hope this is comprehensive and not just me rambling on about this game I like.
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