Why Do The Pale Siblings Look Like That
Hi, Hollow Knight fandom! I'm new here, so sorry if this has been said before, but I had a thought.
So, the Pale Siblings- obviously, as Pale beings, they're all distinctly different from. Basically all other bugs. Even Hornet, who's half Weaver, looks completely different from almost every other Weaver we see, except Herrah.
Though Herrah's mask is very much a traditional Weaver's mask, with the six eyes and mostly circular shape, we can see that her head shape is still very similar to Hornet's- the two have the same type of "Horns", with the only major difference being that Herrah's horns are shrouded in a veil, while Hornet's are covered by her mask. That's pretty normal, right? To be expected, given that they're mother and daughter.
But what IS weird is how similar Hornet looks to the Hollow Knight.
These two are only half-siblings, their shared parentage being the Pale King, who neither of them really resembles that much.
The Pale King's horns are shaped like a crown, are far thinner, closer together, and far more numerous. So, while this could technically be considered a throughline, it isn't a very strong one.
And taking a very brief detour- though Hornet and Ghost (Or... The Knight? Which do we usually call the little guy?) don't look too much alike right now, Ghost looks almost identical to the young version of the Hollow Knight that we see in the Void Heart flashback.
(Autism creechurs. I love them dearly)
So based on that extreme similarity between Ghost and Hollow Knight, and the fact that we know the Hollow Knight matured over its time spent outside the Abyss, it can easily be assumed that once Ghost matures, if it ever does, it'll probably look extremely similar to the Hollow Knight- and thus, the similarity that Hollow Knight and Hornet share will probably also carry forward. (Though, notably, we see baby Hornet in the Red Memory of Silksong, and though she's indisputably smaller, including her head, she still has almost exactly the same head/horn shape that she does as an adult. So, presumably, the chunkier marshmallow heads that Ghost and Hollow Knight have as babies, which they share with the other Vessels, is exclusively a Vessel trait, and likely a trait the Vessels inherited from the Pale King, who has a very similar head shape, only being rather more angular at the bottom, which seems to be due to age and/or maturity.)
However... there's one thing that I've never been able to understand. Because, despite the young Vessels' dissimilarity to other bugs, the only adult Vessel that we see- the Hollow Knight- does not share that dissimilarity. In fact, the Hollow Knight bears a very strong visual resemblance to other bugs- specifically, two. We'll start with the way that the Hollow Knight's body looks.
We can see the Hollow Knight's body under its cloak quite clearly in its infected idle sprite, as the much more worn and tarnished cloak contrasts far better against its jet-black limbs. The Hollow Knight's body is very thin and spindly- it has no abdomen, no "soft parts", of any kind. Knowing what (little) I do about bug biology, this is likely little more than exoskeleton- and it is very distinct. Most other bugs we see have some visible... mass, I'll say, since I don't know the term for "bits that look like they'd be squishy" when talking about bugs. This is even true of other bugs that would have exoskeletons, such as the Skarr ants in Silksong. But this spindly, sharp, massless body type is one we have seen elsewhere- in Silksong.
In multiple scenarios throughout Silksong- most notably, when captured by a Wardenfly and imprisoned in The Slab- we get to see Hornet's body under her cloak. Though her body is much smoother, with far less defined and articulated bug-like joints like we would see on the Hollow Knight, they are unmistakably the same body type. (This difference could be due to a number of things- Malnutrition of Hollow Knight, a difference in physical maturity between Hollow Knight and Hornet, a desire to streamline/simplify Hornet's body for animation purposes, a tonal difference between what the two sprites are meant to convey, as Hollow Knight is meant to be unsettling while Hornet is meant to be elegant and sleek, or even a desire to make Hornet appear more feminine, as the softer body type tends to read. I won't assign any particular one, as they could all fit, and it ultimately doesn't matter that much.) Ultimately, Hornet's body type does seem rather standard for Weavers, with the notable exception of Herrah, whose abdomen is significantly larger than any other Weaver; which in turn makes Hollow Knight's similarity... interesting, as Hollow Knight has no relation to the Weavers.
But that's not the only interesting similarity Hollow Knight has to another species of bug.
Of course, I mentioned the similarity between the head/horn shape of Hollow Knight and Hornet already, but that isn't the only similar head shape to Hollow Knight. In fact, it isn't even the closest similarity.
Look at Hollow Knight's head, and then look at the Mantis Lords' heads. Specifically, look at their horns.
That is exactly the same shape. The same sharp, almost serrated points, the same angular horseshoe shape, even similar eye placements. The only major difference is in mask- the Mantis Lords' masks look far more like masks, covering only what would likely be considered their "faces", while the Hollow Knight's "mask" is, like Hornet, Ghost, and the other Vessels' masks, closer to a helmet than to a mask, as it covers the whole head, rather than just the "face".
We even see the same horn/head shape in the Traitor Lord.
His head is smaller, overall, closer in size to Hornet's than to Hollow Knight's, but it still shares the same shape, with the only meaningful difference being the lack of a third spike on his horns- likely due to them being shorter.
Notably, this head shape is not shared across the whole Mantis Tribe. The Traitor Warriors share the same head shape as the Mantis Lords, while the other Mantis Warriors, as well as the Traitors' Daughter, do not, instead having very small heads, and antennae instead of horns.
In summary: Hollow Knight has the same body type as Hornet and the Weavers, and the exact same head/horn shape as the Mantis Lords. Hornet's head/horn shape is also very similar to that of Hollow Knight and the Mantis Lords, but is also almost identical to her mother, Herrah's head/horn shape, while Herrah's body type is very different from every other Weaver we've seen. And on top of all of that, Hollow Knight and Ghost looked almost indistinguishable from each other when they were both very young, sharing a very similar head shape to their father, the Pale King, like all Vessels do- and now, Hollow Knight's head looks radically different from any other Vessel. And finally, when Hornet was a baby, her head was basically the same shape it is when she is an adult, which is far closer to the head shape of the Mantis Lords and adult Hollow Knight than it ever was to Weavers other than Herrah.
What the hell does any of that mean? I have absolutely no clue. Maybe it means nothing and I'm Pepe Silvia-ing to the fullest extreme. But what I do know is that this is all ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING and we should all think and talk about it. Is Hollow Knight related to the Mantis Lords in some way? Is Hornet? Will Ghost end up having the same Mantis Lord head shape? Is that even what the Mantis Lords' heads look like? Or are they wearing helmets, and actually look like the other Mantises? And if they're wearing helmets, were those helmets deliberately made to look like the Hollow Knight? Is Herrah related to the Mantis Tribe? They do stand guard between Deepnest and Hallownest, there could be some kind of relation. Why does Hornet have a mask like the Vessels, which covers her whole head, unlike every other Weaver? Why is Hornet's mask more like the Vessels' masks? Is it actually like the Vessels' masks, or is it like the Pale King's mask? There are so many questions. Team Cherry let me ask you all of my questions it won't take long at all I swear please just a few questions just one question please
There's also more we can talk about, too, like how Shakra calls Hornet "A child barely hatched", implying she looks young and that Shakra believes Hornet to be a child; as well as how, though the Mask Maker in Silksong recognizes Hornet to be a Higher Being, and recognizes her age, calling her "Old One", he says when he is unmasked that her mask appears "Unresolved", and remarks on how Higher Beings often have odd, uneven rates of development, especially compared to other bugs, which also serves to imply youth or developmental immaturity in Hornet.
And of course, I haven't even touched on Lace and Phantom, both of whom are Silk creations of Grand Mother Silk, and yet look radically different from each other, with Phantom resembling Hornet closely, while Lace looks completely different- nor have I touched on Grand Mother Silk herself, with her oddly mechanical looking body, or on the uncanny similarity of her head and silken hair to Ze'mer, the Grey Mourner.
I have no clue if all of these similarities are intentional or not, and if they mean anything or nothing, but I noticed them and I needed to talk about them. Thank you for listening, and in the words of Hornet, Hakana Segamos.
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