Hi I just wanted to say that ur a big inspiration for my art and my interpretation of Hollow Knight and that the way you draw Hornet and the sibs is so Shaped (/pos) and I love the Baby Dented sketch/comic. And uh. Yeah thanks 👍 I appreciate all u do for like. The art and vibes and stuff of this community. Congrats on completing silksong
(also if u wouldn't mind... Baby Dented Hollow? With Hornet or PK or whoever u prefer. I think it'd be funny)
this is so so sweet thank you so much for telling me 🫶 🫶 it genuinely makes me so happy knowing people appreciate my art so much
a baby dented hollow, to complete the trilogy (ghost, hornet)
Hey if you've finished that OSHA class. What's the deets on PK's OSHA violations? 👀👀 (Also kinda curious about the pharloom ones too, if you don't mind me asking-)
Oh yeah! I have finished the class, I'm chipping away at the mini-essay (with sources!). The broad strokes are:
Walking-working surfaces. PK's workers are entitled (not the precise legal term) to clear walkways. There are weird vases everywhere, and those vines are trip hazards. What the heck, PK? If those were clear, I bet the other hazards would be less of a problem. Bugs without wings should not have to pogo buzzsaws in order to do their jobs!
Moving machinery. We have buzzsaws everywhere, no machine guards in sight! The cutting surfaces should be guarded to protect from ! There should be protective walkways above the moving parts so that people don't fall in!! Where are the emergency off buttons! (I know it's a dream but STILL)
Pharloom I don't even want to GET into, that place is a fucking nightmare, there hasn't been an audit in CENTURIES. Just the Citadel makes me sick. Cogwork Core is full of unguarded parts? No one in the Underworks has PPE??? Not even the people who are working directly with explosives and molten metal?????
Oh but that reminds me that the Deep Docks workers DO have PPE! They've got helmets! There's a harness in the diving bell! It makes me so happy! But they still should have more engineering guards, e.g. railings!
Many! Bear with me, I'm pulling a lot of comparisons with Hallownest's Infection. Also this got long, so read more!
So the Infection was a disease of dreams and the mind, but the Haunting is a much more physical illness, based on Whiteward's activities. They're like puppets on strings, the animated threads pulling even when detached from Grand Mother Silk. And nearly everyone in the Citadel has them, taking the threads into themselves like the Traitor Mantises took in the Infection, because they thought it would make them stronger. It doesn't seem to influence a bug's form, except in edge cases (e.g. the Unravelled).
That leaves a very interesting and very horrifying question of what exactly the threads do–or don't do–to a bug's mind. Does a bug's mind get subsumed? Placed in a dream-like state? Or are they caged in their own body as they carry out GMS's will, until their mind dies? The Haunted Bellhart situation suggests a specific one of these :)
We don't get to watch anyone get Haunted in this one, at least, not that I've seen, unlike in HK, where we got to watch the Infection process happen gradually with Myla. It seems that bugs outside the Citadel, pilgrims probably, noticed the sickness and began to study it, based on that room in the Marrow. Those poor creatures were probably afflicted during their investigation, and the Haunting continued to spread.
One big difference between the Haunting and the Infection is that the less sentient bugs seem minimally affected by the Haunting, while the Infection affected them equally in Hallownest. Though the creatures of Bilewater are affected by the steaming water waste that the Citadel produces, but that's separate. Then again, they could be more aggressive, because those shrimps at the surface were more fleeing than aggressive, but then so are some of the critters in Far Fields. That might also be in part due to the hereditary nature of the Haunted Silk, which. Scary.
As to how this alludes to GMS's powers–GMS is asleep, dreaming of her kingdom and unable to wake. We see her threads actively reach out to corpses and waken them, especially in the Citadel. So her hold is apparently more intermittent than Radiance's was. So thralling is a common power for Pale gods, but the methods are different, depending on the god's particular alignment.
But anyway it looks like these Hauntings and Infections are more a last ditch attempt to keep a god alive, less affective than true worship. Radiance was on her last legs (heh). It was working to some degree for GMS, but it seems like her wholesale killing of the Weavers was working against her, if she was looking to take Hornet's Silk. Dragging Weaver after Weaver home, only to kill them. I don't think that's a sustainable method of getting Silk.
One last thought–Weavers seem to be immune to the effects of the Haunting, due to their own power over Silk (see Silk Skills, etc). So perhaps GMS's killing of them has something to do with that.
Currently reading your Nerd Queen and Short King series and Holy Shit botw!Link and Zelda are so incredibly codependent. It's genuinely amazing writing!!! (Also the wild-and-flora-meet-the-chain fics are HILARIOUS)
Thanks, glad you liked it! I love writing Link and Zelda as an inseparable pair lol
saw youre accepting skong asks, so WHAT is your favourite boss in terms of gameplay/fighting, and your favourite boss in terms of lore (and for fun, these can't be the same boss)
in terms of gameplay first sinner is SOOOO fun oh my god. after i really started using the clawline for combat it makes the fight way more enjoyable. also widow theme is peak as always so just a really fun boss fight for me overall
for lore HMMM i wanna say phantom has the most intriguing lore to me. was not expecting a vessels...2! situation with lace and phantom and yet here we are. its unlikely but i do hope we get more silk children lore. if we could see what they were like in their prime that'd be so cool too
Alright, finally thought of a new ask! Which of the old hearts do you think are the most "moral" to take or spare, in terms of least to most?
You've sent me down a rabbit hole. I very much had not considered it, so let's lay all this out.
Conjoined Heart: The Green Prince, by his own admission, is on an adventure he never expected to have. He never expected to have the chance to find the remnants of his partner, nor to properly mourn him and their lost land. I don't feel like he or his partner would be particularly opposed to the use of his heart this way, especially given his partner's willingness to sacrifice to protect Verdania. But that's just my best guess.
Encrusted Heart: Crust King Khann, based on "Our claws to save them all…" is open to being used to save the land, plus there isn't much of him left. He seems to be in a state of more death than life.
Hunter's Heart: out of all of the old hearts, I have most pause about Karmelita's heart. Karmelita is still alive, faded as she is, and still some degree of a fixture in the Far Fields. That said, she seems to consent the best she can to the circumstance.
Pollen Heart: I don't observe any particular change in the Shellwood from the loss of Nyleth? The memorial fountain makes me think that she is functionally dead, unless this is a 'whole forest is a single tree' situation. But even then, one tree won't kill the forest. Though I worry about that "What world without us?" quote.
So I guess I don't have much feeling in the direction of most ethical, but I do have some in the direction of least ethical, which is Karmelita. And the deep reality is that if some of those hearts don't go, in the canon situation, Pharloom falls to the Void.
All that said. I don't think I plan to collect all four hearts again because I don't like the heartbeat in my bellhome. Edgar Allan Poe was on to something with "The Tell-Tale Heart."
Well here's another question: which character (can be from either or both games lol) had your favourite character/development arc?
This feels so basic of me but honestly? Both of the protag arcs are awesome
In Hollow Knight, we have the Knight's arc. They get to learn the secrets of their creation and harness them. They get to connect to the family they have remaining in Hallownest, both their kin in the Abyss and their Pale siblings, Hornet and Hollow. And in the process, they go from little creature, to eldritch deity. And it's epic
In Silksong, Hornet gets to learn about the land her mother came from. She gets to learn the ancient secrets of the Weavers. She gets to put her skills to the ultimate test. She can ascend–or she can hang on to this immortal coil, and ensnare a deity. She meets a bug who's so like her and so like her siblings–and she gets to grab onto her and yell "NOT TODAY!!!" at the substance of absolute erasure. And it's so freaking cool
Hornet's arc is tied with Shakra's though. Just because I love Shakra
Honorary mention for Kratt and Millibelle's arcs. Very satisfying from a player perspective.
