Hollow Knight "Ancient Caste"
I'm sure I'm not the first person to come up with this idea, but I need to get it off my chest. When the Mask Maker talks about the "ancient caste" I believe most people interpret this to be in reference to the void civilization, but this is actually one of the least likely interpretations, and I'm going to explain why.
To start with Mask Maker never talks about the void civilization at any other time, most of their dialogue is either referring to vessels, masks or the Pale King. The only character who ever talks about the void civilization is Lemm. Secondly is the way the dialogue is structured. Here's the full quote:
I see another takes mantle of king? Then grim responsibility that shall bestow. No bug has ever laid claim to this whole. Even the beasts knew their limits and bound their realm at Nest's edge. It is the ancient caste that made attempt at such vast rule. Hallownest's ruin reflects well those fared attempts.
This dialogue is triggered by unmasking them while having the King's Brand. To start with, the Mask Maker notes the connotation of the brand and the responsibility that position brings. In the next line, the Mask Maker is most likely referring to Deepnest, in which case the "beasts" in question refer to the weavers and other bugs that are a part of the distant village. Mask Maker probably brings up Deepnest here because they are within this zone, and also because the bugs of the Nest seem to have been a very proud people, as the Midwife describes them as "the most intelligent species". Despite their supposed arrogance, the weavers knew their limits. The last line is the important one, if we interpret "ancient caste" to mean "void civilization" it brings up three problems. Firstly, it contradicts itself - if only the void civilization attempted such vast rule ("No bug has ever laid claim to this whole"), then Hallownest's existence immediately disproves what Mask Maker just said. Secondly, why is "fared attempts" plural? How many times did the void civilization specifically try to rise up and fail? What evidence do we have for this, when only one other character in the game even mentions them. Thirdly, it doesn't flow well with the rest of the quote. The void civilization gets brought up basically out of nowhere as the primary focus, and Hallownest is used as an example to explain what happened to it. How are these two civilizations relevant enough to each other and the subject matter to justify changing the focus so drastically between sentences?
Okay so I don't think they're talking about the void civilization, so what else could they mean? Wyms. Mask Maker is talking about WYRMS! As soon as you read the line as being about wyrms, all those problems go away - a wyrm built Hallownest, wyrms tried multiple times to build kingdoms, but in their over-ambition, their kingdoms always fell. This corroborates the dialogue of Mister Mushroom where he tells us just that:
…Wyrms pull bugs into their thrall, Till ages pass and kingdoms fall,
And moreover, it makes better sense with the rest of the context of the quote, which is triggered by the brand of the Pale Wyrm. So why am I so excited about this? Because "caste" is used in another place:
This border bounds the twisting, scratching things. Their dead sire, once of honoured caste. Their sealed mother, but the common beast. No peace with them we make.
This is a lore tablet in Fungal Wastes made by the shroomal tribe where they talk about the rulers of Deepnest. We can guess from Mask Maker's dialogue that the beast caste is referring to weavers, so Herrah as a spider makes sense to be referred to as such as well. But her dead king? He was of "honoured caste". What does honoured caste mean? I've speculated for a long time that it might be a broad term for "higher being", but now that I know that "ancient caste" most likely means "wyrms" I'm much more intrigued by it, because what if all higher beings are split into different castes? What if the honoured caste is another kind of higher being distinct from wyrms? And most likely, something related to Pharloom. I suppose we will just have to wait for Silksong to find out…
Potential rebuttal
"But Draggy, of course the void civilization has vast rule, you can find their soul totems everywhere!" This is true, but we don't really know the context of why they are there. If you will indulge a theory for a moment, these totems have been around for a very long time, so why do they still hold charge? Well, we know that soul is found in the air:
Naturally formed within a crystal over a long period. Draws in SOUL from the surrounding air.
Deep Focus charm description
So I posit, what if their purpose isn't just to hold soul, but to collect it? There are no soul totems in the City of Tears except for those found in the Soul Sanctum pit full of the bodies of bugs drained for the machinations of the Soul Master. The Soul Sanctum scholars were adamant about collecting soul, so instead of the ancient void civilization placing their totems around willy-nilly, perhaps they were placed by the sanctum as another means of harvesting soul? Or if they were placed by the void civilization, it was for the same purpose and not an indication of their actual inhabited range; like placing collectors out in the wild. Oh, and those totems in the pit of soul-drained husks? They still have charge. Hmm…














