- No cost too great.
No mind to think.
No will to break.
No voice to cry suffering.
Born of God and Void.
You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams.
You are the Vessel.
You are the Hollow Knight.
I've been wanting to draw this for a long time. The first "sketch" I made in my sketchbook was on April 13th, but it actually looks very different from this.
Originally the background was going to be a lot...lighter...but then I saw the dark side of this idea. Literally. I saw the sad side--the reason this mantra existed, the reason he hid away from his Kingdom. And I decided that the darker atmosphere of the throne room would fit much better than the pale beauty of the rest of the White Palace. I'm not sure exactly why I wanted the light to be coming from the top, but it was an idea I had from the beginning, and I don't often work with lighting like that anyway.
This was the main reference picture I used. I added more VOID particles and "shiny dots" than there were in the original image because I liked the look a lot more.
I probably spent way too much time on the text--I used a narrower, italicized version of Bell MT as a reference, and as might be obvious, I copied and pasted letters a bit.
Timer's accurate--I haven't stood up in a good few hours and my right hand hurts now. But I'm glad that I finally got around to doing this.
Perhaps I should have added some color anywhere in this, but I didn't want to. I felt like any splash of color would look like an attempt to lighten the mood, and this is not really a happy atmosphere. That's why I'm not talking like I normally do--shorter sentences, not much emotion showing. I've been listening to sad music for the past few hours just so I could stay in the mood, and this song was probably written for this exact moment. Even if you don't know anything about Hollow Knight, I would highly recommend listening to it. Just hearing the song might help you understand the story that much more...
Beyond this point you enter the land of lore and spoilers. If you don't know about the Hollow Knight lore, you may not want to read past here. If you don't know anything about the game, these spoilers may not make much sense anyway.
I'm honestly not sure how to feel about the Pale King. Or the Radiance. Or the VOID. This story is so deep and well-written...it's not black and white. It couldn't be further. There are no good guys, but..they're not all bad, either. Both the Pale King and the Radiance did so many horrible things in their respective attempts at perpetuation. The Radiance caused the Infection in an attempt to be remembered, so she wouldn't die. The Pale King sacrificed thousands of his own children in an attempt to stop the Infection, so he could keep his promise to his kingdom and make Hallownest last forever.
But, regardless of their reasons, what they both did was devastating and unforgivable. It all comes down to a matter of opinion.
"So," you might ask, "if the Radiance caused the Infection, doesn't that make her the bad guy? She was the reason for the Pale King's actions." Well, not really. Those were only the two most recent events. So maybe you should go back to the beginning--see who really struck first.
But then you reach another roadblock. Forgive any false information that may appear in the paragraph below; I may be obsessed with this game, but even I don't know everything by heart. This is just the basics of what I understand.
Radiance was the ruler of Hallownest before the Pale King; or at least, she was worshiped by the moths she created. The bugs living under her were stronger, but they didn't have minds of their own. The Pale King might have taken Hallownest from her, but he gave the bugs of that kingdom advanced thinking, basically. He gave them minds to think and freed them from the Radiance's "hive mind". Some might think that the Pale King is the villain, because he "stole" Hallownest from Radiance in the first place, but some might think Radiance is the villain because of her violent retaliation. Personally, I don't think that Radiance intended to cause the Infection--just be remembered--and I also think that the two "Gods" probably could have worked it out peacefully if they had just talked about it. I'm not really on either of their sides, though.
I REALLY, seriously need to stop rambling. I never should have brought up the lore. I could talk about it for hours, and actually, I have. I probably drove my mom crazy when we were on a road trip and I wouldn't stop gushing about Hollow Knight for a solid hour and a half...
Oh, I almost forgot! I also saved a version without the text, though I like it a lot less.
Uhh, sorry for the mile-long post. I always do this whenever I talk about Hollow Knight. If anyone bothers to read through this, truly, I thank you!
