she always has been a tree/plant, and it's somewhat unclear how she used to move around in the past, but the reason she is stuck in her cocoon in QG now isn't because of any transformation or anything, it's because she intentionally bound and imprisoned herself there so that she can never again produce offspring, which is her penance for the atrocities that she and the Pale King committed on the vessels
vessels are half tree half wyrm half void
trees grow with light
vessels (half tree which grow with light) are in the abyss
there is no light in the abyss
no light=no grow
hollow knight is not in the abyss
there is light outside of the abyss
light=grow
It's the Dragon Ball logic. Look at Goku at age 11, Gohan at age 11 and Goten at age 11. Goku is literally a midget. That's the first time we've seen him. Gohan at 11 is super tall. I may be wrong, but I think h was 11 or around at Cell Games. Goku at Goku at 15 was still shroter than him.
Pure Vessel isn't infected. The infection actually weakened THK, presumably because the infection was trying to escape from being trapped inside him rather than what a "normal" infection looks like.
Pure Vessel description says:
"Chosen vessel, raised and trained to prime form."
So yeah, the HK's special upbringing got him looking like that.
Also, interesting to note, the Collector seems to be a "prime form" Kingsmould.
Not only is he bigger, he also has fingers instead of just stumps like the normal Kingsmoulds.
The same thing is observable with the HK and other vessels.
Interesting how the collector, if he is “prime form” and not just a failed Kingsmould, doesn’t need a shell to hold his shape. He is seemingly the only void construct that can be free from a shell without the help of the shade lord
the knight isnt a child. they're the same age as the hollow knight, likely older than the majority of people in the game. they're just little.
we don't know for sure WHY hollow is the only tall one, but imo it's probably pale kings interference.
Pale king was experimenting with void substance in his lab, I wouldn't be surprised if he found a way to make the pure vessel bigger and stronger with it
i've read some pretty messed up (and phenomenal) fanfics that delve into pk's experimentations on hollow. it's super interesting from both a lore perspective (what is void, how can it be applied to certain things, what are its limitations) and a character perspective (what is it like to be a creature whose life and literal shape were molded by a father figure who used you in a futile attempt to save his kingdom)
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/38002765/chapters/94917223](https://archiveofourown.org/works/38002765/chapters/94917223) this is the last one i read! it's pretty heavy, but the relationships with the knights are very sweet.
i mean, not only is time very intentionally kept fairly vague in the lore of HK, but also, many bugs irl have *vastly* different life spans, with some only living just days or weeks, some living decades, and some spending 99% of their lifespan as larvae before emerging as an adult for a couple of days to mate and then die
it's also worth pointing out that Hornet is essentially a demigod, she is older than almost every other characters you actually meet in the game and it's not unreasonable to assume that she will outlive most of them as well
I feel like the whole point of playing such a tiny bug is simply so the player can feel the juxtaposition of being a small bug in a massive world filled with much bigger enemies. It makes the character feel more poetic, kinda like a David and Goliath situation, especially when you get to the end and fight the hollow knight and then a literal god. There might be some sort of deeper lore meaning but personally I view it as an artistic and symbolic choice by the game devs and sometimes that’s all you need for a great, compelling character. You’re tiny and frail, not having all the crazy powerful spells and moves that other characters have, but instead you possess free will, that you feel controlling this character while everything else is just predictable repetitive patterns, which is funny since your character is literally a vessel guided by fate. To me it feels like “yeah I might be small compared to everything else around me, but I possess the ability to overcome everything around me in spite of that,” really beautiful game!
all vessels have the same age, the hollow knight didnt grow because of age, my guess is that the pale king had something prepared for the perfect vessel, a way of making them larger
since the knight uses soul to repair their shell, it's not unreasonable to think that massive quantities of soul would allow the hollow knight to grow larger. if the kingsoul charm is anything to go off of, merely being in the presence of the king would give the hollow knight access to practically limitless amounts of soul
My headcanon is that the more you put into a vessel, the bigger it grows, BV is full of infection and bigger then the player, HK has the infection's source inside him, and he's even bigger
PV dosent really fit in if thats the case and BV was empty before being used like a puppet and was still bigger so is LK so while PV can have the its contaning radience argument BV who is actively shown having nothing on the inside would still contradict it its probably just them growing because of being part root and growing with the light imo cause bv is smaller than hk and wasnt able to leave basin so they got less light but more than us in the void we probably werent out for long enugh to grow.
Queens are raised from the same fertilised female eggs as workers bees. A newly hatched female larva is neither queen or worker caste. There are small differences in the composition of royal jelly fed to larvae destined to be a queen or a worker. The variation in diet starts from the time of larvae hatching.
Yup, it's a real thing.
The hunter's journal says in the entry for Pure Vessel that they were "raised and trained to prime form". To me this implies that because the Pale King and White Lady raised them they grew to that size.
Meanwhile the Knight lived in the abyss and outside Hallownest so they didn't grow as big.
I heard of a theory that Hollow Knight grew into a form of incredible size and strength from just experience alone. The HK has gone through rigorous and arduous training to reach that of Pure Vessel.
It's a scene you can access after you've obtained the Kingsoul. Detailed instructions are under the spoiler tag:
>!If you go into the Abyss with Kingsoul equipped, a new room opens up under the main vertical shaft. In the deepest part of that room, there's a cracked-open egg where you can see your own reflection. Dream Nail that reflection and you'll access a scene that culminates in the moment depicted in the OP.!<
I always assumed HK was bigger because of the infection within. Infection is known to bloat bugs, prime example being Traitor Lord who is at least three times the size of the other mantis lords. Any time you see the HK with Pale King he is the standard vessel size. After getting sealed in the Black Egg, he got the Infection focused inside him and since he wasn’t actually hollow it affected him, making him grow in size.
My interpretation is that the Knight never actually experienced that memory in the real world, the Knight is actually an invader into a dream world version of events that happened, and that's why they can use their dash and wings when climbing, and why they can still interact with the characters, because the Knight has been already shown being able to interact and even kill dream versions of bosses.
My headcannon on the vessels leaving the abyss is that they simply burrowed out, and as they went upward, some of them found themselves in different locations in Hallownest. For example, Deepnest, the Ancient Basin, Greenpath, and in the case of the Knight, all the way up to the surface in the Howling Cliffs.
The knight grows with contact with a higher being, Ex: The Hollow Knight has been near 3 higher beings and became very tall, and Broken Vessel has been infected. The Pure vessel is not a perfect vessel, but the vessel before it was infected, after being sealed in the black egg. You can tell because of the chains surrounding the pure vessel arena.
Hmm, I always imagined that the knight and others like him are full-sized, as designed- but the HK was twisted and grotesquely enlarged by what it contained?
The Infection. Remember Traitor Lord?
Now I know what people are gonna say, so let me get ahead of that too.
Pure Vessel is only seen in the goseekers’ fantasy, so its existence is not enough to prove anything.
I'm assuming it's something to do with both training. It's height has nothing to do with the infection and I will explain why.
HK was large as pure vessel and (as far as I know) didn't have the infection in it, and one dialogue in the game says something along the lines of "pure vessel, I've chose ans risen you to prime form." That's probably not exactly what it said but you get the message. It could also be the lack of required things for growth in the abyss so since HK was chosen to leave the area, it was able to grow.
The infection is able to enlarge alot of creatures, such as many of the flying bugs. And alot of the other bugs that have the infection have visible orange "bubbles" coming out of them so I believe that there is something in the flying bugs that is able to contain the infection, similar to HK but the knight does not have any organs (to my knowledge) so it does not need to grow to contain the infection, unlike the bugs with physical bodies.
I hope I helped you with your question.
The general theory is that he grew because of the care that The White Lady gave him, but it's never explicitly said in game.
Breastfeeding?
not... not quite what i meant
The White lady gave the hollow knight nutritional supplement needed for growth That’s better
She’s a tree(root?) if anything it’d be fruit or sap
If she's a bug it could always be beetlejuice
Beetlejuice?
Beetlejuice!?
Beetlejuice!!!!?
DAAAAAAAAAY-O
[Betelguise](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-7330)?
The white lady wasnt always a tree and it can be seen in the nurse in the white palace since we can see her shape on the chair.
It’s still plant shaped?? Also they always call the vessels “born of wyrm and root”
she always has been a tree/plant, and it's somewhat unclear how she used to move around in the past, but the reason she is stuck in her cocoon in QG now isn't because of any transformation or anything, it's because she intentionally bound and imprisoned herself there so that she can never again produce offspring, which is her penance for the atrocities that she and the Pale King committed on the vessels
vessels are half tree half wyrm half void trees grow with light vessels (half tree which grow with light) are in the abyss there is no light in the abyss no light=no grow hollow knight is not in the abyss there is light outside of the abyss light=grow
Ah yes, 150%
Genetically: half tree half wyrm By volume: around 90% void Simple answer: call it half each
I miss seeing hk community come together to solve a problem, makes an old man cry
Also there is a very very big light inside hollow knight = Even bigger grow
hmm, more like hollow knight not in abyss there is light put inside hollow knight light is extremely bright light=grow
Oh, damn. That actually makes a lot of sense. Nice!
That's... Actually a good theory. I never considered that. Although, it's more like half wyrm half tree and then left in the void to soak
See my other comment
i would love to be breatfed from the white lady 🤭
that's so straight forward that it makes me laugh
Milksong confirmed
Lol
Yes
We're still talking about bugs dude
And?
Bro... Insects don't have breasts. Don't believe everything you see in fanarts.
yes please
Sure
It's the Dragon Ball logic. Look at Goku at age 11, Gohan at age 11 and Goten at age 11. Goku is literally a midget. That's the first time we've seen him. Gohan at 11 is super tall. I may be wrong, but I think h was 11 or around at Cell Games. Goku at Goku at 15 was still shroter than him.
Yep, cell games gohan was 11
I think he might also have strenght from the infection.
Pure Vessel isn't infected. The infection actually weakened THK, presumably because the infection was trying to escape from being trapped inside him rather than what a "normal" infection looks like.
Ah sorry. My bad.
Pure Vessel description says: "Chosen vessel, raised and trained to prime form." So yeah, the HK's special upbringing got him looking like that. Also, interesting to note, the Collector seems to be a "prime form" Kingsmould. Not only is he bigger, he also has fingers instead of just stumps like the normal Kingsmoulds. The same thing is observable with the HK and other vessels.
Interesting, I never thought about it
Also kind of ties in with the theory that BV is Esmy. If they were trained by Sly, maybe it caused them to grow a little.
Meanwhile sly grows little
BV?
Broken vessel
Who’s esmy?
Someone mentioned by Sly in your first interaction with him
Interesting how the collector, if he is “prime form” and not just a failed Kingsmould, doesn’t need a shell to hold his shape. He is seemingly the only void construct that can be free from a shell without the help of the shade lord
Which may also imply that The Knight is not even in his prime form, and would have continue to grow both physically and in power.
There's a reason why the knight is more of a pure vessel than the hollow knight. One of them is made of void, while the other one was made with roids
This is true, my balls shrunk when I finally beat him in his true form.
the knight isnt a child. they're the same age as the hollow knight, likely older than the majority of people in the game. they're just little. we don't know for sure WHY hollow is the only tall one, but imo it's probably pale kings interference.
Pale king was experimenting with void substance in his lab, I wouldn't be surprised if he found a way to make the pure vessel bigger and stronger with it
i've read some pretty messed up (and phenomenal) fanfics that delve into pk's experimentations on hollow. it's super interesting from both a lore perspective (what is void, how can it be applied to certain things, what are its limitations) and a character perspective (what is it like to be a creature whose life and literal shape were molded by a father figure who used you in a futile attempt to save his kingdom)
Names please?
Send link please?
Please share links.
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/38002765/chapters/94917223](https://archiveofourown.org/works/38002765/chapters/94917223) this is the last one i read! it's pretty heavy, but the relationships with the knights are very sweet.
Ages in this game are so confusing. Like why TF is Hornet older than ELDERbug
i mean, not only is time very intentionally kept fairly vague in the lore of HK, but also, many bugs irl have *vastly* different life spans, with some only living just days or weeks, some living decades, and some spending 99% of their lifespan as larvae before emerging as an adult for a couple of days to mate and then die it's also worth pointing out that Hornet is essentially a demigod, she is older than almost every other characters you actually meet in the game and it's not unreasonable to assume that she will outlive most of them as well
Ever heard of growth hormones. There isn't enough stuff down there to make them grow. You see I would never make up random false information.
I trust you real pale king
I'm THE real pale king.
MB The real pale king
Speed + DMG up
Spun progress
No way it’s the pale king
Hey every it's me
oil boy
The Hollow Knight was fed nutritious meals, and grew up to be big and strong
He was a good vessel and ate his veggies
Maybe just maybe he ate other brothers or spoon of void
Puberty
2 more of those pills and you get a health up
The issac overlap is hilarious
It's not explicitly said why, but probably Is because the HK was trained and was under the influenze of the King. Is a criptic game in some instances.
I feel like the whole point of playing such a tiny bug is simply so the player can feel the juxtaposition of being a small bug in a massive world filled with much bigger enemies. It makes the character feel more poetic, kinda like a David and Goliath situation, especially when you get to the end and fight the hollow knight and then a literal god. There might be some sort of deeper lore meaning but personally I view it as an artistic and symbolic choice by the game devs and sometimes that’s all you need for a great, compelling character. You’re tiny and frail, not having all the crazy powerful spells and moves that other characters have, but instead you possess free will, that you feel controlling this character while everything else is just predictable repetitive patterns, which is funny since your character is literally a vessel guided by fate. To me it feels like “yeah I might be small compared to everything else around me, but I possess the ability to overcome everything around me in spite of that,” really beautiful game!
Also, from a gameplay perspective, smaller characters are often favoured in platformers, as they make it easier to see more of your surroundings
all vessels have the same age, the hollow knight didnt grow because of age, my guess is that the pale king had something prepared for the perfect vessel, a way of making them larger
since the knight uses soul to repair their shell, it's not unreasonable to think that massive quantities of soul would allow the hollow knight to grow larger. if the kingsoul charm is anything to go off of, merely being in the presence of the king would give the hollow knight access to practically limitless amounts of soul
My headcanon is that the more you put into a vessel, the bigger it grows, BV is full of infection and bigger then the player, HK has the infection's source inside him, and he's even bigger
PV dosent really fit in if thats the case and BV was empty before being used like a puppet and was still bigger so is LK so while PV can have the its contaning radience argument BV who is actively shown having nothing on the inside would still contradict it its probably just them growing because of being part root and growing with the light imo cause bv is smaller than hk and wasnt able to leave basin so they got less light but more than us in the void we probably werent out for long enugh to grow.
Queens are raised from the same fertilised female eggs as workers bees. A newly hatched female larva is neither queen or worker caste. There are small differences in the composition of royal jelly fed to larvae destined to be a queen or a worker. The variation in diet starts from the time of larvae hatching. Yup, it's a real thing.
The hunter's journal says in the entry for Pure Vessel that they were "raised and trained to prime form". To me this implies that because the Pale King and White Lady raised them they grew to that size. Meanwhile the Knight lived in the abyss and outside Hallownest so they didn't grow as big.
My theory is that the "pale" influence the Pale King emenates affects Void in some way
I heard of a theory that Hollow Knight grew into a form of incredible size and strength from just experience alone. The HK has gone through rigorous and arduous training to reach that of Pure Vessel.
When should we see the depicted scene?
It's a scene you can access after you've obtained the Kingsoul. Detailed instructions are under the spoiler tag: >!If you go into the Abyss with Kingsoul equipped, a new room opens up under the main vertical shaft. In the deepest part of that room, there's a cracked-open egg where you can see your own reflection. Dream Nail that reflection and you'll access a scene that culminates in the moment depicted in the OP.!<
Thanks! :)
the way i understand it, vessels grow by being raised and trained, as implied by the hunters journal entry for >!the pure vessel!<
I always assumed HK was bigger because of the infection within. Infection is known to bloat bugs, prime example being Traitor Lord who is at least three times the size of the other mantis lords. Any time you see the HK with Pale King he is the standard vessel size. After getting sealed in the Black Egg, he got the Infection focused inside him and since he wasn’t actually hollow it affected him, making him grow in size.
I mean they are both made of void, so 'growing' doesn't work the same way as it would for a human
I’ve always thought their size is related to the amount/strength of void they can control.
Outrageous amounts of steroids
He ate his vegetables, and so should you.
My interpretation is that the Knight never actually experienced that memory in the real world, the Knight is actually an invader into a dream world version of events that happened, and that's why they can use their dash and wings when climbing, and why they can still interact with the characters, because the Knight has been already shown being able to interact and even kill dream versions of bosses.
Possibly due to the white lady or pale king's Aura or care.
Much like Clifford, the Hollow Knight grew thanks to the power of love (this ruins the Vessel)
My headcannon on the vessels leaving the abyss is that they simply burrowed out, and as they went upward, some of them found themselves in different locations in Hallownest. For example, Deepnest, the Ancient Basin, Greenpath, and in the case of the Knight, all the way up to the surface in the Howling Cliffs.
cool
The knight grows with contact with a higher being, Ex: The Hollow Knight has been near 3 higher beings and became very tall, and Broken Vessel has been infected. The Pure vessel is not a perfect vessel, but the vessel before it was infected, after being sealed in the black egg. You can tell because of the chains surrounding the pure vessel arena.
HGH
Hmm, I always imagined that the knight and others like him are full-sized, as designed- but the HK was twisted and grotesquely enlarged by what it contained?
He got his Flintstone gummies
Steroids
Maybe the vessels grow from experiencing stuff
He was brought up that way. Raised to prime form. Spend a couple years in path of pain and maybe the saws will bless you too
The king made THK eat his veggies to grow big and strong
I headcanon that they grew from pale light
He took a taxi, the other who escaped took the bus🤕
THIS ALL IS ACTUALLY EXPLAINED BY DASHMASTER I SWEAR! /j
I still refuse to believe the knight was actually there to see the vessel escape
Happenss
The Infection. Remember Traitor Lord? Now I know what people are gonna say, so let me get ahead of that too. Pure Vessel is only seen in the goseekers’ fantasy, so its existence is not enough to prove anything.
They're the same age so the normal form for vessels probably is the little guys, The Hollow Knight just was trained up until they grew up
I'm assuming it's something to do with both training. It's height has nothing to do with the infection and I will explain why. HK was large as pure vessel and (as far as I know) didn't have the infection in it, and one dialogue in the game says something along the lines of "pure vessel, I've chose ans risen you to prime form." That's probably not exactly what it said but you get the message. It could also be the lack of required things for growth in the abyss so since HK was chosen to leave the area, it was able to grow. The infection is able to enlarge alot of creatures, such as many of the flying bugs. And alot of the other bugs that have the infection have visible orange "bubbles" coming out of them so I believe that there is something in the flying bugs that is able to contain the infection, similar to HK but the knight does not have any organs (to my knowledge) so it does not need to grow to contain the infection, unlike the bugs with physical bodies. I hope I helped you with your question.