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Fans of platformers who want a challenging game to test their mettle will enjoy Hollow Knight. Starring the eponymous yet nameless Knight, players embark on a journey throughout the mysterious world of Hallownest to discover just what happened to the kingdom and how it’s been infested with vile creatures.
Aside from its gameplay, Hollow Knight is praised specifically for its lore, especially its worldbuilding, which the game slowly introduced through both dialogue and visuals. Chief among Hollow Knight’s piece of lore are the Five Great Knights, supposed protectors of Hallownest who ended up either missing or dead throughout the years. Understanding who they are and their contributions to Hallownest may put a better perspective on the Knight’s journey around the kingdom. However, just who were the Five Great Knights of Hallownest, and where are they now?
The Great Knights Of Hallownest
Before players look into the lore of the Great Knights in Hollow Knight, it helps to understand where they reside. Their primary base of operations is located in Hallownest, a once-thriving kingdom in the middle of a wasteland that was brought to a calamitous fall after the advent of the Infection. As players slowly progress through their gameplay of Hollow Knight, they would soon realize that the denizens of Hallownest have been manipulated by the Pale King into worshiping him instead of their original ruler, the Radiance.
It’s the initial psychic conflict between the Pale King and the Radiance that brought about the Infection, something that even the Great Knights weren’t able to suppress. This “Infection” simply referred to the attempt of the Radiance to “reawaken” the denizen’s original faith in her, with the Pale Knight’s manipulation so strong that the Radiance’s attempts to “counter” the brainwashing were considered infectious to the entire Kingdom.
The 5 Great Knights: Protectors Of The Realm
Due to the Five Great Knights having existed a long time ago, not much is known about their true origins and role in history. Such was the scarcity of information about their personal lives that even the NPC Relic Seeker Lemm said their true appearances and names may have been erased from history.
However, players may still see signs of the Five Great Knights throughout their adventure in Hollow Knight. By the time the player, in the form of the protagonist Knight who is also a discarded vessel of the Pale King, it’s noted that the Great Knights have either perished or disappeared. They can see their visages below Ogrim’s cave, created using dung.
Ze’mer: The Grey Mourner
When players of Hollow Knight go to the Resting Grounds for the first time, they will encounter The Grey Mourner, an NPC who will tell their tragic love story with their now-passed lover. It’s said that the romance between the Grey Mourner and her Mantis lover was rejected by the latter’s family, having been unable to accept the Grey Mourner’s nature as an outsider. Once players deliver a Delicate Flower to the lover’s grave in Queen’s Gardens, the Grey Mourney finally dissipates.
It’s soon revealed that the Grey Mourner is actually Ze’mer, one of the Five Great Knights. She is an outsider, having hailed from outside Hallownest in “serene lands” from where she has brought Delicate Flowers. Not much is known about her activities as a Great Knight, although she likely possesses incredible combat prowess due to her status. At the time of the game, she is one of two living Great Knights left among the five.
Ogrim: The Dung Defender
Perhaps the only one of the Five Great Knights that players can interact with, Ogrim, is located in the Royal Waterways that border Isma’s Grove. As its sworn guardian, Ogrim is known as the Dung Defender. Unfortunately, due to his oath, Ogrim isn’t able to visit his fellow Great Knights despite missing their company. Moreover, he’s also unaware of the fates of his fellow Knights due to his mission confining him to an area.
When players defeat Ogrim as the “White Knight” hidden boss, they unlock a special dialogue with the boss. Ogrim wonders whether the Great Knights end with him or if they can be continued by a new team of heroes. He states that he can easily imagine the player, as the Knight, accompanying other great heroes of age.
Dryya: The Protector
By the time players of the platformer reach the Queen’s Garden, and into the home of the White Lady, they will encounter a sitting intact corpse alongside a pile of broken corpses surrounding the body. When inquiring to Nailmaster Sheo, this corpse is revealed to be Dryya, another of the Five Great Knights. While much of her personal life is left in mystery, it’s shown that Dryya was tasked to protect the White Lady from attackers in her Garden.
Based on what’s happened around Dryya’s corpse, it’s likely that she fought multiple Mantis Traitors before succumbing to their numbers and falling herself. Unfortunately, it seems the White Lady herself is unaware of Dryya’s demise. Such was Dryya’s bravery that Sheo refers to her as “Fierce Dryya,” with her skill in combat evident due to the number of corpses surrounding her fallen body.
Hegemol: The Mighty
Compared to the other Great Knights, it’s Hegemol that is the more mysterious due to his missing nature in Hollow Knight. He’s only ever depicted as a towering statue with no weapon, and his figure is always that of a hulking giant. According to Ogrim, Hegemol is humorous despite being a fearsome knight. Meanwhile, Nailmaster Sheo calls him “Mighty Hegemol” with obvious admiration.
In recent times, the armor of Hegemol was stolen by a Maggot who was on a mission to defend his siblings. When confronted, the False Knight was seen wielding a mace with an armored bug end, which is in contrast to Hegemol’s usual depiction. It’s unknown whether the Maggot simply stole the armor and Hegemol ran away or if the Maggot had to kill Hegemol to get his armor.
Isma: The Kindly
When players defeat the Dung Defender, they will be able to access a corridor at the eastern end of the Royal Waterways to go to a swampy area that seems to be the source of acid in Hallownest’s lower areas. This area is called Isma’s Grove, and it is the very place of residence of Isma, another one of the Great Knights of Hallownest.
As with the other Great Knights, not much is known about Isma’s personal history and capabilities. However, she is commonly associated with acid as Isma’s Tear grants the players acid immunity. Her Grove is also noted to be the source of the acid blight. Interestingly enough, Isma is probably one of the most mysterious of the Great Knights, as her body is seen attached to a wall with plant growth surrounding it, leaving no trace of what may have been the cause of her death.
Hollow Knight was released in 2017 for Windows, MacOS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.
