no3.5.2

>there is bugs

>and there is Higher Beings

>Wyrms, (giant immortal worms that can reincarnate and see the future to a certain extent) are Higher Beings that are said to have a liking to establish kingdoms and rule over said bugs

>an other Higher Being (not a Wyrm), the Radiance, a "light", who resides in the dream world creates Moths to worship her

>she also pulls other bugs into her thrall, and being "controlled" by the Radiance means being a without thoughts, a mindless drone

>a Wyrm reincarnates as the Pale King, an other "light" who decides to fuck over the Radiance and take her kingdom because why the fuck not?

>he starts by convincing the Moths to worship him instead and essentially make them betray Radiance

>he then gives sentience to all the bugs of the kingdom and make them forget the Radiance, founding the glorious Hallownest

>going beyond the limit of Hallownest makes one bug lose the influence of the light of the PK : it means losing your mind and memories

>two other Higher Beings pop up, Unn who creates all the vegetal life, fauna and flora, of the kingdom and the While Lady who marries the Pale King

>Mantis Tribe is chilling, the beast bugs of Deepnest are aggressive and the mushroom hivemind does mushroom things

>five Great Knights are appointed, a lot of epic shit ensues for the preservation and glory of Hallownest

>a long time after the bugs of the Crystal Mines discover a statue of the Radiance so bugs start remembering her

>Radiance goes ballistic and use this opportunity to take over the minds of the bugs who remembers her, spreading the "infection"

>Pale King devises a genius but retarded plan : to seal the Radiance inside a vessel void of thoughts and emotions, an empty shell, an Hollow Knight

>to do just that he starts banging his wife all day to produce offsprings that he then fills with Void, a primordial force he found below Hallownest in the Abyss

>a thousand and thousand of his children corpses and failed attempts thrown into the Abyss later he finally gets what he wants and starts to raise this vessel to contain the Radiance

>an unknown amount of time after he builds the Black Egg, chains the Hollow Knight inside, put the Radiance inside him (never really understood how he did that) and seal the Black Egg with the help of three Dreamers : Lurien, Monomon and Herrah

>Herrah only accepted on the condition the PK had to give her a child. He bangs her, Hornet is born.

>also he starts putting his Seal of Binding fucking everywhere

>all si well

>but actually no, because the Pale King fucked up : by raising the Hollow Knight he couldn't help but love him and developed a fater-child relationship with it, and by being constantly reminded on how important his duty was the Hollow Knight developped thoughts : this is my beloved father/my duty is paramount. Starts then a viscious circle of the Hollow Knight telling itself to not think

>Radiance starts leaking out again, PK don't know what to do, and so starts the formerly dazzling kingdom slow decay

>a long time after, Hallownest has completely fallen to ruin, everything is slowly dying and even Hornet, the princess of Hallownest only sticks around to let the kingdom wither away in peace

>but a vessel, a defect, who made it out the Abyss like many others arrives to Hallownest...from beyond the kingdom's boundaries

>as such, as Hornet herself recognizes, this little Ghost truly is empty and might fulfil the task the Hollow Knight failed at

>this is the first and second ending : the Knight replaces the HK, with Hornet becoming a Dreamer inside of the Black Egg making it impossible for anyone to disturb their eternal sleep

>but the Knight can take another route : by obtaining the Kingsoul and using it to control the Void he can fight and pull the Radiance into the the Void, her ancient enemy. This is the Dream No More ending.

>but none of theses endings guarantee victory: you can take the decisions you make during your journey as a sign of personality making the Knight an unfit vessel as well and Dream No More ending does not actually seem to really kill the Radiance