The Delicate Flower quest in Hollow Knight is primarily to get one Mask Shard, there is more to the Delicate Flower, the Grey Mourner, and the Traitor Lords‘ child’s grave in Hollow Knight. This quest, as we’ll see in our Delicate Flower Hollow Knight guide, requires you to carry the flower without taking damage, riding the Stag, or using the Dreamgate to several areas.
The Delicate Flower Quest
The Grey Mourner is in the Resting Grounds on the far right in the tunnels under the tomb in the main room. She will ask you if you can deliver a gift to her lover’s grave in Queens Gardens.
The gift she gives you is a Fragile Flower that will break if you use the Stag or Dreamgate, so you have to find the easiest way to get to Queens Gardens without taking damage. Using the tram won’t break the Delicate Flower so we will go through why you should use the Tram later in the article.
An alternative to this will be clearing out the enemies beforehand. I suggest starting from Queens Gardens and clearing out the route, putting up a Dreamgate at the Grey Mourner bench, and heading back to Queens Gardens.
There are places where you don’t expect to take damage but still you do because you’re not used to going through the map hitless. One of the dumbest ones is in the City of Tears where a Cowardly Husk flaps his weak arms at you and you might end up just clearing out the path in the end anyways.
My preferred path is presented in these gifs and other than the Cowardly Husks you can take damage from the mosquitos. From my experience, you’ll take damage from enemies that you usually would never take damage going through these areas. I see the weakest enemies as the biggest threat, so proceed with caution.
Yes, my charms of choice were the Gathering Swarm charm, Sharp Shadow, and Unbreakable Greed. Using charms like Shaman Stone, Mark of Pride, Long Nail, Nailmaster’s Glory, Baldur Shell, Carefree Melody, or anything else that makes you feel safe and keeps you from taking damage also works.
After the City of Tears, I go through the closed entrance into the city and into the Fungal Wastes. Since this path requires you to have Isma’s Tear, the acid isn’t an obstacle and most of the enemies won’t respawn during this expedition unless you sit on a bench or exit out into the main menu.
In the Fungal Wastes, there are these fungi that throw explody boys at you and those might be the biggest threat in this entire run, other than the thorns.
I run through the Fungal Wastes as fast as I can until I get to the Leg Eater room. On the other side of the room that connects to the Leg Eater’s room is a small acid pool that will grant you access to the Fog Canyon and the Queens Gardens.
Fog Canyon is somewhat problematic because there are many small enemies that will respawn as soon as you exit the room. Avoiding them is easier than it should be, though the small jellyfish can just ruin this run if you fall onto them.
After you reach and pass the Teacher’s Archives, it’s mostly smooth sailing. Almost every enemy is easy to avoid and you just need to be cautious while making your way to the Traitor Lord’s child’s grave.
When you finally get to the Traitor Lord’s child’s grave the only obstacle is the overwhelming amount of thorns. If you aren’t confident in your platforming skills I recommend practicing this one to perfection to avoid frustration.
After this, you can Dreamgate or exit to the main menu to get to the Grey Mourner as fast as possible. She will thank you and turn into a Mask Shard.
So since there are other recipients, what do you do if you’ve already finished the Delicate Flower quest?
Traitor Lord’s Child’s Grave Flowers & Other Recipients
The Godmaster update made the flowers bloom once again. One of the recipients is the Godseeker and that is really the only one that makes a difference in how you will finish the game. Some of the other recipients are Elderbug and Nailmaster Oro.
The Elderbug will be very pleasantly surprised, but Nailmaster Oro will refuse it. If you visit him again you will see that he put it in a pot in his hut. Very cute.
Taking the Tram to deliver the Delicate Flower to Elderbug is the easiest way to deliver the flower, but going through the Infected Crossroads is a nightmare so good luck! Taking it to Oro is an issue of different nature. I recommend not equipping Gathering Swarm and Unbreakable Greed.
The White Lady and Eternal Emilitia will both refuse the Delicate Flower but will give dialogue vaguely explaining its power and origin. The White Lady will explain how there is a great power within its petals and for one to hold it they would have to be blind to the power it holds.
Eternal Emilitia, one of the last non-infected bugs left in Hallownest, located in the City of Tears, will say that its power is no match for the light of the Pale King.
Godseeker
The Godseeker will accept the flower after you’ve completed two Pantheons and will change the ending and the cutscene you get after completing the Pantheon of Hallownest.
The easiest way to reach it is by passing through the map as you did previously to get the Delicate Flower to the Traitor Lord’s child’s grave, but instead of going up to enter the Fungal Wastes from the City of Tears, continuing past the elevator to get to the Nailsmith.
There is a shortcut you can open right under the Nailsmith’s tent that leads you right into the Junkpit. There are very few enemies on the way there and it’s easy to avoid them.
Once the Godseeker accepts the Delicate Flower, he will hold it and lock the Embrace the Void ending, instead, this action will unlock the Delicate Flower ending. After you get the Delicate Flower ending the Godseeker still won’t accept how powerful the Delicate Flower is.
It is still not explained or clear where the Delicate Flower came from or what kind of power it holds. The only thing we know is that it came from a far place far away so can it be Pharloom? The Godseeker denies his thoughts saying “No. No tune. If it sings… We can not hear it.” so could it have come from a place filled with silk and song.
At the beginning of Silksong, one petal of the Delicate Flower falls down and destroys the seal of binding. We will probably find out in 2047.
FAQs
Question: What Happens if You Give the Delicate Flower to Elderbug?
Answer: The Elderbug will be very pleasantly surprised and he will see it as gratitude for the advice he gave to travelers.
Question: Who Should I Give the Delicate Flower To?
Answer: One of the recipients is the Godseeker and that is really the only one that makes a difference in how you will finish the game. Some of the other recipients are Elderbug and Nailmaster Oro.
Question: What is the Easiest Way to do the Delicate Flower Quest?
Answer: An alternative to this will be clearing out the enemies beforehand. I suggest starting from Queens Gardens and clearing out the route, putting up a Dreamgate at the Grey Mourner bench, and heading back to Queens Gardens.
Question: How Many Delicate Flowers Can You Get?
Answer: The Grey Mourner will give you a new Delicate Flower every time you talk to her after taking damage until you complete the Delicate Flower quest. After bringing the first Delicate Flower from the Grey Mourner to the grave of the Traitor Lord’s child, you can pick up unlimited Delicate Flowers from the grave in Queen’s Gardens.
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