Have you ever wondered how or if you can finish all five endings in Hollow Knight in one run? Yes, you can! This article will have the Hollow Knight Endings Explained, the lore behind every ending in Hollow Knight, and what to do to get all five endings.
Immerse yourself in the hauntingly beautiful world of "Hollow Knight," where every step unveils secrets and challenges waiting to be conquered. With its captivating art style and intricate gameplay, embark on an epic journey filled with mystery, danger, and discovery unlike any other.
You can get all endings on one save the file by completing the game in a certain order presented in this article. Take a look at this guide for tips on fighting the Hollow Knight, the Radiance, and the Absolute Radiance.
With the Pale King’s arrival, the inhabitants of Hallownest favored his benefits over those of the Radiance. The Radiance began manifesting herself as an infection within the dreams and thoughts of bugs in Hallownest. What once was a long-forgotten God started to plague the minds of bugs as revenge for their abandonment.
The Pale King and the White Lady constructed a plan to keep the infection from taking over the freedom of mind. That plan was making a pure vessel and placing it behind a seal in the Temple of the Black Egg. Many were made but the pure vessel ended up being the Hollow Knight that you’ll fight in the Temple of the Black Egg.
The Hollow Knight wasn’t a pure vessel, meaning it had thoughts; that is why the infection was able to seep into his mind and start spreading throughout Hallownest. The Radiance began appearing in bugs’ dreams, and after waking up, they’ve become husks – bug zombies. Only a few were woken up before the infection completely overtook their thoughts.
You, the knight, go through the whole game without saying a word, just listening with a charge to defeat the Radiance at her core.
Ending 1: The Hollow Knight
- Requirements: Defeating the Dreamers, acquiring the Void Heart, defeating the Hollow Knight, and having the Awoken Dream Nail
- Location: The Temple of the Black Egg
After defeating all three Dreamers, you are able to go into the Temple of the Black Egg and fight the Hollow Knight. Upon defeating him, you are prompted to focus the infection on yourself, and with this, a cutscene is shown. The infection shines less and less in your eyes as new chains come down and imprison you as you have now become the new Hollow Knight. You are there to keep the Radiance from spreading for eternity or until it overtakes your mind as well.
After defeating the Hollow Knight, you will respawn on the last bench you rested on. Hopefully, that is the bench right outside of the arena.
Ending 2: Sealed Siblings
- Requirements: Defeating the Dreamers, acquiring the Void Heart, defeating the Hollow Knight, and having the Awoken Dream Nail
- Location: The Temple of the Black Egg
Similar to the first ending, you fight the Hollow Knight, but this time at the very end, Hornet comes in to help. If you keep attacking the Hollow Knight, Hornet will fall off unconscious, and the fight will continue until you defeat him. This time, besides focusing the infection within yourself and getting locked inside of the Temple of the Black Egg, Hornet is stuck with you. The Temple of the Black Egg is resealed, but this time, with Hornets face on it.
This ending is called Sealed Siblings because now Hornet is stuck inside with you and just like the Knight, a vessel, are a product of the Pale King and the White Lady; Hornet is the product of the Pale King and Herrah the Beast. Herrah the Beast is one of the Dreamers, and in return for becoming a seal in internal sleep, she requested an heir. Hornet keeps bugs from entering the kingdom and destroying the seals. Killing the Dreamers destroys the seals on the Temple of the Black Egg. When she first sees you, just like when she first sees Quirrel, she thinks you’re out to destroy the seals and free the Radiance.
Ending 3: Dream No More
- Requirements: Defeating the Dreamers, acquiring the Void Heart, defeating the Hollow Knight, having the Awoken Dream Nail, and defeating the Radiance
- Location: The Temple of the Black Egg
Like in the first two endings, you fight the Hollow Knight, and Hornet comes in to help. If you use the Dream Nail on the Hollow Knight when Hornet comes in, you will access his mind and fight the Radiance.
As you’re fighting with the Radiance she senses defeat as you manifest the Void from below and flees upwards. After defeating the Radiance, you will turn into your shade, and the Hollow Knight will come and open her weak spot so that you will then attack until she parishes. The bugs of the kingdom will dream no more.
The infection is shown to dissipate, and the Siblings are seen going down into the ground, put to rest. Hornet wakes up with the Black Egg gone and the knight’s shell broken in half, meaning that he returned to the Void or died.
Ending 4: Embrace the Void
- Requirements: Acquiring the Void Heart, having not given the Delicate Flower to the Godseeker, and defeating the Absolute Radiance at the top of the Pantheon of Hallownest
- Location: The Pantheon of Hallownest
In the Embrace the Void ending, you have to defeat the Absolute Radiance at the top of the Pantheon of Hallownest. After defeating the Absolute Radiance, you will turn into the Lord of Shades and rip the Absolute Radiance apart until she explodes into Essence – a memory.
Afterward, a cutscene is shown where the Void bleeds below and takes over the Godseekers body causing the Godseekers actual body in the Junk Pit to exude out Void until she explodes into the ravaged Void Tendrils.
In this ending where the Godseeker comes with her tribe to find the God of Gods, you become the God of Gods. The Godseeler’s mind is so powerful that she drag anything into reality. She takes Radiance out of and puts her in a place where every being reaches its highest potential, believing that Radiance will be the God of Gods. This makes the Radiance stronger, but it also makes you stronger as you’re also in this dream. You survive without your outer body being just Void – The Lord of Shades.
Still waiting at the Black Egg, Hornet is met by what is presumably the Hollow Knight, now free of his duty of containing the Void.
Ending 5: Delicate Flower
- Requirements: Acquiring the Void Heart, having given the Delicate Flower to the Godseeker, and defeating the Absolute Radiance at the top of Pantheon of Hallownest
- Location: The Pantheon of Hallownest
Like in the previous ending, you have to defeat the Absolute Radiance at the top of the Pantheon of Hallownest, but the outcome is different this time.
Before finishing the actual Delicate Flower quest where you take the Delicate Flower to the grave of the Traitors’ Child so that the Grey Mourner doesn’t turn into a Mask Shard, you must bring the Delicate Flower to the Godseeker first.
You can bring it to him before finishing the Embrace the Void ending, but then, you won’t be able to get all five endings that way. You must complete the Pantheon twice to get both endings.
This time the ending animation where the Void consumes the Godseekers’ body is a bit different. Instead of Void looking like it’s going to consume the entirety of Hallownest, a bright flash can be seen, and the Void with the Godseeker disappears, leaving behind a flower with one pedal less. The Grey Mourner said a special power is hidden in the Delicate Flower’s frail pedals, but we don’t know what that power is.
Extra Ending: Passing of the Age
- Requirement: Defeating the Dreamers, having the Spore Shroom charm, and completing Mister Mushroom’s quest
Mister Mushroom, also referred to as the Herald or Master Herald, is a talking mushroom that you can only understand while equipped with the Spore Shroom charm. You need to meet him at seven different locations with Spore Shroom equipped; if you don’t have the Spoor Shroom charm equipped, he will speak Shroomish and won’t move to the next location.
Each time you meet him, it will seem like he isn’t talking to you until you meet him at the place where you started Hollow Knight, the King’s Pass. You have to hit him using the regular Nail attack, and he will disappear afterward.
Immerse yourself in the hauntingly beautiful world of "Hollow Knight," where every step unveils secrets and challenges waiting to be conquered. With its captivating art style and intricate gameplay, embark on an epic journey filled with mystery, danger, and discovery unlike any other.
It is never clear who he is talking to, so there are many speculations and theories, some even suggesting that Team Cherry is referencing other games.
- First encounter – Fungal Wastes
- Second encounter – Kingdom’s Edge
- Third encounter – Deepnest
- Fourth encounter – Howling Cliffs
- Fifth encounter – Ancient Basin
- Sixth encounter – Fog Canyon
- Seventh encounter – King’s Pass in Dirtmouth
Finding him and interacting with him will unlock a new cutscene as well. He’ll fly into the air and the words “To be continued” will shop up on the screen.
The Passing of the Age ending might be an easter egg ending. As we don’t know who he is talking to we may assume that he is talking to someone from the future, or the past, or the other mushrooms as they all have some kind of telepathy language. Maybe it has something to do with Hollow Knight: Silksong.
FAQs
Question: How many endings does Hollow Knight have?
Answer: Hollow Knight has five endings (The Hollow Knight, Sealed Siblings, Dream No More, Embrace the Void, and Delicate Flower) and a bonus ending (Passing of the Age). You can get all five of them in one playthrough if you follow this guide.
Question: Does killing Hollow Knight end the game?
Answer: It ends the game, but you can continue playing to get the other endings as well if you didn’t get the Sealed Siblings ending. If you did, then you can’t get the Hollow Knight ending.
Question: Can I defeat the Radiance and the Absolute Radiance on the same save file?
Answer: You can get all endings on one save file by completing the game in a certain order shown in this guide.
Question: How do you unlock the true ending in Hollow Knight?
Answer: There is no true ending in Hollow Knight, but you can finish all endings in one playthrough if you meet certain criteria. Though, the endings in order go from ‘you want more’ to ‘this is the true ending’. So have fun and want more.
Question: What is the hardest ending to get in Hollow Knight?
Answer: Most definitely, undoubtedly the Delicate Flower ending. Before finishing the actual Delicate Flower quest where you take the Delicate Flower to the grave of the Traitors’ Child so that the Grey Mourner doesn’t turn into a Mask Shard, you must bring the Delicate Flower to the Godseeker first. You then have to complete the Pantheons and the final boss, the Absolute Radiance.
Question: What ends the game Hollow Knight?
Answer: Nothing, you can play Hollow Knight until you’ve reached 112% and keep playing or you can find another game to play.
Question: Where can I Play Hollow Knight?
Answer: Hollow Knight is a video game available on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Question: What are the best Hollow Knight alternatives?
Answer: This Metroidvania game is great, but if you have played this one back to front and are too impatient to wait for Silksong, here are some great alternatives:
– Ori and the Will of the Wisps
– Metroid Dread
– Dark Soul Series
– F.I.S.T. Forged in Shadow Torch
– Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
– Little Nightmares
Question: What to do after finishing Hollow Knight?
Answer: Collect everything you missed and get that 112% game completion, or find another game to play.
Conclusion
By finishing the game five times in this order you will have finished all five endings in one run, and even the Mister Mushroom ending. If you finish one of these endings before finishing any of the previous ones, those that you didn’t finish are locked on that game file.
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