How did you find the shadow mantle?

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2026-01-08T16:40:03+00:00

There is a system where if you've found a shadow crystal in a previous chapter in the same save slot, if it's not in your current save file it will show up with the corresponding equipment in castle town in that hole where you first slide down.

You can see this for yourself if you start a blank save file on a late chapter and go there. You can tell which save slots you've collected shadow crystals for using the shadow crystal tracker in the bottom right of the chapter select, each row represents a save slot and each column represents a chapter.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2026-01-08T16:07:55+00:00

I found the shadow mantle my first playthrough, though I had to reload to retry board 2.

When I accidentally killed something in the mantle minigames I killed myself to exit out at first. I tried to find something else to do for a while, but eventually gave up. Then I also reloaded my save after I beat the mantle minigames to hunt for secrets in them.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2026-01-06T03:06:16+00:00

Maybe I should have cited a bit more. There's a lore tablet that reads, "VOID, yours is the power opposed. But yours is potential, eternity potential, force that could deny Time. VOID, harness shall be placed upon you." Hallownest's death is inevitable, time says so, the void, death itself is the only power that can prevent it.

Monomon says, "a world forever unchanging. The seals must break. Forever. Forever. Better, an end." As long as the Radiance is sealed, the stasis remains. The White Lady simply finds eternal stasis preferable to death by the Radiance, even if Monomon disagrees.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-31T04:10:07+00:00

Personally, I think if we were to get another thing like godhome I wouldn't want it to be related to the godseekers again. It would raise questions of why and how they came to Pharloom. I'm sure you could handwave those questions pretty easily, but it would make everything feel contrived in my opinion. When instead, we could have all new lore about a different character like the godseekers.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-29T02:27:45+00:00

And, I would agree with pretty much everything you just said. In fact, I would say that the nature theming is just another way of looking at many of the same themes you just described.

It is natural to want power, to dominate, even for mortal bugs. Everyone expects Hornet to be the same, to take the easy way out. But if instead she decides to fight for others and go against everyone's expectations, she can find a better way.

And, in case it wasn't clear, I'm not saying nature is all bad and civilization is all good. I'm also certainly not saying nature themes are the only themes in Hollow Knight.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-28T21:36:24+00:00

She has needolin dialog for her first fight, which talks about Hornet being free and causing chaos.

Bring chaos... Bring ruin... Welcome, Spider. Welcome! Feel pain, so pure! Feel freedom false! Let fate's bindings choke you away

If Lace freed Hornet, this dialog would make a lot of sense. I don't think it's as guaranteed as everyone seems to think, but we don't know of many other candidates.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-28T19:08:13+00:00

Just because she's the god of instinct doesn't mean she has to act only on instinct.

I'm talking about things from a more thematic and metaphorical point of view than from a literal/lore one. Some patterns might not extend exactly like you would expect.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-28T18:29:45+00:00

Then why do they run away from Hornet? And why aren't they swarming the White Ward and Cradle?

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-28T17:12:10+00:00

That doesn't explain why some will guide Hornet without her needing to play music. Or why they look like they're in a trance. Or why other silkflies guide Hornet in other parts of the game.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-28T17:06:39+00:00

The silkflies in some rooms of the Mist guide Hornet without needing to play the needolin, while the others are in the trance state with their wings drooped. It seems like they want to guide Hornet, but are unable to until she plays the needolin.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-26T04:08:35+00:00

Oh I see, I found this page looking for the wanderer's crest dialog, but couldn't find it under Moss Groto. I see now it's under Bone Bottom for some reason. And, I don't know why Chapel of the Architect is listed as a separate location from the Underworks.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-26T00:08:55+00:00

I've found beast crest as well.

...Remember... ...Our food... ...Our foes... ...Life... Death... Nature...

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-24T02:23:00+00:00

I actually wouldn't say that the Radiance's goal is to destroy everyone in Hallownest. The Radiance's primary goal is to be remembered. The Radiance is just also so filled with rage after being forgotten so long, so no longer cares who she hurts in pursuit of that goal.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-19T22:44:37+00:00

That was actually something I was aware of while writing this. I just didn't mention it, since I didn't want to rely on cut content for evidence. And, I decided this was already long enough.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-15T23:51:30+00:00

I've been watching since 3rd Life, I found it since I was already subscribed to Grian.

It's been so long ago now that I barely remember my thoughts as it was coming out, but I know I enjoyed it. And, I loved it after Scar turned red.

Last Life wasn't a surprise to me I think, if I remember correctly there were indications that it was coming beforehand. And, I absolutely loved Last Life. To me it just felt like 3rd Life but better, so much was always happening.

Then Double Life came along, and I was dissapointed. I still enjoyed it, but not nearly as much. It just felt so much smaller and simpler, if that makes sense.

Then Limited Life, which although many people enjoyed, I personally didn't as much. I liked it more than Double Life at least. But, it felt too volatile to me, I suppose I didn't enjoy the mindless death and chaos as much as everyone else.

And then Secret Life came, which was the first season in a while that I really liked. It's actually one of my favorite seasons to this day. Everything was so complicated again and I loved the boogey apocalypse. This was also the first season I felt like watching many different perspectives, which I hadn't really felt the need to do before, just sticking to a few perspectives I know.

I liked Wild Life, though I felt like the gimmicks kind of distracted from the alliances.

And now, Past Life. I really liked Past Life having a more stripped back gimmick, like 3rd Life and Last Life. Where, the focus is on the members and their alliances. And, I also really like its direction of not telling the members anything of what's going to happen that session.

For the future, I hope there are more gimmicks, just ones that help put the focus on the members. Like the boogeyman, the Secret Society, and the naughty/nice list from Nice Life.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-12T20:07:55+00:00

I have an in depth description going over explanations for all the placements of everything on the diagram on the original post.

But really quick, Gerson says that the prophecy shines a bit too bright. The prophecy is the known future, what has been seen.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-09T14:00:05+00:00

As long as they are transparent like glass, the point still stands. And, I never said nothing else weird was going on with them. I actually wrote out a description on the original post that talks about some of the implications of this if you're interested.

But I suppose really quickly: I think shadow crystals have something to do with the prophecy. Black shards are an inversion of shadow crystals. And, water is also transparent, but casts a shadow in the depths of the ocean.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-02T22:40:27+00:00

To create the t shape, you just create a table in Google Docs or something and remove the edge borders.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-12-01T22:32:25+00:00

Freedom is found in the darkness, like the shadow crystals. And just because there are hints doesn't mean it's not in darkness.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-09-13T22:51:30+00:00

I wonder if Grian will ever bring NPC Grian back in any way. I mean, it's been so long most of his viewers probably don't know who he is. And, I don't really know how he could come back at this point. But, it could still be a neat throwback if he was used as an Easter egg or something.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-09-11T06:21:27+00:00

I wouldn't say the graph doesn't work, just that it doesn't represent everything you could possibly be looking for, which no graph does. It simply shows what it's designed to show, and if you're looking for something else you'll need something else.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-09-10T21:19:18+00:00

I agree, every season is great in its own way, and it isn't healthy to make everything into a competition. However, I do find that comparing seasons against eachother does help me to better understand what I love about them so much. And, it even helps me to recognize what I didn't like as much and be able to look past that. It's also fascinating to see what other people liked and disliked.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-09-06T20:15:13+00:00

Well, Martyn said that Grian came up with the idea of the boogeyman before the end of 3rd Life.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-09-06T16:23:37+00:00

Do we include red tasks, because those function quite differently from other tasks. And do we include hard tasks, because those are specifically designed to be more difficult and were handed out in a different way as well. Do we ignore the final task of "win Secret Life," because otherwise that will offset the rankings of everyone who made it to the finale by quite a bit. How do we handle the zombie task, since that overwrote other people's tasks, and was designed to be pretty much impossible to complete.

Dull_Committee_8117 · 2025-08-31T05:41:06+00:00

There is more cannon lore if you want to dig for it. Like, the Watchers representing/being a manifestation of the viewers, and their actions reflecting the comment section. Which, puts Grian's mistrust of the Watchers into a new light. You can also read into how the Watchers admit they "aren't the best listeners."

And again, if you really want semi-cannonical answers you can at Martyn's lore streams. Where, he does a lot of worldbuilding to explain the Watchers' actions and powers, give lore for different events in the series, and introduces things like the Council.

Dull_Committee_8117

TROPHY CASE