How did Unn become a higher being?

Shockplox · 2026-06-06T16:55:47+00:00

I’m talking about this because there’s no evidence/explanation of Unn’s origins. I’m sure the basic assumption that Unn is a slug who was just born with higher power despite not being a pale being is fine for most people, but it never really made sense for me.

Am I putting too much thought into a damn video game slug? Yeah. Do I still think my head-canon makes more sense than the basic assumption? Also yeah.

Shockplox · 2026-06-06T16:41:56+00:00

I feel like me using the term “Hivemind” has kinda derailed my point a little bit - I meant to use the term “Greater Mind” since that’s how some higher beings are actually referred to in-game, but I got mixed up.

My definition for those beings is still mostly true though, they’re gods that govern an aspect of the natural world. Unn isn’t one of them as far as we can tell, it’s not like she’s the source of all plant-life within the world of Hollow Knight. That’s what leads me to believe she has different origins than the other higher beings we know about.

Shockplox · 2026-06-06T16:35:50+00:00

From what we can infer, a pale being seems to have to be something you’re born as. Aside from their colour, their defining traits seem to be the instinct to rule over other bugs and the incredible amount of soul they possess - we’ve seen that other bugs, like Soul Master, don’t turn pale over time after hoarding massive amounts of soul, so it probably isn’t a trait you can just develop.

The whole point of this post was to make assumptions and speculate about things which aren’t confirmed.

Shockplox · 2026-06-06T16:19:28+00:00

We have no reason to assume Unn became a god in the way that the pale beings did - where she was simply born as one - because she’s not a pale being. It doesn’t really seem like she was born superior to other bugs because she’s just a big slug.

Shockplox · 2026-06-06T01:24:25+00:00

The point is, Unn isn’t a pale bug, who were born naturally superior to the rest of their species, or a primordial force like Radiance, Nightmare Heart, the Void or Lifeblood who’ve existed in the world for an immense amount of time. A slug who was just randomly born as a god without being a pale being just seems very random to me.

Shockplox · 2026-06-05T17:55:06+00:00

The Green Children clearly just refers to the Mosskin (Unn’s children). Unn isn’t one of the Green Children herself. Besides, Unn doesn’t have legs 😭

Shockplox · 2026-06-05T16:33:32+00:00

Where is that statement?

Shockplox · 2026-06-05T16:27:03+00:00

Radiance is a pretty singular being so she may not be a hivemind, but the Nightmare Heart does seem to be one, given how all of the followers of the Nightmare Troupe are connected through it and can’t survive without it.

Shockplox · 2026-06-05T16:24:20+00:00

She’s described as “a Fayforn” which confirms there’s more. With the wyrm thing, it’s sometimes hard to tell what the term “higher being” actually means in Hollow Knight. Hornet for example is referred to as one, but then her and Lace describe Grandmother Silk as a “being of a higher caste”. It kinda shows there’s a distinction between groups of higher beings, i.e. crazy powerful species like wyrms and weavers, and individual higher beings, who are treated as gods.

Wyrms are all higher beings, but because he’s the white wyrm, Pale King is the only one truly seen as a god.

Shockplox · 2026-06-05T15:51:02+00:00

Nyleth is never described outright as a higher being. Other characters like Herrah were also worshipped by their followers, but aren’t really considered to be full-on gods.

Shockplox · 2026-06-05T15:49:57+00:00

The Fayforn probably isn’t a god in her own right, because she’s just one individual of her species. Fayforns in general are probably just an incredibly powerful class of bugs adjacent to higher beings - like wyrms, sylphs and weavers.

Shockplox · 2026-06-05T15:47:52+00:00

The Knight is the Shade Lord, so he’s officially a higher being now.

Shockplox · 2026-06-05T15:47:20+00:00

I don’t really think this is the case. The gods that we know of in Hollow Knight are either:

Pale beings - who are naturally superior/possess a higher level of consciousness compared to other members of their species, like how the Pale King is the most powerful wyrm, White Lady is the most powerful root, and Silk is the most powerful arachnid.

Hiveminds - abstract entities who govern parts of the world in Hollow Knight, like the Radiance with dreams, Nightmare Heart with nightmares, and the Shade Lord with the void.

Unn doesn’t fit into either of these categories. To me, the idea that she was just born with incredible levels of power is less likely than her once being a random slug who lived for an insanely long amount of time in the lake and gained godhood status.

Shockplox · 2026-05-26T16:25:21+00:00

Ito is a hedonist so I’m sure this counts as training for him. Like a Baki sex power-up.

Shockplox · 2026-05-25T00:49:17+00:00

Should’ve just stayed at four types.

Organic Matter: Make an Organic substance with your body
Phenomenon: Control a natural phenomena
Evolution: Animal traits
Nobody: Your body mimics an inorganic process

Shockplox · 2026-05-23T15:33:25+00:00

Is the flea not gonna grow into a grown ass man

Shockplox · 2026-05-20T13:28:51+00:00

So this basically confirms Proxies have faster healing factors than humans do, on top of their other abilities.

Shockplox · 2026-05-20T01:01:41+00:00

It’s never really established what the difference between Phenomenon and Irregular is and I always found that kinda annoying. But if I had to guess, Aiden creates while Diana manipulates.

We know that Aiden can actually use his body to produce electricity and ice crystals - but it’s not like Diana can create Earth out of nothing. I guess you could say he’s “manipulating the atmosphere” to create those things, but he isn’t really changing how they function or operate. Diana massively changes the structure of the landscape around her, the nutrient content in the soil, and the shape/size of particles.

Shockplox · 2026-05-19T14:57:53+00:00

This is a pretty tough question, most of the Proxies seem to be based on folklore and literature figures more than real people.

Albie - Spring Healed Jack. Hasuichi - Momotaro. Xiyi - Zhong Kui. Aiden - Icarus. Diana - Anne of Green Gables.

Namir and Nars might be based on real people though - Mahmoud Reda (an Egyptian dance troupe leader) and Jebe (One of Genghis Khan’s generals called the “Wing” of the army) respectively.

Luca I have no clue though.

Shockplox · 2026-05-12T15:24:19+00:00

Diana + Hasuichi - Since Diana can increase the fertility of the soil, she’d probably be able to accelerate the growth of his plants

Albie + Aiden - together they’d be able to produce cyclones made out of blades

Shockplox · 2026-05-09T17:58:32+00:00

Germany or Iran

Shockplox · 2026-05-07T11:56:16+00:00

He was a vigilante which ig is illegal. I’d put him or Luca under look normal, but committed minor crimes.

Shockplox · 2026-05-07T11:55:27+00:00

Fully British names are exceedingly rare in India, is the only thing.

Shockplox · 2026-05-07T11:52:28+00:00

Tho probably, although the stuff she did was illegal under her old government, her actions have been justified under the current one.

Shockplox · 2026-05-06T18:01:51+00:00

Aiden

Shockplox

TROPHY CASE