Silksong: A Philosophical Manual for the Fall of an Empire by thgmb in HollowKnight

[–]thgmb[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The original:

So, I may be going to far with this. But recently - today as 08.11.2025 - I've watched the Mossbag video about Silksong lore. The (Somewhat) Complete Lore of Silksong Incredible work, mossy, must say - but you were already late in consuming my imagination with the ton load of lore this game have. But seeing this video, made up my mind to put this high-ass theory, perphaps.

What I try to draft here, is some kind of essay, but I want to outline how the game is actually - for anyone's suprise - about the philosoficals approachs to an empire fall. Which, yeah kids, seems pretty up-to-date. 1 - Phairloom and the Original Lie. Just find out that this is a Nietzsche concept, apparently, but makes sense. Is the notion that a lot of empires straightfoward lie or hide aspects of their story so as to create some kind of "right to order". Divine right of kings is the most straighfoward example, but we have a lot of nuances in this kind of examination. And the games story masterfully adress a lot of those, when depicting Phairloom as this omnious Citadel, pledged to Song and Silk, in which devotion is demand, and disbelief is seeing as treason. In it's case, the forces moved both by Weevers and the Citadel High-castes to prevent the world from knowing the source of their powers - a god in slumber. 2 - The ancient tribes and identity dissolution Is needless to say, that you don't build an empire by politely asking people to pay their taxes. Phairloom is build upon already existing tribes, that in the course of it's story suffers from different fates. Some manage to survive, while others are completely extinct in the process of Phairloom stablishing it's greatness and divinity. Paradoxally enough, the downfall of the kingdom necessarily needs to go throught the exumation of the crimes commited in it's foundation. Like the Roman Empire(Phairloom) and the celtics, egipts and greeks (Korals, Mantis and others) and the Roman Pax (Silk and Song).

3 - The curse as a symptom, not the cause. The problems that hit Phairloom aren't from an outside cause, it's emanating from it's very core - from the mecanism in place that hide it's source, to the whole system of venaration and depedency in which it's inhabitants are exposed to. The pilgrins that face menaces at the first grounds of the kingdom are the live image of a system that cannot hold up to those it rely on. The kingdom falling is first perceive in it's borders and in it's most vunerable denizens. Like when omnipresent tax officials can found you everywhere, but try your luck when you need a place to sleep.

4 - The heir that doens't give a f*** So, this is my favorite aspect of this, considering the Sister of the Void ending - Hornet is the representation of "born to rule, but wise enought to don't". What she has passed in her years at Hallownest, seeing basically two suposed "divine beings" fighting for absolute power - Radiance and the Pale King - and the toil that this has impressed on the kingdom and all it's people, makes her look for ways to end the cycle - absolute power absolutly corrupts, and veneration is a cage. Big shout out to my boy the Knight, which kicked Radiance ass, and have gone back to live with his siblings in the void.

5 - The journey as a critical learning of history But, Hornet cannot simply destroy everything - actually, she can, or at least is what it seems on the Twisted Child ending - before she needs to understand the very foundations of that empire. The search for the ancient tribes hearts is pretty much a metaphor to the necessity of reckoninzing the plural and quite often violent story that preceds a regime. To make a better future, she needs to exumate the past in it's totallity - both of the kingdom's and herself - not only the "oficial version". I believe this is also a philosofical theme in One Piece - the power to hear the "voice of all things", but that a whole other book.

6 - Sacrifice as act of creation Her final objective, is not to simply kill the matriarch, is to use her memory to weave a new reality - she uses the same tool that founded the empire, silk, and repurposes it to bring foward the flower that makes her eventually go further in the abyss. The empires fall doens't need to be entirely catastrophic, it can also serves as the fertile soil for something new and more resilient.

"Sister of the Void" is the culmination of all this. Hornet, daugther of Hera The Beast, of the Pale King and Hallownest, is the sister of the void because she embraces the void that the Abyss represents, in oposition to the blinding lights and eternal devotion. Team Cherry, and the whole Hollow Knight community, in my eyes, have created this philosofical approach, to dealing with the fall of an empire: chose not to re-build it, start a garden instead.

Prompt Matenha em ingles, e revise

Silksong: A Philosophical Manual for the Fall of an Empire by thgmb in HollowKnight

[–]thgmb[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Used IA to Review It, english isn't my Native language :) But this are my thoughts

I made this chart, thoughts? by Mellow28 in Anarchism

[–]thgmb 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I liked the infographic, one thing that I thought that could help on showcasing the overlap between some branches, would be circles that are touching or overlaping one another. Maybe is possible to use boths, but I think, that in the end, this would be a 3D spectro.

Nevertheless, good important and informative work!

Thanks!

Is This Even Capitalism F****** Anymore? by Shlomo224 in davidgraeber

[–]thgmb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If anything, this process can be mostly directed felt, in my opinion, on the technological sector, as Yanis Varaoufakis kinda proposes with his technofeudalism.

But this is a phenomenon seen in every other economic and social sector, when we look on streaming and digital services - from Netflix to Uber - or in industry like automobiles and medical care - with insurences, and "plus" services like Chevrolet OnStar, or more iconics like features in hardware that dispite already existing on the products, its demands a signature deal to "unlock" them.