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feralphoenixRebloggable on tumblr here!
CONTENT WARNING FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay contains discussion of reproductive abuse, infanticide, child abuse, and many of the darker aspects of Hallownest’s society.
ALSO, AS USUAL: I read Hollow Knight as anti-colonialist fiction and all of my meta approaches the text from that angle. If you come from a Christian cultural background (regardless of whether you currently practice the religion or not), some of the concepts I am going to discuss may be challenging for you. Please be responsible in your choice whether to engage with this content, and also, be respectful here or wherever else you’re discussing this essay. Thanks.
THE ONE WHO WALKED AWAY FROM OMELAS: A Closer Look At White Lady
Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, first published in 1973, is a staple of literature and ethics courses in North American education (at the very least; English speakers from other countries chime in as to whether they made you do this one as well and how many times they made you do it. Personally I got assigned it like 10 or 15 times). In case some members of my audience are unfamiliar with the story or don’t remember it and are thus wondering why tf I’m bringing it up in a Hollow Knight essay, I’ll briefly summarize it now.
Omelas, the story’s narrator informs us, is a perfectly utopian city where everyone lives in bliss, the people are intelligent and cultured, all resources are distributed communally, and there are no kings, soldiers, priests, or slaves. The narrator explains to us that it is a fairy tale-like ideal place of peace and serenity, and then tells us that the city’s utopian splendor hinges on using one unfortunate child as a scapegoat, keeping this child in a state of neverending filth and misery. Citizens of Omelas are shown this child and told the cost of their utopia when they come of age. Most of them overcome their shock and accept this reality because it secures the happiness of everyone else in the city, but a minority of citizens choose to leave Omelas rather than benefit from the child’s suffering.
In United States schooling this story is most often taught as a “what would you do if you lived in Omelas?” sort of hypothetical moral dilemma, and therefore there tends to be a lot of offense about why no one rescues the child in question. This method of teaching the story cleanly sidesteps that Le Guin means Omelas as a metaphor for the way that Westernized, capitalist societies and their many conveniences are uniformly built upon atrocities and oppression. For just a few US examples, we have class inequality, the use of prisoners as slave labor, and the way our military has exploited and continues to exploit Middle Eastern and South American countries for natural resources and to maintain political dominance. Once you learn of your own country’s evils, Le Guin asks, will you accept them for the sake of your own comfort, or will you find some way to take a stand against them, find a way to refuse participating in or benefiting from them?
This is metaphorical in the real world, of course, but less so in Hallownest: The house the Pale King built, demonstrably far from utopian though it is, very literally hinges on the abuse and abandonment of a single child for its survival.
( tl;dr hk fandom needs to drink its respecting women juice )
CONTENT WARNING FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay contains discussion of reproductive abuse, infanticide, child abuse, and many of the darker aspects of Hallownest’s society.
ALSO, AS USUAL: I read Hollow Knight as anti-colonialist fiction and all of my meta approaches the text from that angle. If you come from a Christian cultural background (regardless of whether you currently practice the religion or not), some of the concepts I am going to discuss may be challenging for you. Please be responsible in your choice whether to engage with this content, and also, be respectful here or wherever else you’re discussing this essay. Thanks.
THE ONE WHO WALKED AWAY FROM OMELAS: A Closer Look At White Lady
Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, first published in 1973, is a staple of literature and ethics courses in North American education (at the very least; English speakers from other countries chime in as to whether they made you do this one as well and how many times they made you do it. Personally I got assigned it like 10 or 15 times). In case some members of my audience are unfamiliar with the story or don’t remember it and are thus wondering why tf I’m bringing it up in a Hollow Knight essay, I’ll briefly summarize it now.
Omelas, the story’s narrator informs us, is a perfectly utopian city where everyone lives in bliss, the people are intelligent and cultured, all resources are distributed communally, and there are no kings, soldiers, priests, or slaves. The narrator explains to us that it is a fairy tale-like ideal place of peace and serenity, and then tells us that the city’s utopian splendor hinges on using one unfortunate child as a scapegoat, keeping this child in a state of neverending filth and misery. Citizens of Omelas are shown this child and told the cost of their utopia when they come of age. Most of them overcome their shock and accept this reality because it secures the happiness of everyone else in the city, but a minority of citizens choose to leave Omelas rather than benefit from the child’s suffering.
In United States schooling this story is most often taught as a “what would you do if you lived in Omelas?” sort of hypothetical moral dilemma, and therefore there tends to be a lot of offense about why no one rescues the child in question. This method of teaching the story cleanly sidesteps that Le Guin means Omelas as a metaphor for the way that Westernized, capitalist societies and their many conveniences are uniformly built upon atrocities and oppression. For just a few US examples, we have class inequality, the use of prisoners as slave labor, and the way our military has exploited and continues to exploit Middle Eastern and South American countries for natural resources and to maintain political dominance. Once you learn of your own country’s evils, Le Guin asks, will you accept them for the sake of your own comfort, or will you find some way to take a stand against them, find a way to refuse participating in or benefiting from them?
This is metaphorical in the real world, of course, but less so in Hallownest: The house the Pale King built, demonstrably far from utopian though it is, very literally hinges on the abuse and abandonment of a single child for its survival.
( tl;dr hk fandom needs to drink its respecting women juice )
(no subject)
Jul. 31st, 2021 07:02 pmferalphoenixi was herrahposting the other day and it turned into an informal essay so it's going here too! rebagelable edition is here!
a thing that i really love about hollow knight is that part of its incredibly strict Show Don’t Tell policy means it works a lot in juxtapositions. comparisons and parallels.
like, rather than Telling us what makes for a good and responsible ruler, we get to know about various different heads of state in the various nations of the crater, and we can observe how they handled international relations, public policy, etc and the consequences/effects of their choices, and draw conclusions by ourselves.
there are lots of different parent-child relationships, and sibling relationships, so that we have many examples to compare ghost and their family to.
there are also a number of higher beings around and you can compare them to each other to understand their different approaches to godhood, how they handled being the center of a culture & the responsibilities that entails (radi, unn, tpk) or the ways they sidestepped those roles (white lady, grimm). in addition to forming our opinions of these characters this also contextualizes what ghost does when they attain godhood in the godseeker endings & after the delicate flower variant, in godseeker mode.
like you can use these points of reference for a lot of different analysis topics!!! but one of the things that always Gets Me In My Emotions is the direct juxtaposition between herrah, radiance, and tpk and how differently these three characters handle the cost of fighting Existential Crisis.
( usual My Takes Are Anticolonialist announcement before you keep reading )
a thing that i really love about hollow knight is that part of its incredibly strict Show Don’t Tell policy means it works a lot in juxtapositions. comparisons and parallels.
like, rather than Telling us what makes for a good and responsible ruler, we get to know about various different heads of state in the various nations of the crater, and we can observe how they handled international relations, public policy, etc and the consequences/effects of their choices, and draw conclusions by ourselves.
there are lots of different parent-child relationships, and sibling relationships, so that we have many examples to compare ghost and their family to.
there are also a number of higher beings around and you can compare them to each other to understand their different approaches to godhood, how they handled being the center of a culture & the responsibilities that entails (radi, unn, tpk) or the ways they sidestepped those roles (white lady, grimm). in addition to forming our opinions of these characters this also contextualizes what ghost does when they attain godhood in the godseeker endings & after the delicate flower variant, in godseeker mode.
like you can use these points of reference for a lot of different analysis topics!!! but one of the things that always Gets Me In My Emotions is the direct juxtaposition between herrah, radiance, and tpk and how differently these three characters handle the cost of fighting Existential Crisis.
( usual My Takes Are Anticolonialist announcement before you keep reading )
feralphoenixthis post can be rebageled on tumblr here! the tumblr version's sources aren't footnoted but instead included at the end of each section.
CONTENT WARNING FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay contains discussion of body horror, cancer, and many of the darker aspects of Hallownest’s society.
ALSO, AS USUAL: I read Hollow Knight as anti-colonialist fiction and all of my meta approaches the text from that angle. This essay is strongly critical of the Pale King and Hallownest, and affords sympathy to pre-Hallownest societies & native characters, including Radiance. If you come from a Christian cultural background (regardless of whether you currently practice the religion or not), some of the concepts I am going to discuss may be challenging for you. Please be responsible in your choice whether to engage with this content, and also, be respectful here or wherever else you’re discussing this essay. Thanks.
SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS: The Mechanics of the Infection
If you’ve ever looked through my Hollow Knight tags, you have probably seen me joke about the Infection like a lot, usually along the lines of Radiance casting Level 9 Inflict Tang on Hallownest, or “(radi voice) the End of EVA will continue until you Let My People Go” or some such. In addition to being some of the most beautiful body horror I’ve yet seen in fiction, its appearance also makes it a veritable meme factory.
It is also something that inspires a lot of very wild theorizing amongst fans, because canon tells us WHY the Infection exists but doesn’t ever directly explain WHAT it is. To name just a few of the guesses I’ve seen, people have posited that it could be some sort of pupa juice, or maybe some type of parasitic fungus.
I have my own guess, though, and it’s based on hints we can find in-game. I would like to share it with the class today, so let’s take a quick look through the sauce, starting with what we already know!
( i learned how to code footnotes just for this essay )
CONTENT WARNING FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay contains discussion of body horror, cancer, and many of the darker aspects of Hallownest’s society.
ALSO, AS USUAL: I read Hollow Knight as anti-colonialist fiction and all of my meta approaches the text from that angle. This essay is strongly critical of the Pale King and Hallownest, and affords sympathy to pre-Hallownest societies & native characters, including Radiance. If you come from a Christian cultural background (regardless of whether you currently practice the religion or not), some of the concepts I am going to discuss may be challenging for you. Please be responsible in your choice whether to engage with this content, and also, be respectful here or wherever else you’re discussing this essay. Thanks.
SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS: The Mechanics of the Infection
If you’ve ever looked through my Hollow Knight tags, you have probably seen me joke about the Infection like a lot, usually along the lines of Radiance casting Level 9 Inflict Tang on Hallownest, or “(radi voice) the End of EVA will continue until you Let My People Go” or some such. In addition to being some of the most beautiful body horror I’ve yet seen in fiction, its appearance also makes it a veritable meme factory.
It is also something that inspires a lot of very wild theorizing amongst fans, because canon tells us WHY the Infection exists but doesn’t ever directly explain WHAT it is. To name just a few of the guesses I’ve seen, people have posited that it could be some sort of pupa juice, or maybe some type of parasitic fungus.
I have my own guess, though, and it’s based on hints we can find in-game. I would like to share it with the class today, so let’s take a quick look through the sauce, starting with what we already know!
( i learned how to code footnotes just for this essay )
feralphoenixas usual, crossposted from tungle for accessibility! tumble version can be reblogged from here!
CONTENT WARNING FOR TONIGHTS PROGRAM: today we are discussing the hollow knight boss fight, and all that entails for all the characters involved. relatedly this post does not have anything nice to say about the pale king, so if you’re very protective of his character, you may want to skip it.
FURTHERMORE, i would like to iterate that this essay is working from a place of compassion for ghost, hollow, radiance, AND hornet, because every single one of them is miserable at this point in the game and doesn’t want the events of this boss fight to be happening at all. this post is not an appropriate place to dunk on ANY of them. if you want to do that, please do it elsewhere.
thanks for your understanding.
ALSO, AS USUAL: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of radiance and the moth tribe’s backstory is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay, ty
NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS: Leitmotif & Sound Palette In “Sealed Vessel”
A while back grimmradiance on tumblr made a lovely essay about comparing and contrasting Hollow’s moveset in their Hollow Knight and Pure Vessel boss fights and using what can be gleaned from the differences to speculate about their psychology. It is extremely good, and it made me want to look at the Hollow Knight boss fight my own self through one of my own areas of expertise, meaning music!
As we are all well aware, Christopher Larkin's soundtrack to Hollow Knight rules ass. There are two specific ways in which it rules ass that are relevant to this essay: Leitmotif, and sound palette.
Quick rundown for folks who aren’t familiar with these terms: A leitmotif is a melody associated with a character or event or mood that's incorporated into songs in different ways based on what's happening in the story. Undertale is an example of a game with an incredibly strong use of leitmotif that’s really only possible because Toby Fox is both the composer and the game creator, so he can synchronize the subtleties of the writing with music and scene scripting too.
The phrase “sound palette” can have a lot of meanings, but in this case I’m using it to refer to specific instruments or groups of instruments that are associated with certain characters. If you’ve watched Steven Universe and seen interviews/production commentary by its composer team Aivi & Surasshu, you’ll hear them talking about part of their approach to scoring episodes being how each main character is represented by certain instruments: Steven with the triangle wave, Pearl with jazz piano, and so on.
Hollow Knight is a small team project rather than a one-person show, so Christopher Larkin can’t go quite AS over-the-top with leitmotif integration as Toby Fox can on simple virtue of Team Cherry having to communicate what they want to him. But Larkin is Hollow Knight's sound designer as well as its composer, so he folds leitmotif and character sound palette together with striking use of stems to create a very immersive and cinematic musical experience that enhances HK’s story and gameplay.
This brings us back to the track Sealed Vessel, which has EXTREMELY tight and cinematic sound design and uses leitmotif and sound palette to not just sock players in the feelings during a charged and dramatic boss fight, but also tell us a lot about what Hollow and Radiance are experiencing emotionally, especially with the gameplay in mind.
So, let’s play the soundtrack version of Sealed Vessel (and some other stuff) and talk about what’s going on in the game during it!
You may want to get out your copy of the OST or visit Christopher Larkin’s Bandcamp page so that you can listen along.
( this piece rules and i am UPSET lmao )
CONTENT WARNING FOR TONIGHTS PROGRAM: today we are discussing the hollow knight boss fight, and all that entails for all the characters involved. relatedly this post does not have anything nice to say about the pale king, so if you’re very protective of his character, you may want to skip it.
FURTHERMORE, i would like to iterate that this essay is working from a place of compassion for ghost, hollow, radiance, AND hornet, because every single one of them is miserable at this point in the game and doesn’t want the events of this boss fight to be happening at all. this post is not an appropriate place to dunk on ANY of them. if you want to do that, please do it elsewhere.
thanks for your understanding.
ALSO, AS USUAL: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of radiance and the moth tribe’s backstory is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay, ty
NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS: Leitmotif & Sound Palette In “Sealed Vessel”
A while back grimmradiance on tumblr made a lovely essay about comparing and contrasting Hollow’s moveset in their Hollow Knight and Pure Vessel boss fights and using what can be gleaned from the differences to speculate about their psychology. It is extremely good, and it made me want to look at the Hollow Knight boss fight my own self through one of my own areas of expertise, meaning music!
As we are all well aware, Christopher Larkin's soundtrack to Hollow Knight rules ass. There are two specific ways in which it rules ass that are relevant to this essay: Leitmotif, and sound palette.
Quick rundown for folks who aren’t familiar with these terms: A leitmotif is a melody associated with a character or event or mood that's incorporated into songs in different ways based on what's happening in the story. Undertale is an example of a game with an incredibly strong use of leitmotif that’s really only possible because Toby Fox is both the composer and the game creator, so he can synchronize the subtleties of the writing with music and scene scripting too.
The phrase “sound palette” can have a lot of meanings, but in this case I’m using it to refer to specific instruments or groups of instruments that are associated with certain characters. If you’ve watched Steven Universe and seen interviews/production commentary by its composer team Aivi & Surasshu, you’ll hear them talking about part of their approach to scoring episodes being how each main character is represented by certain instruments: Steven with the triangle wave, Pearl with jazz piano, and so on.
Hollow Knight is a small team project rather than a one-person show, so Christopher Larkin can’t go quite AS over-the-top with leitmotif integration as Toby Fox can on simple virtue of Team Cherry having to communicate what they want to him. But Larkin is Hollow Knight's sound designer as well as its composer, so he folds leitmotif and character sound palette together with striking use of stems to create a very immersive and cinematic musical experience that enhances HK’s story and gameplay.
This brings us back to the track Sealed Vessel, which has EXTREMELY tight and cinematic sound design and uses leitmotif and sound palette to not just sock players in the feelings during a charged and dramatic boss fight, but also tell us a lot about what Hollow and Radiance are experiencing emotionally, especially with the gameplay in mind.
So, let’s play the soundtrack version of Sealed Vessel (and some other stuff) and talk about what’s going on in the game during it!
You may want to get out your copy of the OST or visit Christopher Larkin’s Bandcamp page so that you can listen along.
( this piece rules and i am UPSET lmao )
feralphoenixcrossposted from tungle for accessibility purposes! you can reblog the original version from here!
CONTENT WARNINGS FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay discusses canon-typical body horror and bodily boundary violations, with some side mentions of colonialism.
all game screencaps are mine. the screencap of the wiki is from the “developer notes” (style guide) section of the “cut content” page.
ALSO: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay, ty
HOWMST BELL THE CAT? - A treatise on one aspect of how the Pale King sealed the Radiance
We understand more or less how the Pale King’s plan was supposed to work. Stuff Radiance into a no-thoughts-head-empty and silent Pure Vessel to trap, isolate, and silence her, both putting an end to the Infection and killing her for good. Stick that vessel in the Black Egg, which harnesses Void BS to both keep the vessel alive indefinitely and to cover Hallownest (and its neighbors) in a time-defying stasis so that the Pale King could successfully hoard his favorite shiny FOREVER, threatened by nothing. Then put a seal on the Black Egg to prevent anyone from getting inside and harming said vessel while it’s strung up and helpless. And THEN, put protective seals on the anchors (the Dreamers) to the Black Egg seal to protect them from any external harm: The stasis means the Dreamers won’t die of old age or starvation.
All in all, a pretty foolproof plan!
…except that the Dreamers are still vulnerable to having their minds breached with the moths’ magic… and the Pale King failed to take into account that his Pure Vessel was a person actually and the amount of toxic stress his training/upbringing put on them made them REALLY POORLY SUITED FOR THEIR JOB… and also that killing 99% of his million children and turning the Abyss into a landfill for baby corpses would take enough of an emotional toll on his wife and #1 enabler the White Lady that she would walk out on him, ensuring he’d only ever have one shot at this whole deal…
Basically it’s the sort of plan that an emotionally constipated, low-empathy sort of guy who pours all his points into INT and has a big fat zero for WIS might think is foolproof. It has big holes in it that the Pale King did not consider to be big holes until he got owned by the various consequences of his actions and fell down said big holes, making the shocked pikachu face all the while. Rip in die, my guy.
( we already know WHOMST belled the cat. its HOW that fills me with Fear )
CONTENT WARNINGS FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay discusses canon-typical body horror and bodily boundary violations, with some side mentions of colonialism.
all game screencaps are mine. the screencap of the wiki is from the “developer notes” (style guide) section of the “cut content” page.
ALSO: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay, ty
HOWMST BELL THE CAT? - A treatise on one aspect of how the Pale King sealed the Radiance
We understand more or less how the Pale King’s plan was supposed to work. Stuff Radiance into a no-thoughts-head-empty and silent Pure Vessel to trap, isolate, and silence her, both putting an end to the Infection and killing her for good. Stick that vessel in the Black Egg, which harnesses Void BS to both keep the vessel alive indefinitely and to cover Hallownest (and its neighbors) in a time-defying stasis so that the Pale King could successfully hoard his favorite shiny FOREVER, threatened by nothing. Then put a seal on the Black Egg to prevent anyone from getting inside and harming said vessel while it’s strung up and helpless. And THEN, put protective seals on the anchors (the Dreamers) to the Black Egg seal to protect them from any external harm: The stasis means the Dreamers won’t die of old age or starvation.
All in all, a pretty foolproof plan!
…except that the Dreamers are still vulnerable to having their minds breached with the moths’ magic… and the Pale King failed to take into account that his Pure Vessel was a person actually and the amount of toxic stress his training/upbringing put on them made them REALLY POORLY SUITED FOR THEIR JOB… and also that killing 99% of his million children and turning the Abyss into a landfill for baby corpses would take enough of an emotional toll on his wife and #1 enabler the White Lady that she would walk out on him, ensuring he’d only ever have one shot at this whole deal…
Basically it’s the sort of plan that an emotionally constipated, low-empathy sort of guy who pours all his points into INT and has a big fat zero for WIS might think is foolproof. It has big holes in it that the Pale King did not consider to be big holes until he got owned by the various consequences of his actions and fell down said big holes, making the shocked pikachu face all the while. Rip in die, my guy.
( we already know WHOMST belled the cat. its HOW that fills me with Fear )
feralphoenixcrossposted from tungle for accessibility purposes! you can reblog the original version from here!
CONTENT WARNINGS FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay discusses colonialism and genocide both in real life and the fictional depictions in Hollow Knight, as well as racism in the zombie horror genre and in fandom.
ALSO: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay
SONGS OF RESISTANCE: THE VIEW MYLA GRANTS US OF HALLOWNEST’S MOTHS
In this house we are all love Myla.
Well, in all fairness, there are probably plenty of Hollow Knight fans who aren’t interested in her character, since which fictional characters one attaches to is always a matter of personal preference. But she’s still well-loved for a minor NPC and inspires a high level of devotion in her fans. There’s nothing that whips folks into a frenzy like a cute character you can’t do anything to help, and unlike some other characters in Hollow Knight Myla’s fate leaves no room for ambiguity. Once you pick up the Crystal Heart you’re left with only two choices: Avoid her, or kill her.
A lot of Hollow Knight’s world is designed to make you care about it so that it will hurt more when Ghost’s violent skillset proves too limited to save something or someone. The consequences of Hallownest’s founding and policies have directly or indirectly caused a great deal of damage to everything, and chief among those consequences with massive damage and a wide splash range is the Infection. Much has been said elsewhere by other people about Hollow Knight’s predominating mood being a struggle against futility, with Ghost arriving at the eleventh hour and every new tragedy designed to make the player more desperate to find something actionable, only finding out by trial and error what’s beyond your personal ability to save.
Myla, in that sense, is a typical example of that worldbuilding. She’s a particular kind of stock character in the zombie horror genre, the innocent who falls victim to the plague and cannot be saved, wrenching audience hearts and demonstrating the stakes.
But Hollow Knight plays with the trappings of zombie horror in a very unusual way, one I find thematically fascinating.
( to you who love to cry about myla and/or the moth tribe i say: pspspspspsps )
CONTENT WARNINGS FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay discusses colonialism and genocide both in real life and the fictional depictions in Hollow Knight, as well as racism in the zombie horror genre and in fandom.
ALSO: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay
SONGS OF RESISTANCE: THE VIEW MYLA GRANTS US OF HALLOWNEST’S MOTHS
In this house we are all love Myla.
Well, in all fairness, there are probably plenty of Hollow Knight fans who aren’t interested in her character, since which fictional characters one attaches to is always a matter of personal preference. But she’s still well-loved for a minor NPC and inspires a high level of devotion in her fans. There’s nothing that whips folks into a frenzy like a cute character you can’t do anything to help, and unlike some other characters in Hollow Knight Myla’s fate leaves no room for ambiguity. Once you pick up the Crystal Heart you’re left with only two choices: Avoid her, or kill her.
A lot of Hollow Knight’s world is designed to make you care about it so that it will hurt more when Ghost’s violent skillset proves too limited to save something or someone. The consequences of Hallownest’s founding and policies have directly or indirectly caused a great deal of damage to everything, and chief among those consequences with massive damage and a wide splash range is the Infection. Much has been said elsewhere by other people about Hollow Knight’s predominating mood being a struggle against futility, with Ghost arriving at the eleventh hour and every new tragedy designed to make the player more desperate to find something actionable, only finding out by trial and error what’s beyond your personal ability to save.
Myla, in that sense, is a typical example of that worldbuilding. She’s a particular kind of stock character in the zombie horror genre, the innocent who falls victim to the plague and cannot be saved, wrenching audience hearts and demonstrating the stakes.
But Hollow Knight plays with the trappings of zombie horror in a very unusual way, one I find thematically fascinating.
( to you who love to cry about myla and/or the moth tribe i say: pspspspspsps )
feralphoenixthis was on my to-do list anyway but some kind commenters on we mimir you mimir asked for it so Here It Is. please join me in being big sad about cartoon moths. will probably be crossposted to tumblr sometime later.
ETA: you can reblog this on tumble here. same "clown shoes off while youre visiting my house" rules naturally apply
CONTENT WARNINGS FOR discussion of pseudo-zombie plagues and associated body horror, colonialism and genocide, horrible things that happened in real life Australian history... you know, the usual topics that come up when I'm talking about Hollow Knight, since this is shit that's happened to my people too many times over the past (checks watch) 4000ish years so when I recognize it in fiction I kinda want to talk about it lol.
"TPK did nothing wrong/meant well and was working for the greater good" side of TPK standom & "TPK and the Radiance are equally bad!!! She's probably way worse than him!!!" theorists please just give this a pass. There is nothing for you here. "TPK sucks and everything is his fault and he has no redeeming traits, However, We Love This Horrible Twink With All Our Hearts Anyway" TPK stans who aren't Radi haters are wholly welcome tho, you are wonderful and I respect you guys so much.
finally if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i'm discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay please ok thanks
BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE NOT PREPARED TO TRY: The Radiance Doesn't Deal Contact Damage And That's Kind Of Fucked Up And Sad
The vast majority of hostile creatures in Hollow Knight deal contact damage: This is to say, if the Wandering Knight (who I'll probably spend most of this essay calling by their affectionate fan name Ghost) touches a hostile creature, this harms them.
There are exceptions to this rule. The most notable and most oft-memed example is the game's literal actual true final boss, the Radiance. Not only will Ghost not be harmed by running into any part of her body, but during her stagger animation, where she drops to the boss arena floor on her front with her whole body splayed out, Ghost still isn't harmed if she lands on top of them! What's more, this holds true for her full-power form Absolute Radiance, the secret final boss of the Godmaster quest/endings.
A lot of people find this amusing, because it's a little absurd that a game's final boss is an exception to such a consistent element of gameplay! Hence all the "haha moth too soft and fluffy for contact damage" jokes. It is objective facts that Radi is very soft and very fluffy, so it's very easy to understand why people don't overthink this too much.
Thinking about things I like in gross detail is unfortunately my hobby. When it comes to Hollow Knight this usually leads to me making myself really sad. I'd like to share the fruits of my theorizing with the class, so other people can be sad with me.
( dear fellow radi lovers come eat )
ETA: you can reblog this on tumble here. same "clown shoes off while youre visiting my house" rules naturally apply
CONTENT WARNINGS FOR discussion of pseudo-zombie plagues and associated body horror, colonialism and genocide, horrible things that happened in real life Australian history... you know, the usual topics that come up when I'm talking about Hollow Knight, since this is shit that's happened to my people too many times over the past (checks watch) 4000ish years so when I recognize it in fiction I kinda want to talk about it lol.
"TPK did nothing wrong/meant well and was working for the greater good" side of TPK standom & "TPK and the Radiance are equally bad!!! She's probably way worse than him!!!" theorists please just give this a pass. There is nothing for you here. "TPK sucks and everything is his fault and he has no redeeming traits, However, We Love This Horrible Twink With All Our Hearts Anyway" TPK stans who aren't Radi haters are wholly welcome tho, you are wonderful and I respect you guys so much.
finally if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i'm discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay please ok thanks
BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE NOT PREPARED TO TRY: The Radiance Doesn't Deal Contact Damage And That's Kind Of Fucked Up And Sad
The vast majority of hostile creatures in Hollow Knight deal contact damage: This is to say, if the Wandering Knight (who I'll probably spend most of this essay calling by their affectionate fan name Ghost) touches a hostile creature, this harms them.
There are exceptions to this rule. The most notable and most oft-memed example is the game's literal actual true final boss, the Radiance. Not only will Ghost not be harmed by running into any part of her body, but during her stagger animation, where she drops to the boss arena floor on her front with her whole body splayed out, Ghost still isn't harmed if she lands on top of them! What's more, this holds true for her full-power form Absolute Radiance, the secret final boss of the Godmaster quest/endings.
A lot of people find this amusing, because it's a little absurd that a game's final boss is an exception to such a consistent element of gameplay! Hence all the "haha moth too soft and fluffy for contact damage" jokes. It is objective facts that Radi is very soft and very fluffy, so it's very easy to understand why people don't overthink this too much.
Thinking about things I like in gross detail is unfortunately my hobby. When it comes to Hollow Knight this usually leads to me making myself really sad. I'd like to share the fruits of my theorizing with the class, so other people can be sad with me.
( dear fellow radi lovers come eat )
deltarune reaction posts
Nov. 23rd, 2018 01:59 amferalphoenixaaaaaaand to round out those rehomed posts from tumblr, here's a conglomerate of my two major reaction posts to deltarune. the first one was a collection of my thoughts from the first time i played the game, which i posted as soon as the spoiler moratorium was up, and was originally posted at this link.
the second one was from about a week later, and was originally posted here. image sources are my own screencaps of deltarune/the artbook pdf, temmie's post of the opening cgs, caps of manlybadasshero's let's plays, and my own photo of my copy of the little booklet that comes with the physical version of undertale.
( OH MY GOD DELTARUNE )
( OH MY GOD DELTARUNE: THE SQUEAKQUEL )
the second one was from about a week later, and was originally posted here. image sources are my own screencaps of deltarune/the artbook pdf, temmie's post of the opening cgs, caps of manlybadasshero's let's plays, and my own photo of my copy of the little booklet that comes with the physical version of undertale.
( OH MY GOD DELTARUNE )
( OH MY GOD DELTARUNE: THE SQUEAKQUEL )
Undertale Classpect Headcanons
Nov. 22nd, 2018 02:27 pmferalphoenixone more rehomed undertale essay for the road......... this was also originally posted to my main tumblr @feralphoenix in 2016. it initially accompanied an illustration of frisk, chara, and asriel in god tier pjs, which can still be found on page 23 of this log on pixiv.
( classpects meta )
( classpects meta )
feralphoenixanother rehomed essay due to Tumblr Having Problems. this was originally hosted here. i did an illustrated version of it for japanese audiences which can be viewed here on pixiv (and which was also originally posted on my art blog at this link).
( a look at the integration of leitmotif and narrative in undertale and hopes and dreams )
( a look at the integration of leitmotif and narrative in undertale and hopes and dreams )
feralphoenixanother rehomed essay due to Whatever's Going On With Tumblr. this was originally posted here.
( on chara & frisk as rpg player & protagonist allegory )
( on chara & frisk as rpg player & protagonist allegory )
On Soul Virtues & the Undertale Main Cast
Nov. 21st, 2018 03:11 pmferalphoenixtumblr appears to be Having A Problem so i'm going to rehome a few of my essays here just in case that never gets solved lmao......... this one was originally posted here on my Ye Olde Main Tumbly.
( soul virtues & the undertale main cast )
( soul virtues & the undertale main cast )
