Since the Hollow Knight wiki does such a great job, I'll be focussing on charm builds, lore/theories, and fun things I find!
My charm build consists of the following: Sprintmaster, Dashmaster, Sharpshadow, and Quickslash. I'll then use the remaining three slots for quick focus, unbreakable strength, or some combination of weaversong, grubsong, nailmaster's glory, soul catcher, and unbreakable heart.
I enjoy playing glass canons and relying on dodging, so my builds (this one included) tend to be mobility-focussed. Sharp shadow in particular helps me deal damage with every dodge, and stay close to the ennemies so I can keep slashing (quickslash makes it extra fun here!)
Team Cherry is the primary source.
The Hollow Knight Wiki is a delightful secondary source, that draws from Team Cherry Interviews, Cut content, and Gameplay.
Youtube. Mossbag is well known in the lore sphere of the community. While I hold professional respect for him, I am steering clear of his analysis so as to provide my own without influence.
The Wyrm arrives in what will become Kingdom's Edge. There, it casts off its shell and becomes the Pale King.
The pale King presumably founds Hallownest. A diverse kingdom that hosts a variety of people, including the moth tribe, and mosskin.
What remains are echoes of this age. Hallownest was a major centre of trade, research, and culture. The crossroads were constantly in use, cariages and elevators in motion day and night. The stagways were built and maintained, stags dutifully carying passengers to and fro. An archive was built in Fog Canyon, and they devised methods to preserve information through electricity and biology. Jellyfish like life forms were created and somehow encoded, serving as living, immortal records that are still intact today. Within the capital was built another research institute, the Soul Sanctum. There, scholars studied the soul, and grasped how to store and use it. Hallownest also had well defined social casts. The common people would live with merchant caravans, construct and maintain infrastructure, and extract ressources. Those of the middle or upper class would reside in the city proper. Finally, the upper echelon resided in the White palace, serving the king directly as attendants and members of the court. Culturally, much is lost. We know they had a star, Songstress Marisa. But we don't know of any other performers, and her's is one of only three surviving musical works. The other musical works we have are a lullaby sung by the warrior dream No Eyes, and a theme that was looped in trams and certain rest areas. One can find a painted sign advertising the songstress. This is the only painting that remains. Barely any written works remain. What we have are sentences carved in stone, many of which are inaccessible to the common folk. The city contains numerous fine drappings and vases, but it is likely the first were imported or traded for, and there remains no evidence of workshops of any kind. Of all the arts, architecture is the one that has best weathered the passing of ages. The archives, capital, stagways, tramways, and palace still stand and are functional. A knightly order was also established. A known scholar was Gorb!
The King also married/hosted the White Lady, I guess?
It is unclear where or when the infection started. I propose it might have started in Crystal peaks. It would have been rapidly discovered and then studied. We do not know if the pale King was aware of the Radiance and her reach within dreams, but the symptoms would have at the very least hinted at the possibility of another higher being's interference. This would prompt a quarantine, potentially one kingdom wide, in an effort to both contain the spread of the infection, to prevent it from reaching the capital, and to potentially catch the hostile higher being's intermediary. These measures proved inefective. If it hadn't before, the city was completely locked down, every entrance and exit sealed, while the King and his advisors raced to find a cure before the Kingdom's fall. Seeing as neither soul nor medicine could provide a cure, they would turn to the void.
Since they could not prevent the Radiance access to minds, they decided to trap it instead, but no ordinary mind could do. Any feeling, wish, dream, could be used by the Radiance. To create a vessel unfeeling, they created vessels from the white lady's roots and void devouring. After countless failures, vessels were evaluated. In the end, the vessel most perfect was selected and brought to the palace for training. The others were sealed underground and forgotten. Be it by caution or guilt, it was decided that the Hollow Knight would be physically restrained within the temple of the black egg, constructed to sustain it indeterminately. To prevent any outside interference or possibility of release, the temple itself would be sealed with three souls. Three bugs were selected. Lurien the Watcher, Monomon the Teacher, and Herrah the Beast. While the first two followed the King, the third was from the Weavers, and while she would cooperate, she wished for a child of her own in exchange. Descendent of Weaver and pale beings, Hornet was born. Lurien, Monomon, and Herrah were set to an endless sleep, their bodies and anchor for the seal protected by the Watcher Knights, Uumuu, and the Weaver kin. Thus the Hollow Knight was sealed and contained the Radiance.
Be it out of guilt or something else, the pale King showed the vessel kindness during its time in the palace. The vessel cared, and that was enough. The infection could not perfectly be contained. The plan had not succeeded enough to save Hallownest. The King barricaded himself in the deepest reaches of a dream, behind fortifications and an elite guard, never to be seen again. The White Lady retreated to her garden, escorted by one of the great knights. Cut off from the outside world, those who had not succumbed to the infection fell to starvation. Thus ended the kingdom.
After the kingdom's fall, when the infection had settled back to sleep, adventurers arrived. An old well in Dirtmouth remained the last unsealed entrance, and the town quickly grew with treasure hunters and adventurers of all sorts. Connecting to the well, the crossroads were swept clean of most valuables. Afterwards, fewer adventurers came back, but with tales of large expansive caverns. Most died quickly. Fewer and fewer came back and the once thriving town started fading, the kingdom settling back to rest. Around this time, Nailmasters Oro, Mato, Sheo, Esme, and Sly arrive.
Time passes and the Hollow Knight breaks. A vessel that had somehow escaped arrives, and the game starts.
Team Cherry has stated that all endings are equally valid.
Defeat the sealed vessel and take its place. Being a perfect vessel, it contains the Radiance presumably forever, or until it fades.
Defeat the sealed vessel and take its place with Hornet by its side. Hornet herself seals the temple, until she exhausts enough of herself for the seal to fade, or weaken enough that the chorists of the citadel can retrieve and capture her. This would explain how she was caught, and also the lingering weakness she suffers from at the beginning of Silksong.
Defeat the Radiance and consume its light. The Radiance disappears for good, and the kingdom's old dreams are finally laid to rest. Its duty accomplished, the vessel returns to the void with all of its siblings but Hornet. The Black Egg Temple is gobbled up by the void.
Author has not unlocked this ending yet.
Author has not unlocked this ending yet.
Worshipped the Radiance, her first and last people. Innate relation to dreams. Integrated to Hallownest. Extinct.
Fighters were very rare in this tribe.
Worship Unn, who created them from a dream.
Independant faction, on amicable terms with Hallownest.
Serve a Queen.
Independant, have an agreement to prevent lesser bugs of Deepnest encroach on Hallownest. This still stands.
proud and honourable warriors
Independant and neutral, a hive mind residing in Fungal Wastes. Thought the King foolish for his attempts to delay the inevitable.
Independant and somewhat hostile. Might once have been suppliers of fine drapes for the capital.
Integrated, morally grey shamans. Retain some of themselves in death. Somewhat attuned to dreams.
Hostile. Arised after the infection, led by the Fourth of the Mantis Lords.