All Hollow Knight endings, explained

Hallow Knight is a well-loved indie darling with its delightfully creepy aesthetics and challenging gameplay. However, as the game comes to a close, its wordless endings can leave the story’s conclusion up for interpretation. If you want to know what each Hollow Knight ending is all about, let’s break them down.

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How to get The Hollow Knight ending

To get this default ending, you’ll have to miss out on seeing the Void Heart and allying yourself with Hornet. Instead, you’ll defeat the Hollow Knight all on your own and fulfill the Pale King’s will. With the Hollow Knight gone, you’ll become the new vessel for the Infection, sealed away in the Black Egg, protecting Hollownest from further infestation.

While you saved Hollownest for now, just like the previous Hollow Knight, there’s no telling how long your Knight will be able to keep the infection at bay.

How to get the Sealed Siblings ending

Unlike the previous ending, this one is all about your origin story. With the Void Heart in hand, you’ll be able to learn about your family history and how all the shelled knights are children of the Pale King. You’ll bring your sibling, Hornet, to your side and have their assistance in your final big fight with the Hollow Knight. However, this ending still has a similar conclusion to the first: you will become an Infected vessel locked in the Black Egg. It’s just this time, you won’t be locked in there alone.

Ultimately, you’ll have sacrificed your life and trapped your sibling in an ageless prison. While you may have protected Hollownest for now, you paid a steep price.

Related: What platforms will Hollow Knight: Silksong be on?

How to get the Dream No More ending

This is the ending where you and your siblings take your fate into your own hands. With Hornet by your side, collect the Void Heart and the Awoken Dream Nail. When you face the Hollow Knight together, use the Awoken Dream Nail while Hornet has the Hollow Knight pinned down to dive into their dream. There, you’ll find the Radiance, the source of the Infection. Fight them alongside the shade of Hollow Knight and defeat the Radiance’s infectious influence once and for all. Send her back to the Void.

Hornet will wake after being knocked unconscious to a healing world. The Infection is purged and the Black Egg will disappear. However, she will also find your character, Knight’s, cracked shell. It is unclear whether Knight died or returned to the Void, but either way, they’re gone.

The happy ending, though, is that all your other shell-less siblings are freed. Their shades can sink back into the ground, finally able to rest.

How to get the Embrace The Void ending

Upon purchasing Hollow Knight’s Godmaster DLC, two new endings become available to you. The first is the “Embrace The Void” ending. Find a key in the Colosseum of Fools, then a new path in the Royal Waterways. Then you should find a new sub-area called the Junk Pit that should lead you into this new Godhome extension of the game.

Exploring through this DLC, you need to conquer all the pantheons within Godhome. The Pantheon of Hollownest is the fifth and final pantheon you should defeat. In it is the Absolute Radiance, who is vital for completing these new endings.

Once you defeat the Absolute Radiance, Knight’s shell will crack open and their Shade will fall into the Void. Then, the Void Entity will appear in Knight’s place. That Void Entity will rip what’s left of the Absolute Radiance to shreds. Afterward, a Void rain and Void tentacles will spread throughout Godhome. If you do not give the Delicate Flower to Godseeker, they will become a creature enrapt in Void.

Afterward, creatures of the Void will spread to Hollownest and confront its residents, beginning with your sibling, Hornet. This also is likely a hint to the upcoming Hornet-led game, Hollow Knight: Silksong.

How to get the Delicate Flower ending

The “Delicate Flower” ending from the Godmaster DLC is very similar to “Embrace The Void”, except in this scenario you do give the Delicate Flower to Godseeker. Even though it’s a small gesture, it makes a big difference.

For instance, when Godseeker begins leaking Void, they drip onto the Delicate Flower. Because of this, the flower begins to glow until it explodes, disappearing Godseeker and all the local Void. All that’s left is the vibrant, Delicate Flower, glowing on the ground with one small Void-stain.

While Void creatures still head to Hollownest to fight Hornet and your other allies, the Delicate Flower gives clear hope that Hollownest can survive both the Radiance and the Void.

How to get the Passing of The Age ending

This ending is less an ending and more a post-credits scene. No matter what ending you end up doing, if you found Mister Mushroom in a variety of locations and exhausted all his dialogue, you’ll see him again here at the end. His body will fly up into the starry sky, followed by the words “to be continued.”