You are born in a sea of bones of your siblings. You climb up the Abyss with sickening cracks of falling bodies around. You reach the top, claws scraping desperately at the cold, sharp walls. You see the King, your father, he who cursed his own progeny. Only with him can you survive. You turn around to see another reach the summit. This brief moment of hesitation alone already spells your doom; You are not the unfeeling mockery of life as father had intended. You either help your sibling and he would cast you both down to die, Or you ignore them and dwell on the guilt. You follow the King. You are the chosen one. You don't yet know that you'd be better off rotting in that pit, As you are walking towards a fate worse than death. Youngling to grown vessel, you are denied friendship, love, or even personhood. You are a tool wearing the face of what could have been the King's child. Nothing more. But your father is all you have, and he affords to show you some affection once. Deprived, you grow to love him, in spite of what he has done to you. Even if you had the courage, you cannot tell him. You don't know if he loves you back. Even if you dared, you cannot ask. If you could, at best he would love you too in spite of your flaw, And begin anew the destruction of your siblings. At worst he would dispose of you too. You become the Hollow Knight. You will seal the enemy of your King’s make to save his kingdom. If you succeed, you will be alone, in chains, in the dark, forever. And that is your duty, for you would save countless lives. You could uphold the purpose behind your siblings’ lives cut short. And maybe earn your father's love. Although you’d never live to hear him say it. He has gifted you the power to see the kingdom that you will protect. If you are the pure vessel that you were supposed to, you will prevail. But you are not. If you were uncaring, you wouldn't care to save anyone. If you were unfeeling, you wouldn't feel the pain the entire time. If you were unwanting, you wouldn't want to make your father proud. If you were the thoughtless, empty, husk creature, you would have succeed. If you had been what everyone needed, you wouldn't have turned out worthless. After a lifetime of torment in chains, you wouldn't have fallen apart, and failed. And with your failure you watch the kingdom slowly fall and its citizens die. The Dreamers who forfeit their lives to seal you. The mother your half-sister lost. The legions of siblings that perished. The blood on your parents' hands. The guilt they were crushed under. Your own sacrifice and pain. All for nothing. Because you actually cared. You could have been a prince. Your parents could have loved you like a real child. You could have had friends and siblings. You could have had a voice. But all that was taken away from you. And it was taken all for nothing. Because it wasn't enough. Because you were afraid to fail. Nobody will remember you, nor what you have done. You will stand guard, suffering in silence, for a dead kingdom. You will be bound, rotting alive, for no one and for nothing. All alone, save for angered powers tearing down your mind. And thoughts that you should never have had in the first place. Thoughts of your mistakes, lies, regrets, and failure. Memories of your betrayed sibling and life thrown away. That will be all you have left until the end of time. For you will not die. Not for a long while. You can't reach your nail..

This isn't a boss fight. It's a mercy kill.

_The old King of Hallownest... he must have been desperate to save his crumbling little world. The sacrifices he imposed on others..._ *all for nothing.*

Everyone at phase 1 & 2: This music is lit, bro! Everyone at phase 3: ...

During the fight with The Hollow Knight he fights you, but is slow. His movements are reluctant, he stabs himself, and feels possessed. For me, I saw a vessel who loved. And he felt pain. And he died for you, and the pale king, and everyone else. He still lives in the corrupted body. He wants to help. Thats all he's wanted. Now, he has to fight. The fight made me cry, not because it was hard or made me miserable, but because of the tragic story behind our final boss. The final boss we take place of. The final boss we get to set free

4:35 I would be able to hear the screeching and stabbing when this plays if I wasn't crying so hard

Man I can't think of any characters who have taken a bigger L than The Hollow Knight. It's entire existence is nothing short of a tragedy.

The shock I felt when I saw THK start stabbing itself in the middle of the boss fight... I'd pieced together that the infection was reanimating corpses and driving everything it touched into a rage, so when I saw the infection filling THK's room I thought it was just another mindless beast, another shell like so many others I'd slain. Then it started stabbing itself and 2:15 played. And it hit me, it's not just another husk driven mad by rage... it's still in there. The screams between phases aren't screams of rage, they're screams of *pain.* It still had some control of itself, and it only wanted to die. I thought it was the source of the infection, but it was only a victim like every other poor bug in Hallownest.

Time to up the views to 1.000.000 by myself again

The Hollow Knight looking at us while we break the chains: "Any minute now..."

Ngl, this song deadass makes me want to cry. It's just that Pure Vessel went though so much pain and Hallownest as a whole shattered. One hell of an amazing game, to anyone who hasn't played it, PLAY IT. It is so total worth it. Love the soundtrack and everything about it. Thank you Team Cherry.

"Ok Chris, this is a fateful battle in the game, make sure to give it 100%!" "You mean 112%" "Wha-" 1:39 "Did I stutter?"

So I suck at videogames. As expected, I sucked even more at Hollow Knight. After hours and hours of trial and error, I arrived at the Temple of the black egg with this idea of the Hollow Knight being some sort of mindless beast, completely consumed by the infection. That's what I was expecting, a fight against a mindless creature. At first, I was not disappointed, as the Hollow Knight seemed aggressive enough. But then he fell on his knees and started moving in a weird way. At first I thought he was having some sort of seizures, and only afterwards did I realize what he was actually doing. At that point I just stopped. I couldn't do anything but stare in disbelief, asking myself why that was happening. Then it got me. That creature still had something left inside of him, he wasn't so hollow after all. And these were not cries of rage, they were cries of pain. He had regained some control over himself, and he only had one desire: to die. I swear, the second part of this fight was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen. The way he so desperately tries to end it when he manages to get some consciousness back, and the way he tries to hit me but can't get up, even when the infection has control over him, is devastating. I don't know, maybe I tend to approach things with too much empathy, but I can't think about that poor knight without feeling a deep sense of sadness.

No cost too great No mind to think No will to break No voice to cry suffering Born of God and Void You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams You are the vessel You are the Hollow Knight

saw something like this comment on the old video and couldn't let it be forgotten 2:12 this is when you see that this isn’t a fight, the infected body of your sibling cries as they puncture their shell, and you realize… this isn’t the final battle you’ve been waiting for. *it’s assisted suicide.* edit: fixed wording

Bro smiled a single time and got killed by a box of orange juice.

First playthrough: “Why is Dollar Store Artorias committing soduku” One mossbag video later: “Why is the fight so blurry? Poor dude.”

No final boss in games has come close to the emotional rollercoaster of this fight for me. You don’t want to fight the vessel, but you must.

“Do not think... Do not speak... Do not hope... Do not... ...”

thank you so much for re-uploading these

This has been considered as "children's music" by KZfaq Wonderful

part 1: egg???? part 2: grooving part 3: depression

The whole build up between 2:12 and 4:03 sounds like an antisipation of something truly inevitable coming so beautiful

"Legit got shivers when he started STABBING HIMSELF!" - some guy with a spongebob meme profile picture.

2:10 gave me chills with the radiance scream

Hollow Knight my beloved

What I absolutely love about this theme is how it seems to come so close to being welcome to hallownest at parts yet never reaches it, always off by one singular note or octave. It makes sense, the sealed vessel was flawed, he wasn’t hollow, not like us

Can't wait for a comparably epic song in the next game when we fight the Silksong

One of the greatest video game music themes ever made. Not only because of its fantastic arrangement, transitions and overall composition: it manages to evoke a tempest of emotion that you seldom expect while playing a video game, one that you’d usually experience by watching a great movie while an important scene plays out, because of how well it captures the final boss battle and the cutscenes. All in all, a one-of-a-kind musical experience, or at least it was to me.

I was introduced to Hollow Knight thanks to a beloved friend of mine. She kept on begging me to buy it and after reaching this ending and also getting to the Sealed Siblings ending later on, this game was not worth the money I paid for it. It was worth more than I could ever imagined and this game, this very theme as well, changed my entire perspective on life as a whole. A game like this is like a lot of things in life, on the surface its not much. But when you take that plunge, the puddle you saw is a bigger ocean than you thought.

0:41 where it starts

As heartbreaking as ever...

All they wanted to do was contain the radiance.. but an idea instilled. a bond with the pale king who raised them. a forbidden love for your own child… *Instilled love indeed.*

I went in almost completely blind, only knew it was about little bugs and some kind of ancient kingdom. I'm not a pro or anything, but my skills grew a lot in the game through trial and error, and many, MANY deaths. So I went to the Black Egg temple, after having unsealed the last Dreamer in my first playthrough, Lurien, and I thought, "Alright, time to do the final boss. I'm sure I'll get destroyed." The thing is, I DIDN'T. I died tons and tons and TONS of times to bosses. Hornet Protector? Even her. Flukemarm? Embarrassingly, yes. But the Hollow Knight? I think I only died 3 times before I finished them off. And the fight felt WRONG. The Hollow Knight's body thrashed and thrown at me by some unseen force inside of it. The air getting more and more orange with infection. They started stabbing themselves, and in my confusion, I just kept swinging, thinking it was my duty to end this Hollow Knight. And after I did, the cutscene played. And it was the weirdest feeling I'd ever felt playing. I had gotten the end, right? I beat the game? So, why did this feel like I lost?

How many different themes can you fit into a single song? Christopher Larkin: Yes

--------THE-------- ----HOLLOW KNIGHT-----

This is probs my fav HK song. Dung Def and Daughter of Hallownest are close seconds tho

This is the perfect song for that feeling when your heart feels heavy as a stone.

It took me a while to realize that THK has only one arm.

A very well-deserved top 5 placement, congratulations Christopher Larkin!

Ooooh thank you so much for reuploading these! I didn't even notice that you did. It's a shame what happend to IndiGo's channel, but it can't be undone I suppose. It's gone for good.

Do not think. Do not cry. Do not talk. Do not...

Thank you for the reupload! Was quite a surprise when they up and disappeared like that, noticed when I was trying to listen to this to go to sleep!

"You can't fire me, I quit!" -Pointcrow

At first I thought the Hollow Knight stabbing himself was him fighting back control and trying fruitlessly to kill the heart of the plague, but now... I think he’s trying to put himself out of his misery.

The moment the music changes and the strings come in send a shiver down my spine. Especially when the hollow knight starts to stab himself.

When this song plays, I thought this was supposed to be an epic battle against the final boss. It was a hard one, after all (at first). Then the latter half plays, which also gave me a shock considering the context of this, and I realised that defeating this boss doesn’t give me any joy at all.

this track is so tragic. the hollow knight painfully forcing attacks at you, becoming more and more controlled by the infection to the point where the times it is in control, it tries to help you kill it faster. it wants to die even more than you want it to.

5:13 Your siblings welcome you back to your home, your birthplace Join the peace of the Void with your brethren, stilled in time and space Your mission was not in vain, the threat is no more Rest now dear knight, there is nothing for you to fight for

5:10 that part gives me chills

I think I speak for everyone when I say this is the ultimate tragic boss theme

2:15 *PATH OF PAIN INTENSIFIES*

I like to think that the hollow knight can be used as an analogy for “gifted kids”

This song is so perfect in so many ways The build up, that is the perfect start. It captures how hollow it is at the start, how empty the room is. How suspenseful it is. The loud and sudden burst of instruments. The perfect start to a chaotic fight between siblings. A sudden and quick attack of THK. The final boss. The sorrow filled second phase. The pain of the perfect vessel, the infection killing it. The scream of the Damned. The slow second buildup. Feels like the memories of THK coming back, and its plea for help finally answered by us. The silence for a second then the piano. The conclusion. No one won, but the pain is over. That's what it tells.

What do you do when you fight The Hollow Knight? A: End it's suffering B: Free it from it's eternal burden C: Feel it's pain D: Cry Trick question, you do ALL of those things at once.

That's pretty good, nothing to say anymore

To me, this soundtrack almost seems to be telling a story The creepy ambience at the start almost like Holly waking up infected. Everything seems hazy or fuzzy, and there's this feeling of disorientation. Then at 0:22, it's like realizing what's going on, or maybe remembering the pain, which starts to build up as the strings grow in intensity, the final chord suddenly invoking anger and rage. And then... silence. And then the music explodes with chaotic 16th notes in the low strings, what sounds like a harpsicord doubling the melody, and the first 4 notes of the main leitmotif playing over and over again, each time in a higher register to build up this moment. It's almost as if it's saying: _"This is it. You've made it to the end. The Hollow Knight themself is all that stands between you and the credits. It's all led up to this. Get ready for the final fight ahead."_ To me, the chaotic string runs and the simplified melody 0:59 seem to recall his origins. _"Chosen from the abyss, believed to be the only one to have escaped, this is the vessel that would stop the infection, and allow the kingdom to remain eternal"_ And then the shifting chord progression at 1:27 seems to invoke this feeling of inevitability, as though it was all for nothing. Despite all that planning, all the precautions, the kingdom still crumbled, and there nothing that could be done about it, and the Hollow Knight was never truly capable of containing the radiance. The crazy, descending string runs at 1:39 seem to remind the listener of the stakes, as if to say _"The fate of Hallownest lies in your hands. Everything will be lost if you fail this fight. You have to win this"_ The jabs at 1:55 bring us back to the battle at hand; I imagine each jab is a fire pillar being shot up at ghost, and each one being more dangerous than the last. *And then... **2:11**...* The looping soundtrack along with the tragic string quartet seem to have this feeling of... being trapped. Almost like Groundhog Day, Holly is stuck in an endless loop, living out the same cycle over and over again, constantly looping through pain, agony, guilt, dread, suffering, anger, sadness, and grief. And as we slowly learn the true extent of Holly's pain, the music swells, adding am extra violin, then choir, then brass and percussion. Until finally, we reach the cutscene... and put an end to his misery

Defeating the Hollow knight is a painful thing to do, he doesn't want to fight, he tried so hard to help everyone... hollow knight I love you

I destroyed all the dreamers, walked to the temple and free the HK, then never made it to the 2nd phrase of the battle. I took some time upgrading everything possible, then returned to the temple again, feeling the victory in my hands. The fight was awesome, I had great time attacking and dodging, showing my skills. Then the sad music began to play, and I realized what is happening. All my desire to win dropped. I felt a heavy thing in my heart. This is the boss that I will never forget, ever.

As someone who completed the Path of Pain before this fight, me hearing the leitmotif for it in this fight kinda broke me a little seeing that (While reading comments in their respective videos) the Hollow Knight was too attached to the Pale King, thus leading to its infection. The worst part being that in the middle of the fight we see him trying to aid us in battle, meaning they still have a sort of conscious. It implies that through the Radiance controlling it and making its life a hell he could still think of his father. This game is beautiful.

This music, this moment, this game is perfect...

0:43 start 2:15 sad part 3:28 climax 4:35 calm

I want to point out the strength that the hollow knight had, yes it was doomed from the beginning but it was by for the bug affected by the radiance the most (obviously) and yet it was able to resist the infection at times during the fight and stab itself to put itself out of its misery. All of that infection that was able to completely control it but it was still able to resist to make one final stand. I know that the hollow knight is supposed to have no will to break but you can make a case that it had the strongest will out of any bug to ever touch the kingdom of Hallownest, and that strong will probably always was there, to earn the respect of his father and kingdom was definitely something it cared about since the beginning

Dies irae! 1:27 if you can't hear it on your own. I look for those 4 notes SPECIFICALLY in pretty much any dramatic track i hear and it makes me so excited when i hear it :D

It's a measure of how terribly the radiance can twist those it infects that a being that truly never had a voice can scream.

Absolutely stunning. From eerie quiet and apprehension to a crash of adrenaline. Then, you see this isn't a fight between the Vessel and the Hollow Knight, but a struggle between an unseen power and empty souls. The inevitability of this track is so spot on. Harrowing and heartbreaking at the same time. Almost an understanding between two hopeless causes.

Go the 3:27 mark close your eyes tight and clench your fists as if you are focusing to take in and contain the infection for all eternity and try not to cry.😭😭😭

Hollow Knight has some very mature music for its animation style. Sealed Vessel communicates the game's dark tone and tragedy without a single word spoken, which I think really says something huge about music as its own language. A piece of media is easily transformed by its score.

Holy shit, hearing this performed by a live orchestra would be super cool

Went in blind, and from what was being told throughout the story, I thought it was going to be one huge heroic fight, and also a really difficult one considering how much the Infection beefs up its victims. The instant mood change once the Knight began striking themself, the infection mutilating their body, attacks slowing, it was really cool and really sad, narratively speaking, anyway. Not to mention the music going from intense to somber, to just tragic. 10/10, would play again, currently 100% completing the game. Definitely ranking high on my video game list.

so glad i experienced this game completely blind, such a masterpiece, this boss fight alone is forever my favorite because of everything it means.

Honestly i feel bad for The Hollow knight. From its Inception it was a vessel doomed to fail it was imperfect, it had a will of its own. We can see this because it clearly shows Ghost and its other siblings pity and possibly sadness when it takes glance back to see our little knight Climbing the ledge, only to get cast back down to the abyss it had just crawled out from. Then through the years and years of training the Hollow Knight gained more and more becoming more alive as everyday passed with no voice to express it. Then it was sealed with no one knowing these would be fruitless sacrifices that would just worsen the problem in the future. Then for a while The Hollow Knight suffered a fate worse than death for a non empty being, until finally its will gave up letting out one last signal to lure any remaining siblings back to the fallen Kingdom to then be taken over. The Sibling once cast back down into the Abyss Returns to the Kingdom now being born of 2 voids. Only to eventually Sacrifice itself for The Hollow Knight and the Fallen Kingdom, there is no happy ending for the little Ghost returning to finish the Job with nothing to remember its sacrifice eventually the Little Ghost will be forgotten by history if it was ever remembered at all.

I love how it tells us to look with the Resing Grounds gift by including its motif

Games have ends like all good things. But I’ve never cried until the end of this one.

0:42 - Beginning 2:14 - 2e Phase ( Voidheart ) 4:04 - THK ending 4:36 - Dream No More

Masterpiece of a tragedy, on the level of Shakespeare, and that’s no joke. What Team Cherry have created is a masterpiece that rivals every other product of are in existence. It is a true art work.

This song is uncomperedly good

If the "final" boss of Hollow Knight's theme was this soulful, imagine Silksong's final boss's theme!

0:41 Best part

You start this kinda knowing the Hollow Knight's story.. he's the you that came before and failed. A final boss like any other... an obstacle to overcome before the credits. The fight is a mindless zombie of what you might have been.... but then you see he's still there, the tragic hero that couldn't do the only thing he was meant to do, as hard as he was still, still trying. The hero that knew he was flawed, but couldn't let the father he loved down and went into a hopeless fight anyway. The hero who damned Hollownest because he tried to save them. And now he is still fighting so desperately to do the only thing he still can.. to help you kill him, and maybe do what he couldn't.

No price not worth paying Nor a mind for thinking No will for the breaking No voice to cry suffering Just what were you wanting… Pale King? I was one of many Till you came and chose me I remember when we Sat on that balcony As we sat silently I knew my destiny, so clearly Though I would set Hallownest free I'd be trapped and lonely And I wondered fearfully "Does Father love me…?"

When the Hollow Knight starts stabbing himself, I see that as him partially overtaking the infection to try and help you defeat it

I had a heart attack when they disappeared, thank god they back

A knight….one raised to be a perfect vessal but failed, another who was lucky to escape the darkness. Both equal and yet so different, bothers broken from birth by parents they could never show love to and countless siblings they will never get to know. A failure made into a hero and a ghost with no memory or emotion…destined to reunite so that they could finally accomplish what they were created to do

First time playing: So this dude was trapped here because he wanted to kill everyone right? RIGHT?!?

Love the shift from intensity to the mellowed sorrow that carries the weight of everything that happened, like that scream reveals the tragedy beneath the haze of combat. Beautiful. 2:11

I remember this moment in the game. I cried when i killed vessel because i know, he good

whoever like this boss or music you have a good taste~!

I have so many games I'm playing or want to play and now this game has cruised thru my backlog.

Every time I hear that leitmotif, I can just hear the *_STAB_* *_STAB_* *_STAB_* *_"ÆÆÆÆÆÆ"_*

It’s sad how such incredible compositions will never be recognized for what they’re worth cause they’re from a video game. I’m not much of a music person, but this far surpasses any piece of classical music i’ve ever heard. Christopher larkin is a genius

I just beat the game and cried a bit because of how sad this boss fight was What a journey though, one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life Patiently waiting for Silksong now :>>

Name a character that went through more pain than her: literally every lore relevant character in hollow knight

Something about the fact that the final boss of a game like hollow knight, which is known for being hard is honestly pretty easy to beat really tells a story without using any words

this theme legitimately gives me chills

0:22 Acorde 0:43 Inicio 0:59 Melodía bajo 1:27 Freno y acelero 1:39 Descendiente 1:55 Acordes tensos 2:11 Fin de la primera parte 2:11 Comienzo canción del dolor 2:51 2° Voz violín 3:05 3° Voz Coro 3:24 4° Voz Contrabajo 3:27 Crescendo a Fin de canción del dolor 4:03 Fin Canción del dolor 4:05 Comienzo canción Final 4:27 Fin Canción Final 4:37 Comienzo Piano Final 5:00 Salvación de Hallownest 5:13 Despedida Porfa ignoren este comentario, lo hice por una tarea de música

Ari Gibson: It's just a game about a small, mute bug exploring the remains of a lost kingdom, don't go too crazy. Christopher Larkin:

This fight after DDLC hits even harder, I feel bad for the poor lad

4:28 sounds familiar. Interesting nod to the jingle that plays when you gain an ability.

2:15 When you realize this isn’t a battle It’s a mercy killing (There was a comment on an older upload that went something like that)