Herrah The Beast - Blog Posts
BEWARE! The Pale King is kidnapping children!
I've been thinking about making little dreamers for a while now because they're cute and I'm unemployed. Herrah is an extremely biting, evil and cute little spider (it's passed down genetically), Monomon is a funny ball that flies and glows, and Lurien is just constantly worried (a funny little man).
The White Lady is thinking of beating her husband because he is ruining their reputation in the kingdom.
Lurien actually enjoys spending time with Hornet. She is actually a much calmer child when her mother is away.
Also, there have been a lot of people here lately. English is not my native language, so I apologize for any mistakes :)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/57541123/chapters/165234622
Allow me to yeet this all at you amidst the Silksong hype, lolll
Play date with Mommy~
The King has asked Herrah to be one of his Dreamers, but she was not one to sacrifice herself for the man who had turned the entirety of Hallownest against her people. Harsh life lessons had taught her to always have a plan in place, and thanks to that, she knew just how to get her revenge on the wyrm. She had caught the Pale King in her web, and how she was ready to watch him writhe.
I've uploaded the newest story in my series, "Until We Dream," which is a counterpart to "The King's Bargain" but told from Herrah's POV~ I hope you all enjoy it!
More color palette challenges, this time with the Dreamers! Once again, the palettes are from @color-palettes and were chosen based on title
Monomon - Deep Sea Science
Herrah - I’m Sorry That I Left You There in the Darkness
Lurien - Are You Aware of My Presence, Watching and Unbreathing?
Herrah the Beast has accepted the role as one of the Dreamers, but only under one condition: The Pale King is to bear a child with her. Desperate to get the final Dreamer in his plans, the King accepts, but quickly finds that this deal would entail much more than he initially anticipated.
Hey gang! I've finally finished my Fanfic~! Come check it out if you want to see my take on this event in Hallownest history!
Welp. This was originally meant to be a concept sketch for an alternate Herrah design. Somehow it turned into a whole entire picture, lol
Random Hollow Knight headcanons, Herrah edition:
Despite the confident, outward persona she projects, Herrah actually has a very low opinion of herself. This is a result of being called "the Beast," not just by Hallownest but even the Deepnest spiders before she became queen.
When Herrah met her future husband, she did not realize he was the King of Deepnest, as she'd never been near the village nor socialized with any of the "normal" spiders of Deepnest. He didn't mention it to her for the longest time because he liked being treated like a normal person, and worried her knowing would change her attitude towards him.
Herrah's passion towards leading the people has sprung from two different places: --It was her husband's pride and joy. He loved his people and that love extended to Herrah once she married him. She looks after her people as a way to honor her late husband --She has very closely tied her worth to her ability to be a good queen. She gets very insulted when someone questions her as a leader.
Herrah is a very proficient warrior. Her skills were built from the ground up, as she had to live most of her life on her own. She's become a master of fighting, hunting, tracking, etc.
Before she met her husband, Herrah had no aspirations. She believed "the Beast" couldn't have the luxury of dreaming for anything bigger than the life she had.
After meeting her husband, Herrah begins dreaming of having a happy, loving family. She knows it sounds corny and wouldn't admit it aloud to anyone she wasn't close to.
She blames herself for her husband's bloodline ending. She was never able to produce an heir for him, and so her most vital role as queen was never delivered. There are some days she wishes he took a mistress just so his bloodline could live on.
Herrah the Beast has accepted the role as one of the Dreamers, but only under one condition: The Pale King is to bear a child with her. Desperate to get the final Dreamer in his plans, the King accepts, but quickly finds that this deal would entail much more than he initially anticipated.
Another dreamer fanfic~ Though keep in mind this one is M-rated, so proceed with caution before reading!
I have no excuse other than this popped into my head and wouldn't leave until I drew it shdjkfls
Continuing on with designs of the Dreamers unmasked/unrobed, it's time to show off Herrah!
Ngl, I saw someone else draw her as a centaur-spider and I've fallen in love with the idea and can't draw her any other way. I also imagine Herrah knows how scary she looks and revels in it. I mean, if you were given the title of "The Beast," wouldn't you?
Scary spooder mom FTW!
(Here's the Monomon one if anyone's curious~)
There's nothing that breathes more life into me than Babbu Hornet ♥ Feed me more pics of her and Herrah, I have a great need!
This is a little "epilogue" pic of my fanfic What Lies Beneath, where Hornet gets to enjoy a gift from Monomon and Quirrel~
Herrah's so proud of her baby's jaw strength ♥
Herrah the Beast has been invited to the Teacher's Archive to meet Monomon. Accepting the invite, Herrah finds herself at the doors of the towering building in Fog Canyon. When confronted with the Archivist herself, Herrah realizes Monomon is not at all like she imagined, and finds herself struggling to keep up with the teacher's bubbly behavior.
Fun little friendship-fic between Herrah and Monomon~ Featuring some Quirrelmon and cute baby Hornet~
Headcanon that Herrah can't remember Quirrel's name, just that it starts with a Q. So she just calls him whatever Q-name comes into her head.
the dreamers ~
so i did some quick concept sketches of herrah!! (VERY RAW im probably gonna change them) found this wicked lookin medieval hat (not sure if it has a specific name, so far i think its a type of escoffion or a hennin????question mark? if anyone knows more please lmk!!)
honestly i find double-horned hats insanely cool (tangent here we go)
another one i wanted to base herrah's and hornet's gijinkas off of are these beauties (horned kika/kichka, a tyype of yee olde russian women's hat. theyre kinda hard to research and i havent looked into them too much but they look so cool!)
ngl kinda want to do a couple of designs more heavily based on these cuz i luv them sm!
also fun fact historical fashion and headwear in general was a big reason why i wanted to even make hk gijinkas in the 1st place. not gonna pretend that everything i draw is historically sound, my intention was moreso to make chars with memorable hats. although it's ironic that i didnt give like half of the chars i drew any lol
i think hornet should be able to hug her mother dammit
Teehee made this for an art project
It's neat to think that the reason the dreamers became such is because they were loyal to the people they had ward over first and foremost
Herrah as deepnest's queen is loyal to her people, integrating the metal crests of the devours and the weavers in the den
Monotone, who set up her archive as neutral ground is loyal to those that she taught
Lurien, while loyal to the king, is suggested by the decoration in his main chamber to be loyal to hallownest and its people first
They all care about the people under them before they care for anything else
For all their differences, it's really telling that all three Dreamers became Seals because of the exact same reason.
I'll love to see the fandom explore this aspect of the Dreamers. Think of all the fluff and angst one can create in the fandom while drawing on canon!
What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 4.0 : What We Know that We Don't Know
At last! We have analyzed all the Dreamers' houses!
One last thing about the design of the Dreamer's houses and how they reflect each Dreamer's character. Throughout this analysis, we have been discussing what we can tell about the Dreamer's character from what we see, but we have yet to discuss about what we don't see.
With Herrah, we see the entirety of her den while we are barred from most of the Village. As such, we can guess more about Herrah's character than her people. Though I must admit that there is a bunch we can’t see due to being part dragon and part plant, but not part spider. Which means we can’t climb to the ceiling. But we DO see most of her house compared to most of the Dreamers. How this translates to the essay is all that we don’t see of Herrah is because we don’t have access to Weaver culture.
But alas, I still must guess how much we don’t know we don’t have access to in Herrah’s den. We must be missing more than Hornet's baby clothes!
With Monomon, we can guess that there is more to the Achieves, such as the classrooms, but that is a mere guess so we cannot comment on Monomon's character in that regard. But with Lurien…
We are canonically barred from seeing the entire Spire.
The green arrow is pointing to another hallway which we cannot enter in game. We know that this is another hallway as the wallpaper design is blurred out due to distance, unlike the wallpaper right next to Little Knight.
For reference, this screenshot was taken right after you successfully got past the part which requires Monarch Wings and takes you up into Lurien's Spire. AKA. Right at the bottom of the Spire. Which means THERE ARE ENTIRE SECTIONS OF THE WATCHER'S SPIRE RIGHT UP TO THE BALLROOM WHICH WE DON'T SEE! Check this map here!
Yellow marks the Door on the second level. Blue is the entire area that we are barred from seeing.
This is not the only section we are barred from seeing.
The Red is the entire section of the Spire which we don't see. Remember, we only go up the elevator to Lurien which is reflected in the map.
Now, do you remember these hallway pictures I showed you? The ones where Team Cherry showed 3-D in a 2-D world?
In order to achieve this effect, that window must be some ways away from the main hallway where we are standing. Far enough to create enough distance for a hallway by the window. Meaning there is a WHOLE ANOTHER HALLWAY leading who knows where!
There is another possible section of the Spire that we are unable to access.
These appear to be supporting the Watcher's Spire. Now, they could either be pillars and thus inaccessible to anyone, not just the player. Or, they are other towers supporting the main tower to the Spire, which means that not only is there entire section worth the height of the main Spire which we can't see, but whole towers as well!
Again, this is speculation. If anything, these towers outside Lurien's Spire are most likely supports for his own Spire as something needs to support the weight of the tallest spire in the City.
And we haven’t even touched the rooms belonging to the servants!
Remember this?
From: Hollow Knight: How To Defeat The Watcher Knights
This hiddie hole belongs to the rope that holds the chandelier which we can drop on one of the Watcher Knights, dropping the 6 bosses to 5 bosses.
How many hidden corners and passages are in the Watcher’s Spire? How many are we unaware of? Does every chandelier have a little hiddie hole like this one? Did Lurien ever use one of these servant passages and hiddie holes himself?
Now what about the Watcher Knights themselves?
You cannot tell me that these guys lived in Lurien’s ballroom. Where were their barracks? Where did they keep their weapons and gear? Where did they train? Surely Lurien wouldn’t outsource his Watcher Knights’ gear and training from his Spire, opening himself to possible assassination attempts? This bug had 15 Watcher Knights. I think he was concerned about getting attacked. So where do these Watchers sleep, train, and relax? We have half an entire Spire unseen.
Another question regarding Lurien’s servants. Remember how Lurien has a butler? Depending on how much Team Cherry wants to draw on medieval history, Lurien’s butler could have a different responsibility than modern day butlers. Modern butlers handle everything in the house: managing the daily operations of a household, keeping inventory of household supplies, maintain the cleanliness of the estate, etc.
Note how I said modern butlers. In medieval times, all those duties belonged to the head steward. The butler had a different job. He was the most trusted servant and confident of the head of house. He had to be in order to be trusted with the keys to the wine cellar! Or as it was called, the buttery. If Lurien’s butler had this job, then where is Lurien’s wine cellar? Where are the kitchens?
Of course, this doesn’t impact Lurien’s character too much as we don’t imagine him cooking. And we need to beeline towards Lurien to break the seals and open the Black Egg Temple, so we can’t take a detour towards the kitchens.
Doesn’t change the fact I would love to see Team Cherry or the fans develop the Dreamers’ houses more, especially Lurien’s Spire.
All the locations mentioned above beg a serious question: how much of Lurien's character do we not know simply because we cannot see his entire house? If everything that we do see speaks of a fortune worth of information, how much more is hiding from us?
Now take this to Herrah and Monomon. How much of them do we not know? What about their interactions with each other? Team Cherry had originally planned to give us individual boss fight rooms for each Dreamer. How much of Herrah, Monomon, and Lurien's characters will we never know because we never saw those rooms?
With that, I shall end this essay and leave you to your thoughts! It has been a long journey and I hope you dear reader learned something new. Please reblog any of your thoughts or ideas inspired by this essay!
If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.
Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here
Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here
Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here
Part 3.25: Lurien's Spire: Windows and Colors: Here
Part 3.5: Even More of Lurien's Spire. Here
Part 3.7: What is WRONG with Lurien's Spire?: Here
Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here
Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here
Link to essay on Ao3: Here
What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 3.9 Ballroom and Resting
Now, Lurien's patriotic nature is quite famous in the community. Let us discuss a room that is not talked often about: Lurien's ballroom.
Also known as, the Boss room for the Watcher Knights. People scarcely remember that this boss room was a ballroom once just as often as they remember that Lurien canonically had 15 Watcher Knights, not just 6.
Could you imagine attending a ball here? The wide space surrounded by huge windows that allow you to see the whole City of Tears? Massive chandeliers that allow you to dance the night away till dawn? The drapes that offer a chance to prank a fellow guest…or sneak a kiss. If you want a closer look at the chandeliers, here is the best shot I got.
Goodness! Lurien could have taught Hornet or Hollow how to dance here!
What does this ballroom tell us about Lurien's character?
For one, it hints that the Watcher duties included some social aspect. One does not need a ballroom unless the person has a formal event. (Unless you need to transform the room into an emergency kitchen and shelter. Though usually, I've seen it the other way around where someone transforms a commons to a dancefloor.)
While we do not know who would attend these social events hosted by the Watcher's Spire, all these events must have been fantastic by the sheer view alone. The host of the social events has a very good chance of being the Watcher himself, as he is the Keeper of the Spire. Though the possibility remains that someone could have rented his Spire or Lurien could have lent his ballroom to any committee or guild in need of it. We do not have any evidence of this, however, so this is just speculation.
What is certain is that Lurien had a ballroom and it had to been used at some point. The Watcher, hosting a grand formal event, is not exactly an image that appears often in the fandom. Usually, Lurien is portrayed as an introvert who retreats from society rather than invites society into his home.
Yet there appears to be a place for Lurien to remain an introvert while hosting these grand balls. Behold the chart below.
Red arrow points to the ballroom (plus the above area where you get your reward of geo) while the green arrow points to the room with the three little watchers. Blue arrow points to Lurien's office.
Lurien has created a buffer zone between him, his work, and the ballroom. When Lurien is hosting a party and feeling overwhelmed by all the company, he can duck out into either the green arrow zone or use the zone to sneak into his office. Whereas when Lurien is too tired from his work, he can slip down the elevator to the green arrow zone or the ballroom for a dance. Again, if work came up at the ball, Lurien can pull the person aside into the green arrow zone and into his office if need be. Then, as soon as work was completed, Lurien can return to the ballroom after taking a breather in the green arrow zone.
Lurien knows himself and the duties required of him, whether it be his guardsman duties or his social duties, and so created a space for him to meet both duties while giving himself a breather room, literally.
Speaking of a breather, let us turn from the ballroom to the room which Lurien made to allow anyone to rest, the bench room.
This is personally my favorite bench in game, though the one in the Queen's Gardens is a close second. The soft sound of rain while surrounded by the glow of the lamps, all while Marissa's song echoes in the background. The whole room is beautiful, allowing you to take a breath not just from the brutality and decay outside, but for awe that Team Cherry creates in their game.
Unlike the other Dreamers, Lurien does not have a unique bench. The bench within his Spire is standard across the kingdom. While it does save Team Cherry time, I believe the standard bench speaks to Lurien's character as well. The standard Hallownestian bench is for anyone to sit, and so anyone and everyone is welcomed to rest at Lurien's Spire. Note the placement of the bench, directly underneath the bridge connecting the Watcher's Spire to the Commoner/Worker side of the City. Anyone from that side would immediately have a place to rest when they arrived or about to depart. As for the nobles, the room is so beautiful and costly adorned that they would have no reason to complain. Once again, the bench area’s predominantly colored purple, showing how anyone could rest there in beauty.
Sidenote: I find it interesting that the glass lamps Lurien used for this room were first and only seen on the Commoner/Worker side of the City. The nobles only have round spheres or crest-like ovoid.
If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.
Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here
Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here
Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here
Part 3.25: Lurien's Spire: Windows and Colors: Here
Part 3.5: Even More of Lurien's Spire. Here
Part 3.7: What is WRONG with Lurien's Spire?: Here
Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here
Part 4.0 What We Know We Don't Know About the Dreamers' Houses: Click Here
Link to essay on Ao3: Here
If you have thoughts you wish to share, please feel free to comment or reblog! Artists! How does the idea of Lurien teaching Hornet how to dance sound?
What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 3.8 Lurien's Spire - Secret Room!
Onto to the secret room!
It is a very small room, making me wonder how Lurien walked into here. All three colors associated with the Watcher’s Spire are here, though the purple glow is dominant.
First things first, Lurien has his own Lore Tablets, which is very unique in the kingdom. No, seriously, he’s the only guy who has a lore tablet with no magic or science behind it. (Not to mention a private lore tablet, not a public notice.)
The only lore tablet we can read is Lurien’s last words, which I read for you in the last part. Here is it is repeated below. To quote Lurien’s last journel entry:
“Sleep beckons eternal and these words become my last. Though my gaze shall no longer fall upon this city, I will act forever in its protection. For King, for bug, for Hallownest, I head now to my rest.”
His last words tell of Lurien’s determination, dedication, and peace.
One interesting thing to note is that we only get to read Lurien’s thoughts, not the other Dreamers. We know nothing of Herrah’s thoughts, except for everything being done for Hornet. We read Monomon’s reports, but please forgive me for stating how those tanks merely report events happening like a science report, not giving us Monomon’s personal thoughts on the matter. Those come from Quirrel translating her actions to us.
I’ll be honest, this room infuriates me for one simple reason, every lore tablet and all the ‘wanderer’s’ journals lying here are clearly written by Lurien and contain his thoughts, but we are not allowed to read any of them…except for his last entry!!! The 1 Dreamer we know little about and we have an entire room with his diaries and we can’t read it!!!
Lemm would have a field day in here. Can you imagine the classified information or missing links Lurien has in here?
And don’t think “classified” and go “Oh! Pale King fanboy!” No. Look around. I can’t even find a single Hallownest crest here, much less Monarch Wings representing the Pale King. (Except the chair. Maybe.) Take a look.
If we move on, it is easy to notice how the lamp is out. This is the first time we’ve seen a lamp that was clearly supposed to give light, but there’s none. It’s almost as if either the bug inside the lamp died OR the Spire staff did not expect anyone to enter this room anymore.
Artist Aspidiske did a comic about that lamp, so I will let you read it. On the Last Day - Aspidiske - Hollow Knight (Video Games) [Archive of Our Own]
Before I touch on the entrance to this secret room, allow me to remark on what’s bugging me. Lurien’s journals are just dumped on the ground. All other journals in the Spire are at least on shelves, these are in piles. And I would like to know why as we haven’t seen Lurien being particularly organized or disorganized before.
Now! The Entrance!
The secret room to Lurien’s last thoughts is blocked by a statue of Lurien! Which is very weird once you stop to think about it.
In game, you come across several statues in Hallownest. These statues tend to come in three categories: Items of worship (like the Pale King or the Radiance statue at Crystal Peak), statues of civilizations gone by (most often seen in the Queen’s Gardens), or memorials to dead people.
And here’s Lurien with not one, but three statues to himself.
Only one of the three statues breaks when you hit it, leading you to the secret room, which makes sense for finding secrets. But real life before Lurien went to dreaming…
It makes no sense for Lurien to have this statue when he was awake. The statue is pretty, but very unpractical for someone to use that hidden room. And this is Lurien we are talking about here. Out of the Dreamers, he is the only one who goes for both the beautiful and practical. And based on the section regarding the pillows, Lurien isn’t vain either, so he wouldn’t have a statue of himself, much less three!!!
The statues, Lurien’s character, the dark lamp, and the journels have me thinking. What if Lurien was NOT the person who put the statue there, but rather his people put the statue up after he went into the Dreamer. Remember we already know that Weavers rearranged Herrah’s Den so it would be a shrine for her. So it is not much of a stretch to say Lurien’s people rearranged the Spire to honor Lurien after he passed into the Dreaming.
If this is true, then the statue for Lurien is a memorial statue. It is still extermely rare as it has COLOR whereas the other statues have more stone or metal like colors. Lurien’s colored statue gaurds his last thoughts, preserving the Watcher’s last thoughts and allowing those in depersate need to read any of Lurien’s journels.
Then this begs the question, what about the other two statues? I hereby argue that these statues are indeed of the Watcher but not Lurien. If the secret room has all of Lurien’s thoughts, with the last entry being his last thoughts, and the statue was put up after Lurien “died”, than the other two statues could have put up when the previous Watchers passed away. Yes, I agrue that those bottom two statues belong to the Watchers before Lurien. And those statues also guard rooms with the previous Watchers’ thoughts. Yet we are prevented from accessing them lest the fans confuse those two Watchers with Lurien himself.
If this theory is true, what does it say about Lurien? He is the third Watcher in a line. Firstly, the job of Watcher was not created for Lurien, but rather Lurien proved himself in such a way that the Pale King appointed him to the position. Secondly, Lurien is in a tradition. Did you notice how all the statues looked the same? They all have a simple blue robe and shared mask. Lurien isn’t just wearing the robes for fashion, he is honoring the Watchers who have come before him. Third, if all three Watchers are wearing such simple robes and mask, they are hiding their individual identities. Whether it be so people of Hallownest can focus on the mask or so the Watchers’ can protect their families, I shall leave that up to the fans as there are 3 Watchers, leaving room for interpretation. Fourth, the inner character of the Watcher was always more important than the species of the Watcher. Again, all three Watchers are wearing simple robes that hide which species they are. To this day, fans debate on what species Lurien is. Yet all along, we were looking at the wrong thing, myself included. Personal character and individual skill were the most important aspect of Lurien. And that character and skills made him the most powerful bug right under the Royal Couple.
So, what do you think? Please reblog and share your thoughts!
If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.
Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here
Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here
Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here
Part 3.25: Lurien's Spire: Windows and Colors: Here
Part 3.5: Even More of Lurien's Spire. Here
Part 3.7: What is WRONG with Lurien's Spire?: Here
Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room (You are here)
Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here
Part 4.0 What We Know We Don't Know About the Dreamers' Houses: Click Here
Link to essay on Ao3: Here
If you have thoughts you wish to share, please feel free to comment or reblog! Especially with the above observation!
What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 3.7 Lurien's Spire - WHAT is WRONG with Lurien's Office?!?!
Welcome back! Do you remember the last part where I was talking about how Patriotic Lurien was with all the Hallownestian crests?
I was about to leave it off here, until I realized something strange. There are no King’s Idols in Lurien’s Spire. Mr.-Certified-Pale-King-Fanboy has no King’s Idol from which he would worship the Pale King. What kind of fan would not have an idol or picture of his king? Especially in his bedroom!
Again, I was going to leave it even after checking the Hollow Knight wiki. Tumblr/Ao3 artist Aspidike already wrote a whole comic on it after all, so why should I spend time on it?
Looking back on it, I really should have spent more time wondering why Lurien has no King’s Idols to worship the Pale King when HERRAH is shown to be more religious than him. The Spider Queen has a Shrine inside her den while Lurien doesn’t even have a single idol or a chapel!
I only began to look deeper at the lack of King’s Idols in Lurien’s Spire when I realized there is something else missing in the Watcher’s Spire. Take a look at the carpet in Lurien’s Office.
Why does Lurien have purple carpet that completely covers the floor? Even wrapping around the pillars leading up to his Office? Why when everywhere else in his Spire has RED flooring and Hallownestian seals…
And that’s when it hit me. Not only are there no King’s Idols in Lurien’s Spire, but there is also nothing of the Pale King in Lurien’s Office a.k.a where he lays slumbering.
Look at Lurien’s Office again.
No painting of the Pale King, only that of the City. No massive window of the Hallownest Seal, only open windows. There are Hallownest Seals on the banners…but no Monarach Wings.
Please, allow me to explain the importance of the lack of Monarch Wings. Take a look down below at the kinds of Hallownest Seals seen across Hallownest.
The above photo is a drawing as I suck at photoshop.
Design 1 or the Seal design is most reminiscent of the Pale King with his Monarch Wings, hence why it will be often referred to as the Monarch’s Seal in this essay.
Design 2 or the Crest design is the most often seen crest design across all of Hallownest. It is the center or base that Designs 1 & 3 form their own designs on. I often take it to mean Hallownest itself versus the Monarch’s Seal which brings to mind the Pale King.
Design 3 is the design, which to my knowledge, is only seen in the City of Tears, especially on the noble’s side of the City. Originally, I called it Plumage Design and pondered whether or not this was an allusion to the Pale King, but now I believe it is a homage to the White Lady. See the comparison down below.
Part of the reason why I am making such a big deal out of the different designs is due to the Medieval heritage the game Hollow Knight draws on. If kings, knights, and keeping your oaths to your lords is greatly important to the game, then having a coat of arms and its impact are not a stretch. We already saw this in Monomon’s portion of the essay when we realized that Monomon was the one in charge of the Teacher’s Archives. Due to the lack of Hallownestian crests (or anything of Hallownest) as well as symbols in the benches being Monomon’s mask, we concluded that the Teacher’s Archives was not part of Hallownest proper, but rather natural territory under Monomon’s direct charge.
Having three different Hallownestain crests is vital. While the standard Design 2 or the Crest design allows one to tell that the messenger is from Hallownest versus the Mosskin, Designs 1 and 3 allow us to tell if the message came from the Pale King or White Lady themselves. The common Hallownestian official might only bear the Crest Design while servants in the White Palace bear Designs 1 & 3. Though I bet the Queen’s gardeners only bore the Plumage Design.
With this in mind, let us turn back to Lurien’s Spire to see which crests he bears throughout.
These are all locations through-out the Watcher’s Spire containing different versions of Hallownestian crests. Now please compare these with that of Lurien’s personal Office and Final Resting Place.
Here is the ONLY Place I found the 1st design or Monarch Seal in Lurien’s Office… If you actually can count it since it’s OUTSIDE his office.
The two places where the Monarach Wings appear in Lurien’s Office are in two locations that are OUTSIDE his office. The first is on the Spire’s wall which is just typical City of Tears architecture while the second winged crest is on the elevator. AKA, a standard design that is easily removed from the room.
What does this mean for Lurien, the fandom’s Pale King fanboy, with nothing of the Pale King inside his office? This is supposed to be Lurien’s personal space where there would be tons of Pale King merch and references. Yet, upon closer examination, not only are there no references to the Pale King, but Lurien went out of his way to hid any references to the White Lady as well! The purple carpet extends all the way down, hiding Design 3 or the White Lady’s crest!
Forget any blacklash from an shocked fandom, the lack of references to the Royal Couple in Lurien’s Office reeks of possible danger for the Watcher. Lurien is the 3rd most powerful bug in Hallownest, right underneath the Pale King and White Lady. Such massive influence needs to be massively watched and carefully checked to ensure that the Watcher doesn’t use that power against the Royal Couple. Yet the Watcher, in his own personal office, does not have any direct reference to either of them.
We do not know how the Royal Couple would feel that Lurien went out of his way to not show any direct alliegance in his private workspace and room.
Now, I already know what you are thinking. Lurien’s canon dialogue in the Dream Realm. “For King Beloved…to sleep and serve…” It seems as if all of his dialogue is suggesting the exact opposite picture of Lurien’s Office, that he put the Pale King above everything…but the Pale King isn’t the only reason why he became a Dreamer. To quote Lurien’s last journel entry:
“Sleep beckons eternal and these words become my last. Though my gaze shall no longer fall upon this city, I will act forever in its protection. For King, for bug, for Hallownest, I head now to my rest.”
Lurien is a poet. 2) His actions are for the forever protection of his City. 3) Lurien’s reasons for acting are not solely for the Pale King, but for bug and Hallownest. This is important as it shows Lurien separates Hallownest from the Pale King in his mind.
While Lurien DID say “For King Beloved”, there is nothing of Pale King inside Lurien’s personal Office. It seems like the care Lurien had for the Pale King was like the love Americans have for their flag, unwilling to let the flag touch the ground…but not going so far to have the flag inside their bedrooms…unless the love for the flag goes beyond patriotism to nationalism.
Finally, what does this lack of crests mean for Lurien’s character? I am afraid that I will have to dive into symbolism to explain as a certain Watcher doesn’t have much dialogue.
The lack of Monarch crest on the banners shows how Lurien always put Hallownest first, not the Pale King’s interests. Lurien could have snuck in one of the bigger banners with the Monarch crests, but chose the smaller banner with Design 2 to hang instead. Symbolically, this shows how Lurien’s heart with the kingdom first.
The lack of the Plumage Crests was brought about by Lurien redoing the floors, turning the red floor to purple carpet. As seen before in previous essays, the color red is associated with the nobles and the majority of the Plumage Crests are seen on the noble’s side of the City. Meanwhile, the color purple is primarily seen in Lurien’s Spire AKA Lurien’s color. Just as purple takes from both red and blue to rise to higher wisdom, inspiration, and humility, so Lurien rises above the roots to see a bird’s eye view of the whole culture of Hallownest, not just the nobles who grow (pun intended) from the White Lady.
The open windows has its own symbolism as Team Cherry could have given Lurien’s Office those magnificent Monarch crest windows. Instead, they chose to not just have no seal, but almost no window. Practically, this means Lurien can easily reposition his telescope anywhere so he can see everywhere in the City. But what about symbolism? The answer is that Lurien can see everything CLEARLY and without basis. He sees what is truly there, not what the Pale King wants him to see or expects him to see. Lurien isn’t even plagued by his own personal weakness or anger that could cause the glass to fog up. He can SEE.
Yes, Monomon. You can stop listing all the things wrong with the City. Lurien already has your list and THEN some.
Here we are at the end of this section and I cannot believe that CAREPT of all things would reveal how Lurien's loyalty is to Hallownest first, not the Pale King.
If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.
Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here
Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here
Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here
Part 3.25: Lurien's Spire: Windows and Colors: Here
Part 3.5: Even More of Lurien's Spire. Here
Part 3.7: What is WRONG with Lurien's Spire? (You are here)
Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here
Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here
Part 4.0 What We Know We Don't Know About the Dreamers' Houses: Click Here
Link to essay on Ao3: Here
If you have thoughts you wish to share, please feel free to comment or reblog! Especially with the above observation!
Editing my Dreamers' Houses essay and my goodness, it made me realize how much fight is still left in the Dreamers.
Herrah is all spent, only thinking about her daughter. Unfortunately, there isn't anyone else except Midwife in the Distant Village.
Why?
All the Weavers decided that being Infected, losing your mind while your body attacks anything that moves, was worse than literal slavery. Only those most devoted to Herrah remained...and all of them got infected.
Monomon has no fight...except to argue with Lurien. But have you considered that she has nothing left to fight for?
There is literally NO ONE in her Archives except her infected Uummu, Uomas, and Oomas. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER STUDENTS IS DEAD BEFORE THE GAME EVEN STARTED. Except Quirrel. Quirrel whom she calls back to finally rest.
Lurien has the most fight...and yes, the Spire doesn't have a single known person still themselves in the Infection. But what about Lurien's whole City?
Yes, yes, the noble side is completely Infected and the Soul Master kidnapped and drained more than half of the citizens belonging to the left side of the City, BUT there are still free people!
The Nailsmith! Eternal Emilitia! Even Lemm, a newcomer to his City! And goodness, the Collector! And grubbies. Can't forget the grubs.
If you go down a bit further, then there's Orgrim, Tuk, and the Fluke Hermit!
Lurien still has people! People with Names! Hopes! And Dreams free from the Radiance!
And if you expand Lurien's care from the City to Hallownest (which isn't a stretch considering how Lurien is so patriotic for his kingdom) then every free bug in Hallownest is his too.
Now here's a question, does Lurien still care about his butler who is Infected? About every single of his servants and friends under the Radiance's spell? If so, what about every captured citizen of Hallownest?
If so, then Lurien is fighting for them too, just like we do for Myla. Fighting and Hoping against Hope itself that they all can be saved one day.
This came as no surprise to me. What knocked me out was realizing that Monomon's efforts were for nothing. Becoming a Dreamer for her students and keep Hallownest united only for everyone to die anyway??? No wonder she was done.
What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 3.5 Lurien's Spire - Pillows & Patriotism
Yes, you read the title right! We're talking about the pillows in Lurien's Spire!
Basically, I ran across a few articles calling the Watcher gaudy and greedy, lumping him with Hallownestian nobles. The Watcher, however, is not gaudy like the nobles of Hallownest. Before we bring in the pillows, let us compare the pictures down below.
Vs. the Watcher's Spire.
While there is a lot of details going on in all three photos, it is far easier to filter out Lurien’s Spire than the nobles. The purple in the Watcher’s Spire calms the player versus the red constantly popping in the noble’s houses.
That, and it took me four years before I realized that Lurien had wallpaper while every detail of the noble's houses was screaming in my face.
Now, we can bring in the pillows. We shall point out the pillows, discuss their arrangement, and what both say of the characters of the nobles and the Watcher himself.
In the noble houses, all the pillows are in the center of the room.
Meanwhile, in the Watcher’s Spire, the pillows are by the windows.
All the pillows in the nobles’ houses are facing the center where the nobles can be the focal point of attention. Where the point could be is either the red couches or the pillows themselves, but any visitor would certainly be hyper-focused on the noble by the mere seating arrangement.
If this was not the City of Tears that we know, such an arrangement could show how everyone is focused on the people and community. Unfortunately, we know thanks to the Dream Nail how all the nobles were overprotective of their geo. The arrangement of the pillows and seating of the guests was only to show off a noble’s wealth, not foster familial ties.
The Watcher’s Spire, however, has the opposite arrangement of pillows. The seating arrangement looks outside of the Spire, not in. Lurien invites any visitor to his Spire to admire not his wealth, but the wealth and health of the City.
One could argue that Watcher’s arrangement of pillows show how he is always looking outwards instead of reflecting upon himself and his faults, but considering the noble’s thoughts and intentions, I believe that Lurien is not selfish in looking outwards as his pillow arrangement is completely opposite of the nobles. Luriem is always looking out to his community AND loves to admire the beauty resulting from the community.
Finally, Lurien still loves both practicality and beauty as seen in his window designs by the pillows. The nobles’ design for the window is pathetic in comparison, though one must be grateful for being to see out of said window.
As for more comparisons of Lurien with other characters in Hollow Knight, let us marvel at how patriotic Lurien is.
All the little details.
I swear, Lurien is more patriotic than the Pale King. Compare the opening of Lurien's Spire to the White Palace.
VS.
Remember, Lurien's wallpaper still counts.
I wonder how Lurien being more patriotic than the Pale King speaks about his character?
As a Lurien fan, I am afraid that I must admit there is not enough evidence in the Spire alone to answer that question. Right now, these photos suggest that Lurien was Nationalistic while the Pale King was Patriotic.
Yet, once we look at both of their actions in-game, we can determine that Lurien is indeed Patriotic, not Nationalistic. Afterall, it is Lurien who makes the ultimate sacrifice for Hallownest not once but twice, even when he knew the Pale King wasn’t coming back. The Pale King, meanwhile, sacrificed everyone but himself, then fled from the Radiance when the Infection returned.
If both Lurien and the PK’s actions were foreshadowed by the amount of Hallownestian seals and crests, well…I do not feel as if I can make that judgement due to my basis on Lurien. I shall leave that to the community to decide.
If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.
Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here
Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here
Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here
Part 3.25: Lurien's Spire: Windows and Colors: Here
Part 3.5: Even More of Lurien's Spire. (You are here)
Part 3.7 Lurien's Spire: What is wrong with Lurien's Office?! Here
Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here
Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here
Part 4.0 What We Know We Don't Know About the Dreamers' Houses: Click Here
Link to essay on Ao3: Here
If you have thoughts you wish to share, please feel free to comment or reblog! Especially with the above observation!
What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 3.25 Lurien's Spire - Windows and Colors
Welcome back to talking about the Dreamers' Houses! Today we're discussing more about the Watcher's Spire and what it tells us about Lurien's character.
Last time, we talked about Lurien's Telescope and what it spoke of Lurien's character. Yet there was something else I noticed with the placement of the Telescope itself.
It is on the Left Side of Lurien's office, facing the Left half of the City. While some might state that this is because of classism, I am not so sure. Not when I noticed this particular detail.
We have three bugs with unique designs with unique dialogue. From the dialogue, it seems that they took up the duty of the Watcher's mantle, placed there possibly by Lurien himself. Of all the sides of the Spire, these three are also facing the left side. What could be on that side of the City that Lurien went out of his way to leave his Telescope facing the left side and appointed watchers to guard that side?
Oh.
Wait.
Taken from ntvv.vn.
The entire Soul Sanctum and the Soul Master is on the LEFT side of the City. The same group responsible for THIS carnage.
Tragically, that is not even half of the people butchered by the Soul Master. If Lurien had an inkling, however, of the Soul Master's doings, then he would keep watch over that portion of the City in order that he can find evidence of the Soul Master's wrongdoings. Unfortunately, as we all know, Lurien ran out of time to prevent the full tragedy.
That did not, however, stop Lurien from doing everything he could to stop the Soul Master. He left the Telescope and appointed not one, but three mini watchers to keep an eye on the Soul Master. Who knows how many notes and networks he left behind to the mini watchers as well that we never got a chance to read. What we do know is that Lurien made sure that every tool and opportunity to protect his City was left at the Pale King's disposal. Lurien wasn't just protective, he took preventative action and was willing to include others to best protect his City.
Though that begs the question of how many back-up plans Lurien had to protect the City.
Moving on, I could dive into how Lurien is one of the few bugs to have a statue in the whole of Hallownest. I could also talk about the sheer size of his Spire or the fact that Lurien, confirmed to be mortal, has a stone lore tablet that so far only the Pale King has. But I will not as fellow Tumblr user Eggbuggo already talked about that. Don't worry, I found the post so you don't have to scroll down to March 2nd, 2023 to find it.
https://www.tumblr.com/eggobuggo/710665789135634432/i-think-lots-of-people-tend-to-forget-how-much?source=share
Instead, I will talk about the color of the Spire, or colors.
The City of Tears is mainly divided into two colors: dark blue for the Left side (commoners + business) and red for the Right side (noble houses). The Watcher's Spire, however, has three colors: Blue, Red, AND Purple.
For comparison, here is a picture of the left side of the City of Tears.
Vs. the Right side of the City.
The Watcher's Spire, meanwhile, has three colors.
The floor is red, the pillars and elevators are blue while the wall is purple.
What does this color design say about Lurien the Watcher? For starters, the Watcher has not one assigned color to his Spire, but tastefully uses all three. Even a person from far away can see the beauty in how Lurien creates a contrast with these colors. Considering that each side of the City is predominately one color, this speaks volumes on how Lurien did not side solely which one side of the City.
For example, there is no red or purple glow in the left side of the City. Compare these two images.
Vs.
The lamps inside the Watcher's Spire produce this violet/pinkish glow whereas the lamps on the left side of the City only glow white. Same glass shape, but different light.
On the flip, or right side of the City, the nobles seem to hide any blue inside their home unless it is completely necessary, such as the elevator shafts. Compare:
&
Vs. Lurien using the red as the floor, but decorating with the blue pillars and window frames. The contrast here is used as framing, creating something beautiful even if it is just a hallway.
I believe the color choice for the Watcher's Spire speaks the exact same thing of Lurien's character as the Spire's placement in the City of Tears. Lurien was the mean between extremes for the City. Not only is the Spire in the middle of the City where everyone can reach it, but the use of purple in particular, a color created by mixing blue and red, shows both a claim of connection, yet also distant from the citizens of the City. This is important as purple isn't predominantly seen anywhere else in the City of Tears.
One last thing regarding color, Lurien is also the only one person to employ both blue and red sentries. Except for the one Great Husk Sentry and the Winged Sentry in the Resting Grounds, the blue and red sentries are never seen together. Given the sole location of both the blue and red sentries in the same is the Watcher’s Spire, it speaks to Lurien’s character that he was able to bring those two sentries together. Unfortunately, we do not know if the Watcher was able to pull it off due to his high position, geo, or his personal character, but the feat is still remarkable.
We have reached page 18 of Lurien's section, so I believe it would be best to cut off here for now. To recap: Lurien is proactive to protect his City, even though he would lay dreaming forever. We notice this in the placement of items and people by certain windows. We also learned how colors reflect Lurien's character as the mean in-between the two extremes of the two sides of the City, especially the use of the color purple which is a mix of blue and red. While this creates a distinction between the Watcher and the other citizens of the City, Lurien is still able to bring the people together as noted in the kinds of guards patrolling in his Spire.
If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.
Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here
Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here
Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here
Part 3.25: More of Lurien's Spire (You are here.)
Part 3.5: Lurien's Spire: Pillows and Patriotism: Here
Part 3.7 Lurien's Spire: What is wrong with Lurien's Office?! Here
Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here
Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here
Part 4.0 What We Know We Don't Know About the Dreamers' Houses: Click Here
Link to essay on Ao3: Here
If you have thoughts you wish to share, please feel free to comment or reblog!