SPOILERS! Is the radiance actually a real thing?

[Les Bons Oeufs]

What I mean by that is that "the radiance", before fighting it, is shown as a kind of sun.
Insects are actually very sensitive to UV, and this can produce skin infections on human beings. So, if global warming increases the dangerousness of UV, maybe this is just the whole point of the game?

[Hexamicor]

I saw the game's story as more of a war between two gods trying to have a superior follwing. Both The Radiance and The Pale King are worshipped as gods, both also have (had?) a religious following.
The Pale King actually has reasonable intentions with providing a civilized life to the world of bugs and what not. While The Radiance spreads a mental infection of sorts for all simple (weak?) beings to fall, and do anything fighting to protect their god and spread the following.

Probably not what it was, but that's what I see it as.

[Les Bons Oeufs]

Originally posted by McCramer:

I saw the game's story as more of a war between two gods trying to have a superior follwing. Both The Radiance and The Pale King are worshipped as gods, both also have (had?) a religious following.
The Pale King actually has reasonable intentions with providing a civilized life to the world of bugs and what not. While The Radiance spreads a mental infection of sorts for all simple (weak?) beings to fall, and do anything fighting to protect their god and spread the following.

Probably not what it was, but that's what I see it as.

xD well it's maybe a mix of our thoughts, a fight between two godlike creatures with some real life things. Maybe not. The lack (not a negative one though) of explained storyline reminds me of the dark souls series.

[CJones]

In case you never noticed, there's a huge statue of The Radiance at Hallownest's Crown. So yeah, the bugs certainly seemed to think is was a real thing, to have built such a statue.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that the Seer was a moth, and mothes, among many other bugs, seem to have a mindless attraction to light.

[Les Bons Oeufs]

Originally posted by CJones:

In case you never noticed, there's a huge statue of The Radiance at Hallownest's Crown. So yeah, the bugs certainly seemed to think is was a real thing, to have build such a statue.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that the Seer was a moth, and mothes, among many other bugs, seem to have a mindless attraction to light.

Yes true, the game, as I see, is using a lot of metaphore, if we can call it that way.

[TyresTyco]

Mccramer is right.. the only thing we can argue is.. who is less evil..I mean.. the pale king abandoned everyone outside of the white palace only to save his life. He created the hollow knights not to get rid of the radiance.. only to keep the circle ongoing. Otherwise it wouldnt make much sense doin all the stuff to get to the real endboss. A hint for that is for example the help from all the shades at the very last stage. They all got forced to do all this and they finally had a chance to break the circle.

The dreamers just decided to give the new hk a chance because of the whole dream nail thing.

Also..the radiance just wanted not to be forgotten.. typical for a god. It was just mad at the pale king because he ordered to forget everything about it. Hence the infection as revenge.

[Kyzael]

I'm surprised there wasn't a mention of the Wyrm at all in this. As far as I was understanding, the creature had a very sigificant input on the world around it, effecting both the Radiance and Pale King.

[Hexamicor]

Originally posted by Kyzael:

I'm surprised there wasn't a mention of the Wyrm at all in this. As far as I was understanding, the creature had a very sigificant input on the world around it, effecting both the Radiance and Pale King.

The Wyrn reincarnated as The Pale King, so they're technically the same being.
The Wyrm saw how bugs were living under the influence of The Radiance, uncivilized and all. It thought that it could provide a better life for the bugs under its rule. So it reincarnated into a body form fit for a ruler, and built a kingdom for its followers.

[jabberwok]

I don't know what it would have to do with global warming, but I got the impression that The Radiance might be a reference to an actual light source. Sun, lamp, bug zapper, whatever. The moth sage describes her people turning away from it for the Wyrm's light, and moths are famous for being attracted to light sources. Not sure if that says anything about the canon, or could have just been a possible source of inspiration when they were writing the story.