the main Knight is actually the pale king

[JolyJew СлаваУкраине]

this theory may be half-baked but it makes sense
how is the Knight able to defeat friggin gods with nothing but a nail and a bunch of charms?
why does the Knight sit on the Pale King's throne after smashing his corpse?
why do some characters refer to the knight as "wyrm" even though that's a title only reserved for the pale king?
what does the pale king mean when his final thoughts are "no cost is too great"?

i think the pale king transferred all his conciousness and soul into the void so that it could give birth to the Knight that will finally become the vessel that will seal the Radiance once and for all. basically the pale king sacrificed his life force and conciousness destroy the the Radiance

there is no other explanation why you find him dead

[Darth Revan]

The knight is the offspring of the pale king so that would still give him some Wyrm status, and we see in the flashback that the knight and the pale king were both active at the same time

[Mitchman05]

Watch mossbag's video deconstructing Game Theory's video on that theory

[malicious joker plant]

Originally posted by Jolly Jew:

this theory may be half-baked but it makes sense
how is the Knight able to defeat friggin gods with nothing but a nail and a bunch of charms?
why does the Knight sit on the Pale King's throne after smashing his corpse?
why do some characters refer to the knight as "wyrm" even though that's a title only reserved for the pale king?
what does the pale king mean when his final thoughts are "no cost is too great"?

i think the pale king transferred all his conciousness and soul into the void so that it could give birth to the Knight that will finally become the vessel that will seal the Radiance once and for all. basically the pale king sacrificed his life force and conciousness destroy the the Radiance

there is no other explanation why you find him dead

He was dead cause the void might have reached him, watch mossbag's video in which he talks about Matpat's theory and why its wrong, the knight can sit on the pale king's throne, but that can either be random or cause he is one of his "children"/

[CHI LONG QUA]

Originally posted by Jolly Jew:

this theory may be half-baked but it makes sense
how is the Knight able to defeat friggin gods with nothing but a nail and a bunch of charms?
why does the Knight sit on the Pale King's throne after smashing his corpse?
why do some characters refer to the knight as "wyrm" even though that's a title only reserved for the pale king?
what does the pale king mean when his final thoughts are "no cost is too great"?

i think the pale king transferred all his conciousness and soul into the void so that it could give birth to the Knight that will finally become the vessel that will seal the Radiance once and for all. basically the pale king sacrificed his life force and conciousness destroy the the Radiance

there is no other explanation why you find him dead

The Knight's stronger than the other vessels because of the time it spent out of Hallownest, according to Hornet. So the Knight doesn't have to be a reincarnated Pale King to do so well. Also, Hornet says that the time in the wastes created an additional 'void' in the Knight, other than the actual Void. Wouldn't the Pale King, even reincarnated, be immune to the mind-draining of the wastes? And wouldn't you see some dialogue reflecting something about the knight having a pale light in him if he was the King's reincarnation, instead of having two voids inside?

-due to parentage the Knight's part Wyrm.

-no cost too great could easily refer to all the vessel-children, as well as other measures he was taking.

The Pale King's palace, even after being moved to a remote location, was seemingly infiltrated and attacked by Void. There's tendrils leading into the entrance of the palace, and it looks to me like it then entered via the kingsmolds in the throne room - the throne room is very dark, has void particles, void smoke, and the guards in the throne room have void leaking from them.

So the only things the reincarnation theory might be useful to explain are how the Knight escaped the Abyss and why the Pale King would just hide passively, which seems like a weirdly feeble course of action for such a wise being to take.

Perhaps since the King was no longer a full-size Wyrm, and if he was considering moving into an even smaller form (the Knight), then being in the wastes would have a deadening effect on even his mind? After all, if he could travel them freely in his King form, why not flee Hallownest, except to stay out of dedication? Perhaps the time spent in the wastes was to make sure his mind wouldn't be too strong to be contained inside the vessel form. But another indication of this is there is no indication that the Knight contains a Wyrm's mind or soul. For example, being wounded results in leaking Void and dying leaves only a Void shade. Seems to my that the Knight only reflects the King physically and not in any way beyond that.

Also, if the King had moved on to another form, would his shell have Dream Nail dialogue?

[Boksha]

On how the Knight left the birthplace: the assumed problem is that the birthplace was sealed immediately after the king and the Hollow Knight left, making it impossible for the Knight to leave since it fell down when that happened (or not, if you assume this isn't a real flashback, which seems to be a core element of the "The Knight = the Pale King himself" theory). However, there's no reason to assume the place would be sealed immediately. More likely, the birthplace would only be sealed once it became likely that the Hollow Knight could be the final vessel; until that time, the Knight could have climbed out and wandered into the wastes dejectedly, forgetting that it was forsaken by its father and becoming truly hollow (as opposed to the Hollow Knight, who lived within the walls, knowing its father's love, sparking the tiniest amount of emotion/hope that made it vulnerable to the Radiance's control over dreams).

As I see it, the king did, in fact, "die" only after deciding the Hollow Knight failed its purpose and he himself could not beat the Radiance in his current form. The Knight was already around but wandering the wastes at this time. The king's true reincarnation would be either the completed Kingsoul or at least his half of it; note also that the White Lady merely sees you as a vessel when you first talk to her ("One like you was awaited.") and only after completing the Kingsoul does she sense the presence of the Wyrm ("I almost feel like I'm once again in the presence of my beloved Wyrm.") If that's true, the Knight does become the Pale King, but only after collecting the Kingsoul. Before that, it's merely a lost vessel. (which is still biologically a child of the Pale King, but not the reincarnated Pale King himself)

The "No cost too great", besides being the Pale King's motto in fighting the Radiance, would finally refer to his own death allowing the Kingsoul to be created, being the key to unifying the void and ultimately defeating the Radiance.

[mongi]

A game theory

[Hotel Security]

how is the Knight able to defeat friggin gods with nothing but a nail and a bunch of charms?

Because he's a direct decendant of the Pale King and has the bloodline of a near-deity in his veins. All of the vessels do. This is why he doesn't have to be the actual Pale King...just having a small aspect of the Pale King is enough.

why does the Knight sit on the Pale King's throne after smashing his corpse?

He doesn't have to and it's not automatic. I missed it myself on my first run. I think it's more of a quirky thing to do and maybe a reference to him being a "son" of the Pale King.

what does the pale king mean when his final thoughts are "no cost is too great"?

Many believe it's related to the Pale King sacrificing himself but I always thought it's related to him sacrificing his children. I mean you look at how many dead vessels there are and Pale King was throwing away so many of his own kin. The White Lady even comments that she eventually became disgusted with the whole thing which is why she became a half-tree-thing.

i think the pale king transferred all his conciousness and soul into the void so that it could give birth to the Knight

Why do that when it's clear the Pale King can "die" and change form like he did when he turned from a wyrm to a bug creature? There's no reason he can't just "die" again as the Pale King and be reborn as something else.

there is no other explanation why you find him dead

Or the rebirth one that I just mentioned which fits the game's narrative a bit better.

He was dead cause the void might have reached him

I saw this theory and mossbag himself pokes holes in it and it only exists due to the small dark tendrils connected to the Kingsmould that you use to go to the Pale King's place. It works less since all those handlers are all still alive and uneffected by the void...It went after just the Pale King and not them? Also, I find it strange that Pale King held off the void for so long and then, after all that, he's just sitting on the throne and letting it take over? Doesn't fit him at all.

The Knight's stronger than the other vessels because of the time it spent out of Hallownest, according to Hornet.

I believe in this theory. My guess is it's because you lose all memories when you leave Hollownest. The flaw with all the other vessels was they had memory of their parents, even if it's a slight memory of Mom at childbirth, and therefore they all had an emotional connection to them which made them weak vessels. Having lost all its memory and only operating on instinct, the Knight is the perfect vessel...and could have never been made "naturally" in Hollownest. By this theory, it means the Pale King would have never been able to make a perfect vessel with how he was doing it.

Also, if the King had moved on to another form, would his shell have Dream Nail dialogue?

The whole thing occurs in a dream state so, while I do believe it represents the real world, that's still not actually him and is just a memory of him from that dream. The real Pale King (and likely his corpse if he has one) is gone.

besides being the Pale King's motto in fighting the Radiance, would finally refer to his own death allowing the Kingsoul to be created

This theory falls apart when it's clear from the item dialogue and from White Lady's comment that the Kingsoul existed prior to the Pale King's death. In fact it appears to be some symbol of their love for each other with each having half.

[Vismel]

Nice bait

[Odahviing]

Hornet's, White Lady's dialogues and the void heart sequence actively discourage this idea.

[Anienonimowa]

I highly suggest you watch the theory on the Game Theory channel, and the debunk mossback video

[Antônio_Antônio]

Originally posted by Jolly Jew:

this theory may be half-baked but it makes sense
how is the Knight able to defeat friggin gods with nothing but a nail and a bunch of charms?
why does the Knight sit on the Pale King's throne after smashing his corpse?
why do some characters refer to the knight as "wyrm" even though that's a title only reserved for the pale king?
what does the pale king mean when his final thoughts are "no cost is too great"?

i think the pale king transferred all his conciousness and soul into the void so that it could give birth to the Knight that will finally become the vessel that will seal the Radiance once and for all. basically the pale king sacrificed his life force and conciousness destroy the the Radiance

there is no other explanation why you find him dead

the knight is the Pale King and White Queen's son, meaning he's pretty much a god. that explains pretty much everything. also, what character calls him Wyrm?

[Hotel Security]

the knight is the Pale King and White Queen's son, meaning he's pretty much a god.

He has demi-god level powers AND, because he was created with the void, he has whatever powers that thing can give him as well (which we see utilized at the end). So basically infused with two powerful forces.

[PajamaBoyPete]

Rad theory