This track got such a tight win on the Patreon poll! It initially tied with an Elden Ring track, we ended up having to do a tie breaker poll. If you want to participate on our next polls, join my Patreon: www.patreon.com/davivasc
By the way, sealed vessel is a sort of remix of the main theme for hollow knight. The second part of the track is the first part of the main melody for the main theme looped over and over for lore purposes, in 13:30 the full melody finally plays signifying that this mess is finally over.
I would recommend checking out 8-bit Music theory's video on this bit of hollow Knight's soundtrack, ua-cam.com/video/5IZ6ObjdkPA/v-deo.html there's a lot going on in the rest of the soundtrack that you, having only listened to this track could not have picked up in terms of the development of thematic material.
It's impressive that they can do that and it's impressive that the composer could make it possible to do that in the first place. It's really a sign of a great soundtrack.
Like watching a conversation where you sort of know the language, following as well as you can in awe as two very intelligent people communicate perfectly using words you only half understand.
@@Icedonot That's not something that is easily proveable. But by looking at his channel and all his reactions, you'd think this dude hasn't heard a single soundrack in his life. Yet, he's supposed to be a video game composer. That doesn't add up.
This man, without having played the game, managed to predict how the (semi-)final boss fight works, down to the scripted musical triggers during the fight. Good composer and good composer I’d say.
It's because the track is good. It's a form of communication, the same way a painting can give a feeling even if the drawing isn't really understandable, the intent is here. Music is the same, some notes are sad, some are playful, and a composer just learn how to read it.
I dont want to be cynical, but there is a chance he is fake, idk for sure but I just think its weird how he always gets to whole lore from bosses for every game every single time, he has never been wrong when it comes to this, I just think its weird. So maybe he already knows the story and pretends. Then again I know fuck all about music so maybe the music really does represent all this stuff and I am wrong.
@@penguinwolf3330 that’s possible but I’ve seen this happen with other creators and they can’t all be lying. Just the other day I saw someone reacting to Tartaglia’s battle theme without having played Genshin and he got so much right that it’s uncanny. It might just be how music communication works
"At first, I thought this was a boss battle, but now I'm not really sure..." I'm pretty sure I thought the *exact* same thing to myself when I first fought this fight. God damn chills, man.
this song perfectly captures the feeling of fighting someone who truly doesn't deserve it, someone you wish you could save but know you can't, someone you will be mourning when the fight is over, but still someone you HAVE to defeat
Like broken vessel and I believe many more… I haven’t complete my game and haven’t broke any seal or participate in colosseum of fool but it broken vessel is like that, someone you wish to save but the only way to do it is by killing them, ending their misery
@@morrowzoranov _spoilers_ On end 5 after The Knight beats the 5th Panteon, he kills Absolute Radiance without killing the Hollow Knight, so in end 5 he's alive and free, but I don't know what Team Cherry will do with this ending if it is canon.
@@pros_0143 ohhh that makes sense lol your first comment was worded weirdly, I honestly don't know if silksong will be a prequel or a sequel and I try not to theorize about it so I figure it out naturally through the game, but if it's a sequel I'm not sure how team cherry can maintain their "all endings are equally canon" angle, it's kinda hard for sealed siblings to be canon if Hornet's out there jumping around Pharloom when she's supposed to be dying inside the black egg
"i thought this was a bossbattle... A-and maybe it still is! But I am not entirely sure anymore" perfectly summarizes the boss battle this belongs to. First half (the entense music) is an actual battle. Depending on how quickly you got to it, it'll either be surprisingly easy or REALLY hard. But then you get the switch (the stabbing part of the music plays when you get the boss super close to about half health). And then the dramatic music starts playing... This is still during the boss battle, btw. And at that point, it stops being a fight and it basically becomes... Well... Assisted suicide... I guess that is the best way to describe it. The first half is a test of skill, but then it becomes a really depressing fight in the 2nd half.
@@professorgrimm4602 first off, I literally said it was assisted suicide in my own comment, so your comments seems a little bit out of place. Secondly, it isn't confirmed if that is HK's intention. An alternative theory, is that he is stabbing himself to let the infection out and relieve himself of the pain. Tho my believe is that the first half is HK testing if you are worthy of replacing him (or him being mad at you for releasing him) and then the 2nd half of the fight is him getting the infection out of himself so you can be the new vessel. Also it's interesting to note that, while stabbing himself, all damage you do to him is set to 1. So he may be stabbing himself to activate the infection to buff himself. Tho this is probably wrong
@@Lusius8879 8-bit Music Theory actually conducted an analysis on leitmotifs in Hollow Knight, and one of his conclusions concerning the Hollow Knight's boss battle music is that Hollow's actually trying to help his younger sibling kill him with all the consciousness he can muster.
@@Lusius8879 I don’t see why the Hollow Knight would want to kill you, they’re clearly in a massive amount of pain, and know how infected the world is because of World Sense, so it would make sense for them to want you to replace them. I think the part where it attacks you is the radiance controlling them, and the stabbing is when they gain back enough control to help you by killing themself.
Oh man. I too was fooled by the adorable aesthetic of Hollow Knight. The cute little characters, the funny little voicelines and colorful areas. By the end of the game it was just downright sad and tragic and it holds some really grim and mature themes. I definitely hope you look more into some of the Hollow Knight soundtracks, they're a real treat!
@@DaviVasc Cartoony and cute? Not even close, dad has more than 1000 kids , throws them into a big black pit and which ever one gets out first / appeals him gets to come out. Only to be put in a big black 'egg' to be used as a holder for an infection. Plus the other kids are just left to rot in the big black pit for the rest of time. Not to mention the kid that makes it out has to be apathetic, and the kid that got out tried so hard to be but failed because he wanted his father to be proud of him. Angsty you should really play the game lore is great!!
"It sounds more serious and mature than I expected," *No cost too great.* "because, you know, I always see this cartoony," *No mind to think.* "cutesy little guy, that's the protagonist," *No will to break.* "so I expected something maybe a little more lighthearted," *No voice to cry suffering.* "and maybe this track is an exception," *Born of God and Void.* "because this track specifically... sounds... like..." *You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams.* "it sounds a bit dramatic, you know," *You are the Vessel.* "it sounds like it could be a little high stakes." *You are the Hollow Knight.*
"I thought it was going to explode but it's still really quiet" And the Ghost becomes the Vessel, not killing the Radiance, but bottling up that explosion once again within itself.
You thought it was going to explode like a Soulsborne ost, but no, it subverted you with melancholy, like a Soulsborne ost, aside from that time you expected to be subverted with melancholy and were subverted with explosive sound.
Really shows the way hollow knight took inspiration from soulsborne, and basically perfectly adapted it into the cartoony and subtle style of hollow knight without losing the core concept or the absolutely amazing sound design. Team cherry really are amazing
If you haven't played hollow Knight you really need to. This game has so much character and impact. The lore behind it is amazing as well. Can't wait for silk song.
idk if you already knew this, that wasnt an "end me now" thing. the radiance had taken control of him, he was having moments of autonomy and trying to kill himself so he couldn't do more for the radiance. the lore around hollow knight is super cool
There are more than a few heart-wrenching lore elements behind this. *_spoilers for all endings, and then some, ahead. I might not be 100% correct about all that follows though._* Hallownest is plagued by an infection that's represented by the orange you see in the clip of the fight. The Pale King is a major character you discover in the aftermath of the first ending and he basically created a lot of children to use as vessels to contain the infection. The plan was to seal all of the infection into one child and lock the child up for eternity. The reason he was using his own children is that his spawn had enough emptiness in their souls to contain the entire infection. However, the ones that had any semblance of a full soul did not have the fortitude to do that. Unfortunately, this Hollow Knight you're fighting is one of the ones who wasn't completely empty inside, and the infection has taken control of their body. They were chained up in the chamber just in case this happened. In lategame it becomes clear that their body is failing and could burst and overrun the entire realm at any moment. The part about containing the infection is implied to the player right after defeating this boss. Your character absorbs the infection into their body and is unable to resist being chained up as they struggle to contain the infection initially. Thus you continue the cycle, killing your sibling to take on their responsibility. Those parts where they stab themselves is their actual consciousness trying to help you in the few moments of control it wins from the infection. The part about the Pale King is something you discover if you go back and figure out how to get a better ending. I'll spare further details, but you essentially figure out that the King failed to destroy the root cause of the infection and you gain the means to destroy it yourself. Once you succeed, the infection ceases to exist and your sibling's soul is freed.
@@4sety this is pretty good! One thing I’ll say is that the pale king’s children were never empty at heart - they were hollowed out by the void. They had to be his children not because they were already empty but because so many needed to be sacrificed, and so he took it upon himself to create them. Other than that you pretty much got it spot on, good job :) Edit: I probably sound like a teacher reviewing an essay 😭
There is not a game I can recommend more highly than Hollow Knight. It is a masterpiece, a work of art without equal and it makes me feel so emotional every time I hear this song.
2:10 This track is not an exception. The game uses a cute hand-drawn art style as a facade for a grim dark tale of death and conflict. This battle is about fighting your brother in a battle to the death to save a fallen kingdom from a violent tyrannical god.
arguably from two tyrannical gods-the Pale King is the one who refused to solve his problems like a normal person and locked his own children in an abyssal tomb in an attempt to keep a frail hold on his own godhood
@@siriuspope3552 I mean, he attempted to create a vessel to save his kingdom. For the sake of his kingdom, he sold himself out to another kingdoms queen to give her a child, to stem the war between kingdoms. He clearly doted on and depended on the vessel that was thought to be a success, and he died still a king. Yeah, he's flawed, but a lot of it depends on how much you consider shades to be...alive. Are you murdering something every time you kill your own shade?
@@FFKonoko wasn't the whole reason Hollow couldn't fully contain Radiance is because the King loved them and they loved him back? makes the game even sadder tbh
@@dhampir_days Yeah, after completing Path of Pain you see a flashback of The Pale King and The Pure Vessel sharing a single look, which, I believe, is The Pale King looking proudly at his child. I think that is the only time The Pure Vessel felt an emotion, feeling accomplished about itself. That single emotion made it vulnerable to The Radiance and The Infection
@@siriuspope3552 He didn't do it to keep his godhood. He did it to seal the radiance and stop the infection from killing everyone in the kingdom and turning them into mindless husks. Obviously pale king did do a lot of terrible things that is inexcusable but he tried to do it for the greater good.
"It feels like being stabbed with a knife" Love how literal you get here, if only past Davi could see how right he was. Loving the blind listens, i haven't been watching for long but I'm already addicted to your videos! Hollow knight is my favorite game, and the score is a big part of that and I would love to see more of your first listens for this game!
I thought it was incredible when you say this, because usually near this part of the track during the game play is when The Hollow Knight starts to stab himself with his sword. Im genuinely in love with how he picked up such important things from this song, such as the fate (the Knight's fate and destiny being to replace the Hollow Knight), loneliness and tragedy (The Hollow Knight failing as a vessel due to it wishing for the attachment of their father, the King, and being trapped away to be this said vessel) and so many other things. It's genuinely incredible.
Also adding how he described the music at the end (which is typically for the ending cutscenes after you defeat the boss) as more like happy but still lonely and melancholy, and I kinda feel that these feelings take part in the endings due to the suffering of the previous vessel coming to an end and, in another of the endings, all the failed vessels are finally able to be put to rest. Its just incredible.
I do like how the music almost perfectly the transition of "Cool! Boss fight!" To "are you ready to help your brother commit assisted suicide." Edit: why are y'all losing your shit in the comments?
@@wta1518 Male pronouns are used as a universal sometimes. It's why we say "man" when referring to humans, "bro" for friend, etc. The knight is typically portrayed as a male along with most other vessels since all friendly NPCs that look like the knight are male. Saying "brother" is fine.
@@uncannyvalley3190 It's literally not. Sure, terms like "dude" and "bro" are used universally, but he is not universal in English. Also, the vessels are absolutely not portrayed as male, they're are canonically genderless. That's why the White Lady refers to us as it.
@@wta1518 You did not read my comment. People portray them as male, as in actual people, not other NPCs in game. "Brother" is another one of my universal male term, not "he." I never said the knight wasn't genderless, I just pointed out that you're correction was unnecessary. You definitely get offended when someone says "he" when referring to the knight or the Hallow Knight.
Nah. There are some really scary, melancholic and tragic themes scattered around. But most of the game is not very depressing and mature at face value. Ancient Basin has a melancholic and empty tone, Kingdom's Edge has a feeling of emptiness (you could argue Resting Grounds has that as well) and Deepnest has a fear factor to scare the audience. But for the most part, the game is more of an intense, bombastic sort of style or a sense if exploration like the first half of the game, it just meddles with deep stuff from time to time. Once you get into the lore though, yeah most of it is mature topics portrayed in a lighter tone than most, but still dark and grim.
In truth, most of the game's soundtrack sounds either kind of sad/melancholy or tense. Few exceptions that I can think of are "Hornet" & "Mantis Lords", which are more tense; which makes sense, given the context of the two bosses and their fights (both of Hornet's fights and the Mantis Lords' fight). Another exception is "Dung Defender". If there ever was a track in the game that WAS light-hearted, it's this.
@@mother_brightmoon4833 Kingdom's edge sounds kind of happy, although it is still a bit melancholy. Maybe it can be called melanhappy. Also the Hive Knight is just epic battle music.
This track is also full of callbacks to the rest of the game, themes that keep running through important moments and such. That last bit especially is a direct callback to the music playing in the opening cutscene. It makes everything feel so remarkably coherent.
Yeah, I think the Hollow Knight soundtrack can't be fully understood one piece at time! Specially without first hearing the intro music, the other songs become a bit hollow (heh)
Really loved hearing your thoughts on this. I know nothing about music so you pointing out surprise chords or the way violin and chello harmonize. Seeing your surprise was and interest was really good stuff.
Thanks man. Ugh... I love speedruns, I wanna watch yours so bad but I don't want to get even more spoiled. I'll make sure to watch it when I finally get around to playing the game!
5:41 That weird sound is actually the scream of the boss itself, pretty cool that it serves as a transition, and work really well with the visual of the fight
Interestingly enough, that scream isn't that of the Hollow Knight itself, but of the Radiance. When you encounter the Pure Vessel in the pantheons, he makes the same motion, but remains completely silent
10:12, my favorite part here is how Christopher Larkin keeps repeated the first half and different sections of the main leitmotif of the game without letting the melody finish. I feel like it’s symbolizing an unsatisfying ending, or the unending perpetuation of Hallownest, without letting the kingdom or the Hollow Knight die and be put out of its misery and suffering. Truly beautiful
I see it similarly but also differently. It symbolizes the control the radiance has over the Hollow Knight. Its the main theme, the Hollow Knight's theme, being repeatedly cut off, not allowed to progress. Yeah, it represents the unending stasis the kingdom is in, but its more specifically the stasis the Hollow Knight is in. Even more so because the sad part of the song only starts playing once the Hollow Knight begins stabbing himself. He's using the little free will he has left to help you defeat him. These moments are short lived, as the infection contained inside him regains control after but a moment. The song represents this wonderfully.
Showing footage of the fight alongside the music, it made me realize something about the boss. As the fight goes on, it uses less of its own attacks. Nearly every attack it uses near the end makes it look like it's being controlled and trying to break free, and if you know the lore, that's pretty much what's happening.
I have noticed that as well, as he gets closer to death, the hollow knight gets desperate. Begging the infection for survival, or, he is trying to help you get rid of it.
@@applejuice1746 He's trying to simply end it. The infection is forcing him to continue, hence the forced slams later in the fight. The infection wants the radiance to keep its host. The hollow knight just simply wants peace. The fight is genuinely an assisted suicide.
I mean, ya by the end of the fight it’s basically just the radiance trying to pull around a walking corpse, as he’s decayed over time(literally is missing an arm before you start fighting him), been tearing holes in himself, you’ve been slashing holes in him, hence why by the end he’s only really able to just do small movements, and throw around infection.
when hollow knight stabbed himself during the fight i though like wtf is happening am I the bad guy?? or some shit like I noticed that's somethings wrong with the guy when he started to attack weirdly so true
No cost too great goes first just before the cutscene, and there's more dialogue after right before you get void heart; 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 Hollowknight
most heart breaking thing is, the connection between the "Perfect Vessel" and his father is what stopped him from being perfect. the Knight initially discarded as imperfect ends up being the required vessel. that bit in the Abyss was heart breaking.
@@Sellazar168 honestly, it's even debatable whether the knight IS the required vessel, or if such a thing even existed to begin with. We get small hints towards the knight having a will of their own (sitting with quirrel at the lake, giving flowers to only a few select npcs, being able to sit down on the stage to listen to marissa sing....), and our shade is described as the "stains of regret left behind" (which, ignoring the respawn mechanic, still holds some strong implications about the siblings in the abyss and the hollow knight's own shade). And more importantly... We slowly piece together that the king experimented with something he did not fully understand, thinking it to be empty in all senses of the word, and yet the dream nail dialogues in the abyss strongly hint towards the opposite being true ("lord of shades" and "our voices will be heard again" comes to mind), nevermind the sheer existence of countless of void shades that haunt the place, when the void is supposed to be... Nothingness. No will, no mind, no spirit to leave behind. Which honestly? Just makes it all the more tragic to begin with. Because that means the king's plan was doomed to failure from the start, the hollow knight was raised for an impossible task, and an entire kingdom was doomed and lost to the anger of a forgotten god. Heck, it's even theorised the void might've have a hand in the king's demise. Like a Shakespearean character, he fucked around and found out, and on the way he failed in all the ways that mattered (as a king, as a god, as a father, and even as a spouse). And by that same logic, two endings of the game don't even *fix* the problem, but only postpone it by having a new vessel replace the first one. This game is depressing as hell 🙃
@@katsucandy four, actually. spoilers! in god master's end, when you don't give the flower to the godseeker, the void leaks to hallownest through it, and the hollow knight is free from the infection no matter what you do, making not one but two new possible problems instead of a solution
I really like the transition, where it feels like the music keeps trying to return to the tonic but gets interrupted by the attack notes every time. Also, a very interesting part of this piece is that the string section at the end is actually a leitmotif that occurs in numerous related pieces throughout the game, but this piece is the only one that completes it with the very final three-note phrase. Everywhere else, it's left uncomfortably hanging, giving this one moment an extremely pronounced sense of finality and inevitability.
As someone that knows Hollow Knight inside-out (as you could probably guess from my pfp), you've hit the nail on the head with this. That first dramatic part is the real fight, a test of the culmination of skill that you've honed over your journey. This adversary is fast and dangerous, and the hints of lore dropped around the ruined kingdom only serve to build up this terrifying image of a final boss. But, as the combat progresses, the more melancholy parts of the track begin to play, and it becomes clear that your foe doesn't want to fight. Their attacks slow, they're tossed at you like a ragdoll seemingly against their will, and what little control they grasp onto is used to plunge their blade deep within them in a desperate effort to help you win. By the time they've fallen, you understand that they were no enemy, and this was never truly a battle, but an execution of a tired being that simply wants to rest.
One track that I actually think is not only underrated but oddly emotional is Kingdom’s Edge. The song itself is almost simple but really nails giving the listener a specific kind of feeling. It’s hard to explain, but it feels almost lonely, forgotten, desolate, even empty, yet so full. It’s hard to put into words that feeling. Paired with the environment, it really strikes this chord in me. This is somewhere you go to be forgotten.
_Abandoned_ is the word I would go with, although it doesn't really fit either. I know exactly what you're talking about, because I feel it until there is the _swishswishswishswish_ of the Primal Aspids; all I feel after that is violent rage.
I adore Larkin's work on the Hollow Knight soundtrack and I'm happy you're finally giving it a listen! Greenpath, Hornet, and Mantis Lords are also amazing pieces from the tracklist that I highly recommend.
It's crazy to think that Larkin did every theme, just him, sometimes with a bit of help but at the end it's just Larkin work Makes you wonder what's he gonna do now that (tell me if I'm wrong I read this info quite a lot time ago) he has a hole orchestra for silksong
This is my favorite track from Hollow Knight it fully encapsulates the fight. A failed Vessel who thought it could save its father's kingdom only to fail and become a dead shell of what it was because it had thought, it loved its father, a puppet for the entity it was made to seal and you, the knight? You're its sibling who must fight and mostly likely kill it to take its role. It's a dark and emotional track that only gets more tragic over time building up to when the Hollow Knight begins impaling itself as it gets a second of control over its body. I love it.
The fact that he was able to basically predict what this theme was without even knowing the game at all just shows how good the composer of Hollow Knight is at musical storytelling, not to mention Davi’s own skill as a composer
8:40 In fact, that entire part of the track is often interpreted as the moment where the boss, The Hollow Knight, begins to repeatedly stab themselves, attempting to purge the infection that's taken hold of them.
I always loved music. Not playing it, not creating it, but understanding and feeling it. Your videos help me fulfill this really specific need I have. Thank you
Damn, this really makes me wanna sit there with him and over-enthusiastically explain what the track is about. He definitely picks up on a lot of the meaning.
This sound is genious, because it captures exactly the feeling that the developers of the game wanted us, players, to feel. This creature (The hollow Knight) is actually being tortured by a divinity called Radiance for ages. Controlled as a puppet. So the sound is tense, sad and tragic. This is an absolute marvelous piece and the composer (Christopher Larkin) was able to transmit the weight of this encounter. Simply astonishing.
The latter part to me really conveys a sense of exquisite agony, like some sort of ritualized, almost sacred or divine suffering that builds and builds... and then just releases into the last part like a final breath.
To prevent anyone from being spoilered: Spoilerwarning! Everything you describe suites the entire fight and point of the story so much. The cute little protagonist is fighting one of his brothers who was deemed to function as a vessel to a plague that had befallen the kingdom in which the story takes place. He was chosen because he was supposed to be a perfectly hollow vessel who could contain the plague which feeds on dreams and feelings. Through the entire game you fight plagued bugs that lost their mind to the plague and it becomes more and more apparent that the vessel was not perfectly hollow, that the - *"Hollow" Knight* - could not contain it. It is seeping out of him and into the world. As you fight him he will go down which is where the build up part is stopping. Suddenly the boss will get up and start stabbing itself right into the spot where the infection is leaking out of his body - the sad music starts. It is the moment of realization that this vessel, your brother, that he is not taken by the infection completely and that the part of its conscious self is aware what is happening, that he failed his task and it's trying to fight the infection, which at this point is completely futile. The last build up is when you finally strike him down and dramatically consume the infection, that is now shooting out of him, making you the new, incarcarated Hollow Knight. This game really is something.
you missed the extra bit of tragedy, the perfect vessel was such until the time spent with its father made it feel, that little spark was enough for the plague to start growing. during the fight it tries to help you, the infection tries to destroy you. very painful if you know what is happening.
@@Sellazar168 yeah, I thoguht about implementing that, but I didn't want to write 4 more paragraphs explaining how the vessels were chosen and trained :) thanks for the reminder!
The thing I love the most about this theme is the pain, cause the Hollow knight and the vessel are sort of brothers. So, it's 2 brothers fighting for the lives of innocents, and I feel how the melody cries and I do as well That's not an epic battle, it's a tragedy, after all, why 2 brothers should try to kill each other? I love Hollow Knight so much, cause it's so sad but at the same time it gives you hope for a less worse future And the 2nd part just does everything even better, you can feel how the Hollow knight is finally getting a relieve of it's duty, it stabs itself to help you, he wants to help Then, 3rd part, as every tragedy should finish, forgotten, and the tears of every victim finally getting a rest, the memory of everything that was falls, and with them, the tears I can't with this game it's just perfect
you are making some wrong points honestly the reason why the hollow knight is stabbing it self is because of the pain, the infection that they have been carrying all along they just wanna end themselves so they can relief from that long-lasted pain
@@qunituabastard1754 It's wrong to say that they were making wrong points. Both of your opinions are definitely possible and we will probably never know for sure, so don't act like you're the only one that's right. In my opinion it's a mix of both.
It is speculated that the hollow knight was the one who called the ghost to the sealed egg because the hollow knight knew he wasn't a perfect vessel and he felt that he couldn't hold on much longer. So, it is likely that the hollow knight was trying to help the ghost with the last of his sanity.
I fucking love hollow knight, especially for it‘s soundtrack. In my opinion it’s one of the best soundtracks out there. I love how you describe chords in their function, like sad, tense and so on, rather than just saying „oh yeah, we have a C#bm7/b13.65 chord“. Just describing how the chord works without delving to deep in the theory is a really good approach.
13:41 “It feels a bit more positive now . . . ” That’s actually because Sealed Vessel is a compilation of a couple different endgame tracks! Hollow Knight has both a “bad” ending and a “good” ending, based on what events you’ve completed before entering the final fight. Sealed Vessel includes the music used for both endings, one right after the other. The “bad” ending piece plays immediately after the tragic segment with the violin and soft choir, starting with the drum roll. The “good” ending track starts at those soft piano hits (this segment is also used for the opening cutscene, so it really comes full circle!) and continues to the end. It’s still plenty tragic, of course, but that might explain why it’s a bit more positive than what came before. You also mentioned that you think this track might be scripted or adaptive, and you’re right in that it is adaptive! The spooky sounds at the beginning loop in the room just before the boss. Once inside the boss room, there are four chains that the player must break, and each broken chain adds another note to that string chord at the beginning, until that final build up which leads into the fight. The intense part of the music will last until you get the boss to half health, and then the slower part will take over and more instruments will be added the closer you get to beating the fight. Interestingly, those stabs are actually part of the first loop and are not scripted in any way, as far as I can tell.
Hollow Knight has 5 endings, and none are “good” or “bad.” The parts of this song are just different parts of the boss fight. The song is scripted, and is actually around 3-4 different songs that repeat until the stage of the boss is defeated.
@@aelechdeepestflame4347 True, there are more endings and technically none of them are truly good or bad (which is why I used quotes). Defeating Radiance is generally seen as the “true” or “better” ending compared to the regular one, however, and both the music and story suggest that it’s the more positive of the two. I excluded the Godhome endings because they don’t have anything to do with this song, and the Sealed Siblings ending uses the same music as the regular ending. Scripted and adaptive are basically synonyms in this context, but I chose to use adaptive because I personally think it fits better here. The song *adapts* to the player’s inputs (i.e. switching from the intense phase 1 to the sadder phase 2 when the player gets the boss to half health), as opposed to hard-coding the in-game events to match up with the music, which would make it *scripted* (like if HK’s stab animation matched up exactly with those stabbing beats in the song. It doesn’t). It’s not really that big a distinction though, they’re basically the same. And yes, most of Sealed Vessel is boss music that loops different parts of the track for different stages of the fight. But you will never be able to hear the end of Sealed Vessel in the game exactly as it is on the track, and if you watch a playthrough you’ll find that the ending isn’t actually a part of the fight at all. Rewatch those ending cutscenes, and you’ll see (or rather, hear) that the end of Sealed Vessel is the music for the normal ending and then true ending, back to back. It doesn’t play that way in game; you’ll hear one or the other, but not both.
@@grapes-are-nice aren't they like this: the first two endings for base game and embrace the void are bad and the other two are neutral. And then of course there's mister mushroom ending (passing of age)
9:56 That's when you realize this isn't some dramatic final boss... this is the final end of a tragedy, that the orange goop is CONTROLLING him, that he's stabbing his very essence to kill it.
@@DaviVasc Now that you are here... Have you reacted to any music from "Frostpunk"? I think you would like them. If you consider the idea, you should probably start with "The City Must Survive" and the menu theme of "On the Edge", one of its DLC's.
I like how the person fighting the boss accidentally did a Scream Skip at 6:37. Usually when a boss is screaming the player is locked in place and cannot take any actions, but getting hit during the scream negates this and allows player movement. It’s a speedrunning trick used very frequently and is kinda hard to pull off on purpose by the average casual player.
14:41 Y E S, this sense of inevitability is definitely part of the story and the main point in the bossfight during which this OST plays, perfectly makes sense and i'm shocked to find out that there might be a correlation between the notes and the meaning of the event. That's genius
To quote a history UA-camr I follow who also loves Hollow Knight, “Beethoven would have loved the Hollow Knight soundtrack”, and I wholly agree. There’s so many individual tracks going on in the background intricately woven together to create something truly amazing. I’m so glad to see one of my favorite parts of this phenomenal game getting the recognition it deserves.
One of the more amazing aspects of Hollow Knight OST that I didn't notice the first time playing it is that all characters and places connected to a specific king bloodline have same melody in their soundtracks. There is a lot of music story telling that seems to be even more focused on in some places than in souls games, since it connects not just emotions but also things that connect multiple characters and it tells partially a story that is never told to you head on. 8-bit Music Theory has amazing two videos about it, if someone is intersted about deep symbolism of Hollow Knights music. Just like you didn't expect the games track to be so serious, when I bought it didn't expect it to be so melancholic and depressing but it's a very dark game through most of it. While it's a metroidivania and has completely different story, it manages to create this souls like feeling of heavy atmosphere. It's story touches completely different topics however and the vessel that has music that you listened to in this video has a very depressing story. I don't want to go into details though, I think it's worth digging for it in game or internet, I would not do it justice here. If you want more tracks from Hollow Knight to listen to I recommend: Stuff with crazy speed and composition: - Hornet (and its vocal sibling Daughter of Hallownest) - Mantis Lords (and it's more vocal sibling "Sisters of Battle") - Truth, Beauty and Hatred -Grimm Troupe (and it's sibling Nightmare King Grimm) Some more heroic happy stuff: - Hive Knight - Dung Defender and it's sibling White Defender Some depressing stuff: - Pure Vessel - Dirtmouth - Resting Grounds - Kingdoms Edge - "Hollow Knight" (main menu theme) Just beautiful music: - White Palace
@@essneyallen6777 To be fair, whole soundtrack is just amazing. The only reason I choose a few is that I know as a content creator, you have to make some choices to what you should make the video about. Outside of that however, yes I agree, there are some tracks that don't get enough love on the internet. Hive Knight has that very adveturous feeling, reminds me of Rayman Legends music and is amazing. And Crystal Peaks is very unique but perfectly fitting track for it's location and a nice relaxator to play in background when you are doing something else :D
Christopher Larkin is one of like seven composers I know by name. He does such an incredible job, and the entire soundtrack is pure gold, especially paired with the game itself. You can tell what's going on from the music itself, imagine looking at it as well. It's beautiful.
14:00 This is when I knew he was the real deal, he got everything up to this point so spot on it's scary. You besting the Hollow Knight, was all but inevitable as soon as you returned to Hallownest, you're to remain trapped inside the black egg for all eternity, until the infection inevitably breaks out of you, just like the "pure" vessel that had come before you.
You opened my eyes to just how nuanced music can be, just like a painting can tell a story, so does a song. Thank you for showing that to me, ur the best Davi. Cant wait for your next vid
Chrisopher Larkin, if I remember correctly, stated that narrative is a big part of writing a soundtrack to something. And it's absolutely true, this game is such an experience and I highly recommend you play it because everything that happens amplifies the music to an incredible degree and vice-versa. Even if not, and you listen to the entire soundtrack by itself, it's still possible to make connections even if you don't know who the actual characters are. The game, in short, has to look somewhat cute because the amount of absolute hurt is wild. Like, this stuff gets sensitive if you pay any visual attention past the player character during pretty much any point in the game to anything at all. Unashamed "this should have so many content warnings" levels of depression wrapped up in a glowing white bow of gorgeous style and pleasing music. Your guess about the track playing in a final stage is correct, it's a boss battle and it is painful in multiple ways. Scripted events galore, the most the game has, really. As a battle it's quite easy for a final boss but it makes up for it story, which you will be forced to pay attention to during it, and depending on how much of the game is completed at the time, you can trigger a second battle with a different boss (there's some nuance but you'd have to play the game to see what it is because I am not explaining it here because of detailed spoilers). The more peaceful/positive part at the end of Sealed Vessel plays if you win the second, optional boss fight you can choose to trigger during one of the scripted events that takes place if you meet the requirements for it. Tl;dr: Just play the game, everything hits way, way harder that way. This track is a consistent tear-jerker for me.
When you said "it feels like being stabbed" it is a perfect idea of what happens while that part of the song plays ingame. Also, the slow piano and flute part is after the fight ends. Everything before that is in the boss battle.
You could play hollowknight without any dialog and still understand the story from music alone. The way the final music changes depending on what ending you get is absolutely amazing.
Just based on the music alone, The beginning sounds like the end. Your journey to come and face the final stretch and face the evil. Towards the middle, Its intense and impactful, and you and the final evil are locked in this intense battle where only one can come out victorious. At the end of the song, it feels sad, almost like the evil doesn't wish to keep fighting anymore, but is forced to. With the character this song is tied to, it seems that way, even in gameplay, and the sad part of the song ALWAYS gets me. With having seen this video 4 days after it was uploaded, I hope you have been able to try it out or start it. I love seeing people enjoy Hollow Knight ever since I myself got into it.
You should react to “white palace” ost from hollow knight too, I also really appreciate your content, I am trained and training in classical music, but the way you explain it makes like everybody can understand and that is so great, keep it up💪🏻
hollow knight’s soft and cute appearance really tricked me like many others, i thought it would be a happy little game with cute characters, but it’s actually a tragic MASSIVE game with dead cute characters, this game went from unknown to my absolute favourite game. the music, is just, undescribly amazing.
The silences after the stabbing are never something I consciously picked up on, but they fit that part of the fight so well for several reasons! For the average player, this is where you're desperately trying to heal, because the attacks have gotten easier to dodge but also far more random and unpredictable. For the boss itself, it's faltering, fighting against the power puppeting it around in an attempt to die to you. It's such a tiny, subtle thing, but it adds so much to the atmosphere of the fight that the music is "breathing" with your movements as a player
"Tarnished by an idea instilled." The Hollow Knight felt love, and that killed it. It dared to be more than an automaton, to _care_ about what it must protect, and the kingdom fell for it. This game is incredible.
Tragedy. Loneliness. Melancholy. Fate. Inevitability. You chose some very accurate terms for the themes and motifs. Hollow Knight is my favorite game, and its music is absolutely brilliant. The bittersweet finality of the final part always hits me in my core.
Monster Hunter, Souls games, Hollow Knight... You're covering some of my favourite music from my favourite franchises. No need to make a video on these (please do) but I recommend listening to other soundtracks from Hollow Knight, the music is pretty special and themes like City of tears embodies feelings that I've not felt anywhere else before
this just show how great hollow knight is the music itself already give the vibe of its lore, and he is very skilled too manage to figure alot of the fight with just the music
One thing I really love about this song is how that looping part about halfway through the song sort of feels like it's stuck and can't fully finish but in that final moment the loop finally breaks free and beautifully concludes
Without spoiling anything, you're correct that the music is adaptive. That transition happens when you reach a certain phase in a certain fight, so as the boss transitions, the music does too A few of HK's tracks do this sort of thing
Bro watching this video made me understand the thought process to analysing a piece of music a lot more. Even though I played the game and know everything about it and the Sealed Vessel, watching this gave me so much more insight and has helped me on a music assessment I’m currently working on for school
Something about the chord progression at 11:47 : I don't think it's the exact chord progression, but this is similar to a reoccurring theme used throughout the game. In fact, a lot of this track is made up of parts from game's main theme. It's probably one of my favorite uses of leitmotif in gaming. also grimm's theme is incredible
this track in particular, i have so many words to say about it, but i really can't do it justice... the way you were able to tell almost exactly what was going on in each part of the fight JUST from hearing the music really shows Christopher Larkin's mastery over his medium. and this is the way the entire soundtrack is! the music synergizes perfectly with the environment to create a world that's rich with history, alive with characters, and knee-deep in tragedy. you feel wonder as you explore lush and sprawling jungles, you feel dread as you encounter creatures of unnatural origins, and of course, feel the stabbing sorrow of a knight burdened with the future of a doomed kingdom. the Hollow Knight soundtrack is able to encapsulate emotion into music in a way ive never seen anywhere else. truly beautiful. this is the first video ive seen from you, but ill definitely be sticking around for more! loved this video!
Hollow Knight's setting is similar to that of your typical Dark Souls game, a kingdom in ruin and you left exploring what remains of it in attempts to piece together what happened. Will note that the Sealed Vessel theme has three parts, two of which are used in the boss fight itself (Phase 1 would be 0:00 to 2:11 in the theme, the phase transition is denoted by a roaring or scream sound effect, and Phase 2 is 2:12 to 4:05). The third portion plays during an ending cutscene of the game. The boss itself actually starts stabbing itself when transitioning into phase 2 and most interpret it as the boss trying to weaken itself to make your task of killing it easier. Despite its madness, some part of it wants to die and knows it must die so that the player character can take its place.
This was the only boss battle in hollowknight that made me cry because i had figured out the lore and eveything, when you learn what he's really trying to do when fighting you is heartbreaking and i felt terrible. But i loved it
I love this analysis of this track because of how close you were to the mark. The music starts off epic, you're trying to save the world, end the evil. As the boss fight progresses though, the realization of what you're doing sets in, and as you approach the end of the game in this ending, you realize that you are only prolonging the cycle, and that you, the hero, are going to meet the same fate as the boss you just defeated did.
Didn’t know anything about the lore first time getting to the Hollow Knight fight, but after hearing that inflection point I just knew something special was happening.
Christopher Larkin is a great composer. I love how he can create very complex and deep songs with very little in the terms of instruments (at least compared to what Fromsoftware treat us with). They also fit the theme of the zones and bosses so well. I'd love to see you react to more of his hollow knight OST. It's definitely never cartoony or unfitting in my opinion. Honestly I'd love to watch you listen to the background music of the individual zones without knowing anything about them and seeing how you'd describe them just knowing the music that is playing.
14:44 It sorta does! In one of the endings the "infection" has been sealed away inside the Hollow Knight, and you instead absorb it since the Hollow Knight failed to contain it. But it is implied that you will also fail, and there will be an inevitable return of the infection.
It isn’t implied that you will fail. It’s left ambiguous. There’s one character that says something like “can any shell truly be empty?” or something… but that’s it. Musings from one person The knight wasn’t corrupted by feelings like the HK, there’s no reasoin why they can’t be empty. It’s entirely possible they became corrupted in their journey, but we don’t know And the void heart (if you have it) make you more complete and hopefully perfect than all the other vessels. But even if not it’s left ambiguous whether you’re truly a perfect vessel or not
I've been in music at my school for seven years and you're pointing out things I didn't notice and I'm just amazed and can't wait to develop my skills more
Oh the violin and cello counterpoint was such an interesting thing to point out. This is two vessels fighting to keep Hallownest safe, playing their own melodies, with Ghost being small (violin) THK being bigger (cello) ugh composers are all brilliant
This track got such a tight win on the Patreon poll! It initially tied with an Elden Ring track, we ended up having to do a tie breaker poll.
If you want to participate on our next polls, join my Patreon: www.patreon.com/davivasc
By the way, sealed vessel is a sort of remix of the main theme for hollow knight. The second part of the track is the first part of the main melody for the main theme looped over and over for lore purposes, in 13:30 the full melody finally plays signifying that this mess is finally over.
You should listen to Pure Vessel theme from Hollow Knight
Now do the radiance
Man, like every track in this game is outstanding in its own way. It's incredible.
I would recommend checking out 8-bit Music theory's video on this bit of hollow Knight's soundtrack, ua-cam.com/video/5IZ6ObjdkPA/v-deo.html there's a lot going on in the rest of the soundtrack that you, having only listened to this track could not have picked up in terms of the development of thematic material.
You can tell the Hollow Knight OST is done well because he basically explains the entire bossfight without ever seeing it
THAT EXPLAINS WHY I DONT NOTICE BOSS TRACKS
it feels like it IS the boss fight
A lot of truly awesome GOSTs do this. Especially Undertale and Omori, but also some like Ace Attorney occassionally.
Omg hey cornifer
HK wouldnt have been nearly as good without Cristopher Larkin, the soundtrack complements the game perfectly
@@gabrote42 yeah HK, Omori, Undertale and to an extent FNAF really do have theri essance embedded in the music
This guy descifering the entire plot of a game just by listening to a few tracks. Its impressive really.
It's impressive that they can do that and it's impressive that the composer could make it possible to do that in the first place. It's really a sign of a great soundtrack.
Like watching a conversation where you sort of know the language, following as well as you can in awe as two very intelligent people communicate perfectly using words you only half understand.
Or you know, he's actually played the game before and heard it already. Most reaction channels are fake.
@@NoName_NoTitle thats a serious accusation with absolutely 0 proof
@@Icedonot That's not something that is easily proveable.
But by looking at his channel and all his reactions, you'd think this dude hasn't heard a single soundrack in his life. Yet, he's supposed to be a video game composer. That doesn't add up.
This man, without having played the game, managed to predict how the (semi-)final boss fight works, down to the scripted musical triggers during the fight. Good composer and good composer I’d say.
Fr
It's because the track is good.
It's a form of communication, the same way a painting can give a feeling even if the drawing isn't really understandable, the intent is here. Music is the same, some notes are sad, some are playful, and a composer just learn how to read it.
I LOVE music anaylsis like this. Married with Hollow knight, this is a perfect video uvu
I dont want to be cynical, but there is a chance he is fake, idk for sure but I just think its weird how he always gets to whole lore from bosses for every game every single time, he has never been wrong when it comes to this, I just think its weird. So maybe he already knows the story and pretends. Then again I know fuck all about music so maybe the music really does represent all this stuff and I am wrong.
@@penguinwolf3330 that’s possible but I’ve seen this happen with other creators and they can’t all be lying. Just the other day I saw someone reacting to Tartaglia’s battle theme without having played Genshin and he got so much right that it’s uncanny. It might just be how music communication works
"At first, I thought this was a boss battle, but now I'm not really sure..."
I'm pretty sure I thought the *exact* same thing to myself when I first fought this fight. God damn chills, man.
I mean … HE STABS HIMSELF
@@Based_indie_enjoyer it also staggers after every attack in the later stages of the fight
Yeah I started to feel real bad towards the tail end of the fight, when he started stumbling and staggering.
it’s not a fight, it’s a merciful execution.
@@Based_indie_enjoyer Saul Goodman?
this song perfectly captures the feeling of fighting someone who truly doesn't deserve it, someone you wish you could save but know you can't, someone you will be mourning when the fight is over, but still someone you HAVE to defeat
Like broken vessel and I believe many more… I haven’t complete my game and haven’t broke any seal or participate in colosseum of fool but it broken vessel is like that, someone you wish to save but the only way to do it is by killing them, ending their misery
Can't save until end 5, but i don't know what they'll do with it.
@@pros_0143 what
@@morrowzoranov _spoilers_
On end 5 after The Knight beats the 5th Panteon, he kills Absolute Radiance without killing the Hollow Knight, so in end 5 he's alive and free, but I don't know what Team Cherry will do with this ending if it is canon.
@@pros_0143 ohhh that makes sense lol your first comment was worded weirdly, I honestly don't know if silksong will be a prequel or a sequel and I try not to theorize about it so I figure it out naturally through the game, but if it's a sequel I'm not sure how team cherry can maintain their "all endings are equally canon" angle, it's kinda hard for sealed siblings to be canon if Hornet's out there jumping around Pharloom when she's supposed to be dying inside the black egg
"Nightmare King Grimm" is one of the best tracks in the game. Very unique.
Edit: "Soul Sanctum" is also outstanding
Troupe Master Grimm was my more favored, what with the dynamic music.
Soul Sanctum's my favorite from that OST
They're all excellent soundtracks
@@superceilingfan9741 while playing yes but outside of it nightmare king is superior at least in my opinion
for me, troup master ost has a lot more nuance than NKG, also Soul Samctum is one of the most epic
"i thought this was a bossbattle... A-and maybe it still is! But I am not entirely sure anymore" perfectly summarizes the boss battle this belongs to. First half (the entense music) is an actual battle. Depending on how quickly you got to it, it'll either be surprisingly easy or REALLY hard. But then you get the switch (the stabbing part of the music plays when you get the boss super close to about half health). And then the dramatic music starts playing... This is still during the boss battle, btw. And at that point, it stops being a fight and it basically becomes... Well... Assisted suicide... I guess that is the best way to describe it. The first half is a test of skill, but then it becomes a really depressing fight in the 2nd half.
If you think about hollow knight too much it gets really depressing
Sealed Vessel isn't a boss fight, it's assisted suicide. The Hollow Knight wants to die, he wants the player to kill him.
@@professorgrimm4602 first off, I literally said it was assisted suicide in my own comment, so your comments seems a little bit out of place.
Secondly, it isn't confirmed if that is HK's intention. An alternative theory, is that he is stabbing himself to let the infection out and relieve himself of the pain.
Tho my believe is that the first half is HK testing if you are worthy of replacing him (or him being mad at you for releasing him) and then the 2nd half of the fight is him getting the infection out of himself so you can be the new vessel.
Also it's interesting to note that, while stabbing himself, all damage you do to him is set to 1. So he may be stabbing himself to activate the infection to buff himself. Tho this is probably wrong
@@Lusius8879 8-bit Music Theory actually conducted an analysis on leitmotifs in Hollow Knight, and one of his conclusions concerning the Hollow Knight's boss battle music is that Hollow's actually trying to help his younger sibling kill him with all the consciousness he can muster.
@@Lusius8879 I don’t see why the Hollow Knight would want to kill you, they’re clearly in a massive amount of pain, and know how infected the world is because of World Sense, so it would make sense for them to want you to replace them. I think the part where it attacks you is the radiance controlling them, and the stabbing is when they gain back enough control to help you by killing themself.
Oh man. I too was fooled by the adorable aesthetic of Hollow Knight. The cute little characters, the funny little voicelines and colorful areas. By the end of the game it was just downright sad and tragic and it holds some really grim and mature themes. I definitely hope you look more into some of the Hollow Knight soundtracks, they're a real treat!
There will be another Hollow Knight video soon :)
Most likely Mantis Lords or Grimm Troupe😏 (maybe?😂)
@@DaviVasc Cartoony and cute?
Not even close, dad has more than 1000 kids , throws them into a big black pit and which ever one gets out first / appeals him gets to come out. Only to be put in a big black 'egg' to be used as a holder for an infection. Plus the other kids are just left to rot in the big black pit for the rest of time. Not to mention the kid that makes it out has to be apathetic, and the kid that got out tried so hard to be but failed because he wanted his father to be proud of him. Angsty you should really play the game lore is great!!
@@mr.einwood2384 Sisters of Battle! :D
I agree. This game got me invested into the environment and story like only outer wilds was really able to rival (also has a very good ost)
"It sounds more serious and mature than I expected,"
*No cost too great.*
"because, you know, I always see this cartoony,"
*No mind to think.*
"cutesy little guy, that's the protagonist,"
*No will to break.*
"so I expected something maybe a little more lighthearted,"
*No voice to cry suffering.*
"and maybe this track is an exception,"
*Born of God and Void.*
"because this track specifically... sounds... like..."
*You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams.*
"it sounds a bit dramatic, you know,"
*You are the Vessel.*
"it sounds like it could be a little high stakes."
*You are the Hollow Knight.*
You are the Vessel.
You are the Hollow Knight.
Me : 😭😭😭😢
God what a sequence, one of my favorite moments from the game
Kills millions of his own children
*Father*
**Dies**
this game makes me so sad
Bro basically discovered the lore just by listening to the music, very impressive.
"I thought it was going to explode but it's still really quiet"
And the Ghost becomes the Vessel, not killing the Radiance, but bottling up that explosion once again within itself.
And when you fight Radiance, you hear the explosion that is her theme(and scream).
And then he actually makes the HK explode. Which I would argue is not that bad of an ending after all he went through
@@juanin200 BOOM BOOM BOOM! BOOM!
I WANT YOU IN MY RO-
You thought it was going to explode like a Soulsborne ost, but no, it subverted you with melancholy, like a Soulsborne ost, aside from that time you expected to be subverted with melancholy and were subverted with explosive sound.
What a great comment lol
OWAH XD Truly so
Really shows the way hollow knight took inspiration from soulsborne, and basically perfectly adapted it into the cartoony and subtle style of hollow knight without losing the core concept or the absolutely amazing sound design. Team cherry really are amazing
If you haven't played hollow Knight you really need to. This game has so much character and impact. The lore behind it is amazing as well. Can't wait for silk song.
I definitely intend to.
@@DaviVasc it is very good
Absolute masterpiece of a game. On top of an outstanding soundtrack
Exactly
@@DaviVasc POGGERS
The part where the boss weakly takes a slash, then stumbles and falls to its knees was just heart-wrenching. So much "just end it now" vibes.
idk if you already knew this, that wasnt an "end me now" thing. the radiance had taken control of him, he was having moments of autonomy and trying to kill himself so he couldn't do more for the radiance. the lore around hollow knight is super cool
There are more than a few heart-wrenching lore elements behind this. *_spoilers for all endings, and then some, ahead. I might not be 100% correct about all that follows though._*
Hallownest is plagued by an infection that's represented by the orange you see in the clip of the fight. The Pale King is a major character you discover in the aftermath of the first ending and he basically created a lot of children to use as vessels to contain the infection. The plan was to seal all of the infection into one child and lock the child up for eternity. The reason he was using his own children is that his spawn had enough emptiness in their souls to contain the entire infection. However, the ones that had any semblance of a full soul did not have the fortitude to do that. Unfortunately, this Hollow Knight you're fighting is one of the ones who wasn't completely empty inside, and the infection has taken control of their body. They were chained up in the chamber just in case this happened.
In lategame it becomes clear that their body is failing and could burst and overrun the entire realm at any moment. The part about containing the infection is implied to the player right after defeating this boss. Your character absorbs the infection into their body and is unable to resist being chained up as they struggle to contain the infection initially. Thus you continue the cycle, killing your sibling to take on their responsibility. Those parts where they stab themselves is their actual consciousness trying to help you in the few moments of control it wins from the infection.
The part about the Pale King is something you discover if you go back and figure out how to get a better ending. I'll spare further details, but you essentially figure out that the King failed to destroy the root cause of the infection and you gain the means to destroy it yourself. Once you succeed, the infection ceases to exist and your sibling's soul is freed.
@@4sety i feel like this guy's teacher asked for an essay about hollow knight.
@@Tasty.cookies and I'm all hear for it
@@4sety this is pretty good! One thing I’ll say is that the pale king’s children were never empty at heart - they were hollowed out by the void. They had to be his children not because they were already empty but because so many needed to be sacrificed, and so he took it upon himself to create them. Other than that you pretty much got it spot on, good job :)
Edit: I probably sound like a teacher reviewing an essay 😭
There is not a game I can recommend more highly than Hollow Knight. It is a masterpiece, a work of art without equal and it makes me feel so emotional every time I hear this song.
I intend to play it and you guys are making me really excited for it
@@DaviVasc my brother you're in for a treat
@@DaviVasc how’s it going? I heard you’ve started
@@Bubblegum-Cupcake He has not only started, he has beaten it. But hes not done luckily
I'd say the Portal and Half-Life games are pretty equal. Although those aren't indie games.
2:10 This track is not an exception. The game uses a cute hand-drawn art style as a facade for a grim dark tale of death and conflict. This battle is about fighting your brother in a battle to the death to save a fallen kingdom from a violent tyrannical god.
arguably from two tyrannical gods-the Pale King is the one who refused to solve his problems like a normal person and locked his own children in an abyssal tomb in an attempt to keep a frail hold on his own godhood
@@siriuspope3552 I mean, he attempted to create a vessel to save his kingdom.
For the sake of his kingdom, he sold himself out to another kingdoms queen to give her a child, to stem the war between kingdoms.
He clearly doted on and depended on the vessel that was thought to be a success, and he died still a king.
Yeah, he's flawed, but a lot of it depends on how much you consider shades to be...alive. Are you murdering something every time you kill your own shade?
@@FFKonoko wasn't the whole reason Hollow couldn't fully contain Radiance is because the King loved them and they loved him back? makes the game even sadder tbh
@@dhampir_days Yeah, after completing Path of Pain you see a flashback of The Pale King and The Pure Vessel sharing a single look, which, I believe, is The Pale King looking proudly at his child. I think that is the only time The Pure Vessel felt an emotion, feeling accomplished about itself. That single emotion made it vulnerable to The Radiance and The Infection
@@siriuspope3552 He didn't do it to keep his godhood. He did it to seal the radiance and stop the infection from killing everyone in the kingdom and turning them into mindless husks. Obviously pale king did do a lot of terrible things that is inexcusable but he tried to do it for the greater good.
"Inevitability" was probably the best way you could have put it. Everything decays, and that's mostly the theme from the game. Nice breakdown.
"It feels like being stabbed with a knife"
Love how literal you get here, if only past Davi could see how right he was. Loving the blind listens, i haven't been watching for long but I'm already addicted to your videos!
Hollow knight is my favorite game, and the score is a big part of that and I would love to see more of your first listens for this game!
and from then on it's more like an assisted suicide, so that's why the change in the soundtrack fits so well
@@emanuelestellano3412 it could better be described as a sacrifice rather than a suicide
I thought it was incredible when you say this, because usually near this part of the track during the game play is when The Hollow Knight starts to stab himself with his sword. Im genuinely in love with how he picked up such important things from this song, such as the fate (the Knight's fate and destiny being to replace the Hollow Knight), loneliness and tragedy (The Hollow Knight failing as a vessel due to it wishing for the attachment of their father, the King, and being trapped away to be this said vessel) and so many other things. It's genuinely incredible.
Also adding how he described the music at the end (which is typically for the ending cutscenes after you defeat the boss) as more like happy but still lonely and melancholy, and I kinda feel that these feelings take part in the endings due to the suffering of the previous vessel coming to an end and, in another of the endings, all the failed vessels are finally able to be put to rest. Its just incredible.
I do like how the music almost perfectly the transition of
"Cool! Boss fight!" To "are you ready to help your brother commit assisted suicide."
Edit: why are y'all losing your shit in the comments?
😭
Sibling. The vessels don't have a gender. And if anything it would be sister because the Radiance is female.
@@wta1518 Male pronouns are used as a universal sometimes. It's why we say "man" when referring to humans, "bro" for friend, etc. The knight is typically portrayed as a male along with most other vessels since all friendly NPCs that look like the knight are male. Saying "brother" is fine.
@@uncannyvalley3190 It's literally not. Sure, terms like "dude" and "bro" are used universally, but he is not universal in English. Also, the vessels are absolutely not portrayed as male, they're are canonically genderless. That's why the White Lady refers to us as it.
@@wta1518 You did not read my comment. People portray them as male, as in actual people, not other NPCs in game. "Brother" is another one of my universal male term, not "he." I never said the knight wasn't genderless, I just pointed out that you're correction was unnecessary. You definitely get offended when someone says "he" when referring to the knight or the Hallow Knight.
"It sounds mature, maybe this track is an exception"
Dude is in serious need of hearing the rest of the soundtrack
Nah. There are some really scary, melancholic and tragic themes scattered around. But most of the game is not very depressing and mature at face value. Ancient Basin has a melancholic and empty tone, Kingdom's Edge has a feeling of emptiness (you could argue Resting Grounds has that as well) and Deepnest has a fear factor to scare the audience. But for the most part, the game is more of an intense, bombastic sort of style or a sense if exploration like the first half of the game, it just meddles with deep stuff from time to time. Once you get into the lore though, yeah most of it is mature topics portrayed in a lighter tone than most, but still dark and grim.
Grimm and mantis sisters: allow us to introduce are selfs
In truth, most of the game's soundtrack sounds either kind of sad/melancholy or tense. Few exceptions that I can think of are "Hornet" & "Mantis Lords", which are more tense; which makes sense, given the context of the two bosses and their fights (both of Hornet's fights and the Mantis Lords' fight). Another exception is "Dung Defender". If there ever was a track in the game that WAS light-hearted, it's this.
@@mother_brightmoon4833 Kingdom's edge sounds kind of happy, although it is still a bit melancholy. Maybe it can be called melanhappy. Also the Hive Knight is just epic battle music.
@@wta1518 I guess. Though I will agree with you on Hive Knight's theme; it is pretty good.
This track is also full of callbacks to the rest of the game, themes that keep running through important moments and such. That last bit especially is a direct callback to the music playing in the opening cutscene. It makes everything feel so remarkably coherent.
Yeah, I think the Hollow Knight soundtrack can't be fully understood one piece at time! Specially without first hearing the intro music, the other songs become a bit hollow (heh)
Really loved hearing your thoughts on this.
I know nothing about music so you pointing out surprise chords or the way violin and chello harmonize. Seeing your surprise was and interest was really good stuff.
Hey it's one of the HK people (:
Relyea! Dude, without you I would've spent 8 hours on Greenpath with no abilities lmao.
Thanks man. Ugh... I love speedruns, I wanna watch yours so bad but I don't want to get even more spoiled. I'll make sure to watch it when I finally get around to playing the game!
@@DaviVasc when you finish it i HIGHLY recommend watching fireb0rns god gamer series
Ayyyyyy it's Relyea heay m8!
5:41 That weird sound is actually the scream of the boss itself, pretty cool that it serves as a transition, and work really well with the visual of the fight
Interestingly enough, that scream isn't that of the Hollow Knight itself, but of the Radiance. When you encounter the Pure Vessel in the pantheons, he makes the same motion, but remains completely silent
@@erikm8373 Yup, but i wasn't sure if i could spoil or not
No voice to cry suffering after all
@@erikm8373 that makes more sense with the fact that that signifies the second phase where the infection in the hollow knight starts to take over him
@@erikm8373 Actually thats not the radiance scream... its the infected scream
10:12, my favorite part here is how Christopher Larkin keeps repeated the first half and different sections of the main leitmotif of the game without letting the melody finish. I feel like it’s symbolizing an unsatisfying ending, or the unending perpetuation of Hallownest, without letting the kingdom or the Hollow Knight die and be put out of its misery and suffering. Truly beautiful
I see it similarly but also differently. It symbolizes the control the radiance has over the Hollow Knight. Its the main theme, the Hollow Knight's theme, being repeatedly cut off, not allowed to progress. Yeah, it represents the unending stasis the kingdom is in, but its more specifically the stasis the Hollow Knight is in. Even more so because the sad part of the song only starts playing once the Hollow Knight begins stabbing himself. He's using the little free will he has left to help you defeat him. These moments are short lived, as the infection contained inside him regains control after but a moment. The song represents this wonderfully.
@@jamiesadf5829 - I love this game so much, thank you for your additional insight and perspective Jamie :)
Showing footage of the fight alongside the music, it made me realize something about the boss.
As the fight goes on, it uses less of its own attacks. Nearly every attack it uses near the end makes it look like it's being controlled and trying to break free, and if you know the lore, that's pretty much what's happening.
I have noticed that as well, as he gets closer to death, the hollow knight gets desperate. Begging the infection for survival, or, he is trying to help you get rid of it.
@@applejuice1746 He's trying to simply end it. The infection is forcing him to continue, hence the forced slams later in the fight. The infection wants the radiance to keep its host. The hollow knight just simply wants peace. The fight is genuinely an assisted suicide.
I mean, ya by the end of the fight it’s basically just the radiance trying to pull around a walking corpse, as he’s decayed over time(literally is missing an arm before you start fighting him), been tearing holes in himself, you’ve been slashing holes in him, hence why by the end he’s only really able to just do small movements, and throw around infection.
when hollow knight stabbed himself during the fight i though like wtf is happening am I the bad guy?? or some shit like I noticed that's somethings wrong with the guy when he started to attack weirdly so true
Yah and even the self-harm attack. Trying to break free, trying to lessen the pain or the radience trying to free herself
No mind to think
No will to break
No voice to cry suffering
No cost too great
No cost too great goes first just before the cutscene, and there's more dialogue after right before you get void heart;
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 Hollowknight
most heart breaking thing is, the connection between the "Perfect Vessel" and his father is what stopped him from being perfect. the Knight initially discarded as imperfect ends up being the required vessel. that bit in the Abyss was heart breaking.
@@Sellazar168 honestly, it's even debatable whether the knight IS the required vessel, or if such a thing even existed to begin with. We get small hints towards the knight having a will of their own (sitting with quirrel at the lake, giving flowers to only a few select npcs, being able to sit down on the stage to listen to marissa sing....), and our shade is described as the "stains of regret left behind" (which, ignoring the respawn mechanic, still holds some strong implications about the siblings in the abyss and the hollow knight's own shade). And more importantly... We slowly piece together that the king experimented with something he did not fully understand, thinking it to be empty in all senses of the word, and yet the dream nail dialogues in the abyss strongly hint towards the opposite being true ("lord of shades" and "our voices will be heard again" comes to mind), nevermind the sheer existence of countless of void shades that haunt the place, when the void is supposed to be... Nothingness. No will, no mind, no spirit to leave behind.
Which honestly? Just makes it all the more tragic to begin with. Because that means the king's plan was doomed to failure from the start, the hollow knight was raised for an impossible task, and an entire kingdom was doomed and lost to the anger of a forgotten god. Heck, it's even theorised the void might've have a hand in the king's demise. Like a Shakespearean character, he fucked around and found out, and on the way he failed in all the ways that mattered (as a king, as a god, as a father, and even as a spouse).
And by that same logic, two endings of the game don't even *fix* the problem, but only postpone it by having a new vessel replace the first one.
This game is depressing as hell 🙃
@@Sellazar168 *their
They aren't a fucking guy
@@katsucandy four, actually. spoilers! in god master's end, when you don't give the flower to the godseeker, the void leaks to hallownest through it, and the hollow knight is free from the infection no matter what you do, making not one but two new possible problems instead of a solution
Knowing the lore behind the whole thing is just fascinating when listening to his Analysis.
Glad you like it, my sockless friend
I really like the transition, where it feels like the music keeps trying to return to the tonic but gets interrupted by the attack notes every time.
Also, a very interesting part of this piece is that the string section at the end is actually a leitmotif that occurs in numerous related pieces throughout the game, but this piece is the only one that completes it with the very final three-note phrase. Everywhere else, it's left uncomfortably hanging, giving this one moment an extremely pronounced sense of finality and inevitability.
Hi g hi. G g. G. Ggg. G
A quote from my favorite streamer: "Hollow Knight has no good endings. The good ending is a bad ending." The music reflects this.
As someone that knows Hollow Knight inside-out (as you could probably guess from my pfp), you've hit the nail on the head with this. That first dramatic part is the real fight, a test of the culmination of skill that you've honed over your journey. This adversary is fast and dangerous, and the hints of lore dropped around the ruined kingdom only serve to build up this terrifying image of a final boss. But, as the combat progresses, the more melancholy parts of the track begin to play, and it becomes clear that your foe doesn't want to fight. Their attacks slow, they're tossed at you like a ragdoll seemingly against their will, and what little control they grasp onto is used to plunge their blade deep within them in a desperate effort to help you win. By the time they've fallen, you understand that they were no enemy, and this was never truly a battle, but an execution of a tired being that simply wants to rest.
Hit the "nail" on the head....
:D
_Badum tsh_
this is a beautiful way of putting it, our poor sibling has no desire to fight us.
surprisingly this fight didnt make me that emotional. the saws in the white palace almost made me cry tho lmao
@@Anxmaly666 Understandably so, this is where all Hallownest's tax money went
One track that I actually think is not only underrated but oddly emotional is Kingdom’s Edge. The song itself is almost simple but really nails giving the listener a specific kind of feeling. It’s hard to explain, but it feels almost lonely, forgotten, desolate, even empty, yet so full. It’s hard to put into words that feeling. Paired with the environment, it really strikes this chord in me. This is somewhere you go to be forgotten.
_Abandoned_ is the word I would go with, although it doesn't really fit either. I know exactly what you're talking about, because I feel it until there is the _swishswishswishswish_ of the Primal Aspids; all I feel after that is violent rage.
I agree, such a unique, unexplainable feeling. It's like a horror theme, but if course even that doesn't describe it cause it's very calm in a way.
@@cathal_account9815 Hauntingly serene, right?
@@lynn253 exactly
Melancholic?
I adore Larkin's work on the Hollow Knight soundtrack and I'm happy you're finally giving it a listen! Greenpath, Hornet, and Mantis Lords are also amazing pieces from the tracklist that I highly recommend.
I definitely enjoyed it. Thank you for the suggestions!
Don't forget Sisters of battle, Grimm troupe and nightmare King
Might as well point him to the entire soundtrack list, all of them are so great
It's crazy to think that Larkin did every theme, just him, sometimes with a bit of help but at the end it's just Larkin work
Makes you wonder what's he gonna do now that (tell me if I'm wrong I read this info quite a lot time ago) he has a hole orchestra for silksong
Put the early release of lace in there as well
I'm literally crying. This game is so perfect in every single way.
Im not crying but this soundtrack definitely gets me feeling a certain way. I
The sad part of this song creeps up on me until I get existential
This is my favorite track from Hollow Knight it fully encapsulates the fight. A failed Vessel who thought it could save its father's kingdom only to fail and become a dead shell of what it was because it had thought, it loved its father, a puppet for the entity it was made to seal and you, the knight? You're its sibling who must fight and mostly likely kill it to take its role. It's a dark and emotional track that only gets more tragic over time building up to when the Hollow Knight begins impaling itself as it gets a second of control over its body. I love it.
Same here
Aye, fellow Yume Nikki enjoyer!
I don't get auditory stimulation goosebumps very often but 7:28 and the whole transition there gave me chills and actual goosebumps I could feel
The fact that he was able to basically predict what this theme was without even knowing the game at all just shows how good the composer of Hollow Knight is at musical storytelling, not to mention Davi’s own skill as a composer
8:40
In fact, that entire part of the track is often interpreted as the moment where the boss, The Hollow Knight, begins to repeatedly stab themselves, attempting to purge the infection that's taken hold of them.
I always loved music. Not playing it, not creating it, but understanding and feeling it. Your videos help me fulfill this really specific need I have. Thank you
This makes me happy. Thank you for saying it.
Damn, this really makes me wanna sit there with him and over-enthusiastically explain what the track is about. He definitely picks up on a lot of the meaning.
This sound is genious, because it captures exactly the feeling that the developers of the game wanted us, players, to feel. This creature (The hollow Knight) is actually being tortured by a divinity called Radiance for ages. Controlled as a puppet. So the sound is tense, sad and tragic. This is an absolute marvelous piece and the composer (Christopher Larkin) was able to transmit the weight of this encounter. Simply astonishing.
The latter part to me really conveys a sense of exquisite agony, like some sort of ritualized, almost sacred or divine suffering that builds and builds... and then just releases into the last part like a final breath.
:0
To prevent anyone from being spoilered: Spoilerwarning!
Everything you describe suites the entire fight and point of the story so much. The cute little protagonist is fighting one of his brothers who was deemed to function as a vessel to a plague that had befallen the kingdom in which the story takes place. He was chosen because he was supposed to be a perfectly hollow vessel who could contain the plague which feeds on dreams and feelings.
Through the entire game you fight plagued bugs that lost their mind to the plague and it becomes more and more apparent that the vessel was not perfectly hollow, that the - *"Hollow" Knight* - could not contain it. It is seeping out of him and into the world. As you fight him he will go down which is where the build up part is stopping. Suddenly the boss will get up and start stabbing itself right into the spot where the infection is leaking out of his body - the sad music starts. It is the moment of realization that this vessel, your brother, that he is not taken by the infection completely and that the part of its conscious self is aware what is happening, that he failed his task and it's trying to fight the infection, which at this point is completely futile.
The last build up is when you finally strike him down and dramatically consume the infection, that is now shooting out of him, making you the new, incarcarated Hollow Knight.
This game really is something.
just a friendly little reminder: Vessels do not have genders!
you missed the extra bit of tragedy, the perfect vessel was such until the time spent with its father made it feel, that little spark was enough for the plague to start growing. during the fight it tries to help you, the infection tries to destroy you. very painful if you know what is happening.
@@Sellazar168 yeah, I thoguht about implementing that, but I didn't want to write 4 more paragraphs explaining how the vessels were chosen and trained :) thanks for the reminder!
Also, both of them are genderless, Hornet is the only one of the Pale King’s children with a gender, hence why she is the Gendered Child
Both the Knight(protagonist) and the Hollow Knight)final boss) are genderless.
The thing I love the most about this theme is the pain, cause the Hollow knight and the vessel are sort of brothers. So, it's 2 brothers fighting for the lives of innocents, and I feel how the melody cries and I do as well
That's not an epic battle, it's a tragedy, after all, why 2 brothers should try to kill each other?
I love Hollow Knight so much, cause it's so sad but at the same time it gives you hope for a less worse future
And the 2nd part just does everything even better, you can feel how the Hollow knight is finally getting a relieve of it's duty, it stabs itself to help you, he wants to help
Then, 3rd part, as every tragedy should finish, forgotten, and the tears of every victim finally getting a rest, the memory of everything that was falls, and with them, the tears
I can't with this game it's just perfect
That's basically what happens in the fight, I remember the first time I finished the game, I was just empty
Asking myself if that was the end
you are making some wrong points honestly the reason why the hollow knight is stabbing it self is because of the pain, the infection that they have been carrying all along they just wanna end themselves so they can relief from that long-lasted pain
@@qunituabastard1754 It's wrong to say that they were making wrong points. Both of your opinions are definitely possible and we will probably never know for sure, so don't act like you're the only one that's right. In my opinion it's a mix of both.
It is speculated that the hollow knight was the one who called the ghost to the sealed egg because the hollow knight knew he wasn't a perfect vessel and he felt that he couldn't hold on much longer. So, it is likely that the hollow knight was trying to help the ghost with the last of his sanity.
@@juano93 I’m pretty sure it’s shown at the start of the game
I remember first fighting the hollow knight, and my mom was watching.
Safe to say, the battle and the song made her emotional
Thats amazing
I fucking love hollow knight, especially for it‘s soundtrack. In my opinion it’s one of the best soundtracks out there.
I love how you describe chords in their function, like sad, tense and so on, rather than just saying „oh yeah, we have a C#bm7/b13.65 chord“. Just describing how the chord works without delving to deep in the theory is a really good approach.
this with omori have very good soundtracks (DO NOT FORGET UNDERTALE..)
13:41 “It feels a bit more positive now . . . ”
That’s actually because Sealed Vessel is a compilation of a couple different endgame tracks! Hollow Knight has both a “bad” ending and a “good” ending, based on what events you’ve completed before entering the final fight. Sealed Vessel includes the music used for both endings, one right after the other.
The “bad” ending piece plays immediately after the tragic segment with the violin and soft choir, starting with the drum roll. The “good” ending track starts at those soft piano hits (this segment is also used for the opening cutscene, so it really comes full circle!) and continues to the end. It’s still plenty tragic, of course, but that might explain why it’s a bit more positive than what came before.
You also mentioned that you think this track might be scripted or adaptive, and you’re right in that it is adaptive! The spooky sounds at the beginning loop in the room just before the boss. Once inside the boss room, there are four chains that the player must break, and each broken chain adds another note to that string chord at the beginning, until that final build up which leads into the fight.
The intense part of the music will last until you get the boss to half health, and then the slower part will take over and more instruments will be added the closer you get to beating the fight. Interestingly, those stabs are actually part of the first loop and are not scripted in any way, as far as I can tell.
Hollow Knight has 5 endings, and none are “good” or “bad.” The parts of this song are just different parts of the boss fight. The song is scripted, and is actually around 3-4 different songs that repeat until the stage of the boss is defeated.
@@aelechdeepestflame4347 True, there are more endings and technically none of them are truly good or bad (which is why I used quotes). Defeating Radiance is generally seen as the “true” or “better” ending compared to the regular one, however, and both the music and story suggest that it’s the more positive of the two. I excluded the Godhome endings because they don’t have anything to do with this song, and the Sealed Siblings ending uses the same music as the regular ending.
Scripted and adaptive are basically synonyms in this context, but I chose to use adaptive because I personally think it fits better here. The song *adapts* to the player’s inputs (i.e. switching from the intense phase 1 to the sadder phase 2 when the player gets the boss to half health), as opposed to hard-coding the in-game events to match up with the music, which would make it *scripted* (like if HK’s stab animation matched up exactly with those stabbing beats in the song. It doesn’t). It’s not really that big a distinction though, they’re basically the same.
And yes, most of Sealed Vessel is boss music that loops different parts of the track for different stages of the fight. But you will never be able to hear the end of Sealed Vessel in the game exactly as it is on the track, and if you watch a playthrough you’ll find that the ending isn’t actually a part of the fight at all. Rewatch those ending cutscenes, and you’ll see (or rather, hear) that the end of Sealed Vessel is the music for the normal ending and then true ending, back to back. It doesn’t play that way in game; you’ll hear one or the other, but not both.
@@aelechdeepestflame4347 technically 6, the mushroom dude one.
@@aelechdeepestflame4347 there are like 3 bad endings and 2 neutral endings
@@grapes-are-nice aren't they like this: the first two endings for base game and embrace the void are bad and the other two are neutral. And then of course there's mister mushroom ending (passing of age)
9:56 That's when you realize this isn't some dramatic final boss... this is the final end of a tragedy, that the orange goop is CONTROLLING him, that he's stabbing his very essence to kill it.
The way this dude uncovers almost the entire lore of a game just by listening to its music has always amazed me. You truly are a Higher Being, Davi.
Thanks man
@@DaviVasc Now that you are here... Have you reacted to any music from "Frostpunk"? I think you would like them. If you consider the idea, you should probably start with "The City Must Survive" and the menu theme of "On the Edge", one of its DLC's.
I like how the person fighting the boss accidentally did a Scream Skip at 6:37. Usually when a boss is screaming the player is locked in place and cannot take any actions, but getting hit during the scream negates this and allows player movement. It’s a speedrunning trick used very frequently and is kinda hard to pull off on purpose by the average casual player.
You think this person's not a speedrunner? They have shade cloak but only 5 masks
They have Shade Cloak but only 5 masks and no vessels, no shade soul, I think they are a speedrunner
14:41 Y E S, this sense of inevitability is definitely part of the story and the main point in the bossfight during which this OST plays, perfectly makes sense and i'm shocked to find out that there might be a correlation between the notes and the meaning of the event. That's genius
To quote a history UA-camr I follow who also loves Hollow Knight, “Beethoven would have loved the Hollow Knight soundtrack”, and I wholly agree. There’s so many individual tracks going on in the background intricately woven together to create something truly amazing. I’m so glad to see one of my favorite parts of this phenomenal game getting the recognition it deserves.
YES PLEASE DO MORE HOLLOW KNIGHT MUSIC. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS GAME. NIGHTMARE KING GRIMM NEXT PLEASE!!
OK FINE JEEZ
One of the more amazing aspects of Hollow Knight OST that I didn't notice the first time playing it is that all characters and places connected to a specific king bloodline have same melody in their soundtracks. There is a lot of music story telling that seems to be even more focused on in some places than in souls games, since it connects not just emotions but also things that connect multiple characters and it tells partially a story that is never told to you head on. 8-bit Music Theory has amazing two videos about it, if someone is intersted about deep symbolism of Hollow Knights music.
Just like you didn't expect the games track to be so serious, when I bought it didn't expect it to be so melancholic and depressing but it's a very dark game through most of it. While it's a metroidivania and has completely different story, it manages to create this souls like feeling of heavy atmosphere. It's story touches completely different topics however and the vessel that has music that you listened to in this video has a very depressing story. I don't want to go into details though, I think it's worth digging for it in game or internet, I would not do it justice here.
If you want more tracks from Hollow Knight to listen to I recommend:
Stuff with crazy speed and composition:
- Hornet (and its vocal sibling Daughter of Hallownest)
- Mantis Lords (and it's more vocal sibling "Sisters of Battle")
- Truth, Beauty and Hatred
-Grimm Troupe (and it's sibling Nightmare King Grimm)
Some more heroic happy stuff:
- Hive Knight
- Dung Defender and it's sibling White Defender
Some depressing stuff:
- Pure Vessel
- Dirtmouth
- Resting Grounds
- Kingdoms Edge
- "Hollow Knight" (main menu theme)
Just beautiful music:
- White Palace
Yay some love for Hive Knight! But I want more people to realize how awesome Cristal Peaks is :D
@@essneyallen6777 To be fair, whole soundtrack is just amazing. The only reason I choose a few is that I know as a content creator, you have to make some choices to what you should make the video about.
Outside of that however, yes I agree, there are some tracks that don't get enough love on the internet. Hive Knight has that very adveturous feeling, reminds me of Rayman Legends music and is amazing. And Crystal Peaks is very unique but perfectly fitting track for it's location and a nice relaxator to play in background when you are doing something else :D
Itd be AMAZING if he did a video on Pale Court tbh
Ayyy resting grounds
You forgot greenpath for just beautiful
"A sense of fate/destiny/inevitability."
That what players feel during and after the fight at the end of the game.
Christopher Larkin is one of like seven composers I know by name. He does such an incredible job, and the entire soundtrack is pure gold, especially paired with the game itself. You can tell what's going on from the music itself, imagine looking at it as well. It's beautiful.
Hollow Knight is certainly one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, it's crazy good at what it does.
Hey Christoph, nice seeing you here :D
@@DaviVasc You bet that I click on Hollow Knight! This game's overall melancholy was a huge inspiration for Revita here and there.
Awesome soundtrack and honestly I'm really surprised in 5:47. I didn't expect this transition and your considerations were precise.
Thanks man. Yeah, there were so many surprising transitions in this music.
That part hits very hard when you know the context for it, highly recommend playing Hollow Knight at some point it's an incredible game
Without spoiling to much the part starting at 5:47 is only ever used 3ish times and it is always very important when it is
14:00 This is when I knew he was the real deal, he got everything up to this point so spot on it's scary. You besting the Hollow Knight, was all but inevitable as soon as you returned to Hallownest, you're to remain trapped inside the black egg for all eternity, until the infection inevitably breaks out of you, just like the "pure" vessel that had come before you.
8:45 Well, that was pretty accurate.
You opened my eyes to just how nuanced music can be, just like a painting can tell a story, so does a song. Thank you for showing that to me, ur the best Davi. Cant wait for your next vid
Chrisopher Larkin, if I remember correctly, stated that narrative is a big part of writing a soundtrack to something. And it's absolutely true, this game is such an experience and I highly recommend you play it because everything that happens amplifies the music to an incredible degree and vice-versa. Even if not, and you listen to the entire soundtrack by itself, it's still possible to make connections even if you don't know who the actual characters are. The game, in short, has to look somewhat cute because the amount of absolute hurt is wild. Like, this stuff gets sensitive if you pay any visual attention past the player character during pretty much any point in the game to anything at all. Unashamed "this should have so many content warnings" levels of depression wrapped up in a glowing white bow of gorgeous style and pleasing music.
Your guess about the track playing in a final stage is correct, it's a boss battle and it is painful in multiple ways. Scripted events galore, the most the game has, really. As a battle it's quite easy for a final boss but it makes up for it story, which you will be forced to pay attention to during it, and depending on how much of the game is completed at the time, you can trigger a second battle with a different boss (there's some nuance but you'd have to play the game to see what it is because I am not explaining it here because of detailed spoilers). The more peaceful/positive part at the end of Sealed Vessel plays if you win the second, optional boss fight you can choose to trigger during one of the scripted events that takes place if you meet the requirements for it.
Tl;dr: Just play the game, everything hits way, way harder that way. This track is a consistent tear-jerker for me.
When you said "it feels like being stabbed" it is a perfect idea of what happens while that part of the song plays ingame. Also, the slow piano and flute part is after the fight ends. Everything before that is in the boss battle.
You could play hollowknight without any dialog and still understand the story from music alone.
The way the final music changes depending on what ending you get is absolutely amazing.
Just based on the music alone,
The beginning sounds like the end. Your journey to come and face the final stretch and face the evil.
Towards the middle, Its intense and impactful, and you and the final evil are locked in this intense battle where only one can come out victorious.
At the end of the song, it feels sad, almost like the evil doesn't wish to keep fighting anymore, but is forced to.
With the character this song is tied to, it seems that way, even in gameplay, and the sad part of the song ALWAYS gets me.
With having seen this video 4 days after it was uploaded, I hope you have been able to try it out or start it. I love seeing people enjoy Hollow Knight ever since I myself got into it.
You should react to “white palace” ost from hollow knight too, I also really appreciate your content, I am trained and training in classical music, but the way you explain it makes like everybody can understand and that is so great, keep it up💪🏻
That is great to hear, thank you. Yeah, making music easy to understand for everyone is one of my goals with this channel.
Also the pale court, is a remixed versión of the white palace and a great example of instrumental music telling an story
I didn't even realise white palace had music, I thought it just had buzzsaws. >.>
@@thomasboys7216 it’s a great ost, very soothing and somber
hollow knight’s soft and cute appearance really tricked me like many others, i thought it would be a happy little game with cute characters, but it’s actually a tragic MASSIVE game with dead cute characters, this game went from unknown to my absolute favourite game. the music, is just, undescribly amazing.
I thought it was going to be a Mario platformer glad to be completely wrong about that. 😂
The silences after the stabbing are never something I consciously picked up on, but they fit that part of the fight so well for several reasons! For the average player, this is where you're desperately trying to heal, because the attacks have gotten easier to dodge but also far more random and unpredictable. For the boss itself, it's faltering, fighting against the power puppeting it around in an attempt to die to you. It's such a tiny, subtle thing, but it adds so much to the atmosphere of the fight that the music is "breathing" with your movements as a player
Dude, you're literally deciphered almost everything about the fight by just listening to it. Amazing
"Tarnished by an idea instilled."
The Hollow Knight felt love, and that killed it.
It dared to be more than an automaton, to _care_ about what it must protect, and the kingdom fell for it.
This game is incredible.
Fantastic observation. Maybe try "City of Tears" next time, it's one of the most majestic soundtracks in that game
"A sense of inevitability"
My lad you have described the whole game's plot with these words
Tragedy. Loneliness. Melancholy. Fate. Inevitability. You chose some very accurate terms for the themes and motifs. Hollow Knight is my favorite game, and its music is absolutely brilliant. The bittersweet finality of the final part always hits me in my core.
7:34 this part never fails to give me goose bumps. The build-up to it is fantastic and it really manages to cash in on that.
He almost found the entire leitmotif of the hollow knights! Man this is a god-tier soundtrack.
Monster Hunter, Souls games, Hollow Knight... You're covering some of my favourite music from my favourite franchises.
No need to make a video on these (please do) but I recommend listening to other soundtracks from Hollow Knight, the music is pretty special and themes like City of tears embodies feelings that I've not felt anywhere else before
Don't tell anybody but there will be another Hollow Knight video in a few weeks. Shhhh...
@@DaviVasc I can’t wait to see it! Keep up the great work; I love your content.
@@DaviVasc Man, you are a freaking legend
8:44 Well he was right on "point" with that Insight. Really hit the "nail" on the head.
I found his review rather hollow
@@Crackleyoutube I get the joke but wow…
I would LOVE to see you listen to more HK OST!!!
"It feels more positive right now"... bro i literally cry at this moment in the game... because the souls are finally free after sooo much years
this just show how great hollow knight is the music itself already give the vibe of its lore, and he is very skilled too manage to figure alot of the fight with just the music
One thing I really love about this song is how that looping part about halfway through the song sort of feels like it's stuck and can't fully finish but in that final moment the loop finally breaks free and beautifully concludes
Without spoiling anything, you're correct that the music is adaptive. That transition happens when you reach a certain phase in a certain fight, so as the boss transitions, the music does too
A few of HK's tracks do this sort of thing
So glad to see you tackle Hollow Knight music, it's so insanely good. The Grimm troupe, Mantis Lords and Greenpath musics are some of my favorites.
One of these three will be in the next Hollow Knight video coming out in a few weeks :)
@@DaviVasc my bet is Mantis Lords
@@juwe7143 same
My bet is on the Grimm troupe
@@Narpas313 Then I'll bet on Greenpath. That way, at least one of us is guaranteed to be right!
8:51 literal el Hollow Khight se apuñala a sí mismo
Bro watching this video made me understand the thought process to analysing a piece of music a lot more. Even though I played the game and know everything about it and the Sealed Vessel, watching this gave me so much more insight and has helped me on a music assessment I’m currently working on for school
Something about the chord progression at 11:47 :
I don't think it's the exact chord progression, but this is similar to a reoccurring theme used throughout the game. In fact, a lot of this track is made up of parts from game's main theme. It's probably one of my favorite uses of leitmotif in gaming.
also grimm's theme is incredible
this track in particular, i have so many words to say about it, but i really can't do it justice...
the way you were able to tell almost exactly what was going on in each part of the fight JUST from hearing the music really shows Christopher Larkin's mastery over his medium. and this is the way the entire soundtrack is! the music synergizes perfectly with the environment to create a world that's rich with history, alive with characters, and knee-deep in tragedy. you feel wonder as you explore lush and sprawling jungles, you feel dread as you encounter creatures of unnatural origins, and of course, feel the stabbing sorrow of a knight burdened with the future of a doomed kingdom. the Hollow Knight soundtrack is able to encapsulate emotion into music in a way ive never seen anywhere else. truly beautiful.
this is the first video ive seen from you, but ill definitely be sticking around for more! loved this video!
Welcome to the channel, my friend. We greatly appreciate insightful commenters like you over here :)
Hollow Knight's setting is similar to that of your typical Dark Souls game, a kingdom in ruin and you left exploring what remains of it in attempts to piece together what happened.
Will note that the Sealed Vessel theme has three parts, two of which are used in the boss fight itself (Phase 1 would be 0:00 to 2:11 in the theme, the phase transition is denoted by a roaring or scream sound effect, and Phase 2 is 2:12 to 4:05). The third portion plays during an ending cutscene of the game. The boss itself actually starts stabbing itself when transitioning into phase 2 and most interpret it as the boss trying to weaken itself to make your task of killing it easier. Despite its madness, some part of it wants to die and knows it must die so that the player character can take its place.
This was the only boss battle in hollowknight that made me cry because i had figured out the lore and eveything, when you learn what he's really trying to do when fighting you is heartbreaking and i felt terrible. But i loved it
I love this analysis of this track because of how close you were to the mark. The music starts off epic, you're trying to save the world, end the evil. As the boss fight progresses though, the realization of what you're doing sets in, and as you approach the end of the game in this ending, you realize that you are only prolonging the cycle, and that you, the hero, are going to meet the same fate as the boss you just defeated did.
11:15 It builds up not to some grand finale, but to your sacrifice. the player sacrifices their life to end the plauge for good.
I was looking so forward to this, Im so happy you're giving Hollow Knight a go! Amazing video as always
Glad you enjoyed it, Margot. Thanks to you there will be more Hollow Knight music in this channel next month! :D
Dude at 8:40 he hits the nail exactly on the head, it's crazy how much can be conveyed with just music
Didn’t know anything about the lore first time getting to the Hollow Knight fight, but after hearing that inflection point I just knew something special was happening.
Christopher Larkin is a great composer. I love how he can create very complex and deep songs with very little in the terms of instruments (at least compared to what Fromsoftware treat us with). They also fit the theme of the zones and bosses so well. I'd love to see you react to more of his hollow knight OST. It's definitely never cartoony or unfitting in my opinion. Honestly I'd love to watch you listen to the background music of the individual zones without knowing anything about them and seeing how you'd describe them just knowing the music that is playing.
14:44 It sorta does! In one of the endings the "infection" has been sealed away inside the Hollow Knight, and you instead absorb it since the Hollow Knight failed to contain it. But it is implied that you will also fail, and there will be an inevitable return of the infection.
Interesting
he probably has no idea what u said lol
It isn’t implied that you will fail. It’s left ambiguous. There’s one character that says something like “can any shell truly be empty?” or something… but that’s it. Musings from one person
The knight wasn’t corrupted by feelings like the HK, there’s no reasoin why they can’t be empty. It’s entirely possible they became corrupted in their journey, but we don’t know
And the void heart (if you have it) make you more complete and hopefully perfect than all the other vessels. But even if not it’s left ambiguous whether you’re truly a perfect vessel or not
@@redandblue1013 Ah, maybe I 'm misremembering, I thought there was a point where it strongly implied the knight was impure.
@@redandblue1013 people think the knight isnt hollow cos when u go in acid the knight flails around meaning it feels pain
I adore how he started off point by point analysing but when it got into swing he just had to hear it all!
I've been in music at my school for seven years and you're pointing out things I didn't notice and I'm just amazed and can't wait to develop my skills more
its crazy to see someone break down so much of the plot from simply the score.
Oh the violin and cello counterpoint was such an interesting thing to point out. This is two vessels fighting to keep Hallownest safe, playing their own melodies, with Ghost being small (violin) THK being bigger (cello) ugh composers are all brilliant