Huh, honestly I had assumed Shovel and Plague Knight's games were parallel world "alternate stories" to one another but you're right they fit together surprisingly well.
I like that King Knight who was the easiest boss in Shovel of Hope in his own campaign King of Cards is one of the strongest knights in the series. He lost all that strength to his laziness. It’s amazing. Easily my favorite of the knights due to how funny his story can be
Also each one is not what really happened but how they tell the story from their own perspective. This is why in plague knight campaign he makes it seem like shovel knight got a cheap victory while in shovel knights campaign he makes it seem like he won honorably. Anyway this is probably part of why king knight seems so much stronger in his own campaign. Because that is from his own perspective
@@meee_5155true I think it is also why plague and shovel knight fight the order. Because from their storytelling they both wanted to seem honorable taking down 8 knights.
fun fact: as shown at 9:32, it's incredibly hard to notice due to how subtle the animation is, but shovel knight actually tbags after beating plague knight and i fucking love that because it's such a completely pointless detail that they absolutely didn't have to add but they did anyway
Yes! It also shows even more that every story mode is told by the main character you're playing as. Shovel Knight isn't that rude or disrespectful to the knights he's forced to fight through, but Plague Knight totally makes him out to be a cheap-shot-taking bastard and I love that. This game is full of so many good details like that haha
honestly it’s sad to see this series end, now we know how the enchantress ruled and how she died. this video makes total sence and ties all of the pieces together. SHOVEL KNIGHT!
I like that all four of these campaigns fit rather nicely into a single timeline. It makes the game world feel more 'alive' like it's not just Shovel Knight's story that's important, these other characters all have agency and history with one another and the various NPC's you've interacted with.
I totally agree! Initially I started looking into this so much, because I couldn't find a concise video talking about it and I HAD TO KNOW! I wanted so much for it to be more than just extra gameplay, and I'm happy to say they went above and beyond. Shovel Knight as a whole is so amazing.
So during King Knight's campaign, he destroys Mole Knight's lost hot tub. Later, during Specter Knight's credits, we see him relaxing in that hot tub. Clearly Mole Knight has a hot tub time machine. Either that or he fixed it, but that's less fun.
10:04 my personal headcanon for the battle royale is that shovel knight and plauge knight had a temporary truce until the rest of the knights were defeated since the rest of the knights wanted to defeat both of them
Right?? It's one of my favourite easter eggs in the whole game, especially because it shows meaningfully that if he isn't shaken by the ghost of himself, then there's nothing to fear 😁
wonder if its also a nod to Final Fantasy 4 when you have cecil fight his shadow to go from dark knight to Paladin since you can also beat that boss the same way by staying still
There is a small detail: King Knight is the first member of the order of no quarter, and as such, there's literally no way anyone can be hired before. My main theory is that Specter Of Torment actually begins AFTER the fight at the Birder Bluffs, where Specter Knight has his curios, but loses them once getting defeated, allowing Red to collect them and sell them back. In the meantime, however, the guy's back at hiring knights and knights while King Knight takes care of other important things. As for Plague Knight against Shovel Knight, it is very well seen that Shovel Knight is unconscious during the entire boss rush from Plague Knight's perspective, meaning that the entire fight from the burrower's perspective may just be a dream.
Spectre of Torment also allows you to go after any knight at any time. I see no issue in making King Knight not the first knight, especially when I'm pretty sure he also grants 2000 gold instead of 1000 in Spectre of Torment (not fully sure my memory's a bit fuzzy on that.)
For the boss rush ycg stated that all happens from a storytelling perspective as if the caracters are telling they tales and plague knight isnt really a reliable narrator so he says that he fighted the whole order to look cooler but in fact its actually shovel knight who fighted them
@@PATOBUNGAS It could even more be the case for Plague Knight. After all, SOH contradicts that with no regret by letting you have the chance to fight Plague Knight at any time while POS forces you to fight Shovel Knight as the last foe.
"Over the years... Many knights have come to seek the enlightenment of this great recordsmith... So that the past would never rhyme, in the same way again"
I believe Showdown happened either right before Specter Knight's fight with The Enchantress. It states he stormed off to confront her, which could be right as he learned about her true identity. While getting to her, the Showdown stuff takes place, and if you play as Specter Knight, it resumes back to him getting to The Enchantress. Showdown also takes place right before Shovel Knight's mission. During Showdown, Shovel Knight reunites with Shield Knight and they fight together. After The Mirror is defeated though, he wakes up back at his camp sight and notices The Tower is back. So he sets off, knowing Shield Knight is still out there.
It's astonishing that with all these events happening so close together, especially with showdown closing the gap so much, I'm pretty sure the Order of No Quarter lasted like a month tops. It really seems like they should've been around longer, but if Shovel of Hope starts just before Specter of Torment ends then Shovel Knight takes down the entire order in like a week or two lmao
@@grapewhistle1591 I’m assuming Shovel Knight’s campaign doesn’t start immediately afterwards. There probably was time for stuff to go wrong before Shovel Knight appears. My main evidence for this is that Shovel Knight pulls up to King Knight right as his castle is finished being remodeled. Considering it’s a castle, that had to have taken quite a while to finish.
HI, I SOMEHOW I ONLY FOUND THIS NOW, 2 YEARS LATER. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I PERSONALLY REALLY LOVE THE SHOVEL KNIGHT STORY, AS MESSY AS IT MAY BE IN ITS CURRENT STATE. I'M HONESTLY REALLY HAPPY YOU PUT IN THIS MUCH TIME INTO THIS.
Thank you so much! I tried to find a video that explained all of this, and after not finding exactly what I wanted, I knew I had to put it together myself. Commenters like you make it all feel rewarding so thank you ^-^
I had the same exact sense of finishing King Knight's game and wanting a complete timeline of the series, so thanks for taking the time to do just that!
Right?? I finished the games, looked up a comprehensive review of the entire timeline and how every story fits in. When I didn't find exactly what I wanted, I was happy to put in the time to do it myself! This is pretty old now, but I'm glad people still run into it and appreciate it ^_^
Shovel Knight's story is fascinating to me because it's very clearly told by unreliable narrators. In most stories, the story is told from a very unbiased, objective perspective. When I first played through the Shovel Knight campaigns, I was confused by the inconsistencies and contradictions shown in the four stories because I assumed that these stories were objective portrayals of the actual events of the game. Like many others, I chalked this up to each story being an alternate universe where certain events differed. But I realized recently that these retellings aren't alternate timelines; they're one story told through different perspectives. It's evident that each character's biases, personalities, egos, and even misremembering events affect how they tell the story, some more than others. It explains the inconsistencies of, say, the fights between Shovel Knight and Plague Knight in Shovel Of Hope and Plague Of Shadows. It's possible that Plague Knight's ego, consciously or unconsciously, perceived his fights with Shovel Knight to be unfair, that he only lost because Shovel Knight sucker punched him at the very end. It could also be that Shovel Knight didn't win his fights in such a decisive manner as portrayed in his story. For all we know, Shovel Knight could've been portraying himself as more righteous and strong than he was in reality, not to imply that Shovel Knight is terrible at fighting and scummy. It's just likely that he and the other three likely embellish their stories to make them seem better or stronger than in reality, even if it's subconsciously. A significant problem is we can't know how factual many of the events in all four stories are because there are few events where multiple sources can corroborate or dispute another's It's hard for me to tell what, if any, biases are present in Spectre Knight's story. To me, he clearly shows the good and bad times when he gets emotionally weak or is left powerless. He shows humility where others like Plague Knight and especially King Knight don't. But it's impossible to tell how objective his story is because it is so disconnected from the others, barring some interactions with King Knight, and that isn't very useful because King Knight is very blatantly unreliable when telling his story. King Knight has a huge ego, is immature, and has delusions of grandeur, and his story clashes with the others tonally and event-wise. He's shown to be very powerful despite clearly being the weakest of the knights in the accounts of the other three knights. In his story, everyone in his entourage loves and respects him, seeing him as their hero and paragon. Despite his acting haughty, disrespectful, and even hostile to those supposed to be his friends and allies, he could very well be making up many of the events in his story, either by lying or as a symptom of his delusions. I think this lack of an absolute narrative is pretty cool. It lets us peer into the personalities of the four knights and how they see themselves and others and is overall very accurate to how humans retell stories and events. Some historians fall into viewing the accounts of some figures as objective, even though these accounts are most definitely told through the lens of the speaker's views and embellishments
I really love that these stories are told from each knight's perspective as well. It allows them to do what they want with each character, and really to get the most out of them and their journeys. What seem like story inconsistencies are really just a moment of "he said she said" and we're kind of left to our own trying to figure out what really happened and what didn't. It's a very unique way to give us multiple perspectives of one story's events, and I'm just a huge fan. Shovel Knight is an amazing series haha.
there is an explanation for why King Knight is weaker later on. He is shown overeating in his Showdown ending and in the tower when you speak to him as Specter so he basically became incredibly lazy after gaining all he wanted.
Amazing video. I never knew the entire story of shovel knight. Was waiting for this one to come out. Hope this video blows up cause more people need to see it
I might not be the first one to comment it but since I don't see it anywhere, here's Shovel Knight Showdown plays out : so after Specter Knight discovers the Enchanteress, the other servants of the enchanteress who helped Specter Knight on his quest decided to help Specter Knight to defeat the enchanteress by trying to harness the power of the magic mirror he used to seek for the order of no quarter members. Instead of doing so, they make the mirror's magic go completely nuts, teleporting pretty much everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE, even those currently possesed like Shield Knight or Reize being teleported with their malevolent counterparts) in another reality filled with combat-seeking doubles of their friends, enemies and even themselves. Some characters will meet each other as well teaming or competing towards this reality's mirror to go back home. the most notable one being Shovel Knight meeting the real Shield Knight, since this encounter is actually the one who gave him back the hope to find her again, thus beginning his adventure. By the end of the campaign, everyone separatly confronts the mirror to go back to reality. After this, they all return to their initial spot when the mirror brought them here, and while some go back to their own business, others thanks or because of this experience, embark on a new adventure that we can follow in other campaigns.
Would be a pretty random thing to make up. From real young through high school I was buddies with Ian who's one of the founders of yacht club games. They left another company together and used Kickstart to fund it. The whole thing was just gonna be a downloadable game but demand was better than expected. Lots of hours of smash brothers with him.
King Knight is already a member of the Order when Specter Knight selects his level, so King of Cards can end just about anytime before the Nightmare Reize fight.
8:58 Shovel Knight didn't know Shield was alive, he just knew the Order was taking over. At the same time, the Order's establishment made it a perfect time for Plague Knight to steal some essence.
Haha you're right! That was an oversight in my scripting of this video, but I'm glad you pointed it out. Shovel Knight was just seeking justice against the order and happened to find that Shield Knight was actually alive after all!
Excellent video! It’s an excellent chronology for the four main Shovel Knight campaigns. Showdown is pretty oddly canon too, because it happens and finishes all the time Specter Knight is fighting The Enchantress. Pocket Dungeon and Dig hadn’t release when you made this video, but they’re canon too.
Great video, really makes the task of juggling this series' timeline in my head seem like less of a headache, lol. Although Pocket Dungeon really made things more convoluted with having the Enchantress come back.
I honestly haven't even looking into Shovel Knight Dig or Pocket Dungeon, so I'm pretty lost when it comes to what they've added to the story, but I'm glad you enjoyed my video 😇 I love making longer scripted segments for games like this one (or the metroid series) that I truly care to know more about. Thanks!
@@MyloeBeing someone who has played all 7 SK Games I can provide a little background. Dig is set as a prequel to the whole series, which is found out in the game's true ending. Then is the events of Specter of Torment/King of Cards, followed by Showdown. After that is Shovel of Hope/Plague of Shadows, then Pocket Dungeon happens some time afterward.
I think the biggest flaw is that the king of cards explanation is subjective, as someone who did play through all the card houses wouldn't totally say the same, and specter knight's second dialogue is a bit misexplained. Also, what's the deal with none of the heirloom recruits showing up in the gameplay used of the ending of king of cards? They better emphasize how many people king knight really betrayed very nice video though, i really love shovel knight. found it weird how you seemed so caught up on the order when yacht club have said it themselves, though
They most likely didn't have them appear because they were optional. It'd be a lot harder to get the rope of people set up if they had to worry about a fluctuating amount of characters and which ones should even be there
Great video. I’m pretty sure you got everything perfect. Even little things I never even thought of. Like specter knight having to have fought polar and plague before he meets king knight for the first time, due to him having the abilities gained after their stages are completed. Little details I never even thought about. ( but wait. How would shovel knight have late game gear in plague knight’s boss?… idk ) I was looking for a SK lore video for a minute as well. Good job 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you! I really did put as much effort forward as I could on this project, so I'm sooo happy you enjoyed the watch. In hindsight there are definitely a few things I could have included in the video, or expanded upon for clarity, but I'm glad it was able to explain so many things for so many people. Thanks for the kind words 😇
Oh my, how could this stay under the radar for so long? I always thought that SoH and PoS were some sort of alternative timelines, but thanks to you I now know they still fit pretty well concurrently! Well done on the video! Twas well-written and a good watch for a huge Shovel Knight fan like myself. ♥️
I NEVER KNEW ABOUT THE SECONDARY WAY OF BEATING THE PLAGUE OF SHADOWS AT 10:44 !!! That is crazy, I remember playing the campaign when it first came out, I was so young back then and found it super hard hahaha!!!
I think I heard somewhere that Plague of Shadows was Plague Knight telling the story, so I think that explains the sections where contradictions happened.
pretty good video! kinda opened my eyes to some details in the timeline that I didn't really think about also, here's a sorta-simplified explanation of Showdown for anyone looking for one (I just looked at the wiki page for Showdown cuz I'm not gonna play through all the stories again-) while Specter Knight is on his way to confront the Enchantress himself, around about when he's going through the Tower of Fate stages, the other Tower residents who he had befriended throughout his journey decide they wanna help him. They attempt to do so by modifying the Mirror of Fate that Specter used to teleport to all the different locations, but their attempt to do it extremely hastily resulted in the mirror possibly sucking up several of the characters & bringing them into the Colosseum. There are several instances of the Colosseum, with some possibility of certain characters having ended up in the same instances. I'm not gonna go into detail for each story so I'll just list what key events come out of this game's ending(s): - Each character seemingly destroys their own instance of the Mirror of Fate inside the Colosseum, & wake back up where they last were before they got sucked in. The Mirror is completely destroyed in the real world - Specter Knight thinks about Phantom Striker telling him that he (Specter) is a fool for thinking the Enchantress can restore his life, but he ultimately disregards it and continues climbing the Tower to face the Enchantress - Dark Reize, having seemingly destroyed his good side once & for all, gets called by the Enchantress. He teleports to her, possibly for the fight against Specter Knight - Plague Knight & Mona study the Liquid Samurai they captured whilst in the Mirror, and make breakthroughs in the Essence-research, which thus starts Plague of Shadows - The Liquid Samurai (most likely not the same from above) groups up with his fellow Liquid Samurai to tell the Enchantress about Plague Knight's betrayal (as in, him taking everyone's essences), which is how the Enchantress already knows why he's there - Shovel Knight, having conquered yet another nightmare about Shield Knight, though with this one being much less agonizing than the others, finally gets the motivation to try & save her, thus starting Shovel of Hope
the story of Showdown actually happens a little bit after the point you said it would because when you play through Specter Knight's Showdown campaign you see that it happens while he rides the elevator towards the Enchantress (Showdown takes place in kind of a weird, dream reality that came to be when the warp mirror of the tower got shattered)
Great video. You've made a really cohesive timeline that seems to fit really well. Just my own theory, but I always thought that perhaps shield knight survived due to finding the ultimate potion that plague knight left behind.
I've thought of that since the making of this video as well actually! I really like that idea, because it makes Plague Knight's story feel all the more crucial to the events of the overall story.
i know i'm late to the party, but my headcanon for the battle royale has been that Shovel Knight dreams that he is fighting them whilst unconscious on the seat of the banquet and wakes up at the last moment to fight Plague Knight
My order is King Knight > Spector > Plauge(is a bit faster than) > Shovel Knight In King’s campaign, Spector is recruiting him for the OoNQ, in Spector’s campaign, king knight is getting whipped into shape. For Plauge knight, he was ahead of SK for his home stage, but also the Boss rush for OoNQ.
This is true, but I suppose you could still play Spector Knight before King Knight’s since all of the ‘Donovan’ stuff happened before King Knight meets him.
I thought King of Cards' ending was even sadder than Specter of Torment's. King Knight had everything he'd always wanted, but threw it all away and became the most hated man in the Valley because he was too self-absorbed to realize it.
Great video and super fun to watch; I love how all the stories are interwoven so much. Here are a few extra things that aren't important but exist anyway ---------- - The Troupple Acolyte who represents the Troupple King in King of Cards was corrupted after he fell at the end and became the Dark Acolyte in SoT, regaining his red cloak in the credits - The magic mirror was somehow destroyed a ton of times during Showdown as every character canonically completed their story mode; this also sets up things for the rest of the campaigns like Shovel Knight finding out that Shield Knight is alive and Liquid Samurai telling the Enchantress about Plague Knight's secret plan Love how it all connects together, so amazing!
I totally agree, this game and it’s stories really are something else. I’ve never seen a game attempt the same ideas with such inter-woven stories from multiple characters’ perspectives. And I didn’t know that about Shovel Knight Showdown! I was never very into playing that game myself so I really didn’t know what it offered to the overall story but that’s very cool.
So, one of the things that bugged me when I played King of Cards, and honestly what made me question all of this instead of just assuming Spectre of Torment happened after in any capacity, was the fact that the Troupple's Acolyte is confirmed to be the Enchantress' Acolyte from Spectre of Torment. King of Cards also backs this up. So... Any answer? From anyone? This has bugged me for a damn long while.
I think the reason Sheild Knight survived was because of the counter explosion that Plauge Knight and Monas Ultimate Potion whould have inevitably caused combined with sheild knights sheild taking the brunt of the damage. sheild knight doesn't have her shiled at the end and her shild arm seems to be broken too, plus secondary explosions occuring simultaneously with primary explosions can cause chain reactions that can alter many things such as blast range, trajectory, and even force.
My perssonal interpretation, so take this with a grain of salt, is that plague of shadows and shovel of hope are 2 timelines dependent on a single fact: Wether or not Mona is working with plague knight. In the ending of shovel of hope, Mona is hanging out with Specter Knight, and Plague knight is off teaching a potion class. Plague knight is also still there when shovel knigh saves everyone, where as he flies off in his own campaing. With Mona's help, Plague knight has a reason to go off and do all this stuff, he wants to impress her. She also helps him come up with newer gadgets and bombs, making him stronger, which could explain how he manages to do all this stuff. I know the actual answer is "Plague of shadows wasn't even thought of at the time so mona was just the minigame NPC and they had no plan of her being Plague knight's partner" But uh... Headcannons.
I like this idea! Considering the stories themselves are told through the perspective of the characters, therefore their interpretations of what went down, I think people having their own interpretations is perfectly viable. I actually haven't seen anybody mention that before, but you're right! It's really interesting to see Mona in these different circumstances, even if it's only because they didn't plan for her to be used elsewhere when making Shovel of Hope!
Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I want to do more story explaining stuff like this in the future so staying tuned is recommended :D
I’m pretty sure even the games that aren’t in treasure trove are canon. Dig is at the very start of the timeline and Pocket Dungeon is at the very end. Showdown even gives us a lot of insight into a lot of characters motives, story and a lot of it leads into the games main campaigns.
I prefer to take the stories not the way they are shown in gane, but instead taking them as tales from the perspective of their respective protagonists, maybe Shovel Knight's is the nearest to what actjally happened, whule ignoring a few details such as rescuing Plagje Knight at the end, while ignoring King Knight's story because it was likely mostly fake in order to make himself look way better.
kinda sad that you skipped the part where Specter Knight beats King Knight's ass in his castle for being lazy but I suppose it doesn't matter much I just think it canonically would make King Knight the last person Specter Knight defeats before trying to get his revenge on the Enchantress
plague knight doesnt seem like a reliable narrator but i think the idea is that plague knight falls into the boss rush first, then shovel knight falls in after, but sk hits his head and goes unconscious, only dreaming of fighting all the knights while plague knight actually did the work. im curious though, if king knight is recruited at the end of his own campaign, why does he fight specter in specter of torment? isnt he already in the order by then, and already a king?
From what I recall, Specter Knight fighting King Knight after the events of "King of Cards" had something to do with King Knight slacking on doing what he was supposed to for the Order of No Quarter.
As William said, if you pay attention to the dialogue Pridemoor Keep is the only stage where you don't actually go out to recruit a member of the order. Instead, Specter Knight is simply checking up on King to make sure he's not slacking off. Should've been mentioned in the vid since it's a pretty important detail imo to figuring out how it all fits together but the video is 2 years old anyways by now lol
You know what’s really confusing. On the official timeline, it says that King of Cards happens before Specter of Torment, yet this video makes more sense than that lmao. Also with Shovel Knight Showdown, after watching every single ending, it basically just gives extra backstory to the other characters, so it isn’t really important to the main story of the main 4 campaigns, but it is still really fun to watch if you have the time.
The order from someone who loves Shovel Knight: (Keep in mind im rustynso take it with a grain of salt) King of Cards is placed first, as it is before King Knight takes the crown (which every subsiquent campaign shows has happened) Specter of Torment is placed second, as it is during the formation of the Order of no Quarter I guess if you include the prologue Shovel of Hope is the second (due to it being pre-enchantress) however in gameplay it and Plague of Shadows (?) Are tied for last as they happen in around the same time gameplay-wise
great video, but I'd like to mention how contradictory Specter of Torment and King of Cards are in terms of the Trouple Accolade At the end of Specter of Torment, it's shown in the epilogue that the Dark Accolade goes to the Trouple King and becomes the Trouple Accolade who sells Shovel Knight chalices. In King of Cards, however, the character is shown as the Trouple Accolade despite the game being before at least the end of Specter of Torment, and thus before his change happened. Also, Showdown is meant to take place some time before the final level of Specter of Torment (and thus after King of Cards), and the game depicts the Accolade as the dark one and not the trouple one.
@@AbdullahKhan-el6xw yes there are 2 acolytes (don't know how I got the spelling wrong in my first comment), a tall one and a short one. I am only talking about the short one
Skipping Showdown was smart, only notable story bit there is that Shovel Knight meets Shield Knight and realises she's still out there somewhere, which kicks off Shovel of Hope
What I find extremely interesting is this perspective story telling goes beyond just Shovel and Plagues 2 encounters. In Plague of Shadows it shows Shovel Knight leave her knights to hang there as Plague leaves. While from the perspective of Shovel he can chose alternatively to save all the knights including Plague Knight. This either means the choice for Shovel to aid the other knights isn’t canon (which is odd considering his generally kind nature), or alternatively Shovel did aid the knights on the side of the tower and Plague refuses to admit it. OR OR Shovel did save them all and just recalls incorrectly that Plague Knight was there. Either way I find those two stories happening at once somehow more confusing them Specter of Torment and King of Cards, which is odd considering many consider King of Cards to be where things started to get more convoluted. Loved this video! Very well made and made me re-thinks he way I look at Shovel Knight’s story, in fact I completely forgot Shield Knight was possessed by the amulet Donovan tried to take. Showing she genuinely meant what she said. Well done overall! :D ✨
Should be noted that Shovel Knight has the War Horn earlier in Plague of Shadows than he does in Shovel of Hope, implying that while the two are different continuities to an extent, also explaining the battle royale.
I want to point out I believe Shovel Knight Dig is a prequel to all the games. SPOILERS........... the tower with the amulet is in that game you fight the enchantress and reseal her than shovel and shield knight say they have to go back to the tower to get the gem and I think that is when the original game starts because he thinks shield knight died when she got possessed the second time at the tower.
That's really cool! It haven't played it myself, but those story implications really make me want to get my hands on it. I would love to see some prequel shovel knight lore
For 9:58 I always assumed that either as Shovel Knight was unconscious he dreamt that he fought the other members of the Order of No Quarter and he woke up in time to fight Plague Knight, or that that both fought members of the Order at the same time in a chaotic battle.
I just realized something special about Treasure Trove. You see, normally in this kind of stories, there are tiers of strengths and skills, but here it really feels like everyone is probably same strength or near so. Let me explain. Although Shovel Knight is the strongest of them all, still struggles a bit to battle against Plague Knight. And yet again, it should be stated that the Enchantress is the most powerful of all, but she managed to lose a fight not once, but four times against every single protagonist of the campaigns, two defeats being considered almost definitive (Plague Knight took her essence in the end, and Shovel managed to revert her Enchantress phase). But that's not all, King Knight is canonically crazy strong, being able to lift and entire small building with his grip, and yet Specter Knight also consistently beat him. This game is great.
Maybe you should've made it more clear, unless you didn't know, but it was in that moment where Donovan fell to his near-death did Shield Knight become possessed by the amulet's power and become Enchantress. She certainly wasted no time setting her plans in motion.
I'd say that's probably a product of this videos age 😅 I didn't used to have the entire know how surrounding videos and scripts that I do now, and I remember at the time this was my biggest project yet. This video has a few things I'd love to change or update maybe with a new video in the future
the only weird thing is that, in the post credits scene of king of cards, king pridemoor and king knight's mom just leave the castle before shovel knight shows up... yet king pridemoor is in the village before shovel knight even got to pridemoor keep. probably just an oversight by the developers but its pretty funny.
That cutscene is before the castle is golden so presumably the fight with shovel knight is after the specter knight campaign giving decent time for king pridemoor to be in the village.
The only thing i wish is that every member of the order of no quarter git their own little games Mole knight: being a cave explorer (rougelike) Tresaure knight: getting FAT STACKS of money (Warioland style) Tinker knight: building robots and the clockwork tower (Fallout shellter whithout michrotransactions) Propeller knight: soaring the skies in search for love (Mario style) Polar knight: a cold nomad searching for purpose (Idk)
This would have been so much fun to see. I really wish we could have seen more of what the other knights were up to during the story of shovel knight. These other genres for their games is a really good idea as well!
I'm not gonna lie, I've been pretty far from playing both Dig and Pocket Dungeon, but you have my word! If/When I come back to the Shovel Knight games I haven't played, I'll see what I can do about expanding the lore discussed in this one 👍
I wanna make a video myself on shovel knight lore, but also include the other games instead of just treasure trove, mainly because they just have interesting stories and connections. For example: shovel knight showdown gives us a reason why shovel knight is starting his campaign and gives us a look into the starting process of Plague Knight’s ultimate potion, explaining why both seemed to happen at the same time.
If you ever do make that video, be sure to post the link here! I would love to see what the other games have in store as I never really explored the stories outside of Treasure Trove!
Great video! Thanks for making it. I think your description of King Knight's motivation is slightly muddled. As you say, he wants to be a king, but has failed so far in that goal. When he learns of the Joustus competition, he learns that the winner will be crowed the 'King of Cards'. Even though that's just a name made up by the contest organisers for the winner, King Knight thinks it's close enough, and that if he wins, he'll be able to call himself a true king.
I really hope we get another Shovel Knight Campaign with either all the knights of the order of no quarter, Black Knight, or Shield Knight. That would be so good! Shovel Knight is in my top 3 games oat.
So it’s not just me. Everyone’s comments are from within the past year, has everyone just randomly thought about shovel knight in that time and come back to it. My reason to come back was because of the game grumps
I’m a huge game grumps fan! Have been for years haha that’s awesome. And honestly, I’m not sure why this video gets such consistent views. Shovel Knight is just an ever-present game online I guess 😅
I know they might be done with shovel knight, but I really hope we get a campaign focusing on black knight and polar knight. They feel like the most mysterious characters that we still don't know much about. Also, Showdown doesn't have much in terms of story. It's mainly just fun little character interactions. If you're interested in it, just look up the cutscenes on youtube. Actually playing it sucks lol
Before I watch this video I'm going to write the timeline I think makes the most sense to see how close I am King of cards Showdown (if its even canon) Specter of torment Shovel of hope / plague of shadows
I might just have to sometime. There's a lot about Shovel Knight that I don't know that's come out after the making of this video. I haven't played any of the newer titles, but I'd like to get into them and make more videos like this about Shovel Knight lore when I can 😁
Great video! I had heard about a few of these connections, but a lot of them were still new to me. Thanks for taking the time to research it! P.S. if you do an updated version for Pocket Dungeon and Dig, you might want to wait until the free DLC for those games is finished, since they might be story-related (I think the new Dig one is)
This may be important or not but the Devs have mentioned that certain events in Plague Knight's Campaign cannot be trusted. Simply because these games are meant to be stories being told in some faraway time. It's a lot like the Zelda Canon early on. Where cerrain details are contradictory cause they are stories and nit meant to be actual things. Specifically what we can discount is the actual fight in the Explodatorium and the Boss Rush in the Tower of Fate. As the implications seems to siggest rhat Plague Knight is telling the story dishonestly. "Shovel Knight didn't win, he knocked me out after I had already won, that's what happened!"
@@Myloe I just bought a switch for the first time a couple days ago. I cannot wait to buy all the best games for it and I'm so in love with that system I'm 41 years old I feel like a man child. Shovel night is my next purchase.
I had many false assumptions before I finally looked into everything, and it lead to the creation of this video! I'm glad I could answer some questions 😁
I’m not sure who fights Baz first honestly. It’s been so long since I was looking into all this Shovel Knight stuff that I can’t say. I wish I had made note of who fights him first in this video lol
At the time I made the video, Shovel Knight dig didn't exist yet. Even now I've never played it myself, otherwise I might be more interested in finding it's place in the story 😅
I'm honestly not sure, they don't really go into it at all. Perhaps it's a part of their life force that they'll slowly die without, or maybe it weakens them when they don't have it in them? I have no idea haha
It’s a little up in the air, as King Knight’s story is pretty ridiculous, but yeah I’d say that’s pretty close. I can’t really tell whether or not King Knight or Spectre Knight comes first, but Plague Knight’s and Shovel Knight’s happen together at the same time at the end of the story 👍
As far as I know, we don't really get to see most of what the knights are doing after the enchantress dies, especially since spectre knight's story took place before then. It's hard to say whether the power in the amulet keeping him alive would temain in the amulet or not after the enchantress dies. Good question! I'm curious to know the answer to that as well
I'm actually not sure what Pocket Dungeon is all about 😅 As of right now, I still haven't actually played it, but perhaps I should play it to get a better idea of the WHOLE Shovel Knight picture!
I haven't played them myself, but according to others in the comment section of this video, Dig is a prequel, and PD comes afterwards. That's what I've been able to gather 🙂
Wait but how does Specty go through the pride moor caslte and recruit king knight if king knight was recruited by the enchantress WHAT THE HELL IS THIS FNAF LORE
@@Myloe based on their dialog in Specter of Torment, I think King Knight is already working for the Enchantress, he's just not following orders. Like he's not doing whatever it is he's supposed to do
Huh, honestly I had assumed Shovel and Plague Knight's games were parallel world "alternate stories" to one another but you're right they fit together surprisingly well.
It made sense since Plague Knight traded the relics to Chester who sold them to Shovel Knight
Plague Knight is just lying through his teeth as some point.
I like that King Knight who was the easiest boss in Shovel of Hope in his own campaign King of Cards is one of the strongest knights in the series. He lost all that strength to his laziness. It’s amazing. Easily my favorite of the knights due to how funny his story can be
Also each one is not what really happened but how they tell the story from their own perspective. This is why in plague knight campaign he makes it seem like shovel knight got a cheap victory while in shovel knights campaign he makes it seem like he won honorably. Anyway this is probably part of why king knight seems so much stronger in his own campaign. Because that is from his own perspective
@@meee_5155true I think it is also why plague and shovel knight fight the order. Because from their storytelling they both wanted to seem honorable taking down 8 knights.
fun fact: as shown at 9:32, it's incredibly hard to notice due to how subtle the animation is, but shovel knight actually tbags after beating plague knight and i fucking love that because it's such a completely pointless detail that they absolutely didn't have to add but they did anyway
Yes! It also shows even more that every story mode is told by the main character you're playing as. Shovel Knight isn't that rude or disrespectful to the knights he's forced to fight through, but Plague Knight totally makes him out to be a cheap-shot-taking bastard and I love that. This game is full of so many good details like that haha
honestly it’s sad to see this series end, now we know how the enchantress ruled and how she died. this video makes total sence and ties all of the pieces together. SHOVEL KNIGHT!
End? From what I've heard, YCG plans to make more titles til the sun burns out. Shovel Knight is far from over.
considering their pace, you must be pretty optimistic about the sun @@yith2116
Brother, nothing has ended lol this was just the first game + spin offs lol
And now, as of today it’s confirmed that Yacht Club Games is working on a brand new Shovel Knight game, with hints that it’s going to be in 3D.
nah, there’s still gonna be more.
I like that all four of these campaigns fit rather nicely into a single timeline. It makes the game world feel more 'alive' like it's not just Shovel Knight's story that's important, these other characters all have agency and history with one another and the various NPC's you've interacted with.
I totally agree! Initially I started looking into this so much, because I couldn't find a concise video talking about it and I HAD TO KNOW! I wanted so much for it to be more than just extra gameplay, and I'm happy to say they went above and beyond. Shovel Knight as a whole is so amazing.
So during King Knight's campaign, he destroys Mole Knight's lost hot tub. Later, during Specter Knight's credits, we see him relaxing in that hot tub. Clearly Mole Knight has a hot tub time machine. Either that or he fixed it, but that's less fun.
We don't talk about the Quantum Hot Tub .
10:04 my personal headcanon for the battle royale is that shovel knight and plauge knight had a temporary truce until the rest of the knights were defeated since the rest of the knights wanted to defeat both of them
I like this idea! They did seem pretty chill after their scuffle where Plague Knight ended up giving his deck of cards to King Knight after all.
I did not know Plague Knight can win against himself by standing completely still, wow
Right?? It's one of my favourite easter eggs in the whole game, especially because it shows meaningfully that if he isn't shaken by the ghost of himself, then there's nothing to fear 😁
Whenever you are confronted with a dark version of yourself, become a pacifist
wonder if its also a nod to Final Fantasy 4 when you have cecil fight his shadow to go from dark knight to Paladin since you can also beat that boss the same way by staying still
There is a small detail: King Knight is the first member of the order of no quarter, and as such, there's literally no way anyone can be hired before. My main theory is that Specter Of Torment actually begins AFTER the fight at the Birder Bluffs, where Specter Knight has his curios, but loses them once getting defeated, allowing Red to collect them and sell them back.
In the meantime, however, the guy's back at hiring knights and knights while King Knight takes care of other important things.
As for Plague Knight against Shovel Knight, it is very well seen that Shovel Knight is unconscious during the entire boss rush from Plague Knight's perspective, meaning that the entire fight from the burrower's perspective may just be a dream.
Yeah because if you fight king Knight, he talks to specter like if he already knew him and specter tells him that he is not doing his job right
Spectre of Torment also allows you to go after any knight at any time. I see no issue in making King Knight not the first knight, especially when I'm pretty sure he also grants 2000 gold instead of 1000 in Spectre of Torment (not fully sure my memory's a bit fuzzy on that.)
@@stooky4268at the end of King of Cards they show Specter Knight hopping down from the tower with "The Search Continues" as the caption
For the boss rush ycg stated that all happens from a storytelling perspective as if the caracters are telling they tales and plague knight isnt really a reliable narrator so he says that he fighted the whole order to look cooler but in fact its actually shovel knight who fighted them
@@PATOBUNGAS It could even more be the case for Plague Knight. After all, SOH contradicts that with no regret by letting you have the chance to fight Plague Knight at any time while POS forces you to fight Shovel Knight as the last foe.
"Over the years... Many knights have come to seek the enlightenment of this great recordsmith... So that the past would never rhyme, in the same way again"
I don't know what this quote comes from, but I like it
In the game with mathematics
I believe Showdown happened either right before Specter Knight's fight with The Enchantress. It states he stormed off to confront her, which could be right as he learned about her true identity. While getting to her, the Showdown stuff takes place, and if you play as Specter Knight, it resumes back to him getting to The Enchantress.
Showdown also takes place right before Shovel Knight's mission. During Showdown, Shovel Knight reunites with Shield Knight and they fight together. After The Mirror is defeated though, he wakes up back at his camp sight and notices The Tower is back. So he sets off, knowing Shield Knight is still out there.
It's stated it happens around the time of Specter Knight's final stage though.
It's astonishing that with all these events happening so close together, especially with showdown closing the gap so much, I'm pretty sure the Order of No Quarter lasted like a month tops. It really seems like they should've been around longer, but if Shovel of Hope starts just before Specter of Torment ends then Shovel Knight takes down the entire order in like a week or two lmao
@@grapewhistle1591 I’m assuming Shovel Knight’s campaign doesn’t start immediately afterwards. There probably was time for stuff to go wrong before Shovel Knight appears. My main evidence for this is that Shovel Knight pulls up to King Knight right as his castle is finished being remodeled. Considering it’s a castle, that had to have taken quite a while to finish.
HI, I SOMEHOW I ONLY FOUND THIS NOW, 2 YEARS LATER. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I PERSONALLY REALLY LOVE THE SHOVEL KNIGHT STORY, AS MESSY AS IT MAY BE IN ITS CURRENT STATE. I'M HONESTLY REALLY HAPPY YOU PUT IN THIS MUCH TIME INTO THIS.
Thank you so much! I tried to find a video that explained all of this, and after not finding exactly what I wanted, I knew I had to put it together myself. Commenters like you make it all feel rewarding so thank you ^-^
Same thing
Yeah
Si
I had the same exact sense of finishing King Knight's game and wanting a complete timeline of the series, so thanks for taking the time to do just that!
Right?? I finished the games, looked up a comprehensive review of the entire timeline and how every story fits in. When I didn't find exactly what I wanted, I was happy to put in the time to do it myself! This is pretty old now, but I'm glad people still run into it and appreciate it ^_^
Shovel Knight's story is fascinating to me because it's very clearly told by unreliable narrators. In most stories, the story is told from a very unbiased, objective perspective. When I first played through the Shovel Knight campaigns, I was confused by the inconsistencies and contradictions shown in the four stories because I assumed that these stories were objective portrayals of the actual events of the game. Like many others, I chalked this up to each story being an alternate universe where certain events differed. But I realized recently that these retellings aren't alternate timelines; they're one story told through different perspectives. It's evident that each character's biases, personalities, egos, and even misremembering events affect how they tell the story, some more than others. It explains the inconsistencies of, say, the fights between Shovel Knight and Plague Knight in Shovel Of Hope and Plague Of Shadows. It's possible that Plague Knight's ego, consciously or unconsciously, perceived his fights with Shovel Knight to be unfair, that he only lost because Shovel Knight sucker punched him at the very end. It could also be that Shovel Knight didn't win his fights in such a decisive manner as portrayed in his story.
For all we know, Shovel Knight could've been portraying himself as more righteous and strong than he was in reality, not to imply that Shovel Knight is terrible at fighting and scummy. It's just likely that he and the other three likely embellish their stories to make them seem better or stronger than in reality, even if it's subconsciously. A significant problem is we can't know how factual many of the events in all four stories are because there are few events where multiple sources can corroborate or dispute another's
It's hard for me to tell what, if any, biases are present in Spectre Knight's story. To me, he clearly shows the good and bad times when he gets emotionally weak or is left powerless. He shows humility where others like Plague Knight and especially King Knight don't. But it's impossible to tell how objective his story is because it is so disconnected from the others, barring some interactions with King Knight, and that isn't very useful because King Knight is very blatantly unreliable when telling his story. King Knight has a huge ego, is immature, and has delusions of grandeur, and his story clashes with the others tonally and event-wise. He's shown to be very powerful despite clearly being the weakest of the knights in the accounts of the other three knights. In his story, everyone in his entourage loves and respects him, seeing him as their hero and paragon. Despite his acting haughty, disrespectful, and even hostile to those supposed to be his friends and allies, he could very well be making up many of the events in his story, either by lying or as a symptom of his delusions.
I think this lack of an absolute narrative is pretty cool. It lets us peer into the personalities of the four knights and how they see themselves and others and is overall very accurate to how humans retell stories and events. Some historians fall into viewing the accounts of some figures as objective, even though these accounts are most definitely told through the lens of the speaker's views and embellishments
I really love that these stories are told from each knight's perspective as well. It allows them to do what they want with each character, and really to get the most out of them and their journeys. What seem like story inconsistencies are really just a moment of "he said she said" and we're kind of left to our own trying to figure out what really happened and what didn't. It's a very unique way to give us multiple perspectives of one story's events, and I'm just a huge fan. Shovel Knight is an amazing series haha.
there is an explanation for why King Knight is weaker later on. He is shown overeating in his Showdown ending and in the tower when you speak to him as Specter so he basically became incredibly lazy after gaining all he wanted.
Amazing video. I never knew the entire story of shovel knight. Was waiting for this one to come out. Hope this video blows up cause more people need to see it
I might not be the first one to comment it but since I don't see it anywhere, here's Shovel Knight Showdown plays out : so after Specter Knight discovers the Enchanteress, the other servants of the enchanteress who helped Specter Knight on his quest decided to help Specter Knight to defeat the enchanteress by trying to harness the power of the magic mirror he used to seek for the order of no quarter members. Instead of doing so, they make the mirror's magic go completely nuts, teleporting pretty much everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE, even those currently possesed like Shield Knight or Reize being teleported with their malevolent counterparts) in another reality filled with combat-seeking doubles of their friends, enemies and even themselves. Some characters will meet each other as well teaming or competing towards this reality's mirror to go back home. the most notable one being Shovel Knight meeting the real Shield Knight, since this encounter is actually the one who gave him back the hope to find her again, thus beginning his adventure. By the end of the campaign, everyone separatly confronts the mirror to go back to reality. After this, they all return to their initial spot when the mirror brought them here, and while some go back to their own business, others thanks or because of this experience, embark on a new adventure that we can follow in other campaigns.
My friend from high school made this game.😂 It's great to see people love it enough to make a story breakdown like this. Great work.
ELABORATE
dude you cant just say that and leave us on a cliffhanger
suuuurreee he diiid
Would be a pretty random thing to make up. From real young through high school I was buddies with Ian who's one of the founders of yacht club games. They left another company together and used Kickstart to fund it. The whole thing was just gonna be a downloadable game but demand was better than expected. Lots of hours of smash brothers with him.
King Knight is already a member of the Order when Specter Knight selects his level, so King of Cards can end just about anytime before the Nightmare Reize fight.
8:58 Shovel Knight didn't know Shield was alive, he just knew the Order was taking over. At the same time, the Order's establishment made it a perfect time for Plague Knight to steal some essence.
Haha you're right! That was an oversight in my scripting of this video, but I'm glad you pointed it out. Shovel Knight was just seeking justice against the order and happened to find that Shield Knight was actually alive after all!
Excellent video! It’s an excellent chronology for the four main Shovel Knight campaigns. Showdown is pretty oddly canon too, because it happens and finishes all the time Specter Knight is fighting The Enchantress.
Pocket Dungeon and Dig hadn’t release when you made this video, but they’re canon too.
If I ever get around to pocket dungeon and dig I might make a video on those too!
@@Myloe Nice! I hope so.
@@Myloelooking forward to it!!1!
Great video, really makes the task of juggling this series' timeline in my head seem like less of a headache, lol. Although Pocket Dungeon really made things more convoluted with having the Enchantress come back.
I honestly haven't even looking into Shovel Knight Dig or Pocket Dungeon, so I'm pretty lost when it comes to what they've added to the story, but I'm glad you enjoyed my video 😇 I love making longer scripted segments for games like this one (or the metroid series) that I truly care to know more about. Thanks!
@@MyloeBeing someone who has played all 7 SK Games I can provide a little background. Dig is set as a prequel to the whole series, which is found out in the game's true ending. Then is the events of Specter of Torment/King of Cards, followed by Showdown. After that is Shovel of Hope/Plague of Shadows, then Pocket Dungeon happens some time afterward.
I have a feeling it goes:
Specter > King > Shovel > Plague > Showdown
I think the biggest flaw is that the king of cards explanation is subjective, as someone who did play through all the card houses wouldn't totally say the same, and specter knight's second dialogue is a bit misexplained.
Also, what's the deal with none of the heirloom recruits showing up in the gameplay used of the ending of king of cards? They better emphasize how many people king knight really betrayed
very nice video though, i really love shovel knight. found it weird how you seemed so caught up on the order when yacht club have said it themselves, though
They most likely didn't have them appear because they were optional. It'd be a lot harder to get the rope of people set up if they had to worry about a fluctuating amount of characters and which ones should even be there
Great video. I’m pretty sure you got everything perfect. Even little things I never even thought of. Like specter knight having to have fought polar and plague before he meets king knight for the first time, due to him having the abilities gained after their stages are completed. Little details I never even thought about. ( but wait. How would shovel knight have late game gear in plague knight’s boss?… idk ) I was looking for a SK lore video for a minute as well. Good job 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you! I really did put as much effort forward as I could on this project, so I'm sooo happy you enjoyed the watch. In hindsight there are definitely a few things I could have included in the video, or expanded upon for clarity, but I'm glad it was able to explain so many things for so many people. Thanks for the kind words 😇
@@Myloe you’re welcome
Maybe Plague Knight exaggerated since he seems to be an unreliable narrator
@@timotheninja actually true. thats a very good point
Oh my, how could this stay under the radar for so long? I always thought that SoH and PoS were some sort of alternative timelines, but thanks to you I now know they still fit pretty well concurrently! Well done on the video! Twas well-written and a good watch for a huge Shovel Knight fan like myself. ♥️
Thank you so much! It's really nice of you to say that. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and learned a thing or two in the process 😇
I NEVER KNEW ABOUT THE SECONDARY WAY OF BEATING THE PLAGUE OF SHADOWS AT 10:44 !!! That is crazy, I remember playing the campaign when it first came out, I was so young back then and found it super hard hahaha!!!
I love the stand still method, it’s one of my favourite flavour pieces of the game 😁😁😁
I think I heard somewhere that Plague of Shadows was Plague Knight telling the story, so I think that explains the sections where contradictions happened.
pretty good video! kinda opened my eyes to some details in the timeline that I didn't really think about
also, here's a sorta-simplified explanation of Showdown for anyone looking for one (I just looked at the wiki page for Showdown cuz I'm not gonna play through all the stories again-)
while Specter Knight is on his way to confront the Enchantress himself, around about when he's going through the Tower of Fate stages, the other Tower residents who he had befriended throughout his journey decide they wanna help him. They attempt to do so by modifying the Mirror of Fate that Specter used to teleport to all the different locations, but their attempt to do it extremely hastily resulted in the mirror possibly sucking up several of the characters & bringing them into the Colosseum. There are several instances of the Colosseum, with some possibility of certain characters having ended up in the same instances. I'm not gonna go into detail for each story so I'll just list what key events come out of this game's ending(s):
- Each character seemingly destroys their own instance of the Mirror of Fate inside the Colosseum, & wake back up where they last were before they got sucked in. The Mirror is completely destroyed in the real world
- Specter Knight thinks about Phantom Striker telling him that he (Specter) is a fool for thinking the Enchantress can restore his life, but he ultimately disregards it and continues climbing the Tower to face the Enchantress
- Dark Reize, having seemingly destroyed his good side once & for all, gets called by the Enchantress. He teleports to her, possibly for the fight against Specter Knight
- Plague Knight & Mona study the Liquid Samurai they captured whilst in the Mirror, and make breakthroughs in the Essence-research, which thus starts Plague of Shadows
- The Liquid Samurai (most likely not the same from above) groups up with his fellow Liquid Samurai to tell the Enchantress about Plague Knight's betrayal (as in, him taking everyone's essences), which is how the Enchantress already knows why he's there
- Shovel Knight, having conquered yet another nightmare about Shield Knight, though with this one being much less agonizing than the others, finally gets the motivation to try & save her, thus starting Shovel of Hope
the story of Showdown actually happens a little bit after the point you said it would
because when you play through Specter Knight's Showdown campaign
you see that it happens while he rides the elevator towards the Enchantress
(Showdown takes place in kind of a weird, dream reality that came to be when the warp mirror of the tower got shattered)
Great video. You've made a really cohesive timeline that seems to fit really well.
Just my own theory, but I always thought that perhaps shield knight survived due to finding the ultimate potion that plague knight left behind.
I've thought of that since the making of this video as well actually! I really like that idea, because it makes Plague Knight's story feel all the more crucial to the events of the overall story.
i know i'm late to the party, but my headcanon for the battle royale has been that Shovel Knight dreams that he is fighting them whilst unconscious on the seat of the banquet and wakes up at the last moment to fight Plague Knight
Found this 3 years later damn this morning we great, also i hope specter knight gets a happy ending
My order is King Knight > Spector > Plauge(is a bit faster than) > Shovel Knight
In King’s campaign, Spector is recruiting him for the OoNQ, in Spector’s campaign, king knight is getting whipped into shape.
For Plauge knight, he was ahead of SK for his home stage, but also the Boss rush for OoNQ.
This is true, but I suppose you could still play Spector Knight before King Knight’s since all of the ‘Donovan’ stuff happened before King Knight meets him.
@@lukefitton7329I wouldn’t count flash backs but I get what you’re saying
Shovel of Hope: Most Satisfying Ending
Plague of Shadows: Most Wholesome Ending
Specter of Torment: Most Saddest Ending
King of Cards: An Ending.
I totally agree haha. King of Cards was a fun romp for what it’s worth, but story-wise it doesn’t really hold up to the others for me either.
I thought King of Cards' ending was even sadder than Specter of Torment's. King Knight had everything he'd always wanted, but threw it all away and became the most hated man in the Valley because he was too self-absorbed to realize it.
Great video and super fun to watch; I love how all the stories are interwoven so much.
Here are a few extra things that aren't important but exist anyway
----------
- The Troupple Acolyte who represents the Troupple King in King of Cards was corrupted after he fell at the end and became the Dark Acolyte in SoT, regaining his red cloak in the credits
- The magic mirror was somehow destroyed a ton of times during Showdown as every character canonically completed their story mode; this also sets up things for the rest of the campaigns like Shovel Knight finding out that Shield Knight is alive and Liquid Samurai telling the Enchantress about Plague Knight's secret plan
Love how it all connects together, so amazing!
I totally agree, this game and it’s stories really are something else. I’ve never seen a game attempt the same ideas with such inter-woven stories from multiple characters’ perspectives. And I didn’t know that about Shovel Knight Showdown! I was never very into playing that game myself so I really didn’t know what it offered to the overall story but that’s very cool.
Dont forget the prequel Shovel Knight Dig.
So, one of the things that bugged me when I played King of Cards, and honestly what made me question all of this instead of just assuming Spectre of Torment happened after in any capacity, was the fact that the Troupple's Acolyte is confirmed to be the Enchantress' Acolyte from Spectre of Torment. King of Cards also backs this up. So... Any answer? From anyone? This has bugged me for a damn long while.
I guess there are multiple acolytes?
You can literally have 2 acolytes on your ship as king knight, there's multiple.
specter knight's story is my personal favorite
Agreed! The storytelling is so in depth, and overall he's just my favourite knight of the whole lot. Specter Knight takes the cake for me 👍
It would've been nice if you also explained what happened to specter knight's amulet
Good point, that would have fit nicely for the video 😅
Just finished all the campaigns a few days ago. Really glad someone put it all into perspective. 👌
I had to! I couldn't find anybody else having made this style of video, so I couldn't help myself. Glad you enjoyed it!!
I think the reason Sheild Knight survived was because of the counter explosion that Plauge Knight and Monas Ultimate Potion whould have inevitably caused combined with sheild knights sheild taking the brunt of the damage. sheild knight doesn't have her shiled at the end and her shild arm seems to be broken too, plus secondary explosions occuring simultaneously with primary explosions can cause chain reactions that can alter many things such as blast range, trajectory, and even force.
spectre knights campaign is still probably one of my favourite pieces of media
Spectre Knight's campaign is peak, I love to play through it again and again even to this day
My perssonal interpretation, so take this with a grain of salt, is that plague of shadows and shovel of hope are 2 timelines dependent on a single fact: Wether or not Mona is working with plague knight.
In the ending of shovel of hope, Mona is hanging out with Specter Knight, and Plague knight is off teaching a potion class. Plague knight is also still there when shovel knigh saves everyone, where as he flies off in his own campaing.
With Mona's help, Plague knight has a reason to go off and do all this stuff, he wants to impress her. She also helps him come up with newer gadgets and bombs, making him stronger, which could explain how he manages to do all this stuff.
I know the actual answer is "Plague of shadows wasn't even thought of at the time so mona was just the minigame NPC and they had no plan of her being Plague knight's partner" But uh... Headcannons.
I like this idea! Considering the stories themselves are told through the perspective of the characters, therefore their interpretations of what went down, I think people having their own interpretations is perfectly viable. I actually haven't seen anybody mention that before, but you're right! It's really interesting to see Mona in these different circumstances, even if it's only because they didn't plan for her to be used elsewhere when making Shovel of Hope!
Incredible video, I am so happy there is a video explaining the whole story! You have earned my sub!
Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I want to do more story explaining stuff like this in the future so staying tuned is recommended :D
I’m pretty sure even the games that aren’t in treasure trove are canon. Dig is at the very start of the timeline and Pocket Dungeon is at the very end. Showdown even gives us a lot of insight into a lot of characters motives, story and a lot of it leads into the games main campaigns.
400 views? Criminal! Well done sir!
Thank you so much! I appreciate the kind words
I prefer to take the stories not the way they are shown in gane, but instead taking them as tales from the perspective of their respective protagonists, maybe Shovel Knight's is the nearest to what actjally happened, whule ignoring a few details such as rescuing Plagje Knight at the end, while ignoring King Knight's story because it was likely mostly fake in order to make himself look way better.
Great video man!
kinda sad that you skipped the part where Specter Knight beats King Knight's ass in his castle for being lazy but I suppose it doesn't matter much
I just think it canonically would make King Knight the last person Specter Knight defeats before trying to get his revenge on the Enchantress
plague knight doesnt seem like a reliable narrator but i think the idea is that plague knight falls into the boss rush first, then shovel knight falls in after, but sk hits his head and goes unconscious, only dreaming of fighting all the knights while plague knight actually did the work.
im curious though, if king knight is recruited at the end of his own campaign, why does he fight specter in specter of torment? isnt he already in the order by then, and already a king?
From what I recall, Specter Knight fighting King Knight after the events of "King of Cards" had something to do with King Knight slacking on doing what he was supposed to for the Order of No Quarter.
As William said, if you pay attention to the dialogue Pridemoor Keep is the only stage where you don't actually go out to recruit a member of the order. Instead, Specter Knight is simply checking up on King to make sure he's not slacking off. Should've been mentioned in the vid since it's a pretty important detail imo to figuring out how it all fits together but the video is 2 years old anyways by now lol
@@snailymitch I have no idea why that detail was left out.
You know what’s really confusing. On the official timeline, it says that King of Cards happens before Specter of Torment, yet this video makes more sense than that lmao. Also with Shovel Knight Showdown, after watching every single ending, it basically just gives extra backstory to the other characters, so it isn’t really important to the main story of the main 4 campaigns, but it is still really fun to watch if you have the time.
The order from someone who loves Shovel Knight:
(Keep in mind im rustynso take it with a grain of salt)
King of Cards is placed first, as it is before King Knight takes the crown (which every subsiquent campaign shows has happened)
Specter of Torment is placed second, as it is during the formation of the Order of no Quarter
I guess if you include the prologue Shovel of Hope is the second (due to it being pre-enchantress) however in gameplay it and Plague of Shadows (?) Are tied for last as they happen in around the same time gameplay-wise
Everything changed when ....
The fire national attacked
Masterpiece of a video
9:54 Oh, it’s quite simple really. All the knights Ganged up on both of them, and Plague Knight was the Canonical Last Knight Shovel Knight beat.
great video, but I'd like to mention how contradictory Specter of Torment and King of Cards are in terms of the Trouple Accolade
At the end of Specter of Torment, it's shown in the epilogue that the Dark Accolade goes to the Trouple King and becomes the Trouple Accolade who sells Shovel Knight chalices.
In King of Cards, however, the character is shown as the Trouple Accolade despite the game being before at least the end of Specter of Torment, and thus before his change happened.
Also, Showdown is meant to take place some time before the final level of Specter of Torment (and thus after King of Cards), and the game depicts the Accolade as the dark one and not the trouple one.
arent there 2 trouple accolades?
@@AbdullahKhan-el6xw yes there are 2 acolytes (don't know how I got the spelling wrong in my first comment), a tall one and a short one. I am only talking about the short one
Skipping Showdown was smart, only notable story bit there is that Shovel Knight meets Shield Knight and realises she's still out there somewhere, which kicks off Shovel of Hope
What I find extremely interesting is this perspective story telling goes beyond just Shovel and Plagues 2 encounters.
In Plague of Shadows it shows Shovel Knight leave her knights to hang there as Plague leaves. While from the perspective of Shovel he can chose alternatively to save all the knights including Plague Knight.
This either means the choice for Shovel to aid the other knights isn’t canon (which is odd considering his generally kind nature), or alternatively Shovel did aid the knights on the side of the tower and Plague refuses to admit it. OR OR Shovel did save them all and just recalls incorrectly that Plague Knight was there.
Either way I find those two stories happening at once somehow more confusing them Specter of Torment and King of Cards, which is odd considering many consider King of Cards to be where things started to get more convoluted.
Loved this video! Very well made and made me re-thinks he way I look at Shovel Knight’s story, in fact I completely forgot Shield Knight was possessed by the amulet Donovan tried to take. Showing she genuinely meant what she said.
Well done overall! :D ✨
Thank you!! I'm glad you enjoyed it 😁 I had a lot of fun putting all of this together
Cool to have a summary 👍
Thank you
Should be noted that Shovel Knight has the War Horn earlier in Plague of Shadows than he does in Shovel of Hope, implying that while the two are different continuities to an extent, also explaining the battle royale.
I want to point out I believe Shovel Knight Dig is a prequel to all the games. SPOILERS........... the tower with the amulet is in that game you fight the enchantress and reseal her than shovel and shield knight say they have to go back to the tower to get the gem and I think that is when the original game starts because he thinks shield knight died when she got possessed the second time at the tower.
That's really cool! It haven't played it myself, but those story implications really make me want to get my hands on it. I would love to see some prequel shovel knight lore
For 9:58 I always assumed that either as Shovel Knight was unconscious he dreamt that he fought the other members of the Order of No Quarter and he woke up in time to fight Plague Knight, or that that both fought members of the Order at the same time in a chaotic battle.
To think, the Enchantress never would have come to power if Donovan and King Knight hadn’t been such jerks.
Thanks so much for explaining everything ❤
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it 😇
I just realized something special about Treasure Trove. You see, normally in this kind of stories, there are tiers of strengths and skills, but here it really feels like everyone is probably same strength or near so. Let me explain. Although Shovel Knight is the strongest of them all, still struggles a bit to battle against Plague Knight. And yet again, it should be stated that the Enchantress is the most powerful of all, but she managed to lose a fight not once, but four times against every single protagonist of the campaigns, two defeats being considered almost definitive (Plague Knight took her essence in the end, and Shovel managed to revert her Enchantress phase). But that's not all, King Knight is canonically crazy strong, being able to lift and entire small building with his grip, and yet Specter Knight also consistently beat him.
This game is great.
Maybe you should've made it more clear, unless you didn't know, but it was in that moment where Donovan fell to his near-death did Shield Knight become possessed by the amulet's power and become Enchantress. She certainly wasted no time setting her plans in motion.
I'd say that's probably a product of this videos age 😅 I didn't used to have the entire know how surrounding videos and scripts that I do now, and I remember at the time this was my biggest project yet. This video has a few things I'd love to change or update maybe with a new video in the future
the only weird thing is that, in the post credits scene of king of cards, king pridemoor and king knight's mom just leave the castle before shovel knight shows up... yet king pridemoor is in the village before shovel knight even got to pridemoor keep. probably just an oversight by the developers but its pretty funny.
Oh you're right! I never thought about that haha. Probably an oversight, I agree, but that's pretty funny
That cutscene is before the castle is golden so presumably the fight with shovel knight is after the specter knight campaign giving decent time for king pridemoor to be in the village.
You made a small oversight.
We can't actually know if these cutscenes happen back to back in universe.
There could be plenty of time in-between them.
The only thing i wish is that every member of the order of no quarter git their own little games
Mole knight: being a cave explorer (rougelike)
Tresaure knight: getting FAT STACKS of money
(Warioland style)
Tinker knight: building robots and the clockwork tower
(Fallout shellter whithout michrotransactions)
Propeller knight: soaring the skies in search for love
(Mario style)
Polar knight: a cold nomad searching for purpose
(Idk)
This would have been so much fun to see. I really wish we could have seen more of what the other knights were up to during the story of shovel knight. These other genres for their games is a really good idea as well!
I want to see an updated video now that Dig and Pocket Dungeon are out
I'm not gonna lie, I've been pretty far from playing both Dig and Pocket Dungeon, but you have my word! If/When I come back to the Shovel Knight games I haven't played, I'll see what I can do about expanding the lore discussed in this one 👍
wild how all their stories tue with each other and then plague knight is just also there trying to get his super potion haha
Right? Plague Knight seems to have the most random adventure of the four, but I really love it haha
@Myloe I still wish they had a night knight that was moon themed, it's just too good of a name to pass up on!
Honestly, even if they did a collab and just put Moon Knight into the game that would be passable for me too hahaha
I wanna make a video myself on shovel knight lore, but also include the other games instead of just treasure trove, mainly because they just have interesting stories and connections.
For example: shovel knight showdown gives us a reason why shovel knight is starting his campaign and gives us a look into the starting process of Plague Knight’s ultimate potion, explaining why both seemed to happen at the same time.
If you ever do make that video, be sure to post the link here! I would love to see what the other games have in store as I never really explored the stories outside of Treasure Trove!
Great video! Thanks for making it. I think your description of King Knight's motivation is slightly muddled. As you say, he wants to be a king, but has failed so far in that goal. When he learns of the Joustus competition, he learns that the winner will be crowed the 'King of Cards'. Even though that's just a name made up by the contest organisers for the winner, King Knight thinks it's close enough, and that if he wins, he'll be able to call himself a true king.
True! The King Of Cards was his goal from the start until he gets the opportunity to have real power underneath the enchantress. Good call!
I really hope we get another Shovel Knight Campaign with either all the knights of the order of no quarter, Black Knight, or Shield Knight. That would be so good! Shovel Knight is in my top 3 games oat.
I would love if they came back to Shovel Knight and added more campaigns for different characters. This game is undeniably amazing, I love it too!
So it goes: dig - koc - sot - pos & soh (same time) - pocket dungeon
Pretty much!
Oof that means there's also Shovel Knight Dig to add on to this... (and maybe Pocket Dungeon? I don't even know where that one takes place.)
So it’s not just me. Everyone’s comments are from within the past year, has everyone just randomly thought about shovel knight in that time and come back to it. My reason to come back was because of the game grumps
I’m a huge game grumps fan! Have been for years haha that’s awesome.
And honestly, I’m not sure why this video gets such consistent views. Shovel Knight is just an ever-present game online I guess 😅
heres thinking that the plauge knight is the true hero of this story
I know they might be done with shovel knight, but I really hope we get a campaign focusing on black knight and polar knight. They feel like the most mysterious characters that we still don't know much about. Also, Showdown doesn't have much in terms of story. It's mainly just fun little character interactions. If you're interested in it, just look up the cutscenes on youtube. Actually playing it sucks lol
I’m totally with you on Black Knight and Polar Knight campaigns, I think those two could make for some amazing stories and sweeeet gameplay as well
Before I watch this video I'm going to write the timeline I think makes the most sense to see how close I am
King of cards
Showdown (if its even canon)
Specter of torment
Shovel of hope / plague of shadows
Great video! Subbed my man.
Glad you liked it! I hope you enjoy your stay :)
Will you do updated video with new games added and stuff?
I might just have to sometime. There's a lot about Shovel Knight that I don't know that's come out after the making of this video. I haven't played any of the newer titles, but I'd like to get into them and make more videos like this about Shovel Knight lore when I can 😁
Great video! I had heard about a few of these connections, but a lot of them were still new to me. Thanks for taking the time to research it!
P.S. if you do an updated version for Pocket Dungeon and Dig, you might want to wait until the free DLC for those games is finished, since they might be story-related (I think the new Dig one is)
Noted! I do intend to get around to it yet, so playing it in it's entirety would definitely be the way to go for me :D
@@Myloe I'll probably wait for it too, since I haven't gotten the games yet at this point.
Perhaps we'll cross paths again when we're both curious about the story!
This may be important or not but the Devs have mentioned that certain events in Plague Knight's Campaign cannot be trusted.
Simply because these games are meant to be stories being told in some faraway time.
It's a lot like the Zelda Canon early on. Where cerrain details are contradictory cause they are stories and nit meant to be actual things.
Specifically what we can discount is the actual fight in the Explodatorium and the Boss Rush in the Tower of Fate.
As the implications seems to siggest rhat Plague Knight is telling the story dishonestly.
"Shovel Knight didn't win, he knocked me out after I had already won, that's what happened!"
They need to make a new shovel knight entry for the switch; that uses the same graphics as shovel knight dig
That would be dope! I think the art style in Dig is really cute, but I have yet to play it myself 😭😭😭
@@Myloe I just bought a switch for the first time a couple days ago. I cannot wait to buy all the best games for it and I'm so in love with that system I'm 41 years old I feel like a man child. Shovel night is my next purchase.
Doesn't matter what age you are, I'm glad you're looking to play and enjoy these games 😁 There's so much fun to have!!
nice story explaination
Always thought it was king > specter I feel like an idiot because it makes no sense in that order LOL
I had many false assumptions before I finally looked into everything, and it lead to the creation of this video! I'm glad I could answer some questions 😁
Good video
I was hoping you would say who fought Baz first
I’m not sure who fights Baz first honestly. It’s been so long since I was looking into all this Shovel Knight stuff that I can’t say. I wish I had made note of who fights him first in this video lol
Can you explain how shovel knight dig fits in?
At the time I made the video, Shovel Knight dig didn't exist yet. Even now I've never played it myself, otherwise I might be more interested in finding it's place in the story 😅
Shovel Knight Dig is chronologically the earliest.
@@skidoodlr8724 thank you I had been wondering about that
What even is essence? Is like a soul?
Life force? What dose it actually do for people?
I'm honestly not sure, they don't really go into it at all. Perhaps it's a part of their life force that they'll slowly die without, or maybe it weakens them when they don't have it in them? I have no idea haha
I'm sorry, you can do what now? STANDING STILL IS VIABLE? Welp, I know what I'm doing now.
Right?? I had no idea until I started researching for this video, but that strategy is so sick hahaha
Doesn’t shovel knight fight kratos at some point
And the Battletoads. Funny thing is, both of those events are canon
So you answer is specter knight first then king knight then specter knight part 2 then plague knight then shovel knight?
It’s a little up in the air, as King Knight’s story is pretty ridiculous, but yeah I’d say that’s pretty close. I can’t really tell whether or not King Knight or Spectre Knight comes first, but Plague Knight’s and Shovel Knight’s happen together at the same time at the end of the story 👍
wait plague knight’s final boss is called the plague of shadows?
Nope 😅 That was a strange mistake by me haha
Now how dose shovel knight dig fit on the timeline?
I've never played it myself! I have no idea what the story is like in that game, but I really should check it out sometime
So does this mean specter knight died when dark enchantress died? Or did he survive and start a new life
As far as I know, we don't really get to see most of what the knights are doing after the enchantress dies, especially since spectre knight's story took place before then. It's hard to say whether the power in the amulet keeping him alive would temain in the amulet or not after the enchantress dies. Good question! I'm curious to know the answer to that as well
But where does pocket dungeon fit in?
I'm actually not sure what Pocket Dungeon is all about 😅 As of right now, I still haven't actually played it, but perhaps I should play it to get a better idea of the WHOLE Shovel Knight picture!
are Dig and PD prequels?
I haven't played them myself, but according to others in the comment section of this video, Dig is a prequel, and PD comes afterwards. That's what I've been able to gather 🙂
WHAT ABOUT BLACK KNIGHT AND SHIELD KNIGHT
Maybe one day they'll be playable characters 🙏
@@Myloe 🙏 theyre both so mysterious and I have SO MANY unanswered questions about them
Wait but how does Specty go through the pride moor caslte and recruit king knight if king knight was recruited by the enchantress
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS FNAF LORE
There are pieces of the story I think I may never fully understand 😂
I assume he went to pridemoor after the ending of king of cards
@@Myloe based on their dialog in Specter of Torment, I think King Knight is already working for the Enchantress, he's just not following orders. Like he's not doing whatever it is he's supposed to do
I am glad you skipped Showdown. because it is a mess not even i know what is going on and all i do is play Showdown.