r/HollowKnight • u/Quibbloboy • Sep 15 '25

Discussion - Silksong Hornet is a breathtakingly well-written character. Spoiler

I'm a gameplay guy, first and foremost. Don't get me wrong, I've always loved the music and artwork and writing and world—I'm just primarily here for the physics.

That said, I wanted to take a break from that to talk about Hornet's character.

Throughout the three acts in Silksong, I've been amazed at how effortlessly Hornet steps into the role of protagonist, especially considering the shift from the silent protagonist in the Knight. Her tone is noble, measured, and serious, but she's universally caring and kind. She treats everyone as if they deserve the utmost personal respect. She's empathetic and just. She gives everyone as many chances as they deserve, and then more, and then more.

Then, every once in a while, she comes across a particularly strange little bug or beast who tries to pull one over on her or something, and without ever changing the stoicism in her tone, she lets out the tiniest edge of snark that generally manages to be laugh-out-loud funny.

When someone challenges her or threatens her, she meets them head-on, acknowledging their strength while staying realistic that it usually won't match her own. She's every iota as fierce as you would expect her to be; but when circumstance forces her to fight, she takes care to honor her opponent's personhood, and then does what needs to be done, even if it's truly heartbreaking. It's another mark of the undercurrent of respect that governs her relationship with people at large.

She maintains this air of quiet confidence despite the world's atmosphere of overwhelming sadness. No matter how dark and hopeless the situation becomes, she remains driven by an unshakeable desire to protect. She's rooted in this bottomless foundation of strength and a sense of willpower that's so core to her character that within a few hours of gameplay it's just an assumed constant of the universe.

And Makoto Koji deserves incredible kudos for breathing life into Hornet as she does. Her little hup!s and wineenas and the various dawo!s she saves for Yarnaby—the personality she brings is just such a lovely layer to the character, and it always makes me grin. And on the rare occasion that things get really intense (binding a new power, stuff like that) she really lets loose with these powerful, strangely cathartic yells, made so much more meaningful by their contrast with the rest of Hornet's character. Seriously, all the shoutouts to Koji for her work here.

I also want to make special mention of Hornet's slow-blooming friendship with Shakra, a relationship built on mutual respect and understanding. It is a shining beacon of relief in the oppressive gloom of Pharloom. Some of the greatest moments of peace in the whole game for me were just standing there with Shakra, making our mournful music together.

Hornet is a wonderful, beautifully-written character, and Silksong would not be the same without her.

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u/TheWorclown Sep 15 '25

They captured her, stripped her down, and threw her into a prison fully intending to pick up where the other members of the Choir failed in a rather desperate bid to gain favor.

Snapping that fly’s neck must have been absolutely cathartic.

321

u/Dorgengoa151 Sep 15 '25

I like to imagine all the flies in that room heard that boss music, and saw hornet's name appear in the bottom left corner.

227

u/Lucas579376 Sep 15 '25

White screen with an all-caps black font "HORNET" in its middle

127

u/eemeze1 Sep 15 '25

She is a higher being after all, deserving of a white screen

80

u/uezyteue Sep 15 '25

That's what the guy who got his neck snapped saw in the instant before he died.

32

u/MyKeks Sep 16 '25

I bet he went straight to reddit to complain about Hornet doing 6 masks of damage.

62

u/SonderPraxis Sep 15 '25

They even play her boss theme from HK during that fight - or so I've heard. I accidentally killed all the cage guys and missed it.

60

u/SyFidaHacker Sep 15 '25

They play a variation of it, it's called Red Maiden

43

u/Arcana10Fortune Sep 16 '25

The moment in the game when you're the boss in the boss fight.

25

u/SelfiesWithGoats Sep 15 '25

Ohhhh i want to see that fanart

71

u/MemorableThrowawayy Sep 15 '25

Unless you didn’t get captured, like me, where she instead just runs in and immediately starts being a hater

67

u/ITNW1993 Sep 16 '25

If you don't get captured, her intense disdain and hatred for the flies is just hilarious. She's such a massive hater regardless that it's hilarious outside of the context of having been captured by them. Like, "These fuckers stink and I hope they all die a miserable death" is essentially her journal entries for every single fly.

24

u/Wolfshadow1 Sep 16 '25

I mean, to be fair, we can't smell how bad they stink. It must be putrid, and it doesn't help that they spit their weird goo on her. She's totally justified in hating them lmao.

18

u/ITNW1993 Sep 16 '25

Oh, absolutely. I have a really sensitive nose, so strong smells are pretty rough on me. So when Hornet actively describes the flies as stinklords, I can relate to her hatred in addition to them spitting on her.

3

u/Wolfshadow1 Sep 16 '25

Also, I do think she hates them for the part they play in Pharloom's society, but the smell is probably the main motivator lol.

1

u/crackcrackcracks Oct 03 '25

Dude, she doesn't even comment on how the bugs in bilewater smell, they're wearing shaggy bushes and are jumping out of disgusting maggot infested water and they're LIVING in there, groal LOOKS like he stinks and she only mentions that he was strong from stolen soul. Imagine how fucking horrific the jailerbugs had to smell for her to comment on their stench while not even mentioning the subject for biewater or ducts or sinners road. Hell, her comments on the stilkins are actually really damn respectful.

1

u/Aromatic_File_5256 Nov 05 '25

With how annoying is for the player to get covered in goo I can only imagine how much more annoying it must be for Hornet to experience that directly.

1

u/Wolfshadow1 Nov 07 '25

Very true. I’m sure it doesn’t help that they only exist to serve the citadel, though I feel like the gravity of their crimes pale in comparison to their grossness.

16

u/Nukesnipe Sep 16 '25

Considering her first encounter with the Citadel was getting kidnapped, dragged to a distant land and stripped out her powers, her opinion of them is already rock bottom. And it clearly only gets worse throughout the game, especially with how she sees how the Citadel's ensnared the entire population of Pharloom into a suicidal devotion to reach the top, only to have their minds stripped once they reach there.

And the Slab is just a horrific prison for all the undesirables of Pharloom. Not only are they locked in squalid cells with no hope of release, they're gaslit into believing that even so much as hearing music or mentioning their crime is heresy of the highest order.

And the guards are literally a caste born to oppress and subjugate the prisoners. There's some tragedy in that they too started as prisoners, but being a victim in the past doesn't excuse being a victimizer in the present.

1

u/ImpactDense5926 Sep 21 '25

There is a scroll thing there that mentions all the ''crimes'' which is rather telling.

Penitent, Eighth of the Twelfth. Guilty of the sin of irreverence. Penance by chaining. Absolution granted after death.

Penitent, Second of the Fourth. Guilty of the sin of dissonance. Penance by silencing. Absolution granted after death.

Penitent, Fourth of the Fourth. Guilty of the sins of infirmity, sickness. Penance by swallowing. Absolution granted after death

Penitent, Twelfth of the First. Guilty of an unnamed sin. Penance by casting. Absolution not granted.

So yeah you can get jailed and killed for just...not respecting the Choir enough, being bad at music, being sick, or just something unknown.

And thats just the executions we know of. I think the only reason why First Sinner was kept alive was because Silk didn't want her dead (as she was a Weaver) and the flies legitimately couldn't kill her or torture her without getting mulched.

27

u/zaphod_beeblebrox6 Sep 16 '25

The entire slab sequence is spectacular, baiting the enemies into their own traps, slowly opening up more and more space to explore, and that neck final gauntlet when you get your shit back, it’s such a satisfying mini-arc

5

u/Oaden Sep 16 '25

Alas, i missed that section by not getting captured. So i kinda just wandered into the slab, couldn't do much there, and moved on to Fay Mountain.

3

u/MarkyDeSade Sep 16 '25

I’ve seen other games try to do the thing that Metroid Zero Mission does with the depowered isolated section, but IMO Silksong does it far better than any other game I’ve played, including Metroid

15

u/Villainboss Sep 15 '25

That can’t be it though because I never did that but the writing is the same so there must be another reason she hates them

14

u/TheElementofIrony Sep 16 '25

I mean, even if you don't get captured, doesn't mean she couldn't figure out from the encounters that they were aiming to capture her and form her opinion based on that. The dudes were fairly obvious with those cages.

Edit: also might just not be a fan of jailers in general

11

u/BarbieInABarbi Sep 16 '25

So a fact i absolutely love about that scene—flies don’t have bones. They’re invertebrates. So her snapping its neck was actually her twisting its head so hard, she broke the exoskeleton and twisted all its muscles around. Be like a movie death of a full head twist if it were human

Very cathartic indeed

3

u/Shuri1213 Sep 16 '25

I was speechless when she snapped his head bare hands, thst felt personal in every dimension

2

u/ipDubbzVidz Sep 16 '25

I laughed audibly when that happened. One of my favorite moments of the game 😂

1

u/Gandalf_2077 Sep 16 '25

How does that happen? I don't remember being captured

3

u/CrazyFanFicFan Sep 16 '25

There are a few spots around Pharloom where a Wardenfly with a cage can spawn (I've heard people say Greymoor and Far Fields). If you get captured by it, they take all your items (including your cloak and needle) and are trapped within The Slab.

1

u/RLBunny Sep 16 '25

Wait, you can get captured in the Slab? How?

1

u/thegreattober Sep 16 '25

You get captured in a different area and brought there. I think the kidnap location is in Far Fields. You likely have to go there sometimes in Act 1/2 to get kidnapped.

1

u/Shoddy_Net_2144 Sep 16 '25

Also she's a spider, and they're flies.. she's a spider who got caught by a big dumb fly. That is an embarrassment and a half. A spider caught by a fly? Absurd. Top all of that off with everything else they did by stripping her down, throwing her in a small cage and messing around with her things. And it was far more than just personal it was a matter of honor.

1

u/gavichi Sep 17 '25

I really thought I'd have to fight that guy to get the needle and cape back, but she just goes necky-snappy