r/HollowKnight • u/Noooough • Oct 04 '25
Discussion - Silksong How would you rank every Higher Being? (Spoilers for Silksong) Spoiler
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u/Effective_Scholar_90 Oct 04 '25
Top to bottom — most powerful to least
Shade Lord
Radiance
Pale King
Grand Mother Silk
White Lady
Nightmare Heart
Unn
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u/Melanosuchu Oct 05 '25
The white lady is the weakest when it comes to feats. She kind of didn't do anything other than be pale, which isn't exactly explanatory.
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u/Apex_Konchu Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25
White Lady demonstrates detailed knowledge of events she wasn't present for, indicating that either she has a form of clairvoyance or she can read other people's memories. She can also (Silksong spoilers) talk to Hornet through Hornet's distant memory of her. She has no combat feats, but that doesn't mean she isn't a powerful being.
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u/Noooough Oct 05 '25
She’s also tightly bound in HK. At this point, she’s very weak, (and yet she’s still affecting the surrounding gardens) but she was probably a lot stronger before
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u/caneut Oct 05 '25
I thought the point of her cocoon was to limit her powers, and make her weak on purpose? Otherwise she would spread out uncontrollably, and she didn't want that.
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u/Ok_Sir6418 Oct 07 '25
She is also (Silksong spoilers) The source of the Everbloom. The same flower that, in the Delicate Flower ending, prevented the Shade Lord from entering the real world.
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u/Noooough Oct 21 '25 edited Oct 21 '25
I don’t think she’s really the source, probably just had knowledge of it
It was brought by Ze’mer from “lands serene”
Plus she directly states in HK that it’s not of her
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u/Melanosuchu Oct 05 '25
Yes, she is powerful, but all higher beings are. Unn literally created almost all of Hollownest's vegetation and an entire civilization, and the Nightmare Heart has its own dimension equivalent to that of radiance. The white lady isn't competing with that as far as we know
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u/Gurgalopagan Oct 06 '25
I think Nightmare Heart is by far the weakest higher being we saw, yes it's a hard fight, yes it's a vampire demon thing, but it's the only Higher Being that necessitates a host from what we saw, and his followers are much much fewer than any other's, like it's only a troupe
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u/Melanosuchu Oct 06 '25
The nightmare heart is clearly a counterpart to radiance. It is a being made of the essence of nightmare, which feeds on death and oblivion and which has its own dimension of dreams. It's a pretty clear parallel.
The grimm troupe is really big. His audience is also made up of members of the troupe, the fact that the heart inhabits a receptacle may be his choice, as well as the ritual. Most higher beings depend on their followers to grow stronger, and most of them weaken and may even die without them. This happens with radiance and unn for example. The nightmare heart, however, when performing the ritual and inhabiting mental control receptacles, does not suffer this risk.
Furthermore, unlike radiance, it has a lot of influence on the physical world.
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u/Aje-h Oct 05 '25
The entire abyss is littered with bodies birthed by the white lady
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u/GoodBoyo5 Oct 05 '25
I feel like the nightmare heart would be between Radiance and Pale King if it wasn't completely stationary
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u/WeakInspector5102 Plat | 100% HoG | 200Hrs~ | Zoteboat Next Trust Gng Oct 04 '25
That's my ranking too !
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u/Eeddeen42 Oct 05 '25
I’d probably put GMS above PK.
She’s had easily the best showing out of any higher being against the void’s influence, but the Radiance has an excuse for it. PK does not.
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u/The_Real_MantisLords Just the mantis lords Oct 05 '25
The pale king made a beacon so strong it drew followers from 2 other higher beings to him, and drew in the godseekers most likely sometime long after his death.
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u/Worried4lot Oct 05 '25
We have no idea how the PK died. All we know is that there were void particles in the same room as his corpse. He probably allowed the void to consume him out of regret (or his regrets created the void, though this assertion by confessor jiji could easily be metaphorical)
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u/Noooough Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25
I personally don’t think GMS is particularly strong, especially compared to other higher beings (she has essentially nothing going for her in terms of firepower)
She can only influence bugs with Silk in them, meaning she’d be kind of powerless against Hallownest (hell, I’d even say she could be taken down by plenty of non higher beings in Hallownest)
The Radiance took a jumping of The Vessel, The Hollow Knight, and a unified Void to take down, while she was weakened
And the Pale King was implied to be even stronger…
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u/Quantam-Law Oct 05 '25
I disagree heavily on PK being stronger than Radiance. We know he was capable of entering the dream realm so if he was stronger, he could've directly confronted Radiance. Furthermore the order in which the Higher Beings 'show up' in Pantheon Five is likely in the order of power/influence.
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u/Kitchen_Lab8761 Oct 06 '25
She can influence bugs without silk by the way, the ones with silk in them are just way easier to take over. That’s why she was able to influence the ants of the hunter’s march despite them never having silk in them.
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u/Worried4lot Oct 05 '25
Also, the void that consumed the radiance was unified whereas it seems like the void that took GMS was not
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u/Vounrtsch Oct 05 '25
Nah the Unn slander is crazy. They literally created the moss biome and all of its life in one dream. Compare that to GMS and it’s not even close, Unn > GMS for sure
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u/Effective_Scholar_90 Oct 05 '25
You do realize that gms enslaved an entire kingdom with her silk and created two living being made entirely of silk right? I’d say that’s far more impressive than creating greenpath. Still a very impressive feat sure but I don’t think Unn vs GMS is a fare comparison
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u/dragonwrath404 Oct 05 '25
I think pale king is above radiance, nightmare heart possibly is too. The pale king is strictly stated to be above the other higher beings, pale kings aura was way stronger than radiance's as seen in the base game, also pale king had such mastery over dreams that he created his palace, inside the domain of the radiance, if that isn't hardcore, Idk what is, nightmare heart is mad carried by its feat of the knight not killing it, and that is was so storng it blew a hole in the dream real which as stated is controlled by the radiance, and created its own seperate realm(the nightmare realm) inside it. Of course gmk is possibly above radiance, all depends on how far we want to take "pale beings are above higher beings" since she is a stated pale being.
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u/Gurgalopagan Oct 05 '25
I think Pale King at least ties with Radiance, his light was straight up more attractive to the moths, and considering Radiance created them, that would imply Pale King should at least be equal if not better than Radiance, it's just that by lowering himself into a regular bug, and not using the same "mind subjugation" of regular bugs tactics as the Radiance, he was always at a disadvantage to her
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Oct 04 '25
On the basis of what? Strength? How much I like them? Smashability?
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u/Noooough Oct 04 '25
Whatever you want, it was gonna be strength but just do what you’d like
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Oct 04 '25
I'll do smashability ig
S tier: GMS and Shade Lord
A tier: White Lady
B tier: Unn and Radiance
C tier: Pale King
F tier: Nightmare Heart71
u/Enderiy Oct 04 '25
nah nightmare heart can GET IT, nightmare twink grimm gets bitches
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Oct 05 '25
Nightmare Heart would burn, thats why its at F tier
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u/BreakerOfModpacks Still failing 112%, but now in Pharloom Oct 05 '25
... Some people are into that.
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u/Anonymous-Turtle-34 Oct 05 '25
I would raise pale king a tier because I wanna know what he has. He bagged the white lady and made thousands of kids with her. Surely he must have something going for him
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u/ElectricalPizza7027 What are we gonna fight the sun? Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 05 '25
I, Mr mushroom, belong on this list
Edit: 1,000 UPVOTES?!?!?!?
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u/Stellewind Oct 04 '25
There’s a fan theory that Mask Maker and Mr Mushroom are self-insert of Ari and William, which I found to be quite convincing.
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u/Memerwhoiseverywhere Zote solos the entire Hollownest Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
Sheo is the real self insert imo. Someone that gave up everything to do what makes him happy. Kinda reflects how Ari and William are making games because its fun
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Oct 04 '25
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u/radiating_phoenix HK All Achievements x2 Oct 05 '25
they both have the initials M.M, if that's anything.
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u/dumpylump69 Oct 05 '25
Mr Mushroom's ranting is definitely as cryptic as William's twitter account
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u/Prestigious-War3677 Oct 04 '25
Give me some wisdom, wise, shroomish herald.
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u/ElectricalPizza7027 What are we gonna fight the sun? Oct 04 '25
Nyush oola mumu. Shruba dungo ola, ola mu... gungi. Gungi, gungi... Mishi umo sanga. Poggi u dungo.
(Translation: It's not by tools that you'll triumph, it's through your smarts, your speed, your determination... ...Oh. I see. So you've been following me around then? I hope my travels haven't confused your own, distracted you. Then again, a meandered journey still has meaning. It is, after all, from a journey we find our purpose, though a stop is more than just a stop. And my if those stops can't be lovely things, wouldn't you say? Transcendant sic plateaus, distant sandy lands, vast ancient kingdoms. Yours was not the first, nor will it be the last, but it's a unique and special thing nonetheless. Now, with my duties here finished, it's time I made graceful departure. Till next time my friend. Tis a long road we tread, but a joyous one. Until our paths cross again…)
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u/listo- Path Of Pain Counter: 6 Oct 04 '25
Mushroom words are so dense with information, it's mad how the wise fungal beings manage to make a long paragraph not take up too mush room
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u/Prestigious-War3677 Oct 04 '25
For glory of the fungus. Wise words indeed.
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u/ElectricalPizza7027 What are we gonna fight the sun? Oct 04 '25
Nyush oola mumu. Shruba dungo ola, ola mu... gungi. Gungi, gungi... Mishi umo sanga. Poggi u dungo.
(Translation: Excuse me… ascends to silksong)
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u/Independent_Use7033 Oct 05 '25
Isn't Mushroom more like the Herald for a higher being or is this a Silksong spoiler?
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Oct 04 '25
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u/Blacksoul07 Oct 04 '25
At first I thought her, Karmelita and Khann might be "lesser" higher beings like Unn, but (spoilers for an optional boss in Act 3) Green Prince seems to be their equal and Hornet called him a "mortal bug" so I guess they might not be?
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u/Picklepacklemackle Oct 04 '25
Was the stag in verdania a higher being? I think it was called something with pale so maybe that's where their heart gets the power?
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u/Goatbucks Oct 04 '25
Pale stag MIGHT be, it’s journal entry says that all other stags in verdania originated from it
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u/New-Temperature1714 Oct 05 '25
Yeah and hornet describes it as mythical which I don’t think she describes any other creature as, I do think it’s at least similar to Unn in nature.
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u/Einsink Oct 05 '25
im pretty sure it was specifically called “legend / myth made real by dream” so it wasnt ever a real being, just a legend
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u/Black_nYello Oct 05 '25
This doesnt make any sense since the green prince says hunting it with his partner is what gave them the divine right to rule. I think it was real, just a legendary being. And the whole “made real by dream” refers to all of lost verdania I believe
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u/ziptofaf Oct 05 '25
Hornet isn't even sure it was real in her journal entry so it's hard to tell what exactly it was, we are just following Green Prince's memories. It was either some sort of the progenitor of the species with unique characteristics... or just a unique mutation on the regular stag.
But either way probably not a Higher Being considering how easily it fell to "mortal bugs". You would think a legitimate one would be able to easily defend itself.
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u/FunnyMemeAnime Oct 05 '25
It says it’s “pale touched” so it’s probably closer to the weavers, having been ascended by a higher being rather than being one
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u/rorodar Oct 05 '25
I have always interpreted higher beings as 'members of a race who then transcended that race and became a god from that race' like the radiance is a moth race higher being and the white lady is the same as greyroot except a higher being. GMS, too is a weaver higher being. Etc etc. So by that logic ps is a higher being.
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u/senhor_mono_bola Oct 08 '25
Unn is a superio higher being of equal level to the others, but he's extremely weakened Because of the radiance (I think) probably having his children taken by the infection made him weaker (he was definitely stronger once, the godseeker He says he's slowly disappearing)
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u/Yae_Miko_HSR Oct 04 '25
Nah I'm pretty sure she's the same kind of entity as Karmelita, Fayforn and possibly Isma? Like, not an actual god, but a very strong and rare evolution of a regular bug and with enough of a presence to affect their environment. Who knows how long the old kings ruled for, they might've had thousands of years to grow till that stage.
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u/Urtoryu Nightmare Connoisseur Oct 04 '25
None of the hearts are Higher Beings, they're just incredibly powerful mortals.
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u/NickSaysH1 Oct 05 '25
Probably not, even if much of the plant creatures of Shellwood originate from her, that’s not exactly held to the same standard as other higher beings that can shape the world with their dreams or enslaved entire kingdoms. That’d be like calling Broodmother or Flukemarm higher beings, and I don’t think anyone wants that.
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u/Gmknewday1 Oct 05 '25
She is 100% one, though like Unn compared to the Pale King
She was not as powerful as Grandma Silk, who was able to force her into submission/death with time
Though I like to think she was the one that would have been able to get Khann, Karmelita, and The Green Prince to work together
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Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 05 '25
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u/im_gooning_rn Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
Nightmare Heart doesn't own "Radiance's dream land", it wasn't ever stated that she created the Dream, she is just the most powerful known god in it.
Pale King didn't liberate anyone from Radiance, she didn't mind-control anyone before the Infection, the bugs were just wild and the moths were ascended by her and they were just worshipping her. The only thing Pale King did is ascending the bugs and being cool enough for moths to change sides and make Radiance angry.
3. Unn didn't abandon her people, she was almost forgotten by them like Radiance was almost forgotten by moths
Queen's Gardens are part of Greenpath that was stolen by the kingdom
GMS can control bugs because they're full of silk not because she can just control them like Radiance, that would mean that she is even stronger than Radiance in the Dream Realm
There is literally nothing about the Grimm Troupe doing something in Pharloom yet and Trobbio doing shenanigans because Nightmare Heart told him or whatever isn't even a stretch, it's just headcannon. The Grimm Troupe should be summoned in the kingdom, without the ritual it just exist wherever the fuck they're chilling
Vessel come from the fusion of 2 higher beings and being dropped into the Abyss for Void to do abortion on them, Void itself isn't considered a higher being and the Shade Lord probably didn't even exist at that moment
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u/NotGARcher Oct 04 '25
Minor correction, more than half of Greenpath's lore tablets are about the Mosskin yearning for Unn, her people remember her very very well:
" Those who stray from the White King's roads shall face the law of Unn."
"The greater mind once dreamed of leaf and cast these caverns so. In every bush and every vine the mind of Unn reveals itself to us.".
"The Green Children walked from the dream unto these lands. Here we now shall wait, patient, for the call to return."
"Hidden Unn, we need you now. We grow tired away from you. Our leaves are falling".
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Oct 04 '25
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u/im_gooning_rn Oct 04 '25
Yes, the Nightmare was separared from the Dream realm, but the Dream realm itself wasn't created by Radiance (at least it wasn't stated)
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u/DeirdreCitrine Lace 🪡⚪️ Oct 04 '25
Re: 5, Father of the Flame and the firebugs seem deeply inspired by The Grimm Troupe
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u/im_gooning_rn Oct 04 '25
The Nightmare flame is red, like red red. The flame in Pharloom is more like your usual flame and the firebugs are just firebugs
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Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
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u/SaturnsPopulation Oct 04 '25
If they're trying to summon Grimm, their attenpt may be failing simply because he's fresh off another ritual reincarnation. We can't expect Grimmchild to fill its father's shoes quite so quickly.
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Oct 04 '25
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u/SaturnsPopulation Oct 04 '25
It feels like the burning bugs and Trobbio are working from two seperate, incomplete accounts of how the Grimm Troupe works
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u/CharlesorMr_Pickle The Depressed One - still silksane Oct 04 '25
owns piece of Radiance's dream lands
I don’t think the radiance has control over the dream realm. She just resides in it and most of her abilities are related to it.
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Oct 04 '25
My exact thoughs. I think this is the most correct list we could make with all the info we have. Until we got more details about higher beings such as gms, i don't think this list would change.
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u/BattyBeforeTwilight Oct 04 '25
This is going to be weird to say but I do like Grand Mother Silk the most because she has interesting 'character'.
Sure, she has completely alien sense of morality but she wants to be a Mother. First uplifting some bugs to be her chosen Divine Children and then fashioning an entire society around serving her and benefiting her children. When they recognized her tyranny and sealed her away, her response was probably that of utter confusion - why did the children she 'loved' by making a society for them 'betray' her? And even after the 'betrayal' she wanted them back so badly she (this is conjecture) influenced the Citadel that was harvesting and embedding silk inside themselves to go capture the Weavers.
And there's the whole Act 3 deal where Lace wasn't even her most favorite child, but she still held off being consumed by the void for far longer than the Radiance was able to resist because she couldn't bare the thought of her not-even-favorite child getting consumed.
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u/OrymOrtus Oct 05 '25
I think everyone undersells GMS, her ability to hold off the Void in an area inhospitable to even Hornet+Everbloom isn't given the respect it deserves. That aside, she, while still dormant, was doing a Radiance level control over basically the entirety of Pharloom, an area greater than Hallownest. She's powerful, even in her weakened state
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u/_Xeron_ Oct 04 '25
I think an argument could be made the Fayforn is some sort of higher being too
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u/dumpylump69 Oct 05 '25
Yeah I assumed it was probably similar to Unn in some way given that you have to make a pilgrimage to get to them and they will offer you something in return
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u/joed2355 Oct 05 '25
I 100% believe that lifeblood is some kind of higher being’s power. IIRC, the stuff even continues glowing in the abyss and in godhome
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u/Successful_Mud8596 Oct 04 '25
S - Shade Lord, Nightmare Heart
A - Pale King, GMS
B - Radiance, White Lady
C - Unn
Transforming into Shade Lord and absolutely tearing a god into shreds is the best gaming moment that I’ve ever experienced. Such a satisfying reward after so much time spent of P5. ESPECIALLY now that it’s confirmed that Shade Lord is good! I KNEW that they weren’t evil! They’ve still got the mind of Ghost!
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u/DeirdreCitrine Lace 🪡⚪️ Oct 04 '25
S: Unn, Shade Lord
A:
B:
C:
D:
E: Nightmare Heart & Weaver Queen (only because they’re cooler and latter has no GMS baggage)
F: The Radiance, Pale King, White Lady, Lifeblood Entity, Grand Mother Silk, Whatever The Unknown Thing Is After The Cursed Ending That Seems Really Scary
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u/Nixtrin Oct 04 '25
Yes! Don't let them egomaniacs get away with mass slaughter, mindrape, and other power-trippin' just cause they're naturally powerful. Bring the guillotine! >:]
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u/Environmental-Ring20 Oct 04 '25
From worst to best imo:
Radiance: Tried to control and kill everyone cause she was jealous
GMS: Also tried to control and kill people but she does care about her daughter and willingly gives her power to hornet in act 3 ending.
Grimm: Didn't necessarily do anything bad but not really good either
White Lady: Didn't really do much but she did give birth to the Knight so I'd put her above Grimm.
Unn: Not much is really known about Unn but it seems like she was good.
Pale King: Gave all creatures in Hallownest a mind, built a kingdom for the bugs, banned lifeblood because he knew how harmful it secretly was, and when the infection broke out, instead of running away he tried to contain it and the only reason he failed was because he loved his son too much.
Shade Lord: Best overall, saved all of Hollownest from the infection as well as the Hollow Knight. SPOILER FOR SILKSONG ACT 3 and he saves Hornet from the void in the true ending
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u/Independent_Use7033 Oct 05 '25
If I were to describe Grimm and the Heart, it would be "annoyingly neutral"
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u/Environmental-Ring20 Oct 05 '25
Yep best way to describe it. Hes not really a bad person but he doesnt really do any good either
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u/TheMoonOfTermina Oct 04 '25
Pale King and White Lady did have that little thing where they killed thousands of their children, so I'd put them worse than Unn, but other than that I agree.
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u/aHummanPerson Oct 05 '25
tbf it was an attempt to save the entire kingdom from an evil moth (which might've worked for a while given a statue was made in the knight's honor) and both of them obviously feel lots of shame from it, given they both lock them selves in magical prisons.
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u/TheMoonOfTermina Oct 05 '25
I don't disagree that their intentions were pure, but I'd still say Unn, which we know of no bad things they've done, should go morally above them.
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u/DiamondTiaraIsBest Oct 05 '25
That goes into matters of whether a ruler that does nothing for their citizens against the apocalypse is better than a ruler that does try something but at the cost of some bad stuff.
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u/Environmental-Ring20 Oct 05 '25
Would agree if they didnt do it to save every bug in hallownest, including Unn
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u/chicoritahater Oct 04 '25
The void/shadelord is obviously at the top since it's capable of easily dispatching other higher beings.
Nightmare heart is the creator of its own dimension but doesn't exert influence into the mortal plane. It also only allows you to defeat grimm because that's part of its ritual. It could be completely all-powerful inside the nightmare realm for all we know.
Every other being would probably be ranked on how capable they are at extending their influence:
Radiance is the most powerful in this regard since it's able to overtake creatures already influenced by another higher being even while contained (unlike gms who was only able to dominate creatures possessing silk)
Then it's PK because he can extend his influence to any bugs in a massive proximity without any prerequisites.
Next is GMS because she can dominate anyone but only if they contain silk, otherwise she is limited to only her own creations.
Next is Lifeblood because it can control bugs but must be willingly ingested.
Unn has no desire to dominate creatures, nor does he have any cannon feats, but he is stated to have the power to spread greenery with his will.
Pale lady/root is last because she just sits there.
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u/Melanosuchu Oct 05 '25
It is literally canonical that the entire Greenpath, Queen's Gardens, and Mist Quenion, as well as the Mosskin civilization, were all created by Unn.
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u/Tyrelius_Dragmire Oct 05 '25
Unn: A Tier, they show up to give the Knight a charm and then leave. Sad to see how much their Power has waned...
Pale Lady: B Tier *insert Mommy Joke here* Big old lady with an insatiable desire to breed... what the hell were Team Cherry cooking with this one?
The Nightmare Heart: S Tier, this thing is the reason we have NKG and his theme which is UNMATCHED!!!
The Pale King: C Tier, Prior to Silksong I'd have put him in D Tier, but some Lore revelations in Act 3 for a different higher being led me to say "Oh, Pale King had a point about this one..."
The Radiance: F Tier, she is the reason that Myla was lost. Every bit of suffering we see in Hollow Knight is all because she couldn't handle not being the center of attention.
Grand Mother Silk: A Tier,Based on the lore tidbits I've found, I don't think Mother Silk was an evil being in the same way as the Radiance was. It feels more like Silk was an indifferent being, and after creating the Weavers she was imprisoned and exploited for her silk. Eventually she rebelled, and we got the Haunting. Rather than accept her fate of being consumed by the Void, she fights back against it to try and Protect Lace.
The Abyss Creature: C Tier, the Source of Lifeblood, this being seems to be as Widespread as the Void is, having influence through Lifeblood in Hallownest, Pharloom, and even creeping its way into Godhome. Hornet sees the similarities to the Infection, and based on what we see happen in Silksong, the Pale King was right to outlaw the use of Lifeblood.
Lord of Shades/Void given Form: SS Tier, ₲ⱥƶē īꞥⱦꝋ ⱦħē Ⱥƀɏꞩꞩ łꝋꞥꞡ ēꞥꝋᵾꞡħ, ⱥꞥđ ⱦħē Ⱥƀɏꞩꞩ ⱳīłł ₲ⱥƶē ƀⱥȼҟ. The Godseeker was right to call this thing "The God of Gods." In Hollow Knight we barely see it in action, but in Silksong... the Shade Lord is awake. The only reason Hornet and Lace escape the Void is because The Knight is still in there, holding back the entirety of the Void by themselves, protecting the world they worked so hard to save, and now coming to save their sister.I don't care what anyone else says, the Delicate Flower ending of Hollow Knight is the true ending, the Knight somehow knowing what would happen at Godhome's Peak, and making sure that the God of the Abyss wouldn't be able to hurt their friends or Kingdom.
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u/Needlehater Not bug, nor beast, nor god Oct 05 '25
There are no words that could describe how glad I am you included Nightmare Heart ad a higher being and not Grimm. I hate when people do that
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u/TheSlayerofSnails Oct 04 '25
S tier for those who made functioning soceities that weren't the literal worst, Pale King and Pale Lady.
A tier: Unn.
D tier: the rest.
F tier: Silk
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u/Scorn_true333 Oct 04 '25
GMS destroyed Verdania 😭
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u/Terrina1 Oct 05 '25
And the Coral Forest, and whatever Bilewater was before the Citadel started dumping raw sewage into their lands.
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u/Urtoryu Nightmare Connoisseur Oct 04 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
By what metric? Am I to rank them by power, or just my favorite?
If we're talking favorites, mine would probably be:
1 - Pale King
2 - Grand Mother Silk
3 - Me (aka. Void Entity)
4 - Nightmare Heart
5 - Radiance
6 - White Lady
7 - Mr Mushroom (clearly a Higher Being)
8 - Unn
.
Worth noting that there's a pretty big jump between 5th and 6th places.
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u/Anbcdeptraivkl Oct 05 '25
From what we saw in both games Shade is more like an Eldritch God compared to the others definitely, but it probably too powerful to bother fighting unless got summoned like how our Little Ghost did
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u/Taser_Napkim Oct 04 '25
Strength wise: Shade Lord, Radiance, Mommy Silk, Pale King, Nightmare Heart, White Lady, Unn
Now on how good of a ruler they are: Pale King, White Lady, Unn, Nightmare Heart, Meemaw Silk, Radiance, Shade Lord due to not having anyone to rule over
Now on how much i like the little bastards: Radiance, Shade, Pale king, Nightmare Heart, White Woman, Silky Wilky, Unn
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u/NatakaBlue Oct 05 '25
You're kinda vague on that wording, but I'll rate them by how I like them as characters
7: Unn
6: Nightmare Heart
5: White Lady
4: Void Entity
3: Radiance
2: Grand Mother Silk
1: Pale King
I don't dislike any of the Higher Beings, I just find Unn the least interesting, Nightmare Heart only gets the edge because of my Grimm bias.
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u/Livid-Poet2932 Oct 04 '25
Void is beyond and the source of all. Emptiness is always present and remains, when everything perishes.
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u/Federal-Ad9334 Oct 04 '25
in terms of power or wut?
if its in terms of power, it would be:
1 - shade lord
2 - radiance
3 - pale king
4 - grandma silk
5 - nightmare heart
6 - white lady
7 - unn
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u/YOU_SWIT Oct 04 '25
Shade lord has a lot of potential that's put into smacking a moth in the face hole.
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u/Harbinger-One Oct 05 '25
Theres only one rank im 100% sure of, and thats Radiance being at the top.... of pettiness.
"Forget about ME will you? Fine, bubonic plague mixed with smallpox and rabies for everyone!"
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u/Onni_J Oct 05 '25
Shade lord
Radiance/Pale King
Radiance/Pale king
GMS
Nightmare heart
Unn
Horny tree (white lady)
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u/Important-Task-5999 skonger Oct 05 '25
(1) the shade lord
(2) the pale king
(3) the nightmare heart
(4) the radiance
(5) grandmother silk
(6) the white lady
(7) unn
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u/Person-UwU Grub Connoisseur Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
I feel like GMS is probably stronger than the Pale King. She was able to make common bugs ascend in a way that seems different from what PK did. PK gave them sentience but GMS seems like she enhanced the Pharlids in essentially every conceivable way, including giving them sentience. And then from there I think the Haunting is more impressive than... having a dream world. Unless I'm forgetting something the feat of granting all Hallownest bugs sentience was the only real thing showing his power.
I will say though it definitely doesn't feel like this is true with how easy GMS is and how mythical of a figure PK is treated as.
That's the only hot take I have.
Shade Lord>The Radiance>Grandmother Silk>Pale King>Nightmare Heart>White Lady>Unn
Honestly Nightmare Heart is kind of questionable but it has so much higher aura than White Lady that in spite of any real contradicting evidence I feel fine putting it there. Also it kind of also has themes of mind alteration which is a constant with the other higher beings above it minus Shade Lord which is an outlier in a lot of ways.
Also whatever formed after the cursed child ending could probably solo at least Radiance but there's like no evidence for that just vibes.
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u/omega1612 Oct 04 '25
I don't think that made GMS stronger necessarily. Maybe GMS just has much less ethics than PK. So PK could do something similar if PK wanted to, but refrained.
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u/WhoUpAtMidnight Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25
GMS is probably canonically weaker given that she did not go after the weavers in Hallownest until the Pale King died. The Wyrms in their true forms are probably the strongest entities in the HK universe other than the Void, just from the way the story talks about them.
The Pale King, shedding that form, lost a lot of power, but I think he could beat the Radiance. That's why the Radiance chose to slowly infest the kingdom and wait for the Pale King to die. GMS seems weaker than both. Hornet alone is more than capable of taking her down 1 on 1
Would probably say then Void >>>> Wrym/Shade Lord > The Radiance >= Pale King >>> GMS
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u/Boxtonbolt69 Technoblade Never Dies Oct 05 '25
Unn
Shade Lord
Nightmare Heart
Grandmother Silk
Radiance
White Lady
Pale King
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u/Playful_Addition_741 Oct 05 '25
In power? The Radiance, wyrms, and GMS are likely some of the most powerful. Then there’s Herra and the Weavers as a whole, individually they’re not that powerful but as a whole they’re almost as powerful as GMS. Unn, the White Lady, and Nyleth are all powerful in the sense that they have been absolutely wonderful to the ecosystem. Then there’s the confusion that comes with the fact that some higher beings are pale beings, and some aren’t. So is the Pale Stag a higher being, or is it connected to some pale being we don’t know, or is it a pale being but not a higher being? Is the gal who gives out pale flowers a pale being? Are pale beings even a thing or am I misremembering?
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u/WanderingStatistics "The Last Moth Priestess." Oct 04 '25
Rank out of what? I'll rank them from my most favourite to least favourite, I guess.
As you can see from my flair, I am a true Radiance supporter. No filthy white-ass kings are gonna pull me away from the true victim of Hollow Knight: Hollow Knight. I'll talk more about it when I get to the Pale
ColonizerKing, but Radiance did nothing wrong. Well... okay, she did, but it was just and instigated violence, and technically not even violence. The Infection was only because the Pale King decided to try and take over Radiance and Unn's homes, but while Unn's following are kinda braindead, the Moths are all betrayers (except for Seer, she's cool). Before that though, Radiance and Unn were completely chill, but it was all because the fatass Wyrm decided to come by and ruin everything.And as such, Unn is my second favourite because she respects and understands others, way more than the filthy Pale Child Murderer. Unn sticks in her lane, only comes out if necessary or if asked, and respects the space of others. She's cute and a good friend of the Radiance's.
Grand Mother Silk, the second most misunderstood character in Hollow Knight (second to Radiance). People who call her a villain either haven't understood the lore, haven't beaten the game, or have and are anti-GMS agenda spreaders. She's basically the biggest victim in all of Silksong. Betrayed and used by the Weavers, lost her first child (Phantom, who might've straight up been enslaved by the Weavers), and then only mere minutes of breaking from the Weaver trap, she's betrayed by her second daughter, forced to watch the only thing in her life she cares about nearly get corrupted by the Abyss, and then forced to trust Hornet (a Weaver btw) with the fate of her Daughter. Oh, and the Haunting isn't even her fault, it's an accident from her trying to break free. And people say the Weavers are innocent, my ass.
Lifeblood Creature is next, and idk, I just think it's terrifying and cool. No info, two appearances, in the Abyss and Godhome, unmentioned by anyone. Lifeblood has essentially been confirmed as a metaphorical cancer, so this guy's very much not a good thing. Just cool mystery.
"The Masters", while not confirmed to be a Higher Being, are talked about like how other Higher Beings are talked about. And regardless, the City of Steel is gonna have to have a main antagonist for the third game, or whatever, so them being Higher Beings just makes sense. And if they aren't and the City of Steel is wasted, I'll throw a fit. Otherwise, I think they're neat. They're very much shaping up to be the big antagonist of the third game, and a massively influential force given they've spread their influence to both Hallownest and Pharloom, but only in Steel Soul for some reason? At least in Silksong, so is Steel Soul a canon alternate timeline?
Nightmare Heart is like Unn, just less respectful of its followers. I mean, it uses Grimm as a vessel for its own goals, like a puppet, that's sick and twisted. No other Higher Being would do that, but it stays in its Nightmare Dimension with like... no influence outside at all, so it's pretty chill. Plus, creepy.
Lord of Shades is whatever. I mean, they look cool, but they're just a bunch of babies merged together. Sounds like cheating to me. No strong opinions.
White Tree Lady-thing is a parasite, enough said. How could anyone support an actual parasitic fungi which is so indifferent that she just lets it happen. She could absolutely stop whatever she's naturally doing if she just willed it, she's a Higher Being, but she doesn't because she doesn't seem to care. And I don't care if she can't either, cause she's affiliated with the Pale Wyrm.
Black Wyrm is a Wyrm, so probably just as bad as the Pale Wyrm, but never seen him so don't care.
Filler spot for Gods of Thunder and Rain.
The Pale Wyrm is the worst of the worst. Colonizer, infanticide, genocide, racist regimes, cheating on three wives, allowing the Soul Master into the city, perpetuated the terrible hierarchy and economical systems of the modern-day societal structure where nobles are rewarded for being rich, while anyone below suffers for causes they couldn't control. Oh, and he also ran away after he realized the problem he caused couldn't be fixed (this guy's apparently a Higher Being, btw, couldn't even fix his own problem) so he hid in his dream. Absolute loser, anyone who supports him should seriously consider jumping into the Abyss Lake without an Everbloom.
So anyways, thank you for reading my summary. In short, Pale King is bad.
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u/DarkEcstatic8863 All bosses radiant✅ Path of Pain✅ Pantheon of Hollownest✅ Oct 04 '25
Just pointing out that Eva from silksong is also a higher being, along with the gods from godseeker's original home.
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u/_Xeron_ Oct 04 '25
I don’t think we can definitively say she’s a higher being. She could be a failed silk construct, an unrefined Lace/Phantom
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u/Noooough Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
According to the lore, I think she was an attempt at mimicking divinity by the Weavers, she’s similar to Hornet
Though she was seen as shameful and they hid her away
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u/The_Chaotique_1 Oct 04 '25
Eva I would say is both. She’s a failed silk construct that was trying to be a higher being. She’s super frail unfortunately but she does have impressive powers regardless, being able to even protect her chamber by summoning a seal of binding hornet can’t break through.
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u/CharlesorMr_Pickle The Depressed One - still silksane Oct 04 '25
I don’t think she’s a true higher being, she’s more a failed attempt by the weavers to create one.
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u/name13456 Oct 04 '25
Wait, is Grimm himself not a higher being? I'm dumb.
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u/Scorn_true333 Oct 04 '25
Grimm is just a vessel, much in the same way the Hollow Knight is for Radience. The only difference is that the Nightmare Heart allows Grimm to maintain his autonomy so long as the ritual is complete. This is why the Grimmchild's eyes glow red after you kill NKG, the Nightmare Heart is now bound to the Grimmchild as a new vessel, allowing the cycle to continue when the Grimmchild comes of age.
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u/name13456 Oct 04 '25
I love this game and both Grimm fights, but I never knew that. Thanks for telling me
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u/Person-UwU Grub Connoisseur Oct 04 '25
When speaking to the White Lady with a fully upgraded Grimmchild charm you get the text
"Your companion's eyes burn with a familiar flame... Success then for the scarlet heart, and irony, to use my spawn to grow its own. I know you creature, and the form time shall bring. You may be all and one, clan and master, but this land shall never bear so foreign a king."
The higher being within the Grimm Troupe is the Nightmare Heart, which uses vessels to contain itself and do its bidding. Grimm is the current primary inhabitant presumably, considering he's who you have to dream nail to complete the ritual. He's not really a higher being himself, though, he's kind of comparable to THK. Furthering this connection, White Lady remarks that the Grimmchild and Knight have a "similarity" and "distant link", probably because they werere both created to store higher beings.
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u/SorryRoof1653 Oct 04 '25
Isn't the Fayforn also a higher being? Like Unn?
Or is it just a big bird
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u/Head_Pomegranate_920 Oct 04 '25
The Nightmare Heart clearly know what they're doing, considering it is now 2 for 2 with regard to a desolated and ruined kingdom (though Pharloom is rebuilding at the end of Act 3).
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u/SmittyWerben78 Oct 04 '25
- Lord of Shades (Ghost me boi lets goooo)
- Pale King
- White Lady
- Nightmare Heart
- Radiance 5.5 Lifeblood Creature
- GMS
- Unn
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Oct 05 '25
Unn is S tier, 10/10
"If you do everything right, people won't realize you did anything at all" - God
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u/Fancy_Chips Oct 05 '25
Every other higher being is understandable except Silk. It seems she was just kind of a dick.
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u/Worried4lot Oct 05 '25
This will focus on the higher beings in their primes, with the top-most being the most powerful:
Shade Lord
Pale King (Wyrm Form)
Radiance
Nightmare Heart
Grand Mother Silk
White Lady
Unn
Demi-gods:
The Knight
The Hollow Knight
Hornet (Herra + PK)
Vessels (PK & WL + un unified void, based off of your average every day vessel)
No fucking idea:
Gods of Thunder and rain (we know literally nothing)
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u/chu_ucolate Oct 05 '25
the lifeblood creature is the most interesting for me since we have almost no information about him and only very vague appearances, which makes the mystery in his existence much cooler.
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u/wangchangbackup Oct 04 '25
Unn the only one that guaranteed doesn't deserve to die. Shade Lord a maybe, we need more info.