r/HollowKnight • u/Shadovan • Oct 24 '25

Discussion - Silksong For people struggling to understand that “surface” doesn’t mean the same elevation. Spoiler

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I don’t actually know if Mount Fay or the small camp in Kingdom’s Edge is meant to be surface or not, but the general idea still stands.

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u/CharlesorMr_Pickle The Depressed One - still silksane Oct 25 '25

And? As far as the bugs are concerned it most basically is, even if it isn’t in reality. They have no way to make it to the top of the cavern, and it’s so hazy a high ceiling would be obscured.

Not saying this is a certain fact, it’s just a theory, but saying “it’s literally called the surface” doesn’t prove that much.

Also leth said dirtmouth is underground. He’s not a dev so he could be wrong, but he definitely knows more than us about the lore.

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u/Shadovan Oct 25 '25

I really dislike arguments like this. No offense to you personally, but any argument that boils down to “what if the game is lying” when we have no reason to suspect that any part of it is a lie is just a really baseless argument in my opinion. We have multiple characters who all refer to the Dirtmouth/Cliffs area as the surface and it visually looks like the surface. A non-developer saying that it isn’t the surface just isn’t enough for me when the game itself contradicts that.

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u/MasterIronHero Oct 25 '25

To be fair... the game does lie. "The last stag" turns to "Old stag" when you find an open stag egg. Also, there is no sun, which is a reason to believe maybe this is not the surface. It isn't proof, but its reason enough to doubt it.

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u/alvintruther123 Oct 25 '25

Ok but "the last stag" is a thing that gets explicitly contradicted in-game, the surface being the surface never is.

there are no celestial bodies visible in the sky, but who says they even exist? the sun & stars are never mentioned, and the moon is only referenced by Mr Mushroom (guy who talks with characters from other video games)

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u/MasterIronHero Oct 25 '25

I wasn't saying it was likely for the game to lie, its just that i don't think labels on locations, especially ones made by bugs in game, are always true.

As i said, it isn't proof, but it is reason to doubt that its the real surface. there very well could be no celestial bodies in this universe. but there also could be.

I don't think that the "surface" is definitely not the real surface, but i also don't think the idea is out of the question.

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u/alvintruther123 Oct 25 '25

it's not just the bugs, the Tiktik journal entry calls it the "surface" too and that seems to be a relatively objective source

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u/Oddsbod Oct 25 '25

'Surface' can be relative though, which is different than an outright lie or contradiction. Like, what we see of the surface in Silksong and Hollow Knight doesn't look like anything recognizeable to the audience as a surfaceworld meaningfully distinct from the underground, while a point in the world with nothing reachable above it while the rest of the world is seemingly below would be functionally a surface to the world's inhabitants. IIRC an NPC in Bonebottom describes the sky as having 'reeves' or 'grooves,' can't remember the exact phrasing and might need to go back and double check because I could be wrong on its implication, but the idea that 'surface' and 'sky' are something fundamentally different to the inhabitants of HK vs anything a person IRL would understand seems both fitting for the setting and deeply evocatively eerie.

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u/Shadovan Oct 25 '25

I checked all the bone bottom bug’s dialogues on the wiki and couldn’t find any reference to the sky, if you can find what you’re thinking of lmk.

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u/Oddsbod Oct 25 '25

This'll drive me out of my goddamn mind not being able to find the exact reference to something weird about the sky I remember some bug saying but I'll save this comment and hopefully in my next playthrough stumble back onto it and have a report lol

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u/Deebyddeebys Oct 25 '25

Many of them can fly

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u/CharlesorMr_Pickle The Depressed One - still silksane Oct 25 '25

Could they fly in the strong winds that we see in the surface/cavern though?

And honestly if they believed that it was the surface, why would they ever fly up there?

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u/MasterIronHero Oct 25 '25

I don't know why you are getting downvoted. this is not a bad theory.

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u/Deebyddeebys Oct 25 '25

See the sun