A fanmade Hollow Knight DLC in the style of Hidden Dreams and The Grimm Troupe. Long ago, when the Kingdom of Hallownest was at its peak, five knights loyally served the Pale King: loyal Ogrim, kindly Isma, fierce Dryya, mighty Hegemol, and mystic Ze'mer. All have gone their separate ways since the kingdom has collapsed; Dryya and Isma died, Hegemol's shell was stolen by a maggot, Ze'mer lost her mantis lover and faded into the Grey Mourner, and Ogrim retreated to the sewers to guard Isma's Grove. Only Ogrim can be fought, as the Dung Defender and White Defender.
But what were they like, back in their prime? What if the little ghost could face them as they were when they lived? This mod provides an answer, in the form of dream boss fights with the Knights. Isma may be found in her grove, Dryya outside the White Lady's hut, Hegemol at his statue at the entrance to the City of Tears, and Ze'mer in the Grey Mourner's hut in the Resting Grounds. There's also a new platforming segment in the Abyss, and a secret boss in Godhome.
The rewards for these fights are mod-original charms.
Pale Tropes
- Anti-Frustration Features: After each boss fight, there's a line that hints about where one of the other bosses is located- especially useful for Hegemol, since he doesn't have a corpse that can be Dream Nailed.
- Boss Rush: Godhome has an opportunity to challenge all five Knights sequentially, accessed by sitting on the Pale King's throne to "answer the Champion's call."
- Confusion Fu: As her title would imply, Mysterious Ze'Mer uses confusing attack telegraphs and unconventional movement in her fighting style.
- Combat Pragmatist: Tiso's shield lets him maneuver around your attacks in more ways than one. Its boomerang and crossbow functionalities allow him to strike from afar, and he can maneuver around the battlefield using it as a glider. He can even summon bombs to rain destruction on the battlefield while he takes cover.
- The Dog Bites Back: Tiso's battle ends with a Brooding Mawlek trying to drop on him, only for him to dodge it and instead blast it to pieces with his shield.
- Dual Boss: In the Champion's Call, Ogrim and Isma fight together. They can also interact with each other's attacks, like Isma pogo-ing Ogrim's dung balls.
- Green Thumb: Most of Isma's attacks involve plants; she lashes out with vines, throws thorny plant bombs at the Knight, her arena has Fool Eaters on the ground, and so on.
- Improbable Weapon User: Tiso's shield. It's not just the boomerang shield shown in the sketch shown by his creator. It also can transform into a gun, and it's center can form a lance-like spike.
- Lightning Bruiser: All the Knights, even Hegemol, are exceptionally quick on their feet. The faster ones can also Flash Step.
- Special mention goes to Dryya, who is almost always swinging her nail at you throughout the fight, forcing you to get creative to find ways to safely get your own damage in.
- Master Swordsman: Dryya and Ze'mer both fight with their nails. Not only can they slash quickly in multiple patterns and parry attacks, but their larger slashes are also powerful enough to leave lingering hitboxes across the arena.
- Mighty Glacier: Hegemol is the embodiment of this trope. Not only do his direct attacks deal double damage, he also uses his immense strength to send shockwaves and rubble all across the screen, making his fight surprisingly difficult to navigate. It also helps that he has the largest health pool of any of the knights, only aided by the fact that he tends to leave himself open for (barely) longer than any of the other knights.
- Multi-Melee Master: Reconciling the fact that he's not shown with a weapon and the False Knight using a mace, Hegemol uses his own mace with a more ornate design than the bug his maggot impostor used as a mace head as well as punching the ground with his own two fists to create shockwaves, in place of False Knight's tantrum-induced slamming.
- The Power of Love: Ze'mer's Godhome-exclusive second phase is marked in the Champion's Call by delicate flowers growing in the arena, hinting that the memory of her love gives her the will to fight on. She then proceeds to turn into a teleporting blender of lighting-fast nail attacks.
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Tiso's presence as an added bossfight in Godhome was not alluded to at all in any of the trailers.
- Strong and Skilled: Hegemol has the same girth and raw strength as the False Knight did with Hegemol's armor. However, the False Knight uses unwieldy leaping to get around and tantrum-like attacks. Hegemol can actually run in his armor, and his controlled strikes are much more dangerous.
- Super-Strength: Dryya, Hegemol, and Ze'mer are strong enough to create shockwaves when striking the ground. Hegemol's attacks can also shake debris loose from the ceiling that the Knight must avoid.
- Support Party Member: Of the Five Great Knights, Isma fills this role. She does her best to keep out of your reach throughout her fight, striking with long-range attacks and traps. In fact, she never fights on her own; she fights you alongside some Greenpath enemies and alongside Loyal Ogrim in her Champion's Call fight.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Tiso finally gets a chance to fight the knight at Godhome after the main game makes him The Unfought in such humiliating ways.
