Hollow Knight's Grimm Troupe Lore Explained... Again

I first talked about Grimm Troupe 3 years ago, in 2017. But anyone who's followed this channel for a while knows that I've been on quite a character arc. In 2017, I was nothing more than an ignorant fool. But now I'm older, wiser, I've read Judith Butler. Twice. Obviously, all of these things have helped me appreciate Hollow Knight's story better. That being said, I think it's time to check back in with the Grimm Troupe and see what new history we can uncover. When the Grimm Troupe content pack first came out, I was a little bothered by how it seemed like Team Cherry was just throwing new characters at us without really expanding the characters that were already there.

But looking back, the Grimm Troupe does more for Hollow Knight's world-building than I thought. For example, we now have a new Higher Being to examine. The story of the Grimm Troupe begins with an entity known as Nightmare Heart. Seer gives us some very cryptic dialogue about Nightmare Heart. And of course, he has to do it in the form of poetry. The expanse of the dream in the past divided, A kingdom must now stand apart, The darkest reaches, pulsing red, The terror of the dream. The heart of the nightmare. Let's take this little by little. We know that a dream realm exists in the world of Hollow Knight.

It's where the Shining is. It's where the corpse of the Pale King is. And even the Lifeblood creature seems to inhabit some kind of dream realm, given the appearance of dreamcatcher particles in this room. It's not really clear if these are all different Dream Realms or branches of one big Dream Realm. The Dream Realm where the Dreamers and Radiance are looks very different from the Pale King, which also looks very different from Bretta's dream. If there is a distinction between these areas, it is vague. However, we do know that there is a special and very different realm called the Nightmare Realm that was completely separate from the main Dream Realm.

While normal dreams are made up of Essence, the Realm of Nightmares is made up of a different type of fiery Essence, which Grimm describes as the "flame in the dream". For the sake of simplicity, I will call this different Essence Nightmare Essence. But what exactly caused this division? These types of divisions are common in creation stories. Like how Zeus, Poseidon and Hades divided the heavens, the seas and the underworld. Or how the world of Dark Souls went from a gray, unchanging world to one divided by Lords. Even our own scientific understanding of the universe begins with the theory that three of the fundamental forces of the universe were unified, but eventually separated from each other.

Lazy writing like this is the way creation stories unfold. But that doesn't really help us answer why the Realm of Nightmares has to stay away from the Realm of Dreams. A fairly common theory is that Radiance somehow caused this separation. But there is really no evidence for this. Maybe if Grimm actually commented once on Radiance. But unfortunately, he doesn't really seem to give a shit about any of that. So whether this split was natural or caused by the action of some higher being, we will likely never know. Anyway, it seems that Nightmare Heart is the main Higher Being residing in this Nightmare Realm, and its design is in stark contrast to the other Higher Beings we see in Hallownest.

We have a moth, a worm, a plant, a slug and a giant heart made of mosaics with dozens of eyes. At its core, Nightmare Heart appears to be made of Nightmare Essence, similar to how Radiance is composed of Essence-like light. And while Nightmare Heart may seem different from other higher beings on the surface, it has one thing in common with them. He really likes to tinker with common mistakes, putting them at his service. To survive, Nightmare Heart needs to perform a ritual involving the Grimm Company in order to feed on the flames of ruined civilizations. Basically, ancient, abandoned kingdoms like Hallownest or Disney Land are a gold mine for Nightmare Essence, so the main way Nightmare Heart feeds is by using the Troupe to find these kingdoms and harvest the Essence for itself.

And this ritual occurs over and over

again

as an endless cycle that the Heart uses to cheat death. Of course, finding kingdoms is the first step in this process, which leads us to this corpse in the Howling Cliffs. This bug wears a makeshift mask that is similar in design to the masks worn by other members of the Grimm Troupe. Dreaming about catching this bug brings a device called the Nightmare Lantern into the physical world. This lantern seems to act as a sort of anchor for the Grimm Company, and lighting it is what brings the Grimm Company to Hallownest.

If we dream of nailing the corpse

again

it says “Master… my role…. apart from you... apart from relatives. It hurts me a lot". God, how simple. This bug apparently has some kind of job that involved leaving the Troupe and traveling to Hallownest. So it seems that the Grimm Troupe actually designates certain insects to travel to different realms. Once they get there... well... I'm not sure. Do they just die once they reach a kingdom? Or did this particular insect die before I could turn on the flashlight? We have to dream of sticking the flashlight into it. Perhaps this will be a litmus test for anyone who wants to help the Grimm Company, demanding that they have some access to the Realm of Dreams.

Otherwise, they probably wouldn't be able to interact with any of the Grimmkin in the first place. Now we don't know if these insects are simply sent in a random direction or if they know how to get to these realms. Godseeker and Quirrel mention that the winds are carrying them to Hallownest. Which is strange. How the hell does the wind blow to a specific place? Interestingly, the Pale King has other strange connections to the wind. The Monarch Wings and the King's Brand also blow throughout Hallownest for some reason. But Wind Lore in Hollow Knight is another can of worms that we'll have to save for later.

Anyway, the Godseeker also detected the Pale King's glow while traveling to Hallownest, but I personally don't think the Grimm Troupe's bug could have done that, considering they don't seem to have a Godtuner device like the Godseekers. Instead, I assume that a large number of these insects simply wander aimlessly until they can find civilizations that can be harvested for their Nightmare Essence. So, the Grimm Troupe emphasizes how barren the world of Hallownest really is. Nightmare King's Dream Nail dialogue in Godhome hints at this with the line "Scattered lands...Nightmare unites all." This implies that the Grimm Troupe uses the Nightmare Realm as a way to reach different realms, which is what we see when we turn on the Nightmare Lantern.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the Grimm Company has traveled a lot. And it turns out that the Grimm Troupe could give us a better look at what the world outside of Hallownest is really like. Hidden inside the Grimm Troupe's shop is a secret room that can only be accessed through some tricky wall jumping. In this room we can see some chests, a bunch of masks and this strange gadget. Now there are some theories about what this could be. At the very least, we know it's important because there's a seal protecting it. One idea is that it is some kind of device that can move the store between the real world and the Nightmare Realm.

Or it could be related somehow to Grimm's performance with all the spotlights and whatnot. But if we look at the game's art files, the resources on this device refer to them as a "graphic". So I think this device is supposed to be some kind of map. Now, of course, an art file name is in no way canon, but our only option here is to speculate anyway, so let's have a little fun with this. But keep in mind that this is by no means conclusive. So is this a graph from the real world or the Realm of Nightmares or what?

Unfortunately, none of that is clear. But these dances are possibly points of interest for the Grimm Company, so these could be the various places they have traveled to over the years. Something like web addresses that point to specific domains on the Internet. Like twitter.com/mossbag69, discord.gg/mossbag or mossbag.com. And I'm sure you've already noticed that there are 19 of these balls. So does that mean there are at least 18 other civilizations that the Grimm Company has visited? What other crazy world could be out there? Aquatic world? Lunar World? New Jersey? However, if this is really supposed to be a graph of where the Grimm Company has been, it looks really strange.

Why does the world of Hollow Knight vaguely resemble a cock and balls? Honestly, it looks more like some kind of planetary model than a topographic map. Which might make sense. All of these kingdoms could be deep underground. We're not even sure if Hallownest is on the surface. It appears to be, but we can't see any stars or direct evidence of it. Maybe the Land of Storms is on the surface considering there is rain and thunder, but maybe these weather patterns were created by the gods of thunder and rain that were once already there. So a three-dimensional map like this might make sense in this world.

It's not like they have a map on a piece of paper or a globe or something. And it's not such a stretch to assume that the Grimm Company would have some sort of map to help them navigate. And if this is really a Nightmare Realm graphic, then it doesn't have to look like anything to be believable. But at the end of the day, there really isn't much to talk about here, so for now, the definitive answer to what this is eludes us. Going back to Nightmare Lantern, whoever powers this thing up gets roped into a contract with the Grimm Troupe, all without so much as any terms and conditions.

The Grimm Company is summoned to Dirtmouth, where they set up shop and prepare Hallownest to collect their Nightmare Essence. The Grimm Troupe, of course, has a Troupe Master, known as Troupe Master Grimm. Grimm has a unique aesthetic, which has made him quite popular in the Hollow Knight fandom. It looks like a Gen 7 starter Pokémon. Can it be considered a bug of some kind? I've heard some people say it's supposed to be a vampire moth. It doesn't seem like anything like that to me at all. You could also say it is a Caterpillar MD6250 rotary drill.

No, Grimm and his crew seem to be a hodgepodge of horror tropes. Regardless of what kind of mistake Grimm may be, he definitely takes inspiration from Dracula. He has a long, flowing cape, can explode into smaller winged creatures, and his moveset seems to borrow a lot of concepts from Castlevania Dracula's fights. And you have the whole creepy traveling circus thing. Although it is not a very good circus. They simply set up a tent and then wait for visitors to take action. I think it's a bit the opposite of how it's supposed to work. When the Knight first speaks to Grimm, he gives him a summary of what the Company is doing.

Well, he gives a very brief and very vague explanation. He gives the Knight the Grimmchild amulet and tells him to seek out the Grimmkin, who have been collecting Nightmare Essence throughout Hallownest. Using Grimmchild, the Knight will be able to find Grimmkin, kick their butts, and store the Essence inside Grimmchild. Once returned, Grimmchild evolves into its second four different forms, implying that Grimmchild could have fed on these flames to become stronger. But it's not just the flames of the Nightmare Essence of Hallownest that Grimmchild feeds on. According to Grimm, he can also feed off the heat of a passionate dance, or in other words, the Grimm boss fight.

There is also another way Grimmchild can feed: by consuming the Nightmare King himself. Yes, like most things in Hollow Knight, it all comes back to vore. The Nightmare King can be fought after collecting three sets of Grimmkin flames scattered throughout Hallownest. Once this is done, Grimm can be found sleeping on the other side of the store. The dream of nailing Grimm takes the Knight to the Realm of Nightmares. There we can find the Nightmare Heart, surrounded by Grimmkin Nightmares. We then see that Nightmare Heart suffers a rather serious myocardial rupture as Nightmare King emerges from within.

Nightmare King is basically a much faster version of Troupe Master Grimm, but with more flames in his attacks. According to more poetry, the Company wants to burn the Nightmare King and give him to Grimmchild. Once this is accomplished, Grimmchild's eyes will burn brightly with the flame of the Nightmare Heart. And everyone involved with the Grimm Company will disappear. Well, almost all of them, but we'll get to that. Basically, we dreamed nailed to Grimm, found the Nightmare Heart, killed the Nightmare King inside it, and then gave that to Grimm Jr. Grimm was a vessel for the Nightmare Heart, and now the heart has been transferred to a new, new ship, the Grimmchild.

From here, we can assume that Grimmchild will become the new Grimm, form his own group, move away, and never call home again. That's cool and all, but it raisessome interesting questions. What is the rest of the Grimm Company doing now? Do they sit back and wait for the adult Grimmchild to appear? Also, if this little guy is the new Grimm, what if we take him to the Temple of the Black Egg? Will Grimm be trapped with us there forever? Is he completely destroyed in the ending of Dream No More? And then, of course, we have the ending of Embrace the Void.

Does Grimm simply become completely consumed by the Lord of Shadows, lost forever in a sea of ​​emptiness? The point is that the Knight is probably the last creature Grimm would want to keep in amulet form. Because there really are no endings that go well with the Knight's physical body. But of course, there's more to the Grimm Troupe than just Grimm himself. We also have Grimmkin, as well as characters like Brumm and Divine. We get the best glimpse of Confessor Jiji's Grimm entourage. Perhaps you suspect that they are hiding his true appearance? You would be right. They favor the projection of the truth, wrapping themselves in dreamed forms.

Better beware. Helping them might benefit you, but who knows what suffering it might cause you? Digging deeper into this dialogue, we can see two different types of Grimm Troupe members. You have the Grimmkin who look more like ghosts. They can teleport and even appear in the Nightmare Realm. Then you have bugs like Brumm, Divine, and Grimmsteeds that look like normal bugs. And I'm using the phrase "normal errors" loosely. The only thing all of these characters have in common are the masks they wear. Even the bug outside the kingdom wears a Grimm Troupe mask, although this one looks more like a third-rate cosplay than an actual Grimm Troupe wardrobe.

Now I've talked a lot about masks on this channel. My Mask Maker video, my King's Pass video, Godmaster, Colosseum of Fools, even my review of The Mask starring Jim Carrey mentions them. But that's no surprise. Masks are very mysterious and important to the world of Hollow Knight. But Jiji doesn't actually mention masks directly. Instead, he says that the Grimm Company prefers projection and hiding in dream forms. This could refer to how Grimmkin are literally dream creatures. They come in three forms: rookies, masters, and nightmares. It seems that as they become more devoted to Grimm, their appearance becomes more nightmare-like.

But from what we see in the Grimm Troupe tent, these masks appear to be real physical objects. This could imply that Grimmkin use masks as conduits to project their dream forms into the real world. Perhaps that's even the case for Grimm himself. But that statement is pretty speculative, so don't get hung up on that being true. There are many ghosts that have nothing physical, but still interact with the real world. But what is clear is that these masks have an effect on living insects, and we can see this quite clearly with Brumm. During the final Essence gathering phase, the Knight is able to find Brumm hiding in Deepnest, away from Grimm's eyes.

Brumm laments the endless cycle of the Grimm Company and asks the Knight to help him banish the Company from Hallownest forever. If the Knight fulfills this request and uproots Nightmare Lanturn in the Howling Cliffs, Grimm's shop disappears from Dirtmouth and next to the bank we can find a very different looking Brumm, with a new name, Nymm. Nymm gives us a very clear view of how the mask Brumm was wearing affected him. Like Brumm, she had no memory of his past life and his behavior was very restricted. Like Nymm, he is more carefree and has forgotten his time in the Company.

However, what is most surprising is that Nymm has also physically decreased in size. That's tough, man. The mask itself appears to transform into the Carefree Melody amulet, granting protection to anyone who wears it. We can see that the mask still radiates the power of the Grimm Troop from the flames that the Knight gives off when it is activated. So, that links masks to a kind of quality of sleep, similar to what Confessor Jiji mentioned. The Nymm experience is also very similar to a Mask Maker line. To change a face; hide it completely inside another... That is, a powerful protection, but with sad consequences.

The original mind is destroyed, although those with surprising will can still retain a portion of that hidden self. Nymm's mask made him larger and connected him to the Company, but his original mind was lost and only returned because he fought against Grimm's wishes, remembering that he used to be more than just a vessel. So, it seems that these masks are basically brainwashing the Troupe members into serving Nightmare Heart. Perhaps all of these insects were forced to serve the Company, and that could be what Jiji is referring to when he mentions those who would suffer upon completing the ritual.

This gives us an interesting contrast. Mask Maker says that he makes masks for those who ask him to and says that it is a gift to a world that deserves it. But Nightmare Heart uses it as a way to control the insects and make them work toward her own goals. Of course, slaving under the Heart might be better than the alternative of trying to survive in the wasteland that covers much of the world, but it's still kind of silly. And since I talked so much about Brumm, I should at least mention Divine. His job within the Grimm Company is... well, I'm not really sure why he's here.

She talks about how she can smell something in Hallownest, referring to the Fragile Charms that Leg Eater sells. You can give her these amulets which she will then turn into unbreakable amulets by eating and shitting them. Yeah...I'm not sure why Grimm keeps her around. Divine doesn't even leave with the Grimm Troupe if you complete the ritual without finishing her side quest. I mean, from a gameplay perspective, it's good. But as far as tradition goes, it doesn't make any sense. I guess Grimm doesn't really care if she's around or not. I also assume that she has more autonomy than Brumm because she only wears half a mask.

Instead, you need to get all the Unbreakable Amulets and then talk to Leg Eater to have him find Divine. Which well… that doesn't go well for him. However, if you choose to banish the Grimm Company, Divine is gone forever and if you didn't get the Unbreakable Amulets then you're out of luck. And then we have the Grimmsteeds. These insects appear to be the same species as Willoh, but they also wear masks. Some people have pointed out that Willoh's tent is a shade of red, implying that she might have been part of the Grimm Company at one point, but... come on.

It is clearly red because it is covered in the blood of her numerous victims. In conclusion, the Grimm Troupe is a traveling band of insects that serve a Higher Being known as Nightmare Heart. They use the Nightmare Realm to quickly travel between the world's different ruined realms, collecting Nightmare Essence to prolong the Heart's existence. Perhaps masks are used to keep these insects at bay and connected to the Company. But despite that, some insects can fight this control, and it is up to the player to decide what fate awaits these poor insects. Of course, the player most likely has no idea what is going on and that decision is made completely arbitrarily.

One last thing to note is that Grimm is known by the White Lady, despite being from so far away. And although Jiji finds Grimm unknown, he can still figure out what's really going on with the Company. This helps us realize how erudite these characters are, which may not be a surprise to the White Lady, but more so to Jiji. This character has a lot going on that we just don't know about. And there you have it. I felt bad for leaving Grimm Troupe out of my main video, but man, there was a lot to discuss here.

As for future Hollow Knight content, I know many of you are worried and think I'm somehow starving for content. But that couldn't be further from the truth. There are many other things I could talk about. I could make another Zote video. And there are more things to talk about about Zote. And I really want to delve into the political side of Hollow Knight, particularly whether Zote is a liberator or not.