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THE MAIN CHARACTER FROM HOLLOW KNIGHT IS REALLY GOOD AT KILLING THINGS: OLD MEN, NEWBORN BABIES, AND YES, EVEN PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY DEAD. THROUGHOUT HALLOWNEST ARE NUMEROUS GHOSTS, REMNANT MEMORIES OF TRAVELERS LONG GONE. THERE’S THE GRAVEDIGGER WHO DIED AFTER FALLING INTO A GRAVE. THERE’S MILLYBUG WHO DIED SELLING COOKIES, A DANGEROUS PROFESSION INDEED. AND THEN THERE’S MARISSA, THE BUTTERFLY WHO CAN BE HEARD SINGING IN THE CITY OF TEARS. ALL OF THESE GHOSTS CAN BE STRUCK WITH THE DREAM NAIL IN EXCHANGE FOR ESSENCE. NOW THIS RAISES A SLEW OF ETHICAL QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER DREAM NAILING A GHOST IS HUMANE OR NOT. DOES THE GHOST CONSTITUTE AN ACTUAL CONSCIOUS BEING? IS BEING A GHOST BETTER THAN NOT EXISTING AT ALL? CAN THEY USE THEIR GHOSTLY POWERS TO SHOOT LIGHTNING OUT OF THE SKY? THE GHOSTS IN HOLLOW KNIGHT MIGHT SEEM PRETTY RANDOM, BUT THAT’S BECAUSE MOST OF THEM WERE ACTUALLY CHARACTERS DESIGNED BY KICKSTARTER BACKERS. HENCE WHY WE GET CHARACTERS LIKE THIS GUTS KNOCKOFF, CREATED BY DAVID WALDIE AND KCIN, CREATED BY NICK. BUT TODAY, WE’RE GOING TO LOOK AT ONE SPECIFIC GROUP OF BACKER CHARACTERS: THE DREAM WARRIORS. ONE OF THE KICKSTARTER BACKER REWARDS WAS TO CREATE A DREAM BOSS THAT THE PLAYER WOULD BE ABLE TO FIGHT. THERE WERE ORIGINALLY TEN BACKERS FOR THIS TIER, BUT ONLY SEVEN BACKERS PROVIDED DETAILS FOR CHARACTERS. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER THREE BACKERS, YOU ASK? WELL, THAT’S A GOOD QUESTION. THESE BOSSES DON’T REALLY GIVE US ANY GREATER INFORMATION ABOUT THE LORE OF HOLLOW KNIGHT, BUT THAT HASN’T STOPPED LITERALLY BILLIONS OF PEOPLE FROM BEGGING ME TO DO A VIDEO ON THEM. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE IS THE DREAM WARRIORS’ LORE EXPLAINED. FIRST UP, WE HAVE XERO, CREATED BY CONSTANT PHAM. THIS DREAM WARRIOR IS LOCATED IN THE RESTING GROUNDS AND WILL PROBABLY BE THE FIRST DREAM WARRIOR NEW PLAYERS FIND. XERO DREAMT OF CUTTING DOWN THE INFECTION IN HIS DREAMS. BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THAT’S HOW YOU FIGHT INFECTIOUS DISEASES. JUST GIVE EVERYBODY SWORDS, OBVIOUSLY. BUT THEN XERO ACTUALLY TURNED HIS NAIL AGAINST THE PALE KING, LIKELY DUE TO BEING INFECTED BY THE RADIANCE HIMSELF. THIS RESULTED IN HIM GETTING EXECUTED. BEFORE HIS BETRAYAL, IT SEEMED LIKE XERO WAS ACTUALLY A FAITHFUL SOLDIER, FIGHTING FOR HALLOWNEST AND THE PALE KING. WHAT EXACTLY WAS HE FIGHTING AGAINST? WELL, WE HEAR ABOUT VAGUE THINGS LIKE THE BATTLE OF THE BLACKWYRM, BUT OTHER THAN THAT, I DON’T REALLY KNOW WHAT XERO WOULD HAVE DONE. SEEMS LIKE THOSE BUGS BUILDING THE TRAM IN DEEPNEST COULD HAVE USED SOME MILITARY BACK UP, BUT WHAT DO I KNOW? BEFORE THE FIGHT, XERO TELLS THE KNIGHT THAT THOSE WHO HOPE ARE ALREADY DOOMED. AFTER THE FIGHT, HOWEVER, HE REALIZES THAT THOSE WHO TURN AGAINST THE KING ARE DOOMED AS SOON AS THEY RAISE THEIR WEAPON. HONESTLY I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS CHARACTER’S ARC IS SUPPOSED TO BE. BUT I GUESS CHARACTER ARCS DON’T ALWAYS HAVE TO MAKE SENSE, SO WHATEVER. ELDER HU WAS CREATED BY DONALD LYNCH. HE WAS A SAGE WHO TRAVELED HALLOWNEST TENDING TO THOSE AFFLICTED BY THE INFECTION. HU DIED IN THE FUNGAL WASTES NEARBY THE MANTIS VILLAGE. HE EXPLAINS THAT THE MANTISES BELOW HAVE BECOME MAD WITH THE INFECTION. BUT OF COURSE, WE KNOW THE MANTISES WEREN’T INFECTED. SO NOT ONLY IS ELDER HU DEAD. BUT HE’S ALSO STUPID. AFTER HIS DEFEAT, ELDER HU COMES TO THE REALIZATION THAT HE WAS THE ONE INFECTED AND THAT THE MANTISES ACTUALLY KILLED HIM. THIS IS A COMMON THEME AMONG ALL DREAM WARRIORS. THEY ALL THINK THEY ARE STILL ALIVE WHEN THE KNIGHT FINDS THEM. THIS IS ACTUALLY DIFFERENT FROM HOW TEAM CHERRY ORIGINALLY ASKED BACKERS TO WRITE THEIR DIALOGUE. FROM THEIR ORIGINAL EMAIL EXPLAINING WHAT DETAILS THEY NEEDED FROM BACKERS, TEAM CHERRY EXPECTED THE DREAMERS TO ACTUALLY KNOW THEY ARE DEAD. ALSO, THE DREAMERS WERE ORIGINALLY GOING TO DROP MEDALS THAT HAD LITTLE MESSAGES ATTACHED TO THEM, WHICH LATER BECAME WHAT WE SEE IN THE HUNTER’S JOURNAL. ANOTHER INTERESTING CHANGE MADE IS THE LOCATION OF THE DREAM WARRIORS. IT APPEARS THE WARRIORS WERE ALL GOING TO BE FOUND IN ONE LOCATION, THE QUEEN’S GLADE. WE CAN TELL FROM AN OLD DEVELOPMENT MAP OF HALLOWNEST THAT THE QUEEN’S GLADE WAS LOCATED WHERE THE CURRENT DAY ANCIENT BASIN IS FOUND, JUST BELOW THE WHITE PALACE FOUNDATION. THE GLADE WAS GUARDED BY FIERCE DRYYA, WHO WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO BE A BOSS. IN OTHER WORDS, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN ELEVEN BOSS FIGHTS IN JUST THIS ONE SPOT OF THE MAP. HONESTLY, I’M HAPPY TEAM CHERRY DECIDED NOT TO DO THIS. PUTTING THE DREAM WARRIORS IN THEIR OWN LOCATIONS MAKES THEM FEEL MORE ORGANIC, LIKE THEY ACTUALLY BELONG IN THE WORLD. ELDER HU APPEARS TO BE BASED ON THE BUDDIST TRADITION, AS HE WEARS MALA, OR PRAYER BEADS AROUND HIS NECK. I WOULD NORMALLY SAY THIS FEELS OUT OF PLACE, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE TEAM CHERRY IS ACTUALLY GOING TO INCORPORATE ANOTHER CHARACTER INTO SILKSONG WHO USES THIS SAME AESTHETIC: SHAKRA. SO IT SEEMS LIKE WE MIGHT GET A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHATEVER GROUP ELDER HU WAS A PART OF WHEN HOLLOW KNIGHT SILKSONG RELEASES IN 2054. GALIEN WAS CREATED BY ZACHARY VIRDEN AND CAN BE FOUND IN DEEPNEST. GALIEN PROCLAIMED HIMSELF AS THE STRONGEST WARRIOR IN HALLOWNEST AND CLAIMS HE IS ONLY INTERESTED IN FIGHTING THE KNIGHT FOR THE SAKE OF JOLLY COMBAT. GALIEN TRAVELED INTO DEEPNEST SO THAT HE COULD TRAIN HIMSELF BY FIGHTING THE BUGS FOUND THERE. BUT HE WAS EVENTUALLY KILLED OFF BY THE BEASTS. WHAT’S INTERESTING ABOUT GALIEN IS THAT HE ACTUALLY COMMENTS ABOUT SEEING HIS OWN BODY LAYING ON THE GROUND, BUT HE DOESN’T EVEN RECOGNIZE THAT IT’S HIM. THAT SEEMS TO CONFIRM THAT GHOSTS ARE NOT JUST CONFUSED, BUT IN DENIAL ABOUT THEIR OWN DEATHS. I MEAN, WAYNER IN THE SPIRIT’S GLADE IS LITERALLY HOLDING HIS HEAD IN HIS HANDS, AND STILL THINKS HE IS ALIVE. ANYONE WHO WATCHES SHOWS ABOUT REAL LIFE, ACTUAL GHOST HUNTING, KNOWS THAT GHOSTS TEND TO BE HUMAN SPIRITS TRAPPED I