If They Ever Make Legends Kyrum And We See The Two Brothers Fight With The Two Dragons, There BETTER

What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 3.7 Lurien's Spire - WHAT is WRONG with Lurien's Office?!?!

Welcome back! Do you remember the last part where I was talking about how Patriotic Lurien was with all the Hallownestian crests?

I was about to leave it off here, until I realized something strange. There are no King’s Idols in Lurien’s Spire. Mr.-Certified-Pale-King-Fanboy has no King’s Idol from which he would worship the Pale King. What kind of fan would not have an idol or picture of his king? Especially in his bedroom!

Again, I was going to leave it even after checking the Hollow Knight wiki. Tumblr/Ao3 artist Aspidike already wrote a whole comic on it after all, so why should I spend time on it?

Looking back on it, I really should have spent more time wondering why Lurien has no King’s Idols to worship the Pale King when HERRAH is shown to be more religious than him. The Spider Queen has a Shrine inside her den while Lurien doesn’t even have a single idol or a chapel!

I only began to look deeper at the lack of King’s Idols in Lurien’s Spire when I realized there is something else missing in the Watcher’s Spire. Take a look at the carpet in Lurien’s Office.

Why does Lurien have purple carpet that completely covers the floor? Even wrapping around the pillars leading up to his Office?  Why when everywhere else in his Spire has RED flooring and Hallownestian seals…

And that’s when it hit me. Not only are there no King’s Idols in Lurien’s Spire, but there is also nothing of the Pale King in Lurien’s Office a.k.a where he lays slumbering.

Look at Lurien’s Office again.

No painting of the Pale King, only that of the City. No massive window of the Hallownest Seal, only open windows.  There are Hallownest Seals on the banners…but no Monarach Wings.

Please, allow me to explain the importance of the lack of Monarch Wings. Take a look down below at the kinds of Hallownest Seals seen across Hallownest.

The above photo is a drawing as I suck at photoshop.

Design 1 or the Seal design is most reminiscent of the Pale King with his Monarch Wings, hence why it will be often referred to as the Monarch’s Seal in this essay.

Design 2 or the Crest design is the most often seen crest design across all of Hallownest. It is the center or base that Designs 1 & 3 form their own designs on. I often take it to mean Hallownest itself versus the Monarch’s Seal which brings to mind the Pale King.

Design 3 is the design, which to my knowledge, is only seen in the City of Tears, especially on the noble’s side of the City. Originally, I called it Plumage Design and pondered whether or not this was an allusion to the Pale King, but now I believe it is a homage to the White Lady. See the comparison down below.

Part of the reason why I am making such a big deal out of the different designs is due to the Medieval heritage the game Hollow Knight draws on. If kings, knights, and keeping your oaths to your lords is greatly important to the game, then having a coat of arms and its impact are not a stretch. We already saw this in Monomon’s portion of the essay when we realized that Monomon was the one in charge of the Teacher’s Archives. Due to the lack of Hallownestian crests (or anything of Hallownest) as well as symbols in the benches being Monomon’s mask, we concluded that the Teacher’s Archives was not part of Hallownest proper, but rather natural territory under Monomon’s direct charge.

Having three different Hallownestain crests is vital. While the standard Design 2 or the Crest design allows one to tell that the messenger is from Hallownest versus the Mosskin, Designs 1 and 3 allow us to tell if the message came from the Pale King or White Lady themselves. The common Hallownestian official might only bear the Crest Design while servants in the White Palace bear Designs 1 & 3. Though I bet the Queen’s gardeners only bore the Plumage Design.

With this in mind, let us turn back to Lurien’s Spire to see which crests he bears throughout.

These are all locations through-out the Watcher’s Spire containing different versions of Hallownestian crests. Now please compare these with that of Lurien’s personal Office and Final Resting Place.

Here is the ONLY Place I found the 1st design or Monarch Seal in Lurien’s Office… If you actually can count it since it’s OUTSIDE his office.

The two places where the Monarach Wings appear in Lurien’s Office are in two locations that are OUTSIDE his office. The first is on the Spire’s wall which is just typical City of Tears architecture while the second winged crest is on the elevator.  AKA, a standard design that is easily removed from the room.

What does this mean for Lurien, the fandom’s Pale King fanboy, with nothing of the Pale King inside his office? This is supposed to be Lurien’s personal space where there would be tons of Pale King merch and references. Yet, upon closer examination, not only are there no references to the Pale King, but Lurien went out of his way to hid any references to the White Lady as well! The purple carpet extends all the way down, hiding Design 3 or the White Lady’s crest!

Forget any blacklash from an shocked fandom, the lack of references to the Royal Couple in Lurien’s Office reeks of possible danger for the Watcher. Lurien is the 3rd most powerful bug in Hallownest, right underneath the Pale King and White Lady. Such massive influence needs to be massively watched and carefully checked to ensure that the Watcher doesn’t use that power against the Royal Couple. Yet the Watcher, in his own personal office, does not have any direct reference to either of them.

We do not know how the Royal Couple would feel that Lurien went out of his way to not show any direct alliegance in his private workspace and room. 

Now, I already know what you are thinking. Lurien’s canon dialogue in the Dream Realm. “For King Beloved…to sleep and serve…” It seems as if all of his dialogue is suggesting the exact opposite picture of Lurien’s Office, that he put the Pale King above everything…but the Pale King isn’t the only reason why he became a Dreamer. To quote Lurien’s last journel entry:

“Sleep beckons eternal and these words become my last. Though my gaze shall no longer fall upon this city, I will act forever in its protection. For King, for bug, for Hallownest, I head now to my rest.”

Lurien is a poet. 2)  His actions are for the forever protection of his City. 3) Lurien’s reasons for acting are not solely for the Pale King, but for bug and Hallownest. This is important as it shows Lurien separates Hallownest from the Pale King in his mind.

While Lurien DID say “For King Beloved”, there is nothing of Pale King inside Lurien’s personal Office. It seems like the care Lurien had for the Pale King was like the love Americans have for their flag, unwilling to let the flag touch the ground…but not going so far to have the flag inside their bedrooms…unless the love for the flag goes beyond patriotism to nationalism.

Finally, what does this lack of crests mean for Lurien’s character? I am afraid that I will have to dive into symbolism to explain as a certain Watcher doesn’t have much dialogue.

The lack of Monarch crest on the banners shows how Lurien always put Hallownest first, not the Pale King’s interests.  Lurien could have snuck in one of the bigger banners with the Monarch crests, but chose the smaller banner with Design 2 to hang instead. Symbolically, this shows how Lurien’s heart with the kingdom first.

The lack of the Plumage Crests was brought about by Lurien redoing the floors, turning the red floor to purple carpet. As seen before in previous essays, the color red is associated with the nobles and the majority of the Plumage Crests are seen on the noble’s side of the City. Meanwhile, the color purple is primarily seen in Lurien’s Spire AKA Lurien’s color. Just as purple takes from both red and blue to rise to higher wisdom, inspiration, and humility, so Lurien rises above the roots to see a bird’s eye view of the whole culture of Hallownest, not just the nobles who grow (pun intended) from the White Lady.

The open windows has its own symbolism as Team Cherry could have given Lurien’s Office those magnificent Monarch crest windows. Instead, they chose to not just have no seal, but almost no window. Practically, this means Lurien can easily reposition his telescope anywhere so he can see everywhere in the City. But what about symbolism? The answer is that Lurien can see everything CLEARLY and without basis. He sees what is truly there, not what the Pale King wants him to see or expects him to see. Lurien isn’t even plagued by his own personal weakness or anger that could cause the glass to fog up. He can SEE.

Yes, Monomon. You can stop listing all the things wrong with the City. Lurien already has your list and THEN some. 

Here we are at the end of this section and I cannot believe that CAREPT of all things would reveal how Lurien's loyalty is to Hallownest first, not the Pale King.

If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.

Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here

Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here

Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here

Part 3.25: Lurien's Spire: Windows and Colors: Here

Part 3.5: Even More of Lurien's Spire. Here

Part 3.7: What is WRONG with Lurien's Spire? (You are here)

Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here

Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here

Part 4.0 What We Know We Don't Know About the Dreamers' Houses: Click Here

Link to essay on Ao3: Here

If you have thoughts you wish to share, please feel free to comment or reblog! Especially with the above observation!

Wait...every fandom CAN be better if you do a crossover with Pokemon...stop giving me ideas!

i do think pokemon AUs work for literally anything. you think to yourself "this character needs an elemental beast to be friends with" and every single time you're correct.

More of the Dadmato ending (best ending)

I want everyone to know that this is me every time someone drops a comment on something I've written:

I love the fact that we all agree that Lurien's primary weapon would be a sniper rife...and he would be terrifyingly good with it.

ref: link

Very well done analysis of Adaman.

Adaman the Symbol of Time

 p(An Analysis on the character design of Adaman from Pokemon Legends of Arceus and it’s relation to time and art history.)

A lot of the characters form PLA are similar in terms of design. The characters that do not follow the standard hoodies, tunics, guild jumpsuits ,and kimonos have a lot of interesting art history associated with them.  I love Adaman’s design in particular since he is literally a symbol of time. 

Well…isn’t this obvious since he is the Diamond Clan leader and associated with Dialga? Yes, but there is a lot more subtle aspects to his design that link him with a specific form or Japanese Art.  But let’s first look at the obvious references to Dialga .

In Adaman’s design they use a lot of blues and and silver that you can see shared with Dialga.  They also use the Diamond clan symbol that is shaped to look like Dialga’s chest gem repeatedly in the coat and accessories.  Adaman’s coat/jacket is most likely a nod to the Japanese Haori.  It is even tied with a fancy beaded Himo chord to keep it closed. If you look at the shoes you can see in the concept art that even the bottom of them are supposed to look like Dialga’s feet in their regular form and on the top of the shoe like the legendary Pokemon’s face.  All this information is very interesting and nice seeing how the character and the Pokemon are related even thematically.  

However, it’s crossed your mind (even briefly) that Adaman’s design is not directly one to one with Dialga. He isn’t a Dialga gijinka. There are elements and colors that Adaman uses that the legendary Pokemon does not.  We can brush it off as Adaman having a flair and his importance as a Diamond Clan leader to set him apart. But this is where it gets interesting. His outfit is generally just fashionable and we can choose to look at it like that on a surface level.  But if you look deeper you see a more symbolic meaning.

Adaman is Kintsugi . What is that? Kintsugi is a Japanese art technique that repairs pottery using lacquer and gold dust.  Adaman also has similar gold veins running through his clothing.  For someone who is so “put together” looking, why would you intentionally create jagged and uneven elements other than for aesthetic? This is because for my understanding, this is yet another way the character designer chose to express Adaman’s connection to time.

Kintsugi is a beautiful form of art and philosophy.  The idea is not to hide the cracks and flaws, but to turn it into something more beautiful and strong.  It represents the passage of time and a documentation of the harsh conditions in which we pass through. But ultimately it is a celebration of survival and growth.  It is also a metaphor for embracing your flaws and imperfections.

One translation defines the word  kintsugi as golden “golden seams”. So, Adaman is kind of a symbol of kintsugi pottery and philosophy.  The part about this design that confused me the most was his hair since it’s also not standard colored and is quite unique. But I realized that if we are equating him to pottery, the hair might be colored that way to imitate pottery glazes (the stuff they put on ceramics to give it color.)

On another interesting note, Adaman has lots of signs of past injury. We see this with the bandages on his arms and hands, the cut brow which is a remnant of injury and survival, and then the very intentional jagged gold claw marks on his back.  The back gold lines are sharp looking and contrast with the rest of the designs which is fluid and rounded.  It’s bringing attention to the marks.

Image sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

We can interpret a lot from this design. It also raises many questions. The jagged golden marks and Adaman’s bandaged arms implies that he has been “damaged” or “broken” in some sense. This could be taken literally or symbolically. We don’t know what happened to him.  Maybe he was attacked by an alpha Pokemon and survived a severe injury that he now incorporates into this aesthetic as a way to show that he was able to come back from that.  Or maybe it’s referring to his leadership as a young Diamond Clan leader and the mistakes he made and had to learn from. 

So in conclusion. From what I can understand , if we were to wrap up all the motifs, Adaman’s design ultimately seems to just represent a passage of time. Breakage and repair are just proof of time passing and represent history and life. And I think that is really cool.  

These are all my speculations and none of it is canon you can disagree if you want. These are just things I have observed and made note of that I believe makes the character far more interesting and fleshed out.  There is a lot of deep and meaningful things you can pull from this if you want to expound further through fanart and fanfic.  

EDITS/NOTES:

So a lot of people asked if the arm and hand wraps are for fighting. They aren’t. In every form of fighting and martial arts that involves wrapping(taping) your knuckles, you wrap between each finger and around your knuckles several times to cushion them.  You do their for wrist stability, prevent injury, and joint restriction.  Failing to wrap your hands correctly will result in fractures, broken fingers and knuckles, and metal carpet boss.  Not only are Adaman’s knuckles exposed when he clenches his fists, there is no wrapping supporting his wrists on the left hand.  If he is wrapping them to fight, he is doing a very bad job at it.

I did research on this before writing the initial post and came to this conclusion, but I guess I’ll add it now for those that had questions.

Another interesting note is that the Diamond Clan symbol also looks like a stylized version of the characters for gold.  This same character also does appear in the work kintsugi.

Adaman’s name is interesting too since it’s not really a common name.  In fact, it seems to be a play on word “adamant” which usually refers to someone who is not willing to change their mind or opinion.  HOWEVER , Adamant is an archaic diamond found in Greek/Roman mythology.  It is a bit of a legendary diamond of sorts. The name is derived from the Greek word for diamond. “adámas”.

If you remember, in the Diamond and Pearl games you can use the “Adamant Orb” to increase the dragon/steel type moves of Dialga by 20% if they hold it. In Pokemon Legends Arceus you can get the “Adament Crystal from Adaman.  This can be used to switch Dialga between Origin and normal form.  

Also random interesting thought. The diamond clan settlement is located in the crimson mirelands. Out of the different areas, this one has the most ideal conditions to create pottery clay next to bodies of water (Lake valor) , the scarlet bog, and the mountainous areas surrounding the settlement. Very similar to the Mashiko and Hagi pottery villages in japan.

Penelope: I had the weirdest dream last night. An eagle swooped down from the heavens and killed 20 geese.

Odysseus, disguised as a beggar: Well, fair queen, clearly this means that your husband is coming home and will kill your suitors.

Penelope: If only there was a way to tell the eagle to hurry the fuck up.

Odysseus:

Penelope: *dumps a bunch of weapons at Odysseus’s feet*

Penelope: Clumsy me

How can something be so cute and so cool at the same time?

origin forme dialga and palkia redesigns??🤨

What is with the Dreamers' Houses?!?! Part 3.25 Lurien's Spire - Windows and Colors

Welcome back to talking about the Dreamers' Houses! Today we're discussing more about the Watcher's Spire and what it tells us about Lurien's character.

Last time, we talked about Lurien's Telescope and what it spoke of Lurien's character. Yet there was something else I noticed with the placement of the Telescope itself.

It is on the Left Side of Lurien's office, facing the Left half of the City. While some might state that this is because of classism, I am not so sure. Not when I noticed this particular detail.

We have three bugs with unique designs with unique dialogue. From the dialogue, it seems that they took up the duty of the Watcher's mantle, placed there possibly by Lurien himself. Of all the sides of the Spire, these three are also facing the left side. What could be on that side of the City that Lurien went out of his way to leave his Telescope facing the left side and appointed watchers to guard that side? 

Oh.

Wait.

Taken from ntvv.vn.

The entire Soul Sanctum and the Soul Master is on the LEFT side of the City. The same group responsible for THIS carnage.

 Tragically, that is not even half of the people butchered by the Soul Master. If Lurien had an inkling, however, of the Soul Master's doings, then he would keep watch over that portion of the City in order that he can find evidence of the Soul Master's wrongdoings. Unfortunately, as we all know, Lurien ran out of time to prevent the full tragedy.

That did not, however, stop Lurien from doing everything he could to stop the Soul Master. He left the Telescope and appointed not one, but three mini watchers to keep an eye on the Soul Master. Who knows how many notes and networks he left behind to the mini watchers as well that we never got a chance to read. What we do know is that Lurien made sure that every tool and opportunity to protect his City was left at the Pale King's disposal. Lurien wasn't just protective, he took preventative action and was willing to include others to best protect his City.

Though that begs the question of how many back-up plans Lurien had to protect the City.

Moving on, I could dive into how Lurien is one of the few bugs to have a statue in the whole of Hallownest. I could also talk about the sheer size of his Spire or the fact that Lurien, confirmed to be mortal, has a stone lore tablet that so far only the Pale King has. But I will not as fellow Tumblr user Eggbuggo already talked about that.  Don't worry, I found the post so you don't have to scroll down to March 2nd, 2023 to find it.

https://www.tumblr.com/eggobuggo/710665789135634432/i-think-lots-of-people-tend-to-forget-how-much?source=share

Instead, I will talk about the color of the Spire, or colors.

The City of Tears is mainly divided into two colors: dark blue for the Left side (commoners + business) and red for the Right side (noble houses). The Watcher's Spire, however, has three colors: Blue, Red, AND Purple.

For comparison, here is a picture of the left side of the City of Tears.

Vs. the Right side of the City.

The Watcher's Spire, meanwhile, has three colors.

The floor is red, the pillars and elevators are blue while the wall is purple.

What does this color design say about Lurien the Watcher? For starters, the Watcher has not one assigned color to his Spire, but tastefully uses all three. Even a person from far away can see the beauty in how Lurien creates a contrast with these colors. Considering that each side of the City is predominately one color, this speaks volumes on how Lurien did not side solely which one side of the City.

For example, there is no red or purple glow in the left side of the City. Compare these two images.

Vs.

The lamps inside the Watcher's Spire produce this violet/pinkish glow whereas the lamps on the left side of the City only glow white. Same glass shape, but different light.

On the flip, or right side of the City, the nobles seem to hide any blue inside their home unless it is completely necessary, such as the elevator shafts. Compare:

&

Vs. Lurien using the red as the floor, but decorating with the blue pillars and window frames. The contrast here is used as framing, creating something beautiful even if it is just a hallway.

I believe the color choice for the Watcher's Spire speaks the exact same thing of Lurien's character as the Spire's placement in the City of Tears. Lurien was the mean between extremes for the City. Not only is the Spire in the middle of the City where everyone can reach it, but the use of purple in particular, a color created by mixing blue and red, shows both a claim of connection, yet also distant from the citizens of the City. This is important as purple isn't predominantly seen anywhere else in the City of Tears.

One last thing regarding color, Lurien is also the only one person to employ both blue and red sentries. Except for the one Great Husk Sentry and the Winged Sentry in the Resting Grounds, the blue and red sentries are never seen together. Given the sole location of both the blue and red sentries in the same is the Watcher’s Spire, it speaks to Lurien’s character that he was able to bring those two sentries together. Unfortunately, we do not know if the Watcher was able to pull it off due to his high position, geo, or his personal character, but the feat is still remarkable.

We have reached page 18 of Lurien's section, so I believe it would be best to cut off here for now. To recap: Lurien is proactive to protect his City, even though he would lay dreaming forever. We notice this in the placement of items and people by certain windows. We also learned how colors reflect Lurien's character as the mean in-between the two extremes of the two sides of the City, especially the use of the color purple which is a mix of blue and red. While this creates a distinction between the Watcher and the other citizens of the City, Lurien is still able to bring the people together as noted in the kinds of guards patrolling in his Spire.

If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.

Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here

Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here

Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here

Part 3.25: More of Lurien's Spire (You are here.)

Part 3.5: Lurien's Spire: Pillows and Patriotism: Here

Part 3.7 Lurien's Spire: What is wrong with Lurien's Office?! Here

Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here

Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here

Part 4.0 What We Know We Don't Know About the Dreamers' Houses: Click Here

Link to essay on Ao3: Here

If you have thoughts you wish to share, please feel free to comment or reblog!