{"id":135464,"date":"2025-12-30T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-195258"},"modified":"2025-12-30T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T18:00:00","slug":"feature-mothers-daughters-women-are-the-heart-of-hollow-knight-silksong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2025\/12\/30\/feature-mothers-daughters-women-are-the-heart-of-hollow-knight-silksong\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: Mothers & Daughters – Women Are The Heart Of Hollow Knight: Silksong"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span> Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you haven’t yet made it to the end of Hollow Knight: Silksong<\/strong> \u2014 one of our favourite games of 2025<\/a> \u2014 then be warned, there are major spoilers for the entirety of the game below…<\/em><\/p>\n

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Many insects are matriarchal creatures. For termites, honey bees, praying mantises, ants, and spiders (shh, I know they\u2019re arachnids), their colonies and societies are led by females or defined by female-controlled structures. They range from groups driven by female workers to matriarchs responsible for breeding and raising the entire colony.<\/p>\n

So it makes perfect sense that Hollow Knight: Silksong<\/a> is a game governed by its women. Hollow Knight<\/a> certainly embraces part of this with its true final boss in The Radiance. But from its very first encounter all the way to the finale, Silksong\u2019s women drive the plot forward. It goes way beyond being led by Hornet, a half-spider, half-wyrm who became The Knight\u2019s ally in the first game.<\/p>\n

In Pharloom and the Citadel, a world ensnared by silk and gripped by song, women are everything. Women are guides who help Hornet and chart the corridors of Pharloom. They\u2019re powerful keepers of knowledge who bear the history of this broken kingdom will do whatever it takes to save it. They\u2019re mothers, sisters, daughters, family who love and have let down, who have been forgotten or driven mad. They\u2019re people who have suffered and struggled and continue to struggle.<\/p>\n

Hornet herself is the perfect hero for Silksong\u2019s narrative, one defined by systems of oppression, of familial and generational trauma, of class divides and religious control. Initially stripped of many of her powers and skills, she struggles and climbs \u2014 physically and mentally \u2014 to the top of the Citadel, before collapsing back down to the bottom. I know I\u2019m beating the drum of \u201cthe struggle is the point\u201d here, but the gameplay ties so beautifully with those aforementioned themes, including womanhood, I will continue to beat the same rhythm.<\/p>\n

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<\/span> Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many of Silksong’s toughest challenges come in the form of female figures. The Last Judge, the notorious roadblock between the end of Act 1 and the beginning of Act 2, is among the most fearsome bosses in the game, battering you with a fiery thurible and crimson embers over and over again, in a chamber drowning in her bellowing screams and her face obscured by what looks like a tear-stained mask.<\/p>\n

Then there are the Weavers \u2013 Widow and her tricks that use threads to manipulate bells and overwhelm Hornet, while First Sinner is a lightning-fast combatant who teleports and zips around the arena breathlessly. These are female figures that define Pharloom\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t like Hornet is weak, either. She\u2019s a powerful woman raised by powerful women; her mother is Herrah the Beast, she trained under the Hive Queen Vespa, and was mentored for a time by The White Queen. She carries that strength, displaying confidence and pragmatism while always treating everyone with respect. Even when her eventual rival, Lace, taunts her on their first meeting, she does not mock her back: \u201cYour threats are worthless, child. If you are my foe, stay your voice and raise your blade.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Just like how Hornet contrasts The Knight, other roles filled by men or male-presenting figures in Hollow Knight are now often held by women. Shakra is a very different cartographer than Cornifer; a warrior by nature, she is hunting for her missing mentor. She\u2019s an immense help to Hornet throughout the game, defined by so much more than her strength and her ability to map the world.<\/p>\n

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<\/span> Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For one, Shakra is a woman of tradition; she is found by scattered throwing rings and the dulcet tones of her singing voice. She comes to greatly respect Hornet throughout the journey, recognising her as a fellow warrior. And even though she\u2019s not from the inner areas of Pharloom, like Bone Bottom or the Citadel, in Act 3 she still takes up the mantle as defender of Bellhart when the Void begins to overwhelm.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the Bell Beast is your Last Stag of Silksong, and she\u2019s the complete opposite. Active, vocal, and a fan of pets, Bella (yes, I named her<\/a>) comes to love Hornet because she saved her from being ensnared in silk. Even if Hornet has to knock a bit of sense into her.<\/p>\n

And, like Shakra, the Bell Beast undergoes a bit of a transformation in Act 3. My heart leapt into my throat when I rang the bell at the Bellway and my trusty companion didn\u2019t arrive, instead replaced by the Bell Eater. Luckily, I had nothing to worry about, as after confronting the monstrous centipede-like creature and struggling, the Beast emerges and takes it down. Reunited with her companion, she introduces her litter of adorable children, and the five of them sing as Hornet plays the Needolin.<\/p>\n