Lemm has a comment on this very subject if you give him several King's Idols.
"A King's Idol?
I've often wondered the true visage of the king. Depictions are of an imposing, gleaming figure and a fiercely horned crown.
I suspect there's much embellishment in the imagery though. A ruler seeking worship tends to hide their blemishes. It'd do no good to appear a common bug."
Look to have laid two queens, one of which is a white god tree that is probably also the goddess of fertility, given birth to thousands in offspring wich comprises the pure vessel and the knight + hornet, while also having given start to a kinda successfull kingdom... I would say he wanting to compensate a little doesn't automatically gives small d' energy, and you have seen the size of his previous body in game
At the same time, I wouldn't consider sacrificing an uncountable amount of children to stop some big fluffball whose territory you willingly chose to violate big dick energy. Dude was literally scared of orange jelly đź’€
He certainly resembles one!
However we can't for sure place him in that taxonomic ranking based *just* on morphology, gotta get a DNA sample of Cornifer to know for sure!
true bug =/= bug ;\^)
"bug" is a colloquial term, like fish, or pachyderm.
Colloquial Bug includes a number of lifeforms outside hexapods, like arachnids, crustaceans, mollusks, worms from multiple different orders including miryapods, and even non animals like bacteria and viruses.
words can have multiple meanings, bug can mean any terrestrial arthropod, it could mean microbes and parasites that make you sick, it could mean to annoy, it could even be a nickname for heteroptera.
Also mollusks aren't arthropods they're their own phylum.
This seems to contradict the motivation that the PK had for taking that form in the first place, to be able to walk between his subjects. Altought the source for that is the godseeker and she has been wrong before
I'm guessing the Pale King's reason for the second form was that the prior form wasn't very good for building a kingdom. So yes, it's "to walk among his subjects" but more importantly it was "to have legs and arms and be able to walk through doorways without demolishing the entire city block".
That statues tend to represent a more idealized form of someone. It's common for rulers to make depictions of themselves practically resemble deities because that's how they see themselves. While the Pale King was opposing a great evil, you can tell he had an inflated opinion of himself.
Idk if a guy who's mere presence is the sole source of sentience within the whole kingdom has "an inflated opinion of themselves" more like a reasonable opinion of himself lol.
That's the art style. It would look off if a part of the background wasn't rendered like the rest, likewise for a character.
If the Pale King were highly detailed, you'd mistake him for another statue rather than a character.
This is the only correct answer.
Not a single character model in the game is shaded the way background assets like statues are. See also: the statues of the Dreamers, Hollow Knight, and Radiance, and compare to their in-game character sprites
For a great example of this, look at the dead Mawleks in the background of the Brooding Mawlek area. They are way higher quality shading than BM himself.
Yeah, obviously. Anyone who knows their Mawlek sexual traits can see that the one in the Forgotten Crossroads is male and the one in the colosseum is female. And the one in Godhome is an imaginary frenemy.
Funner fact. Even tough i played the game 3 times already, i did not realize the statue was holding the vessel fragment until someone told me last week
It also dissapears when you get it
There’s a technique used in comics and animation called “masking” where the characters are simplified and the backgrounds are fully detailed. The human brain connects with simplified figures more easily but it’s more able to immerse itself into lush, detailed background. This way, you get the best of both.
I don’t know HK enough but can someone change their mask?
If yes then that could explain the change.
For the rest it may be another set of clothes he has in his closet.
Lemm has a comment on this very subject if you give him several King's Idols. "A King's Idol? I've often wondered the true visage of the king. Depictions are of an imposing, gleaming figure and a fiercely horned crown. I suspect there's much embellishment in the imagery though. A ruler seeking worship tends to hide their blemishes. It'd do no good to appear a common bug."
So what Lemm's saying is that the Pale King is compensating for something?
TIL the Pale King has small dick energy
Just now learning this? Cuz the rest of the lore wasn't enough proof?
Look to have laid two queens, one of which is a white god tree that is probably also the goddess of fertility, given birth to thousands in offspring wich comprises the pure vessel and the knight + hornet, while also having given start to a kinda successfull kingdom... I would say he wanting to compensate a little doesn't automatically gives small d' energy, and you have seen the size of his previous body in game
Ok when you put it that way I can see where you're coming from.
At the same time, I wouldn't consider sacrificing an uncountable amount of children to stop some big fluffball whose territory you willingly chose to violate big dick energy. Dude was literally scared of orange jelly đź’€
To be fair to the king, he was once a Massive bug
Uhm actually worms aren't bugs 🤓
uhm, actually, bug isn't a taxonomic term. 8\^\]
um actually it can be, Heteroptera is nicknamed as 'true bugs'
Cornifer is one of those, right?
He certainly resembles one! However we can't for sure place him in that taxonomic ranking based *just* on morphology, gotta get a DNA sample of Cornifer to know for sure!
*nervous eye-twitch*
*sigh*, bapanada
Interesting!
true bug =/= bug ;\^) "bug" is a colloquial term, like fish, or pachyderm. Colloquial Bug includes a number of lifeforms outside hexapods, like arachnids, crustaceans, mollusks, worms from multiple different orders including miryapods, and even non animals like bacteria and viruses.
words can have multiple meanings, bug can mean any terrestrial arthropod, it could mean microbes and parasites that make you sick, it could mean to annoy, it could even be a nickname for heteroptera. Also mollusks aren't arthropods they're their own phylum.
Wyrm I believe
Was he even a worm tho? His species is called "Wyrm" in the game, so it might as well be a dragon/dragon pupa
This seems to contradict the motivation that the PK had for taking that form in the first place, to be able to walk between his subjects. Altought the source for that is the godseeker and she has been wrong before
I'm guessing the Pale King's reason for the second form was that the prior form wasn't very good for building a kingdom. So yes, it's "to walk among his subjects" but more importantly it was "to have legs and arms and be able to walk through doorways without demolishing the entire city block".
Hello again
Hi
This is a wonderful tidbit. Thank you so much!
Perhaps there is a lesson there.
That statues tend to represent a more idealized form of someone. It's common for rulers to make depictions of themselves practically resemble deities because that's how they see themselves. While the Pale King was opposing a great evil, you can tell he had an inflated opinion of himself.
Thank you sensei
Beary helpful
Wasn't he literally a deity tho?
A higher being, but yeah. I was more referring to statues in general, of plain old regular people.
Ben Garrison drawing Trump:
Idk if a guy who's mere presence is the sole source of sentience within the whole kingdom has "an inflated opinion of themselves" more like a reasonable opinion of himself lol.
That's the art style. It would look off if a part of the background wasn't rendered like the rest, likewise for a character. If the Pale King were highly detailed, you'd mistake him for another statue rather than a character.
This is the only correct answer. Not a single character model in the game is shaded the way background assets like statues are. See also: the statues of the Dreamers, Hollow Knight, and Radiance, and compare to their in-game character sprites
For a great example of this, look at the dead Mawleks in the background of the Brooding Mawlek area. They are way higher quality shading than BM himself.
Himself?
Yeah, obviously. Anyone who knows their Mawlek sexual traits can see that the one in the Forgotten Crossroads is male and the one in the colosseum is female. And the one in Godhome is an imaginary frenemy.
i mean mawlek *is* showing hole every time it jumps
Actually that's how you can tell the gender, but it takes a very careful eye. At least 2-3 hours of careful measurements.
See also: every animated movie and tv show ever made
Less is more. It would not have been balanced with the character foreground vs the background/context. There needs to be contrast.
not only is it more readable, but also shading every frame of every character like that would be a stupid amount of work
Maybe it’s glorified, I mean it’s like 5x taller than him
True, bug why cant we ever see his hands? The kingsmoulds also have four arms and they are nearly the same height
We see him once in game and he's dead. There's not really any opportunity to see his hands
OP wants to see if he has huge hands. If you know what I mean.
Fun fact! The cup that statue is holding is a vessel fragment. They used to be two pieces but it was changed to 3
Funner fact. Even tough i played the game 3 times already, i did not realize the statue was holding the vessel fragment until someone told me last week It also dissapears when you get it
There’s a technique used in comics and animation called “masking” where the characters are simplified and the backgrounds are fully detailed. The human brain connects with simplified figures more easily but it’s more able to immerse itself into lush, detailed background. This way, you get the best of both.
It's like Photoshop of the kingdom
Why yes, statues of powerful figures do tend to be exaggerated glorifications.
A Kings followers see him in grandeur even when the king himself is not of the same nature
Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than things. Well known fact. But I don’t hold with encouraging it.
It’s called propaganda
Keep in mind you are comparing the statue to the King's corpse, not to his living form.
because it was built in his honor so they made it more detailed to show that he was more than what he appeared
The background is the same style as the backgrounds but the character is the same style as the characters? Who would guess
Probably overcompensating for something idk what though
Still background image vs. animation cel.
do your think he’s compensating for something?
The vast majority of Hallownest had no clear idea what the pale king looked like
Kinda hard if he was so bright it hurt to look
I don’t know HK enough but can someone change their mask? If yes then that could explain the change. For the rest it may be another set of clothes he has in his closet.
They can change their masks but i think thats his actual shell And what about his arms?
It could be part of his garment
I will wager more half the figures in the Greek pantheon didn't have the six-pack abs of their statue counterparts.
Primary reason being they didnt exist
OZYMANDIAS
PROPAGANDA
Lies, i have seen the king myself and he's as tall and imposing as the statue makes him out to be, even the one in queens gardens
“Why does a statue look like somebody it’s modelled off”
They're asking why there are more rendered details on the statue than are shown in the pale king's sprite.
Yeah like the arms
Cuz they dont have to animate the statue
Worm boy.
Damn, this actually serves as a good template
Might have something to do with him being dead and all