The Pale King

The Pale King is the deceased ruler of Hallownest.

Physical Description
The Pale King is completely white with a four pronged mask. He seems to wear a silver cape of sorts. When he grows up along side of the Hollow Knight, he becomes taller, and his mask becomes more elegant, the spikes becoming longer. He gains a spiked ruff of sorts around his neck, and he gains four claws on his body.

Story
At some unknown time, a Great Wyrm erupted from the earth in Hallownest. It was somehow defeated and its husk was cast off to the outer edges of the Kingdom's Edge. Although, the Wyrm reincarnated as "a wyrm who took the form of a king," the Pale King himself. He was the first bug to have his own intellect, and used a power called pale light to give sentience to bugs. When the Radiance became vengeful, the King sought out a pure Vessel to contain Radiance inside of it. He searched for an unknown amount of time, tossing back thousands of Vessels because they were not the right fit (those are the falling husks in the Abyss when you get the Void Heart.) Finally he found what he thought was a pure Vessel, The Hollow Knight, although much younger. The two grew up together, and when the time had come, the Hollow Knight was sealed in the Temple of the Black Egg. At some unknown time, the White Palace collapsed, and the Pale King was killed. The White Lady, however, escaped to her gardens. Without their ruler, the economy of Hallownest collapsed. The infection was seeping out, and slowly the bugs became infected by the Radiance's horrible manifestation.

The Birthplace
"No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering. Born of God and Void."

"You shall seal the blinding light that plagues our dreams."

"You are the Vessel."

"You are the Hollow Knight."

Trivia

 * The Pale King was born from a Wyrm, it's shell cast off in the Kingdom's Edge (literally the Cast-Off Shell.)
 * Only after did he seal Radiance with the first Hollow Knight did he give the bugs of Hallownest the sapience they needed to turn Hallownest into a kingdom.
 * As the Radiance continued to try and break free, the King grew more and more desperate and took darker and darker measures to contain it.
 * It is unknown how he died, although because his final words when Dream Nailed are "No cost too great...", it can be assumed that he made a sacrifice of sorts.
 * Although, the Palace had collapsed and this is probably what killed him.