Hallownest

Hallownest is the name of the kingdom the player explores in Hollow Knight.

Story
At the start of the game, Hallownest has been reduced to ruins, with the majority of the population dead, missing, or overcome by The Infection. At the kingdom's surface, the small village of Dirtmouth had been, until recently, the last remaining hub of civilized bugs, until most of the population was drawn into the depths of the kingdom through the well on the outskirts of town. The last remaining member, Elderbug, greets the player upon their first arrival and tells them of the town's tragic fate. As the player finds more adventurers, some will return to Dirtmouth and re-open closed buildings.

As the player progresses, they discover that Hallownest was created when the Pale King arrived gave individuality to the bugs of the area, all of whom previously lived under a single hive mind originating from the guiding light of The Radiance. The Pale King banished The Radiance and replaced their "light" with his own "Pale Light," guiding bugs into a new era of industry, technology, and civilization.

Unfortunately, this prosperity did not last. The desire to revert back to a singular hive mentality still lingered in the minds of bugs, calling out to them in their dreams. This desire, suppressed by the Pale King's light, eventually began to physically manifest as The Infection, forcibly reverting bugs back to a primal, naturally aggressive state, devoted to singular causes.

To combat this, the Pale King began running experiments in The Abyss, using the black Void found underneath the kingdom as well as parts of his own Soul, seeking to create a Vessel that was completely emotionless, but with enough physical strength and willpower to contain The Infection within itself.

At some point during this, the Soul Master and his assistants sought to utilize the power of Soul to fight the Infection, but the Pale King rejected this proposal. This didn't stop them, however, and the researchers of the Soul Sanctum eventually either became crazed with the power or mutated into horrifying creatures.

After hundreds, if not thousands of failed attempts (including the Broken Vessel), the Pale King finally deemed The Hollow Knight worthy of being the Vessel capable of containing The Infection. He sealed off the Abyss so no other bug could discover the Void's dangerous power. The ritual was performed and the Hollow Knight was sealed within the Black Egg. The Pale King requested the aid of three powerful bugs to rest in permanent sleep in order to use their energy to seal the Black Egg, as to ensure that the Hollow Knight was never killed or corrupted. These three bugs, Monomon the Teacher, Lurien the Watcher, and Herrah the Beast, became known as The Dreamers, and they actively prevent the player from reaching the Hollow Knight through corporeal projections of themselves.

Herrah, in return for becoming a Dreamer, requested that she be given a child. To accomplish this, the Pale King used a similar method as he did when creating Vessels, combining his Soul with part of Herrah and part of the Void, creating Hornet.

With the Hollow Knight sealed, the Infection was finally banished, and Hallownest continued on thriving for a time. However, it seems that the Hollow Knight was not, in fact, perfectly empty, as Infection soon began leaking out of the Black Egg and re-infecting the citizens of Hallownest. At some point during this, the Pale King and the entire White Palace disappeared, leaving behind only the outskirts of the castle and a single Kingsmould. Without their King to guide them, Hallownest slowly fell to ruin as more and more bugs became infected and infrastructure collapsed. Now the only inhabitants have either gone insane from isolation, or have become hive-minded husks driven to fight against anything not Infected.

Eventually, rejected or unused Vessels found a way out of The Abyss and began coming back to Hallownest, seeking out the Infection by nature. Hornet now acts as a sentry, testing the strength and will of each Vessel to see if they are worthy of succeeding the Hollow Knight.

Areas
For more information on the different areas in Hallownest, see Areas.