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

 * According to Bardoon, the Pale King was born from a Wyrm. The same Wyrm that he was reincarnated as.
 * If you can tell, the Wyrm's shell has the same spike-like markings on its head. This is probably where the symbol of the King's crown-like mask came from.