Nailsmith

"I'm not much for talk, but if it's a nail that needs repair then you've come to the right bug."

- The Nailsmith

The Nailsmith is a Merchant in Hollow Knight. He provides a service to strengthen the Knight's Nail for Geo and Pale Ore.

Lore
The Nailsmith is one of the few bugs that lived through the fall of Hallownest. Driven by his craft and working in seclusion, he barely noticed the world changing around him. Even before that, he hardly paid attention to the Kingdom's Five Great Knights. He spends his time honing his craft, hoping to forge one day a Pure Nail, the apex of his work. He discards the nails that didn't meet this dream around his smithy.

He achieves his life goal after forging a Pure Nail for the Knight. His final work done, the Nailsmith will step outside and ask to be cut down to feel the Pure Nail's strength. Obliging him sends him plummeting down into the waters below, his body to be washed into the city's sewer and ending up in the Junk Pit.

If the Knight leaves without attacking, he abandons his craft and heads out into the world. He eventually finds his way to Sheo's Hut in Greenpath. There, the Nailmaster and the Nailsmith form a close bond and the two can be encountered working on art projects: painting and modelling.

Hollow Knight
The Nailsmith can be found at his smithy in the City of Tears, in an area below the City Gate. He first can provide the Old Nail to Sharpened Nail refinement for a small amount of Geo. After that, he will require both Pale Ore and Geo to upgrade it further, with the price and the amount of Pale Ore increasing per each succeeding upgrade

His services will end after the Pure Nail has been crafted and then depending on what decision is made he has two locations where he can end up. Either decision comes with an achievement and is not reversible, requiring two play-throughs of the game to get both.

Trivia

 * The Nailsmith's quest to forge the perfect nail was a Kickstarter stretch goals at $44,000 was the addition of four new quests to the game:
 * The Nailsmith was first revealed in a Kickstarter update, although that information is no longer canonical:
 * "Follow a twisting path from the outskirts of the drowning city. Cross a broken bridge and you'll hear it close, the ring of metal and the roar of flame. A craftsman obsessed.
 * Within his forge the Nailsmith is searching, on an endless quest to create a flawless nail.
 * Past failures pile outside his door, exposed to the rains and left to rust. He spares no thought for imperfect things. Nor does he pause to take notice of the countless beings that take their pick of his refuse.
 * But his neglect has impact. His discarded nails have spread wide through Hallownest, clutched tight in the hands of creatures possessed.
 * Only in the Hollow Knight's broken nail does he at last see true potential. Distant and difficult to achieve, but it is in there, waiting - a blade to be honed beyond all others, to be forged into a form so brilliant it transcends its metal and becomes myth."


 * It is possible to kill the Nailsmith with any attack when he asks, including Spells. Whether this is intentional is unknown.
 * Similarly to the Nailsmith's Corpse's Dream Nail dialogue of "Pure...", "...Pure..." is also the Dream Nail dialogue of the corpse of the Ancient Nailsmith found in Kingdom's Edge.

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