Snail Shaman

"I'm going to give you a gift, a nasty little spell of my own creation. It's just perfect for a little one like you!"

- Snail Shaman

Snail Shaman is an NPC in Hollow Knight. He gives the Vengeful Spirit spell in the Ancestral Mound.

Lore
Snail Shaman is part of the snail shaman tribe. His relatives can be found around Hallownest, but since he is bound to the Ancestral Mound he is unable to visit them. He is therefore unaware of their fate.

While the Snail Shaman can create Soul spells such as Vengeful Spirit, he and the other snails are unable to make spells like Abyss Shriek, having never been to the Abyss.

Hollow Knight
Upon first encounter, the Shaman gifts the Vengeful Spirit spell to the Knight. Accepting it results in the Knight waking up locked up in a small dungeon, tasked with killing an Elder Baldur within the Ancestral Mound.

The bodies of other snail shamans can be found throughout Hallownest. There is a crystallised one in the Crystalised Mound, one with overgrown fungus in the Overgrown Mound and one in the Soul Sanctum that looked like it has been experimented on, as well as a snail sarcophagus where Soul Eater can be found.

Acquiring spells from these snails will cause the Snail Shaman to comment on how these spells remind him of his various relatives.

Location
The Snail Shaman is found in the Ancestral Mound in the Forgotten Crossroads. He can be accessed after defeating False Knight or breaking the wall on the left side of False Knight's boss room.

Trivia

 * The Snail Shaman is one of the few NPCs who are able to detect when they are being Dream Nailed, the others being Bardoon, Midwife, Seer and the White Lady.