Cloth

"You act so confident in battle. You show no fear before your foes. I'll try my best to do the same."

- Cloth

Cloth is a wanderer in Hollow Knight. She is on a quest of her own throughout Hallownest to prove her bravery.

Lore
Cloth is a large cicada warrior. She set out to Hallownest in order to prove her courage by defeating mighty creatures. However, her cowardly nature often takes over her bravado and leads to hide underground to escape her foes or to simply sleep, snoring loudly while doing so. She is motivated by the prospect of dying in an epic battle and joining her departed Nola.

Cloth's fights by brandishing a club cut from the tooth of an ancient beast. She jumps before landing her club, smashing her opponents to bits.

Hollow Knight
Cloth can be first encountered in the Fungal Wastes, above the entrance to the City of Tears. She is woken up by the sound of the Knight's footsteps and rise from the ground to talk to them. She tells them of the Mantis Tribe deeper down in the area, whom she wants to test her strength against.

Later on, if Cloth had yet to be encountered in the Ancient Basin, she can be found at the beginning of the Failed Tramway in Deepnest. There she rests, exhausted and sore after her fight against the ferocious creatures of the Nest. She plans to leave the area later and search for a less terrifying challenge.

In the Ancient Basin, Cloth found herself unable to fend off the creatures infesting the end of the Tram tunnel and buried herself to hide from them. Once the Knight cleared off the tunnel of Aspid Hunters and Lesser Mawleks, she comes out from the ground. Abandoning her bravado, she openly confides her weaknesses. Yet, inspired by the Knight's feats, she regains confidence and decides to continue her quest in Hallownest.

From this point, Cloth can be encountered at the entrance of the Queen's Gardens near the Fog Canyon. She returned to this area to face the the Mantis Traitors occupying the gardens. She hopes to finally be able to face down her fears this time or die doing so. She later appears to help the Knight during an ambush of Mantis Traitors near the White Lady's refuge, and they fight together against the Traitor Lord. However, the Lord will mortally wound her at the end of the fight, a moment she chooses to deal the final blow herself before dying.

Once the Knight leaves the area and returns, Cloth's ghost can be found above her corpse. She is thrilled by her fight, having achieved what she came for in Hallownest, and states she will depart soon to join Nola. After leaving the area again, her ghost will have disappeared.

If Cloth was not rescued in the Ancient Basin before fighting the Traitor Lord, she will decide to leave Hallownest, having found no challenge she could not overcome and die trying. She regains Dirtmouth and sleeps outside of Sly's shop. She thanks the Knight for the inspiration they gave her but states her plan to find more challenges outside Hallownest's ruins. In her mind, she still hopes to be reunited with Nola in death.

Locations
Cloth can be found in several locations across Hallownest. If she is encountered in Queen's Gardens, she cannot be found in Dirtmouth and vice versa.

Trivia

 * Cloth was the first Backer NPC announced. Backer NPCs were a reward tier on the Hollow Knight Kickstarter page:
 * "Cloth is a Cicada-type warrior to meet on your quest through the caverns. Just listen for his Cicada song and you’ll know he’s close. Cloth’s a friendly sort, though he’s having doubts about his combat prowess. As the Hollow Knight, you can help Cloth regain his morale and in doing so gain his assistance through some tough battles. Watch out though! Cloth isn’t invincible and without the two of you working together he may end up meeting a warrior’s demise."
 * "Fun Fact: Cloth was originally called Burlap until we realised burlap, the material, doesn't exist in Hallownest so he underwent a name change. We’re still working with Noah to finalise Cloth so look forward to his exciting (possibly tragic) tale when you play the final game."
 * Despite the pitch, Cloth only aids the Knight during the battle with the Traitor Lord. If she is present during that battle it will always end with the Lord impaling Cloth and the Cloth delivering the final blow to the Lord's skull, killing them both.
 * Although pitched as male during the Kickstarter campaign, the official manual and developer notes denote Cloth as female.
 * There is always rumbling before Cloth pops out of the ground in any area; this is accompanied by the same sound effects as when the player walks on a breakable floor.
 * Her club can be seen resting on the grave of the Traitors' Child in the background of the Traitor Lord fight in Godhome, if she is killed in battle.