Mask Shard

When all Mask Shards have been collected the name of the Inventory item changes to Ancient Mask

Mask Shards are Items in Hollow Knight.

Use

Mask Shards are part of Ancient Masks. 4 Mask Shards are needed to complete an Ancient Mask, which increases the Knight's health by one. If extra masks from Lifeblood Cocoons are being retained when the number of masks is increased the mask gained will replace that of the Lifeblood Cocoon visually, but both masks still remain and taking damage will take away one less mask.

With a total of 16 Mask Shards in the game, the Knight can increase their mask count by 4, for a maximum of 9, not counting bonuses from Charms and Lifeblood Cocoons.

How to Acquire

There are a total of 16 Masks Shards to be found in the game:

Source	Conditions / Requirements	Map
1. Bought from Sly in Dirtmouth for 150	n/a
2. Bought from Sly in Dirtmouth for 500	n/a
3. Bought from Sly in Dirtmouth for 800	Requires Shopkeeper's Key
4. Bought from Sly in Dirtmouth for 1500	Requires Shopkeeper's Key
5. Far West of the Forgotten Crossroads	Reward for defeating Brooding Mawlek
6. Given by Grubfather	Requires rescuing 5 Grubs
7. Forgotten Crossroads South of False Knight where the Goams are	Mantis Claw recommended
8. In Queen's Station, near East side	Requires Mantis Claw
9. Found in Bretta's house in Dirtmouth	Requires rescuing Bretta from Fungal Wastes
10. Found in Stone Sanctuary in Greenpath	Lumafly Lantern recommended
11. Royal Waterways NW section, swim left under main path	n/a
12. Found in Deepnest through Fungal Core, near Mantis Lords	Requires Monarch Wings
13. Reward from Enraged Guardian	Requires Monarch Wings
14. Found behind a wall in the Hive	Requires baiting a Hive Guardian into breaking a wall
15. Given by the Seer	Requires collecting 1500 Essence
16. Given by Grey Mourner in Resting Grounds	Requires completing the Delicate Flower quest

Achievements

	Protected
	Acquire 4 Mask Shards

	Masked
	Acquire all Mask Shards

Trivia

• The A Weird and Wonderful World trailer shows that an early name for the Mask Shard was "Grey Mask Shard".^[1] In the Ferocious Foes trailer, it was called a "Shell Fragment".^[2]
• The music heard after acquiring four Mask Shards originates from a short sample track that was posted when Christopher Larkin was hired as the game's composer.^[3]

References

1. ↑ A Weird and Wonderful World trailer.
2. ↑ Ferocious Foes trailer.
3. ↑ Kickstarter update of March 6th, 2015.