Found along the path leading to Greenpath. He is held in the mandibles of a Vengefly King, and the Knight has the choice to either save him or leave him. If saved, he complains that the Knight got in the way between him and his "prey", he introduces himself and boasts about his supposed mighty deeds.
If he is not saved before acquiring the Mantis Claw, he dies in this location, with his nail and shell remaining. Hitting his shell here grants the Neglect achievement.
If he is saved in Greenpath, Zote shows up in Dirtmouth, where he once again talks to the Knight in an arrogant fashion.
Zote can be found in a corridor leading back to the storerooms of the City of Tears. He has forgotten the Knight and introduces himself again.
Found stuck in spider webs, presumably having been captured by the beasts of Deepnest. Once again the Knight has the choice to either save him or leave him, though this time leaving him does not result in his death. If saved, he once again complains about the Knight meddling in his supposed heroics.
If the Knight saves him both times, he is captured and can be found in the resting area of the Colosseum of Fools, where he brags about his skills and how his capture was part of his plan. He then becomes the final boss of the first trial. As a boss, he deals no damage due to his nail being made of shellwood. He simply has to be attacked until the fight is over. He is quite inept in combat and regularly messes up his jumps. Beating him grants the Rivalry achievement.
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The Trial of the Fool is the third and final trial available in the Colosseum of Fools to the Knight.
Requires 
800 to open.
Upon clearing it for the first time, the Knight receives 3000-3020 and the Fool achievement. Subsequent completions reward 3000-3020.
Tips
Equipment, Spells, and Abilities
As a late game area, the Knight is expected to have almost maximum equipment, especially the Pure Nail, as well as all Nail Arts and upgraded Spells. It is also recommended to have at least 8 Masks and 2 Soul Vessels.
Charms
- Nailmaster's Glory is very helpful, as it allows the Knight to charge Nail Arts much quicker. Cyclone Slash tears through most foes, while Great Slash and Dash Slash usually kill flying enemies in a single hit. With a very low cost of 1 Notch, it is recommended even if the Knight goes for a Spell build or hybrid build.
- Shaman Stone allows Shade Soul to kill many flying enemies (most notably Primal Aspids and Armoured Squits) in a single blast, allowing the Knight to deal with enemies from afar and not risk getting hit. This is especially useful during the section without any floor, as the SOUL can't be spent on healing anyway.
- Mark of Pride and Longnail can help with down-slashing, which is especially useful during the floorless section. The extra reach is helpful when standing on a platform.
- Dream Wielder allows the Knight to easily gather lots of SOUL for Spells or healing using the Dream Nail. If a slow enemy is saved until the end of a wave, it can be farmed for SOUL, and the Knight can heal to full.
- During waves 14-16, having Nailmaster's Glory equipped, clinging to a wall, and performing the Great Slash Nail Art can be a good strategy, but it is risky when getting close to the spikes, because if an enemy is too close to the Knight, it is hard to climb without going straight into the enemy.
- If timed properly the Knight can use the Dream Nail on the Garpedes during wave 13 to obtain some SOUL.
- Weaversong makes the final boss trivial. Simply sticking to one of the walls of the arena using the charge of Crystal Heart keeps the Knight completely safe while the Weaverlings slowly kill the two enemies.
- Together with Grubsong the Weaverlings can generate a fair amount of SOUL. Even more so if a weak enemy is kept alive until the end of a wave and one allows the Weaverlings to hit it repeatedly. This combo can also help extract SOUL from the Garpede section mentioned above.
Many charms are helpful in some specific situations.
- Hiveblood can be used to heal during the section without a floor.
- Grubsong and Thorns of Agony turn any hit into an advantage (SOUL and damage output, respectively), and it is likely to get hit a lot during this intense, drawn-out battle.
- Dreamshield provides protection (albeit not very reliable) against most forms of projectiles. It also gives additional reach while standing on platforms or clinging to walls, which is particularly helpful for the floor-less section.
Waves Information and Advice
This table contains advice mostly for a Nail build.
- Shielded Fools are not very aggressive, only have melee attacks and are slow, therefore they are the best target for SOUL farming and healing. Always leave these foes till last so it is easier to heal and refill SOUL.
- Primal Aspids, in any situation, are a grave threat, so kill them as fast as possible, either using Great Slash, Dash Slash or Shade Soul upgraded by Shaman Stone.
- Armoured Squits usually appear in multiples, they are very fast and usually strike at the same time. Cyclone Slash can protect the Knight from both sides and easily deflect them all.
- Mantis Petras and Soul Twisters are very dangerous airborne foes, but they fall in a single Great Slash. It is recommended to deal with them fast before they have a chance to do anything.
| Wave 1 | |
|---|---|
| Transition: None | |
 Heavy Fool, left
|
Defeating one of these enemies spawns the next row. |
 Armoured Squit x2, centre
|
Defeating the remaining enemies spawns the next row. |
 Shielded Fool, left
|
|
 Winged Fool, left
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Cyclone Slash can protect the Knight from all directions while damaging foes left and right. |
| Wave 2 | |
| Transition: Two platforms spring up, followed by spikes covering the floor. | |
 Sturdy Fool, left
|
Stay on the platform and take down the Primal Aspid, spikes will take care of those Sturdy Fools. |
| Wave 3 | |
| Transition: Ceiling drops down to about 75% of arena height. | |
 Battle Obble, top left
|
After taking down the Winged Fool, it is a good time to heal as Battle Obbles do not actively try to aim at the Knight. |
 Furious Vengefly, top left
|
Prepare Nail Arts beforehand as Furious Vengeflies are extremely aggressive. |
| Wave 4 | |
| Transition: The platforms and spikes go away. | |
| Heavy Fool, left
|
Stay clinging at high as possible, let those Belflies take care of the rest. |
 Belfly x6 (one after another)
|
|
| Wave 5 | |
| Transition: The ceiling rises, returning the arena to its original state. | |
 Death Loodle, top centre
|
The Death Loodles spawn one after another |
| Wave 6 | |
| Transition: Four platforms rise up. | |
| Death Loodle, bottom left
|
|
| Wave 7 | |
| Transition: The platforms go away, returning the arena to its original state. | |
| Death Loodle, left
|
|
| Wave 8 | |
| Transition: Four platforms stacked in a column rise up in the centre and spikes cover the floor. | |
| Armoured Squit, left
|
Defeating each above enemy spawns 1 of each enemy from the next row. Kill 1 Squit, then wait for the Primal Aspid to spawn and take care of it before killing the other Squit. |
 Primal Aspid, top left
|
Defeating 1 Primal Aspid spawns the next row. |
| Primal Aspid, left
|
|
 Garpede x4
|
Crawling across the arena, reaching each platform at a different time. They cross platforms in this order: 3, 4, 2, 1 (1 is the top platform).
Once all four Garpedes are done crossing, the next row spawns. Stay at the top platform to get the longest possible time to heal. |
| Winged Fool, top left
|
|
| Wave 9 | |
| Transition: Platforms and spikes go away, returning the arena to its original state. | |
| Shielded Fool, left
|
Defeating 2 of the above enemies spawns the next row. |
 Mantis Traitor, centre
|
Defeating 1 of the above enemies spawns the next row. |
 Mantis Petra, centre
|
Defeating all of the above enemies spawns the next row. |
| Mantis Petra, left
|
Defeating 2 of the above enemies spawns the next row. |
| Mantis Petra, left
|
Defeating all enemies spawns the next row. |
 Soul Twister x2
|
|
 Mistake x33 (one after another) |
Leave 1 of them alive to farm soul with the Dreamnail. |
 Soul Warrior
|
|
| Wave 10 | |
| Transition: Six platforms rise up and spikes cover the floor. | |
 Volt Twister, top centre
|
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| Soul Twister, top centre
|
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| Volt Twister, top right
|
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| Volt Twister, right
|
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| Soul Twister, right
|
|
| Wave 11 | |
| Transition: The platforms and spikes go away, returning the arena to its original state. | |
| Soul Warrior
|
|
| Soul Twister
|
|
| Wave 12 | |
| Transition: The walls close in, shrinking the arena floorspace to about half. | |
| Winged Fool, left
|
|
 Lesser Mawlek, left
|
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| Lesser Mawlek, left
|
Cling as high as possible to safely take down the Winged Fool. |
 Brooding Mawlek, centre
|
|
| Wave 13 | |
| Transition: The walls close in even more, keeping The Knight stuck in place for several seconds. Then they expand to 3 Garpedes' worth of space. | |
| Garpede x8
|
This wave starts with 1 Garpede crawling down in the centre. Before it reaches The Knight, the walls open a bit. Then Garpedes crawl down in pairs (except the 5th which crawls down solo), leaving The Knight just enough space to survive each wave. Wave 1: centre With the help of Dream Wielder it is possible to get a handful of soul and heal a decent amount afterward. |
| Wave 14 | |
| Transition: The walls spread out to half of the arena's size and spikes cover the floor. | |
| Winged Fool, centre
|
|
| Primal Aspid, top
|
|
| Mantis Petra, top
|
|
| Battle Obble x4
|
Defeating 3 of these enemies spawns the next row. |
| Winged Fool x2, centre
|
|
| Wave 15 | |
| Transition: The ceiling drops down to about halfway. | |
| Armoured Squit, centre
|
|
| Armoured Squit, centre
|
|
| Wave 16 | |
| Transition: The walls and ceiling return to their original state and 3 platforms rise up. | |
|
|
Stay steady on any platform and let these Loodles kill themselves. It is possible to Dreamnail them and even healing at this time. If the platform is (unluckily) overwhelmed, Cyclone Slash will easily clear it. |
| Wave 17 | |
| Transition: The platforms and spikes go away, returning the arena to its original state. | |
| Heavy Fool, left
|
|
| Mantis Traitor, left
|
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| Winged Fool, centre
|
Defeating one of these enemies spawns the next row. |
| Mantis Petra, centre
|
|
| Soul Twister
|
|
| Volt Twister
|
|
 Sharp Baldur, left
|
|
| Heavy Fool, left
|
Defeating one of these enemies spawns the next row. |
| Sturdy Fool, left
|
|
 God Tamer
|
|
Achievements
A brief summary by the author of the book states the following:
"The book is written from the perspective of Ellina the Chronicler, an "outsider" who is documenting her observations as she travels through Hallownest. She only knows what she's learned from others during her journey, so she doesn't pick up on any deep lore."
In addition, Ellina herself provides a small introduction in her journal:
"Greetings, fellow wanderer, and welcome to Hallownest!" "It would seem you’ve happened upon my journal. This volume contains a record of my observations and musings, transcribed as I travelled into the kingdom’s depths and-through a miracle of either luck or sheer willpower-returned safely to the surface. My travels brought me to Hallownest purely out of curiosity; though I expected to find naught but a desolate ruin down below, what awaited me was quite possibly the adventure of a lifetime. To that end, I’ve chosen to leave my completed journal behind, in hopes that another brave explorer might use it to piece together the myriad of mysteries of this forsaken kingdom."
The contents of the Wanderer's Journal include images and descriptions drawn and written by Ellina detailing a variety of enemies, characters, and environments. The main descriptions are typed out and are accompanied by Ellina's "quotes" - which are written out in a handwriting style font.
Ellina's story and adventure canonically occur at the same time as the events of Hollow Knight; the Knight's quest would have been currently in progress during the time Ellina was writing her journal. Evidence of this includes an account of Bretta first encountered by Ellina stuck in the Fungal Wastes, but later on noted to be in Dirtmouth: implying that Bretta was saved by the Knight as it occurs in the game.
Despite her story happening parallel to the game's events, Ellina never meets or runs into the Knight in person during her exploration of Hallownest. The closest instance Ellina comes to encountering the Knight underground is only through noticing the painting of the Knight by Nailmaster Sheo.
However, at the very end of the novel, when Ellina plans to leave the kingdom, she does catch a glimpse of the Knight as she's returning to the surface.
|
Fool |
|---|---|
| Complete the Trial of the Fool. 20G |
