Hollow Knight devs casually confirm a theory that's puzzled fans for 6 years

Best Steam Games — (Image credit: Team Cherry)

Hollow Knight fans can finally put one lore debate to rest thanks to an abrupt answer from the folks at developer Team Cherry.

Reputable Hollow Knight scribe mossbag recently passed a question to the dev team as part of a Discord conversation with community figure and lead playtester Graig, who previously threw fans a lifeline as they wait for Hollow Knight Silksong.

Mossbag used the opportunity to ask about the grub care instructions included with the game's 2017 collector's edition – that is, whether these are canonical. Graig replied to confirm that studio co-director William Pellen said "it was written by us," making the grub guidelines official.

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What do the grub guidelines hold that's so important? Only an essential collection of "hints and warnings for those wishing to adopt a grub," which is of course serious business. This has, believe it or not, been the subject of some debate going back years. After all, who wouldn't want to know the proper way to care for easily the cutest critter in Hollow Knight?

I was recently given the opportunity to ask Team Cherry any single question, so naturally I asked if the Grub Care Instructions, a document included in the 2017 Collector's Edition of Hollow Knight, was canonical. According to Team Cherry, they wrote this document... so yes? pic.twitter.com/W4zBS514iKJuly 13, 2023

Thanks to this groundbreaking confirmation, we now know with certainty that you should not, for example, feed grubs flesh or eggs, even if they will "happily eat anything," because "this may give them unseemly appetites."

Lost your grub? "Try leaving out an open jar or other container with food inside. The grub will often creep in and can be found happily tucked inside." Perhaps this is how all those grubs got trapped in glass jars in the game.

Adorably, the instructions also advise grub owners to pat and stroke their pet because they enjoy physical contact, unlike most bugs. Perhaps most importantly, it cautions that "when your grub moves on to the next stage of its life, do not try to stop it or mourn the event as a loss." Sound life advice, there. That's one Hollow Knight lore theory checked off, and I don't even know how many more to go.

Every time I think this slick Metroidvania can't look any more like Hollow Knight, I'm proven wrong.

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.