Hornet is a fictional character created by Australian independent developer Team Cherry, who first appears in the video game, Hollow Knight (2017), and later its sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong (2025), as the main protagonist. She is a warrior arachnid and princess of Hallownest, who acts as its protector.
Since her introduction in Hollow Knight, Hornet has been given praise by critics, especially for her role as the protagonist of Silksong.
Appearances
Hornet was born from a cross between the wyrm king of Hallownest, the Pale King, and the weaver Herrah the Beast, as a result of a deal made between them, where Herrah would be able to have a child, but in turn become a "Dreamer",[1][2] one of three beings who entered an eternal sleep to seal the Hollow Knight and contain the Infection.[3] This led her to spend little time with her mother. Unlike the Pale King's other children, who are genderless "vessels" born to contain the mind-controlling Infection, Hallownest's plague, she is referred to as "the Gendered Child", and cannot contain the infection. She was raised in Deepnest by the Spider Tribe and survived the fall of the Kingdom, remaining unaffected by the Infection.[1][4]
Hollow Knight
A screenshot of the Knight battling Hornet for the first time in Hollow Knight.
In Hollow Knight, Hornet wanders the kingdom, testing escaped vessels to see if they can successfully defeat the Hollow Knight, the current vessel holding the Infection, and replace it, while also protecting the kingdom from invaders.[1][4] She confronts the protagonist (often known as "the Knight") on two occasions, starting boss battles.[1][5] Once the Knight kills Herrah in order to remove her seal on the Black Egg, Hornet is seen mourning her.[citation needed] After her second defeat, she places her trust in the Knight, soon saving it from getting crushed by rubble.[6] She later decides to help it defeat the Hollow Knight, which is located in the Black Egg, appearing near the end of the fight to open part of the Hollow Knight's shell.[7]
Hornet's fate from that point on depends on the player's choice. If the Knight uses the Dream Nail on the Hollow Knight, entering the Hollow Knight's dreams to defeat the Radiance, Hornet later awakens and discovers that the Knight died defeating her, lamenting its supposed death. In an alternate ending, if the Knight does not use the Dream Nail and continues attacking the Hollow Knight, Hornet and the Knight are sealed with the infection in the Temple, with her face appearing on the entrance. In the game's separate "Embrace the Void" DLC ending, which has the Radiance be defeated without entering the Black Egg, Hornet readies her guard upon seeing the Hollow Knight leave the Egg, before the cutscene fades to black.[8]
In Silksong, Hornet is kidnapped and brought to the unfamiliar kingdom of Pharloom.[1][9] Throughout the game, she discovers her connection to the kingdom, grows attached to and assists the bugs of Pharloom, battles foes such as Lace—who she later saves—and eventually is able to leave and free Pharloom from its "Haunting", getting rescued the Knight and its fellow vessels in the game's "true" ending, "Sister of the Void".[10][11]
Alternatively, in other endings, Hornet's fate is different. She becomes the new ruler of Pharloom in "Weaver Queen", replacing the current one, Grand Mother Silk, and becoming immensely powerful. In "Twisted Child", which is achieved by defeating Grand Mother Silk when Hornet is under the effect of a dangerous curse, she intertwines with Grand Mother Silk, creating a tree with petrified versions of them both.[2][11]
Concept and creation
Hornet concept sketches by Ari Gibson, shown at ACMI, an Australian museum.
Hornet was created by Ari Gibson and William Pellen, the co-founders of Team Cherry, who also wrote all her dialogue, and was drawn by Gibson.[13][14] She is voiced by Makato Koji, an animator who voiced her by "making up [her] own gibberish" that felt "natural" and "instinctual". She believes that "the voice [and] sounds of the character ... is only the final icing on the cake".[15] Pellen describes Hornet as being a "natural rival character", which made him feel like she was a "natural pick" for a playable character, also calling her the "secondary protagonist" of Hollow Knight, due to her being "closely linked to [the] core narrative thread", and Gibson describes her as having "natural qualities that lend her to being a fun video game character, [such as her] agile, quick, deadly style", which made him want to make her playable,[16] also calling her a "character of extremes", which influenced her healing in Silksong.[17]
Her height is cited by Team Cherry as being a major reason why Silksong was expanded from a Hollow KnightDLC to its own game, as she would not naturally fit as the player character in Hollow Knight's world of Hallownest.[18] Her speed and skillset are described as being why enemies in Silksong were designed to be more difficult than enemies in Hollow Knight, with Gibson stating "Hornet is inherently faster and more skillful than the Knight—so even the base level enemy had to be more complicated, more intelligent".[19] Pellen stated that she is "quite different [to the Knight] because she can speak; she's a much more direct character", which made Silksong have traditional quests and more characters "as a result".[20]
Reception
Writing for TheGamer, multiple staff members together ranked Hornet's second fight in Hollow Knight as the game's 12th hardest, believing that it "is putting your skills to the test to decide if you're actually worthy enough to proceed forward and into the final steps of the game."[21] Similarly, Hardcore Gamer writer Callum Marshall called her first battle "a real rite of passage", stating that it "forces you to master all your basic controls and movement mechanics", and ranking it as the game's 22nd hardest battle, calling her attacks "all quite hard to read".[22]GameSpot's Jordan Ramée believed that Hornet is "one of the fiercest bosses you face" in Hollow Knight, and that "a huge part of [the plot] is the slow realization that Hornet should be Hallownest's savior", writing "her qualifications far outpace the unnamed and meager vessel that the player controls. But she can't be the one who saves Hallownest because she's a person with a mind, a will, and a voice. She was loved and raised, and thus cannot ever be a true hollow knight. The aspects that make her special make her a liability".[23]
IGN writer Tom Marks called Hornet an "excellent hero", describing her as "polite but stern, reserved but not cold", and praising her "top-notch writing".[24] Writing for NME, Will Bedingfield enjoyed her "sharp, amusingly standoffish dialogue", stating that it makes her a much more compelling protagonist than the silent Knight.[25] Like Bedingfield, Digital Spy writer Jess Lee found Hornet to be "more interesting compared to Hollow Knight's lead", calling her one of the main reasons she connected with Silksong.[26] Austin Wood of GamesRadar+ wrote that the optional kidnapping sequence in The Slab built Hornet's character, writing "recovering who and what she was is a guiding theme for Hornet's character in many ways, and The Slab is a major milestone here. In a world that tries to take from her from the onset, Hornet finds ways to give back, repaying kindness and attacks in kind."[27]GamingBolt writer Ravi Sinha thought that "much of [Silksong's] success lies with Hornet’s character", writing "she’s chivalrous and polite ... however, she can also be blunt and downright threatening ... there’s a natural charisma to her".[28]
AV Club writer Maddy Myers praised her character development throughout Silksong, writing "although she starts off wary of almost everyone—even the bugs who try to help her—Hornet learns, over time, that there are bugs she can trust in this strange world, and that helping people feels good, actually", calling her a protagonist "who’s so easy to relate to", and stating that her constant dialogue "significantly improves [Silksong's] storytelling and emotional pull".[29]PC Gamer's Tyler Colp enjoyed "Hornet's tendency to soften from cold-blooded warrior to empathetic survivor when confronted with a bug-in-need or a fluffy flea", stating it "added a tender counterpoint to the most abrasive moments [of Silksong]".[30] Alana Hagues, writing for Nintendo Life, described Hornet as one of the main reasons Silksong is "so gosh-darned cute", stating "she’s cool, she’s stoic, and she’s both elegant and direct in her speech. But, she’s also a massive goofball who floats like an umbrella with her limbs dangling and her eyes vapid and empty." Hagues also highlighted other lighthearted aspects of her character, such as her love of "fluffy" creatures.[31]
Contrary to most critics, Josh Broadwell, writing for Polygon, was critical of Hornet, for what he believed was ludonarrative dissonance between the player and her, alongside other believed issues. In his article, Broadwell states that "Hornet isn't learning or changing on her journey", that "she has no purpose other than trying to get home", and that "even if you do choose to help [others] as a player, Hornet develops no particular attachment to any[one] ... during the story". He also writes that Team Cherry "cast[ed] Hornet as a passive participant in almost every case" which he called their "biggest misstep", and describes her observations as being "terribly bland".[10]
Writing for Rock Paper Shotgun, Oisin Kuhnke praised Hornet's battle sounds in Hollow Knight, and discussed a mod that reimplements them into Silksong, calling it charming, while also admitting that hearing the sounds for a long period of time could get grating.[32]PC Gamer's Joshua Wolens discussed similar topics, initially calling the sounds' removal a "crime", and praising the mod that reimplements them, but later stating "if there's one thing I've taken from [the mod], it's that actually Team Cherry might have had a reason for yoinking her voice away when players are in control of her", calling them "annoying" during combat.[33] Alessandro Barbosa of GameSpot thought that Team Cherry took inspiration from Alucard's animations in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for Hornet's, noting her backstep as especially "look[ing] almost ripped out of Konami's classic and endearingly recreated."[34]Polygon's Patricia Hernandez praised her "silly" float animation, calling it "outstanding" despite it not being "technically impressive", stating that it "brings some much-needed whimsy to a game that is otherwise full of cruelties".[35]
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