Hollow Knight: Silksong comes with about five endings. Keep in mind that some endings aren’t necessarily the end; they just give you a cutscene that you can watch, but you can continue the game to get another ending too.
All the endings in the game are not difficult to get, just time-consuming. Luckily, we know which ending is the right ending (true ending), so the official end of the game really ties everything together. These endings are also one of the reasons this game is much harder than the last.
[This is an article in progress, and will update as we play the game and unlock all endings]
How To Get The Curse Ending in Hollow Knight Silksong
This ending sees Hornet turning to stone, which is how she manages to seal away Grandmother Silk and finally stop her reign over Pharloom. But it’s not a simple defeat; it’s a consequence of a pretty serious affliction. To unlock this ending, you need to get yourself cursed.
Early in your journey, you’ll want to find a special item called the ‘twisted bud’. This spooky little baby vine creature is in the bilewater area, so make sure to grab it. Once you have it, you need to take it all the way to Greyroot, which is located in Shellwood. When you hand the twisted bud over to the folks in Greyroot, that’s when Hornet becomes cursed. This isn’t just a minor curse either—it’s a big deal. It completely changes Hornet’s abilities, making it impossible for her to heal and stopping her from generating any silk, which is super important for her attacks.
With this curse upon you, you need to go face Grandmother Silk, who is the final boss. The key to the Curse Ending is that you have to defeat Grandmother Silk while you’re still cursed. If you manage to beat the final boss in this weakened state, the game will trigger the Curse Ending. It’s actually the shortest ending in the game and shows a cutscene of Hornet’s cursed body on the ground, with tendrils spreading from her lifeless form, having successfully sealed Grandmother Silk. It’s a big, tragic sacrifice, but it’s a must-do for anyone trying to get 100% completion in the game.
How To Get The Normal Ending in Hollow Knight Silksong
If you want to get the Normal Ending in Hollow Knight: Silksong, it’s actually pretty straightforward. You don’t need to hunt for any special items or go out of your way to do a bunch of side quests. This is basically the default ending you get just by playing through the main story. All you have to do is reach the final boss, Grandmother Silk, and beat her.
It’s the most direct conclusion to Hornet’s adventure if her main goal is just to end Grandmother Silk’s rule. You’ll progress through the main story, make your way to the top of the Citadel, and then face off against her. Your only mission is to win the fight.
Once you defeat her, a pretty somber and visually stunning cutscene plays out. It’s not the triumphant victory you might expect. Instead of becoming a new ruler, Hornet undergoes this bizarre and sort of eerie transformation. She binds with Grandmother Silk on the Citadel’s peak and morphs into a spider-like creature.
The immediate aftermath is pretty devastating; the entire kingdom of Pharloom gets completely consumed by silk, which spreads across the land and basically destroys everything. The once-thriving city crumbles under these suffocating layers of thread. However, the citizens of Pharloom, the very people Hornet was trying to save, all perish in the process. It’s implied that Hornet couldn’t fully handle the divine power of Grandmother Silk, so while she overthrew the tyrant, the cost was the entire kingdom and everyone in it.
This ending is a bittersweet, almost tragic, conclusion. It’s a hollow victory for the Princess-Protector, where freedom comes at the ultimate price of devastation and loss.
How To Get The Secret Ending In Hollow Knight Silksong
Getting the secret ending in Hollow Knight: Silksong is a tricky and dangerous journey that’s completely different from the normal path. You kick things off after a major conversation with the Songclave Caretaker, and instead of going straight to fight Grand Mother Silk, Hornet has to find four special souls. These aren’t for her own power; they’re to build an elaborate trap to catch Grand Mother Silk and summon a powerful entity known as the “great pale god.”
This part of the journey sets up everything for this unique and hidden ending. After you’ve collected the four souls and the trap is set, Hornet moves to weaken Grand Mother Silk, but you completely skip the usual end-game scenarios where you either bind or defeat her. At the critical moment, Hornet uses her Neeedolin to activate the trap.
It turns out the trap is none other than “the void” itself, a super powerful and destructive force. As Grand Mother Silk gets pulled into the Abyss, she tries to drag Hornet down with her. This is where things get really interesting. Lace, another major character, shows up and makes an incredible sacrifice.
She slashes one of Grand Mother Silk’s arms and takes the fall herself, plunging into the Abyss with her mother. With both of them sealed in the void, the majestic Citadel starts to crumble. Caught in the chaos, Hornet falls into a deep, dark pit as everything around her collapses.
This ending is called a “secret ending” because the credits don’t roll; the story isn’t over. The void takes over the kingdom of Pharloom, and Hornet finds herself in a familiar place: the Abyss, where she was born. Her journey continues as she tries to find her way out of this desolate landscape. Your save slot gets decorated with Abyss tentacles, showing the void’s influence. If you want to challenge this new reality and save Pharloom, you have to continue from this save.
How To Get The Good Ending in Hollow Knight Silksong
To get the Good Ending in Hollow Knight: Silksong, where Hornet takes over the Citadel and becomes the new ruler, you’ll need to defeat the final boss, Grandmother Silk, and bind her incredible power. T
The story seems to hint at this all along, with Grandmother Silk reportedly seeing Hornet as her rightful heir. The epic battle against Lace also serves as a crucial prelude to Hornet’s final trial against Grandmother Silk herself.
Before you can get to the final boss, you’ll need to complete all the wish boards in Bone Bottom, Bellhart, and Songclave. Once you’ve done that and moved the flea caravan to its final spot, the Songclave caretaker will post a new wish on the Bellhart board.
He’ll tell you to meet him back in Songclave. When you get there, he’ll ask you to collect three souls and a special “device” to build a trap for the boss. The hints he gives are super obvious, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding the pieces. The only thing that might be tricky is finding the snare.
You can find the snare in Weaverden Atla in a secret passage above the bench. The entrance to this passage is in the main room downstairs, and once you get up there, you’ll find a hidden room in the ceiling. After you’ve got everything, just talk to the caretaker to assemble the trap. Then, go back up and get ready to fight the boss again; but this time, make sure to use Needolin, not Binding (your best skills).
In this ending, the kingdom of Pharloom goes through a massive change. Once Hornet beats Grandmother Silk and binds her power, the entire realm becomes wrapped in intricate threads woven from Hornet’s own silk. This really highlights Hornet’s new control and her deep connection to the kingdom. However, the fate of the citizens is a bit sad and ambiguous. Despite Hornet becoming the new ruler, the inhabitants don’t exactly get a “happy ending.”
Instead, they stay trapped, submerged beneath all these new silk threads, which suggests that control and order come at the cost of personal freedom. The final scene of this ending shows Hornet at the center of these sprawling silk threads, with extra arms visibly growing from her body.
She’s basically become a spider-like being. This metamorphosis solidifies her role as the true Queen of Pharloom, completing her epic journey from the princess-protector of Hallownest to the sovereign ruler of a new, albeit trapped, kingdom.
How To Get The True Ending in Hollow Knight Silksong
Getting the true ending in Hollow Knight: Silksong is a big deal. This ending, often called “Sister of the Void” or “Shade Knight saves Hornet,” is a super emotional reunion that really ties the two games together. To even get a shot at it, you have to play through a huge chunk of the game and get to Act 3.
This is a late-game stage that only unlocks after you’ve finished all the other quests, so it really shows you’ve explored all of Pharloom and mastered its challenges. Once you’ve done all that, you have to take on and defeat Grandmother Silk, the game’s initial final boss. That victory is just the beginning of the true ending quest, not the end itself.
After you beat Grandmother Silk and the credits roll, you need to load your save file back up. Your next goal is to get the special item, the Diving Bell Key. With this key in your possession, you can take Hornet down into the mysterious Abyss that’s hidden under the docks. This is where things get real, because you’ll face the game’s true final boss, Lost Lace.
This is one tough enemy, and you’ll need every bit of skill and everything you’ve learned about Hornet’s abilities to win. Once you finally triumph over Lost Lace, you’re rewarded with a powerful and long-awaited cutscene.
In this scene, both Hornet and Lace are struggling to escape the encroaching Void, but they’re about to be consumed by it. Right when it seems like all hope is lost, a familiar face appears: the Knight from the original Hollow Knight. The Knight, now in their powerful Shade Lord form, swoops in and saves both Hornet and Lace from the clutches of the Void. This epic moment confirms that the Knight survived and shows the enduring connection they have with Hornet, solidifying Silksong as a true sequel.
The scene wraps up with the Knight taking Hornet back to a now desolate Pharloom, where a laughing Lace is seen, having also survived the ordeal. It’s a powerful and deeply satisfying ending that beautifully ties both Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong together and gives a hint of their shared future.
