Hollow Knight's Grimm Troupe Lore Explained Script

 https://youtu.be/YY09OzbkeAU

I first talked about the Grimm Troupe 3 years ago back in 2017. But anyone who has followed this channel for a while knows that I have been on quite the character arc. Back in 2017, I was but an ignorant fool. But now I’m older, wiser, I’ve read Judith Butler. Twice. All of these things have obviously helped me better appreciate Hollow Knight lore. With that being said, I think it’s time to check back in on the Grimm Troupe and see what new lore we can uncover.

When the Grimm Troupe content pack first dropped, I was a little annoyed at how it seemed like Team Cherry was just throwing new characters at us without really expanding on the characters who were already there. But looking back, the Grimm Troupe does more for Hollow Knight worldbuilding than I realized.

For example, we now have a new Higher Being to examine. The lore of the Grimm Troupe all starts with an entity known as the Nightmare Heart. Seer gives us a very cryptic bit of dialogue regarding the Nightmare Heart. And of course, she has to do it in poetry form.

The expanse of dream in past was split,

One realm now must stay apart,

Darkest reaches, beating red,

Terror of sleep. The Nightmare's Heart.

Let’s take this bit by bit. We know that there is a dream realm in the world of Hollow Knight. It’s where the Radiance is. It’s where the Pale King’s corpse is. And even the Lifeblood creature appears to inhabit some kind of dream realm, given the appearance of dream catcher particles in this room. It’s not really clear if these are all different Dream Realms, or branches off of one big Dream Realm. The Dream Realm where the Dreamers and Radiance are look very different from the Pale King’s which also looks very different from Bretta’s dream. If there is a distinction between these areas, it’s vague. However, we do know there is one special, very different realm called the Nightmare Realm which was completely split off from the main Dream Realm.

While regular dreams are made up of Essence, the Nightmare Realm is made up of a different type of burning Essence, which Grimm describes as the “flame in dream”. For simplicity's sake, I’ll call this different Essence Nightmare Essence. But what exactly caused this split? These kinds of splits are common in creation stories. Like how Zeus, Poseidon and Hades split up the heavens, seas and underworld. Or how the world of Dark Souls went from a grey, unchanging world, to one divided up by Lords. Even our own scientific understanding of the universe starts with a theory that three of the fundamental forces of the universe were unified, but eventually split apart from one another. So lazy writing like this is kinda just how creation stories go. 

But that doesn’t really help us answer why the Nightmare Realm has to stay apart from the Dream Realm. A pretty common theory is that the Radiance somehow caused this separation. But there really isn’t any evidence for this. Maybe if Grimm actually commented once on the Radiance. But he really doesn’t seem to give two shits about any of that unfortunately. So whether this split was natural or caused by the action of some higher being, chances are we’ll never know.

Anyway it seems like the Nightmare Heart is the main Higher Being who resides in this Nightmare Realm, and its design stands in stark contrast to the other Higher Beings we see in Hallownest. We’ve got a moth, a worm, a plant, a slug, and a giant heart made of patchwork with dozens of eyes on it. 

At the very core of it, the Nightmare Heart appears to be made of Nightmare Essence, similar to how the Radiance is composed of a light similar to Essence. And while the Nightmare Heart may seem different from other higher beings on the surface, it does have one thing in common with them. It really likes to mess around with regular bugs, pulling them into its service.

In order to survive, the Nightmare Heart needs to conduct a ritual involving the Grimm Troupe so that it can feed off the flames of ruined civilizations. Basically, ancient, abandoned kingdoms like Hallownest or Disney Land are a goldmine for Nightmare Essence, so the main way the Nightmare Heart feeds is by using the Troupe to find these kingdoms and harvest the Essence for itself. And this ritual happens over and over as an endless cycle the Heart uses to cheat death.

Of course, finding kingdoms is the first step in this process, which brings us to this corpse in the Howling Cliffs. This bug is wearing a makeshift mask that has a similar design to the masks other Grimm Troupe members wear. Dream nailing this bug brings a device called the Nightmare Lantern into the physical world. This lantern seems to act as a sort of anchor for the Grimm Troupe, and lighting it is what causes the Grimm Troupe to arrive in Hallownest.

If we dream nail the corpse again, it says “Master... my role.... apart from you... apart from kin. It pains me so.” God, what a simp. This bug apparently has some kind of job that involved it leaving the Troupe and traveling to Hallownest. So it seems like the Grimm Troupe actually designates certain bugs to travel to different kingdoms. Once they get there… well… I’m not sure. Do they just die once they reach a kingdom? Or did this particular bug die before it could set up the lantern? We have to dream nail the lantern out of it. Maybe this is a litmus test for anyone who would help the Grimm Troupe, requiring them to have some access to the Dream Realm. Otherwise they probably wouldn’t be able to interact with any of the Grimmkin in the first place.

Now we don’t know if these bugs are just sent off in a random direction, or if they know how to reach these kingdoms. The Godseeker and Quirrel mention that the winds carry them to Hallownest. Which is odd. How the hell is the wind blowing towards one specific spot? Oddly enough, the Pale King does have some other weird connections to wind. The Monarch Wings and the King’s Brand also blow wind throughout Hallownest for some reason. But Wind Lore in Hollow Knight is a whole other can of worms we’ll have to save for later.

Anyway, the Godseeker also detected the Pale King’s afterglow while traveling to Hallownest, but I personally don’t think the Grimm Troupe bug could have done that, considering it doesn’t appear to have a Godtuner device like the Godseekers. Instead, I’m guessing a large amount of these bugs just wander around aimlessly until they can find civilizations that could be harvested for their Nightmare Essence.

So the Grimm Troupe emphasizes just how barren the world of Hallownest really is. The Nightmare King’s Dream Nail dialogue in Godhome hints at this with the line “Scattered lands… Nightmare binds all.” This implies that the Grimm Troupe uses the Nightmare Realm as a way to reach different kingdoms, which is what we see when we light the Nightmare Lantern. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that the Grimm Troupe is well traveled. And as it turns out, the Grimm Troupe might give us our best look into what the world outside Hallownest really looks like.

Hidden within the Grimm Troupe’s tent is a secret room that can only be accessed through some tricky wall jumps. In this room we can see some chests, a pile of masks and this strange contraption. Now there are a few theories as to what this might be. At the very least, we know it’s important because there is a seal protecting it. One idea is that it is some kind of device that can move the tent between the real world and the Nightmare Realm. Or it could somehow be related to Grimm’s performance with all the spotlights and other stuff. But if we look at the ingame art files, the assets for this device refer to it as a “chart”. So I think this device is actually supposed to be a map of some kind. Now of course, an art file name is by no means canon, but our only option here is to speculate anyway, so let’s just have some fun with this. But bear in mind this is by no means conclusive.

So is this thing a chart of the real world or of the Nightmare Realm or what? Unfortunately, none of that is clear. But these balls are possibly points of interest for the Grimm Troupe, so these might be the various locations they have traveled to over the years. Sort of like web addresses that point to specific domains on the internet. Like twitter.com/mossbag69, or discord.gg/mossbag or mossbag.com. And I’m sure you’ve already noticed that there are 19 of these ball things. So does that mean there are at least 18 other civilizations that the Grimm Troupe has visited? What other crazy world could be out there? Water World? Moon World? New Jersey?

However, if this really is supposed to be a chart of where the Grimm Troupe has been, it’s really weird looking. Why does the world of Hollow Knight vaguely look like a cock and balls? It honestly looks more like some kind of planetary model as opposed to a topographical map. Which might make sense. These kingdoms could all be deep underground. We aren’t even sure if Hallownest is on the surface. It appears to be, but we can’t see any stars or direct evidence of such. Maybe the Land of Storms is on the surface considering there is rain and thunder, but maybe these weather patterns were created by the gods of thunder and rain that were once there already.

So a three dimensional map like this could make sense in this world. It’s not like they would have a map on a piece of paper or a globe or something. And it’s not that big of a stretch to assume that the Grimm Troupe would have some kind of map to help them navigate around. And if this is actually a chart of the Nightmare Realm then it doesn’t really have to look like anything to be believable. But at the end of the day, there really isn’t much to go off of here, so for now, the definitive answer to what this thing is eludes us.

Getting back to the Nightmare Lantern, whoever lights this thing gets entwined into a contract with the Grimm Troupe, all without so much as a terms and conditions. The Grimm Troupe is summoned to Dirtmouth where they set up their tent and prepare Hallownest to be harvested of its Nightmare Essence. 

The Grimm Troupe of course has a troupe master, known as Troupe Master Grimm. Grimm has a unique aesthetic, which has made him pretty popular in the Hollow Knight fandom. He looks like a Gen 7 Starter Pokemon. Like can he even be considered a bug of any kind? I’ve heard some people say that he’s supposed to be a vampire moth. Looks absolutely nothing like that to me.  Might as well say he’s a Caterpillar MD6250 Rotary Drill.

No, Grimm and his troupe appear to be a hodgepodge of horror tropes. Regardless of what kind of bug Grimm may be, he definitely draws from Dracula. He’s got the long flowing cape, he can explode into smaller winged creatures, and his moveset seems to borrow quite a lot of concepts from the Castlevania Dracula fights.

And you’ve got the whole creepy traveling circus thing. Although, it’s not a very good circus. They just set up a tent and then expect the visitors to perform. Kinda the opposite of how that’s supposed to work, I think.

When the Knight first talks to Grimm, he gives it the rundown on what the Troupe is doing. Well, he gives a very brief, very vague explanation. He gives the Knight the Grimmchild charm and tells it to seek out the Grimmkin, who have been collecting Nightmare Essence throughout Hallownest. Using the Grimmchild, the Knight will be able to find Grimmkin, kick their asses, and store the Essence inside the Grimmchild.

Once returned, the Grimmchild then evolves into its second of four different forms, implying that the Grimmchild might have fed off these flames to become stronger. But it’s not just the flames of Hallownest’s Nightmare Essence that the Grimmchild feeds off of. According to Grimm, it can also feed off the heat of a passionate dance, or in other words, the Grimm boss fight. There is also one other way the Grimmchild can feed: by consuming the Nightmare King himself. Yes, like most things in Hollow Knight, it all comes back to vore.

The Nightmare King can be fought after collecting three sets of flames from the Grimmkin scattered all throughout Hallownest. Once this is done, Grimm can be found sleeping in the far side of the tent. Dream nailing Grimm takes the Knight to the Nightmare Realm. There we can find the Nightmare Heart, surrounded by Grimmkin Nightmares. We then see the Nightmare Heart suffer from a pretty severe myocardial rupture as the Nightmare King emerges from inside.

The Nightmare King is basically just a much faster version of the Troupe Master Grimm, but with more flame on his attacks. According to more poetry, the Troupe wants to burn away the Nightmare King and feed it to the Grimmchild. Once this is accomplished, the Grimmchild’s eyes will burn brightly with the flame of the Nightmare Heart. And everyone involved with the Grimm Troupe will disappear. Well, almost everyone, but we’ll get to that.

So basically, we dream nailed into Grimm, found the Nightmare Heart, killed the Nightmare King inside it, and then that got fed to Grimm Jr. Grimm was a vessel for the Nightmare Heart, and now the heart has been transferred over into a fresh, new vessel, the Grimmchild. From here, we can assume that the Grimmchild will grow into the new Grimm, and start his own troupe, and move away and never call home again.

Now that’s cool and all but it raises some interesting questions. What is the rest of the Grimm Troupe doing now? Do they just sit around and wait for the grown up Grimmchild to show up? Also, if this little guy is the new Grimm, what happens if we take him into the Temple of the Black Egg. Will Grimm be trapped with us in there forever? Does he get completely destroyed in the Dream No More ending? And then of course we have the Embrace the Void ending. Does Grimm just get completely consumed by the Shade Lord, lost forever in a sea of void? The point is, the Knight is probably the last creature Grimm would want to be stuck with in charm form. Cuz there really aren’t any endings that go well for the Knight’s physical body.

But of course, there is more to the Grimm Troupe than just Grimm himself. We also have the Grimmkin, as well as characters like Brumm and Divine. We get the best insight into Grimm’s entourage from Confessor Jiji.

Perhaps you suspect that they hide their true appearance? You'd be right. They favour projection over truth, shrouding themselves in forms dreamed. Best be careful. Assisting them might benefit you, but who knows what suffering it may cause?

Digging into this dialogue, we can see two different types of Grimm Troupe members. You’ve got the Grimmkin who appear to be more like ghosts. They can teleport around and even show up in the Nightmare Realm. Then you’ve got bugs like Brumm, Divine, and the Grimmsteeds who appear to be like normal bugs. And I’m using the phrase “normal bugs” loosely. The one thing all these characters have in common are the masks they wear. Even the bug outside the kingdom is wearing a Grimm Troupe mask, although this one looks more like a third rate cosplay than an actual Grimm Troupe wardrobe.

Now I have talked about masks a lot on this channel. My Mask Maker video, my King’s Pass Video, Godmaster, Colosseum of Fools, even my review of The Mask starring Jim Carrey mentions them. But that’s no surprise. Masks are very mysterious and important to the world of Hollow Knight. But Jiji doesn’t actually mention the masks outright. Instead she says that the Grimm Troupe prefers projection and to hide themselves in forms dreamed.

This could be referring to how Grimmkin are literally dream creatures. They come in three forms: Novices, Masters, and Nightmares. It seems that as they become more devoted to Grimm, they become more nightmare-like in their appearance. But from what we see in the Grimm Troupe tent, these masks appear to be real physical objects. This might imply that the Grimmkin use masks as conduits to project their dream forms into the real world. Perhaps that is even the case with Grimm himself. But that claim is pretty speculative, so don’t hang your hat on that being true. There are plenty of ghosts that don’t have anything physical to them, but still interact with the real world.

But what is clear is that these masks do have an effect on living bugs, and we can see this pretty clearly with Brumm. During the last phase of harvesting Essence, the Knight can find Brumm hidden away in Deepnest, far away from the eyes of Grimm. Brumm laments the never ending cycle of the Grimm Troupe and asks the Knight to aid him in banishing the Troupe from Hallownest forever.

If the Knight goes through with this request and uproots the Nightmare Lanturn in the Howling Cliffs, Grimm’s tent disappears from Dirtmouth and next to the bench we can find a very different looking Brumm, under a new name, Nymm. Nymm gives us a very clear look at how the mask Brumm was wearing affected him. As Brumm, he had no memory of his past life, and his demeanor was very constrained. As Nymm, he is more carefree and has forgotten his time in the Troupe. More surprisingly, however, Nymm has also physically shrunk down in size. That’s rough, buddy.

The mask itself appears to be transformed in the Carefree Melody charm, which grants protection to anyone who wears it. We can see that the mask still radiates with the power of the Grimm Troupe by the flames that come off the Knight when it activates.

So that sort of ties the masks to having a dream like quality of sorts, similar to what Confessor Jiji mentioned. Nymm’s experience also closely parallels a line from Mask Maker.

To change a face; to conceal it fully within another... A powerful protection that is, but one with sad consequence. The original mind is destroyed, though those of striking will may still retain a sliver of that concealed self.

Nymm’s mask made him bigger and connected to the Troupe, but his original mind was lost, and it only came back because he fought back against Grimm’s wishes, remembering that he used to be more than just a vessel. So it seems like these masks basically brainwash members of the Troupe into serving the Nightmare Heart. Maybe these bugs were all forced to serve the Troupe, and that might be what Jiji is referring to when she mentions those who would suffer by completing the ritual.

This gives us an interesting contrast. Mask Maker says he makes masks for those who ask, and says it is a gift for a world deserving. But the Nightmare Heart uses it as a way to control bugs and make them work towards its own goals. Of course, working as a slave under the Heart might beat the alternative of trying to survive in the wasteland that covers much of the world, but it’s still kind of a dick move.

And since I talked about Brumm so much, I should at least mention Divine. Her job within the Grimm Troupe is to… well, I’m not really sure why she’s here. She talks about how she can smell something in Hallownest, referring to the Fragile Charms that Leg Eater sells. You can give her these charms which she will then turn into unbreakable charms by eating and shitting them out. Yeah… I’m not sure why Grimm keeps her around.

Divine doesn’t even leave with the Grimm Troupe if you complete the ritual without finishing her side quest. I mean, from a gameplay perspective it’s nice. But lore wise it doesn’t make any sense. I guess Grimm just doesn’t really care if she is around or not. Also I guess she has more autonomy than Brumm because she is only wearing half a mask. Instead you need to get all the unbreakable charms, then talk to Leg Eater so he will seek out Divine. Which well… that doesn’t go well for him. However, if you choose to banish the Grimm Troupe, Divine leaves for good and if you didn’t get the unbreakable charms, then you're just shit out of luck.

And then we have the Grimmsteeds. These bugs appear to be the same species as Willoh, but are also wearing masks. Some people have pointed out that Willoh’s tent is a shade of red, implying that she might have been a part of the Grimm Troupe at one point, but… come on. It’s clearly just red because it’s covered in the blood of her numerous victims.

In conclusion, the Grimm Troupe is a traveling band of bugs who all serve a Higher Being known as the Nightmare Heart. They use the Nightmare Realm to fast travel between the different ruined kingdoms of the world, harvesting Nightmare Essence to prolong the Heart’s existence. Masks are perhaps used to keep these bugs in line and connected to the Troupe. But despite that, some bugs are able to fight against this control, and it’s up to the player to decide what fate should befall these poor bugs. Of course, most likely the player won’t have any idea what’s going on at all and that decision is made completely arbitrarily. 

One final thing to note is that Grimm is known by the White Lady, despite being from so far away. And while Jiji finds Grimm unfamiliar, she is still able to pick up on what is really going on with the Troupe. This helps us realize how learned these characters are, which might not be a surprise for the White Lady, but more so for Jiji. This character has a lot going on that we just don’t know about.

And so there you have it. I felt bad leaving the Grimm Troupe mostly out of my main lore video, but man, there was a lot to discuss here. As for future Hollow Knight content, I know many of you are worried and think that I am somehow starved for content. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are plenty of other lore things I could talk about. I could make another Zote video. And there is some more stuff to talk about regarding Zote. And I really want to do a deep dive into the political side of Hollow Knight, particularly whether or not Zote is a liberatarin.

Songs used:

The Grimm Troupe (OST)

Haunted Foes (Nosk)

Haunted Foes (Troupe Master Grimm Flamespawner attack)

Godhome (OST)

Dung Defender (OST)

Soul Sanctum

Reflection (OST)

Gut’s Theme (Berserk OST)

Accordion Nymm

Nightmare King (OST)

Dirtmouth (OST)

Fungal Wastes (OST)

Pompeii (Bastille)

Troupe Master Grimm (Guitar)