Yeah, it’s kind of a weird name when you think about. Putting a word like ‘Steel’ in front of ‘soul’ would imply that the soul becomes stronger, but instead it becomes more fragile. Maybe steelsoul just means that the knight becomes more akin to a regular bug. Because unlike vessels, regular bugs only die once. They don’t have the chance to return after death. Maybe the term ‘Steelsoul’ somehow means the Knight has a proper soul, rather than a manufactured one.
Considering the way the speculated void-affiliated antagonists of Silksong are also clad in steel, perhaps this is a more common way that Void can be harnessed, one that doesn't involve a Pale Being's superdivine essence busting the build and gifting the constructed life divine magics. Alternatively, if the Void doesn't actually have anything to do with these Steel-affiliated individuals, it may be that as our host Lifeblood Core speculated in the end of the video; that the similarity is in the fact that the other Steel Soul, Jinn, is apparently a constructed being. Seemingly used as a mere trading robot, Jinn is clearly possessed of a true life. If such things are possible without literal divine intervention, then perhaps Steel Soul mode is a speculative lower-fantasy version of the game's universe. Picture it like a what-if scenario in which the Pale and the Void elements in the Knight cancelled each other out instead of collaborating to make a stronger whole. Despite the Knight's extremely divine heritage, they are little more than a purposeful robot with some magical affinities. Rather different from what we see in the normal playthrough, a functionally un*void*able amnesiac godling walking down a warpath called "Destiny the Hard Way."
You have such a calming voice/manner of speech. Another great video, always a treat to see a new video. Jiji’s voice lines always reminded me of the squirrel from Hoodwinked.
3:57 I think that checks out. Yes, the knight can absorb soul from totems and other living things, but it doesn’t have any soul of it’s own, our soul meter always starts out empty. The only living thing in the game that doesn’t give soul is the Collector, which is made of void, just like us, so void creatures don’t have to have any soul. The Pure Vessel/Hollow Knight has soul, but I think they were given it by the Pale King. It seems to have infinite soul, as it can use the soul-based attacks like the daggers, knife pillars, and focus, as many times as it wants. The Kingsoul is said to contain limitless soul, and the Pure Vessel Statues in the Path of Pain and Wingsmoulds do as well. It seems likely to me that the Pale King has infinite soul as a higher being, and has the ability to grant that to other beings or objects. Interestingly, he gave the Pure Vessel statues infinite soul, but not his own Pale King ones. I think the people who think the Pale King was an egomaniac who only wanted to save the kingdom for his own glory should take that into consideration.
@@lifebloodcore2106 if you’re getting the soul from Grubsong + Weaversong, isn’t the soul coming from the Grubsong? That charm has soul inside it, or can generate soul, because where else would you get the soul from where you get hit. It makes sense to me that when the Weaverlings attack something, they’re giving you the soul from Grubsong. As for the Dream Nail, Dream Warriors give soul despite not being alive, so maybe the dream realm contains some amount of soul that can be harvested through Dream Warriors or the Dream Nail.
Steel itself is hard to bend. And the skill of one who has beaten the game is clearly steely focussed. Steel is however fragile. It fractures easily when the metal structure is chinked. Steel is also not as easily repaired, perhaps showing why the knight remains dead. Regardless it's interesting to see how the physical characteristics of steel are linked with what we see in the game even if it's not intuitive at first glance.
It's fair to say Jinn is implied to be a construct of some sort. Reminds you of the Wingmoulds in the white palace, which basically look like void core robots. While there doesn't seem to be any evidence for Jinn containing void, she might just as well be another of the Pale King's robotics projects. As to her purpose, we can only speculate. Her line "Does Jinn dream?... What purpose, mine?... To serve, enough?" implies she was built to serve the Pale King, and that her service has something to do with either her ability or inability to dream. She could've either been an experimental vessel or - perhaps more likely - an experimental dreamer. Being built to last and withstand attacks would be an advantage in either case.
Jinn mentions that her masters “don’t seek order” when commenting on the Knight having the King’s Brand. The King very much wanted to implement order throughout the kingdom. With this in mind it’s doubtful that her origins lie with the Pale King nor had anything to do with him.
I wonder how we may compare Jinn and the vessels to, say, the mining golems and the kingsmoulds/wingmoulds. The mining golem you get the crystal heart from has thoughts when you use the dream nail (the instructions to mine). Kinda like when you see the molds to make kingsmoulds in the king's workshop, and it has dream nail dialog. Things to impress orders upon what is created. And these palace constructs have white "shell" (armor) holding in void interior. (Of course we can then compare the Collector seeming to be like the kingsmoulds, etc etc). It's all interesting stuff. Good video, gave me stuff to think about
I think Jinn’s purpose was to be a somewhat trading soul for its masters but they decided to give them a body so they could trade physical items and they locked them in that cave and never came back to retrieve them because they were long gone like dead or left hollownest
I wonder what connection Steel Assasin Sharpe and his friend will have with Jinn. The design from the bug in the coral biom from the silksong trailer looked pretty similiar after all
I dont about a steel soul simply meaning the knight having determination. To add on, it could mean the knight is granted a will (as jiji says) and maybe even a mind. In order to focus its soul (shade). Allowing the knight to reflect and put the shade to rest on death.
I've never noticed that. In steel soul mode the hud complete shatter compared to the half in the base game. For a while I've wondering if the steel had something special about the steel that put the shade to rest.
What Jiji means by no soul is that does not have a soul of own. Instead, a shade or "shadow". And if my theory is true and void is simply un-focused, corrupt soul, the line is still true.
It would be cool if there was a third difficulty where you can't take any damage at all. Im not quite sure how that would intigrate with charms like thorns though. Maybe there would be a button that you could press that could activate the thorns and has a 10 seconds cooldown. And maybe when you focus, instead of healing it would give a small and tempory damage output boost.
Nah its a play on terms, dont read on if you dont wanna see it Its a play on "balls of steel" if you know than you know and to beat this mode then it provens you do have balls of steel
Yeah, it’s kind of a weird name when you think about. Putting a word like ‘Steel’ in front of ‘soul’ would imply that the soul becomes stronger, but instead it becomes more fragile. Maybe steelsoul just means that the knight becomes more akin to a regular bug. Because unlike vessels, regular bugs only die once. They don’t have the chance to return after death. Maybe the term ‘Steelsoul’ somehow means the Knight has a proper soul, rather than a manufactured one.
They prolly meant steel as in the strength of the metal being a harder game mode since steel is a hard metal
Considering the way the speculated void-affiliated antagonists of Silksong are also clad in steel, perhaps this is a more common way that Void can be harnessed, one that doesn't involve a Pale Being's superdivine essence busting the build and gifting the constructed life divine magics.
Alternatively, if the Void doesn't actually have anything to do with these Steel-affiliated individuals, it may be that as our host Lifeblood Core speculated in the end of the video; that the similarity is in the fact that the other Steel Soul, Jinn, is apparently a constructed being.
Seemingly used as a mere trading robot, Jinn is clearly possessed of a true life. If such things are possible without literal divine intervention, then perhaps Steel Soul mode is a speculative lower-fantasy version of the game's universe.
Picture it like a what-if scenario in which the Pale and the Void elements in the Knight cancelled each other out instead of collaborating to make a stronger whole. Despite the Knight's extremely divine heritage, they are little more than a purposeful robot with some magical affinities. Rather different from what we see in the normal playthrough, a functionally un*void*able amnesiac godling walking down a warpath called "Destiny the Hard Way."
Jiji needs her own lore video about the regrets having a physical form.
Not sure if it will get its own video, but it will be covered in some future videos
You have such a calming voice/manner of speech. Another great video, always a treat to see a new video. Jiji’s voice lines always reminded me of the squirrel from Hoodwinked.
3:57 I think that checks out. Yes, the knight can absorb soul from totems and other living things, but it doesn’t have any soul of it’s own, our soul meter always starts out empty. The only living thing in the game that doesn’t give soul is the Collector, which is made of void, just like us, so void creatures don’t have to have any soul. The Pure Vessel/Hollow Knight has soul, but I think they were given it by the Pale King. It seems to have infinite soul, as it can use the soul-based attacks like the daggers, knife pillars, and focus, as many times as it wants. The Kingsoul is said to contain limitless soul, and the Pure Vessel Statues in the Path of Pain and Wingsmoulds do as well. It seems likely to me that the Pale King has infinite soul as a higher being, and has the ability to grant that to other beings or objects. Interestingly, he gave the Pure Vessel statues infinite soul, but not his own Pale King ones. I think the people who think the Pale King was an egomaniac who only wanted to save the kingdom for his own glory should take that into consideration.
Oh, I forgot, Broken Vessel also gives off soul, but it’s filled with those infection seed things, which give off soul when they’re hit.
I can see your point, although it is possible to obtain soul from the Collector by dream nailing it or using the weaverlings
@@lifebloodcore2106 if you’re getting the soul from Grubsong + Weaversong, isn’t the soul coming from the Grubsong? That charm has soul inside it, or can generate soul, because where else would you get the soul from where you get hit. It makes sense to me that when the Weaverlings attack something, they’re giving you the soul from Grubsong. As for the Dream Nail, Dream Warriors give soul despite not being alive, so maybe the dream realm contains some amount of soul that can be harvested through Dream Warriors or the Dream Nail.
Steel itself is hard to bend. And the skill of one who has beaten the game is clearly steely focussed. Steel is however fragile. It fractures easily when the metal structure is chinked. Steel is also not as easily repaired, perhaps showing why the knight remains dead. Regardless it's interesting to see how the physical characteristics of steel are linked with what we see in the game even if it's not intuitive at first glance.
It's fair to say Jinn is implied to be a construct of some sort. Reminds you of the Wingmoulds in the white palace, which basically look like void core robots. While there doesn't seem to be any evidence for Jinn containing void, she might just as well be another of the Pale King's robotics projects.
As to her purpose, we can only speculate. Her line "Does Jinn dream?... What purpose, mine?... To serve, enough?" implies she was built to serve the Pale King, and that her service has something to do with either her ability or inability to dream. She could've either been an experimental vessel or - perhaps more likely - an experimental dreamer. Being built to last and withstand attacks would be an advantage in either case.
Jinn mentions that her masters “don’t seek order” when commenting on the Knight having the King’s Brand. The King very much wanted to implement order throughout the kingdom. With this in mind it’s doubtful that her origins lie with the Pale King nor had anything to do with him.
I wonder how we may compare Jinn and the vessels to, say, the mining golems and the kingsmoulds/wingmoulds. The mining golem you get the crystal heart from has thoughts when you use the dream nail (the instructions to mine). Kinda like when you see the molds to make kingsmoulds in the king's workshop, and it has dream nail dialog. Things to impress orders upon what is created. And these palace constructs have white "shell" (armor) holding in void interior. (Of course we can then compare the Collector seeming to be like the kingsmoulds, etc etc). It's all interesting stuff. Good video, gave me stuff to think about
I think Jinn’s purpose was to be a somewhat trading soul for its masters but they decided to give them a body so they could trade physical items and they locked them in that cave and never came back to retrieve them because they were long gone like dead or left hollownest
I wonder what connection Steel Assasin Sharpe and his friend will have with Jinn. The design from the bug in the coral biom from the silksong trailer looked pretty similiar after all
I dont about a steel soul simply meaning the knight having determination.
To add on, it could mean the knight is granted a will (as jiji says) and maybe even a mind. In order to focus its soul (shade).
Allowing the knight to reflect and put the shade to rest on death.
Jin more closely resembles the kingsmoulds. With a will implanted.
I think she resembles the snail shamans more than anything
@@lifebloodcore2106 My bad, meant to say Jin.
I've never noticed that. In steel soul mode the hud complete shatter compared to the half in the base game.
For a while I've wondering if the steel had something special about the steel that put the shade to rest.
literally just lost my first steel soul run minutes ago and get recommended this. the universe is mocking me
It’s encouraging you to try again!
@@lifebloodcore2106ill give it another shot
well ive given it another shot and im at thk
What Jiji means by no soul is that does not have a soul of own. Instead, a shade or "shadow".
And if my theory is true and void is simply un-focused, corrupt soul, the line is still true.
It would be cool if there was a third difficulty where you can't take any damage at all. Im not quite sure how that would intigrate with charms like thorns though. Maybe there would be a button that you could press that could activate the thorns and has a 10 seconds cooldown. And maybe when you focus, instead of healing it would give a small and tempory damage output boost.
Glass soul challenge
This video seems really neat!
If you complete steel soul mode hitless, Jinn gets added to the Hollownest pantheon in godseeker
I think it’s course when we die are soul meter breaks by in strap soul we don’t die
Underrated
There is a creature in one of the Silksong trailers that has the same design as Jinn, could it be another steel soul creature?
a question what symbolizing the chains
Which chains, exactly?
Nah its a play on terms, dont read on if you dont wanna see it
Its a play on "balls of steel" if you know than you know and to beat this mode then it provens you do have balls of steel