Recaps

After the Expedition Army reclaimed the Royal Capital’s outer city, Gron realized the numbered machines they had defeated were only part of a larger force. As five surviving machines advanced, Gron and Mortas turned to face them so the others could escape.

• Gron defeated Number Seven with the Fireflow Cloud, while Mortas survived his fight against Number Four, and both warriors received treatment at the camp.
• Glow Clan chroniclers and scholars studied the wrecked machines as the Expedition Army recovered and prepared to camp.
• Gron noticed the machines had been numbered and ordered all personnel to retreat to the outer walls.
• Five remaining machines emerged from the central castle, including Number One, a towering titan armed with a machine gun and chainsaw sword.
• Gron and Mortas chose to confront the machines together while the other bugs prayed for their victory.

While Raily remained imprisoned, protests against the Gear Council spread across the Royal Airfield and unrest shook other regions. The Silver-White Bug, overwhelmed by the resistance, decided to burn Raily at the stake.

• Raily spent weeks in her cell reflecting on why the Gear Council had arrested her and on the ideals of equality, freedom, and solidarity.
• The Gear Council delayed its response as residents rallied behind the Sunfire Church and demanded Raily’s release, food, and clean water.
• Protests and strikes spread through the lower level, while Sky Island and Mictalos also experienced upheaval.
• The Silver-White Bug struggled to suppress the uprising and blamed the Sunfire believers for the unrest.
• The Silver-White Bug decided to tie Raily to a pyre and went deeper into the prison to oversee her execution.

The Silver-White Bug executed Raily publicly to crush the Sunfire Church, but Lin Jin preserved her soul and resolved to help her. As Raily’s death brought Lin Jin closer to accepting his duty as a god, her fate remained in his hands.

• The Silver-White Bug had Raily chained and dragged to the Royal Airfield’s largest square, where guards battered back believers trying to rescue her.
• The Silver-White Bug condemned Raily without a trial and had her bound to a pyre, while she comforted a remorseful guard and prayed to the Sunfire God.
• The Silver-White Bug set Raily alight, and the crowd mourned as he laughed, believing her execution had shaken the believers’ faith.
• Lin Jin revealed that Raily had refused his offer to save her because she believed her sacrifice could overturn the Royal Airfield’s oppression.
• Lin Jin preserved Raily’s soul and decided to help her, accepting responsibility for the trust his believers placed in him.

Lin Jin used Soulfire Arts to resurrect Raily as the Flame Saintess, turning the execution into a Sunfire miracle. After Raily killed the Silver-White Bug, she watched the Council members flee and declared the Royal Airfield the beginning of a new order under the Sunfire God.

• The Silver-White Bug burned Raily’s body and tried to break the faithful’s belief in the Sunfire God.
• Holy flame replaced the execution fire and rebuilt Raily’s body as the Flame Saintess.
• The faithful prayed and praised Raily, sending Lin Jin a surge of Faith Points that restored his exhausted spirit.
• Raily formed a giant Flame Sword and killed the Silver-White Bug as the crowd watched.
• Raily sensed Council members fleeing aboard the last Airship and declared that the old world had ended.
• The faithful recited the Hymn of the Sunfire as the Royal Airfield became part of the Sunfire God’s domain.

The Sunrise Expedition Army remained trapped in a stalemate against five Iron Constructs, with Gron and Mortas badly wounded and the Walkers barely holding the front. With the Snail Shaman searching for a way to break the deadlock, Gron ordered a ritual offering of the defeated machines to summon the Sunfire God for guidance.

• The Iron Constructs forced the exhausted Expedition Army back to the repaired wall between the Outer City and Inner City, where the Walkers joined Gron and Mortas in holding the line.
• Gron returned from battle as Number Six began another bombardment, and he urged the Snail Shaman to finish his research.
• The Snail Shaman recalled the Snail Folk's persecution and continued seeking a way to counter the machines, after forging Mortas enchanted daggers that strengthened his Soulfire Arts.
• Gron rejected the Snail Shaman's suggestion to call Isara for support because Ashen City needed protection, while Mortas reported his injuries from fighting Number Four.
• Gron ordered the army to offer the Iron Constructs as sacrifices and call upon the Sunfire God for guidance.

Lin Jin gave Gron dust-covered daggers that could disable the Royal City's mechanical constructs, while choosing to let his believers fight the battle themselves. Gron used one to stop Unit Two and save Mortas, then prepared to take on the remaining machines.

• At the offering ceremony, Lin Jin learned about the five constructs defending the Royal City and gave Gron five dust-covered daggers that could disable them.
• Lin Jin chose not to destroy the machines himself, intending to let his believers face the trial while he kept watch over them.
• Mortas struggled against Unit Two, whose replication and shared memories let it adapt to his tactics, and was nearly killed.
• A dagger struck Unit Two and spread an unknown energy field through the Legion, disabling its machines.
• Gron arrived, retrieved the reusable dagger, and told the exhausted Mortas that he would handle the remaining enemies.

Gron led the Expedition Army through the palace gates after they defeated Unit Six, hoping to end the war by killing the king. Inside the palace, his small squad confronted Unit One, whose powerful cannon destroyed their first thrown red dagger, leaving Gron to seek an opening at close range.

• Gron led the Expedition Army toward the palace, exploiting the enemy machines’ losses and ordering his soldiers to keep advancing.
• The soldiers ambushed Unit Six before it finished loading and defeated it; Gron recovered the Fireflow Cloud from its broken cannon.
• The king realized his machines were falling and that the palace was under attack, with only Unit One left to guard him.
• A Soulfire-skilled warrior melted a passage through the palace gates, and Gron entered with four squad members carrying red daggers.
• Unit One opened fire on Gron’s squad, then destroyed a red dagger that Gron had thrown as bait.
• Gron judged that the dagger would need to strike Unit One at extremely close range to have a chance of working.

Gron climbed Unit One and used a divine dagger to drain its power, destroying the Titan. With the path to the imperial palace open, he led his warriors toward their final enemy.

• Gron used the warriors’ distraction to climb Unit One while it bombarded the ruins.
• Unit One detected Gron and attacked him with its close-defense guns, weapons, and armor, but he reached its neck.
• Gron drove the divine dagger into the Titan’s power transmission shaft, draining its energy and stopping its systems.
• Gron inspected the fallen Unit One and confirmed that its soul and will had vanished.
• Gron declared that the Titan had fallen and led his warriors toward the imperial palace to confront the last enemy.

Gron confronted the king in the palace and killed him, completing the Sunrise Expedition. He left with his warriors to return and prepare a sacrificial rite to the Sunfire God.

• Gron reached the king's chamber and found him alive inside a mechanical tank.
• The king asked why Gron had come and offered to cede the Royal City, then pleaded to make peace.
• Gron rejected the king's appeal and threw his spear through the tank, killing him.
• Gron reflected on the hopes he had fulfilled and told his warriors to return after clearing the battlefield and hold a sacrificial rite.

After Gron’s victory over the Royal City, Lin Jin turned his attention to controlling and developing the conquered regions while the Gear Council’s territories descended into unrest. The Council’s leaders were trapped by rioters and, as supplies dwindled, turned on one another in a fight to survive.

• Mortas ordered the Hunter Clan to capture the disabled machines and have Recorders examine them after the King’s death ended the battle.
• Lin Jin praised Gron’s victory, assessed his growing control over the Flame Capital, and decided to let the Gear Council collapse while he focused on developing his territory.
• The Gear Council lost contact with the Royal Airfield and faced supply shortages as Raily expanded the Sunfire Church into Sky Island and Kitalos.
• Raily’s followers publicly burned officials they considered unforgivable sinners as fires and rebellion spread through the Gear Council’s territory.
• The Council’s three High Adjudicators learned that supplies would last only three days and that rioters had surrounded the High Tower.
• The Council’s leaders opened fire inside their meeting room, and the three High Adjudicators fought each other over the remaining supplies.

After months of rebuilding his territory, Lin Jin discovered that his divinity had stalled despite his growing faith, and concluded he needed a clearer divine essence. He decided to investigate the mountain’s summit and went to ask the Snail Shaman about it.

• Lin Jin’s light helped the Ashen Clan multiply, while the Hunter Clan tamed local beasts and Aemon expanded the Great Library’s work.
• Lin Jin checked his status and found his divinity stuck just short of completion even as his Faith Points increased.
• Lin Jin reasoned that his vague association with fire made his faith insufficiently distinctive and that he needed to improve its quality.
• Lin Jin sensed a growing pull toward the mountain’s summit and decided to go there to seek a way forward.
• Lin Jin visited the Snail Shaman, who was teaching his young kin their heritage, and asked him about the mountaintop.

Lin Jin and the Snail Shaman climbed to Cold Wind Summit to investigate what was calling to Lin Jin, and discovered the remains of the Snail Shaman’s uncle. His uncle’s notebook revealed research about flame and an ancient relic called the Vessel of the First Flame.

• Lin Jin teleported with the Snail Shaman to the Royal City and asked him to guide the way to the summit.
• The Snail Shaman opened a hidden tunnel, and he and Lin Jin traveled upward through the cold toward Cold Wind Summit.
• The Snail Shaman led Lin Jin to a cave where his uncle had once sheltered with other Snail Folk.
• Lin Jin and the Snail Shaman found the uncle’s empty shell inside a cracked blue crystal, along with an intact notebook.
• The Snail Shaman identified the notebook’s research on flame and the Vessel of the First Flame.

Lin Jin uncovered the map to the summit hidden in the Snail Shaman’s uncle’s keepsake and learned that the uncle had sacrificed himself to preserve hope for his people. Lin Jin flew with the Snail Shaman to the mountaintop, where he found the Torch Crown and sensed a trial awaiting him alone.

• Lin Jin realized the Snail Shaman’s uncle had hidden the true map in smoke-reactive markings on the snail shell, while the notebook served as bait.
• The revealed shell showed a route to the summit and carried the message “Beneath the sky, atop the peak,” prompting the Snail Shaman to honor his uncle’s sacrifice.
• Lin Jin used Psychokinesis and flame thrust to carry the Snail Shaman straight through the mountain’s hazards and blizzard toward the summit.
• Lin Jin and the Snail Shaman reached the summit above the clouds, where they saw the sunrise and found a stone stele marked Torch Crown.
• Lin Jin left the unconscious Snail Shaman behind and walked toward the place calling to him, convinced that the trial ahead was meant for him alone.

Lin Jin awakened the Primordial Fire at the mountain summit and had to defeat it to advance. After their identical powers stalemated, Lin Jin transformed into his new Plasma Mode, leaving the Primordial Fire shocked as the fight continued.

• Lin Jin reached the summit plaza, awakened the scorching cauldron with his essence, and met the Primordial Fire, which challenged him to a trial by combat.
• Lin Jin fought the Primordial Fire with matching flame weapons and Flame Fist, but neither could damage the other because their powers were equal.
• Lin Jin realized his past-life knowledge gave him an advantage and raised and compressed his energy to transform into Sunfire God Second Form: Plasma Mode.
• The Primordial Fire was startled by Lin Jin's lightning-like new form, and Lin Jin said he would have to defeat it quickly because he could maintain Plasma Mode for less than three minutes.

Lin Jin used his Plasma Mode speed and a devastating Black Flash to defeat Primordial Fire on Mountain Summit. The battle left Lin Jin nearly exhausted, while Lightning’s accidental passes restored Sky Island and gave a scholar the inspiration to study its collapse.

• A Sky Island scholar despaired over the island’s collapse until Lightning streaked past and restored the maglev rock, inspiring him to write down a solution.
• Lin Jin used Plasma Mode to strike Primordial Fire repeatedly and drive him back to Mountain Summit, but the attacks rapidly drained his energy.
• Lin Jin and Primordial Fire paused, then agreed to settle the fight with one final move as Primordial Fire focused on defense.
• Lin Jin formed Black Flash and severed Primordial Fire’s head, killing him in under a minute.
• Lin Jin reverted to his flame form and absorbed faith power to recover after the attack nearly exhausted him.

After defeating the Primordial Fire, Lin Jin fell into the cauldron and began transforming into a true god while the Snail Shaman hurried off to report what he had witnessed. At the Royal Airfield, Raily sought to strengthen her standing before contacting Bastion City and set her sights on conquering Sky Island.

• Lin Jin entered the cauldron to merge with the Primordial Fire's essence, beginning his transformation into the Sunfire God.
• The Snail Shaman watched the cauldron's flames, guessed that Lin Jin was transforming, and hurried down the mountain to report what had happened.
• Raily learned that her delegation had made initial contact with Bastion City and instructed them to respond with goodwill.
• Worried that Bastion City might treat her as a heretic, Raily decided to offer submission with several regions under her control to legitimize her authority.
• Raily spotted Sky Island and decided to conquer it.

After the Snail Shaman reported that the Sunfire God was undergoing a transformation at Mountain Summit, Gron took steps to keep the news secret and protect Ashen City. He then received a meeting request from Raily, the Gear Clan's leader, and agreed to talk despite the Sunfire God's absence.

• The Snail Shaman told Gron and Isara about the Sunfire God's battle and transformation, while Aemon recorded the account.
• Gron secured promises of secrecy and ordered secret guards sent to Mountain Summit, a nightly curfew, increased patrols, and more prayers from Isara.
• Gron worried that Ashen City's lights might fail if the Sunfire God remained away, unaware that Lin Jin had upgraded the rune formation to draw on faith.
• Gron found a letter from Raily, the Gear Clan's leader, requesting talks about a peaceful transition and agreed to meet with her.

Gron prepared to negotiate with Raily and the Gear Clan in Ashen City, while suspecting their peaceful offer might conceal a threat. The small delegation arrived and exchanged formal greetings with Gron before the talks moved into the Sunfire Temple.

• Gron received the Gear Clan's agreement to talks and considered the threat their technology and new territory posed to Ashen City.
• Gron chose Ashen City as the venue and planned to use Isara's prepared trial to test Raily's claim of receiving a revelation from the Sunfire God.
• Gron and Isara greeted the crowd as they awaited the Gear Clan, and Isara privately shared her misgivings about the talks.
• Raily arrived with only two companions, wearing the Brass Badge she had received from the Sunfire God.
• Raily and Gron exchanged formal greetings and shook hands before the delegation entered the Sunfire Temple.

Raily and Gron fought to test whether she truly served the Sunfire God, and Gron accepted her pact after narrowly winning. The clans united under the name Flame Capital, accelerating Lin Jin’s fusion of divinity.

• Raily told Gron that the Sunfire God had guided her, and Gron demanded a duel to judge her claim.
• Gron and Raily battled in the Sunfire Temple, where Gron won after piercing her shoulder with his spear.
• Gron offered Raily his hand and accepted her pact, though he remained watchful for potential threats.
• Gron, Isara, Aemon, Mortas, and Raily announced the clans’ union and named the land the Flame Capital.
• The insects celebrated their newfound unity as the liquid flame atop Torch Crown cooled and Lin Jin’s divinity fused faster.

Lin Jin awakened after merging with the Primordial Fire, gaining dominion over the fiery realm and becoming a god of order and flame. The Bronze Cauldron then unleashed a pillar of light that announced his birth to the world and drew clans, beasts, and a masked group toward him.

• Lin Jin recovered his memories, recognized the Primordial Fire’s end, and claimed the title Sunfire God.
• Lin Jin discovered that the Primordial Fire had given him absolute dominion over a newly formed divine realm of fire and order.
• Lin Jin returned from the realm to the Bronze Cauldron and saw that his divinity and powers had changed.
• The Bronze Cauldron released its stored Essence in a burst of light, causing Lin Jin to shine like a sun and sending a pillar into the sky.
• Gron, Isara, the Snail Shaman, Mortas, and Raily sensed Lin Jin’s power as Ashen City’s inhabitants prayed and kept order.
• Clans and wild beasts began moving toward the pillar, while a band of brass-masked bugs prayed for the Sunfire God to accept them.

The narrator interpreted Godseeker’s obsession as the result of her people’s lost understanding of balance, which had once been their path to divinity. The narrator planned to intervene and reconsidered how the Brass Masks’ race should fit into the book.

• The narrator considered the Brass Masks a mysterious community with their own purposes and history.
• The narrator theorized that Godseeker’s ancestors had sought divinity by becoming one with the balance of black and white powers.
• The narrator explained that successive crises had eroded the race’s legacy, replacing reverence for balance with the belief that survival depended on great power.
• Godseeker had inherited only a distorted mission to seek powerful gods, leading her to build Godhome and guide Little Knight toward awakening the Void.
• The narrator concluded that Godseeker’s obsession imprisoned her in a broken legacy and said their intervention would break it apart.
• The narrator decided to think carefully about the race’s place and role in the book.

Lin Jin prepared hidden treasure chests and a letter for any future person from another world who might discover his legacy. He left them a chance to help save the Flame Capital and advice about the dangers of the world, with a final contingency waiting at Mountain Summit.

• Lin Jin wrote a letter explaining that he had crossed over into the world of Hollow Knight and created the Flame Capital.
• Lin Jin offered his successor unique treasures on the condition that they help the Flame Capital, whether as its new King or as a savior.
• Lin Jin warned his successor about the Void, the Sea of the Unlight, and Higher Beings, and directed them to Mountain Summit for his final contingency.
• Lin Jin locked the letters and treasures in chests bearing simplified Chinese clues and ordered his secret guards to hide them across the Flame Capital.
• Lin Jin looked at the perpetually dark sky and wondered whether his preparations would ever help anyone.

A newly hatched larva emerged in the safe, cushioned nest of Ashen City and sensed the warmth of the Sunfire God’s flames. After meeting his mother and hearing a soldier discuss the family’s future, he fell asleep with a warm first impression of the world.

• The first larva hatched and searched the air until he spotted the warm flames of Ashen City.
• His mother lifted him, counted her children, and tearfully welcomed him as their big brother.
• A soldier arrived to conduct a census and greeted the larva’s mother, Aunt Vis.
• The soldier and Aunt Vis discussed sending the children to school and possibly into the expanding army.
• The larva grew drowsy, returned to his nest, and fell asleep.

A believer, a soldier, and a mantis hunter each explained their different understanding of the Sunfire God’s purpose and expectations. The hunter accepted healing but remained convinced that weakness must be hidden.

• A believer prayed beside the campfire, while a soldier urged him to focus on practical work for the expedition.
• The soldier said he believed the Sunfire God needed concrete action, including fighting, traps, and flares.
• A mantis hunter emerged from the shadows and asked the believer to heal his injured arm.
• The hunter said he had avoided the infirmary because a hunter could not reveal weakness, and he feared doubt would be fatal.
• The believer healed and bandaged the hunter, who thanked him and returned to the shadows.
• The believer and soldier reflected that insects held different ideas about the Sunfire God.

The Pale King responded to a spreading pillar of light by advancing his plan to seal the Radiance, training the Hollow Knight and arranging for four Dreamers. Meanwhile, a surviving vessel escaped the Abyss and headed into the wilds toward the light.

• The Pale King and the White Lady sensed a newborn order, and an attendant reported that a fiery pillar of light had appeared over Dirtmouth and was spreading.
• The Pale King reassured his subjects, then watched Ze'mer train the Hollow Knight and reflected on creating vessels in the Abyss to make a prison for the Radiance.
• The Pale King ordered messengers to summon Beast Herrah, Teacher Monomon, and Watcher Lurien, and to tell Vespa that their previous agreement could be reconsidered.
• The Pale King foresaw four Dreamers sealing the Black Egg Temple and resolved to protect Hallownest at any cost.
• A vessel with four short horns crawled out of the Abyss, left Dirtmouth behind, and traveled into the wilds toward the spreading pillar of light.