Pale King

"No price to great."

- The Pale King

The Pale King is the posthumous secondary antagonist of Hollow Knight. He was once the King of Hollownest, until suddenly vanishing alongside his White Palace following the Infection outburst. Because his lust for power and knowledge drove the Radiance's fury to plague Hollowest, he is the Heavy of the game, despite being anti-villainous in nature.

History
The Pale King was born from the death of a large creature known as a Wyrm; either he is its reincarnation, parasitic host, or even offspring. Extraordinarily intelligent, it was his knowledge that drove the bugs of Hollownest from worshiping the Radiance with a hive mind to accept their independence, ultimately becoming loved enough to become their king.

The Radiance did not admire the Pale King's decision and reacted by inflicting the dreams of the bugs with a raging light, turning them into zombie-like monsters. The Pale King was willing to go to any lengths to ensure the survival of his remaining followers, even if it meant doing unsavory actions to ensure his prosperity. He turned to the Void at the bottom of the Hollownest, towards the numerous entities that emerged from the Void, which he calls "Shades". After conducting experiments with the Shades, he creates Vessels, Shades made with hollow insides, now with the intention to contain the Infection within themselves. However, only one Vessel managed to successfully contain the Infection, earning the name "The Hollow Knight".

But after the Infection managed to escape from the Black Egg Temple that imprisons the Hollow Knight, the Pale King and the White Temple vanished, leaving no physical evidence of their trace. Rumors spread that he simply abandoned his people and went into hiding. Only Seer, the last surviving member of Wyrms knows the Pale King's whereabouts: he hid himself and his White Palace within the Dream Realm, and encourages the playable Knight to gather enough Essence to strengthen his Dream Nail to enter the dream.

Once the Knight has collected 1,800 Essence, Seer is able to awaken the Dream Nail, allowing them to travel through any dream. If the awakened Dream Nail is used on the corpse of a guard at the former entrance of the White Palace, the Knight is brought to the entrance of the White Palace, where the Pale King supposedly is. At the end of the White Palace is the Pale King, or whatever remains of him, sitting on his throne. Sometime after making the dream he perished, although his Dream Nailed quotes state that it was "not a price too great". Slashing his body makes him drop the second half of the Kingsoul charm if the Knight has not collected the other half from the White Lady. Once the Kingsoul is converted to Void Heart will the Knight be able to fight against the Radiance.

Trivia

 * As the Radiance continued to break free, the Pale King took more darker actions on how to stop her.
 * According to the Kickstarter, the Pale King is merely hiding, although it is unclear where he ran off to.