Hollow Knight

The Hollow Knight is the titular final boss the 2017 indie game of the same name. It is the Vessel that sealed away the Infection, but at the cost of losing its sanity.

Appearance
The Hollow Knight appears as a masked figure with a black body and a white horned insectoid mask with a grey cape. Like the rest of the Infected, its eyes shine a bright orange, and a small crack in the center of its mask is where the Infected escaped from its hollow body.

Personality
Much like the other Vessels of its kind, the Hollow Knight was very loyal to the Pale King and took its job seriously, almost in an arrogant passion. After its possession by the Radiance, the Hollow Knight took a more feral state, willing to destroy anything that can be destroyed.

Backstory
The Hollow Knight was one of the mysterious life-forms called Slades, created by a Void at the bottom of the Abyss of Hollownest. When a supreme being, known as the Radiance, plagued the inhabitants of the Hollownest with an Infection in punishment for their negligence in her worship, the Pale King came to the aid of the Slades by containing them within a physical shell, becoming Vessels, with the intentions of absorbing the Infection within themselves without escaping. While most of the Vessels ended up failing to contaminate the Infection, only one Vessel managed to succeed at the thought impossible plan, earning the name "The Hollow Knight" to describe its Infectious empty inside.

To keep the Hollow Knight from becoming possessed by the Infection, the King, with the assistance of his three sorcerer minions, the Dreamers, sealed the Hollow Knight within a cocoon, the Black Egg, before the Dreamers went to a permanent rest while the King and his White Palace mysteriously vanished, leaving the Hollownest struggling to survive following the Infection.

However, as time went on, the Black Egg's protection weakened as the Dreamer's magic slowly wore off on the chains restraining the Hollow Knight. The Radiance, trapped in the mind of the Hollow Knight, grew aware of this, and the Infection returned with only two Vessels still in existence, Hornet and the playable Knight, awaken from their eternal slumber and begin a quest to seal off the Infection once and for all.

Ending
Depending on the Knight's progress throughout the game, the final battle with the Hollow Knight depends on if the Knight has destroyed all three Dreamers, and collected enough Essence to awake the Dream Nail and gain access to the White Palace and complete the Void Heart.

The Hollow Knight
The regular ending should the Knight have not collected the Void Heart. The Knight engages the Hollow Knight and ultimately succeeds, absorbing the Infection leaking from the dying Hollow Knight and becomes the new Vessel to seal the Infection.

Sealed Siblings
Should the Knight be able to obtain the Void Heart, Hornet will aid the player by immobilizing the Hollow Knight long enough for the Knight to be able to Dream Nail the Hollow Knight and enter its dream. Should the Knight not use the Nail in time or attack the Hollow Knight with any other attack, the Hollow Knight breaks out of its stun and kills Hornet, continuing the battle until its death. Much like the regular ending, the Knight becomes the new Vessel, but without Hornet, Hallownest will never be cured from the Infection.

Dream No More
If the Knight is able to drive the Dream Nail in the Hollow Knight, it is transported to the Hollow Knight's dream, where it can encounter and engage against the Radiance once and for all. As the Radiance obtains damage, the Slades of the past Vessels enter in and aid the Knight take down the Radiance, including the Shade of the Hollow Knight itself, where it opens the weak spot in the Radiance's head, allowing the Knight, breaking away from its Vessel, to deal the finishing blows to the Radiance, allowing it and the Shades to drag her into the Abyss and end the Infection for good.

Trivia

 * During the final battle, the Hollow Knight stabs itself with its nail halfway through the battle. Why it does so is never given, although there might be a possibility that the Hollow Knight regains a little control of its body, so it might be trying to rid the infection by killing itself.
 * In the White Palace, the Knight spots the Pale King with a Vessel that strikingly looks familiar to the Knight, with the exception of the horns, which.
 * The skills used by the Hollow Knight are similar to the moves used by previous bosses in the game:
 * Hornet's Parry and Nail Lunge.
 * Soul Master's Infection Shot.
 * Broken Vessel's Infection Pillar.
 * Watcher Knights' Nail Combo.
 * Nosk and Grimm's Infection Barrage.