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| “ | Hail to your heat! O glorious flame. You who builds and breaks us. Sear our shells. Char them black. That we may rise to join you, wreathed in bright and blazing joy. | „ |
| ~ A prayer of the Burning Bugs to the flame they worship. |
The Burning Bugs are a minor antagonistic faction in the 2025 indie metroidvania Hollow Knight: Silksong.
They are a bizarre cult of bugs obsessed with a flame that they wield, hoping to use it to ascend to a higher plane of understanding. Inhabiting the Wisp Thicket, the Burning Bugs worship a deity they call the Father of the Flame, which is a crude effigy fashioned from sticks containing the corpse of what appears to be their leader.
Appearance[]
The Burning Bugs all appear to be six-legged bugs wearing pointed red hoods. They wield long sticks holding lanterns that summon wisps.
Biography[]
Nearly nothing is known about the Burning Bugs, as they're not mentioned anywhere by any NPCs or lore tablets. Seeing as they inhabit the Wisp Thicket, a forest of bamboo, the very material that makes up most of Greymoor's structures, it's possible that they were the region's original inhabitants who were forced into hiding, leaving the Wisp Thicket as the only bit of their land left untouched by the Citadel's expansion.
Whatever's the case, the Burning Bugs eventually developed an obsession with the flame, worshipping it as a purifying entity that would grant those burnt by its eternal bliss and happiness. The leader of these bugs appears to have their corpse placed within a massive lantern, which itself was integrated into an effigy known as the Father of Flame, seemingly to attune themself with the cult's deity. The Burning Bugs learnt to summon Wisps out of special lanterns, which themselves may be the souls of bugs burnt by the flame, seeing as their Needolin dialogue aligns with the Bugs' aims. As none of the Bugs are Haunted, it's possible that the flames protect them from Grand Mother Silk's threads by incinerating them, allowing them to live freely. The ashes and pilgrims' robes that fall out of certain packs in the Wisp Thicket heavily imply that they sacrificed pilgrims by burning them, though whether alive or not is unknown.
When Hornet arrives in the Wisp Thicket, the Burning Bugs and Wisps go to attack her, hindering her exploration. She eventually finds herself in a room full of dead cultists and fights the Father of the Flame, destroying the lanterns located on its body. Once the effigy is destroyed, Hornet retrieves the Wispfire Lantern, allowing her to summon wisps of her own. Most eerily, however, is the fact that all Burning Bugs from then on immolate themselves while laughing when encountering Hornet from then onwards, sending out Wisps to attack her instead. The reason for this is unknown, though they could be seeking to follow their leader's example, or may be killing themselves in despair as their protective effigy's destruction makes them susceptible to the Haunting.
Trivia[]
- As all Burning Bugs kill themselves before Hornet can attack them after the Father of Flame is defeated, their Hunter's Journal entry is unlocked upon said boss's defeat.
- Seeing as these bugs are obsessed with flames, heavily utilise lanterns in their rituals, wear red garbs and are able to use the fire to teleport, it's been theorised that the Burning Bugs may be a cult attempting to emulate the practices of the Grimm Troupe, almost as a sort of cargo cult to the Nightmare's Heart.
- The Burning Bugs are some of the only enemies not affected by the Void, fitting as they're not Haunted.
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 Villains
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Hallownest The Infected Grimm Troupe Other Pharloom The Citadel Caste and its associates Silk Beings Others | ||