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| “ | Hardened warrior lord of a bygone age, able to command the coral crust to his bidding. For his stern stewardship his legions seemed utterly loyal. For less combative bugs his would have been a hard rule. |
„ |
| ~ Crust King Khann's entry in the Hunter's Journal. |
| “ | ...Our claws to crush... Our claws to rule... Our claws to save them all... | „ |
| ~ Crust King Khann's last words, revealing his desire to protect his subjects from Grand Mother Silk's influence. |
Crust King Khann is a major posthumous character in the 2025 indie metroidvania Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Once the mighty general and lord of the Order of Karak, a clan of oceanic warrior bugs, Crust King Khann held control over more than half of Pharloom in his peak, ruling over his lands with a merciless, iron claw. This rule would come to an end when Grand Mother Silk drained the waters of Karak, killing off Khann and his troops. As such, Khann would lie dormant in his tower, awaiting the arrival of somebody strong enough to defeat Silk and reclaim Pharloom's future.
Appearance[]
Khann is a bulky, stout bug clad in a dark silver chestplate, wearing bronze pauldrons that cover the breadth of his chest and bronze pads that protect his thighs. He wears a brown underlayer and has metal-tipped claws on his hands and feet. Khann's head is brown and pointed while his face is white, with four large horns and two smaller ones forming a crest. He has two small fangs and two sets of eyes, with the smaller eyes being above his larger ones. He possesses a red scar over his right pair of eyes.
Personality[]
Khann's personality is not apparent by the modern day, but he appears to have been a harsh and power-hungry ruler. Hornet remarks that his warmongering ways would mean a tough life for the weaker bugs under his rule, and indeed it appeared that Khann only cared about the strong as seen from his Needolin dialogue. In spite of this, he commanded the absolute respect of his men and was a brutally efficient military leader.
In the modern day, Khann seems to be aware of his death and his empire's collapse, with the Needolin dialogue on his corpse lamenting that he and his men were the last force remaining to resist Grand Mother Silk's influence. Thus, it appears that his dialogue in his boss fight is encouraging Hornet to hone her strength and best him, acknowledging that while he may have failed, she may prove herself worthy of reclaiming Pharloom's future. His final words after Hornet slays him reveals that his brutality and warmongering were in fact not entirely born from his lust for power, but rather his desire to protect his subjects from the threat Grand Mother Silk posed to them.
Biography[]
Many ages ago, Crust King Khann was the dominant ruler of the land which would become known as Pharloom. By commanding legions of skilled and loyal warriors, with even assorted wildlife entering his ranks, Khann was able to conquer more than half of the land and rule over it with hardened claw. Despite the ferocity of his own army, Khann himself was no slouch as he possessed the deadly and unique ability to command the coral that grows throughout Karak, allowing him to brutally impale foes, provide cover for his men to enter the battlefield or bestow unto them the same ability to manipulate the coral.
When Grand Mother Silk established her kingdom of Pharloom, Khann and the Order of Karak became fierce opponents of the Pale Being's influence and fought to keep her at bay. While they were able to put up some resistance at first, Pharloom's bugs attacked by draining Karak's rivers. This transformed the once bountiful coral forest into a bone-dry wasteland and stiffened the shells of the Karaka soldiers, greatly crippling them. Khann and his men were thus forced to retreat to their headquarters in the Coral Tower, where their dried up husks remain to this day, forgotten by time.
During the events of Act III, Hornet is tasked with collecting three hearts from powerful bugs that once inhabited Pharloom by the Snail Shamans. One of said beings she's directed to is Crust King Khann, whose remains she must play the Elegy of the Deep to in order to enter a memory of Karak in its prime. Upon entering the memory's version of the Coral Tower, Khann notices Hornet and commands his troops to attack her on each floor of the tower. He provides support to his troops by using the coral to disguise their entrances and attack Hornet, and once she clears each round he opens the gates for her to leave the floor.
After Hornet finishes the final gauntlet, Khann roars from the top and beckons her to ascend to his throne room, summoning coral spikes to force her upwards. When Hornet arrives, Khann gets off his throne and attacks, beginning his boss fight. While he only attacks by summoning telegraphed growths of coral, he will do so in much more rapid succession throughout the fight and will occasionally do two at once, making his battle a tricky test of reaction time. Khann also repositions himself quite often, making his body itself a hazard thanks to contact damage.
Eventually, Hornet triumphs and slashes Khann, defeating his memory self. In the real world, Khann's corpse, having found a worthy successor of his cause, crumbles away into dust, leaving the Encrusted Heart for Hornet to collect. Flavor text states that said heart beats deep and slow, a reflection of the powerful but honorable tyrant that Khann was.
Trivia[]
- Crust King Khann is a backer character, created by backer Brandon Lieu.
- Before the official release of Silksong, Crust King Khann was referred to as Coral King Khann in promotional material. He was also intended for the scrapped Red Coral Gorge area, which was turned into the Sands of Karak.
- His boss arena also looked rather different, being a regular room in the Coral Tower rather than his throne room.
- Before fighting Khann, one can find a coral spike which can be broken, causing it to destroy the floor and allow Hornet to skip the first three gauntlets for subsequent runs.
- Seeing as the bugs of Karak turn to dust when they die, it's speculated that Crust King Khann, with his intact husk, was possibly still alive in some form before Hornet claimed his heart. By extension this means that the Karakas surrounding his grave could be dormant and may come back should water be allowed to flow in the Karak once again.
- His title of "Crust King Khann" sounds phonetically similar to the word "crustacean", fitting as he and the rest of his troops appear to be decapod-like bugs.
External links[]
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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 | ||