Traitor Lord

Evil-doer
Full Name	Unknown
Alias	Traitor Lord
Origin	Hollow Knight
Occupation	Mantis Tribe Lord (formerly)
Powers / Skills	Claws Agility Dancing Glaive Radiant Wave
Hobby	Collecting Infection to become more powerful.
Goals	Take control of the Queen's Garden (failed). Kill the Knight and Cloth (succeeded with Cloth, failed with the Knight).
Crimes	Hypocrisy Tyranny Betraying his family Attempted murder
Type of Villain	Power-Hungry Traitor

“	Our lands now...	„
	~ Traitor Lord

The Traitor Lord is a boss in Hollow Knight. He was once the leader of the Mantis Tribe, but his wealth for power from the Infection drove him to turn against his clan.

History

When the Infection spread through the kingdom of Hallownest, the Mantises of the Mantis Tribe in the Fungal Wastes managed to restrain the spread by training warriors to fight against the plague-induced bugs. Their leader, however, believed the Infection will allow them to become more powerful, so he and his followers embraced the Infection. To avoid anymore loss of life, the leader's sisters became the Mantis Lords and exiled the Traitor Lord and his men to the Queen's Garden.

In the Queen's Garden, the Mantis Lord and his men fought against the guards of the White Lady, including Dryya, one of Hallownest's five great knights, whose corpse can be found outside the White Lady's cocoon surrounded by dead Mantis Traitors.

The Mantis Lord can be found in the room exactly before the White Lady's cocoon, thus he must be defeated in order to access her. After fighting three Mantis Traitors, Traitor Lord reveals himself. He has four attacks, dashing, diving from the air, slashing his claws out similarly to the Mantis Lords and Mantis Petras, although they move in zigzags contrast to boomerang-like, and slamming against the ground, creating a massive shockwave that can only be dodged by using the Shade Cloak to safely pass through it. His attacks are simple, yet hard to dodge due to the small arena and deal heavy damage, two masks per hits. Plus, it is easy to be harmed while focusing to recharge health due to his fast and aggressive agility. When the Traitor Lord uses his dive attack, jump over him, get in a downward strike or use Desolate Dive, then quickly dash away to avoid contact damage. Continue attacking and dodging until the Traitor Lord goes down.

Should the Knight have befriended Cloth after saving her in the Ancient Basin, she will help out in their battle against the Mantis Traitors and Traitor Lord. When the Traitor Lord takes enough damage, he stabs Cloth with his claws, but she will finish off the lord with her by smashing his head with her club.

Gallery

Images

Traitor Lord about to slash his claws.

Videos

Hollow Knight Boss Discussion - Traitor Lord

Traitor Lord Discussion

Trivia

• In the room where the Knight fights the Mantis Lords, there is a broken pillar where Traitor Lord's throne originally stood.
• Supposedly, the Traitor Lord had a daughter, whose grave can be found in the lower portions of the Queen's Garden. Whether or not she was infected when she died is uncertain.
  • The Grey Mourner's lover was the Traitor Lord's daughter. Judging her dialogue, the mantises and the Traitor Lord despised their relationship due to the Grey Mourner being an outsider.
• While the Infection tends to reduce infected bugs to a feral state, the Traitor Mantises seem to have a working society.
• Prior to the Lifeblood update (1.3.0.4), Traitor Lord dealt regular damage and did not use the zigzag claw attack or the shockwave. On the contrary, Cloth is more accurate in hitting Traitor Lord.