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| “ | Those who hesitate learn nothing, you know! The wondrous bright glow of Plasmium makes all things clear! | „ |
| ~ Zylotol proclaiming his obsession with Plasmium. |
| “ | Plasmium, potent, pure! Escape even death... |
„ |
| ~ Alchemist Zylotol proclaiming Plasmium's benefits. |
Alchemist Zylotol is a supporting character in the 2025 indie metroidvania Hollow Knight: Silksong.
He is a researcher tasked with studying Plasmium, a mysterious substance that possesses regenerative properties, and something that he's clearly obsessed with. He has thus seeded most of the Wormways with this substance and seems uncaring towards anything else, an act that has terrible consequences later on.
Appearance[]
Zylotol is a large-bodied bug with four legs and two arms. He has a white head with many tendril-like growths on it, visible nostrils and has a greyish-blue shell. Zylotol wears a dark blue cloak and a pince-nez.
Personality[]
Arrogant and exceedingly unpleasant to work with, Zylotol prides himself as an expert in all manners relating to Plasmium, being self-assured in all of his findings. Obsessed with researching this substance, he tends to view his research assistants as disposable as he shrugs off the death of Zango, his previous helper, as an accident caused by his clumsiness and immediately hires Hornet as his servant, shooing her away until she returns with more material.
Zylotol seems to genuinely believe that this substance has its benefits and tries to share them with Hornet and the rest of Pharloom via his experiments on the local flora and fauna. This assurance causes him to be incredibly callous and overenthusiastic when experimenting with it, injecting many of the Wormways' wildlife with it and haplessly spreading Plasmium seeds, all in the name of research. Zylotol's obsession reaches its zenith after he's corrupted by the Plasmium, during which he starts to deify it and appears significantly less lucid, most likely losing his sanity as a result of his Plasmium addiction.
Biography[]
A scientist from the borderlands of Pharloom, Zylotol and his master discovered a substance that they dubbed Plasmium deep in salt-stricken waters, which they found to be capable of rejuvenating bugs and even strengthening their shells. Zylotol was thus tasked by his master to seed it within a foreign area to observe its growth there, choosing the Wormways thanks to its relative isolation to the rest of Pharloom. He and his assistant, Zango, would arrive and begin to plant Plasmium seeds throughout the area and inject samples of it into the wildlife. During this, Zango would mysteriously die while planting seeds, probably having something to do with the seeds using his body for nutrients when he tried to plant them in a non-optimal location. Zylotol would remain unaware of Zango's death and continue on his work, most likely thanks to not being too fond of him.
When Hornet arrives in the Wormways, she finds Zylotol using his alchemic equipment and is shooed off. She asks what he's working on, so Zylotol responds with his findings on Plasmium and its possible effects, with Hornet noting that Plasmium is known as Lifeblood in her homeland of Hallownest. Seeing as his previous assistant went missing, Zylotol asks Hornet to fill in for Zango and help him harvest the Plasmium from the unripe Plasmium buds scattered throughout the Wormways. Hornet must thus use a Needle Phial to harvest the fluid of three buds, returning to Zylotol and returning his equipment. As thanks, Zylotol gives Hornet a Plasmium Phial, allowing her to make use of its rejuvenative effects for herself, though he charges her for refills. Hornet questions if this substance is safe to use but is assured that as the wildlife currently seems fine, she should be too. If Hornet discovers Zango's corpse, she can tell Zylotol about it, though he shrugs the incident off as an accident caused by Zango's clumsiness.
During Act III, the Plasmium growing throughout the Wormways begins to bloom in full, possibly thanks to the Void's influence, and begins to overtake it completely, sprouting tendrils everywhere and mutating the local wildlife. Even the corpse of Zango is revived as a shambling, regenerative zombie. Zylotol is found with Plasmium tendrils growing out of his back and in a much less lucid state, but insists that he's fine and this is merely the next step in his research. He asks Hornet to help him with his research once again, collecting the Plasmified Blood of the mutated beasts lurking throughout the Wormways. Once Hornet has collected six phials, Zylotol will give her the Plasmium Gland growing inside of his shell, allowing her to infinitely refill the Plasmium Phial free of charge. Later on, after Hornet returns from sitting on a bench outside of Zylotol's room, she will find him collapsed to the ground, unresponsive to anything but the Needolin. This seems to imply that he's in the final stages of getting consumed and has not long to live.
Trivia[]
- Zylotol's name is a reference to the artificial sweetener Xylitol, likely a callback to Lifeblood's unseen negative consequences in a similar fashion to what many artificial sweeteners have.
- In a similar manner, Zango's name is a reference to Xango, a controversial fruit juice product which claimed many unfounded benefits.
- As the upcoming Sea of Sorrows DLC not only showcases a nautical area where Zylotol's master supposedly sourced the Plasmium from, but also showcases a device that appears similar to Zylotol's equipment, it's likely that we'll see Zylotol's master and even his colleagues in the DLC.
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 | ||