The world of Hollownest is ripe for exploration, with new content waiting around almost every corner. Seeing everything that the game has to offer is made into a stupendous task, however, by the existence of breakable walls and well-hidden passageways. Like the illusory walls of Dark Souls, some of these aren't clearly signposted, if at all, and it can be easy to miss more than a few of them along your travels. Even the most thorough of completionists are likely to remain blissfully unaware of some of the secrets Hollow Knight has to offer.
Hidden from plain sight, most of these secret rooms grant an unrivaled glimpse into Hollow Knight's cryptic lore and are well-worth seeing for this quality alone. Though there are many other difficult-to-find passageways that grant access to treasures, upgrades, and hot springs (such as the one in the Colosseum of Fools), these obscure lore rooms remain the holy grail of Hallownest finds. Here's how you can find them:
10 Grimm's Puppet Room
If you decide to do the Grimm Troupe DLC, there's a room that is devilishly hidden inside the sinister tents that pop up on the outskirts of Dirtmouth (much to Elderbug's displeasure). Finding this area makes you feel like you've stumbled upon an eerie place unintended for prying eyes.
The first thing you'll notice are the masks of the audience who were watching your fights against Troupe Master Grimm, suggesting that all was not as it seemed. In fact, it's implied that they were puppets all along, adding to the whole creepy carnival aesthetic of the troupe.
There are also some chests here as well as a mysterious contraption. If you use a spell while in this room a protective seal glares up, suggesting that this is a device of great importance, perhaps used to teleport the tents from ritual to ritual.
To find this room, first, make sure you've summoned the Grimm Troupe and then visit their tents in Dirtmouth. After entering the main tent, you must then make your way beyond the arena. Walk then past two arches and you'll be in the right spot. Look out for the tattered curtains dangling from the ceiling and wall-jump towards them to find the mask room hidden above.
9 Ogrim's Cave
Although best known rather indignantly as the Dung Defender, Ogrim was once one of the most revered figures in Hallownest, making up one part of the Five Great Knights. And, although he seems to be in a forgetful daze, much lore lingers below the surface.
If you perform a desolate dive under the pump control that gave access to Isma's Grove, you can unearth a cave network underneath where Ogrim has built sculptures of his fellow Great Knights, as well as one of the Pale King.
Here is where he restlessly sleeps and you can dream-nail him to challenge Ogrim to a series of dream fights, that eventually dissipates his brain fog. You have to beat him as the White Defender five times to achieve this. It's worth doing as it leads to some surprises, as well as an extra final statue.
8 The Pale King's Workshop
The White Palace houses some of Hollow Knight's most revealing lore rooms and more than its fair share of secrets. Most infamously it contains The Path of Pain, the trickiest platforming that Hollow Knight has to offer, which itself is hidden behind a breakable wall.
But there is more to be found here beyond it, including the Pale King's Workshop and the White Lady's Room. The former is where the Pale King formed void into serviceable creatures, while the latter is theorized to be a vessel nursery room, where The White Lady once resided.
To access these, you must first enter The White Palace by dream-nailing the corpse of a Kingsmould in the Palace Grounds. Then these secret rooms are all found in the Palace's upper parts. To find the Pale King's Workshop, drop down from a ledge on the right-side part of the map that you reach after using the Crystal Heart ability.
You must then maneuver around some thorns and nail pogo off a Wingmould to reach it. There's another route involving buzzsaws hidden in clouds, but it's needlessly difficult.
On the other hand, The White Lady's Room is found right below the Throne Room. To reach it just look out for a breakable floor near a Soul Totem to smash through.
7 Pleasure House Kitchen of Horrors
Hallownest was certainly hit by a dreadful disaster, and sometimes here and there horrific sides of it still rear their ugly heads. Those curious to see what the long-necked Willoh is feasting on way up above will stumble upon an unpleasant surprise, but it's far from Hollow Knight's only instance of cannibalism.
The most disturbing example of this is found hidden away in the Pleasure House, where the desperate nobility were driven to commit dreadful acts. There the ghost of Poggy Thorax can also be encountered.
To access this secret room, make your way to the Pleasure House in the City of Tears (where Marissa sings). There will be a lift here that rockets up past many floors on its way to the top. Instead, forcibly exit it or manually climb up to the fifth floor, where you can enter through a hidden passage on the right side.
Then move past the regretful bodies of posh denizens to reach their terrible secret in the kitchen. Discovering what Willoh has done, however, just requires the Monarch Wings to jump up above and a wreckless will to shatter your fondness towards the apparently cute character.
6 Moth Room And Shrine of Believers
Hollow Knight was made possible by the success of its Kickstarter campaign. As such, Team Cherry created a special hidden area to honor backers who chose a certain tier. This Shrine of Believers is extremely difficult to find normally though, as it hides in an unconventional place within another secret room. Presumably, backers were given instructions that all other players would be clueless without.
To access it, you need to enter the waterfall in the Spirit Glade area of the Resting Grounds. To do this, make your way up to the second floor and use the Crystal Heart to dash across into it. There you will find some huge Moth statues, representing the all-but-extinct tribe.
The Shrine of Believers can then be accessed by climbing up to a hidden ledge by the top of the leftmost moth statue and dream-nailing its head.
5 Vitruvian Grub Room
Within The Collector's lair lies one of Hollow Knight's most cryptic pieces of lore: The Vitruvian Grub. This mural of a grub, somewhat resembling Leonardo da Vinci's famous artwork suggests that The Collector's reason for capturing the grubs went deeper than mere desire.
The Collector was birthed from the void, but its actions seem unconventional compared to its brethren. Perhaps its studies stemmed from seeking to understand how the Grubs resisted the Infection inconceivably well. Alternate theories, however, argue it was to prevent them from malting into grubberflies.
Whatever the case, you can find the Vitruvian Grub within the Collector's domain (which is part of the Tower of Love). Head towards the top of this area until you came across a strange obelisk sign adorned with an emblematic language. Proceed to jump up towards the roof directly above the sign and you will stumble upon The Collector's strange, cryptic room.
4 Fluke Hermit Room
Some NPCs in Hollow Knight show up only when strange circumstances are fulfilled, but this one is made especially rare by requiring you to traversing through a fake wall. The Fluke Hermit is a rather unique NPC as she is uninfected, showing how some bugs have adapted to resist the infection.
She is ever more special for being the only Fluke that exhibits signs of sentience, and likely shall become the new mother of her tribe. It's one of the few moments in the game that gives hope for the future of Hallownest.
To find the Fluke Hermit, first, go towards the edges of the Junk Pit where The Godseeker lays dormant. Then climb up the platforms to the area above and keep on going until you reach an area with two Fungoon creatures that float by a pool of water to their right-side.
Traverse through this water and you will come face to face with the Fluke Hermit. She can also be found later peering down towards the Junk Pit after the player completes two Pantheons.
3 Hornet's Room
In another case of secret room inception, Hornet's Room can only be found within the already elusive Weaver's Den. Both are found nestled within the creeping confines of Deepnest. The Weavers were a spider tribe that came from foreign lands and established their own dwelling within Deepnest.
They have since abandoned the lands to return home after the infection spread out, but one can be seen left behind. It's suggested they had ties to Hornet's upbringing, as a room with a Seal of Binding can be found in their den. More weavers are set to appear in Silksong, helping her to restore her powers.
To find the room, you must first discover the Weaver's Den. It can be found guarded by a lone Stalking Devout in this area, just defeat it and push on past the dark wall to find the entrance. Hornet's Room can then be found after you find the Weaversong charm by two Weaver corpses.
A breakable wall lies on the other opposite side of the room across from this, so use Vengeful spirit twice and dash across with the Crystal Heart. Then platform up to a geo stash, which at first glance seems to be the only reward found here. But to the left of this, again on the wall opposite, is another breakable wall. Use vengeful spirit again or break it open with your nail to access Hornet's Room.
2 Menderbug's Wholesome House
Menderbug is the most illusive NPC in Hallownest. It is a member of a secretive guild of bugs that endlessly toil away fixing the signs and wayposts that the player breaks while carelessly swinging their nail around. This Menderbug can only be found in one location, though - the Forgotten Crossroads entry point at the bottom of the Dirtmouth well. It has a 2 percent chance of spawning there, and will only do so if the sign there has been destroyed.
Menderbug quickly flies away on sight but can be killed if you perform a desolate dive down the well. It'll likely take tens of goes until you'll successful, but you'll then finally gain access to the Menderbug's House. Alternatively, it can spawn on the left and right sides of this room and be defeated with vengeful spirit, but this is an unreliable method.
Its house is one of the few found in the village below the early Gruz Mother boss fight, where you encounter Sly lost in a daze to the infection. Although it has been locked up until now, its door will now be wide open and can be found on the left-most side of the village.
Entering the house will make you realize that you've murdered the most wholesome character in Hollownest, as in its cute house you can find a diary where the Menderbug details its delight about having to keep fixing its "favorite sign" in the most adorable way possible. From here onwards the sign shall remain forever broken as a stark reminder of what you did.
1 The Eternal Ordeal And Other Godhome Secrets
Godhome houses perhaps the most secrets in the game. Existing in the mind of The Godseeker, it can only be accessed by dream-nailing them in the Junk Pit. One of the secrets found here is The Eternal Ordeal: a challenge against Zotelings that has forced itself into the Hall of Gods. Beating 57 Zotelings unlocks a new Menu Style and turns the Zote statue gold. There are also two further secret areas that provide precious lore about the Godseeker: The Land of Storms and a Memory Room.
To challenge The Eternal Ordeal go to the top-right area of the Hall of Gods (past Nightmare Grimm) where part of the ceiling can be broken open. This is the part of the roof after the third arch. An Abyss Shriek can then be used to open it, while the player must Crystal Dash from the right wall and double-jump onto the side of the arch to enter the room.
Meanwhile, The Land of Storms can only be found after beating all Pantheons with each binding notch filled, while the Memory Room is a chance encounter that can happen when dream-nailing The Godseeker. It has a 2 percent chance of occurring and can only be done once.