Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
Teruhashi and Saiki are almost one in the same, kind of like foils if you ask me. But hey, don't tell the saiki k fandom I said that... š¤«
Teruhashi is a prime example of ppl hating female characters when they love male characters for the same thing (cough cough saiki is also self centered and egotistical). And lots of teruhashi haters are misogynistic, you canāt change my mind
[Confession 379]
Obligatory disclaimer, of course, that this is just a theory. It may not even be what the creators intended! But itās special to me, which is why I want to share if. And I think that a well crafted theory with textual evidence is far better than any inflammatory thumbnail by a YouTuber with enough charisma to overcome his utter lack of reading comprehension.Ā
So, to start, Iāll explain the particular disability. Put simply, being filled with the primordial darkness soup has detrimental effects on oneās health. It takes the place of blood, but itās more viscous, which means that the heart is constantly working overtime just to pump it properly.Ā
So, what are the symptoms of this? Well, the most prominent one is this: Ghost is able to fully recover their health simply by sitting on a bench. If youāre wondering how that could possibly be linked to a heart condition, itās actually based on my own experiences with POTS, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Itās a health condition thatās affectionately known as ācanāt fucking stand disorderā or less affectionately known as other, more explicit things when itās causing me trouble.Ā
To get personal about my experience with POTS: I get dizzy standing up, or standing too long. I use a cane to support myself, and I need to drink what amounts to salt water to raise my blood volume. The blood volume is important, for reasons Iāll get into later.Ā
So, on the surface level: theyāre disabled because they need benches to recover. But bear with me, because I think it goes a little deeper and a little weirder. Hereās my theory.
Ghost was intended to be invincible. They donāt take contact damage. Every time they take damage, itās actually just them flinching and their heart rate increasing.
I know, it sounds insane, but I promise that there is evidence to support this. The first piece is the Pale Kingās ambition. He created everyone in the dead baby pit to be invincible, right? The perfect vessel to seal away the Radiance, no voice to cry suffering. But then we also know that the Hollow Knight themself wasnāt perfect. They were weak specifically because they wanted to be loved. They were weak because they had a heart, they had emotions, because their traitorous heart pumped blood too fast and it made them vulnerable, because they felt fear. Itās poetic, in a sense.
Diversity Loss! The dead baby pit created in a fruitless effort to save the remnants of a crumbling kingdom is made up of disabled bugs who were subject to a fuckshit eugenics experiment, yippee!
Another interesting piece of supporting evidence is the existence of Lifeblood. The heretic Joni pioneered its use, and thereās some weird implications that maybe this wasn't the best idea, but hear me out for a second. What if itās literally increasing blood volume of our protagonist to give them some protection from the symptoms of what is effectively a goopy heart disease? The name is quite literal, actually.
The final piece of evidence? Look at the effects of the Fury of the Fallen charm. This one is like adrenaline overdose, complete with pulsing visual effects meant to set you on edge. While this charm is equipped, the knight won't even perform their idle animations. It's a small thing, but I think it is definitely meant to indicate that they're too pumped with adrenaline to have the focus to do this little things. All of that energy is dedicated towards not losing control, one way or another.
Overall, like I said. Itās not something I can prove, but it is backed up by some canon evidence. And it adds to the tragedy, I think, of a scared bug with a bleeding heart.