Original
i'm sorry , this is so cute! 🥰
Odysseus, disguised as a beggar: alright ody, you’re about to see your beautiful wife for the first time in twenty years but you CAN’T break character - no matter how gorgeous she is. You got this, after years of marriage, you’ve learned how to handle your wife’s hotness.
[Penelope walks into the room]
Odysseus: oh no she got hotter with age
This is very relieving to know as I am working on several posts with TONS of words on it.
tumblr users love reading. you literally stopped for this post just because it has words in it
Would you eat a purple carrot?
Considering purple carrots are a real thing, I'll try it.
Just as long as it's cooked first. But I'll do that to an orange carrot. 🥕
This is so cool!
Pokemon | Dreaming of good times | Rayquaza and Entei
Okay, we can all agree that Team Cherry put a LOT of thought into crafting the backgrounds and environments of Hollow Knight. But why is nobody talking about the designs for the Dreamers' houses?! Especially compared with their base forms? Well, let's start talking about it!
The Last Dreamer, Lurien the Watcher! A.K.A. The guy who is responsible for this whole essay.
His design is the simplest among the three Dreamers.
Taken from Hollow Knight - Lurien the Watcher
A design so simple that it leaves the fans in relentless debate on what species of bug he is.
So tell me, why is HIS HOUSE the one with the most freaking complicated design!?!?!?! It's as if Lurien is living in a cathedral here!
Okay, Lurien living in a cathedral might be an exaggeration, but take a look at complicated his Spire is! Look at the floors! Notice the window designs! The hanging banners! The lanterns! And goodness gracious, the dude has wallpaper throughout his whole Spire!
Did I forget to mention the wallpaper?!?!!
The insane amount of detail!!!
And we haven't even gotten to the fact Team Cherry went out of their way to incorporate 3D into a 2D POV! You can clearly see it in this window here.
As we start the walk here…
We can't help but notice…
How the pillars framing the window "move" as we do.
Could you believe that a team of four people made all of this? Team Cherry truly wasted no detail in the Watcher's Spire, from the simplest wallpaper to the famous Telescope.
And here is the Telescope! In all its very-difficult-to-draw glory! Speaking of it, the design clearly costed tons of geo. The cost paid off, however, as the Telescope still works despite the lack of maintenance due to the Infection.
Of course, that can be easily seen by anyone who played the game in a rush. In terms of Lurien's character, the fan can see how he earned his namesake, Watcher.
Yet...has anyone stopped to consider how Lurien set up his office? In particular, how Lurien can position his Telescope anywhere in his main office? Check out all the windows!
Did you all notice it? Every single window is open, yet each window is nicely framed with the glass plane. And before you all comment, “what about this window? It's closed!”
The window design is different from the ones behind Lurien's bed…and matches up with the window where the Telescope is currently at. This implies that this window can open up at any time should Lurien wish it. As the Telescope is NOT facing that direction, there is no need to keep that window open. Lovely for us, as that window keeps Lurien's butler in. If you need proof, check out the photo where the Telescope is again.
With this in mind, what does the Telescope and open windows tell us about Lurien's character?
First, Lurien is very dedicated to his duty as the Watcher, so much so that he will spend as much money as needed to craft the best tools he needs.
Second, Lurien favors practicality as seen by how every window is either open or has hinges to open it. The Watcher must watch over the WHOLE City of Tears, not just the left side (or commoner side).
Third, Lurien loves beauty. It is not enough to have the windows open; goodness, Lurien could have not added windows at all! But he insisted on a lovely window design that framed the view into the City. And we're not even talking about the pillars and the curtains which frame it as well.Â
Fourth and finally, Lurien was able to get both practicality and beauty in the same window. I cannot stress this enough as Herrah and Monomon choose practicality over beauty. Yes, there are beautiful details here and there, but when push comes to shove, both ladies choose practicality with a dash of beauty on the side. This really makes Lurien stand out amongst the Dreamers.
I hope you enjoyed part 1 of Lurien's Spire. Unfortunately, I must stop here as this is merely 1/4 of Lurien's section of the essay. Please feel free to comment and reblog as much as you would like. It's fun reading your thoughts.
If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.
Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here
Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here
Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire (You are here.)
Part 3.25: More of Lurien's Spire : Here
Part 3.5: Lurien's Spire: Pillows and Patriotism: Here
Part 3.7 Lurien's Spire: What is wrong with Lurien's Office?! Here
Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here
Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here
Link to essay on Ao3: Here
BLURB:
Instead of Deepnest, the Knight went up through the City of Tears to escape. What would happen but being found and adopted by none other than the Watcher himself.
Tell me, what happens now? After all, the Knight has a twin in the White Palace down below....
Part 1 / Prologue:
https://www.tumblr.com/violetdawn001/738374720772292608/script-out-of-nowhere-you-came-needing-someone-to?source=share
Part 2 / Chapter 1:
https://www.tumblr.com/violetdawn001/739098346305781760/perfectly-not-fine-chapter-one?source=share
Part 3 / Chapter 2:
https://www.tumblr.com/violetdawn001/741443039477858304/perfectly-not-fine-chapter-2?source=share
Part 4 / Chapter 3:
https://www.tumblr.com/violetdawn001/743988423774371840/perfectly-not-fine-chapter-3?source=share
This little guy is so cute...we need to save him so Ghost and this little guy can have playdates in a saved Hallownest.
Who's hungry for friendship?
Welcome back to talking about the Dreamers' Houses! Today we're discussing more about the Watcher's Spire and what it tells us about Lurien's character.
Last time, we talked about Lurien's Telescope and what it spoke of Lurien's character. Yet there was something else I noticed with the placement of the Telescope itself.
It is on the Left Side of Lurien's office, facing the Left half of the City. While some might state that this is because of classism, I am not so sure. Not when I noticed this particular detail.
We have three bugs with unique designs with unique dialogue. From the dialogue, it seems that they took up the duty of the Watcher's mantle, placed there possibly by Lurien himself. Of all the sides of the Spire, these three are also facing the left side. What could be on that side of the City that Lurien went out of his way to leave his Telescope facing the left side and appointed watchers to guard that side?Â
Oh.
Wait.
Taken from ntvv.vn.
The entire Soul Sanctum and the Soul Master is on the LEFT side of the City. The same group responsible for THIS carnage.
 Tragically, that is not even half of the people butchered by the Soul Master. If Lurien had an inkling, however, of the Soul Master's doings, then he would keep watch over that portion of the City in order that he can find evidence of the Soul Master's wrongdoings. Unfortunately, as we all know, Lurien ran out of time to prevent the full tragedy.
That did not, however, stop Lurien from doing everything he could to stop the Soul Master. He left the Telescope and appointed not one, but three mini watchers to keep an eye on the Soul Master. Who knows how many notes and networks he left behind to the mini watchers as well that we never got a chance to read. What we do know is that Lurien made sure that every tool and opportunity to protect his City was left at the Pale King's disposal. Lurien wasn't just protective, he took preventative action and was willing to include others to best protect his City.
Though that begs the question of how many back-up plans Lurien had to protect the City.
Moving on, I could dive into how Lurien is one of the few bugs to have a statue in the whole of Hallownest. I could also talk about the sheer size of his Spire or the fact that Lurien, confirmed to be mortal, has a stone lore tablet that so far only the Pale King has. But I will not as fellow Tumblr user Eggbuggo already talked about that. Don't worry, I found the post so you don't have to scroll down to March 2nd, 2023 to find it.
https://www.tumblr.com/eggobuggo/710665789135634432/i-think-lots-of-people-tend-to-forget-how-much?source=share
Instead, I will talk about the color of the Spire, or colors.
The City of Tears is mainly divided into two colors: dark blue for the Left side (commoners + business) and red for the Right side (noble houses). The Watcher's Spire, however, has three colors: Blue, Red, AND Purple.
For comparison, here is a picture of the left side of the City of Tears.
Vs. the Right side of the City.
The Watcher's Spire, meanwhile, has three colors.
The floor is red, the pillars and elevators are blue while the wall is purple.
What does this color design say about Lurien the Watcher? For starters, the Watcher has not one assigned color to his Spire, but tastefully uses all three. Even a person from far away can see the beauty in how Lurien creates a contrast with these colors. Considering that each side of the City is predominately one color, this speaks volumes on how Lurien did not side solely which one side of the City.
For example, there is no red or purple glow in the left side of the City. Compare these two images.
Vs.
The lamps inside the Watcher's Spire produce this violet/pinkish glow whereas the lamps on the left side of the City only glow white. Same glass shape, but different light.
On the flip, or right side of the City, the nobles seem to hide any blue inside their home unless it is completely necessary, such as the elevator shafts. Compare:
&
Vs. Lurien using the red as the floor, but decorating with the blue pillars and window frames. The contrast here is used as framing, creating something beautiful even if it is just a hallway.
I believe the color choice for the Watcher's Spire speaks the exact same thing of Lurien's character as the Spire's placement in the City of Tears. Lurien was the mean between extremes for the City. Not only is the Spire in the middle of the City where everyone can reach it, but the use of purple in particular, a color created by mixing blue and red, shows both a claim of connection, yet also distant from the citizens of the City. This is important as purple isn't predominantly seen anywhere else in the City of Tears.
One last thing regarding color, Lurien is also the only one person to employ both blue and red sentries. Except for the one Great Husk Sentry and the Winged Sentry in the Resting Grounds, the blue and red sentries are never seen together. Given the sole location of both the blue and red sentries in the same is the Watcher’s Spire, it speaks to Lurien’s character that he was able to bring those two sentries together. Unfortunately, we do not know if the Watcher was able to pull it off due to his high position, geo, or his personal character, but the feat is still remarkable.
We have reached page 18 of Lurien's section, so I believe it would be best to cut off here for now. To recap: Lurien is proactive to protect his City, even though he would lay dreaming forever. We notice this in the placement of items and people by certain windows. We also learned how colors reflect Lurien's character as the mean in-between the two extremes of the two sides of the City, especially the use of the color purple which is a mix of blue and red. While this creates a distinction between the Watcher and the other citizens of the City, Lurien is still able to bring the people together as noted in the kinds of guards patrolling in his Spire.
If you wish to read more of the Essay, click one of these links below.
Part 1.0: Herrah's Den : Here
Part 2.0: Monomon's Archives: Here
Part 3.0: Lurien's Spire: Here
Part 3.25: More of Lurien's Spire (You are here.)
Part 3.5: Lurien's Spire: Pillows and Patriotism: Here
Part 3.7 Lurien's Spire: What is wrong with Lurien's Office?! Here
Part 3.8: Even, even More of Lurien's Spire: Secret Room: Click here
Part 3.9 Watcher Knight Boss Room! Here
Part 4.0 What We Know We Don't Know About the Dreamers' Houses: Click Here
Link to essay on Ao3: Here
If you have thoughts you wish to share, please feel free to comment or reblog!