>>719672394
>Bug King builds a bug kingdom (he's called Pale King, bc he white)
>his bugs start having weird dreams and going crazy
>turns out theres this light that shows up in their dreams, driving them to insanity
>Pale King figures out a perfect trap device: a bug that has no feelings, no worries, no thoughts, no nothing -- nothing for the light to reflect on, therefore it will get trapped inside this hollow bug since motherfucker is literally just empty void, so light will just travel forever on
>King spends a lot of time eugenically developing this perfect hollow specimen
>when the light infects him, it gets trapped; King seals said bug in a big sarcophagus

Fast forward to us, the player
>we are a bug whos one of the discarded variants of the hollow guy, imperfect
>somehow we survived and left the kingdom to travel the world
>now we come back, and turns out the hollow guy isnt actually perfectly hollow, theres a flaw and the light is slipping out bit by bit
>eventually we fight him, the Hollow Knight, and either replace him or do some other endings

Thats the qrd. Theres a lot more to it, but this would be the gist