Suppose you’re playing Hollow Knight: Silksong and recall the original Hollow Knight. In that case, you’re probably looking for some obscure, weirdly specific ending that only happens under some very particular circumstances.
While it’s nowhere near as arbitrary and weird as giving the Godmaster a Delicate Rose, the Cursed ending in Silksong is rather obtuse in its own right. Full disclaimer: if you have entered Act 3, there is no way to get this without starting another save file.
If you’re still in Act 2 and haven’t finished the Rite of Rebirth quest, then you’re in luck. This quest is somehow pivotal to the strangest, slightly disturbing ending in this game, where you’ll need to beat the final boss while cursed.
This isn’t easy, and the steps are oddly specific, but if you’re determined to see how this plays out on your own terms, go ahead and get ready. There are a few prerequisites, but if you’re near the end of the game, you likely have them done already.
Pre-Requisites
Technically, you can do most of these while you’re cursed, but I would highly recommend against that for a very good reason. If you’re going for this ending, you should absolutely do all of this before you even start the Rite of Rebirth.
-
Open the
Bellway in the Citadel
. -
Open the
Ventrica Station
to the Bellway. -
Obtain
the Three-Part Melody
to unlock the elevator. - Finish the second fight with Lace to unlock the route to the final boss.
- Open the shortcut in the Cradle that leads to the Terminus.
- Obtain as many masks as you feel comfortable with. I recommend at least 7 masks in total.
Whispering Vaults
Now that all that stuff is out of the way, it’s high time we actually started working on the Rite of Rebirth quest, as we need to get mid-way through it before we can get this ending. We start this by heading into the Whispering Vaults.
Below the Vaultkeeper’s room, inside the large area with tons of shifting boxes on the right, you can ascend the top right wall, where there’s an open vault door waiting for you. Heading into this, there’s quite a bit of platforming to do, but generally, we’re trying to head down.
Wall jump up, head to the right, grapple a ring to open the floor, the usual shenanigans in this place. Heading down, passing some Path of Pain-esque gears, then floating down while dodging spikes, you’ll find yourself falling into Bilewater.
Bilewater
Get dumped into the murky maggot mixture, then swim over to the right, underneath the cavern’s walls. Jump up and then down into another fun hole, which drops you into even more worm water.
Head to the left, drop under some platforms, and continue left into an area consisting of very twisty, gnarly-looking vines. Avoid some exploding critters and jump across spikes.
You will find a Twisted Bud in a strange cradle at the end of this tunnel, which will end up in your inventory, crying every time you open it. We want to get rid of this thing, so head down to Shellwood.
Rite of Rebirth
If you haven’t already, do the Rite of the Pollip quest, then, after you get your poison pouch, head back into the hut where Greyroot is. Given this thing bears a keen resemblance to the Twisted Bud, its involvement should be no surprise.
Once you interact with Greyroot, accept the quest. This will, in the least grotesquely described way possible, put the crying parasite inside Hornet’s body, which will curse her for the time being.
Break out of this room you’ve been trapped in, and take note of the fact that you have no tools, cannot change crests, and most importantly, you cannot heal.
This restriction may make it seem impossibly difficult to do much of anything, but don’t go and finish off the quest to remove the curse yet. Instead, head all the way up to the citadel.
Grand Mother Silk
We’re fighting the final boss with no healing and no tools. Needless to say, this makes the fight much more difficult, but aside from the tips already shared in her own dedicated boss guide, I’ve got a few tips of my own here.
Firstly, we have zero prep work to do, as there is almost nothing you can do to prepare yourself more than you already are. I had eight mask shards going into this fight, and I feel like that was just enough to do the trick, allowing me 3-4 hits before death.
In your currently limited moveset, your best tool is your dive kick. It does two hits whenever it connects and sends you up pretty high, which is a really great way to dodge all of her needle projectiles.
Needless to say, you’re going to want to play this one very patiently. Every fight in this game rewards patient play, but this one is especially notable for punishing the hell out of you for rushing in and getting sloppy.
Go for upwards slashes after she attacks, get the hell away from her whenever you see her going for a claw strike across the screen, and try to get damage in only when you’re sure that it’s completely safe to do so.
In Phase 2, the strategy doesn’t change much, but you do need to play more patiently. With no healing to walk off the spikes and boulders, you need to pay special attention to the stage hazards and make sure you’re not on top of any of them.
In this phase in particular, it’s really easy to get pogos off of Grand Mother Silk’s body, and use that upwards force plus your wings and cape to completely dodge her attacks, and lay in the safe zone for a while.
After you’ve carefully placed a few dozen strikes directly into this woman’s strange lower section, she should go down. You’ll notice the binding cutscene isn’t the same, and has Hornet releasing this parasite from her body.
The Ending
As you bind to Grand Mother Silk, the parasite makes its presence known, seeming to absorb both Hornet and the higher being in one fell swoop. Both of them turn to this wooden-like appearance that we saw in Greyroot before this.
The parasite seems to take over the entire kingdom, its roots now spread throughout to take over every living being within. This is the Cursed ending, and not only did you have to bear a curse to obtain it, but you’ve now cursed the entire world.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Released
-
September 4, 2025
- ESRB
-
E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood
- Developer(s)
-
Team Cherry
- Publisher(s)
-
Team Cherry
- Engine
-
Unity
- Franchise
-
Hollow Knight
