text; un: TheHollowKnight

[instilled]

A query:
What makes you you?
How are you yourself?

Please only respond if you wish.

Comments

(text - un: koriel)

[passio]

[ ah, the hollow knight…

dextera really does sense a number of similarities between himself—or the person that he used to be—and this sad creature. there’s nothing for him to do except reach out, and offer some kind of guidance. ]

It took me a long time and many “selves” to figure it out.

I’ve decided to define myself by the meeting of what I was, what I am, and what I want to be. An ever-changing, but still constant “self.”

[instilled]

[ It recognized the username; it was nice to hear from Dextera. ]

That must have been confusing.
It is good you found a way to parse it.

[ Past, present, and a desire for the future. The Hollow Knight tried to consider those things in the context of itself, but it wasn't sure how it could go about doing so, especially without thinking of its Father, which was still too raw a loss to consider easily. ]

You are defined by your experience, and the things you want, then?
Please excuse this Vessel if such a conclusion is rude or incorrect.

[passio]

It’s not rude, or incorrect. That is how I would define it.

There was a time when I only bore the desires of others. I had trouble ever feeling like I had an existence, in those days. That only changed when I learned to want things for myself.

one day i'll write a tag where this character doesn't have a three paragraph existential crisis...

[instilled]

[ The Hollow Knight read over the response several times. It was like looking into a mirror; the reflection was identical to the... to the thoughts it had been having. Its purpose had been to bear the desire of its Father and His noble cause. It wasn't to exist for itself. It had to succeed, else all its siblings, all Hallownest, all its Parents' sacrifices, would have suffered for nothing.

But could it learn to want for itself? Admitting, even privately, to the likes of Zenyatta or its sibling, that it had a self had been so terrifying. What if She came back? It would need to seal Her again, so its sibling could kill Her once more. If it could not contain Her, then Lunatia - maybe even Prismatica itself - would be beholden to Her will.

Its hands shook on the communicator. It made itself steady. ]

How did you learn such a thing?
And how did you admit to it?

[lightthedarkness]

Well, because I see the world in a way no one else does. People can have similar opinions to me, and have similar views, but only I can experience the world the way I do and how I react to it.

My thoughts are mine and mine alone, no one else's. Other people may have my hobbies and we might like the same stuff, but how I experience all that is mine and mine alone.

[instilled]

So it is experience that shapes you?
Or more than that?
Please forgive any incorrect assumptions, this is an unknown topic to this vessel.

[lightthedarkness]

Mnn, well, yeah, I guess that's the case. You can have identical twins who act the same but who look at the world differently.

I mean, everyone and everything is so much more complicated than just one answer, ya know?

And hey, it's okay! You wanting to learn is important too!

[instilled]

This was not known to it.
Thank you for enlightening it.
Such a question is difficult even for people made to be people... that is something that was not considered at all.

text

[justsomeshrimp]

I don't really know.
Truth be told I tend to think instead of who I want to be as opposed to who I am now.
Speaking in a more general sense people are constantly changing as they grow and go by their day to day life.
It's part of what makes it so difficult to talk about oneself in that capacity.

[Along with not really liking herself, but best not to bring up such a dour subject]

text

[instilled]

Your personhood is defined by your want?
By what you strive to be?

[ That is... kind of alarming to it, really. Had it by nature of wishing to be the Perfect Vessel tainted itself? ]

[justsomeshrimp]

I would say it definitely is a part of it.
After all what a person wants and what they strive to be are an indication of what they value.
What they value defines part of who they are.
If they want to be a kinder person, that means they value kindness and that will reflect and influence other aspects of themselves.

[instilled]

Value.

[ Hallownest's safety. Father's will, and his sacrifice. The struggle of its siblings, left to rot in the depths while it was brought into the light. It had valued all of those things. Wanted to protect, to be worthy, to honour them.

It had never heard its Mother speak the words, but it knew them as intimately as if She had come to the Temple of the Black Egg and whispered them through the seal.

Tarnished by an idea instilled. ]

There are more things that make a person than it could ever have considered.

totally not here

[silksentinel]

[Don't mind her. She's just watching this post with great curiosity.]

text.

[audiomancer]

[ This is a question with an answer that comes very easily to him — and being an opportunity to talk about himself, he can hardly resist. ]

Naturellement, it's my brilliance and talent that makes me myself! Since it's something nobody else could ever adequately imitate, it's endemic to who I am.

Nobody could live the life I have lived without my exceptional and unique qualities. And without the life I've lived, I wouldn't be myself, non? So it's quite simple.

Are you looking for a way to define yourself? Or do you already have an opinion, and you're looking to compare?

[instilled]

This Vessel must not have opinions.
Those are for people, and it was not made to be a person.

[Though subtle, it was a change from the outright denial that it was a person. Progress? ]

You say your personhood is a result of the things that have happened to you, and some inexplicable part of you that is different from others?
Please excuse any misunderstanding.

[audiomancer]

Oh? Are you a concept of sorts? I've met a lot of entities lately who've been an embodiment of something, and don't consider themselves a complete person. It's an interesting perspective.

Do you have a purpose? I'm sure you have some reason you exist.

[ At least as far as he's seen, there's always some goal or responsibility in mind — even from those who don't know if they have creators. ]

Mostly correct! Although, things rarely happen to me that I don't want. How can I put it?

... I happen to things more than things happen to me. It's another benefit of my talents that those sorts of matters are made convenient, you see.

text, un: strawhat

[rubberpirate]

I'm just me! made out of rubber and fun!

[instilled]

Interesting.
This Vessel and its sibling are made of Soul and Void.
Is it similar?

[rubberpirate]

Where you born like that? cuz i wasn't! I turned to rubber after eating a fruit

text;

[tekhartha]

[The question, Zenyatta hopes, represents some kind of progress for the Hollow Knight's own uniquely fraught perception of itself. In this instance, at least, Zenyatta does not have to think too long upon his answer; he has given it countless times before, to human and omnic alike.]

An interesting question, my friend. In the most basic sense "I" am the ever-evolving product of my experiences, memories and actions, as viewed through the lens of my uniquely coded processor.

If that were all, one could suggest that an individual built to my precise specifications and taken through a precise replica of my life would theoretically be the same person. But I also believe that there exists in all beings a certain spark of life- perfectly and ineffably unique- that plays the wildcard: the soul.

[instilled]

[Zenyatta's username caused an odd thrill of uncertainty and... excitement? To course through the Hollow Knight. He knew, and unlike Lobco who also did, he made no illusions that it was something the Hollow Knight was aware of. It was frightening, but also, in a small way... encouraging?

It still took a while for it to respond to him. In that time, it read over his message several times. The fact that he had been made, too -- crafted to a plan, to a specification from materials on hand, made it all the more interesting.]

Father made us from Soul.
Soul of Wyrm, Soul of Root.
Heart of Void.
It exists.

[But if it were taken from two and then used to make many, could it be so unique a thing?]

What is it about Soul that you believe makes a person?
This combination of experience, memory, choice, and process?

[tekhartha]

[The delay is to be expected, with the enormity of the Hollow Knight's last confession still fresh in both of their hearts; he waits, patient and hopeful, for its answer, and finds himself almost relieved to receive it.]

Those are worldly things; the Soul is without form, unconstrained and trascendental in its very essence. I cannot truly define it for it defies definition, much less pinpoint it, yet it moves within all of us nonetheless. It is who we are.

If it is not too much for me to ask... who is "us"?

surprise, bet you thought this would be a grimm tag un: tigerpoet

[tigerpoet]

[What makes you, you... What separates 'you' from 'not you'? How can you be certain of your own experience?

Questions Atsushi has asked himself many times.]

It's difficult to say. I can define myself as a collection of my experiences and memory, but the way people perceive experience is flawed. My brain can be tricked into thinking something happened when it didn't, and I forget things all the time.

I could say that I am my consciousness, but there are parts of my consciousness that I don't understand or have repressed. And that would imply that my subconscious isn't part of me, and that doesn't sound right either.

If I define myself as my physical body, nearly all of that can be replaced without me becoming a different person. Not even considering things like surgery, nearly all of the cells in a human body will die and be replaced many times over a person's lifetime.

If you figure it out, let me know.

bold of you to assume i think

[instilled]

[ Each and ever answer the Hollow Knight received was fascinating. Some were terrifying, some were confusing, but they were all deeply interesting. This response was no different, and the Hollow Knight read it voraciously, even if it couldn't fully understand some of what was being said.

The last line, however, made it know it had to say one thing in particular before it could address anything else. ]

Please forgive any misleading connotations.
This Vessel is the last thing on this planet that could give you a satisfactory answer to the question posed.
However, there are many interesting answers already present.
If you struggle, perhaps they can give you some measure of security.

[tigerpoet]

They've given good answers. I'm not sure that any of them resonate for me, but I hope that they help you.