prismatica | text; un: TheHollowKnight

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]

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? ]

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.

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.

That's very true.
To account for them all would be impossible, I think.
People's journey to self discovery is never-ending because of it.

And they were always meant to be people.
How can it be so hard for them?
It is what they are.

[There's a lot to unpack and respond to there. Lobco feels a couple steps back need to be taken before they can be tackled.]

In your opinion, Hollow Knight, what makes a person a person to begin with?

Their Soul.
The presence of their being.
A lack of emptiness.

What is the purpose of a soul?
How can you be certain who does and doesn't have one?
Does it have instincts?

Beings wholly made of Void do not have a soul.
This is known.
A soul comes from creatures descended of a higher being.
The Wyrm, the Root, Unn...
Even the Radiance.
Likely even the Nightmare King.
Soul is the driving force that powers those who come from these beings.
This vessel and its siblings were born of the mingling Root and Wyrm, and were granted their mingled soul.
We were then bathed in Void, which absorbs all.
Our lack and our presence of soul is a duality that allows it to be sensed, and wielded, as is necessary in our duty.
Some have a stronger sense of the self that comes from that soul than others.

[ And some are more likely to admit it than others. ]

[Lobco reads everything Hollow Knight wrote carefully. She didn't have any sort of expectations in mind for how they might answer that but reading it all, it sounds very technical. That said it also doesn't sound too different from home--but that's not really what's important at the moment.

Admittedly she's very intrigued (and a little wary) of the notion of them being able to wield soul but if she asks about that now they would start veering off topic.

...and of course their insistence that they themselves are not a person is concerning.]

Does that mean that anyone descended from one of these higher beings is meant to follow them?

'Descended' is used in this case as a sense of ascension, and descension.
Not bloodline.
And in that case, it must depend upon the Higher Being.
All the mosskin followed Unn, though by all accounts She was viewed as mother and guide, until She receded under the light of the Radiance.
The Weavers and the Mantis Tribe shunned the Wyrm, though He saved the minds of one and saved the other from encroaching madness.
It is possible He was not pleased with this outcome, but He fought for the freedom of mind from the Radiance, and thus He respected their choices.
The Root was content to entwine Herself with Wyrm and rule in tandem over His kingdom, and bear His brood.
The Nightmare King is shrouded in mystery, though it would seem the family of Grimmkin known as the Troupe are happy to follow Him.
And the Radiance demanded all obey her, follow her, and live as her. Under Her all encompassing light, within her dream, the creatures of Hallownest would be extensions of her will, and nothing more.
So yes, it depends upon the Higher Being.

I see.
Things are rather different in that regard where I am from, but I feel one thing stills remain.
You asked how a person could not know who they are if they were always meant to be a person, but the fact of that matter is that sometimes there isn't even an agreement among different worlds, or even among different cultures within one world on what constitutes a 'person.'

Then there are questions on what the point of life is and what an ideal person is.
One's God may say one thing, society may say a second, your family and friends a third, and your own heart yet another.
You become conflicted on whether to follow what you feel or follow what your upbringing has taught you to think.
As experiences and knowledge change, so too does a person but no one has any answers from the start and so much wander through life figuring that and themselves out.
If they even bother to at all.

It read, and it will try to understand this.
It seems so strange a thing to know that people wonder what this Vessel has wondered.
Perhaps there is some truth to what it has been told,.
This bearsm uch consideration.
Thank you, lObco.

Of course, Hollow Knight.
It's always a pleasure to communicate with you.

[And she hopes this food for thought helps them and not hurts...]

text; un: TheHollowKnight

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what's that? it's theory o'clock.

mm delicious

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gosh i really wanged my 'Hers' with the Radiance. Typos in this comment are deliberate tho

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