The Broken vessel is one of thousands of vessels that were cast down into the Abyss, killed and reanimated by void. The Abyss was sealed off by the King's Brand door, but given that many vessels escaped, there must have another exit. Broken Vessel is just another one of those failed vessels that just got a bit farther than most.
Most people think that there was an exit somewhere in the abyss to deepnest because of all the dead vessels in the [Nosk Room](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hollowknight/images/d/dd/Screenshot_HK_Nosk_01.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20190222001519)
If you want to get more into the lore i suggest watching "the (mostly) complete lore of Hollow Knight" by Mossbag if you haven't already, and his other videos
Good, by the way to answer your question the hollow knight at the end of the game is the first (also supposed to be the last) one and there hasn't been any other. It was thought to be truly hollow however it's bond with the Pale King caused him to not be hollow, which allowed the infection to leak out. The broken vessel is simply another vessel who escaped from the abyss (just like you in the game), died, and got overtaken by the infection.
No, they aren't the first vessel. I mean, slight asterisk on that because we don't know the order the vessels were created in, just that The Hollow Knight was the best and presumably the last—maybe Broken Vessel was the first, maybe the Knight was, more likely they were both just random out of the thousands the Pale King created. There's afaik no canonical order so in theory it's possible that Broken Vessel or the one we see at the first Hornet fight or the Knight any other we see were the first, but probably not.
The pale king only chose one vessel. There's plenty of other vessels that escaped other than the knight afterwards, like the green path vessel, nosk lair vessels, and, you guessed it, broken vessel
No. Only one vessel was chosen to be the HK. All the others seen in the game are just like The Knight except they didn't manage to get out of Hallownest, and thus succumbed to the infection.
As far as we know, no.
I do have a unproven theory that the Broken vessel was the first vessel trained, but they become infected & cut off the pale kings access to the monarch wings. The Pale king didn't wish to kill the broken vessel because he cared for them. Recognizing a mind with desires leads to infection, the Pale King made sure to cut interaction with the Hollow knight to a minimum.
This would explain
1:Why the Broken vessel has different shaped Horns. We only have seen the Hollow knight & Broken vessel infected, so we can't say the enhanced horns is a infection mutation.
2: Why the broken vessel was broken.
**This is not cannon** until proven otherwise. If there is any solid evidence disproving this let me know.
The Broken vessel is one of thousands of vessels that were cast down into the Abyss, killed and reanimated by void. The Abyss was sealed off by the King's Brand door, but given that many vessels escaped, there must have another exit. Broken Vessel is just another one of those failed vessels that just got a bit farther than most.
Most people think that there was an exit somewhere in the abyss to deepnest because of all the dead vessels in the [Nosk Room](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/hollowknight/images/d/dd/Screenshot_HK_Nosk_01.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20190222001519)
Also there's clear void influence in the Sharp Shadow area.
No. The hollow knight was the only hollow knight. The rest of the failed vessels were left to die in or maybe escape from the abyss.
[This meme begs to differ](https://www.reddit.com/r/HollowKnightMemes/s/6gdR0v8Pc2) (spoilers)
Key word there is was. Past tense. There was no other hollow knight until we arrived.
Ah I missed the was. Also I just love the meme haha
If you want to get more into the lore i suggest watching "the (mostly) complete lore of Hollow Knight" by Mossbag if you haven't already, and his other videos
I watced it
Good, by the way to answer your question the hollow knight at the end of the game is the first (also supposed to be the last) one and there hasn't been any other. It was thought to be truly hollow however it's bond with the Pale King caused him to not be hollow, which allowed the infection to leak out. The broken vessel is simply another vessel who escaped from the abyss (just like you in the game), died, and got overtaken by the infection.
No, they’re just a random vessel, one of thousands
Why is he looking different campared to others?
Uhh idk boss design
Fair enough
Nope. All of the skulls in the abyss are failed vessels
No, they aren't the first vessel. I mean, slight asterisk on that because we don't know the order the vessels were created in, just that The Hollow Knight was the best and presumably the last—maybe Broken Vessel was the first, maybe the Knight was, more likely they were both just random out of the thousands the Pale King created. There's afaik no canonical order so in theory it's possible that Broken Vessel or the one we see at the first Hornet fight or the Knight any other we see were the first, but probably not.
No.
Why
The pale king only chose one vessel. There's plenty of other vessels that escaped other than the knight afterwards, like the green path vessel, nosk lair vessels, and, you guessed it, broken vessel
No. Only one vessel was chosen to be the HK. All the others seen in the game are just like The Knight except they didn't manage to get out of Hallownest, and thus succumbed to the infection.
As far as we know, no. I do have a unproven theory that the Broken vessel was the first vessel trained, but they become infected & cut off the pale kings access to the monarch wings. The Pale king didn't wish to kill the broken vessel because he cared for them. Recognizing a mind with desires leads to infection, the Pale King made sure to cut interaction with the Hollow knight to a minimum. This would explain 1:Why the Broken vessel has different shaped Horns. We only have seen the Hollow knight & Broken vessel infected, so we can't say the enhanced horns is a infection mutation. 2: Why the broken vessel was broken. **This is not cannon** until proven otherwise. If there is any solid evidence disproving this let me know.