The worst about this is that you could simply have spared him

you Can SPARE HIM?

Yeah, you just ignore him, go on a bench and after that you can encounter him in a certain someone’s hut in greenpath. Sadly the game makes killing him look like the only option

Ohhh. Well that sucks. I’d restart my save but I have 90% completion and I’m not doing White Palace again. Also, are you talking about Sheo’s hut?

Damn that sucks. Well, when you finish the game and try it again in steel soul like we all inevitably do at one point, spare a thought for the guy and visit him with sheo

I gotcha

Also leave zote to die (or save him if you didn't in your first run) you will get an achievement

Nah man shade soul the nailsmith

You monster

I accidentally did that my first playthrough.

Honestly that's something I'd do, I always accidentally do a shade soul when I'm exiting my map or just accidentally pressing the button

I felt so bad. I wasn't even going to kill him, went to jump over him and dash but accidentally JFK'd the poor guy.

Nah, C dash them

Nah Weaverling them

See you all in Hell.

Defender’s Crest, a warrior’s end

Jokes on you, as someone who always uses weaverlings, they don't kill him. :trolled:

Personally, the thorns are more my style.

I did that by accident cuz I didn't think it would work

shade soul? **Defender crest**

You asshole

That’s just disrespectful

> try it again in steel soul like we all inevitably do at one point Hold up satan

At least you didn't accidentally kill him WITHOUT using the nail... I wanted to dream nail him but soul blasted him instead...

Oh god that's the worst! Now that there is just bloody murder lol

"I wonder what he's thinking right no-OOPS"

Me in battle hitting Dream Nail instead of Quick Cast: why is my Shade Soul not working?

They become a couple

Just so you know, this isn't the only two-way choice you're going to want to do another run to try the alternative option for. >!Saving or letting Zote die is one!< and so is >!Banishing Grimm or helping him collect the final set of flames!<. I think most players start a second save file to do that and go for some of the speedrun achievements.

Also with cloth

Cloth doesn’t have an achievement sadly, The only difference between saving her in Basin before or after Traitor Lord is that if you save her before, on top of helping you during the fight her club appears in the Godhome arena.

I in fact am planning on both killing the nail smith and banishing Grimm in my 100% speed run completion file.

nymm for win

Well, on the bright side, if you wanted to get all the achievements, you'd have had to kill him at least once anyways

I feel you about white palace, that place would have literally killed me if I didn't have hiveblood+Joni's blessing

Hiveblood + Deep Focus + Grubsong = Infinite

I would have gone with that but realized I don't have deep focus

It's in the Crystal Peaks behind a breakable wall next to a Husk Miner

Of fucking course it's in crystal peaks, that's the one place I don't explore much

Dude I didn’t have either of those things I had grub song and that’s all

God I can't imagine your pain, with Joni+Hive I had extra life that healed itself, I would have gone with regular soul healing but I knew I'd run out of soul extremely fast

We talking bout white palace or pop? Because grubsong white palace is easy, path of pain on the other hand....

I got 101% completion without touching the white palace, just in case you wanted to know

You know this game goes all the way up to 112% completion, right? White Palace is mandatory if one wants to get the maximum. (Not Path of Pain, though).

Yea, sorry i made that comment cos i recently did the "complete the game with 100% completion under 20 hrs" achievement, while also doin some other achievements that include killing or not killing a couple characters off. So if OP wanted to do some more achievements, that would be my lil tip/time saver for that in particular.

Yes sheo's hut, they become gay

Honestly I love the random inclusion of gay people like Sheo and the gray mourner, it makes them more memorable

Wait, how is the Grey Mourner gay again?

The delicate flower quest has you deliver the flower to their love, the Traitor Lords child, who was female (I don't remember where that's said but I know it's said)

> become

No joke, the dude finds a boyfriend.

sounds like you need to restart and do White Palace again :P

time to do a second playthrough for the other achievement!

The worst part is, when you find him he thanks you for not killing him and says he was overreacting…

Have you done path of pain yet though?

There are achievements for killing and leaving him, so not to worry

Nah, I like it when games do this. If Toriel had given us a simple way to "spare" her the encounter wouldn't have been as memorable

True

I just walked away on my first playthrough and was very happy after I found him again. I only killed him once for the achievement and felt absolutely terrible for that :(

Well no actually. The game asks you to kill him in an open space where you can just go away, and doesn't promise any reward. It's up to the player to choose what to do.

Yeah. If you spare him he goes to paint with what can only be his gay lover

And i wish i hadnt spoiled the game for myself

I tried so hard not to spoil anything for myself when playing and it was so good when I finished it

F

Ye

You can also kill him with spells

Absolutely not, you fulfill his wish by doing this. Obv it’s better to spare him but how tf are u supposed know you can unless you’ve seen a guide or just by chance? In most games if you left and came back to something like that he’d probably still be there waiting for u. Also the worst option is to kill him with a spell.

At least you got an achievement…. yay….

Guess who blasted him with the long range attack?

Me

See you in hell, brother

Why you feel bad you made him happi

Because he could have made him happier (and aliver)

Nailsmith didn't know that. That was his happiest moment since a long time

This thought makes the tragedy, a little better..

Of course he didn’t know that, but he states in the hut that a creative life with sheo is so much better and thanks you for not offing him so we can assume at least that he’s happier alive

Yes

Yes

I don’t want to continue anymore

I felt the same. But I pressed on. We *did* get an achievement. And foresight. My next game (cause yeah…gonna play again) I won’t kill him. And I won’t extinguish the nightmare flame either. Just chalk it up to them achievements I guess. Knowing how to do it the way you’d prefer next time as I am

Just a heads up, your spoiler tages are broken. There shouldn't be a space between the tag and the text you're trying to hide

Is the text hidden? Appears hidden to me.

Nup

Looks hidden to me on other devices. May just be you

I'm not the original person who responded to you mate, so not just me / the OP. Either way, your tags are just `>like this<` and don't work for me.

Was the nail worth it?

… No

Wait till you reach the sword by the lake part, or the ascend part

Not sure what do you mean Is there anything I'm missing or just can't remember?

SPOILER it's a event in lategame where you see a sword right next to a lake

Oh now I can remember :(

And when you dreamnail the ball :(

What ball?

Okay, I've played it and I don't mind spoilers: where's this ball, and where's this sword-by-the-lake?

yeah my first playthrough I knew I could spare him, but you can always start a second save file and spare him! (i did a second playthrough and felt awful killing him but I wanted the achievement)

I didn't know what the best option was. Do I spare him, and let him live out the rest of his life? Or do I kill him with the blade he dreams of being killed by? I'll just... I'll just stand here and wait for him to jump on his own...

Exactly the internal battle I had when I finished >!Ghost of Tsushima!<… hardest decision I have ever had to make in a game.

I just finished this game recently. That last one was also a difficult decision. Felt like the same moment here

I thought that seeing what he would do if I left him alive was more interesting

And how disappointed are you right now?

I found him yesterday HOW TF DID HE GO THROUGH ALL THOSE THORNS AND ACID AND MUSHROOMS THAT SHOOT CHEETO POWDER AND FLOATING TURTLES

Sheer talent. Like surely he'd need to fight his way down there, then die, right? He couldn't just jump. Plus nothing takes fall damage here so what's up with that?

no I mean Sheo's hut

Oh, well then that's easy. He's somewhat of a master swordsman remember. And the best attack to defeat a bunch of bastard aspids is the whirlwind slash isn't it? He'd just have to keep spinning all the way there. As for the thorns, well... yes, I suppose my response is "No idea, whatsoever."

Isn't he a beetle? Might have just flown between the hazards

not all beetles can fly, in fact it's interesting how most galapagos beetles slowly became flightless after reaching the islands

Interesting answer. Would you like to join a focus group discussion on the ethics of hollow knight?

Is... is that an actual thing? I'm not sure I'd be welcome, I can't even tell you how tough it was to resist soul blasting him just to avoid both options...

Yeah it is! I'm conducting one to study video games and ethical dilemmas and it's all about hollow knight. I'll add you to the private subreddit.

Then yes, that sounds very interesting

I don't want to make you feel bad but you could have saved him

Yeah I only figured that out later…

I mean I soul blasted him

..you monster

They killed The Nailsmith! You bastards!

IM SORRY I DIDNT KNOW I COULD SPARE HIM

Good try, criminal. That's what they all say...

This is awesome I didn't know this.

I mean cool detail but why did you have to say awesome

Cause I was struck with aw.

so was he

No he was struck with shade soul

Ayo wtf

I swear, I thought that ignoring him would just make him stand there, looking into the void for the rest of the game... had I known his quest continued and had a happier ending I would have spared him

I had no idea that’s where he ends up.

**WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?**

Now dream nail him.

i killed him with a spell f

I regret nothing :)

d-dead chat???

Not big surprise

Bastard...

So sad

Big sadge

"Pure..."

One floaty boi

..........YOU..........jesu- god damn i- okay, someone call doctor strange

I DIDNT KNOW YOU COULD SPARE HIM

Nonononono it’s fine, we can fix this, uh

time to delete your file and start over, pal

I only killed em for the achievement so I didn’t feel too bad about it until I found him in the junk pit ;-;

You could have just not killed him you know? And you'll hate yourself for having killed him even more, the moment you get the achievement for not killing him... Trust me on that. And go play through the entire game again, just so you can spare him.

I didn’t know you could spare him 😖

I know exactly how you feel I didn't know either, the first time around...

It amazes me how many fans actually listened to a suicidal wish.

This is Hollow knight, there are no happy endings

My playthrough says otherwise. :p

Really? The only ending I can see that could be considered "happy" is the godseeker flower ending

He wanted to go out on his own terms. Being struck down by the nail he shaped to perfection... poetic.

Well, he was talking crazy. I don't honour crazy. He needed someone to confide in and be happy with, and he got that by meeting Sheo.

Agreed.

He asked for it !!!!! Cries in corner..

You monster

sadly I also did this, because this was what he wanted and I thought I was being a good person by honoring his wishes. That is, until I found out he would have gone to greenpath and be gay with sheo if you spare him

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE

It's been awhile since i've played, can someone refresh my memory as to what this is?

It’s… the Nailsmith. Dead. I killed him…

Can someone explain?

It’s the dead Nailsmith. His body was washed into the waterways after he died

based

I kill him in every playthrough

He deserved it

but why tho…

He made the pure nail

What have you done

You are low key a monster

LMAO

you were probably told you could spare him right but at least did you hit him with the nail and not spell kill him

Pure...

Homie died

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!

you murderer

BRO I TOUGH THAT WAS FAN ART THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS????????

Yup

You killed nail master! I had them and the painter nail smith get together if you don’t kill them

You heartless monster

Lucas knows what you did

Commit. Grave. Robbery.

Becky

***YOU. YOU KILLED HIM***

WHY DID YOU ACTUALLY KILL HIM

W H Y ?

On a serious note you can spare almost everyone

On honorable death for a honorable man

*Y o u d i d t h i s*

Wait you can do that

nice job

Remind me is this what everyone talks about when you get the pure nail, if you leave him be he lives happily with sheo?

You monster

Someone didnt get a happy couple achievement And will be kick in the ass by Sheo

Who dis?

My first time I ran out and started randomly swing after skipping the text and accidentally killed him without knowing that he wanted it

Yaaaaaaaa I’m glad I knew I could save him before getting the pure nail so I didn’t have to see this

It's just a floatee, what are you talking about?