Colosseum of Fools
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The Colosseum of Fools is an area located at the top of Kingdom's Edge. It contains an arena where the Knight may participate in three Trials in which they battle waves of enemies.
Description
The Colosseum of Fools is located in the carved-out shell of a massive, ancient bug.[1] Many chains can be seen which hold this shell in place. Trials can be selected inside the head of the shell, where Little Fool oversees payment. The fights themselves take place in the arena east of the trial boards.
Below the arena is a warriors' pit with a Bench and several non-hostile Fools. Tiso can be found on the Bench if he was listened to at all previous points. Zote is located here too if he was saved in Deepnest. To the west of the warriors' pit is a room where the Knight's Shade spawns if the Knight was killed during a Trial. At the very east end of the warriors' pit is a Hot Spring with a Sturdy Fool relaxing in it.
The east side of the arena can be seen from the warriors' pit. Sounds of battle and cheering from the crowd can be heard, thrown weapons of Sturdy Fools and squishes of the Infection can be seen on the other side of the gate, though no enemies are visible and the gate cannot be opened or broken. A breakable wall to the very east of this leads to an area outside the back of the Colosseum. The 
Pale Lurker is found here where she can be killed for a Simple Key.
Lore
The strongest warriors from all corners are drawn to Hallownest to compete in the Colosseum, where only the strongest survive.[2] Contestants are offered the chance to become more than just another foolish bug, as they aim to take the title of champion of the Colosseum.[1]
The Colosseum captures bugs to fight in the arena, and also breeds certain creatures such as the Sharp Baldur and Armoured Squit for battle.[3][4][5] Lord Fool oversaw the fights in the arena, and some bugs were determined to prove their strength to them.[6] The corpses of those who die in the arena are cast into the chasm below the Colosseum.[1]
At some point, Lord Fool died, although their corpse still sits on the throne in the arena. The Colosseum itself still continues to function even after the spread of the Infection. Despite the contestants being Infected, the crowd still cheers and the warriors in the warriors' pit below the Colosseum are not aggressive.
How to access
The initial way to access the Colosseum of Fools is to climb to the top of the western chasm of Kingdom's Edge. A cavern in the northwest of this chasm eventually leads to the Colosseum of Fools.
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Charm Notch x 1
reward from first Trial |
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Pale Ore x 1
reward from second Trial |
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King's Idol x 1
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Geo Deposit x 1
hidden below Pale Lurker's arena |
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Soul Totem x 1
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Hot Spring x 1
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Trials
In order to unlock a Trial, the Knight must have defeated the previous trial (except for the first Trial) and pay a sum of Geo that increases for each Trial. Once the initial sum of Geo is paid to unlock the Trial, the Knight can challenge the Trial as many times as they want for free. After completing a Trial for the first time, a pin with the head of the Knight attached appears stuck on top of each of the Trial boards.
Enemies killed in the Trials do not drop Geo.
| Trial of the Warrior | |
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| The first and easiest of the three Trials, the waves are slow and the enemies easy to manage.
Requires
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| Trial of the Conqueror | |
| The second Trial, harder than the first, introduces the no ground mechanic of wall-jumping and mid-air combat without healing.
Requires
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| Trial of the Fool | |
| Last of the three Trials, the waves come at a brutally fast pace at times and the enemies spawned are far tougher, it combines just about every mechanic from the first two Trials.
Requires
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Achievements
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Warrior |
|---|---|
| Complete the Trial of the Warrior. 5G |
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Conqueror |
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| Complete the Trial of the Conqueror. 15G |
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Fool |
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| Complete the Trial of the Fool. 20G |
Special Rooms
Godmaster ContentThe Pale Lurker's Retreat
To the far east of the Colosseum, behind the arena's gates, there is a breakable wall made of shells which leads to a large chasm with a lake at the bottom. By the lakeshore, among the large cages and chains, the Pale Lurker can be found holding a Simple Key. She screams and flees to her arena as the Knight approaches.
In the southeast corner of the room, there is a small pool of water. Swimming further east reveals a gap in the wall that leads to a room containing a tent and a King's Idol.
The arena is a large locked area separated into the upper level and the bottom level, which the Lurker constantly switches between. After she is defeated, a door in the upper level opens, allowing the Knight to cross through the chasm, a shortcut leading directly back to the Colosseum.
Gallery
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Lobby where trials can be selected
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Warrior's Pit containing a bench
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Room where the Shade appears if the Knight dies in the arena
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Hidden Hot Spring east of the warriors' pit
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Eastern side of the arena accessible from the warriors' pit
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Passage to the Pale Lurker's retreat
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Back exterior
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Room where the King's Idol can be found
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Arena where Pale Lurker is fought
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Western area of Pale Lurker's arena featuring a locked gate
Trivia
- The audience laughs in certain situations:
- When the Knight dies
- When the two Sturdy Fools from the second wave of the Trial of the Fool are killed by spikes
- During the fight with Zote the Mighty
- After revealing the Grub Mimic
- All of the fighters and creatures fought in and around the Colosseum are affected by the Infection, with the exception of Zote and the Pale Lurker.
- Two audience members show up in the Forgotten Crossroads. They cannot be interacted with beyond their shared Dream Nail dialogue, which hints at the Colosseum.
- The Colosseum originally had a breakable trophy planned to hang from the ceiling with an unknown way of unlocking it. The trophy would shatter when one hit it. It was later cut from the game.
- This area does not have its own Map, instead it is only mapped once the Knight obtains the Kingdom's Edge map from Cornifer.
- Due to a glitch, if the map is used in the Colosseum, the Dirtmouth map shows up instead, with no icon even if the Wayward Compass Charm is equipped.
- Specifically the map of the last room that is considered "indoors" shows up.
- The Colosseum was a Kickstarter stretch goal that was funded later on through PayPal backers:[7]
- "Colosseum squeaked in there late in development. We were talking about potentially releasing it as a free DLC (this is before we had the idea of content packs) but after discussion we decided that having a place to really test your combat skills was important to have. Also, removing it would have left a weird empty gap at the top of Kingdom's Edge!"[8] - William Pellen
- "The Colosseum does hide a secret, and there's a chance we'll explore it in the future. I'm trying to remember how many extra bosses we did put in the colosseum. Zote was one. Those Fat bees were another... Two of the Colosseum warriors were originally bosses, but we liked them so much we transformed them into regular foes. It's all a bit of a blur!"[9] -Ari Gibson
- The Colosseum of Fools was originally meant to be in Fungal Wastes.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Wanderer's Journal, p. 116.
- ↑ Official manual
- ↑ Zote: "Fools! Did you never consider that being trapped in this cage was precisely what I intended?! Yes, by all means, release me into your arena!"
- ↑ Sharp Baldur Hunter's Journal entry: "Hardened baldur, bred for battle in the Colosseum of Fools."
- ↑ Armoured Squit Hunter's Journal entry: "Hardened squit, bred for battle in the Colosseum of Fools."
- ↑ Little Fool Dream Nail dialogue: "Lord Fool, give me another chance. I'll prove my strength to you!"
- ↑ Reddit AMA answer on whether the Colosseum was funded.
- ↑ Reddit AMA answer on the Colosseum's development.
- ↑ Reddit AMA answer concerning Kickstarter stretch goals.
- ↑ The Making of Hollow Knight - Gameinformer interview with Team Cherry.
