Lace is the daughter of Grand Mother Silk, spun entirely from threads of her Silk.[3][4] The Mother created her to be a loyal child who would want the Mother to wake up from her slumber, unlike her other creations, the Weavers.[5] Her body was spun pure yet frail, shaped to have the look and mind of a child.[5][6][7]Phantom is her sibling, but they became frayed and were discarded, their Silk stretched thin and their shell stiffened.[8][9][10]
Lace considers herself broken and crude,[11][12] as having a weak, wasting existence that is no life at all.[7] She wandered the Citadel for a long time, keeping it clean and quiet while mortal bugs tried to avoid her.[6][13]
As Hornet's journey to the peak of the Citadel continues, Lace starts to think Grand Mother Silk prefers Hornet over her and becomes desperate for her mother's acknowledgement.[14][15]
In-game Events
Lace is a recurring antagonist to Hornet, and can be found throughout her journey in Pharloom. She can be encountered in every Act of the game.
Act 1
Lace conducting Silk Flies in the Deep Docks
Lace can be first encountered in Deep Docks after acquiring Swift Step. She is conducting the movement of Silk Flies and talks about Hornet's fall from the cage she was captured in, potentially suggesting she was the one who was responsible for the fall.[16] She fights Hornet at the end of the conversation, stating she wants to save Hornet from the suffering she would have to face above.[17]
This first encounter and fight can be skipped by buying the Simple Key from Pebb and using it on either the door in Wormways or the door in Deep Docks. Using the Simple Key, Hornet can either go through Wormways to enter Shellwood from the west, go through the lower region of Deep Docks to reach Far Fields through a breakable wall, or rescue enough Fleas to complete the The Lost FleasWish and travel to Greymoor with the Flea Caravan. If the Deep Docks encounter is skipped, and if Hornet has not met Lace in Choral Chambers yet, Lace appears on the broken bridge connecting Shellwood to the Blasted Steps, or at the entrance to Sinner's Road from Greymoor. She mentions how it would be boring to kill Hornet when she is already so close to the Citadel and then leaves the area.[18] If the first fight with her is skipped this way, then her Hunter's Journal entry requires only one defeat to become completed.
Lace resting in the Cradle
Act 2
Her next encounter is in two possible rooms in the Choral Chambers, depending on whether the Citadel is entered from the Blasted Steps or Bilewater. She and Hornet discuss Grand Mother Silk's hold on Pharloom, with Lace expressing doubt that Hornet would be able to stand against a higher being.[19]
Once Hornet has completed the Threefold Melody and unlocked the lift to the Cradle, she encounters Lace at the top of the lift, who challenges her to a fight. At the end of the fight, they talk about Lace's true nature as a being made of Silk.[20] Lace says Hornet has now earned an audience with Grand Mother Silk, and that she believes her mother wants Hornet instead of her.[21] As Hornet proceeds up the Cradle to confront Grand Mother Silk, Lace remains lying down in her arena, and will not respond to the Needolin. She will disappear from the Cradle once the Soul Snare is set up as a part of Silk and Soul.
Act 3
Lace cutting Hornet free from Grand Mother Silk
Once Hornet has acquired the Soul Snare, she can use it on Grand Mother Silk after defeating her. This leads to Grand Mother Silk being dragged down into the Void while holding Hornet in her hands. However, Lace intervenes to free Hornet, cutting off one of her mother's arms and stabbing her with her pin while pushing her into the portal. This act of vengeance makes both Lace and Grand Mother Silk fall into the Void. Despite this betrayal, Grand Mother Silk spins a protective cocoon around them to save Lace, in which she has to keep renewing as the Void consumes the outside.[22][23] The process strains her soul thin, and her resistance against the Void causes periodic quakes in the kingdom.[23][22] It also allows the Void to leech up into Pharloom, possessing Grand Mother Silk's threads and the inhabitants of the land she once haunted.[24]
When Hornet goes down to the Abyss, she finds a projection of Lace on the shore of the Void sea. Lace tells her she is glad to have rebelled against her mother and denied her Hornet's silken strength, and that she expects Pharloom will be crushed to dust.[25] Hornet promises to cut the land free of Grand Mother Silk's grasp once and for all, and returns later with the Everbloom.[26]
Upon returning with the Everbloom, Lace speaks to her as a projection once more, explaining how she is no longer herself down in the Void.[27] Although Lace invites Hornet to join her in oblivion, Hornet refuses and dives down into the sea of Void.[28] Hornet enters Grand Mother Silk's cocoon, where she finds Lace possessed by the Void as Lost Lace. She manages to defeat Lace, loosening the Void's hold on her.
Lace in the Sister of the Void ending
Hornet picks up Lace and asks the Mother to give her Silk in order to return to the surface. The Mother obliges and provides her with a large amount; Hornet then uses the Silk Soar to get both her and Lace out of the cocoon, leaving the Mother behind. While they are unable to go up far enough before the Everbloom's power gives out, Hornet encounters the Knight and her other siblings in the Void. They carry Hornet and Lace safely up to the surface, and with Grand Mother Silk dead, her void-soaked threads disappear from Pharloom.
In her first encounter and fight in the Deep Docks, Lace uses the following attacks and manoeuvres:
Lunge: Lace dashes forwards across the platform with her pin extended, covering roughly 60% of it.
Double Cut: Lace slashes twice, making large arcs over her head. Each slash moves her forwards a slight distance.
Balestra: Lace launches herself at an angle into the air and slashes a full circle around her body with her pin at the height of the jump. She then lunges diagonally downwards, skidding a short distance upon landing. While at the peak of her jump, Lace can change the direction of her lunge depending on Hornet's position.
Parry & Riposte: Lace holds her pin up, striking a defensive pose and blocking any damage; if she is struck in that time, she retaliates with a small dash forwards chained into a quick flurry of strikes which deals + if Hornet is caught in it.
Flourish: Lace adds a small flourish to the end of an attack, sometimes with a small slash from her pin. This slash deals damage to Hornet if she is caught in it, and deflects Tool projectiles that are thrown at her.
Retreat: Lace quickly glides back a short distance to reposition for another attack.
Advance: Lace takes a short half-step forwards, accompanied by a very small flick of her pin. She sometimes chains this move to traverse the arena and reposition.
Moulinet: Lace stands in place for a brief moment, charging up – during this charge-up, a white circle is highlighted midair somewhere in the arena. After charging, Lace unleashes a whirlwind of slashes within the highlighted region and then slams down, shaking the platform. Lace gains this attack after reaching 125 HP. If Hornet is caught in this attack, Lace traps her within the whirlwind and then slams her down onto the platform, dealing +.
Description: Lace is stunned in place, kneeling. If she is knocked into the lava by the stagger, she takes 40 HP damage and then reappears in the centre of the arena, cutting short the stagger duration.
In her second encounter and fight in the Cradle, Lace's first phase remains largely identical to her first fight's Phase 1, with some minor adjustments:
Her attacks come out at a much faster pace.
Triple Cut: Double Cut is now followed by a third swing. If Hornet is behind Lace after the second swing, she can cancel the third into a Parry or Retreat.
Lunge: If Hornet hits Lace right after her lunge, she will retaliate with a Balestra attack.
If Hornet is too close to her after any attack, Lace can either immediately Parry after a split second or quickly Retreat away. If parried, Lace can now also teleport behind Hornet, slightly off the ground, before doing the Riposte at a downwards angle towards her instead of the regular Riposte.
Lace's attacks and movement can sometimes carry her off the edge of the arena. She jumps onto the opposite side of the platform a moment after this happens.
All of Lace's pin attacks now deal + if Hornet is caught in a swing.
Phase 2
After reaching 600 HP, Lace stops and laughs, indicating the start of Phase 2. Her attacks remain mostly the same, but two are upgraded:
Double Lunge: Lace performs a second, quicker and shorter Lunge immediately after the first, followed up by a Balestra – each attack always in Hornet's direction. This chain of attacks can be interrupted by a Parry, Retreat, or Balestra at any time if Hornet is too close to her in between attacks.
Balestra: During the launch up, Lace leaves behind a trail of 3 large circles. After a moment these circles turn into slashes, dealing + if Hornet is caught in one when it activates.
Phase 3
After reaching 320 HP, Lace stops and screams, indicating the start of Phase 3. She regains the Moulinet attack and immediately performs it. The Moulinet attack is also now always chained twice in a row.
At any time, if Hornet leaves the platform and jumps to cling to one of the side walls, Lace leaps after her using a Balestra and clings to the wall herself. If Hornet is above Lace on the wall, she dashes up after Hornet using circular swings that deal +.
Description: Lace is stunned in place, kneeling. If she is knocked off the arena by the stagger, she takes 15 damage and then reappears in the centre of the arena, cutting short the stagger duration.
How sad. A little spider has fallen from its cage. So lost. So weak. Poor little morsel.
I can save you, little spider. All the trouble you'd face above. All the suffering. It's so simple.
I'll just skewer you here and now, pluck that flickering life right out of you. Your threats are worthless, child. If you are my foe, stay your voice and raise your blade.
Delicious! I like you already!
How sad. A little spider has fallen from its cage. So lost. So weak. Poor little morsel.
I can save you, little spider. All the trouble you'd face above. All the suffering. It's so simple.
I'll just skewer you here and now, pluck that flickering life right out of you. Your threats are worthless, child. If you are my foe, stay your voice and raise your blade.
Delicious! I like you already!
But what a bore it would be to cut you down now, when you're so achingly close to our grand Citadel...
Climb higher, little spider. I want to savour your struggle just a little longer!
What's this? The spider arrives at last, here to stand acquiver at our startling Citadel. Pale child, you return only to mock? Your lands have yet to prove my match. This sleeping Citadel shall be no different.
Spider, dear. Why must you remain so distressingly... optimistic? The power that waits above, you cannot conceive, her who would snuff that hope with barely a glance. Fool child. You still think me blind to the form of your liege? Having come this far? This land's grandeur, the devotion of its bugs, and the curse that befalls them. The signs are clear. Your kingdom is in the thrall of a creature beyond bug, one of that higher caste. Whatever its desire for my Silk and my shell, it shall find I'm quite attached to both.
Tch... Hahahaa. Marvelous [sic]! So the spider knows something of fathomless beings, and still it hopes to stand against one, a god...
Where do you hide this boundless strength you claim, spider? I've watched your struggle towards us. Yours was a painful, broken trek. One needs grace to stand before the divine. Then best you keep watching, child. I've found those who claim themselves a god can rarely match the title. And experience tells me, even gods can fall.
If Hornet has met Lace in Deep Docks:
What's this? The little spider climbs so high, here to stand aquiver at our startling Citadel. Pale child, you return only to mock? Neither you nor your land have proven my match. This sleeping Citadel shall be no different.
Spider, dear. Why must you remain so distressingly... optimistic? The power that waits above, you cannot conceive, her who would snuff that hope with barely a glance. Fool child. You still think me blind to the form of your liege? Having come this far? This land's grandeur, the devotion of its bugs, and the curse that befalls them. The signs are clear. Your kingdom is in the thrall of a creature beyond bug, one of that higher caste. Whatever its desire for my Silk and my shell, it shall find I'm quite attached to both.
Tch... Hahahaa. Marvelous [sic]! So the spider knows something of fathomless beings, and still it hopes to stand against one, a god...
Where do you hide this boundless strength you claim, spider? I've watched your struggle towards us. Yours was a painful, broken trek. One needs grace to stand before the divine. Then best you keep watching, child. I've found those who claim themselves a god can rarely match the title. And experience tells me, even gods can fall.
The Cradle
After the fight
Hah... aha ha ha ha ha!
Congratulations, spider. Finally, I felt your sting, and you've bared the truth of my pathetic empty shell. You always had the scent, child. You are no bug. Yours is a life born entirely from thread.
Life? You're too generous! This weak, wasting existence. This was not life, just a husk shaped to act as a child. Yours was life, pale one. Do not confuse your unique creation with its absence. I have seen others make the same mistake.
Platitudes, spider? From you? Don't be gross.
Head on. Climb up, up and away. You've earned your audience with the divine.
Face the holy mother who would fashion so cruel and crude a daughter as me.
After all... it's you that she wants... is it not?
See me cut! See me serve!
A child, too broken...
I will not fade! I will not take!
See me, your knight...
See me, your daughter...
The Abyss
First conversation
Here you lie, monarch. Sunk so deep, yet still you cling to life.
Would you let your lands be choked black... to protect just her?
Spider dear, what a delight to have you visit! It is oh so lonely here at the bottom of the world. I cannot share your mirth, child. Your small rebellion above now causes this kingdom's collapse.
Letting you live was my rebellion, spider. I've denied my mother your silken strength. I've won.
She can thrash, and waste, and know her pathetic, broken child caused the mortal wound.
Rejoice! And let it all come down. I will not. I have already stood the sentinel for one dying land. That role... I will never play again. While I live, and possess the strength to resist, this kingdom, and the bugs within it, shall not fall.
Hahahhaa! Spider. Spider. What a marvellous specimen you are! You fight and fight, heedless as the world crumbles around you.
Pharloom and her bugs will be crushed to dust, and still you'll be vainly swinging your blade. ...There may still be a way to prevent that fate. I will claim the hidden power, the bloom that repels the dark. Those snails share some fault in the snare, and their callous use of the void. They shall help me now to seek its counter. I will return, child, when I bear the strength to dive below, and cut this land finally free of your mother's grasp.
Child, I hold the means to descend. Let us meet one final time, and quell this black ruin of our making.
Who are you hoping you'll find down there, spider? An ailing child and a Silk starved beast?
If so, I'm afraid we may sorely disappoint. What waits below is me no longer. Even if only your shadow remains, to release your mother's grip my blade would see it slain.
Then why hold, even this moment? Surely terror hasn't suddenly claimed your hardened heart?
Take the final plunge, spider. Join us in my drowning palace, and let oblivion swallow us all. Oblivion may take you, child. My own life, I shall not sacrifice. I have survived the fury of your land. I have borne its barbs and its blades, and I have seen wonder behind its dangers. But always, child, I remain a daughter of Hallownest. And the void below all things, that darkness I will fear no longer...
The parasite writhing within my shell has a violent aversion to the void.
Despite the protection granted by the Everbloom, even now I can feel those wretched roots preventing my descent. If I'm to dive, and cut this land from its black thread curse, I must first find means to extract the intruder within.
Exhausted dialogue, while Cursed
If I'm to dive, and cut this land from its black thread curse, I must first find means to extract the intruder within.
Location
Lace can be met in several locations throughout Pharloom.
Lace was formally revealed in a Team Cherry blog post:
"A lithe fencer wielding a gilded pin, the traditional weapon of Pharloom. Lace is a dangerous foe, cloaked in mystery, who'll delight at causing Hornet's swift, skewered demise."[29]
Lace's stance and her movements in her fight resemble that of a fencer's, reflecting her official description.
Lace's humming before the fight with her in Deep Docks is the Dies irae melody, used extensively throughout the game's soundtrack.
Lace will deflect Tools thrown at her before starting her Deep Docks battle, this will also stop her from humming and put her in her battle stance.
She is able to deflect nearly every Red Tool in the game. Excluding non-attacking ones and close-ranged ones, the only Tool she does not deflect are Tacks.
While Lace reacts to the Needolin if it is used while fighting her the Cradle, she does not audibly sing.
There is a bug where her Hunter's Journal entry is unlocked during the second fight without defeating her. [Missing information]
If Hornet's cursed cocoon hits Lace from below while she is in the air during the fight in the Cradle she continues moving sidewards until she falls off the arena or is staggered.[30]
After Lace is defeated, if Hornet enters the Cradle and sits on a bench outside of the Citadel, Lace starts emitting dreg clouds and Silk Flies gather around her.[Source 1]
In the 2019 pre-release Hollow Knight: Silksong demo, Hornet's line in the Deep Docks pre-battle conversation was different: she said, "Your threats are worthless. If you are my foe, cease this prattle and raise your blade."[31]
In the 2019 pre-release demo, Lace's Moulinet attack did ++ instead of the current +.[32]
In the 2019 pre-release demo, there was a short musical flourish after defeating Lace in Deep Docks.[31]
In both pre-release demos, Lace said "Its [sic] so simple."[31][33]
When Hornet dies to Lace in either of her two fights, she laughs until the screen fades to black.
Names in Other Languages
Language
Name
Meaning/Explanation
Brazilian Portuguese
Tessela
From tecelã (a woman who practices weaving).
French
Lace
—
German
Lace
—
Italian
Merletta
Lace
Japanese
レース Rēsu?
Lace
Korean
레이스 Leiseu
Lace
Russian
Лейс Lejs
Lace
Simplified Chinese
蕾丝 Lěisī?
Lace, 蕾丝 lěisī (lace) is an established English loanword in Chinese.
Spanish
Lace
—
Internal name
LACE LACE_BOSS_1
Notes
↑If Lace has not been fought in Deep Docks and Hornet enters Sinner's Road or Blasted Steps, Lace talks to Hornet there and the fight in Deep Docks no longer occurs. If this happens, defeating Lace in the Cradle grants the full entry.
↑Hunter's Journal entry: "Much Silk would have been needed to see her sustained."
↑ 3.03.1Hornet dialogue with the Caretaker: "Child of the monarch, she claimed herself at the end, and her shell suggested it true, a being born purely from Silk woven tight."
↑Lace Hunter's Journal entry: "A bug born entirely of thread. Much Silk would have been needed to see her sustained."
↑ 5.05.1The Cradle Silk Heart dialogue: "...Better a child spun frail... than none... ...Better a child spun pure... than them... ...One to wish our waking... ...From our Silk... A child born loyal... "
↑ 6.06.1Caretaker: "One to keep far from she was, least for us mortal sorts. Look of a child and a mind to match, but her's been up wanderin' this Citadel longer'n most. Even in its long silence, way 'fore you came and roused its ire."
↑ 7.07.1Lace: "Life? You're too generous! This weak, wasting existence. This was not life, just a husk shaped to act as a child."
↑Exhaust Organ Needolin Dialogue: "She spun us to fade... She spun us to break... Why us, sister? Why us?"
↑Phantom Hunter's Journal entry: "Though grey with age, their frayed form suggested a being strung from Silk,"
↑Lace Needolin dialogue in the Cradle: "A child, too broken..."
↑Lace dialogue: "Face the holy mother who would fashion so cruel and crude a daughter as me."
↑Caretaker: "Might'a seen herself this place's protector, keepin' it clean and quiet as she did. Course quiet meant most crossin' her path found a painful end from her pin."
↑Lace Needolin dialogue in the Cradle: "Why her... Mother... See me cut! See me serve! See me, your daughter..."
↑Lace: "After all... it's you that she wants... is it not?"
↑Lace: "How sad. A little spider has fallen from its cage. So lost. So weak."
↑Lace: "I can save you, little spider. All the trouble you'd face above. All the suffering. It's so simple. I'll just skewer you here and now, pluck that flickering life right out of you."
↑Lace: "But what a bore it would be to cut you down now, when you're so achingly close to our grand Citadel... Climb higher, little spider. I want to savour your struggle just a little longer!"
↑Hornet and Lace dialogue in the Citadel: Hornet: "Fool child. You still think me blind to the form of your liege? Having come this far? This land's grandeur, the devotion of its bugs, and the curse that befalls them. The signs are clear. Your kingdom is in the thrall of a creature beyond bug, one of that higher caste. Whatever its desire for my Silk and my shell, it shall find I'm quite attached to both." Lace: "Tch... Hahahaa. Marvelous [sic]! So the spider knows something of fathomless beings, and still it hopes to stand against one, a god..."
↑Hornet and Lace dialogue: Lace: "Congratulations, spider. Finally, I felt your sting, and you've bared the truth of my pathetic empty shell." Hornet: "You always had the scent, child. You are no bug. Yours is a life born entirely from thread."
↑Lace: "Head on. Climb up, up and away. You've earned your audience with the divine. Face the holy mother who would fashion so cruel and crude a daughter as me. After all... it's you that she wants... is it not?"
↑ 22.022.1Snail Shamans: "Oh ho... The quakes, yes? We have felt their force, even here. So the mother resists the dark... to save the child?"
↑ 23.023.1Hornet dialogue with the Snail Shamans: "She will have retreated within her protective form, that cocoon of thread. Even as the dark eats its outer, she will spin its Silk anew. The effort would be immense and it will strain her soul thin, but what other choice remains?"
↑Hornet dialogue with the Snail Shamans: "Surely you've seen them, the black threads that wrack your lands? The dark leeches up, possessed upon the fallen monarch's Silk."
↑Lace: "Letting you live was my rebellion, spider. I've denied my mother your silken strength. I've won. She can thrash, and waste, and know her pathetic, broken child caused the mortal wound. (...) You fight and fight, heedless as the world crumbles around you. Pharloom and her bugs will be crushed to dust, and still you'll be vainly swinging your blade."
↑Hornet dialogue with Lace: "...There may still be a way to prevent that fate. I will claim the hidden power, the bloom that repels the dark. (...) I will return, child, when I bear the strength to dive below, and cut this land finally free of your mother's grasp."
↑Lace: "Who are you hoping you'll find down there, spider? An ailing child and a Silk starved beast? If so, I'm afraid we may sorely disappoint. What waits below is me no longer."
↑Hornet and Lace dialogue: Lace: "Take the final plunge, spider. Join us in my drowning palace, and let oblivion swallow us all." Hornet: "Oblivion may take you, child. My own life, I shall not sacrifice."
+
+
Brazilian Portuguese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Simplified Chinese
Spanish
Internal name
