The Ones Who Walk Away from Hallownest: Hollow Knight 's Radical Response to the Omelas Dilemma

Abstract

In Ursula K. Le Guin's short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” a society's happiness depends on the suffering of a child and the reader is presented as culpable this contract. In the video game Hollow Knight, the kingdom of Hallownest was also designed to thrive under a similar contract through the suffering of the Hollow Knight. However, the game presents the player with the choice of multiple endings: take the place of the child as an ignorant sacrifice, take the place of the child as a willing sacrifice after learning the truth about the bargain, or eradicate the bargain altogether. This retelling in a video game format gives the player an agency that is not afforded to readers engaging with a short story. Ultimately, Hollow Knight not only rejects passivity, but proposes a redemptive arc for the ones who walk away from Omelas.