If Hollow Knight: Silksong had only one ending, life would be simple. You would climb, stab, dodge, panic-heal, miss a jump, recover emotionally, and roll credits. But this is Silksong, a game that loves mystery almost as much as it loves knocking you off a platform at the worst possible second. So yes, there are multiple endings, and no, the game does not exactly hand you a neat little pamphlet titled “How Not to Lock Yourself Out of the Cool Ending.”
The good news is that every major ending route follows a logic you can actually understand once you see how the campaign is structured. Most players will first reach one of the Act 2 conclusions after facing Grand Mother Silk at the top of the Citadel. From there, your choices, side-quest progress, and a few particularly spicy optional objectives determine whether you get the default ending, the cursed ending, the Act 3 route, or the ending most players call the “true” ending.
This guide breaks down each confirmed ending in a clear order, explains what to do to unlock it, and gives you the safest route for seeing everything without turning your save file into a tragedy. Think of it as a spoiler-heavy travel guide for Pharloom, except the souvenirs are emotional damage and a deep respect for Hornet’s cardio.
How Many Endings Are in Silksong?
In practical terms, Silksong has four main ending routes and one extra epilogue-style ending scene tied to Mister Mushroom. The endings most players talk about are:
- Weaver Queen the standard ending
- Twisted Child the cursed ending
- Snared Silk the ending that unlocks Act 3
- Sister of the Void the “true” ending
- Passing of the Age a bonus epilogue scene after Act 3
The key thing to understand is that Act 3 is not automatic. You do not simply beat Grand Mother Silk and continue. To reach the “true” ending, you must deliberately unlock the Act 3 path through the Silk and Soul route. If you do not, the story ends earlier.
Ending #1: Weaver Queen
What it is
This is the default ending and the one most players are likely to see first. It is the cleanest, most straightforward finish to Act 2, and it happens if you follow the main quest line up through the Citadel and defeat Grand Mother Silk without setting up the alternate route.
How to unlock it
- Progress through the main story until you reach the top of the Citadel.
- Complete the major story chain that leads to Grand Mother Silk.
- Defeat Grand Mother Silk.
- Choose the Bind option at the end of the fight.
Why it matters
The Weaver Queen ending is more than just the basic route. It also serves as your safest first completion because the game returns you to your last bench when you reload your save. That means you can still go back and pursue the other endings afterward. In other words, this ending is not a trap. It is the game’s polite way of saying, “Congratulations. Now go do the weird stuff.”
Best tip
Get this ending first if you want the least stressful route through all endings. It lets you learn the Grand Mother Silk fight normally before trying more demanding variations.
Ending #2: Twisted Child
What it is
This is the cursed ending, and it is as cheerful as the name suggests. To unlock it, Hornet must remain afflicted by the Twisted Bud curse all the way through the final Act 2 boss fight. That means less healing, fewer resources, no comforting build flexibility, and a general sense that the game has become deeply interested in your suffering.
How to unlock it
- Find the Twisted Bud in the Bilewater region through the hidden path that leads there from Whispering Vaults.
- Complete Greyroot’s related quest line in Shellwood so you can hand over the item.
- Accept the curse triggered by the Rite of Rebirth sequence.
- Stay cursed.
- Defeat Grand Mother Silk while the curse is still active.
What the curse changes
The Twisted Bud curse is not cosmetic. It strips away a lot of what makes Hornet comfortable to play. You lose normal healing freedom, your silk is severely limited, and your crest-based flexibility is gutted. Translation: the game stops being your tricky little bug opera and turns into a survival exam.
Important warning
This is the easiest ending to accidentally miss forever on a given save. If you cure the Twisted Bud affliction before getting the ending, published guides indicate you cannot simply reapply it on that same file to earn Twisted Child. So do not cleanse the curse until after you have the ending if completion is your goal.
Best tip
Fight Grand Mother Silk normally first for Weaver Queen, then reload your save and attempt Twisted Child. That way, you are not learning the boss while also roleplaying as a cursed thread-based disaster.
Ending #3: Snared Silk
What it is
This is the ending that opens the door to Act 3. It is not the final true ending itself, but it is the bridge to it. If Weaver Queen is the obvious answer and Twisted Child is the bad idea you do anyway, Snared Silk is the route for players who looked at Pharloom and thought, “I bet there’s a larger hidden structure under all this pain.”
How to unlock it
To trigger Snared Silk, you need to unlock and complete the Silk and Soul quest line, then make the alternate choice after defeating Grand Mother Silk.
The safest published route includes these steps:
- Complete most of the wish-board quests in Bone Bottom, Bellhart, and Songclave
- Move the Flea Caravan to its final location near the Pale Lake in the Putrefied Ducts by rescuing a large number of Lost Fleas
- Collect the Architect, Conductor, and Vaultkeeper melodies
- Gain access to the final boss in The Cradle
- Receive and complete the Silk and Soul quest from the Caretaker of Songclave
- Defeat Grand Mother Silk and choose to play the Needolin instead of binding her
Why players get confused here
Because the unlock conditions are sprawling enough to look like a conspiracy board. Early community talk made it sound like you needed to do absolutely everything in the game. That does not appear to be true. But you do need to do enough town progress, wish-board cleanup, flea rescue work, and melody collection to convince the game you are serious about seeing the secret route.
What happens next
After the credits, reloading your file starts Act 3. This is where the game gets darker, stranger, and even more interested in making you earn the answers. Snared Silk is less a final destination and more the point where the floor opens under the story.
Ending #4: Sister of the Void (The “True” Ending)
What it is
This is the ending most players and guides label the “true” ending. If you want the most complete version of the story, this is the route you are chasing. It pays off Act 3, resolves the deepest late-game conflict, and lands with the kind of weight that makes you stare at the credits like you just finished a beautiful bug-shaped fever dream.
How to unlock it
- Unlock Act 3 by getting the Snared Silk route.
- Progress through the major Act 3 quests, including The Dark Below and The Old Hearts.
- Reach the Abyss.
- Defeat Lost Lace in the final confrontation.
Why it is called the true ending
Because this path continues beyond the apparent conclusion of Act 2 and pushes into the game’s deepest lore, darkest world-state changes, and biggest emotional reveals. It is the route that fully cashes in the game’s themes around silk, identity, sacrifice, inheritance, and all the other wonderfully gloomy things Silksong loves to whisper while you dodge for your life.
Best tip
Do not rush into Act 3 underprepared. Several published guides warn that the world gets harsher after the transition. Finish side content you care about first, upgrade what you can, and enter late game with purpose instead of blind optimism.
Ending #5: Passing of the Age
What it is
This is not a standalone main ending in the same sense as Weaver Queen or Sister of the Void. It is an extra epilogue scene tied to Mister Mushroom, a returning secret NPC with a talent for making players ask, “Am I witnessing genius, nonsense, or both?”
How to unlock it
- Reach Act 3.
- Acquire the Silk Soar ability through late-game progression.
- Find Mister Mushroom in seven locations across Pharloom and speak to him in the correct order.
- Then finish the Act 3 final route and get Sister of the Void.
What makes it tricky
The hardest part is not the concept. It is the execution. The final platforming section tied to Mister Mushroom’s route has a reputation for being the kind of challenge that can turn a calm evening into a full-body negotiation with your controller. If you want this epilogue, bring patience and maybe a beverage that says, “I accept that I may fail this jump 19 times.”
The Best Order to Get All Endings on One Save
If your goal is maximum efficiency and minimum heartbreak, use this route:
- Get Weaver Queen first. Learn the normal Grand Mother Silk fight and bank the standard ending.
- Reload your save. You should be back before the boss.
- Unlock and earn Twisted Child. Stay cursed and do not cure the affliction until after the ending plays.
- Cure the Twisted Bud curse if needed through the related operation quest.
- Finish the Silk and Soul requirements.
- Defeat Grand Mother Silk and choose Needolin to get Snared Silk and open Act 3.
- In Act 3, complete Mister Mushroom’s seven-location quest before the final battle if you also want Passing of the Age.
- Defeat Lost Lace for Sister of the Void.
- Watch the extra epilogue scene from Passing of the Age if you met the requirement.
Common Mistakes That Can Cost You an Ending
- Curing the Twisted Bud too soon: This can lock you out of Twisted Child on that save.
- Choosing Bind when you meant Needolin: That gives you Weaver Queen instead of the Act 3 route.
- Assuming Act 3 unlocks automatically: It does not. You need the Silk and Soul setup.
- Ignoring town progression: Wish boards, flea rescues, and melodies are not optional if you want Snared Silk.
- Leaving Mister Mushroom until “later”: Later can become too late if you push to the ending before finishing his route.
Final Thoughts
Silksong hides its best ending content behind systems that reward curiosity, stubbornness, and a willingness to clean up side objectives that seemed harmless five hours earlier. That may sound exhausting, and sometimes it absolutely is, but it also fits the game perfectly. Hornet’s journey is not a straight line. It is a web. Every wish board, hidden route, late-game quest, and dangerous choice pulls on another thread until the whole shape finally makes sense.
If you only want one completion, Weaver Queen is the simplest route. If you want the most complete story, you are really aiming for Sister of the Void. And if you are the kind of player who hears “secret epilogue involving Mister Mushroom” and immediately cancels all other plans, then congratulations: Silksong was made in a lab specifically to ruin your free time.
Still, there is something deeply satisfying about seeing every ending in order. You watch the game shift from tragic to cursed to revelatory, and by the time you finally reach the “true” ending, it feels earned. Not handed to you. Not stumbled into. Earned. In a game this sharp, that is exactly how it should be.
What Chasing Every Ending in Silksong Actually Feels Like
There is a particular kind of experience that only games like Silksong can deliver: the feeling that you are both completely lost and exactly where you are supposed to be. Hunting every ending turns that feeling up to eleven. The first time most players reach Grand Mother Silk, there is a real sense of finality. You have climbed through a haunted kingdom, untangled side paths, survived bosses that seem to have majored in “unfair-looking attacks that are technically fair,” and finally reached what appears to be the end. Then the game quietly reveals that the ending you just earned is only one slice of a much stranger pie.
That is what makes the all-endings chase so memorable. Each path changes the emotional texture of the adventure. The Weaver Queen ending feels like a classic tragic finale, the sort of ending that makes perfect sense in the moment. Twisted Child, on the other hand, feels like you willingly signed a waiver that said, “Yes, I would like to make the final boss harder and my life worse for the sake of forbidden knowledge.” And somehow that makes it more thrilling. The pressure of staying cursed, knowing one wrong decision can waste the attempt, creates a different kind of tension than a normal boss run. It is not just skill. It is nerve.
Then there is the Snared Silk route, where Silksong starts rewarding obsession. This is the stage where the game notices you are no longer just finishing quests. You are investigating the logic of Pharloom itself. You are checking towns, wish boards, flea movements, melodies, and side characters with the same intensity of a detective who has not slept in two days but is certain the wall of clues finally means something. The joy here comes from accumulation. Every small task suddenly matters because it pushes open a much larger secret door.
By the time Act 3 begins, the tone shifts in a way that is hard to forget. The world feels heavier. The stakes feel sharper. Even familiar spaces can feel wrong, as if the kingdom itself knows you have moved beyond the version of the story most players settle for. Reaching Sister of the Void after all that does not feel like simply getting a better cutscene. It feels like pulling the game’s deepest truth into the light. That is why people call it the “true” ending. Not because the others are meaningless, but because this one lands like the final piece of a puzzle you have been carrying in your backpack the entire game.
And then, just when you think you are done, Mister Mushroom waddles in like a cosmic little comedian and reminds you that Silksong still has one more secret smile to offer. That is the magic of chasing every ending here. It is hard, occasionally ridiculous, and sometimes exhausting, but it turns the game from a great action-adventure into a full-blown pilgrimage. You do not just beat Silksong. You learn how it thinks. And once that happens, every ending feels less like a reward screen and more like a conversation with the kingdom itself.
