The Forgotten Crossroads

The town of Dirtmouth holds little of interest at this point, leaving the well as your only option forward. Below lies much to explore. It's time to get to know Hollow Knight's The Forgotten Crossroads. This guide walks you through The Forgotten Crossroads in Hollow Knight, including how to find all the Grubs, how to get the Forgotten Crossroads map, and how to reach the False Knight boss.

To learn how to obtain the variousCollectiblesHollow Knight has to offer, visit our pages onCharms,Spells,Mask Shards, and more.

• Visit the Temple of the Black Egg
• Enter the Temple
  • Grub 1 Location
• Left at the Forgotten Crossroads
• Forgotten Crossroads Map Location
• Back into the Forgotten Crossroads
  • Grub 2 Location
  • How to Unlock the Forgotten Crossroads Stag Station
• How to Unlock the Shortcut
  • Grub 3 Location

If you've accidentally dropped down the well, fret not! You can stand at the base of the lit chain and interact with it to return to the surface.

When you're ready, though, you can go left or right from the entrance. Left is the way forward in the quest, but take a moment to go right to meet someone important.

Visit the Temple of the Black Egg

To the right of the Forgotten Crossroads is a dip with a mad bug below. Be sure to slay it before it harms you! With it cleared, hop across the floating platforms right to the higher edge, either laying or dodging the patrolling white bug on the second platform.

Pass through the pillars to continue. Walk right into this quiet chamber and you'll spot a large, glowing temple. Interact with the door to enter.

Enter the Temple

This strange semblance of peace and light is the Temple of the Black Egg. Walk through the temple and you'll meet Quirrel. He has several lines of dialogue you can listen to until he starts saying "Truly a marvel..." Like you, he's an explorer and is especially interested in the egg-like entity at the heart of this temple.

When you're ready, leave and, at this point, you can return to the entry and head left. If you'd like to do some more exploring and get more Geo, proceed right from the temple door. Two more mad bugs patrol the area.

The final danger in this room is a stalactite on the final platform, ready to drop, so keep an eye out for it. There's one on the ready to fall on the second platform of the room, too.

Next, you can keep going far right and proceed through the next small lit passage, but be warned before entering the passageway!

Over there in the strange dining area is a large enemy with its back to the door. It'll notice you and do devastating damage if it attacks. This enemy, which you'll later learn is called a Husk Guard, is far tougher than anything you've faced up to this point. You may want to consider returning when you're more experienced, but there is a prize if you defeat it.

How to Beat the Husk Guard

The Husk Guard is a large enemy that'll test your skills early in Hollow Knight. Defeating the Husk Guard requires you to know how to dodge its two primary attacks. When you see it raise its club, move away to create space, where it'll slam its weapon down. When the Husk Guard crouches, back away and wait for it to jump and then land.

Watch for the white shockwave following the landing. Jump over the shockwave to dodge damage. Keep damaging the bug with your nail when you're not dodging attacks to win the fight.

Grub 1 Location

Go To Map

Hallownest Map

The first Grub you can find in The Forgotten Crossroads will be far east of the town well you enter to access the area. Head to the northeastern corner until you reach a room with a massive Husk Guard.

Defeat the Husk Guard and head right until you find the Grub at the end of the room.Grub 4 - Forgotten Crossroads

After grabbing the Grub, leave the room and drop down the shaft below. If you go all the way down, to the right, and through a wooden archway, you'll pass into another area that's clearly part of a mine. There's not much you can do here as far as progression is concerned, but if you follow the singing voice, you'll meet a kind but forgetful bug mining for riches.

This is Myla! She's adorable, but won't be able to help you on your journey. You can go past her, but your adventure will stop in a room with a rumbling floor. There's nothing you can do about the floor until later when you acquire a specific ability. Keep a note of this place, because you will return some day.

Return to the area before the mine. If you head left, you'll enter a pathway that eventually loops back toward the crossroads entry, although it's a far more dangerous path. There is a Geo deposit on a floating platform past the entry, but you'll need to kill two flying bugs to reach it safely.

In this area, you'll meet three kinds of mad bugs (one that charges with a horn, one that jumps, and the round one that waddles toward you) along with smaller bugs around. If you don't feel up to fighting them with the base weaponry, return to the surface. Otherwise, keep heading left until you reach a passage with chained platforms.

If you choose to proceed left, you'll spot a sad Grub in a bottle high up. You can't free it yet, but memorize its location once you get an ability that lets you cross the gap.

Left at the Forgotten Crossroads

To proceed on the main path, you'll need to head left from the well where you entered the Forgotten Crossroads. You'll soon reach a passage with chained platforms, where you'll encounter a new flying enemy with tiny wings. It meanders a bit, but be sure to attack them before they attack you.

There is a lit passage with foliage around its gates on the left to explore, but good news: you're getting a map soon! It's easier to hold off and explore those more after you reach the bottom of this chamber. If you want, you can fall right down and dodge the enemy bugs lurking.

You can travel to the top-left section of the chamber to find a room. Inside is a friendly bug that showers you with rewards for finding his missing family members.

Where to Find the Grubfather

Go To Map

Hallownest Map

The Grubfather is an elderly Grub you can find in a room in the far northwestern corner of the Forgotten Crossroads.

He'll reward you for rescuing Grubs found throughout Hollow Knight. Keep returning for rewards that range from Geo to powerful Charms.

There's also a passage on the right, but that'll take you far off the path, and you'll need to come back this way to continue. If you do want to explore, we recommend hopping back up and going right at the entryway then looping back around.

If you want to continue quickly, you can fall right down while dodging the small enemy bugs.

How to Get the Forgotten Crossroads Map - Cornifer Location

To progress this area better, you'll need to find out how to get the Forgotten Crossroads map. To do so, fall through the hole at the bottom of the chamber with the chained platforms.

Once you're down, head right to meet Cornifer, the cartographer. You'll meet him in each of Hollow Knight's major areas, at which point you can purchase an area map.

Purchase a Forgotten Crossroads map from him for 30 Geo. You can speak to Cornifer again to learn more about his life and get a proper introduction.

Forgotten Crossroads Map

At this point, Cornifer's wife Iselda has opened the item shop in Dirtmouth, which contains some incredibly useful items. You should return to Dirtmouth and speak with Iselda, who sells items to improve your map. Among the best items to get early is the Quill for 120 Geo. If you don't have the Geo, make sure to slay some grubs and explore the right side of the Forgotten Crossroads if you've yet to do so.

Once you hold the Quill, each area map you own will automatically be updated when you sit down at Benches.

Note: It is also highly recommended that you purchase the Wayward Compass for 220 Geo when you can. Hollow Knight is massive game, so being able to see yourself on the map is a major help, especially if you plan on collecting every Item, Spell, or Mask Shard.QuillWayward Compass

Iselda sells some incredibly useful items, such as markers which will identify and mark the locations of Hot Springs, Benches, Vendors, as well as custom markers, so be sure to save up your Geo if you want to make the most of your map.

Back into the Forgotten Crossroads

Dive back down into the Forgotten Crossroads, descending past Cornifer. Be careful jumping down, though! There are spikes at the bottom of this shaft.

Grub 2 Location

Go To Map

Hallownest Map

The second Grub you can come across in the Forgotten Crossroads is in a room left of the chamber below Cornifer.

Enter the room and use Nail Jump on the first worm to reach the Geo cache on the floating platform.

Continue left until you reach the next room. Proceed, killing the large fly enemy. Jump across the acid pool using the columns while watching for falling stalactites. The Grub is on a ledge to the furthest left side of the room.

Grub 1 - Forgotten Crossroads

When ready, proceed right, but ascend the shaft after the door first. There are three helpful Geo mounds for you to destroy here before moving on.

But wait, there's a fake wall here! Hit the wall behind the geo node that stands alone on a small ledge to reveal it.

Beyond the fake wall is another Geo pile. Jump forward and to the right to find a hot spring where you can rest and replenish your health. Your map gets a little update, too.

Leave the hot spring and enter the chamber below its door. A gate closes dramatically behind you. A new flying enemy appears with a bulbous yellow backside. You'll only see one at first, but two more emerge from higher up. Be careful not to touch them and avoid their ranged attacks by tactically jumping (or falling, we don't judge here) beneath platforms. The top left platform and center platforms have falling stalactites, too, so be extra careful. The gates drop after you've slain the three bugs.

If you haven't visit the hot spring yet, hop up the platforms to reach it. Resting on the bench expands your map! One of the new flying bugs returns, though.

A gate will have dropped on the lower left and lower right sides of the room. Step into the lower left room quickly, drop to the bottom, and destroy three Geo deposits.

You won't be able to reach the far platform up on the left yet, so return the way you came then proceed through the path on the right.

How to Unlock the Forgotten Crossroads Stag Station

Before proceeding, drop into the hole after the door to find a mad bug guarding a Geo deposit.

Continue right, but be sure to grab the Geo deposit guarded by the worm. Time its emergence to avoid taking any damage. Proceed through the door above and to the right

The next room offers you two ways to progress. You can take the top path by following the floating platforms.

There, you'll find a Geo deposit protected by two shifting worms. Time it right to reach the Geo. Keep going right and hop the gap to the platform for another Geo cache, but watch out for the worm emerging from the wall! Drop down from there and head right to continue.

If you go below, you'll have to contend with several worms. There's less platforming, but you won't get the Geo rewards.

In the next room, you'll spot a sign pointing to a hole in the ceiling. If you enter the chamber below and head to the top-right corner, you'll find a Geo deposit. There is another doorway at the bottom-left section, but you won't be able to progress the critical path from there.

When ready, follow the sign up through the ceiling hole into the room above. Follow the sign through the door immediately to the left after you enter.

The path leads you to the Forgotten Crossroads Stag Station. Pay 50 Geo to unlock the bell and smack it to summon a ride back to the surface. This network of stations will become the quickest way to get around Hallownest, and gathering every collectible, upgrade, and item will require a bit of backtracking, so be sure to unlock each one you find.

Use the Stag to head back to town and unlock the station entrance door in Dirtmouth, then return to the Forgotten Crossroads Stag Station.

How to Unlock the Shortcut

Head right to exit the station and then ascend the room beyond. Watch out for the bug enemies infesting the narrow passages! It's easy to take damage here.

Continue climbing until you reach a shaft just past a door on the right side.

Grub 3 Location

Go To Map

Hallownest Map

The third Grub you can find in the Forgotten Crossroads is discoverable after unlocking the Stag Station. Ascend the shaft outside the station entrance until you're near the top. Look for a suspicious alcove carved into the left side of the shaft. Hit it to discover a breakable wall.

Attack the wall until it shatters. Kill the two flying bugs inside and break the glass prison to free the Grub.

Grub 3 - Forgotten Crossroads

Ascend to the top of the shaft and slash the lever to unlock a shortcut back to the uppermost sections of the Forgotten Crossroads.

From there, head back down the shaft and take the first exit on your left, following the path until you reach the first boss, the False Knight.

The Forgotten Crossroads Completed

Up Next: False Knight

PreviousThe Journey to DirtmouthNextFalse Knight

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