Hollow Knight is 2D-sidescrolling Metroidvania video game, published in 2017 by independent studio Team Cherry. It also happens to be one of my personal favourite video games of all time, owing to its high difficulty, beautiful hand-drawn artwork, excellent soundtrack (which I often listen to while writing papers), and its masterful use of indirect and environmental storytelling. In short, it is a piece of fiction which occupies a prominent place in my brain, and throughout my scattered pieces of spare time, I have been working sporadically on creating Plains Cree translations for some of the various enigmatic characters and locales found throughout the world of Hallownest. Inspired by the excellent video series Lost In Translation by Shetani’s Lair, outlining the English translations of boss names from their Japanese originals in the Dark Souls video game series (itself a major inspiration on the aesthetics and gameplay of Hollow Knight), and the preliminary translations of the works of Tolkien into Plains Cree by Dr. Arok Wolvengrey, I have put together here a list of some of my translations so far. This far from a comprehensive effort at localisation – I am certain I lack both the poetic ability in Cree for such a thing – but I hope that some interest can be found in my attempts so far.
Hallownest
kihcwacistwanipan
It was not immediately obvious what aspect of the name Hallownest (the kingdom in which Hollow Knight is set) should be preserved in the process of translation. On the one hand, Hallownest seems to literally mean ‘sacred nest’ or ‘revered nest’, but on the other the choice of the antiquated English term ‘hallow’ is a clear allusion to the word ‘hollow’, likely as a double reference to both the title of the game and the fact that the kingdom itself is abandoned (and is therefore ‘hollow’). Maintaining this pun in its exact form seems impossible in Cree, and as such, I have decomposed the intended meanings of ‘hollow’ and ‘hallowed’ into two separate derivational parts. kihcwacistwanipan literally means ‘the great deceased nest’ (kihci– (a prefix meaning ‘great’, ‘large’, or ‘important’), wacistwan (‘nest’), and –ipan (the so-called Absentative suffix, used to indicate that something (or, more often, someone) is deceased)). The use of the Absentative suffix on an inanimate noun is not attested in modern Cree, but earlier European records of the language (such as Pr. Albert Lacombe’s 1874 dictionary) indicate that, historically, the Absentative suffix could be used in this way (e.g. kisîpîsimipaniwâw ‘your old/previous river’, nimôhkomânipan ‘my old/previous knife’). If anything, the use of an antiquated word formation pattern here harkens back to the already antiquated nature of the word ‘Hallow’ in the original English, and implies a degree of ancient-ness, befitting the name for a long-abandoned ruin.
Dirtmouth
tawâwasiskîhk
Dirtmouth, one of the few inhabited settlements remaining in Hallownest and the first such settlement visited by the player, poses a similar localisation challenge to that of Hallownest. The English name Dirtmouth is both a pun on the (fairly common) Anglophone city name of Dartmouth, as well as on the fact that the town of Dirtmouth is contains the entryway (the ‘mouth’) to the subterranean areas of Hallownest (the ‘dirt’). The use of terms for ‘mouth’ (-itôn being the most common) as metaphors for points of entry in Plains Cree does not seem to be attested in corpora; as such I felt that a literal translation such as asiskîwitôn (a compound of asiskiy (‘dirt, dust’) and –itôn (‘mouth’)) would miss the intended double-meaning of the original English name. What I went with instead was tawâwasiskîhk, a compound word (much like the English Dirtmouth) which can be broken down into tawâw (‘there is room, there is an opening’) and asiskîhk, the locative form of asiskiy (e.g. in/at/on the dirt). As such, the literal meaning, something like ‘there is an opening in the dirt’, more or less corresponds to the literal meaning of the English name. The name tawâwasiskîhk also conceals a double meaning, albeit not the same double meaning as the English Dirtmouth. The word tawâw is often used as a greeting in Plains Cree, used to welcome new individuals into an unfamiliar space. As such, the name tawâwasiskîhk could also be read as ‘welcome to the dirt’; a fitting name, I feel, for the first town which the player visits in the game, and the entranceway to the underground kingdom of Hallownest.
Forgotten Crossroads
pimitamon ê-wanikiskisitotamihk
Literally ‘crossroads which has been forgotten (by people)’
Grubhome
mohcêsisinâhk
Literally ‘among the little worms’. The Distributive suffix (-inâhk, meaning something like ‘among the’) is particularly common in real-life Plains Cree place names.
Temple of the Black Egg
kaskitêwâwi kihcihtwâwisihtâwikamik
Literally ‘black egg sanctification building’. The idea of a ‘temple’ is not a very culturally salient one in Plains Cree, and I wished to avoid using the word for Christian churches, ayamihêwikamik, to avoid its broad historical connotations. As such, I constructed the word kihcihtwâwisihtâwikamik from the verb kihcihtwâwisihtâw (‘s/he sanctifies it, s/he makes it holy’) and the suffix -wikamik (‘building’).
Ancestral Mound
opiskwatinâwâw otâniskotâpânak
Literally ‘mound of the ancestors’
Greenpath
askihtakwêskanaw
Literally ‘green path’. The prefix askihtako– seems to refer to quite a wide range of colours; in my experience, I have seen it used to describe bluish hues (particularly lighter, greenish blues), most greens, and even some yellowish, mustard-like colours. However, more research would be needed to firmly establish where precise colour term boundaries lie in Plains Cree. This particular colour term is derived from the word askihtak, meaning ‘green wood’ (that is, wood cut from new trees); in this way, I feel that it fits the arboreal, jungle aesthetic of Greenpath quite well.
Stone Sanctuary
kâmwâtâsiniyak
Stone Sanctuary was a challenge to translate for a number of reasons. Firstly, the use of ‘sanctuary’ in the name is doubtless used with some irony, as the area is littered with spikes and corpses. However, it is also the resting place of one of the game’s many ‘Warrior Dreams’, restless ghosts tied to the place of their death; in this way, the word ‘sanctuary’ could also be interpreted more akin to ‘resting place’. In either case, I could not find an appropriate Cree translation for ‘sanctuary’, and so opted instead to use focus on the ‘stone’ aspect of the original name, and on the implication of the word ‘sanctuary’ that the location is calm and has not been disturbed. My final translation, kâmwâtâsiniyak, literally means ‘calm stones’, although the initial element kâmwât– may just as easily be translated as ‘quiet’ or ‘tranquil’. kâmwât– is also used in words referring to sadness and gloom (e.g. kâmwâcihtâkwan (‘it sounds sad, it sounds depressing’)), which fits the tomb-like ambience of the Stone Sanctuary perfectly. As a final point, the word for stone, asiniy, is also treated as an animate noun in Plains Cree, the same as terms like iyiniw (‘person’) or pisiskiw (‘animal’). Although the exact reasoning why asiniy is an animate noun in Cree is not fully understood, the fact that it is makes it especially suitable to describe the stones of the Stone Sanctuary, which are contain the still-conscious spirits of those who died there.
Overgrown Mound
piskwatinâw ê-askîwiskâk
Literally ‘mound (where) there is lots of earth’. I take ‘overgrown’ here to mean ‘overtaken by earth’. However, an equally good translation might be piskwatinâw ê-sakâwipayik (literally ‘mound which has become bush-y’). This is one translation that is definitely still in-progress.
Nailmaster’s Hut
kâ-nakacihtât sakahikan owâskahikanis
Literally ‘the hut of the (individual) who is skilled with a nail’
Lake of Unn
ôn sâkahikan
Literally ‘Unn lake’. I intentionally avoided using the more literal translation ôn osâkahikan (‘Unn’s Lake’) so as not to make it immediately obvious that ‘Unn’ is an individual residing in the lake, as the English name is quite ambiguous in this respect, and the player does not discover that Unn is a living being, as opposed to an abstract place name, until much later in the game.
Crystal Peak
cahkâsinîwiwaciy
Literally ‘shining stone mountain’. As far as I am aware, there is no Cree word for ‘crystal’, but cahkâsiniy (literally ‘shining stone’) seems appropriate, particularly for the incandescent geodes of Crystal Peak.
Crystalised Mound
piskwatinâw ê-cahkâsinîwipayik
Literally ‘mound which has turned into shining stone’
Resting Grounds
iskwêyâc aywêpiwin
Literally ‘the last resting place’. Terms for graves and cemeteries do exist in Cree (e.g. yikwahaskân), but I felt that the more poetic nature of the English name was best preserved here by keeping the metaphor of ‘rest’.
Spirits’ Glade
ita ahcahkwak kâ-sâpohtêcik
Literally ‘the place where spirits walk through’. I could not find a reasonable translation for the English word ‘glade’, a fairly uncommon and old-fashioned word used to refer to an opening in a wooded area, and as such instead used the name to describe the purpose of the area, which is a temporary resting grounds for wandering spirits. I avoided using the otherwise fitting term aywêpiwin to differentiate this area from the Resting Grounds (above), which, in the context of the game, seem to be a more final resting place for spirits than the Glade.
Shrine of Believers
okiskisiwikamikohkâniwâw osôhkêyihtamwak
Literally ‘the memorial-like building of the believers’. Shrine was another term which lacked a direct Cree translation, but given that the in-game purpose of this (secret) area is commemorate the game development team’s early financial backers, I feel that the term kiskisiwikamik, literally ‘memory building’, is appropriate.
Fog Canyon
yîkowani-kîskatinaw
Literally ‘foggy cliffside’
Teacher’s Archives
kiskisiwasiwacikan
Literally ‘container of memories’. The (many) Cree words for teacher often have some degree of association with the either the residential school system or the subsequent locally administered school systems. I felt that the connotations of either of these two systems would be inappropriate in this context, given that, in Hollow Knight, the Dreamer Monomon only really seems to be referred to by the title of ‘Teacher’ as a reference to her position as a divine representation of knowledge, rather than in reference to her being a literal teacher. I therefore decided to lean more strongly into describing the fact that her place of residence is an archive, a container for memories.
Stag Nest
âwatâwâkani-wacistwan
It took me quite some time to come up with a translation for the Stags of Hallownest, enormous, sentient, horned beetles responsible for hauling goods and passengers across the kingdom. The English term ‘stag’ refers to a male deer, and is often associated with the large set of horns which make such deer attractive targets for human hunting. There are plenty of terms for such deer in Plains Cree (apisimôsos being the most common), and more terms yet for other large, horned animals (e.g. môswa (‘moose’) or wâwâskêsiw (‘elk’)); however, I consciously chose not to use a pre-existing animal name so as to avoid any association with the character traits usually attributed to these animals in Cree folklore. As such, I came up with the novel word âwatâwâkan, from the root âwatâw (‘s/he hauls s.t.’) and the suffix –âkan, often used to form terms for referents associated with a particular action (e.g. nôtinêw (‘s/he fights s.o.’) and nôtinâkan (‘an enemy, an opponent’), or itwahikêw (‘s/he points things out’) and itwahikâkan (‘a pointer’). âwatâwâkan (a term which is similar to, but intentionally different from, âwatawiswâkan, an existing Cree word meaning ‘truck’) may thus be translated to mean something like ‘hauler’, or perhaps even ‘one who is hauled’ or ‘one who is carried off’.