I give my mind and SOUL (Hollow Knight SOUL CRT part 2)

[deonment]

So yeah, in Hollow Knight I think I've found enough evidence for the mind and SOUL being the same thing, or at the very least, that the mind is a part of the soul.

Spoiler: The Giga wall

Record Aba
The mind still limits us so.
How to break past its constraints?
To attain a pure focus, is it even possible?
-Soul Sanctum Lore Tablet

This is here to show what exactly the goal of the Soul Sanctum was, it was to break past the limits of the mind to attain a pure focus, this was done through taking the SOUL of bugs and infusing it into their members

-Wanderer's Journal Page 74

(Annotation of the relevant part in case the image breaks or is too hard to read)
As the infection first began to spread, a misguided sect of scholars committed a terrible sin in their workshop in the heart of the city. They sought to combat the infection by harnessing the power of soul; countless lives were sacrificed in their twisted, cruel experiments. Ultimately, it was all for naught, as the infection claimed their minds in the end as well.

Are these bizarre machines used to harvest soul from some bugs and inject it into others? How cruel...

Mistake Folly
The unfortunate products of many of the sanctum's failed experiments, these bugs' bodies have been warped and deformed beyond recognition.

These fools meddled with the soul of other creatures and lost their shape. Now they skulk through the shadows of their Sanctum like slugs, hoping their old brothers will build them new bodies.
-Mistake Hunter's Journal Entry

Then we see the result of this, in how it warped and affected the bodies and minds of the bugs who underwent the process, focusing on the latter aspect, as it shows a relationship between the mind and SOUL

Once a highly intelligent bug, deformed by the misuse of soul.
-Mistake Hunter's Journal Entry

Once a highly intelligent bug, inflated by the misuse of soul.
-Folly Hunter's Journal Entry

From this one can see that the intake of SOUL directly affected the minds of those bugs that were infused with it, even moreso when one compares their Dream Nail dialogue to not only the other members of the Soul Sanctum, but to even other infected enemies (I am not sending that laundry list of entries)

...I feel them within me...
...Mind swells...Mind aches...
-Soul Twister Dream Nail Dialogue

Where these strange warriors go, whispers follow them. Not only are they skilled with a nail, they can also use some strange power to shift suddenly from place to place. Stay on guard.
-Soul Warrior Hunter's Journal Entry

This soul...Is it my own?
These skills...No training I recall...
-Soul Warrior Dream Nail Dialogue

I can hear it...The whispering of their souls...
-Soul Master Dream Nail Dialogue

Now this here is the evidence I mainly think makes my point clear, it shows a connection between the presence of external SOUL within the enemies, and the presence of some degree of external consciousness in or nearby them, the soul twister feeling their mind swell (which can be seen as the SOUL (or the mind within the soul) now existing within their own SOUL, and thus expanding it), the Soul Warrior not only has whispers which follow them, but they have skills that they have no recollection of training for, and lastly, the Soul Master can literally hear the whispering of the SOUL he has infused within himself.
And for an additional nail in the coffin

In my dreams I could see it. The Kingdom's salvation, the cure for the plague... the answer was in the soul that animates our bodies.
-Soul Tyrant defeat dialogue

While I did use this before as additional evidence of the SOUL being Life Force, it also works in equal part here, it is literally called the thing that animates their body.

There is also some more circumstantial evidence that can be dismissed as gameplay (but I personally wouldn't), such as the Dream Nail, which acts upon the mind, being able get SOUL from a strike, along with things such as Grubsong, a charm created wholly out of gratitude, something mental, in combination with Weaversong being capable of generating soul, as well as the fact that enemies made of essence, such as ghosts and residents of the Dream Realm generate essence upon being struck.

I think this should show that SOUL is the mind of bugs, in addition to already being the soul and life force of bugs (I could technically push for it also being memories and dreams given the fact that essence beings have it, but that would already be encompassed by it being the mind)

This would give every single instance of manipulating SOUL mind manip in addition to its usual effects, and every instance of mind manip soul and life force in addition to the rest of its stuff.

In addition I think the knight should get a possibly enhanced senses for being able to see SOUL evaporating off bodies (for the enemies that leave a body after they die, ie any husk ever), despite The Hunter apparently not noticing such despite fighting and killing a bunch of people

I have heard others talk about 'soul' but I do not understand what it actually is. I do know that freshly killed meat tastes best - is that because the 'soul' still clings to it?
-Soul Twister Hunter's Journal Entry

The reason I say possibly is because I can see an interpretation of this that is less him not seeing it and more him either not noticing it or not making the connection, which I doubt but still see as a valid interpretation.

Also before people bring up characters being fine with just, having their SOUL taken by the knight as a counter to this. Yeah uh, that isn't really a proper counter, I already proposed and got accepted a limited resistance for folk simply being "fine" despite this, here (I just got lazy and forgot to apply it to literally every single profile in the verse), because SOUL is already shown to be vital to their existence, considering the mentions of it being life force or an animating essence, or the fact that it "evaporates" off the body after death, or the fact that they very much treat it with all the gravitas one would expect of a soul, as well as how it is extracted from living bugs and that this kills them in the process, so like, hollow knight bugs are just built different.

(In other news I am like, one lore drop away from giving Void NEP because despite for whatever god damn reason it is a "substance" it is in every other way considered an absence)

 

[DavidTPPM]

TL;DR?