To reach the White Palace, obtain the Monarch Wings and Awoken Dream Nail, then Dream Nail the Kingsmould corpse in Palace Grounds in the Ancient Basin. The main route leads through the atrium and upper palace to the Pale King’s throne, where his corpse drops the White Palace half of Kingsoul. The Path of Pain is a separate, optional challenge—not part of the route to that reward.
Before entering the White Palace
- Reach Palace Grounds in the Ancient Basin. You need the Monarch Wings to get there.
- Use the Awoken Dream Nail on the Kingsmould corpse to enter the White Palace.
After you obtain the Kingsoul fragment and wake outside, you can return by Dream Nailing the corpse again. The access requirements and route described here are documented on the community-maintained Hollow Knight Wiki’s White Palace page, accessed October 8, 2026.
White Palace main-route walkthrough
Open the route from the entrance
Defeat the Kingsmould guarding the entrance. Inside, defeat another Kingsmould and activate the switch to open the way into the atrium.
Activate both atrium switches
The atrium has a bench, an exit, and two hallways. Follow each hallway to its switch and activate both. This opens the lift at the top of the atrium and access to the upper palace.
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Ride the lift to the throne
Take the lift and follow the northern route to the throne room. Hit the Pale King’s corpse to knock it from the throne; the right White Fragment, the White Palace half of Kingsoul, drops. Pick it up to wake outside the Palace. Taking the fragment ends the visit, so you cannot sit on the throne afterward during that visit.
What Kingsoul does
Kingsoul is made from two White Fragments: the left half comes from the White Lady in Queen’s Gardens, and the right half comes from the Pale King after completing the White Palace. Once assembled, the charm slowly generates SOUL and opens an area in the Abyss. The fragment sources and effect are described on the community-maintained Hollow Knight Wiki’s White Fragment page, accessed October 8, 2026.
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- Classic side-scrolling action, with all the modern trimmings.
- Forge your own path! The world of Hallownest is expansive and open. Choose which paths you take, which enemies you face and find your own way forward.
- Evolve with powerful new skills and abilities! Gain spells, strength and speed. Leap to new heights on ethereal wings. Dash forward in a blazing flash. Blast foes with fiery Soul!
- Equip Charms! Ancient relics that offer bizarre new powers and abilities. Choose your favorites and make your journey unique!
- An enormous cast of cute and creepy characters all brought to life with traditional 2D frame-by-frame animation.
Choosing charms for White Palace platforming
There is no universally best loadout in the cited White Palace guidance. Choose for the specific obstacle giving you trouble, and be ready to change charms if a benefit creates a new problem.
| Charm or setup | When it can help | Trade-off or limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Hiveblood | Lets you wait between attempts and recover health, reducing pressure to spend SOUL after each hazard. | Useful when you can pause safely; it does not make the platforming itself easier. |
| Deep Focus + Grubsong | A recommended pairing for healing while slowly replenishing SOUL through damage taken. | Requires the charms to be equipped together; it is a recovery-focused approach. |
| Longnail or Mark of Pride | Extends Nail reach, widening the timing window for pogoing off spikes, saws, or Wingmoulds. | The extra reach can make narrow horizontal sections harder. |
| Quick Slash | Makes it easier to repeat downward Nail strikes without as much concern about timing. | Targets repeated Nail strikes rather than providing recovery or extra reach. |
| Dashmaster | Can ease one section with retracting spikes in the main Palace. | The cited guidance identifies a particular section, not a general solution for the entire Palace. |
| Sharp Shadow | May help reach farther platforms. | Can work against you where obstacles are laid out for a normal dash distance. |
| Fragile Heart, Unbreakable Heart, or Lifeblood Core | Options for additional survivability. | These add survivability rather than changing the platforming route. |
White Palace hidden rooms and lore
- Pale King’s workshop: Near the end of the Palace, after a Crystal Heart segment, look for a drop leading to the workshop. It contains a lore tablet and a Dream Nail interaction.
- White Lady-associated room: Near the lift to the throne room, go east of the lift and break the floor with Desolate Dive or Descending Dark.
- Throne-room tablet: In the far north, break the wall east of the throne room to find another lore tablet.
The workshop’s Dream Nail interaction offers additional lore; the Palace’s isolated setting also prompts in-game comment from Relic Seeker Lemm: “It’s a strange thing though. There are no signs of conflict around the area. It’s as though the whole place just vanished.”
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Path of Pain: optional secret challenge
The Path of Pain is not required to obtain the White Palace Kingsoul fragment. To find it, break the wall at the beginning of the first buzz-saw room on the second floor above the atrium. This separate route contains multiple precision-platforming sections, with Soul Totems between sections, and ends in a thorn-lined room with two Kingsmoulds.
Completion awards the Seal of Binding Hunter’s Journal entry and shows a cutscene depicting the Pale King and a younger Hollow Knight. The Path of Pain cannot be entered again after completion. Its lore tablet reads: “To witness secrets sealed, one must endure the harshest punishment.”
Quick Recap
Best Value
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- Includes four giant bonus content packs: Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe, Lifeblood, and Godmaster
- Classic side-scrolling action, with all modern trimmings
- Tightly tuned 2D controls. Dodge, dash, and slash your way through even the most deadly adversaries
- Explore a vast interconnected world of forgotten highways, overgrown wilds, and ruined cities
- Forge your own path. The world of Hallownest is expansive and open. Choose which paths you take, which enemies you face, and find your own way forward
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