Location from Hollow Knight by Team Cherry
The sewers beneath the City of Tears — where the Dung Defender still patrols with joyful loyalty, guarding infrastructure for a king who will never return.
The Royal Waterways are Hallownest's infrastructure made explorable. The Pale King built these to manage the water flowing from Blue Lake through the City of Tears. Now they're home to Flukes (parasitic creatures), Ogrim the Dung Defender, and the waste of a civilization. Ogrim's presence transforms what would be a pure dungeon crawl into something emotional. He patrols these tunnels because someone told him to, and he never stopped. His hidden chamber — with its lovingly sculpted dung statues — is one of the game's most bittersweet discoveries. The Waterways connect to the Ancient Basin below and the City of Tears above, making them a critical throughway for deeper exploration.
Flooded tunnels and chambers beneath the city. Water flows in streams and pools. The architecture is functional — pipes, drains, gates, platforms above the waterline. The palette is dark blue-green with murky water. Despite being sewers, there's a functional elegance to the engineering. Dung Defender's arena is the cleanest part — he maintains it with pride.
Also known as: The Waterways, The Sewers