How to Find Cornifer in Royal Waterways

Team Cherry’s Metroidvania action-adventure game, Hollow Knight, follows the journey of a nameless warrior called the Knight as he travels through Hallownest, which is now a kingdom ruined by a supernatural disease. As the Knight journeys through Hallownest, he encounters various characters that will help fully unravel the story in the game.

To fully explore and navigate through Hallownest, the Knight must have the maps for the different areas in the game. To obtain maps, the Knight must purchase them from the humming cartographer named Cornifer. Cornifer is working on mapping the entirety of Hallownest so he can be found in every area and sell the area’s map to the Knight.

The player will learn how to find Cornifer in Royal Waterways in this guide!

Royal Waterways

Cornifer’s location in Royal Waterways is inside a room in the northwestern part of Royal Waterways.

The Knight will encounter various enemies in Royal Waterways. Still, the Knight will specifically encounter the following enemies on the way to Cornifer: Pilflips, a Belfly, Hwurmps, and Flukemons.

Before the Knight can find Cornifer in the area, it is required that the Knight has the Mantis Claw ability, which allows the Knight to cling to walls and jump off of them, and the Monarch Wings ability, which allows the Knight to perform a double jump in mid-air, or the Mothwing Cloak ability, which allows the Knight to perform a horizontal dash forwards. With these abilities, finding Cornifer in Royal Waterways will be no challenge at all.

To find Cornifer in Royal Waterways, this is what the Knight must do (this is assuming that it is the Knight’s first time in the area):

1. From the Memorial to the Hollow Knight in the southern part of the City of Tears, head to the left and take the exit; continue to the left until you find a path that leads downwards, then take that exit.
2. The Knight is now in the Royal Waterways. Upon entering, head to the left, where the Knight will encounter two Pilflips; at the end of the path, head down the path that leads downwards, where the Knight will encounter another Pilflip, then take the exit on the left.
3. Next, head slightly to the left, drop down the gap, head slightly to the right, then drop down the gap. At the bottom, you will see that the ground will rumble, which means it is breakable. Cast the Desolate Dive spell or Descending Dark spell on the ground to break it and head to the bottom of the shaft, then take the exit below. 
4. The Knight will drop down to a crooked Bench. Sit down on the Bench to save your progress. After that, head up the shaft above with the help of the Mantis Claw ability and head back to the previous room.
5. Then, head up the shaft with the help of the Mantis Claw ability, take the next path on the left, head to the left where the Knight will encounter a Belfly, and at the end of the path, jump across the gap where the Knight will encounter a Hwurmp and towards the platform above on the left, jump across the gap on the left where the Knight will encounter two more Hwurmps and towards the platform below on the left, jump across another gap on the left where the Knight will encounter two more Hwurmps and towards the platform above on the left with the help of the Mothwing Cloak ability or the Monarch Wings ability, jump up towards the platform above on the left with the help of the Monarch Wings ability or the Mantis Claw ability where the Knight will encounter another Hwurmp. There will be a piece of paper on the floor, meaning that Cornifer is nearby.
6. After that, continue heading to the left, drop down the gap where the Knight will encounter a Flukemon, head to the left, jump up the platform, drop down the gap on the left where the Knight will encounter another Flukemon, head to the left, head up the shaft with the help of the Mantis Claw ability, then take the next exit on the left.
7. Next, head to the left, drop down on the gap, then dash or perform another jump towards the left using the Mothwing Cloak ability or the Monarch Wings ability so that the Knight will not fall down the pool of acid (no problem if the Knight has the Isma’s Tear ability), drop down the gap on the left, head to the left where the Knight will encounter another Hwurmp, jump across the gap where the Knight will encounter another Hwurmp, head to the left, jump across another gap towards the small platform on the left where the Knight will encounter two more Hwurmps, jump across another gap towards another small platform on the left (it is worth mentioning that there is a Geo Chest above next to a Hwurmp),  jump across another gap towards the platform on the left where the Knight will encounter another Hwurmp, head to the left, then take the exit at the end of the path.
8. Then, upon entering the next room, you will hear Cornifer humming. Head to the left, where the Knight will be in a large room with small platforms in the middle filled with Hwurmps. The Knight must first defeat all eight Hwurmps in the room to open the gates to continue.
9. After that, drop down to the floor of the room, head to the left, jump up the platform near the end of the room with the piece of paper, head to the left, and head up the wall on the left with the help of the Mantis Claw ability, at the top jump towards the platform on the left with another piece of paper, head to the right, and, finally, the Knight will find Cornifer!

Now that the Knight has found Cornifer, the Knight can purchase the Royal Waterways map for only 75 Geo. After that, the Knight can now navigate the Royal Waterways area better!