How to Obtain the Soul Catcher Charm

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 in ruins because of a supernatural disease. As the Knight journeys through Hallownest, he can unlock new abilities, spells, and charms that will help him traverse through different areas of Hallownest and defeat enemies.

In the game, special items give the Knight different abilities and bonuses called Charms. To equip or unequip these Charms, the Knight must be sitting on a Bench, and the Knight must have enough unused Notches to equip them. In this guide, we’ll learn about the Soul Catcher charm.

One of the 45 Charms in the game is the Soul Catcher Charm which requires and takes up two Charm Notches. When equipped, the Soul Catcher charm increases the amount of Soul gained when striking enemies with the Nail. The Soul Catcher charm makes it easier to gain Souls from enemies!

Location

The Soul Catcher charm can be obtained after defeating the Elder Baldur in the Ancestral Mound, which can be found near the middle of the Forgotten Crossroads. 

The Knight will encounter lots of various enemies in the Forgotten Crossroads. Still, the Knight will specifically encounter the following enemies on the way to the Soul Catcher charm: Tiktiks, Vengeflies, Leaping Husks, Wandering Husks, Husk Hornheads, a Husk guard, a Husk Bully, Baldurs, the Elder Baldur, and the False Knight, which is a main boss in the game.

To find the Soul Catcher charm, this is what the Knight must do:

1. Starting from the Bench Stagway Station in the Forgotten Crossroads, head to the right to exit the room, and continue upwards, where the Knight will encounter a Tiktik (on the platform in front of the entrance), a Vengefly, and another Tiktik (on the platform above the previous), then take the next exit on the left.
2. Then, continue to the left, where the Knight will encounter a Husk Guard and a Husk Bully, then a Wandering Husk, and a Leaping Husk right after it. Take the exit on the leftmost part of the room.
3. Next, continue to the left, jump up the platform, then head to the right; in the end, jump up the next platform, then continue to the left, where the Knight will encounter another Husk Bully, another Wandering Husk, and a Husk Hornhead.
4. After defeating the enemies mentioned, try to exit this part of the room by heading to the left. Then, before the Knight can exit this part of the room, the path back and continue will be closed, and the False Knight will drop down from the ceiling. The Knight must first defeat the False Knight to continue. The arena floor will break in the middle of the fight with the False Knight, and the fight will resume in the previous part of the room below. After defeating the False Knight, inspect the glowing thing near its body to obtain a City Crest.
5. After that, head to the left and take the exit. It is worth noting that a Geo Chest is on top of the platform right above the exit.
6. Continue to the left, and at the end, you will find a lever that the Knight can hit to open a shortcut back to where Cornifer was first found. Head upwards, continue all the way to the right, jump up the next platform, head to the left, and there you will see the entrance to the Ancestral Mound. Enter to continue.
7. Next, head to the right, where you will see a Bench and a Snail Shaman. Save your progress by sitting on the Bench, then talk to the Snail Shaman, who will say that something important has drawn the Knight down into Hallownest’s corpse, and maybe the reason for this is because the Knight needs his help. So, the Snail Shaman will say that he will give the Knight a gift which is a spell of his own creation. A white spirit-like figure will then appear in front of the Snail Shaman. Jump towards it then the screen will cut to black, and the Knight has now obtained the Vengeful Spirit spell!
8. Once the screen fades back, you will see that the Knight is behind a closed gate, and just beyond the gate is the Snail Shaman. Talk to him, and he will ask the Knight a favor as he says they are now friends, which is to slay a beast that has made its home in the area. He will then say that the Knight is more than a match for it with their new spell. Head to the right, where the Knight will encounter a Wandering Husk. Then, after that, a bunch of wood blocks the path. Strike it to destroy the wooden barrier and continue on the path.
9. Next, continue to the right, where the Knight will encounter a Vengefly and a Baldur. At the end of the path, jump up the platforms, and you will see a pathway upwards that is blocked by another wooden barrier. Strike it to destroy the wooden barrier and continue on the path.
10. Then, head up the platforms where the Knight will encounter another Tiktik. At the top, head to the left, then drop down the gap where the Knight will encounter another Baldur. Drop down the path on the left where there is another Baldur, head to the right, then drop down where there is another Baldur, then continue to the left.
11. Next, you will see that there are small platforms above in the middle, and below them, the floor is filled with spikes. Head up through the small platforms where the Knight will encounter two more Vengeflies, head to the next platform on the left where there is another Baldur, then continue to the left, then drop down where there is another Baldur.
12. Before continuing, it is worth noting that there is a Soul Totem, Geo Deposits, and a Lifeblood Cocoon on the path on the left behind another wooden barrier, along with some more Baldurs.
13. After that, continue to the right, where another wooden barrier blocks the path downwards. Strike the wooden barrier to destroy it and drop down the path where the Knight will face the Elder Baldur, the beast that the Snail Shaman wants the Knight to slay. The Knight must defeat Elder Baldur to continue.
14. The Elder Baluder will close if the Knight gets close, making it impossible to deal damage through melee attacks. So, in order to defeat Elder Baldur, the Knight must repeatedly attack it using the Vengeful Spirit spell. If the Knight runs out of Soul, wait for the Elder Baldur to spit out a regular Baldur, from which the Knight can attack and gain Soul.
15. After defeating the Elder Baldur, continue to the right, cross the gap that is blocked by another wooden barrier, and then you will find a glowing thing on the floor. Inspect the glowing thing, and now the Knight has obtained the Soul Catcher charm!

To exit the area, strike the wooden barriers below, then drop down the gap, and the Knight will be where they started to near the gate with the Snail Shaman. Talk to the Snail Shaman, and he will say that slaying the beast must have been terrifying for the Knight and say that the Elder Baldur used to be quite docile, but the rancid air in the area filled it with rage.

Then, he will thank the Knight and say that the Knight would not have made it through without the spell that he gave. After that, the gate will be opened, and the Snail Shaman will bid the Knight farewell.

Now that the Knight has the Soul Catcher charm, the Knight can now equip it while sitting down on the Bench just on the left of the Snail Shaman, and the Knight can now gain more Soul when attacking enemies!