A gilded fencer woven from her mother's Silk, sent to stop Hornet before she ever reaches the Citadel.
Lace is the rival who shadows Hornet through all of Silksong. Per the wiki, she is a deadly fencer wielding a gilded pin, a being woven entirely from the Silk of her mother.
She is both a recurring NPC and a recurring boss. The wiki states she battles 
Hornet twice, in the Deep Docks and the Cradle, specifically to keep her from reaching the peak of the Citadel.
Her arc does not end there. Lost Lace, her void-possessed form, is the powerful Act 3 version that closes out her story among the game's 
bosses.
This guide covers who Lace is, every encounter and its phases, how to beat her, and the meaning behind Lost Lace.
A fencer woven from her mother's Silk, Hornet's rival. A gilded pin, used in fast fencing strikes. Deep Docks, the Cradle, and Lost Lace across the three Acts.
Stop Hornet from reaching the Citadel's peak.Lace is a fencer, and her whole design leans into that. Per the wiki, she wields a gilded pin and fights with the precise, darting style of a duelist rather than the brute force of most bosses.
According to the wiki, she is woven entirely from the Silk of her mother, which ties her directly to the Silk that defines Pharloom and the Citadel above. She is less a monster than a polished, purposeful agent.
She first appears in the Deep Docks after Hornet acquires Swift Step, conducting the movement of Silk Flies. The wiki notes her dialogue hints she may have caused Hornet's fall into Pharloom in the first place.
Lace is a duelist, so her fight rewards patience over aggression. In actual play, treating her like a fencing match and punishing after her lunges works far better than trading blows.
Lace is fought multiple times, escalating each Act. Here is where each version appears and how it differs.
| Encounter | Act | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lace (Deep Docks) | Act 1 | First duel, after Swift Step |
| Lace (The Cradle) | Act 2 | Multi-phase rematch near the Citadel |
 Lost Lace | Act 3 | Void-possessed final form |
Per the wiki, the Deep Docks fight can sometimes be skipped if Lace leaves the area, in which case her Hunter's Journal entry only needs one defeat to complete. The Cradle fight is the full multi-phase test.
The key to every Lace fight is reading her lunges. She telegraphs her fencing strikes, and the safe play is to dodge through them and punish the recovery rather than swinging early.
In the Deep Docks she is a clean one-on-one duel. The Cradle rematch adds phases, ramping her speed and adding new pin patterns as her health drops, so the fight demands cleaner dodging the longer it runs.
Healing windows are short, so bind your 
tools and heal only after a clear punish. Keeping calm through her aggressive phases is the whole skill check.
Lost Lace is the payoff to her arc. Per the wiki, it is her powerful void-possessed form, fought in Act 3 as one of the game's late challenges.
The void corruption reframes her from a poised duelist into something far more dangerous, and the fight sits among the harder endgame encounters. It is the version most players remember.
For where Lost Lace falls among the rest of the roster, our Silksong bosses guide places her in the Act 3 lineup alongside the other final-act fights.
Lace is an antagonist with a purpose, not a random obstacle. Per the wiki, she fights Hornet to stop her reaching the peak of the Citadel, framing herself as trying to spare Hornet what waits above.
When she first attacks in the Deep Docks, the wiki notes she says she wants to save Hornet from the suffering she would face higher up. That mercy-through-violence framing makes her one of Silksong's more layered foes.
Her Silk lineage ties her to the larger story of Pharloom and the Grand Mother Silk, placing her at the heart of the conflict rather than its edges.
Lace is one piece of Pharloom's cast and boss roster. These guides cover the rest of Hornet's journey.
Game data and screenshots adapted from hollowknight.fandom.com, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Team Cherry.