The Relic Seeker overlooking Fountain Square who buys every Wanderer's Journal, Hallownest Seal, King's Idol, and Arcane Egg the Knight finds, and converts the lot into Shade-proof Geo.
Lemm is the only Hollow Knight merchant who exclusively buys, never sells. According to the wiki, the Relic Seeker sits in his shop overlooking Fountain Square in the City of Tears and offers Geo for every Wanderer's Journal, Hallownest Seal, King's Idol, and Arcane Egg the Knight digs up across Hallownest.
Per the wiki, the relic-to-Geo conversion is the most reliable Geo farm in the game because relics are not lost on death. The Knight's Shade drops on-hand Geo on a wipe, but the relics in inventory survive the run untouched. Lemm is the in-fiction reason hoarding relics counts as Shade-proof banking.
The wiki specifies that Lemm guards his own collection and is not willing to sell any of it. The wiki frames him as a scholar first, merchant second: he "happily discusses his discoveries and hypotheses" but "does not seek company unless they bring him more material for his collection." In real runs, that means small lore drops between relic turn-ins, and a fixed-price economy that never haggles.
This guide covers Lemm's shop location west of the Hollow Knight statue in the City of Tears, the four relic types and per-relic prices (200 / 450 / 800 / 1200 Geo), the total Geo ceiling from a full relic sweep, the King's Brand sequence that opens his initial shop, and why the Relic Seeker is the Shade-proof Geo farm of choice for 112% runs.
Relic Seeker Lemm, the scholar-merchant who buys every relic in Hallownest.
City of Tears, west of the Hollow Knight statue, overlooking Fountain Square.
Wanderer's Journals, Hallownest Seals, King's Idols, Arcane Eggs.
Relics are Shade-proof, so Lemm is the safest large-Geo source in the game.Lemm is a Relic Seeker who moved into Hallownest after most of it was already empty. Per the wiki, he "moved into his shop in the City of Tears at some point after the place was already empty and everyone in the tower was dead." He is not native to Hallownest; he is a scholar drawn to its ruins.
According to the wiki, his entire role is the study of antiques and the gleaning of historical information. He "covets antiques" and pays Geo for any new pieces the Knight brings him. The wiki specifies that he is happy to discuss his hypotheses and discoveries with the Knight, but he never sells from his own collection: "He guards his collection and is not willing to sell any of it."
The wiki notes the practical implication: Lemm is the only major Hollow Knight merchant who runs a one-way economy. Geo flows from him to the Knight, and relics flow from the Knight to him, and that is the whole loop. In real runs, this makes Lemm the cleanest progression-pacing NPC in the City of Tears.
Lemm's shop sits west of the statue of the Hollow Knight in the City of Tears, overlooking Fountain Square. Per the wiki, the shop initially has to be accessed from above, which is the in-fiction reason most blind players do not find him until after Soul Master.
According to the wiki, the shop is a single room: Lemm at his counter, his catalogued collection on shelves behind him, and a small reading nook off to the side. The King's Brand acquired from the Abyss is the prompt that opens up his door from the inside, which the wiki notes as the moment Lemm acknowledges the Knight as someone worth speaking to seriously.
The wiki specifies that the shop's only function is relic intake. Every time the Knight enters, Lemm checks their inventory automatically and offers Geo for every eligible relic. There is no haggling, no rotating inventory, and no charm or item to buy from him; the transaction is one-button, and the lore flows in his side comments.
Visit Lemm in batches rather than every visit. Per the wiki, the per-relic prices are fixed, so the Geo math is the same whether the Knight sells one Wanderer's Journal at a time or fourteen at once. In actual play, batching saves a few minutes of load-screen time per run and lets the Knight read all of Lemm's lore lines in one pass.
The four relic types have flat per-piece prices. Per the wiki, the prices do not scale with progression, do not change based on inventory size, and do not get discounted or marked up at any point in the game.
| Relic | Per-piece Geo | Total in game | Max payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wanderer's Journal | 200 | 14 | 2,800 |
| Hallownest Seal | 450 | 17 | 7,650 |
| King's Idol | 800 | 8 | 6,400 |
| Arcane Egg | 1,200 | 4 | 4,800 |
| Full sweep | - | 43 | 21,650 |
According to the wiki, a complete relic sweep nets roughly 21,650 Geo. That is enough Geo for Pure Nail, Lifeblood Heart, and several charm slots combined, which is why the wiki frames Lemm as the single largest Geo pipeline in the game outside boss kills.
The wiki specifies what Lemm says when handed each relic. For the Hallownest Seal: "These ornate seals were the official symbols of the King and his Knights, and were treasured by those who carried them." For the King's Idol: "An icon of Hallownest's King, who was revered as both a god and a ruler." For the Arcane Egg: "Ah! This seems like a simple egg, but it's actually a precious relic from before the birth of Hallownest!"
Lemm's door does not open from outside on a fresh run. Per the wiki, the shop is accessible from above through a small drop entry, which is the first-time path most blind players use. The door at street level only opens once the Knight has the King's Brand, which is acquired in the Abyss after the Awoken Dream Nail unlock.
According to the wiki, this routing is intentional. The King's Brand functions as the in-fiction credential for late-Hallownest characters: it shows that the Knight has reached the deepest point of the kingdom and recovered its royal sigil. Lemm reads the Brand as proof of seriousness and treats the Knight differently afterward, with longer lore lines and more candid hypotheses.
The wiki specifies the practical route. Drop into Lemm's shop from above as soon as the Knight reaches the City of Tears for the first time, then return through the front door once the King's Brand is in hand. The Geo paid for relics does not change between visits, but the lore the Knight gets does.
Relics are the safest way to carry Geo. Per the wiki, "unlike Geo, Relics are not lost upon death," which makes them a method of securing large amounts of Geo. The Knight's Shade drops on-hand Geo on a wipe; relics in inventory are untouched.
According to the wiki, the practical farm loop is: pick up every Wanderer's Journal, Hallownest Seal, King's Idol, and Arcane Egg as the Knight reaches them across the map, then walk the inventory back to Lemm in batches. Holding the relics through risky exploration is fine; the risk is bounded to the on-hand Geo, not the relic store.
The wiki notes that this is functionally a Shade-proof savings account. In real runs, players going for 112% completion routinely hoard 5-10 relics at a time before a Lemm trip, especially before the harder late-game zones where Shade recovery would otherwise be lossy. The Soul Sanctum and the Trial of the Fool are the two zones where this matters most.
Lemm's side comments are some of the most direct lore available in the game. Per the wiki, he is one of the only NPCs who openly discusses Hallownest's history with the Knight, including hypotheses he has formed on his own. The wiki frames him as "covets antiques, gleaning any information on the land's history."
According to the wiki, his most notable observations cluster around the Pale King's reign, the role of the Five Great Knights, and the symbolic weight of the seals themselves. He does not name the Knight directly as a Vessel, but he hints around the topic when the King's Idol or Arcane Egg comes across the counter.
The wiki specifies that the King's Brand visit changes his tone noticeably. Without the Brand, his lore lines read as academic speculation. With the Brand, he speaks to the Knight as a peer and shares hypotheses he previously kept to himself. After a few runs, this is one of the cleanest NPC-arc payoffs in the game; it is subtle, but it lands on a second playthrough.
Lemm ties into the relic economy, the Geo-farm meta, and the King's Brand routing. These spokes pick up the connected threads.
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.