Hollow Knight Silksong Memory Lockets: Locations, Crest Upgrades, and Eva's Quest

Surviving the treacherous verticality of Pharloom demands far more than quick reflexes and a sharp needle. As documented in a comprehensive IGN Report tracking the title's evolving mechanics, Team Cherry built an intricate equipment framework around Hornet that hinges on key Pharloom relics known as Memory Lockets. These rare keepsakes alter how players configure their builds, directly governing how many passive perks and defensive utilities Hornet can carry into high-tier boss encounters.

Unlike standard consumable items purchased with gathered Rosary beads, Memory Lockets are scarce, high-value treasures tied to precision platforming, hostile creature nests, and esoteric non-player character interactions. Securing each one provides the foundation for mid-to-late campaign survival, turning difficult combat gauntlets into manageable tactical encounters through expanded customization.

📌 Quick Summary:

• Core Purpose: Memory Lockets function as dedicated upgrade items that permanently unlock extra Tool slots across Hornet's equipped Crests.
• Primary NPC Hub: Players trade these artifacts directly to Eva, a reclusive weaver NPC whose multi-stage questline anchors equipment progression.
• Resource Economy: Maximizing your tool loadouts requires combining these relics with targeted exploration, regional boss hunts, and substantial Rosary bead investments.

How Memory Lockets Transform Hornet's Crest Loadouts

In Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hornet does not use the Charm notch system found in the original game. Instead, her combat rhythm is governed by Crests, archetypal frameworks that change her basic attacks, Silk abilities, and available equipment slots. Each Crest features colored slots designated for specific types of tools: red for active offensive weapons like throwing pins, yellow for mobility and resource aids, and blue for passive defensive wards.

Memory Lockets serve as the structural keys to expanding these frameworks. Finding a locket does not grant an immediate passive buff in your inventory. Instead, it acts as an unworked conduit that an experienced craftsman must carve into an active tool slot. When you unlock an additional yellow or blue slot, Hornet can equip supplementary tools without sacrificing her primary damage options. This flexibility fundamentally reshapes difficult platforming runs and boss rematches.

Expanding tool slots also improves the efficiency of your Silk abilities. When equipped with defensive tools that reduce thread consumption or speed up self-healing, Hornet spends less time grounded and vulnerable. Early playtests showed that players who prioritized hunting Memory Lockets gained an immediate survivability edge over those who relied strictly on raw mechanical execution.

Navigating the Eva Questline: Triggers and Unlocking Crest Upgrades

Unlocking the true utility of each Memory Locket requires locating Eva, the blind weaver stationed within the tangled mid-levels of Pharloom. Eva does not reveal her workshop to casual travelers. Finding her requires players to break through a concealed web barrier along the lower perimeter of the Choral Chambers, where the sound of automated bell chimes masks the entrance to her loom room.

Interacting with Eva initiates a multi-tiered questline centered on restoring her broken loom. Delivering your first Memory Locket triggers a cutscene detailing Pharloom's lost aristocracy, followed by a permanent slot upgrade on your currently equipped Crest. Eva charges a service fee for each engraving, requiring both the artifact itself and a bundle of Rosary beads that escalates in price with every successive upgrade:

Failing to bank your Rosary beads into stringed necklaces before visiting Eva carries considerable risk. The corridors surrounding her chamber are stalked by aerial sentries that can ambush Hornet on her way to the forge, potentially wiping out hours of gathered currency.

Memory Locket Locations: From Choral Chambers to the Deep Grotto

Tracking down these relics requires extensive backtracking and mastery of Hornet’s mobility suite. The initial locket is tucked away within the upper spires of the Choral Chambers. Navigating this sector involves scaling vibrating tuning pipes while evading projectile-hurling clerics. Near the highest pipe organ, a breakable ceiling panel reveals a hidden shrine housing the first relic.

The second locket is located deep within the subterranean magma tunnels beneath the citadel. This retrieval run tests precision pogo strikes off environmental hazards. Here, Hornet encounters Volatile Flintbeetles, aggressive, armored insects that detonate upon death. Defeating the alpha specimen at the heart of the cavern collapses a basalt pillar, opening a pathway to a chest containing the second locket.

Subsequent relics demand advanced Silk abilities such as the air-dash and diagonal thread-grapple. One locket sits locked behind a timed bell puzzle in the Whispering Vaults, while another is awarded after surviving an endurance arena combat trial staged in the sunken residential slums. Players must maintain a sharp eye for cracked architecture and suspicious acoustics to locate them all.

Optimizing Hornet's Equipment for Peak Combat Efficiency

Securing extra slots means little if your equipment loadout lacks tactical focus. The beauty of the Crest system lies in synergy. For aggressive, close-quarters encounters, expanding a red-focused Crest allows you to mount flint-spikes alongside straight-pins, doubling burst damage during narrow boss stagger windows.

Exploration and survival demand a different setup. Pairing extra utility slots with auto-collect tools and silk-generation needles cuts down on downtime, letting you move through unfamiliar zones without stopping to farm thread. When confronting late-game aerial encounters, configuring your Crest with increased diagonal dash distance alongside fall-damage negation keeps Hornet mobile and safe.

Every upgrade earned through Eva fundamentally shifts your encounter math. By stacking specific tool perks across expanded slots, Hornet transitions from a fragile wanderer into an adaptive, heavily equipped hunter capable of tackling Pharloom’s harshest trials.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: Can Memory Locket upgrades be reassigned to different Crests later?
A1: Yes. Memory Locket expansions unlocked via Eva increase your profile’s universal upgrade tier. When you switch Crests at a rest bench, your earned tool slot capacity translates across compatible frameworks, though specific color configurations vary by Crest type.

Q2: What happens if I miss a Memory Locket in a collapsed zone?
A2: No Memory Lockets are permanently missable. If an environmental event destroys or seals an early cavern area, the associated relic relocates to a nearby scavenger vendor or an adjacent accessible chamber later in the campaign.

Q3: Do Volatile Flintbeetles drop Memory Lockets directly?
A3: No. Volatile Flintbeetles guard the chamber holding the subterranean locket, but they drop weapon crafting components and high-value beads rather than the relic itself. You must clear the pack to access the prize container behind them.

Mastering Pharloom's Relic Progression System

The hunt for Memory Lockets anchors Hornet's journey through Silksong, directly tying world exploration to deep build customization. Rather than relying on simple health increases, the game rewards players who master its interlocking systems: tracking hidden shrines, solving environmental puzzles, and investing resources into Eva's loom.

As you push deeper into the upper spires of Pharloom, tracking down every available locket shifts from a completionist goal to a practical necessity. Expanding your Crest capacity provides the survival margin needed to overcome the kingdom's toughest challenges, giving Hornet the versatility she needs to conquer the heights above.