Hornet (Hollow Knight)
Hornet is the deuteragonist of the 2017 indie video game Hollow Knight and the protagonist of its sequel Hollow Knight: Silksong. The mysterious princess-protector of the Kingdom of Hallownest, she serves as an adversary determined to stop the Knight on their quest to rid the Infection that threatens Hallownest's ruins. After several encounters, she realizes that the Knight may be the key to save the fallen kingdom and allies with them.
Hornet has become one of the most popular video game characters in recent history thanks to the acclaim of her series. Because of this, she has consistently appeared in Queen of /v/ as a major contender, ranking 2nd place in the Queen of /v/ 2022 tournament. As of 2025, Hornet is the only character of western origin to have reached the finals stage in a Queen of /v/ tournament.
Tournament History
Hornet first appeared in Queen of /v/ 2020, making a decent debut as she eliminated Helltaker and Danganronpa waifus Justice and Chiaki Nanami before being eliminated by top seeded candidate 2B.
In 2021 Hornet was one of the year's notable campaigned characters, with a series of fanarts and posts made in her favor, with several posts including the Pale King doubling as part of a push to get him to qualify for that year's King of /v/ edition. This assisted her in defeating the Friday Night Funkin Girlfriend, whose game at that point was notable for its hype and presence on the /v/ board, as well as one half of the Scarlet duo who had qualified that year in the form of Remilia Scarlet, who Hornet barely made it past. A more decisive victory was scored against Rosalina, before her run ended against Marisa Kirisame who finished what Hornet's previous Touhou opponent had started.
Riding off her notable showing in last year, Hornet's appearance in Queen of /v/ 2022 was subject to even more hype and campaigning efforts from supporters. Despite a dominant showing against notorious Cuphead boss Cala Maria, Hornet's run was very nearly cut short against Malon in the second round, but with a close showing the run continued as, coincidentally, she once again faced off and defeated Rosalina in the third round. Continuing the trend of repeat matches, the fourth round saw a grudge match against her 2020 victimizer 2B to determine who would place among the top eight, with Hornet evening the score by defeating her old tournament rival. Now a member of the prestigious Elite Eight, Hornet faced off against the hyped Elden Ring representative Ranni, and with a Quarterfinals victory now to her name she engaged in a nature vs technology match against GLaDOS to determine who would place in the finals. Emerging victorious again, Hornet was matched up against Midna in the final showdown of the tournament. With both characters proving to be undeniable favorites of the year with streams of support and hype, the match ended in one of the closest Finals showing in any /v/ tournament to date, with only a 38 vote difference in favor of Midna. Though defeated at the climax, Hornet solidified herself as a favorite within the Queen of /v/ tournaments as she claimed that year's runner-up position.
Much anticipation was had regarding Hornet's chances for her return in Queen of /v/ 2024, with many predicting that she had the most potential of the returning 2022 line-up to take the win and break the then-unbroken runner-up curse. Despite seeding lower than usual, the start of her run looked promising as fans returned to back her up in her bite-sized fight against fellow minigirl Pixie. But to the shock of many anons, Hornet jobbed spectacularly in this first round matchup, a surprise to even the fans of her opponent as Pixie to that point was historically a jobber and was expected to lose against the returning 2nd place scorer. This upset has been attributed to general demoralization over radio silence from Hollow Knight developers Team Cherry on the development of Silksong, with speculation Hornet had been on the receiving end of Spitevoting due to frustration mounting at the increasingly bleak chances of Hornet's game ever escaping development hell.
Disappointing as last year's results were to fans, a shining hope came in 2025 as the long-awaited miracle finally happened in the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong. With the game being one of the most hyped releases in years along with its release taking place only a couple months before that year's Queen of /v/ tournament, many put aside last year's underperformance as a fluke and began speculating that Hornet was set to dominate the tournament; sentiment around Hornet's status as a prime candidate for the position that year's winner only grew when she scored a top 10 seed in the qualifiers. During the first round she was matched up for the third time against recurring opponent 2B, with a chance to put the rivalry to rest by breaking the tie between the two. Yet in another massive upset coming off last year's own, the FOTM boost would not be enough for Hornet, and 2B ended up being the one to break the tie in her favor, with many Hollow Knight fans crying out in horror as Hornet's anticipated "win condition" ended in complete failure. Fingers were pointed in several directions as to what was responsible for the loss, with accusations of "strategic voting" flying out due to beliefs Hornet's win was a shoe-in and that she has already won the moment Silksong was released, as well as rigging accusations due to a certain controversy involving voting abnormalities in the first round, though others have rejected both claims and held that 2B simply holds more widespread conventional popularity on the /v/ board and won as a result. Whatever the reason, Hornet's reputation as a major tournament threat has taken a severe tarnishing from her recent underperformances, and it remains to be seen whether she will ever recover or if her best days in the tournaments are behind her.
Statistics
As of 2025, Hornet has appeared in 5 out of 6 eligible Queen of /v/ tournaments, with an 83.3% possible attendance rate.
- Winning average: 54.9%
- Losing average: 44.0%
- Total average: 51.5%
- Average bracket seed: 38
- Average bracket performance: Round 3 (3.2)
Results
| Queen of /v/ | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round | Opponent | Series | Votes | Pct. For | |||||||||||||||
| 2020 - seed 32 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 | (97)  Justice
|
Helltaker | 469 - 397 | 54.1% | |||||||||||||||
| Round 2 | (96)  Chiaki Nanami
|
Danganronpa | 470 - 446 | 51.3% | |||||||||||||||
| Round 3 | (1)  2B
|
NieR: Automata | 379 - 599 | 38.7% | |||||||||||||||
| 2021 - seed 52 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 | (97)  Girlfriend
|
Friday Night Funkin | 592 - 432 | 57.8% | |||||||||||||||
| Round 2 | (13)  Remilia Scarlet
|
Touhou Project | 623 - 612 | 50.4% | |||||||||||||||
| Round 3 | (45)  Rosalina
|
Super Mario | 671 - 541 | 55.3% | |||||||||||||||
| Round 4 | (4)  Marisa Kirisame
|
Touhou Project | 495 - 637 | 43.7% | |||||||||||||||
| 2022 - seed 19 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 | (110)  Cala Maria
|
Cuphead | 1100 - 548 | 66.7% | |||||||||||||||
| Round 2 | (83)  Malon
|
The Legend of Zelda | 765 - 741 | 50.7% | |||||||||||||||
| Round 3 | (14) Rosalina
|
Super Mario | 681 - 564 | 54.6% | |||||||||||||||
| Round 4 | (3) 2B
|
NieR: Automata | 765 - 637 | 54.5% | |||||||||||||||
| Quarterfinals | (11)  Ranni the Witch
|
Elden Ring | 815 - 640 | 56.0% | |||||||||||||||
| Semifinals | (2)  GLaDOS
|
Portal | 699 - 613 | 53.2% | |||||||||||||||
| Finals | (1)  Midna
|
The Legend of Zelda | 600 - 638 | 48.4% | |||||||||||||||
| 2024 - seed 84 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 | (110)  Pixie
|
Shin Megami Tensei | 469 - 521 | 47.3% | |||||||||||||||
| 2025 - seed 4 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 | (14) 2B
|
NieR: Automata | 557 - 759 | 42.3% | |||||||||||||||
