Hollow Knight Silksong presents a late-game puzzle that hinges on five hidden bells scattered across Pharloom’s lower regions. Players cannot pass through the Grand Gate until all five are found and rung, making this a central route to access the Choral Chambers and the start of Act 2. The bells are tied to resting benches; when activated, a large bell appears and tolls several times, signaling that you’ve claimed one piece of the gate’s mechanism. This guide enumerates each bell’s location and what it takes to reach and ring them, along with understanding how the gate itself is opened.
The five bells are distributed across The Marrow, Deep Docks, Shellwood, Bellhart, and Greymoor. In practice, two bells are almost impossible to miss, two are a touch more hidden, and the final bell demands a bit more traversal ability and awareness of your progression. Notably, accessing Greymoor’s bell later in the game typically requires Cling Grip to reach some of the higher passages, underscoring the need to plan your route through Pharloom strategically. The bells’ proximity to other resting benches often helps, but some routes require careful navigation and a few conditional abilities before you can proceed.
The Marrow Grand Gate bell sits near the Bell Beast fight and is one of the easier bells to locate. It’s described as a short jaunt east of the Bell Beast arena, placing it within easy reach for players progressing through that zone. To approach it, players can use the established path toward the Bell Beast encounter and then circle east toward the resting bench that corresponds to the Grand Gate. This bell’s placement makes it a natural first rung on the ladder to the Grand Gate.
The Deep Docks Grand Gate bell appears shortly after defeating Lace. The bell is a short walk east of Lace’s arena, making it straightforward to reach once the Lace encounter has concluded. Players should continue along the Deep Docks corridor and orient themselves to the eastern flank of Lace’s arena to spot the bell that unlocks another piece of the gate’s mechanism.
In Shellwood, the Grand Gate bell is not difficult to locate, but it can be easy to overlook if a player beelines west from Bellhart and attempts to ascend the tall chamber directly. The Shellwood bell rests in the northwestern portion of Shellwood, just east of the Blasted Steps’ entrance. If players arrive at the Blasted Steps without finding the Shellwood bell or the Bellway, a quick detour east will reveal it. For a more complete sense of progression through Shellwood and toward its Grand Gate bell, players can refer to the later sections of the Silksong walkthrough that detail Shellwood’s broader path.
The Bellhart Grand Gate bell is the most challenging to unlock. Access requires defeating Widow and freeing haunted Bellhart from her silken entrapment. The route to Bellhart begins west of the town, then moves north through Shellwood and back east into the bell passages above the town. Defeating Widow clears the path to the Bellhart bell, which appears after victory. This sequence emphasizes both combat and navigation as prerequisites for moving forward.
To reach Greymoor’s Grand Gate bell, players must obtain the Drifter’s Cloak from the Seamstress in the Far Fields. The bell itself lies east of the Far Fields’ air stream passage and further east of the Halfway Home. The path to this bell winds through Craw Lake, where players must flip a switch to drop a cluster of bouncy balloons that facilitate ascent. This bell often marks the line where extra traversal abilities become essential, reinforcing the sense that the later bells demand broader map familiarity.
Opening the Grand Gate requires all five bells to be rung in the correct sequence. Once the bells are active, players must use Needolin to pluck the larger strings that toll the bells. At that moment, the Last Judge appears to block progress, preventing immediate passage through the gate. Overcoming the Judge is a crucial step: defeat the Last Judge, then return to the Grand Gate. With the Judge defeated, the gate will open, granting access to the Grand Gate zone and the entrance to the Choral Chambers, which marks the official start of Act 2 in Hollow Knight Silksong.
For players who are unsure of the runback, a practical note is to memorize the route from the nearest resting bench after each bell is rung. If the fight against the Judge goes poorly, a swift path back to a bench can be the difference between a fight-reset and a successful entry when the gate finally opens. Once the fight ends and the gate yields, the Grand Gate zone becomes accessible, and the progression into Act 2 unfolds from the top of the Gate.
This collection of bells and the gate that follows shape a pivotal portion of Hollow Knight Silksong’s forward momentum. The challenge is not merely in locating each bell but in maneuvering through Pharloom’s lower regions with the right tools and timing. The payoff is a direct route into the Choral Chambers and a new chapter in the game’s haunting, intricate world.