| Black Knight | |
|---|---|
| |
| Stage | Plains, Arena, Tower of Fate: Entrance |
| Theme | The Rival |
| Second Theme | The Defender |
| Weapon | Shovel Blade |
| “ | 'For the last time, I answer to no one!' | ” |
Black Knight (sometimes 'The Black Knight') is one of many Knights that appear in Shovel Knight. He is Shovel Knight's enigmatic yet good intended rival. His fighting style differs from Shovel Knight, despite their same choice of weapon.
Black Knight appears three times for a fight in both Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows: once as the end boss of the Plains, once as a wandering boss after clearing a stage in the third region and once as the end boss of the Tower of Fate: Entrance.
In Specter of Torment, he is fought twice while mounted on his armored steed, Terrorpin: once at the of the Plains, and once at Tower of Fate.
Official Bio
| “ | 'As the Yin to Shovel Knight’s Yang, the Black Knight calls nobody master. Clad in obsidian armor, he hounds Shovel Knight to the ends of the Earth, spoiling for a battle. The Black Knight’s skill with the Shovel Blade rivals that of Shovel Knight, or so the Black Knight hopes to prove! While Shovel Knight is confused as to why he has this mysteriously relentless doppelganger, no number of humiliating defeats by Shovel Knight could dampen the Black Knight’s spirit: he will always rise up to fight again!' | ” |
- Pros: persistent, confident, goal-orientated
- Cons: slightly inept, squeaky voice
Dig the Vote
Tone
| “ | The Black Knight’s persistence and obsession with Shovel Knight should fuel a light, fun-filled romp. The Black Knight would likely be chasing down Shovel Knight, but instead finding each of the Order of No Quarter. | ” |
Original Play Style Ideas
- Shovel Knight Hard Version! – As a ShovelBlade wielder, expect the Black Knight to downthrust and dig. However, to make him different from Shovel Knight, he will be given different moves could be more complex and nuanced.
- Technical Character – Charge attacks! Multi-hit combo moves! Building up rage with each hit! Expect a deep but tough experience.
Strategy
Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows
The battles in the Plains of Passage and overworld are remarkably similar. Black Knight has some of the same moves as Shovel Knight, including the Shovel Drop, where he actually propels himself to dive faster with his blade, and won't bounce off should he hit his opponent. However, he can launch a large purple projectile attack, which can be reflected by attacking it directly with the shovel. During the second battle, he will deflect this back at you if you attempt to deflect it, until he lets his guard down, causing himself to get hit.
In the final battle against him at the Tower of Fate: Entrance, the battle starts similarly, except when using his purple projectile attack he will instead phase across the screen launching them. After a while during the battle, he will grow wings, which will fire thorns upon being released. In this form he will occasionally summon large meteors to strike the earth, with two meteors staying on the ground, that will cause damage to Shovel Knight upon contact. These cannot be destroyed by the player, but can by Black Knight, who will occasionally Shovel Drop onto them, causing them to explode. After a while his wings will disappear and he will retake his previous strategies, occasionally growing them again to restart the cycle. He also has a more powerful Shovel Dirt attack, which will launch multiple debris imbued with purple energy; these can be reflected by attacking with the shovel.
Specter of Torment
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Black Knight engages Specter Knight using a different strategy: he fights while mounted on his trusty and shelled steed, Terrorpin. The two fight with a highly coordinated approach, along with some of Black Knight's more familar moves. Only Black Knight can be damaged in these battles, Terrorpin is completely invincible.
When first fought in the Plains of Passage, Black Knight will stand atop Terrorpin, occasionally Shovel Dropping to either have Terrorpin a purple energy shot, or make himself more difficult to hit while Terrorpin charges. If hit at any point, he will be knocked off Terrorpin and follow his fight pattern from the first battle in Shovel of Hope. While Black Knight will still Shovel Drop, dig dirt orbs, slash with his Shovel Blade or even stop attacking and laugh, Terrorpin will attack as a separate entity attempting to ram Specter Knight until Black Knight remounts him restarting his previous pattern.
The second battle at the Tower of Fate: Entrance however is far different from the first. Black Knight starts the battle on Terrorpin as it hovers high in the air, too high to Dash Cut into Black Knight. Attacks that target the duo at this time simply knock them slightly back causing no damage. While hovering he will attempt to slam the shell into the ground when Specter Knight is underneath.The attack sends two small shockwaves across the floor. Black Knight then follows up by summoning orbs of energy infused dirt to surround the duo, before slamming Terrorpin's shell into the ground launching the orbs up into the air. Dirt clusters then fall from the sky starting at the room's edges and ending next to where the duo is hovering. The next act has Black Knight funning in place on Terrorpin's shell before sending the both ricocheting off the walls to the ground. During this moment Black Knight will be vulnerable to attack and can thus be knocked off Terrorpin, causing him to transition into his dismounted attack pattern until he remounts Terrorpin and the cycle repeats.
Dialogue
Shovel of Hope
At the end of the Plains: Template:Quote/3
Wandering across the Valley: Template:Quote/8
At the entrance to the Tower of Fate: Template:Quote/7
After defeating Black Knight: Template:Quote/4
After defeating the Remnant of Fate: Template:Quote/8
After the ending: Template:Quote/1 Template:Quote/1
Plague of Shadows
Plains of Passage: Template:Quote/7
Wandering across the Valley: Template:Quote/9Template:Quote/2
After Mona leaves: Template:Quote/1
At the entrance of the Tower of Fate, before fighting Black Knight: Template:Quote/7
After defeating Black Knight: Template:Quote/4
After defeating the Enchantress: Template:Quote/6
Specter of Torment
Plains of Passage: Template:Quote/4
After defeating Black Knight: Template:Quote/3
After completing nine stages Template:Quote/4 Template:Quote/6 Template:Quote/3
At the Tower of Fate's entrance: Template:Quote/2
After defeating Black Knight: Template:Quote/2
Endgame: Template:Quote/4
Trivia
- One reason for a knight to have black armor was to indicate they served no lord. Given that Black Knight is a wholly independent character, enough so that Shovel Knight notes he does not blindly follow, this is quite fitting.
- Black Knights also appear in various Arthurian Legends, where they are usually depicted as errant knights and rivals to White Knights. They are sometimes associated with death.
- Shovel Knight's Mail of Momentum and Plague Knight's Ward Robe uses a similar palette to Black Knight's armor.
- Shovel Knight and Black Knight can be related to Capcom's Mega Man and Proto Man.
- Both are similar in basic design to their counterparts (Shovel Knight to Black Knight and Mega Man to Proto Man), with a few added elements such as Proto Man's helmet and shield, and Black Knight's sharper and over-all more menacing armor.
- Both Black Knight and Proto Man share the trait of having an intense rivalry with the protagonist of their original games, as well as a prior connection to said rivals. These relations to the protagonists have not yet been elaborated on in-game in either series, although there are comic series and the like for the Mega Man series that provide their own detailed interpretations of Proto Man's connection to Mega Man.
- Although there has been no proof of this as of yet, there have been speculations by fans that Proto Man was an inspiration for the character Black Knight.
- In Plague of Shadows, Black Knight is the only character aside from the Wandering Travelers that Plague Knight doesn't try to harvest the essence from.
- However, he becomes a mandatory boss who sticks outside the first Order of No Quarter stage the player clears in the third region and never moves. After his defeat, Mona will leave the Potionarium, and be replaced by Percy.
- In the Tower of Fate: Entrance battle, Black Knight is not seen receiving power from The Enchantress, but already has the power upgrades. This implies that Shovel Knight reached the entrance first.
- The first dialog between Black Knight and Shovel Knight is possible a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In the film, King Arthur meets a black knight who guards a bridge. The dialog is quite similar: "I have no quarrel with you, good sir knight, but I must cross this bridge." Another parallel between the two is the black knight's response to King Arthur: "I move for no man."
- It is implied that Black Knight has romantic feelings for, or at least was very attached, to Shield Knight, hence his rivalry with Shovel Knight. He was aware of The Enchantress' true identity, which was likely why he was determined to keep Shovel Knight from her and declared how concerned he was to keep her safe, even though he insisted he was not her servant. Additionally, as Shield Knight risked herself to hold back the Remnant of Fate's attack, Black Knight begged for her to stop and wanted her to save herself. Shield Knight also expressed her happiness that she got to see Black Knight once again in addition to Shovel Knight.
- He is the only knight who sometimes has "The" in the beginning of his name.
- Black Knight was supposed to ride Terrorpin in Shovel of Hope, but he was cut and later used in Specter of Torment.
- A common theme across all campaigns appears to be how Black Knight is somehow both one step ahead of the titular protagonists and yet also one step behind.
- In Shovel of Hope, he knows the true identity of The Enchantress way before Shovel Knight does. But at the same time he is not able to act accordingly, opting instead to defend her while hoping that she gets rid of the evil that holds her captive by herself, while keeping away the only person who would be able to help due to his past grudges.
- In Plague of Shadows, he's not only able to disclose Plague Knight's plan to make the Serum Supernus way before it's set in motion, but also figure out that the reason behind such scheme is not world domination but to win the affections of a love interest. Yet he not only fails to correctly guess the target of said affections, but even misunderstands and comes to the conclusion that Plague Knight is a philanderer, who has charmed Mona in doing his dirty work while he aims for another woman.
- In Specter of Torment, after his encounter with Specter Knight he recognized his adversary as Donovan, who he previously thought having been claimed by the Tower of Fate. So he reasons that if he survived, then maybe Shield Knight also did... failing to realize that Specter Knight is an undead, meaning he in fact did not survive at all. And while Black Knight is not wrong in his supposition, its worth noting that every single other knight immediately recognize the undead nature of Specter Knight, while Black Knight is seemingly left in the dark about it.
Sprites
Gallery
