“ | Prepare to taste justice! Shovel justice! | ” |
— Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope |
Shovel Knight is the titular protagonist of the video game of the same name. This chivalrous adventurer is trying to stop The Enchantress from taking over the Valley and find his beloved Shield Knight, lost to the Tower of Fate.
Official Bio[]
“ | A practitioner of the ancient code of Shovelry, Shovel Knight can do almost anything with his signature weapon, the Shovel Blade. His ingenuity and quick thinking have won him many battles, even though his stature is small! Always honest and helpful, Shovel Knight lives by the creed of Shovelry: Slash Mercilessly and Dig Tirelessly! | ” |
- Pros: Kind Hearted, Clever, Master of the Shovel Blade
- Cons: Bound by the Code of Shovelry[1]
Appearance[]
Shovel Knight wears the Stalwart Plate, a blue piece of armor with shoulder pads, a plate, and a horned helmet. He has a round body and a short stature. He is named after his weapon of choice, the Shovel Blade. His breastplate is designed to look like a shovel.[2]
Personality[]
Always honest and helpful, Shovel Knight aids people he meets along his journey. He constantly dreams of his long lost partner Shield Knight, fighting away imaginary enemies while attempting to catch her.
He solves many physically and mentally challenging puzzles throughout the lairs of the Order of No Quarter, proving his great intelligence and strength. Shovel Knight is a shining example of the Code of Shovelry: Slash Mercilessly and Dig Tirelessly!
Story[]
Long before Treasure Trove, Shovel Knight trained in the ways of Shovelry along with his comrades in arms and rivals Black Knight and Polar Knight.[3] Eventually, for unknown reasons, the three parted ways and Shovel Knight and went on to adventure with Shield Knight, finding treasures and fighting evil where can be, starting their adventures living in the Burrow. The pair soon became the most accomplished adventurers in the Valley.
In Shovel Knight Dig, his earliest known adventure so far, an unsuspecting Shovel Knight was attacked and knocked away by Drill Knight while he was resting at his campfire. The villainous knight proceeded to steal the Blue Burrower's treasures before making his escape underground. Shovel Knight jumped down the hole left by the thief in pursuit, discovering it being connected to a massive pit that extended far, far down into the depths of the Valley's crust, and had to proceed deeper and deeper and confront each of the Hexcavators before he could reclaim his belongings.
Unfortunately, the heist of the Hexcavators proved to be far, far more dangerous than anticipated, and with Shovel Knight accidental assistance, a great evil was returned to the surface after being sealed away into the planet's Crystal Core centuries ago.[4] After temporarily stopping the calamity, Shovel Knight and Shield Knight vowed to journey to the treacherous Tower of Fate once again and put an end to the evil magic of the Amulet once and for all.
During one of his adventures, Shovel Knight and Shield Knight were led to the mysterious Tower of Fate in the far ends of the Valley, where they sought to destroy a dangerous and evil Amulet. Unfortunately, he lagged behind her and once he caught up to her, he witnessed her falling down a platform. The catching up Shovel Knight was then caught up in a terrible magic, passed out and, while unconscious, was somehow expelled from the Tower. Awakening, he found the structure sealed and impenetrable, and Shield Knight nowhere to be seen.
Assuming the worst, the grieving Shovel Knight retired to a solitary farming life beyond the Valley's Plains, exacerbating his rivalry with Black Knight, who came to see him as a coward who was unable to protect their common friend Shield Knight. Eventually, as the rise of The Enchantress and her villainous Order of No Quarter was in full swing, the Blue Burrower heard rumors of the Tower unsealing itself. After an epiphany (revealed in Showdown), Shovel Knight decided to journey back to the Tower of Fate, to discover what really happened to his partner.In the prequel King of Cards, Shovel Knight makes only a brief appearance in the ending during a flashforward set shortly after King Knight had just finished remodeling and claiming Pridemoor Keep as his own, just in time to dethrone the gilded usurper (as seen in Shovel of Hope).
Shortly before Specter Knight's confrontation with The Enchantress in Specter of Torment, Shovel Knight was sleeping by his campfire when he was trapped by the malicious Mirror of Fate. Confused about suddenly finding himself at the Colosseum, Shovel Knight assumed to be still dreaming, before steeling himself for an upcoming attack from shadowy foes.
While proceeding, Shovel Knight had a chance encounter at the Campsite with Shield Knight, who was separated from her evil half by the Mirror's influence. The warrior maiden claimed to be the genuine article and warned her former partner of an evil force behind the entrapment of their friends and foes. The Blue Burrower however, completely crushed by his constant nightmares about her apparent demise, assumed for the whole situation to be yet another restless dream. He attacked her in an attempt to vanquish the supposed vile apparition, and forced the warrior maiden to defend herself in a match and retreat. He met with Polar Knight later on at the Grinding Glaciers, who ferociously attacked him to clear his incredulity regarding the world they are trapped in.
Reaching the Mirror Chamber after a series of battles with the illusions of the Mirror, Shovel Knight met again with Polar Knight. Horrified by how his old friend had resolved to blindly follow evil and unable to reach him, he was curbstomped once again by the giant. Shortly after, Shield Knight showed up; after witnessing the way she fought and his encounters with Polar Knight, Shovel Knight finally understood the reality of their situation. Apologizing to each other, the two of them vowed to find a way to exit and reunite. Unfortunately, Shield Knight informed her former adventuring partner that during her battles, she has come to learn that the two of them had to battle to attract the Mirror of Fate and eventually shatter it. Although Shovel Knight expressed deep concern about the possibility of not emerging out of the Mirror's world together, Shield Knight reassured him that, should that being the case, they both knew where to start looking. With her heartfelt encouragement the two battled, with Shovel Knight emerging victorious. He then confronted the Mirror of Fate and shattered it, freeing himself from its endless world of battles.
Shovel Knight woke up at his campsite. As he feared, Shield Knight was not with him. Still, now certain that she was still alive, he picked up his Shovel Blade once again and began his journey to reach the Tower of Fate.
In Shovel of Hope, with the power of The Enchantress having already engulfed the Valley, Shovel Knight came out of his retirement and took his weapon once more to discover what happened to his partner and along the way bring peace to the lands, beginning his journey towards the Tower of Fate. He had to defy each of the Order's villainous knights, who had even managed to sway his old friend Polar Knight in joining their cause, in order to travel through the locked gates they set to defend their mistress.
In his sleep, Shovel Knight was haunted by Shield Knight's tragedy, seeing her falling from the sky while countless foes tried to stop him from catching her. He was occasionally defied by his eternal rival Black Knight, who had resolved to defend The Enchantress from anyone and refused to let him near the Tower of Fate out of spite. After beating the Order and making his way to the Tower's entrance, having figured out the true identity of the sorceress, Shovel Knight made clear his goal, despite how hopeless returning Shield Knight to normal would had seemed to be.
Shovel Knight defeated the Order of No Quarter once again in a massive Battle Royale at the end of his ascension of the Tower. He then finally confronted The Enchantress herself in her inner sanctum, who mocked his hopeless quest. However against all odds, Shovel Knight succeeded into weakening the sorceress just enough for her true self to break free from her imprisonment, saving Shield Knight and then fighting alongside her the last shreds of power of the dark witch, the horrible Remnant of Fate. Shovel Knight was however wounded and rendered unconscious by their foe's last attacks while Shield Knight held back the magical being's relentless assault as the tower started to crumble around them. Black Knight, who had appeared to help them, listened reluctantly to the warrior maiden pleads and carried Shovel Knight to safety outside the tower. Against all odds Shield Knight, made it out alive and joined her still unconscious friend to rest beside him, the pair being finally reunited.
In Plague of Shadows, a parallel adventure to his own, Shovel Knight appeared in the background of the Village and the Armor Outpost, on his quest to defeat the Order of No Quarter. He invaded the Explodatorium by the time Plague Knight returned to it, and the two fought out in the alchemist's furthest chamber. According to Plague Knight's biased and unreliable retelling of the events,[5] the alchemist had seemingly defeated him and extracted his Essence, but Shovel Knight discreetly got back up and sucker punched him before he could collect it, unlike Shovel Knight's version where he won squarely. Which either way the events actually happened, later the alchemist followed the adventurer to a campsite and collected his essence while he was asleep.
With Plague Knight tracking down and trading Relics, useless to him, with Chester the merchant, who in turn would later sell them to the blue burrower, it can be gathered that in most stages, save for a few exceptions, Shovel knight was just slightly behind the alchemist in their parallel journeys across the Valley.
Shovel Knight reappeared in the dining hall of the Tower of Fate and, once again according to Plague Knight's account, he barged in just after Plague Knight only to fall unconscious and waking up only after the alchemist had already finished off his former colleagues, instead of Shovel Knight single-handedly dispatching the never-do-wells. After another battle where Plague Knight had emerged victorious once more, Shovel Knight supposedly sucker punched him again and left, leaving the Order to hang outside the room helplessly.
Plague Knight's fight with The Enchantress happened seemingly shortly before Shovel Knight's own struggle with the dark witch, and when the alchemist decided to detonate his Ultimate Potion, the Tower began to crumble, as seen during the final throes of Shovel Knight's battle with the Remnant of Fate.
In the credits, Shovel Knight is shown defeating the Liquid Samurais ambushing the Wandering Travelers, joining them for another battle.
At some point during the tumultuous events of Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows, one peaceful day Shovel Knight was blissfully sleeping by his campsite, when suddenly a wrapped gift magically appeared before him. Intrigued, the adventurer checked its contents, finding inside a mysterious puzzle box, the Pocket Dungeon which instantly sucked him inside the artifact. Immediately meeting with Chester and Puzzle Knight, Shovel Knight discovered that others like him had fallen prey to the mysterious object and were trapped within its shifting copies of the Valley's lands. He then set out to explore its depths while trying to recruit the other trapped Knights to his cause.
After discovering the true nature of their imprisonment and The Enchantress's involvement in the whole ordeal, in the true ending, he and everyone else in the Camp, visited the four Shrines housing the the missing Key fragments, and managed to escape the collapsing Pocket Dungeon through a portal that appeared after the defeat of the Master Mind, a monstrosity created as a spiteful last gift by the evil witch.
During the credits, he is shown in two pictures. In the first of them, he runs alongside Shield Knight with his Shovel Blade prepared for attack. In the second picture, he stands next to Shield Knight and behind Polar Knight, trying on a red scarf. At the end of the credits, in the final picture, he rests with Shield Knight on a log at the front of campfire, while the other prisoners are celebrating their refound freedom.Abilities[]
Shovel Knight's main form of attack is his trusty Shovel Blade. Although out of commission for quite a while, he still retains great skill with it.
- Base Attacks
- Dig Slash: performed by a swing from his Shovel Blade, it can inflict damage, dig piles, break Dirt Blocks, open chests, find secret rooms and reflect projectiles.
- Shovel Drop: performed by pointing the Shovel Blade to the ground and plunging while in midair to bounce on obstacles and enemies, damaging them from an advantaged position. It can be interrupted at any time.
- Special Attacks
- Charge Slash: a charged Dig Slash with a longer range that can knock foes further away. It can be used after upgrading the Shovel Blade with the Charge Handle. Slows down Shovel Knight when using it.
- Relics: Special defensive and offensive items consuming Magic. How many times Shovel Knight can use them is determined by his Magic Capacity. They can be bought from Chester. The Troupple Chalices are an exception, costing no Magic and being sold by a Troupple Acolyte.
- Upgrades
- Shovel Blade: Shovel Knight's weapon can be permanently upgraded by the Shovel Smith in the Armor Outpost.
- Armor: His set of armor can be changed by the Armorer in the Armor Outpost.
- Base Attacks
- Dig Slash: performed by a swing from his Shovel Blade, it can inflict damage, break Dirt Blocks and reflect projectiles. After Shovel Knight heals himself mid-fight, he becomes far more proactive with reflecting bombs.
- Shovel Drop: performed by pointing the Shovel Blade to the ground and plunging while in midair to bounce on his enemy, damaging them from an advantaged position.
- Special Attacks
- Charge Slash: a charged Dig Slash with a longer range that can knock foes further away. Shovel Knight only uses it at the end of his fights.
- Relics: Special defensive and offensive items consuming Magic. He uses the Flare Wand, Phase Locket, Throwing Anchor, War Horn, and the Chaos Sphere. When he has lost approximately six health, he uses an Ichor of Renewal to heal himself. When fought long enough, he runs out of Magic and will stop using Relics altogether.
- Base Attacks
- Dig Slash: A standard, close-hitting attack. It can reflect projectiles back at opponents.
- Shovel Drop: Bounce on enemies and breakable environment items, damaging them and reaching higher grounds.
- Special Attacks
- Charge Slash: a charged, faster and far-reaching Dig Slash. It knocks enemies away and gives Shovel Knight a short hop forward.
- Flare Wand: Throws a fireball, locks Shovel Knight in place when using it in the air. Only one fireball can be thrown at a time.
Boss Encounter[]
When Shovel Knight appears as a boss encounter, he will move around the arena, which will be teamed after the Plains if he is the primary boss, by jumping around with great leaps. Periodically, he will perform a series of 3 Shovel Drops, which unearths multiple groups of Dirt Blocks. Depending on the ability of the current playable knight, like Tinker Knight's, or if the Conjuring Cupcake and/or Snoutin' Charm are equipped, these dirt blocks can become a very useful resource. Unfortunately, with his Shovel Drop, Shovel Knight can destroy lost Treasure bags, which may result in the loss of tons of Gems.
After Shovel Dropping, Shovel Knight will use a Zap Wand 3 times in a row, or if he is surrounded by units, he'll instead use the War Horn. Both attacks not only clear the arena from units, but can also potentially damage any other bosses Shovel Knight is currently paired up with due to the Super Skeleton Skull Hat effects.
For as long as Shovel Knight is active inside the arena, Beetos and Boneclangs, as well as the occasional healing item, will appear as obstacles. Since he already provides them with his Shovel Drop, no block of any type of dirt, stone etc. appear for Shovel Knight. If another boss is present in the arena however, all of the above mentioned extra units are mixed with the ones specific of said extra boss.
Playable Knight[]
With Shovel Knight's main ability, Fatal blows do extra damage to chains. As such, if an already injured enemy joins up with a group of untouched enemies of the same type, the resulting fatal blow to the injured enemy will deal more damage to all of the group, potentially defeating it and forming a chain. Furthermore, Shovel Knight finds more Potions then average. Overall, Shovel Knight main abilities, while somewhat basic, makes him the ideal starting knight to use to practice and learn the rules of the Pocket Dungeon.
His Refract Ability restores his Shovel Drop technique, allowing Shovel Knight to bounce on the enemies heads, steadily increasing the Drop's attack power with each consecutive bounce. However, if the the trade-off damage is ignored for too long, Shovel Dropping may results in an unplanned demise; furthermore the damage resets as soon as the current series of Shovel Drops is interrupted. While bouncing, the Shovel Drop can be directed in either directions, left or right, but if no units are present to bounce off from, Shovel Knight will just plummet to the Dungeon's bottom, which may be useful as a makeshift quick dash.
- Base Attacks
- Dig Slash: performed by a swing from his Shovel Blade, it can inflict damage, dig piles, break Dirt Blocks, dig Dirt, open chests, find secret rooms and reflect projectiles. It can be aimed downwards by pressing down.
- Shovel Drop: performed by jumping and plunging while in midair to bounce on obstacles and enemies, damaging them from an advantaged position. It cannot be interrupted.
Dialogue[]
Click to expand | ||||||||||||||||||
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Stage Introduction Splashes[]
- Strike the Earth
- Justice In Spades
- Get Digging
- Ready
- Sharpen thy Shovel
- Let's Get Shoveling
- It's Shoveling Time
- For Shovelry
- Dig In
Cameos and Playable Appearances[]
- Main article: Appearances in Other Media
Trivia[]
- The game director Sean Velasco voiced Shovel Knight in Yooka-Laylee.[6][7]
- Shovel Knight's blue hue may be a reference to the NES' color palette. The NES' colors had more variations of blue than anything else. This is the reason a lot of NES characters are blue (i.e. Mega Man).
- Shovel Knight's code, "shovelry", is a play on words on "chivalry", which is an informal, varying code of conduct developed between 1170 and 1220, never decided on or summarized in a single document, associated with the medieval institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlewomen's behaviors were governed by chivalrous social codes.
- According to developer Alec Faulkner, Shovel Knight's Dungeons & Dragons alignment is chaotic good.
- When fought as a boss in the Explodatorium, Shovel Knight will have access to the War Horn, which he shouldn't have been able to obtain yet.
- When fought as a boss in Tower of Fate: Ascent, if Plague Knight stays off the ground for long enough, Plague Knight will be able to steal the Treasure Bags from Shovel Knight.
- Shovel Knight does not appear in Specter of Torment. He is however referenced by a Wizzem in the Tower of Fate: "Even the most legendary or stalwart knights could never stand a chance!". Stalwart is highlighted in Shovel Knight's light blue, and legendary in Shield Knight's red.
Nomenclature[]
Language | Name | Meaning |
---|---|---|
English | Shovel Knight | - |
French | Shovel Knight | - |
Italian | Shovel Knight | - |
German | Shovel Knight | - |
Spanish | Shovel Knight | - |
Japanese | ショベルナイト shoberu naito |
Shovel Knight |
Russian | Лопатный рыцарь Lopatnyy rytsar' |
Shovel knight |
Brazilian-Portuguese | Shovel Knight | - |
Korean | 삽질 기사 sabjil gisa |
Shovel Knight |
Simplified Chinese | 铲子骑士 chǎnzi qíshì |
Shovel Knight |
Traditional Chinese | 鏟子騎士 chǎnzi qíshì |
Shovel Knight |
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Shovel Knight instruction booklet
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1bzygy/we_are_yacht_club_games_creators_of_the_game/c9c172h/?context=1
- ↑ "Polar Knight, you know where being a blind follower gets you! It goes against everything we learned!"
—Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight Showdown - ↑ Discord answer by Woz
- ↑ Yacht Club Twitter post
- ↑ https://old.yachtclubgames.com/2016/09/shovel-knight-joins-yooka-laylee/
- ↑ Environmental Station Alpha with Work from Home Woz!
Dig Characters | |
---|---|
Main Characters: | Shovel Knight • Shield Knight (Altius) • The Enchantress |
The Hexcavators: | Drill Knight • Spore Knight • Hive Knight (Fleck) • Scrap Knight • Tinker Knight • Mole Knight |
Surface Merchants: | Hoofman • Whisker • Armorer |
The Well Merchants: | Master Argus • Tom Bola • Gastronomole • Fetcher |
Surface/The Well Merchant: | Chester |
Surface NPCs: | Walter • Master Argus • Big Bohto • Hoop Kid • Black Knight |
Wandering/Campfire/Side-room NPCs: | Duelist Di • Cooper • Percy • Bag Fellow • Peacock Gent • Adventurer • Gastronomole • Hunter • Lamp Lighter • Meleeist • Oreman • Canary Scout • Guard • Fan Boy • Prospector • Student Mage • Caster • Farmsmith • Bow Lady • Spelunker • Forager • Clawed Miner |
Final Boss: | Drill Knight |