I think the best part of the Underworks for me was the fact that I had next to zero rosaries while entering. And thus, I was just as poor as the bugs working tirelessly down there.

I remember the exact moment where the game clicked for me. It was when I first had to pay for a bench in the Underworks and I went “ooo I understand now, the bad guy was the Protestant work ethic all along”

13:40 I think the "sin" in question is the failure to be revived. Death itself is the sin

“The same system which takes their money tells them that they are lesser without it…” Damn.

10:40 I think the most tragic thing is that Loam would probably NEVER be accepted into the higher ranking caste of the citadel bugs again. Every bug there is small sized and similar to pilgrims and warriors. Loam is a giant bug, he would never properly fit in anywhere, the citadel would have no use for him despite raising him in the place he wishes to return to. I suspect he's also being lied to, since the Citadel has no use for Loam nor his raspy voice, and so they simply put him down here to increase productivity. Loam will never get to drink clean water, sing with new friends or get rest... he's just there to toil until his demise.

It's appropriate that the Fourth Chorus is called that, as it is literally a chorus of souls, a conglomeration of the souls of singing pilgrims who fell

Playing the entire game without a HUD is a real test of devotion. Excellent work.

I remember when I first reached the Underworks and found the pay-per-use benches. I thought, "I feel like I should be mad, but the environmental storytelling is just so cool."

I'm mad now that Team Cherry only made some of the lamps breakable.

People hate bilewater but I think its absolutely integral thematically and narratively

Loam’s situation damn near made me explode in empathetic rage. All of that time spent running just for 1. Single. Rosary bead. It was at that moment that I decided wholeheartedly that I’d tear the Citadel to the ground.

The bugs yearn for the mines

The Citadel in ages past, under the stewardship of the Weavers, was more honest to its purpose and nature in being an ongoing sacrificial ritual to keep a monstrous god in chains. You can find a corroded, broken (animatronic?) statue in the depths of the Whispering Vaults that's a relic of this past. Pious Isamor, likely a mascot name, appeared to have functioned to greet Pilgrims upon arrival and gave them an orientation of sorts of how the Citadel works.

In his speech, he says something very, very interesting in that he describes the Citadel as being made of but simple stone, with bare walls lacking any ornamentation. He also goes on to describe that the lives of Pharloom's faithful, while not destitute, are plain and modest. All bugs are apparently equal here, all bugs toil, and one should only eat what they need; for "excess is sin".

This doesn't sound like the Citadel we know at all. This tells us that Pharloom's society was once strictly utilitarian and communal in nature which while nobody was free, everyone was sharing in the work to be done and nobody likely went completely overworked or hungry. After the Weavers' departure/death, and they passed on the mantle of rule to the Conductors, this is likely the turning point. As those Conductors were described as 'greedily' taking that power and over time their greed corrupted and rotted Pharloom to the very foundations.

If you hit the signs on the pilgrims path and then play the needolin, the original intended message shows up that the weavers seemed to have left behind. It loos like they originally wanted the pilgrims protected on their trek to the citadel but over time with them being gone, and others being in power the signs were changed and things got crazy.

The first sinner's rune rage spell she created is heavily implied to be the binding seals we see in hollow knight, including the seals of the 3 dreamers to contain the hollow knight, as we know the binding seal came from the weavers and the rune rage attack she and hornet use looks identical to the pure vessel's rune attack.
That, combined with her being the first to rebel against Grand Mother Silk which likely caused the other Weavers to do the same means she was responsible for the plot of both hollow knight and silksong to some extent
You could say she
Weaved their tales

Another thing to not about the confessional room, is that the window on the other side that looks like it has natural light, its actually just a lamp in a tiny room on the other side of the glass. you can find this after fighting unraveled. even the window is a lie

you know I think the reason that the judges were made so that only the sinless would pass was so that they could have pure, unquestionally loyal people who are forced in labor at the underworks people who work hard for the citadel and wont rise against the upper class

It feels like the Silkflies basically represent the will of the kingdom itself

Okay, so, to add to the story of Loam being heartbreaking and all, if you go there in act 3 you'll find them crushed by a boulder. Playing Needolin gets dialogue along the lines of "run", "no more" and "free". And now I'm even more sad for the poor thing. I never got to meet them before, I failed to find that room in both my playthroughs :c

This is the very reason why Groal the Great – despite his punishing area, long runback and lackluster boss fight – is my favorite character.
He's a king in rags, the jaded leader of a broken people, and he's breaking the moral code and social contract to protect it.

I'm glad you're talking about this. In my exploration of thr citadel I couldn't help think it was more dystopian than even city of tears