#hilda n3

[remked]

[nayvwriter]

Speaking of ignoring canon, I'm pretty sure it was said at least once or twice that humans might have magic or something among those lines, and we do see red haired girl with fire in the like artwork for the game

Dunno about you, but I'm ready to go "Oh? What was that? The wind? " about that plot point. It could be very relevant to the gameplay I'm still fully ready to ignore it unless it's executed really really well

I don't remember anything like that. Is it an N3 thing?

(Implied n2 spoilers below cut)

There's two things I can think of (that we already know of) that could be read as humans having magic - number one, of course, being the psychics. We don't really know what the extent of their powers is, but we know it's not just knowing stuff - see Hilda's curse, Hilda's maze, Eliza banishing Ziegler, Eliza's teleportation, et cetera.

Number two being the Renegades. Now I'm pretty sure you know my thoughts on the Renegades already, but I'll summarise - they definitely have powers. Lydia made a whirlwind in New Ignitia, and when the protagonist faces a Renegade and uses their powers the Renegade identifies them as having a Tyrant. Jin says a Tyrant egg specifically, but Coco has already mentioned an egg in earshot of Jin that very same conversation. Celine I think just talks about a Tyrant. So yeah, Renegade powers are definitely a thing.

But yeah if it is an N3 thing I know very little about n3 so you're going to have to explain.

People with magic could be very cool to explore, in my opinion? I get the 'fully ready to ignore canon' thing - heavens knows I'm vaguely thinking about ignoring a very fundamental piece of N2 canon - but I'm not quite sure why that in particular is a thing you're ignoring. I mean, feel free obviously, I'm just not sure why. (Though it would raise questions about n2 if it was Suddenly Always Canon.)

Oh, and one more thought - whatever the heck was up with Khan in N1. Personally I sorted that into 'actually he's also a psychic', but I'm guessing you didn't do the same from the golden eyes theory?

[tulipsnflowers]

AS our resident ghost type enthusiast, I ask you:

*holds out microphone

Ghost types. Tell us more. Your thoughts?

Well I'm very glad you asked

(takes the mic out of your hands)

.... Fricking. Ghost types.

Okay so let's start from the beginning, I fricking hate Ulzar but I have to at least half take it into consideration

Bastard said that each of the 7 had their own offspring being Nexomon and that's how they came to be.

How true this is is up to debate, but, still. CoO made nexomon that carry their element, checks out.

No 2 is actually Jin/Atlanta/Lydia. I forgot who says it but I know it's said Jin sealed Fen off so that no more tyrants can be born. And that when Lydia knows you have an egg she immediately tells you to go bother Nadine.

Therefore, I'm going to assume that one must need element powers to hatch tyrants, more specifically laylines. And this makes sense! (Not your post Byeol go to the corner.) I mean, the Plant type tyrant is literally Tikala, who was a warden, because Deena probably wouldn't have. And there's no Psychic because I mean, Solus was a child, nobody came up to them like "hey kid you wanna bless this egg with psychic powers"

... So then. Ghost. Fane.

Where did they come from, genuinely. It can't be Ziegler, he's a normal type. Even if he wasn't it'd still have weird implications.

We have this whole lore and world building about this being the case, and then ghost shows up.

It's the only type without a primordial! How did you exist if you had nothing to come from???

It even has shards and traps! Normal doesn't have shards and traps!!!

So where did you come from??

It has to be something, somehow. I just- it's do weird, AND it's gone in n3!!! It just stayed around a bit and then left, what the heck!!!!!

This is why I have Aster (I promise I'm working on this) and Sasha(This kangaroo won't leave me be istg-) among others. I need reason as to why Ghost is a thing.

I obviously don't think Aster is a thing that canonically happened, so, here's some:

1. Ghost came from Hilda screwing on about, and her curse effecting Nexomon, I'm only willing to accept this if there's 0 ghosts in n3

2. Ghost came from Amelie trying to stop Tyrants. Because imagine pre Solus for a second. Normal was an unstoppable force as far as elements went. No counters, no nothing. So maybe she just fucked about (her or Malk, because James' steppdad would probably have his blood or something from being a scientist and making sure that glass ball has his rabbies shots) making Ghost on accident. If anyone's doing this I expect a Ghost type primordial design on my desk by 5. Because they existed for at least a moment

3. Deena's scrapped plotline of having a different kid first. This fucks up her characterization just a little bit (a lot) though so thread carefully I guess.

4. The abyssal person did it because we still don't know what they are. Seer? Probably. But maybe they're related to Omnicron or something who fricking knows, not me. Also no I don't think it's James sorry other theory person. So maybe it's Kroma? Like the first real Ghost type, I mean I even have a human design, she'd just need some gold...

5. It's Normal decaying at different speeds. Ghost is sometimes described by Decay after all. This one I might have to take in n3, considering I don't think it'd ever get resolved

[player-1]

Also while we're here, I know that if you talk to Hilda(post abyssals? Maybe?) She'll whisper you something you'll need in the future or something like that and, um. Hilda-

As for Deena's dad we are all just collectively ignoring what the main dev is saying on it and it's glorious. Did someone say something? Must've been the wind.

But anyhow, as for the types, Normal, Ghost, and Psychic are kicked out and Arcane is placed down instead. So back to 7.

The Hilda response will actually be after the main story and back at the Hidden Village, but it's kind of funny that the conversation before that was literally "I know that you're the King of Monsters now and the world is finally at peace, you're effectively immortal because of your mother Nara, and you have a army of Nexomon and humans by your side...But, it's always great to have a backup plan in case something bad happens, right?" That's definitely something that would've made the MC nervous right off the bat.

Yes, I also ignored JV's "lore drops" before I even knew the Discord channel existed, but it's fun to think about how much of a moral conundrum Ulzar and the N1 Protag would've gone through in-game when they had the chance to see Nara's son. Of course, they probably assumed it's some kind of genetic memory mumbo-jumbo or whatever secret Nexomon magic she has access to as Omnicron's kid; but Deena would just calmly explain that she doesn't have to explain everything that goes on in her body but assures them that her kid is a testament to humanity's best and will eventually unify both their species once he's of age...Then she's internally banging her head against a wall wondering how humans can be so smart but so stupid!? (A question that definitely popped up more than once in her lifetime, I'm sure of it :)

While I don't know how the Arcane-type will work in N3 besides the theme of magic (ie. witches and psychics) is already on a slippery slope, but it was also somewhat confirmed that there's going to be dual-type Nexomon as well. Either way, I'm sure the Abyssals' creator (Metta or bust) is going to have a field day with all the new combinations to either insult his siblings with "stronger" descendants (hc the main element Abyssals) or create another host of mutants to mess with the main cast for the fun of it.

[wildflowers-of-trolberg]

[remked]

OH NO!!!

IT'S COMPLETE!

[remked]

All Hilda Tie-in Novels, so far

[tulipsnflowers]

Okay, guys, you want me to go on about the most pointless things?

Let's go on about Byeol (and a bit about Fane, I suppose), because I am going insane

Alright everyone, for those unaware, this is Byeol:

This is a tyrant in Nexomon: Extinction, his name is Byeol. The problem about this, however.

He isn't a story tyrant, and this... Makes me very interested in him.

Amelie calls Tyrants super powerful Nexomon, but here's the thing. According to Coco, Jin blocked off the entrance to Fenrir's tomb so that no more Tyrants may be hatched

Lydia also says to go bother Nadine because of the egg, and keep in mind, the grass Tyrant is Tikala. A warden. Probably because Deena didn't necessarily want to add fuel to the fire

So then we are already established that Tyrants are probably always hatched.

... So then what of Fane and especially Byeol?

(And there's no Psychic Tyrants because... Solus would be too lil to bonk an egg, and nobody would ask a random kid to do so.)

Well, let's go with the easier one, in which I ask yet again, what's up with the Ghost type? I've wanted to throw hands about it for a long time.

(Ulzar says that the reason Nexomon are, well, a thing is because of the Children of Omnicron. So it makes sense, right? 7 children, 7 elements)

Psychic is a bit trickier because of the fact Mystogen exists. And if we're going of the fact Solus made the psychic type...

Putting a pin in that, rant for another day.

So... What of Ghost?

Well. That's not the point of the post and that's my motivation for writing Doubts.

But! Moving on, Fane. Well, with the assumption they come from eggs, well frick. There's no ghost primordial.

... Which is why I can't speak much of it. We can surely just blame Hilda

... Do you know who we have more of?

Byeol.

Well. Let's see then.

Byeol is a normal type in Palmaya, first and foremost.... We are back to James everyone, anyone who's talked to me isn't surprised

Hi new people, James is how we call the Nexolord on this side of the fandom, moving on.

Assuming that James isn't dead and we take into account this from Nadine:

Well, who am I to argue with Nadine? (Granted, she could mean Grunda or Deena , but.)

.. So, in today's rant. Byeol and Metta, woooo.

First of all, he is in Palmaya(and later around the Orphanage as of the Abyssals but we can put a pin in that because, Abyssals) , which, is definitely not the frozen tundra

But, Merida is in the frozen Tundra, and Atlanta's Tyrant is frosty enough to argue Merida bonked the egg there.

.. So then, Palmaya's free, ey?

Well. That's interesting, further on, I am going to need to grab Metta for a moment

Hello bowling ball, I still think you should be an Armodillo.

Moving on, see this man? Until his siblings he is, unfortunately, not an animal

My only logic conclusion, looking at this man(if we don't take my other James theory into account), is that he's supposed to be a kind of biblically accurate angel, just, ribbons not wings (Thanks for the association Azzie, your hands are red too)

... HMMMM who ELSE has wings and is a normal type...

... WELL THEN.

Additionally, I must point out, Metta has 7 ribbons. If we count the bottom pointy Byeol has he has 8.

... Well, it just happens an additional type is added this time, to bump it from 7 to 8(we already went over why I think Ghost might not count)

.. So then.

And. Well, let's look at it this way. Nivalis and Arqua, they don't look the same. Fona and Mulcimer, er. The closest we have is Ventra and Eurus.

... And, well, Solus and Nara, but surely not

... Byeol could've been a kangaroo or something, but instead-

They're both inanimate object things I can't make sense of. I know Ross said that he was just inspired to make a star thing, but-

... Hm.

What am I trying to say? Nothing really. At the end of the day these are coincidences, likely

Like, n3 protag and James both have a blue hair strand, but that doesn't mean they're like, immediately necessary related kind of thing

... Just makes you think.

(Also, this stated when I made a joking like toddler Byeol human version, and I saw the white hair and went like "...wait")

[nayvwriter]

Nara and Metta roleswap au

(nexomon spoilers)

Can't believe it's taken me so long to think of this one. This is likely going to make more sense if you've read my Nara and Metta ramble post (https://www.tumblr.com/nayvwriter/759515605026177024/also-deena-and-james-to-get-that-ready-here-for) but should hopefully be understandable without?

It all starts when Metta gets a little too ambitious. And Omnicron gets a little too suspicious. Nara's a little more loyal in this universe, and not too attached to the humans.

Omnicron turns on Metta, not just driving him out but trying to kill him. Leaves him dying on the floor, and Nara notices. Nara saves him.

Metta has no choice but to live amongst humans, now, and he's not happy about it. But he slowly begins to realise the joys of humanity, and eventually changes side completely.

He knows how to take down his siblings. And he has allies, of course - but he puts himself at the forefront of the group, as a powerful Nexomon tamer, and secretly uses his abilities to weaken their enemies and protect their allies.

Metta doesn't have the problem Deena has, of not trusting herself. So Ulzar is not the hero of humanity first time. And nor is Blue, the second.

Deena, Nara, escaped Metta's crusade - maybe they came to an agreement, or maybe she just hid in the forest and Metta didn't look too hard. But by the time of n1... Well. Deena still has the problem of not trusting herself, but she can't just sit there and do nothing, so... she starts bringing back her siblings. And her siblings suggest to bring back her father, and Deena doesn't deny them.

The plot of n1 is very different. Deena's hiding in the shadows rather than announcing herself as the Nexolord, and any human would be hard-pressed to find her. But Metta's no human, and he knows his sister, and he's been trying to keep an eye out for her because he highly doubts she's dead - and then she starts resurrecting his siblings.

Metta - under a new identity, of course - sets out as a Tamer, gathering a new team to stop his sister. Being a psychic, Hilda still gets herself involved. The others might too.

He still doesn't want to face Nara directly - she saved his life, and he owes her for that - and he can't really blame her for bringing back their siblings.

He can, however, blame her for bringing back their father, who Metta has by now thoroughly realised was a BITCH. This culminates in a Sibling Argument at the top of the tower.

Omnicron gets resurrected.

Omnicron gets taken down by a very angry Metta.

Going to the netherworld is Hilda's idea. Metta agrees immediately, because he can't find his sister and he has some Words for her. For all his siblings, really.

Metta lets the ghosts out on purpose. If his siblings are wandering the world as ghosts, then A: they're okay, B: they can't hurt anyone, and C: he can persuade them to stop following Omnicron.

Omnicron's ghost gets annihilated.

There are no Tyrant Wars, or at least not for long. Metta doesn't share Deena's lack of trust in herself, but he does share all his sibling's powers. There's a new King of Monsters, and his true name is Metta. He seems to be doing a better job than the last one - but that is not exactly hard.

So yeah, roleswap au. Yes, I came up with all of this as I was writing this post. @tulipsnflowers you might appreciate this one

I'm not entirely sure about Metta putting himself at the forefront first time, because that means he's directly fighting his siblings. I'm also not sure if the canon n1 characters would come into this much. And I kind of want all the Children of Omnicron - or at least Deena? - to help Metta beat up Omnicron's ghost.

I might write this out into a fic someday, but I'd need to fill in a lot of holes in the plan, so No Guarantees.

(also this is kinda making me think of Tulip's n3 predictions)

[tulipsnflowers]

...I'm curious, what are your n3 ideas?

Helloooo nayv, ho boy. N3.

Okay, ripping the bandage off:

Deena will be evil, there, I said it. There's like, no doubt in my mind at this point, or at least working for the opposing team. Like not only will or be poetic and/or ironic, I mean, funny how she's working to take down a wolf in theory yet again (even more fun if you draw pararels between Solus in n2 and Ulzar when killing Omnicron). But this all stemmed from me finding some unused dialogue, going "oh. Oh I'm not sure I like you mystery character she's taking to, sir-", and just RUNNING with it.

Though her not saying anything to the comment + knowing the Tyrant of Death was a scrapped concept(tldr, we were supposed to have an older sibling who was evil, got scrapped. Out of universe explanation for Ghost types I guess), it just, makes me question her a lot more than I should.

That's the main point of focus, but also,

(Points at character by the Hilda statue in the revealed screenshots) Hey.

This girlie is somehow related to the MC of n3 I'm pretty certain. I wasn't in the beginning but when JV showed in game screen shots the MC also had a blue hair streak, so.

They're absolutely related. And that girl is a seer if we're going by her eyes and the atmosphere (well, that's mainly where golden eyes are used anyway, seers. Minus n1 protagonist but we literally had that one vision in Ignitia so fight me). So. I believe MC also happens to have golden eyes.

So therefore, assumption no 2,if we ignore my joke one, he's a seer. They're both seers. I'm p sure something has to happen to one of them

No 3 is just a genuine feeling of CoO being out of the picture, minus maybe James(and def Deena), JV has joked about it and was originally panned for n2 as far as I'm aware, like putting their souls to rest. Dunno when it was scrapped but JV did mention you'd have to let Merida win Volleyball and the only way to do that is to not press any key at all because she just sucks that much

Again, I expect, none of these to be canon, and I put them in order of how much I believe they're true, but.

[tulipsnflowers]

Miscellaneous mini theories I just have as head canons that have little to not basis (for Nexomon 3 mostly, but also definitely includes Nexomon spoilers) ™

Alright starting off with a strong one:

I'm like 99% sure that the Abyssal person is not human.

Almost no basis, and seers I do count under humans but it's like. She's from around Omnicron's time since that's when Venefelis first emerged, and even in the abyssals we come to the conclusion that she is definitely an immortal enemy.

Now granted, she could be immortal through normal means, aka just some spell stuff, but that seems almost a bit fetched unless she has like, tea parties with Ziegler

Now I don't mean automatically that she may be related to Omnicron, but who knows at this point. I do think it's not any of the Omnikids(even if James is gone it seems out of character ™/0 motivation), so that would be pretty bad if they pulled that card

So who knows, really. Seer at the very least, but..

More Metta things who could've guessed (Drakes edition:D)

I get that Amelie is supposed to be a great scientist, but it's like. Vados was based on Vaithe. She had enough data to pull that bs from Micromon(Vaithe + dos= Vados), and so did she for the rest of the CHAOS siblings. Like Gurgita n crew already existed in Micromon so there's basis there.

And even for the original returning nexomon (The ones you need a lure for), they all are based on fully evolved and strong Nexomon that surely have enough to like, pull from and make them strong.

Now the drakes.. If the database is to be believed then, the drakes are based on Tephragon, which is an Uncommon. That's... A pretty big jump, even for Amelie to make, granted there could be something in Micromon they're based on but I don't have an iPhone, so...

What if, and hear me out here, Amelie on accident or purpose. May have used some of Metta's power for em?

Look, I don't know where the glass ball is, I'm clearly going insane, but he did have all the elements, and we don't see his shrine which means it could be God knows where. So.

Again absolutely 0 basis. It's in the negatives, even.

Ghosts(not the type) will definitely be back in n3 for some reason. Not sure why, but I do have a feeling

Granted, if they aren't in n3 I can entirely blame Hilda for the ghost type and that makes things easier, but still.

I do think that part of the Abyssal master's plan is that they do want those guys around. Because, if we're looking at an immortal being, she could've struck Hilda down much much earlier and much much later. But we decided to wait until she made the ghosts, and to strike before she could remove them.

Because what's time to an immortal being? Ultimately nothing. So, she should have little to no trouble waiting for n1 protag to pass and then hit Hilda when she's unprotected(assuming Hilda has a longer lifespan anyway, because if she doesn't I don't see why we couldn't just wait)

So yeah, Ghosts.

The abyssals' minds might just be somewhat normal once they finished their tasks(and we have to define normal)

So, to explain myself, Pluvian I believe said that he finished his task, he can just rest and chill. Kroma said that she couldn't think straight until Eliza was slain.

They all still want to satisfy their creators of course, but from how Venefelis acted I do think that half the reason why her and Pluvian didn't do anything tragic after being slain is- well, they could think.

Could you imagine having a voice in your head and a weight on your heart and an over clouded mind and then suddenly it just lifts? Surely that's at least somewhat scary, and surely that just feels empty.

Granted, Abyssal person might still be able to control them(Venefelis fight), but still

Braccus was just an ass

[remked]

Apparently, All Hilda New Fiction Series (the small books) is coming in audiobook form!

From the looks of it, David is re-cast in these releases

[wildflowers-of-trolberg]

The Hilda Novels, Revisited

I didn't plan on making this. Anyone who's read my previous post on this subject will know that I didn't have a good time with the first three of the Hilda tie-in novels, and they put me off reading the Season 2 tie-ins. But, eventually, I couldn't help myself; I have now read all 6 books, and I wanted to go back in light of that and put all of my thoughts in one place.

So, I'm going to re-cover my thoughts on the first three books, and go over my opinions on the second set and what changed between them. I still have plenty I want to say, and a lot of it is still very negative, so a warning in advance; I am still not a big fan of this series.

Just to recap, Hilda as a franchise has three separate canons. The series started with the Graphic Novels, written by Luke Pearson, which were then adapted into the Netflix show; Nobrow/Flying Eye Books (the publishing company behind Hilda) then released a series of chapter books written by Stephen Davies, which re-adapt the events of the show. Each one takes a few episodes and combines them into a single plotline, moving things around and changing them as necessary, and these books form their own canon.

If I had to give my thoughts in a single word, after the Season 1 tie-ins, it would have been "mean-spirited". Now, though, it's "inconsistent". I'm going to break my thoughts on them down by topic, just to make this more coherent. So, to start with:

The Art:

I'm starting with this because it's the easiest thing to talk about. In a word, the art in this series is inconsistent; the quality varies from book-to-book, and the illustrations often don't match up well with the text. It feels almost like the artists were given a brief description of the plot, rather than the final thing, to work from.

The Season 1 books are illustrated by Seaerra Miller (the artist behind Mason Mooney), and while I don't want to knock her in general, when I'd finished them I really hated her work for this series. In hindsight, though, I've softened on the art in Hilda and the Hidden People. It has a distinct style that reminds me a little of the cover art to The Wilderness Stories, and I actually think it works; my favourite piece of art in the entire tie-in series is in this book:

That being said, her art for The Great Parade and The Nowhere Space really suffers in comparison (part of me wonders if she was asked to stick closer to the show's style); this is where we got Trev and the Boys (my least favourite illustration in the whole series) and the infamous image of Twig:

The art in these two doesn't help the general weirdness of the tie-in series; it's just not great, unfortunately, and it further suffers in the paperbacks I think. Miller's art was definitely done with the yellow colours of the hardback books in mind, while the paperbacks, which are pure greyscale, tend to look even worse. Thankfully, this is something the second set actually fixed - the art for the S2 books is done by Sapo Lendário (who are apparently a duo and not one person), and is much closer to the show, although it still suffers from inconsistency with the text (Johanna falls off a cliff at one point in the narrative but doesn't in the art) it does look quite a bit better:

EDIT: @remked pointed out to me that actually, Sapo Lendário only did Books 5 and 6; Book 4 (including the illustration above) was illustrated by Victoria Evans, who is a character designer on the show. I honestly didn't notice; either way the art for the Season 2 set is consistently good if not always consistent with the text.

The Story

Technically the writing in the series is fine; it's a little clunky in places, and definitely meant for kids, but it's fine to read. But the tie-in series in general just feels a lot stranger than the series. There are a lot of moments that just come out of nowhere, and bits of weird writing that just jar with each other or with the show.

The biggest example for me is still the three trials Hilda has to go through to see the Elf Prime Minister in Hilda and the Hidden People; he lives in a magical 'headquarters', guarded by three magical trials of which the rabbit cavalry charge is one. This is despite the fact that he's a bureaucrat who runs a country and presumably has to get to work with his staff every morning (and needs his army for things other than just testing the courage of anyone who wants to see him).

There's moments like this throughout the series; the forest giant who keeps Hilda captive tries to rap at the Woodman, Victoria van Gale's assistant gets named Moss Head Fred, the Bellkeeper is just, weirdly verbose at all times, and Tildy and the woman who Mr Ostenfield danced with have been split into two separate characters (both still named Matilda):

(for reference, this is Matilda Pilqvist, while the Tildy we know is Mr Ostenfeld's partner).

The first season books are worse for this kind of stuff than the second, which do feel more Hilda; I know both are almost certainly based on early show scripts (this is normal for tie-ins like this, to make sure they're released on time, and there are a few hints like Kaisa having green hair in Hilda and the Great Parade, which is a thing in her original concept art), so it's possible the S2 scripts were more complete when Davies got them, or it's possible he was just kept on a tighter leash this time by the publishers, but there is an additional point on that that I want to come back to.

The thing is, the weird moments and inconsistencies weren't really what got to me about the first set of books; I could have stomached all of that and the janky artwork if it wasn't for just how mean-spirited the first three novels are towards Hilda. Some of this is character related, and I'll come back to that when we get to that section, but fundamentally it just felt like this series was written by someone who didn't like or understand Hilda as a character.

The whole world feels like it's against her in these novels, and it's at its worst in Hilda and the Nowhere Space and especially Hilda and the Great Parade. Trevor isn't just a kinda-mean kid, he's explicitly the class bully and tries to drown the Raven purely out of spite; David and Frida actively cut Hilda out of their lives after their first adventure (which in this timeline is The Lost Clan); and her entire class at school and every authority figure she comes across seems to just hate or want to make fun of her.

Raven Leader is a pretty big example of this, but by far the worst is Ms. Hallgrim and the entire adaptation of The Troll Rock in Great Parade. Ms. Hallgrim is introduced sending Hilda out of her class for not listening, and for making a noise while she's talking, while the entire rest of the class is openly laughing at Hilda and she is visibly hurt. Ms. Hallgrim makes no attempt to stop them from mocking her, and she doesn't get angry with them for being disruptive, but she outright shouts at Hilda.

But the moment it really crosses a line is the 'Wonderful Trolberg Exhibition', which is what the novels call the parents evening where David brings in a troll rock. Due to the reshuffled plotline, Hilda is in the middle of trying to rescue Raven (Trevor has him caged as his exhibit) when the projector gets knocked over, and like in the show Ms. Hallgrim blames her. But in this version, Hilda tries to explain that she got up free the Great Raven, and this causes the entire room including the parents, to start openly mocking her.

For her part, Ms. Hallgrim's response is to scream at Hilda about how wrong she is. She doesn't ask to speak with Hilda and her mother afterwards, or take them aside to discuss her behaviour while the mess is cleaned up; she has a legitimate reason to think Hilda knocked the projector over, but it in no way justifies her screaming at a ten-year-old child who is already visibly crying by this point because grown adults with kids of their own are jeering and laughing at her.

It's genuinely upsetting to read, and it's not the only moment like this, but the other big ones will be talked about in the characters section, because they concern Johanna.

Thankfully, the Season 2 books largely tone this down. Partially, I think it's just that Hilda has fewer conflicts with other humans and especially authority figures in Season 2, but it also comes back to how I think Stephen Davies might have been kept on a tighter leash this time; Erik Ahlberg, an authority figure who is meant to be awful and who Hilda is meant to butt up against, is pretty much his show self and thus somehow significantly more likeable than Hilda's teacher and scout leader.

This new, lighter tone is more in line with the show, but unfortunately the Season 2 books also have a new, major issue in my opinion, and that's that the pacing is just bad a lot of the time. This is kind-of present in Hilda and the Nowhere Space, which adapts the most episodes of any book in the series at six (The Sparrow Scouts, The Nightmare Spirit, The House in the Woods, The Nisse, and The Black Hound), but that mostly gets away with it just by cutting out a lot from the subplots and turning The Sparrow Scouts into a brief flashback. Hilda still has a very eventful couple of days, but it just about works for me.

The same can't be said for Hilda and the Time Worm and especially Hilda and the Ghost Ship. They have fewer episodes to adapt, at five (including a fairly clumsy flashback-explanation of The Storm) and four respectively, but The Ghost Ship especially just tries to cover far too much ground from those four episodes. The result is everything happens at a breakneck pace, and none of the plotlines have enough room to breathe.

The Witch is reduced to one scene where Hilda and Frida wander into the Witches Tower, and meet Kaisa at the door to Tildy's maze, where she hastily explains everything; they rush in and fight the Triffid (the plant), and Frida realising the sword is a key is enough for Kaisa to decide she's witch material and promise to get Tildy to train her. The entire rest of the episode, completely ignoring Kaisa's arc, is dumped later as a brief explanation to David.

And The Draugen, the episode the book is supposed to be about, gets two. Abigail just gives up after she loses the race back to shore, and the entire thing becomes a pointless detour that gets breezed through without amounting to anything. The actual load-bearing episode of the book is The Windmill, which is handled alright despite some weirdness surrounding Moss Head Fred and the nuance of Victoria's character being completely absent.

This is actually the additional factor I wanted to mention about why the Season 2 books might be less weird; according to an interview I read with Stephen Davies, the bizarre elf trials were added to Hilda and the Hidden People to fill a story that otherwise wasn't novel-length. I suspect as a result that these newer books have fewer strange moments because there was so much story already crammed-in that Davies didn't need to expand on things in his signature way.

The pacing is better in Hilda and the White Woff, which has less ground to cover and also blends things more organically (and guts The Deerfox to fit it in in a way that loses all of its emotional meaning but does actually make it fit the narrative - the flashbacks from it are now the story that scares David in The Eternal Warriors). The White Woff also does something else that I really like, more than the show even, but I'll explain that in the character section because again it relates to Johanna.

And it's not the only time this happens in the Season 2 novels; Hilda and the Time Worm suffers from the same awful pacing as The Ghost Ship, and nothing is really given the emotional weight it needs, but it also handles the plot of The Fifty Year Night in a way that doesn't stretch too far outside of the show's tone, which I think the episode does.

I've explained my issues with The Fifty Year Night before, but fundamentally it comes down to two things. I don't think Johanna's nearly as sympathetic as the show wants her to be (she's fundamentally the one at-fault in the whole Season 2 change to her and Hilda's relationship, and as much as they do show it hurts her too, in this very episode, it doesn't work as well as it should for me and it doesn't justify her mistakes), and I knew the novels were never going to fix that. But I also think the episode just goes to places that are too dark and distressing for Hilda, specifically with how the Time Worm is revealed and the deaths it causes.

And it's here that the novels are actually, genuinely better. The plotline doesn't carry the same emotional weight about the could-have-been of Ostenfeld and Tildy's relationship, and it doesn't really explain how the magazines work or that destroying them fixes things. But it does make two big changes that I like.

There are no child deaths in the book; by the time the Time Worm arrives, Hilda prime is the only Hilda still in the past (she waits and watches the dancing while the other Hildas from her previous trips - she makes one more than in the episode - go back to the present, and there is no "bad future Hilda" to sacrifice herself). And while the Worm does try and delete the various Mr Ostenfelds, they aren't alive when it does.

Changing the past causes all of the alternate versions of him, except the most recent, to just break as their timeline is erased. They just all freeze, stuck repeating the last thing they said like a skipping DVD, because they aren't real anymore; they're just shades left in time. And it's a moment that manages to be creepy and make it clear that changing the past was wrong, without forcing the reader to see Mr Ostenfeld screaming in blind terror as he's lifted up, still struggling while being devoured. It's just far less awful than the episode.

And finally, when Hilda makes it back to the present and meets the version of Mr Ostenfeld that married Tildy, Mr Ostenfeld prime is there too. He also escapes the Time Worm like Hilda does, and stays with her while his alternate self sacrifices his life.

Instead of just being cast aside for Hilda's development, he gets his own arc where he actually gets to move on from the past and accept that he missed his chance. It's a surprisingly heartfelt moment for a novel series where such things often ring hollow, and it ends with him genuinely comforting Hilda too. I would actually argue that he's closer to Hilda than the Bellkeeper is in this version.

But it doesn't make up for everything else; I wish some bits of that plot had been merged into the show's version, but I still can't call the book good, and I haven't even got into my real biggest problem with the tie-ins yet.

The Characters

Fundamentally, the characters are what ruined the first three books for me. That mean-spirited tone carried over directly to them, and I still really hate a significant chunk of the novels' recurring cast as a result. But the Season 2 books did make some big changes, and it would be remiss of me not to mention them.

I will briefly mention Alfur and Tontu, but only to say neither of them really get that much depth in the novels. Tontu invites himself into Johanna and Hilda's life at the end of Hilda and the Nowhere Space, but otherwise he's pretty much the same as in the show just, a little flatter. Alfur suffers more from flanderisation, and we don't get The Replacement or anything similar, or honestly that much of a sense of his bond with Hilda, even in the S2 books. So, with them out of the way:

I know some people think Novel Hilda acts out more and is less nice than her show counterpart, and I have mixed opinions on that. The only time I really think that rings true is during one moment when she gets upset with Alfur in Hilda and the Hidden People; her relationship with her mum is worse, and that affects a lot, but that's absolutely on Johanna in the novels. There is also the beginning of Hilda and the White Woff, where she is a little more like her comic self in that she lies to her mum to go camping in the wilderness alone, but it's actually handled pretty well and it's something I could see Show Hilda doing (more on that later).

The biggest difference for me is actually that Novel Hilda is more emotional; she's very avoidant of confrontation, and she's brought to tears by things that would make her counterparts angry. She has a lot stacked against her, and it gets to her in ways that it doesn't in the show or the Graphic Novels.

Which brings us on nicely to David and Frida. In the Season 1 novels, they are absolutely bad friends; the first adventure they share in this canon is The Hidden People, and, far from enjoying it, both Frida and David hate Hilda for dragging them into it and cut her out of their lives. The thing is, it's not wrong that Hilda convinced them to go near the wall when they didn't want to, but it doesn't really read as her being pushy or manipulative; they really don't take much convincing. And besides, she had no idea about the Bragga Clan (most of the reason Frida and David don't want to go is it's a long way away), so it all just reads as them being far too harsh on her.

There is ultimately a reconciliation, and David does apologise, but Frida never does. And this attitude continues into the next book, where David and especially Frida just get upset with Hilda for ruining their badge attempts, even when it's not her fault. David does eventually get one good moment, where he stands up to the marra giving him and Hilda nightmares, but it's offset by everything else, and by him being given Johanna's lines about how nisse can't be trusted. Since he never welcomes a nisse into his life, he never has any development about that.

Frida, meanwhile, is just consistently cold with Hilda; it feels like she wants Hilda to be her friend, but isn't really willing to be Hilda's friend in turn. Her last real moment of characterisation in the Season 1 tie-ins is her giving Hilda the cold shoulder for keeping her awake at night (to catch the marra), and that's it. Genuinely, Novel Hilda deserved better friends, which is why I'm glad to say the Season 2 novels actually fixed this.

It's not really done with any development (which is weird, because there's a way it could have been if the order of events was changed - David's standing up to the marra does give some continuity for him becoming a better friend), but Hilda and the Time Worm adapts Operation Deerfox Thunder Team straight and pretty drastically rerails the characters in the process, complete with Frida and David immediately jumping to help Hilda.

In fact, there's a moment in that book that doesn't happen in the show (and genuinely couldn't exist in the show), where Novel Johanna is talking about how Hilda is a bad daughter in her usual way, and David immediately jumps to her defence. It's a moment that I really love; it doesn't address things on any serious level, but I think it's the only time Johanna's awfulness doesn't go ignored and it's very much David at his full show self.

Frida is also better in this book; I was worried at the start of Hilda and the Ghost Ship that that hadn't stuck, because she is pretty mean to David behind his back at the beginning in a way that reminded me a lot of how she was with Hilda in the first season novels. But since this novel adapts The Windmill, it is sort-of addressed. Hilda is the one that apologises at the end, but she does earnestly apologise for both of them, so I'm iffy on it but it's not the worst thing.

It's also helped by The Eternal Warriors happening at the start of Hilda and the White Woff, immediately afterwards; the whole thing is again a bit brief, but the reassurance from both Hilda and Frida that they like David the way he is does get given, so all in all it's fine. By the end of the Season 2 books I like David a lot, even if I feel like his growth could've been handled better, and I think Frida's okay.

And that just leaves one more major character, the one I know a lot of people will have been waiting for me to discuss:

(I both love and hate this image because it just perfectly sums up their relationship in the majority of the novels)

Novel Johanna is still my least favourite character in the whole franchise; more than Show Erik, or the Committee of Three, or Trylla, or the Time Worm, I genuinely hate her. But there is a "but" there now, because the Season 2 books did something I never expected them to do.

I've said before that I don't think Stephen Davies went into this to write Johanna as an awful person; I think the intention is that she's the struggling mother of an often-difficult child. But that just isn't what's portrayed; in every book except Hilda and the White Woff, Novel Johanna is genuinely emotionally abusive.

The first time I read Hilda and the Hidden People, the one thing that stuck with me more than anything else was how Johanna handles the move. I went into the book aware that Johanna was a worse parent in the novels; I'd seen bits of Hilda and the Nowhere Space, and we will come back to that, but that first book got to me in a way I wasn't quite expecting.

Because the only word I have for the way Novel Johanna handles it is insidious. Hilda accuses her of wanting to move, of just using the elves as an excuse for existing plans, and the way it's handled makes me think that she's right. Novel Johanna is committed to it from the start, and instead of being honest with Hilda, she lies to her daughter's face about it.

When they first visit the city, Johanna tells Hilda it's just to look around, in a way that's blatantly a lie; she actually wants to choose their new home and get Hilda ready for school and everything. It's not like in the show, where she's transparent about what she's considering and doesn't commit to anything for Hilda's sake. And when Hilda calls her out on this, and is understandably upset as a young child having her life ripped out from under her, her mum doesn't try and comfort her or get her to see that the city isn't so bad. Show Johanna deeply understands that the move is going to hurt Hilda; Novel Johanna makes it about herself.

And that's the lynchpin that pushes Johanna into abusive in these novels for me. She has a daughter who she didn't talk to about this (the first time it comes up, she immediately shuts down any discussion), who is upset because she might be about to lose everything she's ever known, and all she says is "please don't be difficult". It genuinely reads as manipulative and it's awful, and what gets me is Hilda ultimately accepts it.

In the moment when she falls off Illus (Jorgen's partner), she's momentarily sure she's going to die, and all she can think about is how bad of a daughter, how mean she's been to her mum, when really Johanna is the one who hurt her. There's even a moment in Trolberg that I'd forgotten until I reread this for this, where Hilda's reaction to the bells of the city genuinely seems uncomfortably close to a sensory overload, and Johanna doesn't even notice (it's right before more of her being determined to move).

And Johanna not caring is the theme in Hilda and the Great Parade. She doesn't even try and help Hilda adjust (there's one fond moment where Hilda complains over-dramatically about the city and her mum just hugs her and goes "oh you poor thing" sarcastically - it's a genuinely fond moment, but as the only moment where this is addressed, it rankled me), but the real problems emerge once Hilda gets rejected by David and Frida.

Novel Johanna hugs her when she cries about that, and about how much she hates the city and everything, but all she says to comfort her is that Frida and David's exhibit for the Wonderful Trolberg Exhibition probably sucks; it's not abuse here, but it's just not enough to make up for everything so far.

And then it comes out that Johanna put the Raven out; in this version, she's tricked into giving him to Trevor, who then tries to use him as his exhibit. And obviously Johanna didn't know that the raven was the Great Raven, or that Trevor is a bully, but she just doesn't care even after she finds out those things. In the show, Johanna apologises for putting the Raven out and does everything to help Hilda get him back, even though it's not fully her fault, but in the books she just sits there; there's even a moment where Hilda actually is upset with her for this, and the implicit message of the narrative in that moment is that Hilda is the one being unfair.

This leads straight into that scene I mentioned already from The Troll Rock. Johanna could have prevented it in the first place, just by telling Ms. Hallgrim that Trevor stole the Raven from her, but she doesn't; and when Hilda tries to get him back herself, and the projector is destroyed and the entire room of adults starts mocking Hilda, Johanna just glares at her, and then asks if she's feeling sick because of how she's acting. She's completely okay with her child being screamed at to the point of tears (and in the 3rd book, we see why), she has no moment of talking to Hilda's teacher, and the most Hilda is able to get her to do is to pass a note to Frida, which she does reluctantly.

She does get a bonding moment with Hilda on the wall at the end, overlooking the parade, but it's not earned and with the bad taste everything else leaves in my mouth it is unfortunately easy to read in a negative light too. Because there's still no moment of Johanna being sorry that they had to move or accepting that Hilda misses the wilderness, but there is a moment where Johanna hugs her close, after Hilda finally admits the city is nice. On its own, it would be a fine little moment, and even in the worst interpretation I don't think Johanna could be seen as malicious here, but with what we've seen of her it just gets to me that they don't get the bonding moment until Hilda caves.

And then comes Hilda and the Nowhere Space, and it all gets so much worse again. Because in this version, the reason Hilda even joined the Sparrow Scouts is because Johanna "loved the idea of Hilda following in her footsteps." Not because she thought it was good for Hilda, but because she wanted Hilda to be like her, and it's clear in this novel that Hilda doesn't actually enjoy it; she struggles with organised activity and Raven Leader doesn't like her, but she doesn't have a choice.

And all Johanna asks her is about badges; never about how fun it was, or how she's feeling, just if she's gotten any badges yet. The pressure she puts on her daughter is far worse than in the show, and feels uncomfortably deliberate, all while Hilda ends up tying her own sense of self-worth to scouting badges.

And when it all comes out, when Hilda sits there at the badge ceremony and gets nothing, Johanna comes and sits next to her, and berates her to the point of tears. It's another genuinely, deeply upsetting moment, and again the whole thing from start to finish reads as emotional abuse. Johanna does love Hilda, I don't doubt that, but she wants a Hilda who's just like her, and isn't willing to accept her daughter is her own person.

She does apologise for this, but it's just not good enough; because it's not an apology. It's "please forgive me. I was horrible to you" - it puts the onus on Hilda to forgive, not on her mum, and it doesn't even mention the months of pressure that came before. Show Johanna apologised just because her excitement made Hilda feel bad, but Novel Johanna doesn't care.

So I wasn't looking forwards to seeing how the novels handled The Fifty Year Night, where I think Johanna is already unreasonably harsh and not listening when she should be. And, unfortunately, I was right to be worried; in this version of the plotline, Johanna actually has more legitimate reason to be upset (she grounds Hilda for the sabotage from The Old Bells, which is an actual crime, even if it was justified). But the phrasing she uses is just as awful and manipulative as it was in Hilda and the Hidden People. Specifically, she accuses Hilda of lying specifically, knowingly to hurt her mum.

The reconciliation for this really doesn't work, either, because there kind-of isn't one; The Fifty Year Night leads straight into The Yule Lads, and the next time Hilda and her mum interact is Sonstansil (the gift-giving happens in the flat because Hilda is still grounded), and the whole book ends with Hilda being grounded for two more weeks.

In Hilda and the Ghost Ship, Johanna barely appears, but her only real moment isn't a great one. The climaxes of The Beast of Cauldron Island and The Windmill happen on the same day, and Hilda and Frida stop by Hilda's flat on their way to the windmill to save David, so that they can grab Tontu; Hilda lies to her mum to get away, but before she does, Johanna says that if she behaved like Hilda (specifically, explicitly, running off on adventures), her parents would have done something else.

She gets cut off at "would have", which suggests to me that it's more than just grounding her or being harsh; I genuinely think the implication is that Johanna's parents were abusive towards her. And I think that's already loosely implied in all canons, that she's at least somehow estranged from them, but it is a sad detail to me that if it is what the creators want to imply, then the thing that separates Novel Johanna from her counterparts is that she fell into the same pattern of abuse that her parents taught her.

And that's the thing; this whole thing is a pattern, where Johanna so often wants a perfect little copy of her and is willing to resort to genuine abuse to try and keep Hilda in that box. She loves her daughter, I don't deny that, but that's the thing; abusers do care about their victims.

I know it's not what Stephen Davies or Nobrow/Flying Eye Books intended, and it does rely on reading some neutral moments (like the end of the Great Parade) in a very negative light, but when there's so many moments that are just legitimately awful without needing to be specifically interpreted negatively, and that go almost completely unaddressed, I can't escape the conclusion. Novel Johanna is an abusive parent, and it's genuinely upsetting.

But there is that one "but" I mentioned, and that's the final book so far, Hilda and the White Woff. I genuinely don't know what happened here, but somehow it went the exact opposite way to the rest of the series. I was fully expecting the argument at the start of The Stone Forest to be so much more awful in a canon where Johanna is consistently harsh and likes to guilt-trip her own child, but that's not what we get.

I'm not going to go into too much detail here, because I think I've mentioned it enough times already, but I don't like the way Season 2 of the show handles Hilda and Johanna's relationship. And fundamentally, that's because it's Johanna's fault that Hilda stops telling her things. Hilda doesn't like hiding things, but she feels like she has to, because her mum has started getting upset with her adventures. She's become overprotective, and lost her daughter's trust, but the show wants her to be the one in the right anway.

So I'm really not a fan of how The Stone Forest goes in the show; I don't think it adapted well from the comics (where Johanna is consistently not great but not abusive), I don't like the parallels it tries to draw, and I don't think the reconciliation at the end was good enough because Johanna makes no apologies (besides for losing the guide, which is a great moment on its own but doesn't resolve things) or promises to be different herself. It's all on Hilda.

So I was very pleasantly surprised when the novels somehow fixed a lot of my problems with this arc. Because Novel Johanna in Hilda and the White Woff isn't the same as the Novel Johanna we've seen so far; the argument that kicks things off is worse (it's about on the level with the argument from the end of Cauldron Island) but here Johanna feels more justified because Hilda went camping out in the wilderness overnight without telling her (this actually leads to The Eternal Warriors in this version).

Now, that feels a little far for Hilda normally (outside of the comics), but I could see her doing it to help a friend (in this case, Frida) so I don't begrudge it. It also makes it feel less like Hilda's hiding what she normally does because she now has to, and more like a moment where she genuinely goes too far. It also does help that this series didn't start off with the relationship between Hilda and Johanna amazing, and then awkwardly retcon it to be worse; in the grand scheme of things, Johanna's actions in this book absolutely do not make up for how awful she is in the rest of them, but the inconsistency makes it feel less like the unsatisfying ending to a season-long plotline and more like its own isolated thing where the conflict starts and ends within this book. And in that way, it's nice to have a book where Johanna is actually a good parent.

And then the ending comes, and we get the conversation in Hilda's bedroom. And it's genuinely what I wish this interaction had been in the show; there isn't too much added, but Johanna does more than just say she doesn't wish Hilda was different, she also explicitly tells her she doesn't need to be better, and that she's not bad; she's proud of her daughter for being the way she is. If this had been the way the Hilda and Johanna falling-out arc ended in canon, I still wouldn't have been a massive fan (because of how it starts) but I might not have been so desperate to fix it myself.

Above all else, that just leaves me reeling; my only guess is that the major mother/daugher interactions in this book are lifted directly from earlier scripts (because they do contain a lot of the final lines too), because somehow, in the last tie-in, Johanna feels more like herself than she felt in half of Season 2. And I'm sorry, because it does feel bad to knock him, but I really doubt that's Stephen Davies' doing.

Either way, that leaves me with a weird conclusion, which is if you're going to read any of the novels, read Hilda and the White Woff and then ignore all the others; it's better standing alone. It does miss some of the strongest emotional beats that the show puts in The Stone Forest and The Eternal Warriors, but it makes up for it in my eyes by making the emotional moments it does keep genuinely better. I don't think any of the others are worth reading, and overall I still hate Novel Johanna as she's normally written, but somehow, out of all of that awfulness, there was one good thing that came of it

And of course, this is all my opinion, so please don't feel bad if you feel differently.

[wildflowers-of-trolberg]

So, I've talked extensively about Novel Johanna on here; about how I believe she's a bad mother, and how I would genuinely call her abusive. I think she's harsh to the point of cruelty more than once, refuses to understand her daughter, and, the thing that really makes her abusive, consistently manipulates Hilda and makes things about herself. So now, with the release of the audiobooks, I'm putting my money where my mouth is:

I've compiled every clip I think proves that she's abusive from the first five novels. I didn't include Hilda and the White Woff; in print, I thought Novel Johanna was surprisingly reasonable in that book, and although some of her voiced lines have been less kind than I was expecting in the audiobooks, I don't think there's any moment where she could really be called abusive in those. Obviously, I have also excluded any purely positive or neutral moments, but these are in the minority (off the top of my head, four interactions across the first three books are completely excluded, and one in Book 5, but I might be forgetting one or two.)

I'm open to doing more compilations like this, if anyone's interested (Hilda's bad friends is one I've been considering) - please let me know!

As for the clips I've included:

Hilda and the Hidden People:

00:00-01:30 - Johanna finds out Hilda went near a troll rock.

I wasn't originally going to include this moment, because Johanna's not completely unjustified here and her dialogue read as quite fond to me (I thought the "I'll tell you exactly what happened" bit was meant to come across as lighthearted). Her tone in the audiobook makes it very clear this isn't the case, and while she's not completely wrong to worry, she's very harsh and this establishes she doesn't really support Hilda's adventures (she does flip back and forth on that, though).

01:30-01:51 - Johanna firsts suggests moving.

Johanna had definitely been thinking about moving before this in both the show and the novels (she comes up with Trolberg quickly in both), but the way she brings it up here sounds to me like she's trying to hide that (more on that later). More importantly, she ignores Hilda's concerns completely, and sends her to bed to avoid talking about it, despite how much Hilda's upset.

01:51-02:48 - The next morning.

I wanted to include this one mainly just to prove that Johanna had no intention of discussing the move in the morning, although it does also have a bit of her being dismissive of Hilda's adventures (I have no problem with her telling Hilda to eat less peanut butter though).

02:48-03:18 - Johanna brings up the visit to Trolberg.

Johanna clearly lies directly to Hilda here about why they're going; she's already committed, and once again refuses to be honest with her daughter or show any understanding. Instead she resorts to being manipulative for the first of several times.

03:18-03:48 - Hilda struggles to sleep.

This is a direct continuation of the previous section, just with some intervening stuff with Alfur cut out; Hilda sees right through her mother's facade, and is deeply hurt by the possibility being forced onto her.

03:48-08:06 - The visit.

I did try and cut this up, but I ended up including so much of it that I decided to just feature the whole thing. This confirms that Hilda was right, and that her mother was lying and has fully committed to moving behind her back, and when Hilda gets upset about it, Johanna immediately makes it about herself ("please don't be difficult today, Hilda"). Hilda is kicking off a bit, but she has a very good reason to be upset, and she's not wrong about the city's founding; instead of understanding, or trying to reassure her and asking her to keep an open mind like her show counterpart, Johanna tries to guilt her. By the end, Hilda seems to genuinely be suffering a sensory overload, and again isn't unjustified when she gets upset, even if she isn't being kind; she directly calls her mother out, and Johanna's reaction proves that she was right.

08:06-09:30 - Hilda finds Johanna packing.

This is a moment I've previously overlooked, but it's a moment that doesn't happen in the show; Hilda comes home to find her mother in her room, going through her things without her and packing up. There still hasn't been a proper discussion of the move, and once again, Hilda's concerns are ignored; this is the closest Johanna ever comes to apologising for the whole thing in this book. I've also included the end of this scene just to show how much Hilda is hurt by this (compare the show, where she only cries once during the whole of the first two episodes).

09:30-09:58 - Hilda thinks she's about to die.

This moment really hurt me; Hilda genuinely believes she's about to die, and her last thoughts are about how awful she thinks she's been to Johanna. She doesn't think at all about how much her mother has hurt her, because Johanna has successfully manipulated her into thinking she's completely in the wrong, and that she's a bad person.

Hilda and the Great Parade:

09:58-13:03 - Hilda comes home after her friends abandoned her.

This is another moment where I wasn't originally planning on including the whole thing; I thought Johanna was supposed to be fond during the edelweiss exchange, but her tone is genuinely a little unkind. She does soften when Hilda breaks down, but she doesn't actually say anything reassuring, she just insults Hilda's friends (admittedly, they are terrible friends in this book, but throwing petty insults at eleven-year-olds is not really a good thing to do). The really important thing here is the ending; Johanna learns that she's been lied to and tricked into giving the raven away to someone Hilda hates and thinks is cruel, but she just doesn't care. Hilda's thoughts are excessive, but Johanna should care enough to try and fix things, like she does in the show (where she's even less culpable).

13:03-14:05 - Ms. Hallgrim berates Hilda in front of the parents.

Johanna isn't prominent in this, but I've included it for two reasons. Firstly, Johanna's immediate reaction is to blame Hilda the same way Ms. Hallgrim does, and glare at her across the room. Secondly, it's important context for the next scene, which is the first conversation Johanna has with Hilda after her daughter has been berated to the point of tears in front of mocking, jeering adults. I want that to be kept in mind.

14:05-14:55 - Johanna thinks Hilda is sick.

Johanna has just seen her daughter cry in front of everyone, and her immediate response is harsh; she knows full well that this situation is partially her fault, and she could resolve this by just talking to Ms. Hallgrim, but she doesn't, and the implication is that she cares more about her reputation than her child. Even when she is persuaded to help, it's reluctant, and seems more like she's just doing this to get Hilda to stop pestering her.

Hilda and the Nowhere Space:

14:55-15:22 - Why Hilda was signed up for Sparrow Scouts.

Johanna has always been excited for Hilda to follow her lead, in all versions of canon, but here that seems to be the only reason Hilda's been signed up. It was Johanna's idea, purely so that she could make her daughter more like her, and it seems Hilda wasn't given a choice in the matter. Moreover, all Johanna cares about is Hilda's attainment, to the point where that comes before asking how Hilda's day was or how she's feeling, every time; if she actually listened, she'd realise Hilda isn't actually enjoying Sparrow Scouts at all.

15:22-15:51 - Hilda's afraid of disappointing her mum.

Hilda genuinely thinks she's useless because she hasn't won any scouting badges; she's tying her self-worth to something that should be fun (and that's reinforced later) and she's acutely aware of how much pressure Johanna is putting her under. She isn't doing any of this because she wants to; it's all about what her mother wants her to be.

15:51-16:23 - Hilda is allowed to go on the trip.

This is right after Hilda invites Tontu in and the house gets trashed by the nisse; it starts with Johanna punishing Hilda for something that isn't her fault, which isn't great, but then the only reason she changes her mind is so that Hilda can earn a badge. That pretty much confirms that the pressure she's putting Hilda under is deliberate, and that all she cares about is her daughter being like her. She even explicitly states that she doesn't want Hilda befriending creatures, which is tantamount to saying she doesn't like who her daughter is and actually wants her to be 'normal' (in direct contrast to Show Johanna in both The Bird Parade and the ending of The Stone Forest).

16:23-16:43 - Hilda dreads the badge ceremony.

This just reinforces how bad Johanna has made Hilda feel, and how Hilda is measuring her self-worth by Sparrow Scout Badges.

16:43-17:19 - Johanna berates Hilda at the ceremony.

This is the moment that's normally cited as Novel Johanna's worst incident, and while I think the move as a whole is worse, she's outright cruel here, in public. She has already seen how upset Hilda is (Hilda's whispered an apology already), but she comes over, during the event itself, and insults her daughter for who she is and for not being good enough until she cries. She genuinely makes her own daughter cry over badges, knowingly, and leaves Hilda feeling worthless and alone over something that should have just been childish fun.

17:19-17:56 - Johanna's "apology".

What Johanna says here just isn't good enough; "please forgive me" puts the onus on Hilda to forgive, not on Johanna to make it right. It's an admission of guilt, but it isn't a proper apology, and it doesn't make up for what she said. I didn't trust her tone when I read the novels, and I don't trust it now; it feels more like she's saying this to assuage her own guilt (and stay on Hilda's good side) than actually because she wants to make right her daughter's hurt. Moreover, she doesn't actually apologise for everything; she doesn't mention the pressure she put Hilda under at all (even though her show counterpart did, and all she did was get a bit carried away in her excitement), and this doesn't come up in the ending scene with the handmade badge, either. I haven't included that because this is the only apology we get; Johanna does say that Hilda is the best daughter she could ask for, but she doesn't make any more apologies or promises to be better.

Hilda and the Time Worm:

17:56-18:44 - Hilda gets grounded.

I don't think Johanna is fair in the show version of this moment, and there she's far less harsh. Johanna actually has more cause to be upset here (her daughter has committed an actual crime), but she falls right back into genuinely manipulative behaviour by accusing her daughter of doing what she did (in this case, sabotaging the mechanical bellringers and then lying about it) just to hurt her mother; she makes it about herself, again, and only sounds tearful when she's trying to make her daughter feel guilty.

18:44-19:10 - Johanna talks to David and Frida about Hilda.

This is the second time Johanna outright says that she doesn't like the way Hilda is. She talks about her child caring so much as a bad thing, and once again effectively admits that she wants Hilda to be normal; she knows Hilda was trying to do the right thing, and she resents that. To his credit, David does actually defend Hilda right after the section I've clipped, and I think it's the only time in the entire series that Johanna's treatment is actually addressed; however, it's not acknowledged beyond that, and Johanna doesn't actually get to respond to her missteps being pointed out.

19:10-19:26 - Johanna refuses to unground Hilda.

This is just pursuant to above; David's words didn't stick, and Johanna still thinks she was completely justified. Her show counterpart effectively lifted Hilda's punishment before the day was even up, but Novel Johanna wants it to last up to a fortnight over Hilda caring too much. This is also how the book ends, and the first time Hilda and Johanna talk since the grounding scene (Hilda gives Johanna her Sonstansil present, Johanna says she loves her, and then we get this.)

Hilda and the Ghost Ship:

19:29-19:47 - Johanna talks about her parents.

I just wanted to include this because it's the only mention of Johanna's parents directly in the whole franchise, as far as I know, and basically confirms that they weren't kind either (and again, that Johanna doesn't like Hilda adventuring at all). It's basically a veiled threat.

Huge thanks to @sarasplenda and @stargazer-sappho for helping me get the books to compile this thing - if anyone has any thoughts, questions, or comments, please let me know! :))

[remked]

[wildflowers-of-trolberg]

Who's your definitive all-time least favorite Hilda character? (this includes the comics and the novels)

The short answer is Novel Johanna, but here's the long answer:

The one thing that makes me hate a character, more than anything else, is when they're a bad person or do something really awful, but it doesn't feel properly acknowledged by the narrative. That's why I hate Trylla (Baba's Mum) more than Erik Ahlberg or the Committee of Three; she made a horribly misguided and short-sighted decision, abducted a child, and then refused to even try and fix her mistake. To me, the fact that she does care about Baba and ended up missing her doesn't make up for that, but in the book her apology was treated as a funny moment (and is completely cut from the movie) and she just gets to be Hilda's second mum (heck, Trundle telling Hilda to see the woman who abducted her as her mother is treated as a genuine moment) with no real consequences for all of the awful pain she put three other people through because of a whim she had. I have similar problems with characters from other shows, too (Samantha from Infinity Train comes to mind).

And Novel Johanna has the same problem, except it's constant. In Hilda and the Hidden People she lies to her daughter about the move, uses the elves as an excuse, consistently tries to keep her in the dark about changing their whole lives, and when Hilda is justifiably upset, Johanna makes it about herself and tells Hilda not to be difficult. It's genuinely awful and manipulative, but at the end of the book, when Hilda thinks she's about to die, she has a moment where she thinks about how awful she's been to her mother and it's played completely straight. The second book is better and does have a couple of genuine moments of care, but Johanna still doesn't help her daughter settle in, or care about the Raven (it's a similar situation to the show where Johanna doesn't know he's the Great Raven so she gets rid of him, but in the show she still apologised and helped Hilda fix things because she's a good mother who cares); there's even a moment when Hilda is literally being mocked by other adults to the point of tears and her mum doesn't comfort her.

And then in the third book, there's that really awful scene where Johanna gets upset with Hilda for not getting any badges and berates her to the point of tears herself, and the apology that follows that just isn't good enough. Because she doesn't apologise for pressuring her like in the show (despite the pressure itself being a lot worse in the books - in the show, it was just Johanna getting too excited and she still says sorry for making Hilda feel bad - in the books, Johanna is actively, constantly putting pressure on her daughter all through the third novel until Hilda has started genuinely tying her sense of worth to scouting badges), and she doesn't actually say sorry, even when she gives Hilda her own handmade badge. She says (paraphrasing slightly) "please forgive me. I was horrible to you; I know you tried you best."

Phrasing it like that really rankles me because it puts pressure on Hilda to forgive her. And while one bad apology doesn't make a person abusive, not by far (I don't like the reconciliation at the end of Stone Forest in the show, for example, but I would never argue Show Johanna is abusive, even at her absolute worst in Season 2), it's part of this whole pattern of behaviour that just makes Novel Johanna seem deliberately manipulative in this moment because she has been before. She does legitimately love her daughter, but she's an abuser, genuinely in a real and upsetting way, but again the narrative just wants to treat all of this as normal.

And to top it off, she's Johanna. She's Hilda's mother; one of my favourite characters in the show, and I would argue in Season 1 the best fictional parent in media. Period. Show Johanna isn't perfect, she's flawed like any parent, and she makes mistakes and hurts her daughter sometimes, just like Hilda makes mistakes and hurts or worries her, but in the first season she always apologises and works to be better and she is always there for Hilda. I love her and the mother-daughter relationship she has with Hilda so much, and that makes me hate Novel Johanna all the more.

I don't want to make this personal; I have no problem with Stephen Davies as a person, and I don't want to insult him. But the novels took a woman who understood her daughter would be hurt by the move, who was always transparent with her and worked to help her adjust, and made her lie and be manipulative about it and make her daughter feel bad for being upset; they took a woman who understands and loves her daughter's differences, and who gently stood up to her daughter's teacher when she didn't understand, and instead made her not even care even when other adults were mocking her child, and had her act embarassed and ask her daughter if she was sick instead; they took a woman who felt bad for inadvertently making her daughter think she'd disappointed her, and owned up to and apologised for that, and instead wrote her berating her own child to tears and then only half-apologising for that and never for the pressure. And then, the novels tried to say those things are all equivalent.

So that's it; I'm always going to say Novel Johanna.