Hilda (graphic novel series)

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Hilda is a series of Urban Fantasy graphic novels inspired by the "quiet weirdness" of Scandinavian folklore. Originally appearing in 2010, Hilda has become a franchise with a Netflix adaptation cartoon series, which in of itself has a novelization series.

Tropes used in Hilda (graphic novel series) include:

• Abandoned Area: The Trolberg Weather Bureau in the cartoon series, for the most part. On a few of the maps seen in print media, abandoned settlements and ruins are depicted.
• Aborted Arc: A possible example. In the graphic novels, Pearson toyed with the idea of adding a Rat King character, but backed out because he thought it be to scary or creepy. The cartoon series instead, included the Rat King and crafted an entire storyline about his appearance.
• Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: Downplayed. The barriers Trolberg erected to protect against trolls proved effective against most trolls, but intelligent and clever trolls found ways to bypass it. The most notable example of this trope was when Trundle, the largest and strongest of the trolls, managed to break it down without any effort.
• Action Girl: Hilda, her mum and to a lesser extent, Frida are all non-violent examples of this.
• Adaptation Distillation: Generally avoided in the cartoon show, but it can be argued that the novelizations strip away most of the more complex ideas in the series.
  • Luke Pearson himself admitted he water-downed elements and things he adapted from Scandinavian folklore.
• Adaptation Expansion: A mixed example. The cartoon series expands on the world in a lot of areas, but also tends to abridge the plot of the novels by cutting out some of the more pointless scenes. The novelizations expand upon both the length of the stories and the world, but also mixes up the chronology of events.
• Adaptation Decay: The novels, which are an adaptation of an adaptation, are pretty far removed from the vibe and atmosphere Pearson intended to create and are more comedic and arguably simplified.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: A minor example, but in Hilda and the Great Parade, the Librarian is described as being much older looking, while she appears to be a teenager or young adult in the cartoon.
• Adaptational Heroism/Adaptational Villainy: Depending on the adaptation, some characters are considerably nicer or meaner.
  • While Hilda herself changes slightly, but noticeably in each version of the story. In the original graphic novels, she's kind and compassionate, but has tantrums and emotional moments like any kid. The cartoon still makes her flawed, but she almost never really loses herself in outbursts and is almost always nice and friendly, aside from some arguably Jerkass Ball moments near the end of season 1.
  • Trevor on the other hand, goes from a kid whose nice to his friends, but rude to adults and lacks compassion towards animals, to a borderline murderer in the novels, taking a disturbing amount of glee in trying to drown a bird who he knows can talk to humans.
• All Myths Are True: Ironically, despite being based in mythology, this is subverted hard. At least, this is subverted hard in the case of human mythology, mythological practices done by other races tend to hold more water, potentially due to them being older. The most notable example of this is the Bird Parade, which is based off a myth involving the Raven blessing Trolberg with their appearance, but the Raven only actually appears to ensure a placebo-effect in the town, having the town think they're blessed, which makes them do better in various ways.
• Adapted Out: A few characters who exclusively appear in the graphic novels don't appear in the cartoon or novels, these are generally characters only named in passing or background figures. These include Tomas, an assistant to the Elf Mayor, and about half of the Giants of Old.
• Animesque: Luke Pearson, the series' creator, is pretty open about how he was inspired by the Moomin's, presumably the 1980s series in the original book, Hilda and the Troll, which shows. The influence more-or-less stopped after the original as he felt the ideas he took from it wouldn't work with multiple stories.
• Ascended Extra: Cartoon-only fans may be surprised that many of the shows recurring cast are basically one-off characters or very minor recurring characters in the graphic novels.
  • Poor David is barely even a character in his debut, Hilda and the Black Hound, where unnamed Sparrow Scouts arguably have more screentime than him and his screentime in the final two novels are very limited too. Frida fairs a little better, having a fair amount of screentime in all the graphic novels she appears in, but still isn't quite a main character.
  • Alfer is a main character in Hilda and the Midnight Giant, but doesn't appear in subsequent stories.
  • Similarly, Trevor is a one-off character in the graphic novels, but a recurring character in the cartoon series.
• Adorably Precocious Child: Frida and to a lesser extent, David qualify as this. Frida's precociousness is played up a bit more in the cartoon, but this can be argued as mainly being because Frida just as more screentime in the cartoon.
• Adult Fear: The series is filled with this. Hilda and her friends are constantly going on adventures and meeting near-death experiences, unsurprisingly, this seems to ware on their parents quite a bit. The entire plot of Hilda and the Stone Forest is Hilda's mum finally snapping and essentially keeping Hilda in her vision 24/7 out of fear of losing her.
• Adventure Duo: At first, Hilda and Twig fit this, but as Hilda's family and circle of friends expands, this isn't really the case anymore.
  • Hilda and the Stone Forest features Hilda going on adventures with just David or Frida, so they count to a lesser extent.
• Ambiguously Gay: The two Tontu Hilda becomes friends with seem to develop a romantic bond, holding hands and the like. Not much comes from this however, but it is worth noting Luke Pearson has wrote a comic featuring an openly gay couple in the past.
• Compressed Adaptation: Hilda and the Troll, the first graphic novel, is adapted as the cold-opening of the first episode of the cartoon show, cutting out several scenes of characters just walking and shortening minor scenes. Despite this, narratively, nothing is really lost.
• One-Scene Wonder: The Librarian is a potentially adaptation-only character who only appears in three episodes, with minor roles in each, but is one of the most memorable characters in the series for her mysterious presence and cheerfully macabre, yet also genuinely caring and kind-hearted personality.
• Time Skip: A few minor ones in the graphic novels.
• Hilda and the Stone Forest happens a year after the events of Hilda and the Bird Parade, as the Bird Parade starts up a few days into the books plot.
• The ending of Hilda and the Mountain King takes place at least a year in the future, probably a few, as Hilda writes about a new annual event in Trolberg known as Night of the Trolls after it happened at least once. Subtly, Hilda's hand-writing has massively improved in this scene compared to previous books and she looks slightly older.
• Utopia: Trolberg has shades of this. Racism and sexism seem to not really exist; people of all races and backgrounds seem to exist in the town with no tension or issues, including a large population of what appears to be Muslim's and the Sparrow Scouts, a parody of the Boy Scouts, is a completely unisex organization with male and female members, a female leader, and seemingly no imposed gender roles. However, there is still Fantastic Racism involving Trolls. The people become more accepting of trolls if the ending of Hilda and the Mountain King is to be believed.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Hilda's blue hair becomes a more defining feature as the series goes on, especially with most other human characters having normal hair colors.