Hello all! Welcome back to my weekly reviews of Hilda. This week we move on to the seventh episode of Season 1 – ‘Chapter 7: The Lost Clan’.

‘Chapter 7: The Lost Clan’, Season 1, Episode 7 (Release Date: September 21, 2018)

Synopsis – Excited to earn their botany badge, Hilda, Frida, and David head out into the forest to find ten different species of plants native to Trolberg. While Frida and David are fine with collecting common plants like dandelions or crabgrass, Hilda claims that it would be more interesting to look for rare plants, like the blue nettle. David reveals that he has seen a patch of blue nettle near a crack in the city wall, but says that he had heard disembodied voices when he had gotten close and became convinced the area was haunted. The trio goes to check it out and Hilda realizes that it isn’t haunted at all – the nettle patch is in the middle of a village of warlike elves who chase them off and take David captive.

Alfur immediately realizes that they are the Lost Bragga Clan of the Northern Counties, a family of elves exiled many years earlier for failing to sign a real estate contract properly. Excited by the prospect of finally closing the failed deal, Alfur offers the contract to the clan but discovers that as a result of their exile they now abhor all contracts and records. Angry, they challenge Alfur to ritual combat in order to rectify the situation, as it was Alfur’s ancestors who were attempting to strike the original deal with the Braggas. Hilda and Frida offer to instead find a loophole to the contract so that it can be nullified and the Lost Clan’s banishment can be over. The Lost Clan agrees, but only on the condition that they keep David as a hostage.

After studying the original contract, Frida discovers that it has a clause stating that the contract will be null and void if destroyed in lindwurm fire. Alfur despairs, saying that all elf contracts include that line as nothing more than a formality – lindwurms are just too rare for it actually to be feasible. Not to be deterred, Hilda and Frida find a book in the library indicating the possible location of a lindwurm on an island off the city harbor. Enlisting the help of a water spirit, they make it to the island and find the lindwurm. The dragon creature is initially hostile, tired of being bothered by elves wanting their contracts destroyed. Hilda and Frida are able to strike a deal with it, however, and it burns the contract. Taking the glowing ash as proof, they show it to the Lost Clan. Realizing that their exile is now over, the clan is initially happy, but they discover that they don’t actually want to leave their new home. Freeing David, they drop their threat of combat against Alfur and hold a feast for Hilda and her friends.

My Thoughts – Last episode, ‘The Nightmare Spirit’, was a bit of a heavier one in some aspects given the way Hilda and David were forced to face their fears. This one, by contrast, was perhaps one of the lightest, most comedic episodes so far. At times it had an almost farcical quality with the way the elves’ (maybe a tad bit unhealthy) obsession with paperwork took center stage. The stakes were surprisingly low – sure, David was taken hostage, but even the Lost Clan seemed at a loss about what to do with him at that point. This may seem like a criticism, but it’s not. I enjoyed this episode a lot. Most of the jokes landed for me and I found it to be extremely quotable. I love it when mundane things like paperwork are overdramatized in fiction. If done right, like it was here, it can give the whole episode a charming air.

Despite the comedic nature of the episode and lack of significant character development, we do get some nice pieces of worldbuilding. We learn that there are more clans of elves out there beyond just Alfur’s, which makes the show’s world feel a bit more expansive. Not only that, but the new elves that we meet have significantly different traditions and abhor paperwork, which adds some necessary depth to elf society. The presence of the water spirit and the lindwurm also helps to flesh out the fantastical underbelly of Trolberg and drive home that the city can provide Hilda with just as many avenues for adventure as the wilderness beyond the walls. Plus I just loved the fun and whimsical nature of both creatures.

Having multiple episodes in a row like this might get a bit too much, but as it is this episode came together well for me.

Episode MVP – I’m going to go with Agnes for this one. Yes, I know she only appeared for a few seconds, but I don’t care.

Folklore Connections – Lindwurms (or lindworms/lindwyrms) are creatures present in folklore across Scandinavia and Central Europe. Kind of a midpoint of sorts between serpents and dragons, their portrayal varies. In Scandinavia they are generally shown as more serpent-like, typically with no legs or wings, while in Central European mythology they usually have between two and four legs. (Given that the lindwurm in this episode has two front legs, it is likely more similar to the Central European version.) Typically they have either dorsal fins or a mane of hair along their backs. Sometimes they are treated as dangerous monsters; other times as more benevolent creatures. A prominent Scandinavian fairy tale called ‘King Lindworm’ (or ‘Prince Lindworm’) involves a queen who has twin children – one fully human and the other part-human/part-lindwurm. The story chronicles the part-lindwurm son’s efforts to find a bride.

Water spirits are a major component of Scandinavian and Germanic folklore, typically referred to as Nokken, Nacken, Nix, or Nixie. Nokken were shapeshifters who took on many forms, the most common of which included that of a horse or of a naked man playing a violin. Generally they were portrayed as malevolent or mischievous entities that would lure unsuspecting victims into the water (using their music if in human form) and then drown them. This differs wildly from the way the water spirit is shown in the episode, leading me to believe that the Nokken were not a direct influence. Likely the spirit on the show was meant to be more of a general water spirit than one based on a specific myth.

My Totally Arbitrary Episode Ranking – A very solid B.

Trivia/Stray Observations –

• “On the west side of the city, expect the rain to continue for the next five seconds followed by clear skies through the weekend.” If only weather predictions could be so specific in real life.
• “I found crabgrass! And crabgrass! Oh, and crabgrass!”
• “We’ve come all this way, I’m not going to let tiny invisible men stop me.”
• “Aw, smudged it.”
• “Do you think he knows there’s a bug in his hair?”
• “Their purpose? To execute…a real estate contract.” “Wait, is this a story about paperwork?” “Why, yes, most elf legends are.”
• “The revisions were fierce. Clauses were included. Terms were terminated. The amendments alone took an entire day.”
• “You’re supposed to gasp.”
• “A Bragga will never sign another document. Not even a receipt.”
• “That’s alright with me. I imagine it’ll be safer than whatever you end up getting into.”
• “It’s like saying ‘when cows fly.’” “Don’t you mean ‘pigs’?” “Oh, no, that happens with some regularity.”
• “I love a good subject-based classification system.”
• “What is it this time? Short-term lease? Nondisclosure agreement?”
• “David is quite the young man. He has set the bar high for future hostages.”
• So, would finding a blue nettle actually get them a badge with golden wings, or was Hilda just making that up?
• Real Gulliver’s Travels energy in that scene where the elves were tying up David.
• Don’t cross Agnes. It probably won’t go well.
• I love the simple design of the water spirit. It fits the show’s aesthetic very well. (And also reminds me of Randall from Infinity Train, but I digress.)
• Poor Twig. I guess water and deerfoxes don’t mix.
• I find it kind of odd that Frida and David have known about and worked with Alfur since at least ‘The Troll Rock’, but neither of them have apparently signed the contract yet (until Frida does in this episode) that would allow them to see him.
• Parts of this episode were included in the tie-in novel ‘Hilda and the Great Parade’.

That’s it for this week! I will be off the next two weeks for the holidays, but when I return we will continue with ‘Chapter 8: The Tide Mice’.

Please share any thoughts about the episode below. Make sure to spoiler tag any references to future events in the series in case anybody is stumbling across the show for the first time, and follow all of the Avocado’s rules and guidelines.

Thanks for reading!