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Hilda Berg headcanons!
Nov. 11th, 2019 04:26 am- Supposedly, Hilda is based on the witch/crone archetype. Magic powers? Check. Transformation? Check. Mischievous/evil grin? Check. Flying? Check. Pointy hat (in her case, a wind vane)? Check. Pointy nose? Check. She even turns into the moon!
Yet Hilda kinda subverts the witch trope in a way. There’s nothing in the game to prove that she's evil, only defending herself. Most witches are old hags, but Hilda seems quite young, even kind of pretty. The closest we have to her familiars are the Zodiac clouds she transforms herself into, though she also has the little planes and UFOs. - Someone suggested she'd sound like Pearl from Steven Universe, and I can see that! Another suggested Margaret Hamilton (the Witch in Wizard of Oz) which immediately popped this in my head: Idina Menzel. Hilda is exactly the type to relate to and sing "Defying Gravity" and "Let it Go."
- When you get to know her well enough, she has a fun side too! She loves to pull off a good prank or two, especially with her Zodiac familiars and weather magic! Her favorite is making a raincloud over someone to give them a quick shower, with a harmless lightning bolt for good measure. :P
- Inspired somewhat by a really good DA comic I read: Hilda left her childhood home in Inkwell to attend university to study astronomy. She learned a LOT and valued the education she got that she wouldn't find anywhere else. Unfortunately, the university experience was nothing like she was promised. Instead of gaining oodles of friends and out having fun in various historical places, she's holed up in her dorm studying for an exam whose due date snuck up on her. She had to skip sleep to catch up with her classes and miss important or fun events due to oversleeping or grogginess. Worst of all, no matter how hard she worked, nobody took her seriously. No matter how high her marks, no matter how many hoops she jumped, she was dismissed or ignored. She may or may not have got her degree—if she had, it was a phyric victory. Either way, she spent four years pursuing a lie in hopes it would get better... and it didn't.
- Returning to Inkwell with a heavy heart, she met The Devil, who offered her the bargain of a lifetime. If she could find and name a star that nobody had ever seen before, her name would go down in history as one of the most respected members of the scientific community. If she didn't make it before the deadline, she had to give the Devil her soul. She took his challenge head-on, working tirelessly to find that star... on the day of deadline, she finally succeeded... or so she had thought.
The contract never specified who "nobody" was. Hilda assumed it meant regular people—but it turned out to include the Devil himself, who already knows about every star in his corner of the universe—to go beyond would require technology beyond the capabilities of the 1920s, effectively rendering the bet impossible. Flabbergasted, Hilda fled the casino and locked herself up in her tower, isolating herself from the world and refusing to leave. - When she needed groceries and other general supplies to live, Hilda disguised herself as one of her Zodiac forms before she left the tower. All she could do otherwise was seal herself off from any demons that came looking for her, study her books, or watch the stars in her observatory. It wasn't long before she got cabin fever—self-imposed isolation does things to you, after all. Insomnia left her groggy and losing passage of time, which is why you hear snoring when you select "Threatenin' Zeppelin"—she’s out cold before you fight her. Hell yes, being in the sky again is liberating for her!
- In the bad ending (where I assume the Inkwell bosses are brainwashed along with the Cup Bros), she remains in her moon form most of the time and uses her powers to possess the residents of Inkwell to do her bidding... which definitely involves werewolves and other spooky critters influenced by the phases of the moon. In the good ending, she reunites with all her old friends who miss her (and makes some new ones who have also dealt with the Devil!)
- Her close friends are Cagney Carnation, Goopy Le Grande, Dr. Kahl (ostracized university graduates unite!), Cala Maria, and maybe Beppi and Bon-Bon. I have a LOT to say about her and Cagney, but that requires its own
ship manifestopost. - Due to being a blimp and her ability to turn into the moon, Hilda's insides are made up of mechanical parts. Her wind vane is actually pretty sensitive if you turn it...
- My theme songs for her are The Big Sky by Kate Bush and Desired Constellation by Bjork.
