Giants

Giants are a race of creatures that are very old and have lived on Earth for thousands of years. According to the Wood Man's book "Giants of Old", they were the first things to live in the valley.

They exist in various subspecies, that greatly differ in size and appearance. The two main subspecies seen in the series are the ancient giants, and the Forest Giants.

Pre-series
Thousands of years ago, the ancient giants roamed the valley long before people or other creatures set foot there. These giants could reach heights up to the size of mountains.

Back then, Giants were the Earth's guardians. It was important that one giant must be sat atop the tallest mountain, which was a long-forgotten peak in the north at all times. On top, they would just sit and stare, being on "watch duty" for anything that might attack the Earth from up above. Young giants mostly served as guardians, and their guard duty could be millennia-long duty. According to legend, Jorgen, the giant that Hilda came across, was the last guardian in giant history.

However, as time passed, space for the giants started to get smaller as humans appeared and built their towns to live in. Although the giants were not evil and held no malice towards humans, their size resulted in several accidents where they unintentionally crushed the houses of the humans. This caused the people to riot against the giants, forcing them out of their world: the valley. In the end, the giants were forced to move away from their home, their current whereabouts unknown. Some thought that the giants jumped as high as they could and floated off into space. Only a few giants remained on Earth; Jorgen, who was still performing his duty as guardian, and the Forest Giants, who were the smallest giants and thus could hide in the woods.

In the series
Hilda encountered Jorgen when she found him waiting outside of her house when the clock struck midnight. Curious, she climbed up on him and asked him about his business. Jorgen revealed that he's been waiting for a friend to meet up with, where he's been waiting for thousands of years. Since he didn't find his friend yet, he assumed he got the date wrong. Hilda, thinking that Jorgen isn't the kind of person to forget something like this, assumed that this was all a setup and that he should stop waiting. Jorgen agrees with her and assumes that Hilda is right and that his friend is gone as well. He thanks Hilda for the advice in the morning, drops her off at her place, and walks off.

Shortly after the encounter with Jorgen, Hilda travels up a mountain to negotiate with the Elf King so that she can continue living in the woods. She discovers that the mountain is Illus, and is the friend Jorgen has been waiting for. Hilda tells her all about Jorgen arriving for days, with Illus explaining that the snow blocked her ears. Hilda then apologizes for telling Jorgen not to wait anymore, but jumps off Illus' ear when she tries to rub the snow out of it. Luckily, Jorgen catches her, and he reunites with his friend. Illus reveals that every other giants decided to hide or leave, but she couldn't bear to. Later, she arrived at the spot where she and Jorgen agreed to meet at and waited for him. Over time, greenery grew all over her body, and snow piled up on her upper body, causing her to become the mountain. She apologizes and Jorgen forgives her, amazed at the fact that she's waited four thousand years for him. Jorgen and Illus hug, and walk off into the distance, holding hands.

Some time after the Elf King declares the conflict between the humans and the elves over, Jorgen accidentally stomps on Hilda's house causing it to crumble. He and Illus do not realize what they did. Hilda decides to let the conflict slide, seeing how happy the two are. Jorgen and Illus kiss on a cliff, then, holding hands, they jump off into the sky, where they vanish.

Later, after Hilda and her family move into Trolberg, Hilda hangs up a colored drawing of Jorgen and Illus on a billboard in her new bedroom.

In the episode "Chapter 6: The Nightmare Spirit", during Hilda's bet with David's Marra to overcome the nightmares she gave her so that she won't make anymore nightmares for David, she attempted to create a forest giant in her dream that wanted to eat her. However, Hilda pointed out that forest giants do not eat people and asked the giant if he's trying new things because his "life's in a rut" as well as pointed out that filling that crater is not eating people. After Hilda was thrown and landed on a woff, David's Marra watched her from inside the giant's eye and wondered what scares Hilda, but then remembered her secret that she told the Rat King.

In the episode "The House In The Woods", Wood Man bet Hilda in a card game and lost her to a Forest Giant.

Two mountains are named after giants in the graphic novels. The reason for this is unclear.

Known Giants
In the animated series and the novelization, the only giants ever called by name are Jorgen and the Forest Giants.

In the graphic novel "Hilda and the Midnight Giant" however, there are two pages in the back of the book dedicated to the Giants of Old, with their names and a brief description. "Hilda's Book of Beasts and Spirits" likewise contains an entry about the various giants.

Appearances
Graphic novels
 * Hildafolk (forest giants only)
 * Hilda and the Midnight Giant

Animated series
 * Chapter 1: The Hidden People (cameo, debut)
 * Chapter 2: The Midnight Giant
 * Chapter 6: The Nightmare Spirit (dream)
 * Chapter 11: The House in the Woods

Novelization:
 * Hilda and the Hidden People
 * Hilda and the Nowhere Space

Gallery
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