Tontu (alpha)

Tontu is a Nisse, who appears in both the graphic novels, the animated series, and the novelization.

Appearance
He is a humanoid creature about the size of a child, with a dis-proportionally large head.

His head is completely covered in thick, brown, hair, leaving only his nose visible. It's thus impossible to tell his mood or see his facial expressions.

Personality
As a nisse he distrusts all other Nisse, whom he considers liars. That was until after Hilda got him to meet Tontu (Beta).

Season 1
Before Hilda met him, he lived in a yellow house near a duck pond. One day however, The Black Hound entered the Nowhere Space of this house, and subsequently the house itself, and trashed both. Tontu was wrongfully accused for the mess by the house's owner, and banished.

Hilda first saw him in "Chapter 12: The Nisse", where he is homeless in the streets. Johanna forbade Hilda from talking to him, claiming Tontu must have been banished for a good reason. Hilda being Hilda, she tried to help him anyway by inviting him to come live in her house. Unfortunately, her house already had a Nisse and the two got in a fierce fight, that ended with Johanna banishing Tontu from her home.

Later, while camping with the Sparrow Scouts, Hilda and David found Tontu in the Huldrawood. Hilda promised to bring him some snacks later, but never got the chance since she and David first ran into a group of Marra, and then got attacked by the Black Hound.

In "Chapter 13: The Black Hound", Hilda kept searching for Tontu, but first only encountered other Nisse. She also found the owner of the house that Tontu used to live in, who told her what Tontu had supposedly done. Shortly afterwards, she met Tontu again, who kept claiming to be innocent. He came with her to Scout Hall and checked out the Nowhere Space there, only to find the black hound.

The Black Hound chased Hilda and Tontu through Nowhere Space back to Hilda's house, where the other Tontu came to their aid. They recognized the Hound as their old pet Jellybean. When the Trolberg Safety Patrol arrived to capture Jellybean, the two Tontus set aside their distrust for each other, and cooperated with Hilda, and Johanna to lure Jellybean out of the city. This almost failed since Jellybean jumped on top of Johanna's car and caused it to go out of control. The only way the two nisse could prevent the car from crashing was by sending it into the Nowhere Space of the outside world. While there, Jellybean and his owner got separated from the others while the car with Tontu, Hilda and Johanna emerged on the other side of the town wall.

Afterwards, Tontu went to live with Hilda and Johanna in the now vacant nowhere space of their house.

Season 2
In Season 2, he has become a valued member of the household; he has dinner with Johanna and Hilda, and offers Johanna the chance to use Nowhere Space as an extra storage. In "Chapter 5: The Windmill", he helps Hilda, Frida and David stop Victoria Van Gale's plan to open a breach to Nowhere Space. In "Chapter 6: The Old Bells of Trolberg", he participates in Hilda's plan to sabotage the new mechanical bellringers, because their hourly ringing of the town bells even disturbs him in Nowhere Space. He helps Frida and Hilda get into the central belltower after the Bragga Family has distracted the guards.

In chapters 7 and 9 he only has a small appearance. In "Chapter 10: The Yule Lads", he once again allows Hilda and friends to use Nowhere Space in order to catch up with the Yule Lads, who are about to sacrifice Johanna, Trevor and Trevor's mom to Gryla.

In "Chapter 13: The Stone Forest", after Hilda is send to her room by Johanna, Hilda blackmails him into helping her get to Frida's house by threatening to tell Johanna that Tontu broke her favorite bowl and hid the remains in his nest. Unfortunately, the attempt is interrupted by Johanna. Tontu tries to warn them that staying half in/half out of Nowhere space was dangerous, but too late; Hilda and Johanna get send to the Stone Forest, while Tontu ends up elsewhere in Trolberg. After a full day of being gone, during which he ends up in the harbor, the graveyard, and Jorts HQ, he finally manages to find his way back home, and tells Alfur where Hilda and Johanna are.

Movie
In The Movie, Tontu, upon seeing the now human Baba, deduces that a changeling spell was used and Hilda is now a troll. He accompanies Johanna on her first search for the now Troll Hilda, but they don't find her. When Johanna goes for another try, she leaves Baba at home under Tontu's care. Baba however quickly wanders out of the house and into the streets, forcing Tontu to follow her, using the Nowhere Space passages to keep up. They run into David and Frida, and Tontu tells them the whole story. He accompanies Johanna again on her third search, this time with Erik Ahlberg also tagging along. This time, they find Hilda. When Hilda and Baba are transformed back into their old selves, Hilda is left with no clothes and Baba tears up the clothes Johanna had given her, but Tontu fortunately reveals he brought a spare set of clothes along.

Graphic Novels
Tontu is first seen in "Hilda and the Black Hound". His history, including his first meeting with Hilda, is largely identical to the animated series, except the main events happen in a different order; Tontu and Hilda first meet in the woods during the Sparrow Scouts camp, where Hilda gains Tontu's trust, and after that Hilda offered her own house to Tontu, only to find out another Nisse already lives there. Like in the animated series, Hilda eventually cleared Tontu's name, he and Jellybean's owner helped Jellybean escape the city, and he moved in with Hilda and Johanna after Jellybean and his owner got lost in Nowhere Space.

In "Hilda and the Stone Forest", which the events from the Seson 2 finale are adapted from, Tontu's role is largely identical to that of the animated adaptation. The differences are that in this version, Hilda blackmails him into helping her get to the roof of the house so she can see the fireworks of the Bird Parade, and after the incident that leads to Johanna and Hilda ending up in the Stone Forest, Tontu himself ends up in the bathroom of another house, where a man is just taking a shower. He later lies about this embarrassing event to Hilda and Johanna. He plays a larger role in the climax of the story, in which he comes to rescue Johanna and Hilda along with The Great Raven.

In "Hilda and the Mountain King", Tontu's role is largely identical to the movie, except the scene in which he has to chase Baba down the street does not happen in this story.

Novelization
The events from "Chapter 12: The Nisse" and "Chapter 13: The Black Hound" are adapted into the book "Hilda and the Nowhere Space". Tontu's role in the story is mostly identical to the animated series, except he and Hilda have less scenes in which they interact. This includes Tontu finding the Scout Hall on his own instead of Hilda taking him there.

In "Hilda and the Time Worm", "Hilda and the Ghost Ship" and "Hilda and the White Woff" Tontu now lives with Hilda and Johanna, and serves as a supporting character. Like in the animated series, he participates in Hilda's plan to sabotage the mechanical bellringers, helps her reach the Yule Lads after Johanna is abducted, assists in stopping Victoria van Gale's plan, and is blackmailed by Hilda into letting her use Nowhere Space after she is grounded, leading to the incident in which Hilda and Johanna are sent to the Stone Forest.

Appearances
Graphic novels
 * Hilda and the Black Hound
 * Hilda and the Stone Forest
 * Hilda and the Mountain King

Animated series
 * Season 1:
 * Chapter 12: The Nisse
 * Chapter 13: The Black Hound


 * Season 2:
 * Chapter 1: The Troll Circle
 * Chapter 5: The Windmill
 * Chapter 6: The Old Bells of Trolberg
 * Chapter 7: The Beast of Cauldron Island
 * Chapter 9: The Deerfox
 * Chapter 10: The Yule Lads
 * Chapter 13: The Stone Forest


 * Hilda and the Mountain King (movie)

Tie-in series
 * Hilda and the Nowhere Space
 * Hilda and the Time Worm
 * Hilda and the Ghost Ship
 * Hilda and the White Woff

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