The Ice Man is a minor character who appears in both the graphic novels and the animated series. He made no appearance in the novelization.
Appearance[]
The Ice Man was unrelated to most other giants. As its name suggest, this giant was made entirely of pure ice, but appears to lack any eyes and mouth. Its also said to walk very slowly. In spite of it's name, the Ice Man's exact gender is undisclosed.
As seen in Hilda and Twig: Wake the Ice Man, the Ice Man can switch back and forth between his giant form and a small humanoid figure not much bigger than Twig. In this small form, he sleeps between winters.
Biography[]
In ancient times, the Ice Man was one of the many giants living in the valleys. All that changed when humans began arriving, thus a conflict between them started and eventually Ice Man, along with the other giants, apparently decided to leave the Earth forever.
In the graphic novel, he first appears in Hilda and the Midnight Giant on a two-page image depicting the giants of old. He plays no direct role in the story. He made a similar cameo in "Chapter 2: The Midnight Giant", in which he can seen in the Wood Man's book the Giants of Old, as well as twice during a flashback.
The Ice Man plays a central role in Hilda and Twig: Wake the Ice Man, in which it is revealed he never left the Earth after all and is still living in the mountains. He is first mentioned by Burku's parents when they notice it is getting chilly, and they wonder if the Ice Man woke up early. This is indeed the case, because during a game of hide and seek with Hilda and Burku, Twig accidentally found the lair of the Ice Man; an underground cave filled with ice sculptures. The cave also contained a large horn, and Twig couldn't resist the temptation to blow on it. This woke up the Ice Man. That night, the Ice Man brings some snow to the wilderness. When Hilda and Burku have a falling out and their friendship is at stake, Twig decides to wake the Ice Man again to bring more snow for the two friends. This time, after blowing the horn, he waits for the Ice Man to reveal himself. Much to his surprise, the Ice man is just a tiny, humanoid creature not much bigger than him. The Ice Man is still tired, so Twig offers him a ride on his back to fully wake him up. This turns out to be a mistake, because once they leave the cave, the Ice Man grows into his true, gigantic form and brings a huge blizzard to the wilderness. Realizing he messed up, Twig lures the Ice Man away from [[Hilda's house (forest)]|Hilda's House]] and back to his cave, where he uses a cassette with soothing music that Hilda likes to listen to at night to lull the Ice Man back to sleep. The sleeping Ice Man shrinks back to his small form, allowing Twig to put him back in bed and ending the blizzard.
Trivia[]
- The Ice Man did not appear in "Chapter 3: The Giantslayer".
- In "Hilda and the Faratok Tree", after the Faratok tree sends her 3000 years into the past, Hilda meets the ancient giants. She attends their Grand Council meeting where 18 giants gather. It is left unclear if the Ice Man is one of them as it is not depicted on any of the images nor called by name in the text.
Gallery[]
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