Kaisa

General
**Gallery**

**Kaisa** (A.K.A **The Librarian**) is a recurring character in the *Hilda* TV series, first appearing in "Chapter 6: The Nightmare Spirit". She does not appear in any of the graphic novels, and is exclusive to the animated series and the novelization.

Although she is a recurring character since Season 1, her name was not revealed until the Season 2 episode "Chapter 3: The Witch". It is revealed in Season 2 that she is also a witch.

## Appearance

Kaisa appears to be a young female adult. She wears a grey sweater vest, a white blouse, grey leggings, and a black skirt with a black cloak across her shoulders. Her hair is mostly black, but is purple towards the tips. Occasionally, she is seen wearing black/grey headphones attached to a sort of portable media player.

## Personality

Kaisa is usually calm, but can be rather strict with rules. In "Chapter 8: The Tide Mice", she directly confronted Hilda when she discovered the library's secret chamber and got a bit stern. In "Chapter 3: The Witch" when Hilda and Frida found out about the Witches Tower, she felt a bit annoyed and embarrassed.

She has the uncanny ability to always know exactly what book people are looking for, even before they can ask her about it. Another quirky thing about her is that she has memorized the entire layout of St. Guglows Cemetery. This last thing she doesn't want to admit however.

She is later seen as having some feelings of insecurity about her abilities as a witch, believing she wasn't the witch she was trained to be. She clearly showed worry that her teacher would be disappointed with her, and that she was nothing more than a librarian rather than a proper witch. These beliefs are later dispelled with some help from Hilda and Frida, the latter of whom is even accepted as a student by her former mentor.

Because of her duties of being a witch and librarian, Kaisa may seem like an outcast who is private, soft-spoken and kept secret. However, she seems like a very calm and kind person who is content with most things, even if it means offering someone information, advice, or a task to handle and has a little sense of humor. As she opens up a bit more to Hilda and her friends, seen in "Chapter 11: The Jorts Incident", she humorously complements how delicious and addictive Jorts are and when assisting Hilda and the others to vacuum the tide mice, she seems to get a thrill out of things. She states after that she's never had so much fun in a while and compliments to David on their teamwork. David questioned her way of fun and replied to him that she doesn't get out much. This is likely due to the strict rules and insecurities she's was bound to being a witch that burdened her (like in the movie, when witches aren't allowed to get involved in troll affairs), which she finally is able to let go of.

## Biography

### Animated series

Kaisa works at the library in Trolberg. Years before the start of the series, she was the student of Matilda Pilqvist, but failed to be a proper witch due to her inability to remember her spells. Instead, she became the Keeper of the books for Witches Tower, and the library. Feeling that she failed her mentor, Kaisa became afraid to face Matilda Pilqvist, even though Matilda still had the book "The Skeleton Whisperer" in her possession, and it was Kaisa's duty to get it back before the book is checked out for more than 30 years.

Throughout Season 1, Kaisa is a supporting character who assists Hilda, Frida, and David with their conflicts against creatures like ghosts, and the Marra. When Hilda discovers a secret room in the library filled with spell books, Kaisa warns the girl about the dangers of magic, but doens't stop Hilda from copying a page for the summoning ritual for the Tide Mice.

In the Season 2 episode "Chapter 3: The Witch", she only has a few hours left to get The Skeleton Whisperer back, or face being cast into the Void of No Return as a punishment. With help of Frida and Hilda, who accidentally discover the entrance to Witches Tower, she manages to make it through Matilda Pilqvist's labyrinth. Once near the house, she sends the girls in while she herself stayed behind to supposedly fight a fire monster named Eldrid. In reality, she knows Eldrid is harmless but just doesn't want to face Matilda. Matilda confronts her, but assures her that she is proud of Kaisa no matter what. Upon returning to Witches Tower, Kaisa proves her worth as a witch by fighting and defeating the Void of No Return, again with help from Frida and Hilda; they trick a Triffid into fighting and subduing the void. With the danger gone and Kaisa having made amends with her old mentor, she can keep her job as librarian while Matilda takes in Frida as her new student.

Kaisa plays another major part in "Chapter 11: The Jorts Incident". When the Tide Mice that Hilda summoned in Season 1 infect the company Jorts and rapidly multiply, endangering the souls of all those working there, Kaisa helps Hilda, David and Frida to catch them all and return them to Witch Tower. There, she participates in the disenchantment spell to banish the mice for good.

In the movie, Frida and David visit her at the library to find out how they can break the changeling spell that was put on Hilda and Baba. While Kaisa has a book about body swapping, she warns Frida that it won't work since troll magic and witch magic do not mix. Frida ignores her warning however and secretly takes the book, but finds out the hard way that the spell indeed cannot reverse the change.

In Season 3 she only has 2 non-speaking cameo's. First in "Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies" when she sees Hilda and Tontu chase another Nisse through the library, and later in "Chapter 8: The Fairy Isle" during the Bird Parade.

### Novelization

In the Hilda Tie-In Series, Kaisa is never called by name but only referred to as The Librarian. She is a minor character in "Hilda and the Great Parade"and "Hilda and the Nowhere Space", but plays a larger role in the first quarter of "Hilda and the Ghost Ship", which adapts the events of "Chapter 3: The Witch". Like in that episode, she is revealed to be a witch and has to get a book back from Matilda Pilqvist or risk being send to the void. During their quest, Kaisa notices how skilled Frida is at solving the puzzles, and decides to recommend her for witch training. As such, Frida becomes Matilda's new student.

The book does not, however, reveal if Kaisa and Matilda are student and mentor, nor does it reveal anything about Kaisa's abilities (or the lack thereof) as a witch.

## Relationships

### Animated series

The residence of where Kaisa lives or who she's related to as a family is unknown. She works at the Trolberg Library within Trolberg and is secretly in the Witches Tower as a witch trainee to The Committee of Three and Matilda. It is unknown if she actually lives in the library or the Witches Tower, but she seems to spend a lot of time there and states that she doesn't get out much.

Kaisa has often assisted Hilda, Frida, and David with various tasks and has since then become one of their biggest supporters throughout the series. Due to being secretive and a librarian, she does, however, have some rules that Hilda and others break, such as getting on Hilda's case about things like finding the secret library chamber and the Witches Tower. She also warns them about the dangers of a spell or important task they are about to do, although if it is really important she seems to be alright with the intention.

## Appearances

### Animated series

#### Season 1

* Chapter 6: The Nightmare Spirit (as **The Librarian**)
* Chapter 8: The Tide Mice (as **The Librarian**)
* Chapter 9: The Ghost (as **The Librarian**)
* Chapter 13: The Black Hound (cameo; as **The Librarian**)

#### Season 2

* Chapter 3: The Witch (as **Kaisa**)
* Chapter 11: The Jorts Incident (as **The Librarian**)

#### Movie

* Hilda and the Mountain King (as **The Librarian**)

### Season 3

* Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies (cameo; as **The Librarian**)
* Chapter 8: The Fairy Isle (cameo; as **The Librarian**)

### Novelization

* Hilda and the Great Parade
* Hilda and the Nowhere Space
* Hilda and the Ghost Ship

## Behind the Scenes

### Name and Voice

Kaisa is named after her voice actress, Kaisa Hammarlund. Her name was revealed in the Season 2 episode Chapter 3: The Witch. She was also the voice of David's marra.

## Trivia

* She is shown to speak with amalgamation of Nordic accents.
* Despite not being credited, Kaisa Hammarlund has identified herself as the voice of the Librarian.
	+ This makes her the first character on the show to share a name with her voice actor.
* The only time she is ever seen outside the library in Season 1 is at the end of "Chapter 13: The Black Hound". Though by Season 2, she begins to appear more outside of the library for helping Hilda and her friends.
* Kaisa was supposed to have more scenes in Season 1, but these had to be cut for various reasons, mainly because the crew hadn’t figured out what to do with her character yet and felt most of the scrapped scenes didn’t work out, or that the scenes wouldn’t add anything important to the plot. It wasn’t until the production of *Chapter 8: The Tide Mice* that the producers started to get an idea of how Kaisa should be, but by then the season was almost over, leaving no time to explore her character further in Season 1.
* Director Andy Coyle originally wanted to incorporate her in the climax of the movie, with her rebelling against the rule that as a witch she is not allowed to interfere with the fight. This ultimately had to be scrapped due to limited time available.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://twitter.com/kaisahammarlund/status/1072264833754640384?lang=en
2. ↑ Confirmed by voice actor herself on Twitter : https://twitter.com/KaisaHammarlund/status/1466379036700069888
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Making Hilda and the Mountain King | Full Interview with Director Andy Coyle and AD Megan Ferguson

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