Spider Frog

The **Spider Frog** (alternative name *frog spider*, latin *Aranea Ranae*) is a creature that appears in the season 3 episode "Chapter 6: The Forgotten Lake", as well as it's tie-in book adaptation "Hilda and the Laughing Merman".

## Appearance

The Spider Frog is a large creature, big enough to swallow an adult human whole.

As it's name implies, the Spider Frog has features of both of these animals. It has the head of a frog, six long, spider-like legs, 2 smaller arms in front with fingers and glands that produce spider silk, and an amphibian tail. It's mouth contains a long, forked, frog-like tongue with finger-like appendages on both halves, that it can use to grab it's prey.

The spider frog is amphibian, and just as much at home under water as on land. It can run fast enough to keep up with a car, climb trees and jump between tree tops. The creature has no ears but can hear through the hairs on it's legs.

The Spider Frog is capable of speech. In the animated series, it speaks through speaking glands in it's neck; a fact that is backed up by a drawing of the creature naming it's various features. In the tie-in novel however the creature claims it can talk due to being telelingual, meaning it can just think words into being. It has a deep, menacing voice.

## Name

The Spider Frog never refers to itself by any name. When asked by Hilda what it is, it claims it comes from a time that creatures did not have to be so specifically one thing or another, and it has no words for what it is. Johanna can't decide whether to call the creature Spider Frog or Frog Spider, and Hilda tells her to forget it since the creature clearly did not want to be labeled. In the tie-in book, the creature is explicitely called Spider Frog in the text.

## History

### Animated series

The Spider Frog claims to be an ancient being. It is unknown how old it is or if it's the only one of it's kind. By it's own admission, it is neither one thing nor another.

When Johanna was still a child, she encountered the Spider Frog and the creature tried to eat her. He did not succeed and was instead trapped at the bottom of a lake by Phinium and Lydia, held captive by a net and several magical charms resembling humanoid figures made of sticks and grass. After Phinium and Lydia were forced to give themselves to The Fairy Entity as part of a bargain for Johanna's life, Astrid erasaed most of Johanna's memories of her childhood, including that of her encounter with the Spider Frog.

In "Chapter 6: The Forgotten Lake", Johanna has just bought a new car and invites Hilda to go on a roadtrip. The car however is not the most reliable and breaks down on the side of the road near the lake where the Spider Frog is trapped. Johanna manages to fix the car, but by then it is getting dark so she and Hilda camp near the lake. Hilda brought some pan pipes she got from Astrid, and invites Johanna to try them. Johanna begins to play a song she didn't even knew, which unbeknown to her wakes up the Spider Frog from it's slumber in the lake.

The following day, while looking for a nice place for Johanna to make some paintings, she and Hilda come across the lake. Hilda and Twig find the net keeping the Spider Frog trapped, and remove it, thus freeing the creature. It attacks Hilda, and takes her to a cave with the intend to eat her after also capturing Johanna. Twig finds Hilda but ends up getting caught in the Spider Frog's web. Johanna however is able to free them both with a rotating saw from the toolbox in her car. The two try to make their way back to the car, but the Spider Frog finds them. By throwing her saw in the lake, Johanna distracts the beast long enough for her and Hilda to reach the car.

The Spider Frog gives chase and catches the car. When Johanna realizes that the wooden figures on the net are charms, she throws them at the Spider Frog. For a moment the beast lets go of the car and backs away from the charms, but then continues it’s chase. It leaps on the car, forcing the car to stop. The Spider Frog grabs Hilda and pins down Twig when he tries to fight it while Johanna holds onto Hilda. The Spider Frog then pulls both Johanna and Hilda into its mouth, but immediately spits them out again in disgust. It claims they are too human for it's taste, because humans upset it's digestion. Having lost it's appetite for the three, the Spider Frog departs. Before it leaves however, it reminds Johanna of their encounter years before, and also states that Hilda and Johanna must know what it is like to be "neither one thing nor another", just like him. It is left unclear at the moment what the beast is talking about, but the final episodes of the season reveal it knew Hilda and Johanna are both human-fairy hybrids.

### Tie-in books

In the tie-in book the encounter with the Spider Frog differs from the animated series at several points.

Instead of them going on a camping trip, Johanna has just picked up Hilda from Sparrow Scouts camp (where she had her adventure with Eugene), but their car breaks down on the way home, forcing them to camp in the wilderness for a night. The pan pipes that Johanna inadvertently uses to wake up the Spider Frog were given to them by Tontu after he found them in Nowhere Space, since in the book Hilda has not visited Astrid in Tofoten yet at this point. And instead of searching for a place for Johanna to paint, Hilda comes across the lake when looking for water to fill the cars radiator. In the book, Johanna also does not let Hilda drive the car. Instead, they stop and both throw the charms at the Spider Frog.

## Other media

* A drawing of the Spider Frog, supposedly made by Hilda herself, is included in the book "Hilda's World: A guide to Trolberg, the wilderness, and beyond".

## Gallery

Reveal at NYCCHilda's WorldIn "Hilda and the Laughing Merman"The Spider Frog shoots web.Hilda, Johanna and Twig hide from the Spider Frog.

 Other kids

1. ↑ Hilda and the Laughing Merman