Chapter 3: The Giantslayer

General
**Gallery**

This article is about one of the episodes from the Netflix-exclusive television series.
You may be looking for the graphic novel series of the same name.

## Credits

### Head Writer

Stephanie Simpson

***The Giantslayer*** is the third episode of the third season, and the twenty-ninth episode overall, of the Hilda TV series. It was released on December 7th, 2023 on **Netflix**.

## Synopsis

An ancient Faratok Tree transports Hilda and Wood Man to an alternate universe, where a feud rages between giants and a not-so-mighty giantslayer.

## Summary

 This section contains spoilers of an episode, movie, or book.

Hilda has another nightmare in which she is back in Fairy Country and two cloaked figures approach her. The dream causes her to fall out of her bed, and in the fall she breaks the charm Astrid gave her. She calls her aunt to ask for a replacement charm, as she feels safer with it even though she’s no longer in Tofoten. Astrid tells her the wood for the charms comes from the Faratok Tree, an ancient ash that grows deep in the Forest of Nott.

Thus, that is where Hilda and Twig go. They find the Faratok Tree, and run into their old friend Wood Man there. He claims he is taking care of these woods. And he is not happy about people breaking off part of the tree for things like wands and charms. Right now, he is patching up the holes in the Faratok Tree to get rid of the giant squirrels that are wreaking havoc on the bark. Twig gets into a fight with one of the squirrels, and chases it into the tree. Hilda follows him, and Wood Man follows her since Hilda was holding his hammer.

When Hilda and Twig emerge from the tree again, they find themselves in the distant past in a village. Considering her previous time travel adventure, Hilda is naturally careful not to change anything. She does take the opportunity to admire the village though. Then a giant, Kald, walks by and crushes a house, deeply upsetting the owners. When Hilda talks to them, she learns that there’s a human in the village named the Giant Slayer, and that he caught Kald’s brother, Drib.

Hilda follows Kald, and discovers more giants nearby. She gets to talk to Kald. She shows Hilda her brother is a captive of the humans, but she’s afraid to free him as it may be a trap. All over the world humans and giants are getting into conflicts. Hilda wants to help. Wood Man explains her that time travel through the Faratok Tree brings you to an alternate timeline, and thus Hilda’s actions here won’t affect her own time. This encourages Hilda to help the captured giant.

Hilda thus goes to the village and confronts the soldiers guarding Drib. She demands to speak with the Giant Slayer, and is surprised he’s a boy her own age: Halvor. He refuses to listen to Hilda, and admits to her he plans to attack the giants once they come to free their friend. Since Halvor cannot be reasoned with, Hilda leaves for now, but returns to the village at night to free Drib herself. She steals a sword from a sleeping guard and begins to cut through the ropes. Wood Man comes along, but is spotted by a woman who mistakes him for a demon. She wakes up other villagers, who capture Wood Man. Hilda only partially frees Drib when he accidentally knocks her off him, and she loses consciousness.

When she wakes up, Kald is approaching the village to free her brother, but is attacked by Halvor’s soldiers. Another giant, Halldór, comes to her aid. Together they wreck the catapults. Hilda tries to reason with Halfor again, to no avail. When the giants retreat, Hilda launches herself from a catapult onto Kald. She tries to convince Kald to make peace with the humans. Kald thus takes her to a meeting with the other giants. Despite Hilda’s efforts, the giants decide to leave the earth. It’s not just Halvor; humans the world over fear them.

Hilda returns to the village, and sees Wood Man is tied to some stakes. When she wants to free him, Halvor attacks her. Hilda fights him, and in the fight Halvor ends up setting fire to the whole village when he first stabs some barrels with oil, and then knocks down a torch. Some of the remaining catapults also catch fire, and a flaming projectile is launched at the Faratok Tree. During their fight, Halvor tells Hilda a giant crushed his home. Hilda disarms Halvor, and tells him she went through a similar thing as him but forgave the giant that did it. The Giants are not destroying homes on purpose; they accidentally step on them the way humans frequently stop on the houses of Elves. Unlike Halvor, who just set fire to his whole village.

Halvor finally realizes the error of his ways and frees Drib, who puts out the fires. Wood Man and the village are saved, but the Giants are still leaving the Earth. Hilda and Wood Man hurry back to the Faratok Tree, which is still ablaze. They manage to return to the present before the tree fully burns down.

Hilda is disappointed, but Wood Man assures her the giants would have left anyway. But they will remember Hilda, so she made a difference after all. He plans to plant a new Faratok Tree close to his home this time. But he does give Hilda some of the leftover wood to restore her charm. That evening, as Hilda is working on her new charm, the cloaked figures from her nightmare watch her through the window.

## Featured Characters

### Humans

* Hilda
* Halvor
* Various unnamed villagers.

### Creatures

* Wood Man
* Giant squirrel
* Halvor's boar

#### Giants

* Kald
* Drib
* Aldinn
* Valfreyja
* Myrkr
* Sigmund
* Jaðarrokk
* Bliða
* Einarr
* Gertl
* Heimskr
* Halldór

#### Fairies

* Astrid
* Phinium (cameo in Hilda’s nightmare, cloaked)
* Lydia (cameo in Hilda’s nightmare, cloaked)

## Goofs & Errors

* In both the graphic novel and "Chapter 2: The Midnight Giant", Valfreyja's appearance was described as having cone-shaped body like Illus. But in this episode she appears differently with a more normal humanoid body.
* Sigmund's appearance is different in this episode than how he previously appeared.

## Trivia

* Apart from both Jorgen and Illus. Fjällmarr, Hár, Ice Man, the Knolem, Björg, and Brekkus the Thunderwurm make no appearance in this episode.
	+ Jorgen is indirectly mentioned when Hilda tells Halvor about what happened to her house.
* This is the second time where Hilda is shown barefooted, the first being "Hilda and the Mountain King".