Louise

**Louise** is a character who appears in Season 3 of the animated series and the tie-in novel "Hilda and the Laughing Merman". She does not appear in the graphic novels.

She is a member of the Sparrow Scouts and temporarily becomes a fourth member to Hilda's group of friends.

## Appearance

Louise is a girl around the same age as Hilda, Frida and David. She has dark brown hair, a tan skin, and always carries a camera with her.

## Personality

Louise is a quiet, introvert girl who mostly keeps to herself. As such, she barely stands out. When Hilda first meets her she thinks Louise is a new member of the Sparrow Scouts, and is surprised to learn the girls has been with the scouts for a year already as she never noticed her before. She loves photography and is very observant, seeing things that other people easily overlook.

## Biography

### Animated series

Louise is first seen during Sparrow Scouts camp when Raven Leader assigns her as a fourth person to the raft of Hilda, David and Frida. They are the only group left with a place for her because none of the other scouts dare to join them due to their reputation of always getting into weird adventures.

Hilda and friends are out to get the Fish Finder River Badge, and don't want to frighten Louise on her first trip with them, so they vow to stick to the route set by Raven Leader and steer clear of any weirdness. All goes well until David, who is sitting in front of the boat, loses his map. In their attempt to find their way on their own, they end up paddling up a wrong riverway, where they meet the merman Eugene. Eugene is being chased by a large sea serpent, who now sets it's eyes on the boat with the four kids. In an attempt to escape from the Sea Serpent, the four kids are forced to paddle donw a section of the river full of rapids, which ends at a waterfall. They end up going over the waterfall but fortunately survive without serious injuries. Hilda feels sorry for putting Louise through all this, while Eugene is quite amused about the whole thing.

When the kids wonder how to get back to the main river, Eugene shows them the cave and claims it's the shortest way back. Hilda doesn't trust him, but the kids decide that they have little choice, since the only alternative is dragging the boat through the woods. It is only when they are inside the cave that they learn Hilda was right and Eugene tricked them; the cave is his home. Louise realizes the sea serpent they encountered earlier was just an illusion, as the beast does not show up on the photo she took of it. Eugene wants to keep the kids as his captive audience forever. David makes a deal with Eugene that if he is able to make laugh within the next five minutes, they will stay as his audience forever, but if not he has to release them. Eugene agrees. While the kids do their best to resist his jokes, Hilda, David and Frida can't help but laugh when Eugene uses his powers of illusion to put Louise in a ridiculous costume. Only Louise herself does not laugh and thus only she wins the bet and is allowed to leave.

Louise, not wanting to abandon the others, asks Eugene to give her friends one more chance to win their freedom, in return for her promise that if they fail again she will stay too. Eugene agrees again and uses his powers of illusion to warp the entire interior of the cave into a dark void filled with colored, neon-light figurs in various shapes (like a starfish and a sea serpent). He claims on of these is the real exit and they get one chance to choose which it is. Louise however has been observing Eugene long enough now to pick up on his habbit that he always laughs whenever his audience is about to fall for one of his tricks. Thus, the kids carefully examine each exit and keep an eye on Eugene, turning around the moment they see him laugh. They are able to eliminate all but two exits when Eugene catches on to their strategy and uses another illusion to make himself look stoic. The kids come close to picking a wrong exit, but at the last moment Louise sees through Eugene's disguise with a photo and realizes the deception. They thus escape his trap and pick the right exit.

Once outside the cave, Louise admits that David never lost the map; she had it the whole time. She knew of the reputation of Hilda, David and Frida and wanted to see one of their adventures for herself, but things got out of hand. Hilda is glad to have met someone that appreciates her freakiness, and they invite Louise to join their group. Eugene follows the kids outside and ackknowleges his defeat. Louise in turn points out to Eugene how all rivers lead to the ocean, and he can thus find his way home by simply following the river south. But first she has a final request for him; to use his sea serpent illusion to pull a prank on Jacob and Harry; two boys who were mocking Hilda earlier for always getting into freaky adventures. Eugene gladly agrees.

Louise does not appear again in the rest of the season except for some brief cameos in "Chapter 6: The Forgotten Lake" and "Chapter 8: The Fairy Isle".

### Tie-in books

The tie-in book "Hilda and the Laughing Merman" for most part follows the plot of the episode it adapts, with some differences. Here, in the final challenge created by Eugene the exits Eugene summons look like three whirlpools, three streams and three portals. He also fails to realize he is giving the kids clues with his laughter and never tries to trick them with another illusion.

In the book, Louise does not reveal right away that she took the map, but keeps this information to herself. After the adventure with Eugene, Hilda invites her to come to the Nisse meeting she is organizing next saterday in an attempt to get all Nisse in Trolberg to get along better. Louise agrees. However, on the day of the meeting, Hilda is delayed to due having been captures by the Spider Frog, and the meeting thus ends in chaos when all the Nisse start fighting each other. Hilda however has a new plan. A few days later, Louise, Hilda, Frida and David are awarded the Fish Finder River Badge with golden wings due to them having seen a merman. After the ceremony, they check out Hilda's new project; a Nisse lending library set up in the Nowhere Space of Scout Hall. When Louise wants to take a photo of the library and her friends, the map falls out of her camera case, and she finally admits she hid the map on purpose.

## Gallery

Louise in the tie-in books.Meeting her new friends.Louise is not amused.Louise tells what she knows about Eugene.Louise as the fourth Freaky Friend.Louise in the Lending Library - tie-in books.

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