Taiyō no Ōji: Horusu no Daibōken (Japanese)
*English titles vary on the edition
Voice: Etsuko Ichihara (Japanese)
*no official English dub as of September 2009
The Character
Ah yes an early pre-Ghibli Princess created by the Ghibli people and you can tell. She is the original Miyazaki heroine and the blueprint for Miyazaki's future female characters. She is argued to be one of the most complex female characters in animation. There is so much to say about her because she has a strong good side and a strong evil side. Hilda is technically a psychology dream. Hell, she's got her own angel and demon who represent her good and evil side fighting as she comes to find herself and where she truly belongs.
When we first see her, she looks angelic, apparently an orphan from a village destroyed by a monster . She has two companions: Toto and Chiro. She plays the harp and sings beautifully. Hols immediately feels for her because she seems to be as lonely as him and she is welcomed into the village.
Sounds simple enough? Wrong! It all changes when we the viewer learns that Hilda is in fact the sister of the main villain, Grunwald. As time goes on, we learn that the monster destroying man villages could be Hilda. We learn that this could be the case. When she sings and plays the harp, the men stop work and listen to her. She is like a Siren and it is through her that mistrust is brought onto the villagers which, if not stopped, would lead to Hols' demise and eventually the destruction of the village. We see her as evil after that and we know she is a the sister of a demon and therefore a demon herself.
That is until the scene with Hilda and Mauni in the meadow. This is an important scene in terms of Hilda's character development for we learn a little more about her. We also see Toto and Chiro in what their purpose in the film is. Despite planning to destroy the village, she aims to spare little Mauni which shows that there is love in her heart. Chiro and Toto fight to put their point of view across which leads to frustration. One line intrigued me which is said after Mauni lies on her lap and asks her to sing:
"I can't really sing."
Despite later Hilda saying that she's "a devil, a devil's sister", there is some points to wonder what does she mean by sister.
The first clue comes in the taglines that surround Hilda's character in the official film trailer:
"Am I demon...or a human being?....beautiful young Hilda's love is awakened"
After seeing this trailer on the DVD, I thought back to the part of the movie to when Hols first meets Grunwald and as Grunwald holds onto the rope that Hols is climbing, he says:
"I've heard you are a promising boy and I want you to be my little brother....... Your life is in my hands. Just as the whole world is. Can you resist me? Nobody can resist me."
It makes me wonder if Hilda is Grunwald's sister biologically or is she address as his sister symbolically? I wonder if Hilda was really human until her village was destroyed and as the sole survivor of the massacre, she was given a choice to join him or die and she chooses the former. A clue is the Medal life given to her by Grunwald to give her immortality. If she was an immortal demon, she would not need this. Also, she could have been given her musical talents by Grunwald in a way to make sure the humans turn against each other.
Or it could be she is the biological sister, born by a human. Maybe Grunwald was once a human and became warped whilst she stays pure.
She is just as manipulated by Grunwald and Toto as much as she manipulates the villagers. I feel that Hilda is deep down vulnerable but she cannot be saved by Chiro or Hols. In the end, she has to save herself.
The voice behind the character
If it is Etsuko Ichihara singing, then she was perfect. It brings the viewer in like the villagers with her Siren-like singing voice and she makes Hilda sound girly, especially with that beautiful giggle. Sheer perfection.
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