Spoilers for Hilda and the Stone Forest will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned
Hilda and the Mountain King is the sixth book in Luke Pearson's Hilda series. It was published on September 3, 2019, by Flying Eye Books. It is the last mainline entry in the graphic novel series.
Picking up where Hilda and the Stone Forest left off, Hilda is utterly horrified after she is suddenly transformed into a troll and teleported back into the Stone Forest. In a state of panic and fear over her newfound circumstances, Hilda ends up stumbling across a giant cave, which is home to an equally giant troll known as Trundle. The gigantic troll, after finding out about her situation, soon makes a deal with her: Do several tasks for him and he, in return, will turn Hilda back into a human.
And so, Hilda, after agreeing to the deal, must learn to live life as a troll and complete the tasks given to her by Trundle to turn back into a human and get back home safely to her mother and Twig.
Meanwhile, her mother, who is also horrified by the situation, seeks out on a quest with Twig and Tontu to get her daughter back, all while having to deal with a rambunctious humanized Baba (who Hilda had swapped places with), and Erik Alhberg and Safety Patrol, who are planning to wage war against the trolls to protect Trolberg.
The comic would be later adapted into the series as a feature-length film in 2021, acting as the finale to the storyline started in Season 2. Despite it being the last main graphic novel, the series is planned to continue past Mountain King and conclude with a third and final season, which is premiered on December 7, 2023.
Hilda and the Mountain King provides examples of:
- Actually, I Am Him: At the climax of the story, Hilda finds out that Trundle was the Mountain King himself.
- And I Must Scream: As Hilda exits the stone forest during the day, she was immediately turned to stone. When Hilda awoke at nighttime, she was in a state of panic.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Trundle and his brother are the two largest Trolls seen so far, with Trundle towering even over the walls of Trolberg. Trundle’s plan involves awakening an even larger Troll, Amma, who is sleeping underneath Trolberg and can destroy the whole city should she decide to rise up from her slumber.
- Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Trundle's ultimate goal is to gather all of the Trolls to invade Trolberg. From there, the citizens will try to attack the Trolls to defend the city. This would cause the ancient Troll, Amma to awaken and protect the Trolls. But if Amma wakes up from her slumber, all of Trolberg will be destroyed.
- BFG: The Safety Patrol's latest weapon in the war against Trolls is a gigantic cannon version of their regular torch guns.
- Big Damn Reunion: After defeating the giant Troll that was thought to be the Mountain King, Hilda was finally reunited with her mother. In which, they both gave each other a great big hug. After that, Hilda gathered her Mother, Twig, Tontu, Baba and the giant red orb, and took them to Trundle's cave in order to undo the changeling spell.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: While trolls and humans have a surprising lot in common there are a few differences, Trolls believe anything not kept in a hoard means its unwanted, this includes crops and pinned animals, cause as they see it if you wanted it, it would be hidden away and guarded. The Troll mother also assumes that anything humans do is because they want to, and saw nothing wrong with using the changeling spell until Hilda called her out for doing so.
- Cerebus Retcon: Remember in Hilda and the Troll where they showed that Trolls don't like bells being hung on their noses? Well, it was revealed that the sounds of the bells ringing causes the Trolls to go through extreme levels of pain. Hilda learned this the hard way.
- Changeling Tale: Tontu deduces Hilda and Baba are the victim of a changeling spell. Breaking the spell drives the plot for the first half of the story.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover of the comic prominently features the silhouette of the giant, hunchbacked troll that Hilda encounters when she goes to retrieve the giant red orb, suggesting that he is the Mountain King.He isn't; Trundle is the Mountain King, and this troll is actually Trundle's brother who is trying to prevent Trundle's return.
- Curse Escape Clause: The changeling spell can be reversed by returning both children to their real mothers, though the protagonists only discover this by accident.
- Cute Monster Girl: Despite being turned into a Troll, Hilda still resembles the adorable young adventurer we all know.
- Cyclops: Trundle is revealed to be one after he regains his eye.
- Darker and Edgier: While the overall tone isn't as dark as the previous story, but it's still quite serious throughout. With Hilda so desperate to be turned back into a human, she makes a deal with a mysterious Troll named Trundle. Also, Hilda's mother is in a situation where she needs to find her daughter before the Trolberg Safety Patrol plan a full scale war with the Trolls.
- Deal with the Devil: Upon meeting Trundle, Hilda makes a pact with him that if she completes three tasks, Trundle will turn her back into a human. Unfortunately for Hilda, this was just a ruse so that he will be free from his prison.
- Doomed Hometown: Narrowly averted when Hilda realized that if the Trolberg Safety Patrol attack every single Troll, Amma will awaken and the entire city will be destroyed. Hilda managed to convince Erik Ahlberg to stop the attack when she showed him the prophecy of what will happen if every single Troll is harmed.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: When going inside the giant red orb for the first time, Hilda receives a vision of what will happen if the Trolls attack Trolberg and are harmed by the safety patrol. Hilda later uses the orb to give Erik Ahlberg the same vision so he realizes why he must order his troops to stand down.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After dealing with so many perils, Hilda was happily reunited with her mother, restored to her human form, and won back her mother's trust.
- Easily Forgiven: The Troll Mother that placed the changeling spell on Hilda in the first place. Considering that the Troll did realize what she had done was wrong and apologized for her actions, neither Hilda nor her mother hold any grudge against her.
- Extreme Omnivore: It was shown that Trolls are willing to eat almost anything. One panel had one Troll try to eat a single Woff alive. Luckily, the Woff managed to escape.
- False Friend: Trundle pretends to be Hilda's friend in need by telling her that if she helps him, Trundle will turn Hilda back into a human. But Trundle only did this so that he can be released from his prison.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Implied with Hilda and Trundle's brother. While Hilda did apologize for attacking him when she thought that he was going to hurt her mother, the Troll's only response was a slight grumble.
- Giant Eye of Doom: The giant red orb that Hilda was tasked to find was actually Trundle's eye. Those who enter the eye witness a prophecy of the Trolls invading Trolberg. Ultimately leading to Amma's awakening.
- Grand Finale: The last book of the graphic novel series. However, Luke Pearson has plans to continue the animated adaptation of the series for one more season.
- Heroic BSoD: When Baba's mom told Hilda that she doesn't know how to reverse the changeling spell, she does not take it well.
- Impossible Task: The second task that Trundle gives to Hilda was to remove the giant bells from the entrance to his cave. The problem is that if Hilda tries to remove them, the vibrations from the bells will cause great harm to both Hilda and Trundle. However, Hilda later discovers a treasure room full of pillows. Which she uses to stuff the giant bells with so that they won't cause any noise.
- Irony: The Troll Mother told Hilda that she has no idea how to reverse the changeling spell. In actuality, the Troll Mother is one of two components needed to help break the spell.
- It's All My Fault: Hilda blames herself for freeing Trundle from his prison.
- Let's Meet the Meat: At the Troll breakfast, Hilda requests a meal that is vegetarian. She is given a sentient talking carrot, who gives Hilda permission to eat his leaf.
- Militaries Are Useless: Played straight when Erik Ahlberg tries to fight off Trundle’s brother with his torch, which is too small to harm the giant troll. Averted however during the battle for Trolberg, where the Trolberg Safety Patrol is well capable of fighting off the Trolls and their new weapon actually kills Trundle. This is not a good thing however since them hurting the Trolls is what threatens to wake up Amma.
- Morphic Resonance: Even in their transformed states, Hilda and Baba still strongly resemble their old selves; Troll Hilda is essentially human Hilda with a grey, stone-like skin, a longer nose, bigger feet, and troll teeth, while human Baba is troll baba with human skin, but still bald.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The Troll Mother has this reaction when she realizes that using the changeling spell on Hilda was wrong.
- Not Quite Back to Normal: While Hilda was indeed restored to her human form, she's somehow still able to communicate with the trolls.
- Non-Humans Lack Attributes: Trolls go about naked, but lack human "naughty bits". This means that Hilda's nudity in troll form doesn't become a problem until she is changed back to a human.
- Posthumous Villain Victory: A variation happens with Trundle/The Mountain King as their ultimate goal is to awaken Amma, the mother of all trolls (himself included), from her slumber beneath Trolberg to reunite her with all her children and doesn't mind dying to make her awaken faster so she'll defend her attacking troll children whom he directed to attack the city in the first place. Despite all that happens Amma ultimately does reunite with the trolls, but rather than after the trolls and humans fight it instead happens because Hilda helps stop the fighting by convincing Erik Ahlberg and the Safety Patrol to stand down and let the trolls get inside the city peacefully, letting Amma communicate with them telepathically and subsequently reuniting with her once a year within Trolberg without conflict with humans.
- Power High: Hilda quite enjoys the new powers that come with being a troll, like her great strength, stamina, and being able to roar.
- Previously on…: The story starts off with a quick recap of the events of Hilda and the Stone Forest.
- Ray Gun: The Safety Patrol officers have guns called torches, which fire a ray that, on Trolls, has the same effect as sunlight.
- Red Herring: The giant Troll that Hilda faced in the Stone Forest was thought to be the Mountain King. It turns out later that he was the Mountain King's brother.
- Rule of Three: This happened within the story three times itself:
- Hilda's deal with Trundle to have him turn her back into a human involves three tasks. 1. Giving him a drink called Troll-mead. 2. Remove the bells from the cave he dwells in. 3. Retrieving a giant red orb from the abandoned castle of the Mountain King.
- Hilda visited Trundle three times. The first was when she stumbled upon Trundle's cave when she was trying to hide from the Troll Mother. The second was when Hilda came back to give Trundle a cup of Troll-mead. The third was when Hilda removed the giant bells surrounding Trundle's cave, and asking him about the final task.
- Hilda's Mother had three attempts to find her daughter. Her first attempt failed when Erik Ahlberg told her to leave the vicinity due to large activity of Trolls there. Her second try was going to the Stone Forest herself, but the opening to the forest was closed off, and was chased off by rampaging Trolls. Her final attempt was far more successful, as Hilda herself exited the Stone Forest when she was being chased by a giant Troll.
- Scenery Censor: Once Hilda was transformed back into a human, she was unfortunately in her "Birthday Suit". Luckily, She was hiding behind a large boulder. So, the only things we see of Hilda were her arms and head.
- Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: Zig-zagged. When Baba was turned into a human, she also gained some clothes, but when Hilda is transformed back from a troll to a human, she is naked, while Baba retains her clothes even as a troll. Fortunately, Tontu was prepared for this and brought Hilda a set of spare clothes.
- Spanner in the Works: Had Trundle not given Hilda the task of retrieving the mysterious red orb from the Mountain King's castle, Hilda would never have been reunited with her mother. Which in turn led to the Troll Mother being reunited with Baba. Thus, the changeling spell would never have been broken.
- Suddenly Speaking: Since Hilda is a Troll in this story, the Trolls actually get dialogue instead of just their usual roars and grunts.
- Super-Strength: Hilda demonstrates that, even as children, Trolls are quite strong when she manages to lift and chuck a boulder several times larger than her and later she manages to carry her mother, the Troll she was swapped with, Twig, Tontu, and the red orb all at once.
- Tailor-Made Prison: Trundle is locked in a giant cave with dozens of bells hanging at the entrance, meaning he can’t leave without setting them off.
- Time Skip: The epilogue takes place roughly a year after the Trolls were reunited with Amma. The citizens of Trolberg declared that once a year, the Trolls will be allowed to enter the city in a event called "The Night of the Trolls". Also, Baba comes by Hilda's house to spend time with Hilda and her mother.
- Thanatos Gambit: Trundle is counting on Amma rising to defend her troll children from being slaughtered; he goes smiling to his own death in the assumption that Trolberg and its inhabitants will soon follow.
- Treasure Room: All trolls like to collect treasures in their caves, but have rather broad definitions of what they consider treasure. The palace of the Mountain King contains the most straightforward example, filled with gold and jewels, but Hilda also sees treasure rooms filled with car parts, pillows and other junk. Hilda grabs the pillows from said treasure room to stuff the giant bells from Trundle's cave.
- Truly Single Parent: Apparently, most Trolls normally just have one parental figure. When Hilda asked if she had a "Troll-Daddy", the Troll Mother stated that Trolls aren't born the same way humans are. The Troll Mother also said that she found Baba when the child troll suddenly appeared to her one day, and declared Baba as her own.
- Unwitting Pawn: Hilda was this to Trundle.
- Villainous Plan Inertia: Trundle is killed just after smashing the walls of Trolberg, but the other trolls can now freely enter the city, and if the Safety Patrol fights back, this will provoke Amma into rising up from the ground and leveling Trolberg, just like Trundle intended. Hilda has to convince the Safety Patrol to stand down to prevent this.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about Trundle without revealing who he really is, why he was in that cave in the first place, and his master plan.
- Wild Child: Baba is shown to be rather destructive due to not having any knowledge of the human world. Hilda's mother had a hard time trying to tame her.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Erik Ahlberg, who really wants to defend all inhabitants of Trolberg against trolls, but this makes him prone to Fantastic Racism and rushing to conclusions.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Trundle, who acts like a gentle giant towards Hilda so she will accept his help in return for completing three tasks and freeing him from his prison, but this is all an act. He is actually the Mountain King, and wants to wage war against Trolberg.
