When Hilda breaks the charm Astrid gave her, she sets out to find the Faratok Tree to make a replacement. There, she runs into her old friend Wood Man, and together they end up in the time of the giants after entering the tree.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: None of the giants are called by name in this episode. If you want to know their names, you have to read either the graphic novel Hilda and the Midnight Giant or the book Hilda's Book of Beasts and Spirits. For the record: the female snowgiant is named Kald and her captured brother is Drib.
- Alternate Timeline: Wood Man theorizes that time travel through the Faratok Tree results in these, and thus nothing they do in the past will affect the future. However, the Faratok Tree being destroyed in the present day after burning in flames in the past suggests otherwise, though Wood Man rationalizes that the tree is connected to all its alternate versions by its roots (however, he admits shortly after that he could be thinking of a different tree, keeping it ambiguous). That said, no Time Worm showed up this time so whatever Hilda did in the past didn't cause enough changes to summon one.
- Ascended Extra: The Giants featured in this episode, but Kald and Drib in particular. In the graphic novels, all of them only appeared on an information page depicting the giants of old but played no direct part in the stories. Here, they are main characters.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Hilda demands to speak to The Giantslayer, a huge, muscular man approaches her, implying he is the Giantslayer. Except he's not, he just points her to the real Giantslayer, a boy named Halvor.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: As Hilda and Halvor duel, he winds up starting a fire that spreads through the village. When she finally disarms him and explains to him that the giants don't mean to cause the damage they do, he wonders how anyone could cause such destruction obliviously. Hilda then points out he's done just that while dueling her.
- Burn the Witch!: Wood Man is almost burned at the stake when the villagers mistake him for a demon.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Halvor the Giantslayer is no older than Hilda, but in charge of the village.
- Continuity Nod: Hilda recalls that things got scary the last time she changed the past.
- A Day in the Limelight: For the Giants.
- Death Glare: It’s impossible to see it because of his frozen facial expression, but Wood Man is not happy at Hilda’s request of giving her a piece from the Faratok Tree’s last branch.
- Full-Boar Action: Halvor has a fierce boar for his mount. It even gets to fight Twig later in the episode.
- Gulliver Tie-Down: How Drib is tied up.
- History Repeats: Halvor had his house crushed by a giant, just like Hilda. It is implied that he lost more than his home, which led to his quest for revenge against all giants.
- Horse of a Different Color: Halvor rides a boar in battle, being much too small to ride a full-size horse.
- An Ice Person: Both Kald and Drib are covered in snow and can spread cold. Drib uses this to put out the fires in the village.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Halvor waging war on all of giants may be wrong, because they step on human houses by accident, but he’s right that human lives are constantly threatened by them.
- "Oh, Crap!" Smile: When Wood Man tells Hilda how he hates people breaking off parts of the Faratok Tree for making wands and charms, Hilda grins sheepishly while quickly hiding the broken charm in her pocket.
- Portal to the Past: The Faratok Tree can act as one, though it's an Alternate Timeline (maybe?) where Hilda doesn't have to worry about a Time Worm harassing her for interfering.
- Sword Fight: Hilda duels Halvor to save Wood Man and the giants. She ultimately manages to disarm him.
- World Tree: According to Wood Man, the Faratok Tree essentially acts as one, linking multiple universes and timelines through its roots.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Hilda's attempt to bridge peace between the humans and giants ends in failure as the giants decide to leave their world, though at least the one Halvor caught but then freed helps to put out the village fires before he leaves as well. Wood Man tells her when they return home that, despite the failure, Halvor and the giants seems to have felt her words, but it will take time before there is any effect.
