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Pop Culture Library Review @popculturelibraries.wordpress.com@popculturelibraries.wordpress.com · 2025-02-04 · 15:39 UTC

Lending libraries for Nissa, Nowhere Space, and Kaisa in “Hilda”

Kaisa smirks during a scene in the final season of Hilda

Happy February! In early December 2023, Hilda aired its third, and final, season. It was a fitting end to an animated series which could (and should) have been longer. Unfortunately, Kaisa, the fan-favorite mysterious gothic librarian, got a short shift, as she had in Hilda the Mountain King. Even so, there are many library themes to discuss when it comes to the episode with her most prominent appearance, creation of a lending library by the protagonists, and connections to previous posts about her, Hilda, other series, and library concepts.

In the seventh episode of the final season, entitled “Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies”, Hilda holds the hand of Tonto as they chase a nissa through nowhere space. They jump out of a card catalog, go running through the Trolberg library stacks, and jump inside a copier (also a portal into Nowhere Space) to the bewilderment of Kaisa, at first, before her eyes and body movement give the message that this is something she is used to. Later in that same episode, Hilda sets up a lending library for the nissa, so they can borrow items for a certain period of time, basically functioning like a public library. It seems to work well, from what I can tell.

While it is not directly stated, there is no doubt in my mind that Hilda and her friends learned about this thanks to Kaisa. It would have been better to give Kaisa some speaking lines and have her directly. Perhaps this was originally included, but since the season was only seven episodes, and one special (the movie), it was half of the proceeding seasons, which had twelve episodes each! Such cuts by Netflix were confirmed by show director Andy Coyle.

As I described her back on December 14, 2023, which some fans call “Kaisa Day”, she is a White female librarian (and witch) who is feisty, with unmatched, and extensive, knowledge of cemeteries and mystical items, with 170+ fan fics featuring her, ship her with Johanna (known as Sketchbook), Entrapta in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, or draw parallels between her and Cassandra in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. She has strict bosses, is skilled, but bashful,shown to be experiencing burnout and fatigue, even downplaying her personal knowledge at times, and has a unique style which fits with her personality, which can be calm, but also strict or stern. Even so, she clearly has insecurities and can feel like an outcast.

Additionally, she engages in duties which resemble reference librarianship, likely believes that librarians are responsible for patrons’ safety, challenges established systems, and may even be working class, even as she holds herself back in other instances. The library’s classification may resemble those from the human world. She definitely looks content in the series finale when she eats a bag of Jorts given to her by David, and smiles, even after David’s Jorts are taken away, showing the strong friendship between them. Even so, she is possibly queer, as I noted in a blogpost some time ago.

The episodes in Hilda are a night-and-day difference from the stereotypical evil librarian (who is dedicated to shushing her patrons) in Hamster & Gretel, who only serves as a plot device for Gretel to realize her brother is a hero. Funny enough, the librarian is voiced by the talented voice actress, Cree Summer, known for roles like Princess (then Queen) Kidagakash “Kida” in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo’s Return, Catwoman in DC Super Hero Girls, andPeabo in The Proud Family (and the reboot/revival).

To add more detail to the aforementioned librarian in Hamster & Gretel, a middling all-ages Disney animated series, she is an old White lady wearing glasses dedicated to keeping the library quiet, shushing people when they make too much noise. In the episode, Kevin, and his sister, Gretel, make it to the periodical room where no electronics are allowed. Kevin finds out that the librarian wants to shush everyone in town for being too noisy. His voice is taken away by her Shushinator machine (created by Dr. Doofenschmirtz). She shushes the entire town but is stopped thanks to what Kevin read…in a library book. He is successful, Gretel and her animal companion, Hamster, assist him, and she punches the librarian.

This makes you think. Did the episode writer (Joshua Pruett) or episode director (Erik Kling) have a bad experience in a library? Why would a show like that include such a sexist stereotype? Compared to Hilda, it makes clear which show wants to buck typical depictions and create more holistic characters, and which do not. Pruett is well-known for working on series like Milo Murphy’s Law, Onyx Equinox, and Phineas and Ferb. Erik Kling, another White man, directed episodes of animated series like Madagascar: A Little Wild. You would think that these talented people could avoid such stereotypes.

Hilda surprised to see a running Nissa

What the librarian in Hamster & Gretel did or any of the other atrocious examples of stereotypical librarians, especially those who excessively shush patrons, Kaisa would never do. She wants to uphold rules, but she would never go around and shush people. Instead, she’d be enjoying coffeehouse light jazz, or if in other moods, indie folk (Bon Iver), indie rock (Shoegaze), reggae (Ghost), heavy metal (Slipknot, the HU, Ministry, Bathory), alternative rock (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees), gothic rock (Joy Division, Bauhaus), or Steven Universe and Adventure Time soundtracks, as some fans suggested.

All in all, I hope other characters in the future can have such an impact as Kaisa and promote the importance of librarians and libraries while both remain under attack more than ever.

#burnout #CassandraTangled #CreeSummer #Entrapta #HamsterGretel #Hilda #HildaAndTheMountainKing #Kaisa #LGBTQ #librarianStereotypes #librarianStyle #MiloMurphySLaw #music #PhineasAndFerb #RapunzelSTangledAdventure #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #shushing #visualImpairment #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen

#music #phineasandferb #rapunzelstangledadventure #sheraandtheprincessesofpower #shushing #visualimpairment