Chapter 2: The Midnight Giant
Season 1 Episode 2
Themes: Empathy, Understanding other Perspectives
Prominent Characters
Hilda
Hilda empathizes with the giant when he’s upset, and she’s happy when he gets reunited with his friend. She also displays her perseverance and adventurous spirit in this episode when she sets off to meet the elf king.
The Midnight Giant
Hilda gets to know the giant in this episode, and learns that he’s sad because his friend didn’t come to meet him as they’d planned. At the end of the episode he’s finally reunited with his friend, another giant, and the two walk off happily.
Elf King
Initially appearing terrified of Hilda when she arrives at his castle, the King later decides Hilda is honorable when she helps save him and his castle.
Alfur
Alfur is Hilda’s elf friend who takes her on the adventure to meet the king.
Plot Highlights
- Concerned about the family’s safety given recent threats from the elves, Hilda’s mother wants to move out of the woods into the nearby town, Trolberg. Hilda likes her life in the woods and doesn’t want to move.
- Unable to sleep in the middle of the night, Hilda glances out her window and sees a giant peering at her house. She chases him on the back of a flying Woff, and when she catches up to him he tells her that he was waiting to meet someone who didn’t arrive at the time they’d set thousands of years before. The giant walks with his head hung sadly as he carries Hilda back home.
- Hilda’s mom takes her to visit Trolberg, but Hilda isn’t happy when she finds out that the students at school have to stop playing outside whenever the bell rings.
- The wood man teaches Hilda about the Giants of Old, and Hilda realizes that the sad giant she met might be the last one left after they all left the world when the smaller people arrived.
- On her journey to meet the king of the elves, Hilda realizes that the mountain he lives on is actually the sad giant’s lost friend, who had fallen asleep for thousands of years. The two giants are reunited, and walk off happily together.
- When the elf king decides Hilda is honorable and no longer an enemy of their people, Hilda is excited that her and her mom won’t have to move. Then, one of the giants accidentally steps on Hilda’s house, so they have to move after all. The giants walk off without realizing what they’ve done, and Hilda seems to realize that this was similar to the way her and her mom have accidentally been stepping on the elve’s houses in the forest.
Discussion Questions
Prominent themes in this episode are empathy and understanding the perspectives of others. Consider asking your child some of these questions about the episode during your discussion:
- How do you think the giant felt when his friend didn’t show up to meet him? How could you tell? Why do you think he felt this way?
- Have you ever felt the way the giant felt in this episode? What happened?
- How do you think Hilda felt when the giant stepped on her house at the end of the episode? What did the giant do? After this happened, what do you think Hilda thought about her and her mom accidentally stepping on the elves houses?
