Hilda

Hilda, the Witch of Destruction, is a primary antagonist in Stella Glow who brings about the crystallization that plagues Regnant.

Originally the Witch of Time, Hilda lived during Elcrest's age of Regnant and fought alongside him, the Forgotten King Xeno, and the other four witches of their time. Together they waged war against the Angels and their God, though what truly transpired that day faded into legend.

As part of a promise she made on that fateful day a thousand years ago, Hilda lived to see Regnant rebuild itself, but has become the scourge of the land with her Song of Ruin and loyal cadres, the Harbingers, by her side.

Appearance
Hilda has silver hair and golden eyes. Her attire consists of a large black witch hat, with a sort of crown motif on it and wearing a cape that splits at the ends. She wears armor on her arms and a revealing outfit, with skin colored outfit on her torso and her legs.

Curiously, Hilda's in-game battle model depicts her with slightly darker skin, bordering the tan of the material present on her torso.

Personality
Initially, Hilda comes off as polite towards Alto and helps him fight during the prologue. She has also the tendency to be frank to others, particularly when she simply responded she was a witch and is confident with her title 'Witch of Destruction'. Despite appearing cold and composed to everyone, she is shown to take genuine care of her subordinates. She has a hard time forgetting Elcrest, and is more embarrassed by that then her own privacy.

Prior to Main Events
A thousand years prior to the events of the main story, Hilda became the Time Witch at some point during the period of the second Eclipse. She was met by Elcrest, who tuned her and requested she lend him her strength in defeating God. Initially apprehensive of his intentions, Hilda warned him of her status as a Witch, to which Elcrest dismissed her doubts; stating that he would "have no right in saving the world if [he] couldn't handle one girl". Taken by the man's honest answer, Hilda pledged her allegiance to him. Accompanying Elcrest with the four other witches, the Forgotten King Xeno, and Technolomy Veronica, Hilda grew close to the Conductor, possibly to the point of loving him.

On that fateful day when the group would ascend the Yggdrasil and reach the Moon, Hilda would witness God, in reality the Mother Qualia, afflict Elcrest with a severe strain of negative energies. At Xeno's request that Hilda look after Elcrest, the King sacrificed himself by pushing the Conductor away, withstanding Mother Qualia's wrath in his place. Despite their reluctance in leaving Xeno behind, Hilda warps the group to safety.

As they gathered around the afflicted Elcrest, who requested the group kill him, Francisca proposed she put him into a deep slumber within the waters with her Qualia as means of purification; a process that would take centuries. As the Time Witch, Hilda was entrusted by Elcrest with the task of ensuring that the Eclipse would never happen again. Hilda vowed to fulfill his request, promising to protect the world while awaiting his return. In the aftermath of the Eclipse, Hilda halted her body's internal clock, preventing her from ageing physically in order to live forever.

Hilda would return to Fahrenheit, where she would establish and rule the empire of Hildegaria, as means of preparation should the Eclipse occur again. As Regnant rebuilt itself over the course of a thousand years, Hilda would realize that the rising human population and emotional energy would result in another Eclipse before Elcrest's revival. In an effort to revolutionize society, Hilda introduced the Ten Oppressive Laws to stem the flow of emotional energy in her country. However, its citizens opposed her supposed tyranny and with scheming by her close officials, the country erupted into a civil war. In a desperate attempt to stop the conflict and the flow of negative energy, Hilda used her Song of Ruin to crystallize her people.

Her noble intentions gone and heart frozen along with her empire, Hilda formed the Harbingers and sought to crystallize the rest of the world as means of preserving it; her actions earning her the moniker of the Witch of Destruction.

Prologue
As part of her movement in crystallizing the frontier villages of Regnant, Hilda comes to a lake in the outskirts of Mithra where she practices her song. Hilda is met by Alto, a young man from the village, who had heard her singing. Mildly taken by the boy, Hilda warns Alto to leave his village and departs when Lisette comes to fetch him.

The following morning, Hilda makes her way into the village and is approached by Alto once more. Amused by his ignorance, Hilda reveals herself to be the Witch of Destruction, to the dismay of Lisette who had followed Alto. Accompanied by Dante, Hilda crystallizes the whole of Mithra, leaving Alto and Lisette as the only two unaffected. To her surprise, she witnesses Alto tune Lisette, the latter of whom becoming the Water Witch. Cursing herself for the sudden revelation, she orders Dante to kill the Lisette and capture Alto, though she steps in herself when Lisette's newfound powers push Dante back.

Before she can subdue the two, Klaus and a group of royal knights from Lambert arrive. Outnumbered, Hilda and Dante retreat and teleport away.

Hilda's Ending
One year after the events of the Eclipse, Hilda remains in Lambert with Alto; where the two marry. One particular day, Alto is in the knights barracks, beside himself with worry. Rusty and Archibald, concerned for their comrade's plight, encourage him to see his wife despite her rebuffing the idea of her husband's visits. Alto rushes to Lambert's infirmary, where he enters Hilda's room, the sound of an infant's cries reaching his ear.

To Hilda's frustration, her husband's entrance had agitated their newborn baby girl. Handing Alto their child to hold, Hilda reflects on having attained a happiness in life she believed impossible. Hilda reminisces of her past sins and believes herself undeserving of her recent blessings. Alto comforts her, reminding her of his own mistakes, and states that they could only look forwards in order to make amends. Given hope for the future ahead of the family, Hilda reaffirms her love for Alto.

As an Ally
"'Hilda is the Time Witch and a scythe specialist. She is unaffected by varying map heights and land types since she moves by warping. Furthermore, as the Time Witch, Hilda has skills that allow her to control both time and space. She can be used for both offense and defense, cementing her title as the strongest Witch.'""— Hilda's unit introduction"

Joining the party as the last Witch unit, Hilda can be a great asset to your team with her deadly scythe. Classified as a Warp unit, Hilda can teleport across the battlefield and is blessed with a base 25 Jump Power, allowing her to ignore all terrain and can teleport over air. She has some interesting skills at her disposal such as “Transfer” and “Time Compress.” “Transfer“ allows her to switch places with another ally, so they can teleport over gaps and get further. “Time Compress” grants an ally an instant turn after her’s, but their turn just comes faster and isn’t a whole extra turn. “Chevar Principle” is her useful long-range magic attack, and “Arched Fang“ can clear out space around her. Her AOE “Darkhale Metric“ is very useful as it doesn’t hurt allies and is a very powerful magic attack. Overall, she is just great, but you have to be careful with her if there are enemies at range.

Passives

 * Magic Shield: (Upon joining) Negate any magic damage less than 20.
 * SP Recovery: (Affinity Rank 1) Recover SP at end of turn.
 * Reduce SP Cost: (Affinity Rank 3) Reduce Skill SP cost by 1.
 * Intimidate: (Level 35) Slightly weaken adjacent enemies.
 * Normal boost: (Level 37) Deal increased non-elemental damage.

Songs

 * Crystal Realm: (Upon joining) Magic attack to all nearby enemies. Non-elemental. Range 1-2, Height 5.
 * Ice World: (Upon joining, Conducted) Add Stop to all enemies. Continued effect: Add ATK up to all allies.
 * Upstream Waltz: (Affinity Rank 2) Decrease turn speed for nearby enemies. Range 1-2. Height 5.
 * Blazing Light: (Affinity Rank Max, Conducted) Magic attack to all enemies. Add Stop to all enemies. Continued effect: Add ATK up to all allies.

Trivia

 * Hilda shares several similarities with Fatima of Luminous Arc, a series also developed by the defunct Imageepoch. Both are introduced as powerful Witch antagonists for a majority of the game, but are revealed to have the intention of saving the world.
 * Similarly, both are possible romantic interests in their respective titles.