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.

© 2024-2025 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

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The library of the Turtle Princess at the beginning of the Adventure Time episode, “Paper Pete.”

Following in the footsteps of my previous analyses on this blog, I decided to look at a few episodes involving libraries in Adventure Time, an animated fantasy series that ended in September 2018. This is a show that has the library as a recurring location, which is probably why Claire Ruhlin chose it as having one of the 12 best fictional libraries for Paste magazine.

In the episode “The Real You” (S2ep15), Finn and Jake want to impress Princess Bubblegum, and Finn accepts the offer to make a speech at her science event. Jake suggests they go to the place where “knowledge lives”: the library. This library has books almost stacked like bricks in a warehouse. After clearly being bored in the library, Jake suggests they leave, while Finn wants to continue and “cram” the information in a book about pigs. Hilariously, Jake is reading a book about figs. They both start performing a jig and a dance, and the Turtle Princess, who runs the library (and is basically serving as the sole librarian) kicks them out, before which Finn says they were “enthusiastic about learning” which is an utter lie. This whole scene is not even a minute long and we don’t really see much of the library, but it doesn’t look like a grand place like that depicted in various Revolutionary Girl Utena episodes. Even though this show portrays libraries as a boring place you “learn stuff,” there is one similarity: the libraries in both animations are almost deserted.

Some episodes later, in “Paper Pete” (s3ep22) they visit the library once more, with the whole episode focused just on the library. The episode begins with they both carrying a huge book to a table, which is shown at the beginning of this article. The book is a history of rainicorns, with Jake much more into the book and learning about his “heritage,” since his girlfriend is a rainicorn, than Finn. Annoyed with Jake being focused on the books, he begins walking in the stacks, goes through the books by hand, then yells out “Oh no! Damaged books. Who did this?” The Turtle Princess, apparently the only librarian of this library, tells him to “shush,” another librarian stereotype, while other beings, who are patrons, sit at desks behind her. After being shushed once again, he stumbled upon beings known as the “pagelings“:

They end up being the “secret guardians” of the library’s books. When he tries to introduce them to Jake, they hide from everyone, not wanting to reveal themselves. They fight off a bunch of leeches (I think) called “moldos,” obviously connecting to the fact that books can mold, I guess. He eventually throws them on Jake, where they begin eating his fur, but first tries to get them off by hitting them off with a book. He gives up his shirt if they don’t attack the library books, to which the leader of the “moldos,” Mildwin agrees. After leaving the library at the end of the episode, where we see the library looks like, part of which is submerged into the ground, Jake is annoyed by the actions of Finn but admits he wasn’t doing much with the book anyway. He had read the same paragraph over and over for 11 minutes, thinking he should give up in trying to learn rainicorn history, saying he will just fake it going forward. Not sure what lesson we are supposed to take away from this episode, but it’s a fun adventure inside a library.

In later episodes, the library is mentioned, with other characters adding books to it (“Gotcha!”), it is included in a flashback Finn has in the “King Worm” episodes, and the bedroom of the Turtle Princess at the top of the library is shown in “Princess Monster Wife”. All in all, this is ultimately a very positive view of a library, although it competes with the public library in Steven Universe and the family library in She-Ra in the Princess of Power at minimum. Oh, and, after watching some episodes, I came across another library, in the episode “Betty” (s5ep48), where the Ice King becomes human again, looking in his books to figure out who he is, what he needs to do.

That’s all for this post!

© 2020 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Editor note: This post was originally published on my History Hermann blog but has been re-edited and fixed before being posted on this blog. Enjoy!

https://popculturelibraries.wordpress.com/2020/08/04/what-time-is-it-library-time/

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