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Hilda Rhambling
Hilda Rhambling
Information
Appearance Tales of Rebirth
Age 21
Height 5'6" / 168 cm
Weight 106 lbs / 48 kg
Race Half
Weapon Tarot Cards
Japanese Voice Actor Sayaka Oohara
Character Designer Mutsumi Inomata

Hilda Rhambling (ヒルダ・ランブリング Hiruda Ranburingu?) is one of the protagonists from Tales of Rebirth. She is a beautiful but cold fortune-teller, revealed to be a Half. She attacks with tarot cards in battle but is best suited to casting offensive magic. Hilda uses the Force of Lightning.

History[]

Painful Childhood[]

Hilda was born as a Half from a human male, Amgil, and Gajuma female, Naira, which grants her horns and animalistic ears. As a Half, she also ran the risk of dying very early due to a Half's frail body. When Hilda suddenly fell sick, this very reason drove her parents into panic. Amgil took Naira and Hilda into the shrine of the Sacred Beast Gilione, besting many monsters in order to reach Gilione's altar and prayed for her health. The prayer succeeded, and Hilda managed to live.

Shortly afterward, they ran into Tohma of the Four Stars. Surprised that he found a Half, a rare species, he decided to take Hilda away from her parents. In process, Amgil was killed, but Naira was spared as Tohma did not want to kill a fellow full-blooded Gajuma. From that point on, Hilda was raised as a cold-hearted soldier, with Tohma lying about her past that she was an infant abandoned by her parents because her body was impure and that other than the King's Shield, there is nowhere else that Halves can be accepted, the effect amplified that since childhood, she was bullied because she is a Half, and other Huma and Gajuma look down on her. She befriended a fellow Half named Militsa, who is later promoted into one of the Four Stars.

As her past was very dark, usually Hilda would look at pictures shown in tarot cards in her free time to forget about her pain from the past. This develops into a hobby and soon after she started learning the arts of fortune telling. However, she could not forget her past and ends up hating her own Half heritage, which causes her to eventually break her own horns and hide them and her ears with a hat. She also became desperate to find a way to swap her body into either a Huma or a Gajuma.

Defection[]

Hilda Opening

Opening still from Tales of Rebirth.

At one point, Tohma promised both Hilda and Militsa that if they accomplish one certain mission, he will give them a way so they can get a new body. Their mission was to assassinate Eugene Gallardo and his entourage. Hilda awaits them in Sannytown, where she posed as a girl who has been kidnapped per the orders of Agarte Lindblum. This attracted Eugene and his companions, and after they confronted Tohma. Hilda attacked them from behind. However, even her magical prowess were not enough to defeat them. Tohma, disgusted at her defeat, berated on how useless she is and starts dropping hint on how Hilda is a Half. Despite her protests, he decided to use his Force of Magnet to remove Hilda's hat, to her anguish, revealing her broken horns and ears. Tohma then boasted that he actually lied about the method of getting a new body, as the method really does not exist. Angered at Tohma's constant toying at her emotions, her Force went berserk, and Tohma left her to fight her original targets. She is calmed down by both Veigue Lungberg and Annie Barrs.

When she woke up from defeat, Hilda attempted to commit suicide with her card. However, her plans were thwarted by Tytree Crowe who berates her for trying to harm the body that her parents gave. Still believing Tohma's past story, Hilda cursed at the parents that abandoned her and soon fell unconscious. When she awoke at Sannytown, Militsa was already ravaging the town to search for a girl she will capture. Hilda later rushed to Militsa, revealing Tohma's lies and hoping that she would join him. Militsa refused. After she is defeated, Militsa retreats, and Veigue offers Hilda a place in his team. Hilda grudgingly accepted as she desires to take revenge on Tohma, and she is also searching for a place where a Half can belong.

Search for Power[]

Her journey takes her back to Balka, where Hilda participates in the battle against Geyorkias. Afterward, Hilda separates from the team to look for a power to rid herself of her Half body. When learning of a certain "Power of Darkness" in Razilda, Hilda stayed there for research, while witnessing many racism tendencies among the villagers. She is quickly reunited with Veigue and his friends, except Eugene, who is suffering hateful thoughts that he could attack Huma anytime. Hilda then rejoins the team to find a cure to Eugene and investigate about the hateful thoughts that has been plaguing the land with racism thoughts. The "Power of Darkness" she sought was the power of the Sacred Beast Eephon, one of the servant of Geyorkias. After witnessing Tytree receiving the power of Eephon, Hilda began to feel envious on the team that she, being the one who sought the power, was not favored by the Sacred Beasts. She tried to request the power of the next Sacred Beast Fenia, but she was still refused. However, the fourth Sacred Beast Shaorune eventually revealed that the next Sacred Beast will grant her power.

Reunion[]

Hilda Gilione Artwork

Illustration artwork with Gilione.

The journey takes them to a place named Mocrado Village, where Halfs reside, on the hint that there is someone who is using the same set of tarot cards like Hilda. This person turns out to be Naira. However, after a brief, sweet reunion, Naira suddenly tore Hilda's cards and harshly tells her to leave and never set foot to the town again. Frustrated with the rejection, Hilda starts to hate her mother even more for not only abandoning her, but also refusing her. When Claire Bennett tried to calm her down and asks her for visiting Naira again since she was acting strange, Hilda berates her for not understanding her painful past as she had a normal childhood, but after a slap from Claire, she calms down and tried visiting Naira one more. Once again she is refused.

Further asking from the townspeople reveals that Naira has been looking all over the world for her daughter, but Hilda dismisses it as a worthless sob story judging from her second reaction. The team persuades her to visit Naira once more, but this time they are interrupted by Tohma who intends to stop them from reviving any more Sacred Beasts. This time, Naira angrily stepped forward, confronting Tohma for what he did to her, causing him to reveal Hilda's actual past and parents, that once again Tohma lied to her. To make matters worse, when Tohma tried to attack her, Naira covered her and took the full brunt of the attack, killing her, but not after she gave Hilda her own tarots and apologized. In anger, Hilda attacked Tohma with a hidden power, causing him to flee.

After all was done, Hilda was angered that Naira died before her, when she still has much questions to ask, just when she accepted her as her true mother. Later on, Hilda received a letter written by Naira before her arrival, which sums up how much she loves her and that she is the pride of her family. The team also found out that there was a prophecy about "a woman with two horns carrying a set of Tarot Cards" arriving to Mocrado and will be returned to Earth. Which means that Naira was refusing Hilda because she was the woman in the prophecy and she was protecting her from death. Realizing that she never once called Naira "mother" in front of her, Hilda broke down crying.

After learning the location of the Sacred Beast that will grant her power, she left, but thanks to her newfound respect to her parents, she promised that she will return to Mocrado after the ordeal is over. The Sacred Beast in subject was Gilione. Hilda was confronted with her past and her Half heritage as his trials and when she meet him, Gilione offered his power to turn her into a Huma or Gajuma. However, Hilda refused them, as she has started to take pride on her body, her parents' pride. To test her resolve, Gilione summoned a phantom image of Hilda for her to fight. With her new resolve, Hilda prevailed and was granted his power.

Final Battle[]

Hilda Portrait

Portrait artwork for Tales of Rebirth.

Hilda accompanied the team further in reviving the last of the Sacred Beast, Randgriz. With the revival of the Sacred Beasts, the hateful thoughts vanishes. However, the conflicts created from it does not and it slowly gives birth to Yuris, who will destroy the world. Eventually, it is agreed that they must revive Geyorkias once again in Mount Sovereign. There, they were stopped by the whole Four Shields Generals. The team fought against them and prevailed. After Walto surrendered, Militsa denounced him traitor and tried to kill him, only to be stopped by Hilda who reminded her that the King's Shield is not the only place that Halves can belong. Militsa eventually gave in and left the scene. For a moment, Hilda contemplated to kill the unconscious Tohma. However, she decided not to give in to her vengeance and left him at the entrance. Tohma later killed his partner Saleh and he was killed by him in return.

On the revival of Geyorkias, the team finds out that he cannot defeat Yuris at this state and it is up to the team to defeat him. The team eventually prevails with the help of Agarte and her Force of Moon, and the world is saved. However, Agarte died in fatigue. The team once again went separate ways. At this point Hilda has gained enough confidence to discard her hat. Her ending picture reveals her to be attending an orphanage where the children accepted her regardless of her race.

Appearance and Personality[]

Hilda Status (ToR)

Status image in Tales of Rebirth.

Hilda is a woman of strong will who enjoys maintaining an air of mystery about her. This intrigue is reflected in her fortune-teller-like appearance, her elegant attire consisting of a light pink suit with loose pants and a white robe mostly veiling it. Grape-like ornaments are accented on the sleeves of her outfit and her salmon-colored hat, which she uses to conceal the broken horns of her Half heritage. Hilda has pale skin and long black hair that trails into numerous curls. She wears black gloves and can usually be seen holding a handful of her precious tarot cards, which she uses as weapons in battle.

Personality-wise, Hilda may come across as distant, but as her past unravels throughout the duration of the story, her reasons for keeping to herself become more apparent. She has dealt with difficult trials throughout her life, and her coming to terms with her race proves to be a pinnacle of her overall self-acceptance. Hilda finds comfort in her newfound companions, particularly Tytree and Annie, the latter of whom admires Hilda's bravery and determination.

Fighting Style[]

Hilda Cut-in (ToR)

Leftward cut-in image for Tales of Rebirth.

Hilda is a powerful mage, her spells far exceeding the limitations of her spellcasting teammate Annie, whose supporting spell repertoire contains little to no offensive capabilities. Rather, this area is left to Hilda and Mao, the elements being dispersed between the two. While Mao uses an assortment of Flame-, Wind-, and Shade-elemental spells, Hilda opts for the elements of Earth, Aqua, and Light. Apart from this aesthetic difference, her spell tier alignment matches that of Mao's, both being capable of manipulating their Force Sorcery spells into the more advanced Fusionic Force Sorcery via the potential of the Force Cube. Also similarly to Mao, she has access to three Fusionic Force Finality moves, this game's version of mystic artes, which allows her to combine her power with that of a melee-oriented party member.

Hilda's fullest potential, again like Mao, lies within her intrinsic access to the Fusionic Force Extensions, the most powerful moves in the game, available only during a second playthrough or later. These powerful extensions eventually climax into the finale extension Blue Earth. In combat, mostly in order to accomplish executing these spell assortments, Hilda is best suited remaining near the back of the battle formation, though she does have a few tricks to aid her in the even that an enemy encroaches upon her territory. She fights in battle using her beloved tarot cards that once belonged to her mother, channeling her magic through them and using them physically as well, if necessary.

Her two Force Ability moves both help protect her and give her the spellcasting boost she needs to rid of enemies quickly. The first of these is Lightning Robe, in which she infuses her garments with her trademark element to strike back at enemies that assault her, including spells. Although the move does not reduce the damage taken or prevent spellcasting interruption, it serves as a convenient way of dealing damage to targets focused on her while she attempts to perform her more potent abilities. The second Force Ability is Limited Sorcery, which reduces the casting time for all her Fusionic Force Sorcery spells by 25% and doubles the FG recovery rate for normal attacks, making it so that Hilda can dish out her heavy-hitters at a faster pace while supporting her melee-oriented comrades on the frontlines.

Other Appearances[]

Tales of Crestoria[]

Hilda Rhambling (ToAsteria)

Artwork for Tales of Asteria.

Hilda appears in Tales of Crestoria's limited quest: "Scents of Intrigue," traveling with Annie Barrs. The two are seen in a perfume shop that has strangely run out on stock, when they run into Kanata Hjuger and Yuna Azetta, who are there to buy a surprise gift for a girl they know. The shopkeeper says the stocks should have replenished by now, but the supplier has not reached town yet. The group walk outside and decide to wait for the supplier until they run into Misella, Aegis Alver, and Vicious, who comments on Kanata's 'sudden popularity'. They manage to keep Misella in the dark by saying that Hilda and Annie have decided to help Kanata and Yuna with some errands and leave, promising to be back by nightfall. As they reach the front entrance, Annie correctly guesses that Misella was the girl Kanata was talking about. After Annie mentions that Hilda is also a fortune teller, the group decides to use that concerning the late supplier. At the end, Hilda pulls out The Tower, indicating disaster. Taking it as a bad sign, Annie encourages the group to check it out.

On the way, they find the supplier unconscious from a snakebite and his coach damaged. Annie manages to use a first aid kit she brought in case to keep the venom from killing the supplier before they carry him to the hospital. As the perfume shop refills their stock with the undamaged bottles, the supplier who has regained consciousness allows his rescuers to take whatever perfume they want for free.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Chibi Hilda

Chibi artwork.

  • The name Hilda is a variant of the Germanic element hild, meaning "battle". As a result, Hilda translates to "battle woman".
  • In addition to fortune-telling, Hilda is also skilled at playing the cello.
  • A number of skits reveal Hilda's interest in different kinds of sake and perfumes. Annie is typically the one who notices, and Hilda is always happy to embrace Annie's interest, going so far as to concoct a fragrance for her.
  • The group discovers in Kyogen that Hilda's tarot cards are actually very old and rare, with even one being able to fetch a high price. Hilda states that she has a complete set of 22 cards, which she speculates would make them all the rarer.
  • In PlayStation 2 remake of Tales of Destiny, the "Gentlepiitan" (ジェントルピータン?) is a Gentleman-type enemy who wears Hilda's hat. Its 100% Blast Gauge arte, "Ranbu Ring" (乱舞リング?), derives from Hilda's last name. The arte's execution references Hilda's Half race, as it involves the Gentlepiitan tossing aside its hat to reveal horns and then performing a bull-like charge with them.
  • In Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, Annie references Hilda as the acquaintance who has taught her fortune-telling.
  • In Tales of Berseria, a deck of Hilda's cards can be obtained by exploring the Force Islands.


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