Hilda Brown is a human woman who resides in Stonegate as an experienced mason and construction smith, with her expertise being credited to nearly all of Stonegate’s fortifications and upkeep.

Appearance

Hilda wears rugged brown boots, dirty black pants, and a long blue leather skirt worn around her hips. She has a brown laced tunic, black fingerless gloves, and carrying pouches fastened to her belt. Her eye color is red, her long, messy chestnut hair drapes down past her shoulders, and she’s nearly always seen carrying her trusty hammer.

Personality

Hilda has a very rough and intimidating personality that sometimes masks her kind and caring heart. She speaks with a Scottish accent and appears to have the fiery temper to match as it usually doesn’t take much to set her off. Her speech is usually snide and condescending while her scowl can kill the mood quite quickly, and her vocabulary seems on par with Clover’s when it comes to swearing, either directly at someone or by herself during one of her angry tirades. Despite this, the work she puts in at Stonegate does very well with showing her generous side for the people.

Being one of Stonegate’s most skilled masons, Hilda is an expert when it comes to construction, upkeep, and general repair of just about anything. She’s credited with keeping the city of Stonegate and it’s underground sanctuary in fine condition while also having been a primary worker with building and maintaining nearly all the buildings for its citizens. She also helps with managing the storerooms and general inventory for Stonegate, something she takes just as seriously as any job while being quick to cuss out anyone who makes even the slightest mistake in her presence.

Even though she’s human, most of those living in Stonegate don’t try to get on her bad side, as she’s been known to kick off an argument by using her hammer and not just sharp words. However, when she’s not seeing red like a bull or in one of her usual foul moods, she can be counted on to help keep the city of Stonegate standing without fail.

Before Stonegate

It’s revealed in S2. Act III of how Hilda came to live in Stonegate. Earlier in her life she lived in a human town called Bromwich with her young son, Mason. There she was the lead builder and architect for the people, and was a welcome member of their community who all loved her and her son. One day Mason fell into the river that was next to their home while Hilda was at work, however instead of drowning he was saved by a slime woman. Even though it was a wild monster that saved him, the slime woman only showed a gentle and caring side with the young boy who quickly became its friend. Every time Hilda went out into town, Mason and the slime woman would play together, with the monster even helping him learn how to swim. Eventually Hilda came across the two of them together, and after her initial freakout and fear that her son was being attacked, Mason showed her that the slime woman was indeed friendly, with Hilda befriending the gentle monster as well.

Despite the slime woman posing no threat to anyone, things quickly turned bad after a villager discovered Mason playing with the monster. Dragging the child away in fear for his life, the villager alerted the whole town who quickly showed up to kill the monster. Hilda and Mason tried to defend the monster, however they were unable to, and the villagers melted down the slime woman with a deadly poison. Afterwards, Mason continued to berate and yell at the townsfolk for killing his friend. The people then began to ostracize him, saying he was becoming a monster-lover and that he had been corrupted by the slime woman. Fearing he would bring more monsters down upon their town, the villagers burned him alive at the stake, something Hilda was forced to witness in horror. Before she could be sentenced to the same fate, however, she was secretly escorted out of the town by a spy of Stonegate who had been living there, a copycat. She informed Hilda she would be safe and welcome in Stonegate, a place where she wouldn’t be labeled as evil for merely trusting in monsters, with Hilda then journeying away from her fellow people who turned on her so quickly towards a new home that would never condemn her for having a heart.