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For my whole life, I didn't... I didn't really feel very special... but you make me feel like maybe I am. And today, I'm not the bridesmaid. I'm the bride. Uh, but most importantly, I'm your bride. And who would have thought that the day I walked into your store a few weeks ago, or months ago or whenever it was... that I wouldn't just get a job, and that I would... meet you, this man, this very good man, who, um... who really makes me laugh and smile like no other, who really makes me love like no other. I love you.
— Hilda to Dr. Cerberus[src]


Hildegard "Hilda" Antoinette Spellman is a main character on Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She is portrayed by Lucy Davis.

Hilda is a witch who specializes in "Kitchen Magick". She is Sabrina's aunt and Zelda's sister. Together, they've raised Sabrina since she was a child following the horrific plane crash that resulted in the deaths of Sabrina's parents. Since then, Hilda has been pushing Sabrina towards the Path of Light, against her sister's wishes, who sought to see Sabrina take the Path of Night. Hilda also pursued an relationship with Dr. Cerberus, to whom she is now married.

Character Description[]

Hilda is the kinder of the Spellman sisters who are raising Sabrina, though her nurturing nature belies a more ruthless side. She is a healer, a potion-maker, sweet-as-pie until you cross her or anyone she loves. Operating the local funeral home, the sisters hide their witchery from the world while teaching Sabrina spells and incantations at home.[3]

Hilda Spellman, one of Sabrina’s two witch aunts. More nurturing than Zelda, Hilda’s motherly nature and warm sense of humor belie a wicked, ghoulish streak. She is as adept at brewing spite jars against her family’s enemies as she is at concocting love potions for the students at Baxter High.[4]

Early Life[]

When Hilda turned sixteen, she signed her name in the Book of the Beast and joined the Academy of Unseen Arts. However, her academic years at the Academy were unpleasant. Her older sister, Zelda, caused her to undergo a series of hazing rituals called the Harrowing.

At some point, she moved to England to take care of her nephew, Ambrose, and it was during that time that she acquired her English accent.[5]

After her niece's birth, she accompanied her sister-in-law, Diana Spellman, to Sabrina's baptism at the Holy Mother Church of Greendale, keeping the secret from her brother and sister. While living with her sister, she was sometimes killed by Zelda for various reasons, and Zelda would put her body in the Cain Pit in their family plot, where she would be resurrected. After Edward and Diana died, Hilda and Zelda became Sabrina's guardians and raised her.

Throughout Chilling Adventures of Sabrina[]

Physical Appearance[]

Hilda is short and rounder-figured, with blond hair and green eyes. Unlike the glamorous Zelda, she often wears necklaces and bracelets, her makeup is always kept simple and modest, and her sense of fashion is eccentric with a constant earthy hint (due to her often tending to her garden), and more colorful compared to her sister's.

Personality[]

Hilda is a sweet, kind, and maternal witch, more empathic to the clients of the Spellman Mortuary than Zelda, and definitely the more benevolent of the two sisters. She is also much more affectionate and understanding towards Sabrina than Zelda. She often peppers her daily conversation with others with sweet and affectionate nicknames, such as "love", or "darling", or "lamb" as just a few examples.

However, despite her openly sweet exterior, Hilda can be very vengeful when she wants to be, and one of her greatest desires was revenge for the abuse Zelda inflicted upon her during their childhood. Also, as revealed by a demon-induced nightmare, Hilda's greatest desire was to be independent from her older sister and find true love, and her greatest fear was to be literally stuck with Zelda forever. One particularly notable difference would be that, unlike Zelda, Hilda can be a real rebel - she does not completely agree with the ways of the Church of Night, and has absolutely no qualms about defying or even openly challenging it where her family or her own principles were concerned. She directly told the Witches' Council off when they refused to intervene to prevent Faustus Blackwood from implementing his misogynistic doctrine on the Church of Night. Later on, when one of the Council members - Methuselah - tried to put the moves on her, she killed him in response and grimly defended her actions when a horrified Zelda questioned her on it, which also demonstrates that, sweet and benevolent though she was, Hilda was not one to be trifled with.

Hilda is also a wise and powerful witch in her own right - besides making potions and balms for her family, she could also cook delicious confectionaries with magical properties and has extensive knowledge of herbs, medicinal plants, cures for curses, etc. She is also very intuitive. She accurately predicted Shirley Jackson having protected herself against all sorts of magical attacks, which led her to bypass that magical protection by tricking Shirley into eating poisoned almond cookies, and later on, she correctly predicted that the Weird Sisters would use the bones from the chicken she cooked to torture Ambrose, which was exactly what she was counting on. However, despite her having a rebellious streak similar to that of Sabrina's, Hilda is still rightly cautious where the boundaries and consequences of magic are concerned.

Hilda is very devoted to her family. For instance, when Sabrina was hesitant about her Dark Baptism, Hilda was the only one who sincerely commiserated with her, even sharing her previous reservations over her own baptism to make it clear how she related to her niece's concerns. She also magically supported Ambrose's forays into romance. More notably, though Zelda could be cold and cruel to her, and even had a habit of literally killing her whenever she deemed her annoying, she could always count on Hilda to be there for her whenever she needed her. The most commendable instances were, of course, her secret defiance of the Church of Night when she attended Sabrina's mortal baptism, her open participation in the exorcism of Suzy's Uncle Jesse, and her going against the Dark Lord himself when Sabrina's freedom and happiness were in danger from him.

Powers and Abilities[]

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Hilda teaches Sabrina about potion magic

Hilda is particularly proficient in potion making, her expertise ranging from Love Potions to Spite Jars, and she also once claimed to be the Academy of Unseen Arts' "never-bested, all-time reigning champion bubbler". She is also quite skilled in kitchen magick as she is able to cook anything with supernatural or magical properties - she once baked a "truth" marchpane cake to compel the Blackwoods to confess their crimes, and a "persuasion" honey cake to influence the Council.

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Hilda kills Circe with a poppet

Additionally, she has shown a great interest in poppet puppetry: the power to control non-sentient beings and physical events through the use of poppets. Hilda and Zelda once made a doll against Shirley Jackson, and later on, she made a doll to torture and kill Circe. This is not the only time she combined powers with her family; the Spellmans once created a tornado in order to lure every resident of Greendale to go into the Baxter High's basement. She's also practiced with demon exorcism to save Jesse Putnam, as well as divination: the ability to gain knowledge about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the user's physical senses. Hilda used this to defend Susie from the boys that were bullying her by telling their darkest secrets.

Relationships[]

Zelda Spellman[]

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Hilda and Zelda

Hilda and her elder sister Zelda have a quite turbulent relationship, with Zelda frequently killing Hilda when she is annoyed by her. Despite this, Hilda and Zelda genuinely love each other. Zelda apologized to Hilda for all the suffering she put her through at the Academy of Unseen Arts, and she comforted her after she was rejected by Dr. Cerberus. Hilda showed that she loves her sister when she poisoned Shirley Jackson because the latter mistreated Zelda out of pettiness. Despite all her differences with Zelda, Hilda still shares one great notable similarity with her older sister: familial devotion. Just like Zelda, it is "family first" for Hilda, who is openly and genuinely supportive of each and every member of her family.

Sabrina Spellman[]

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Hilda and Sabrina

Hilda and Sabrina have a very special connection as they have many similarities. Hilda and Sabrina share many of the same views regarding witch laws and tradition and the barbaric and sexist nature in which they're celebrated. However, unlike her Sabrina, Hilda isn't always as outspoken about her feelings towards the coven, though she has been known to act against them in hopes of benefiting her family. She secretly participated in Sabrina's mortal Catholic baptism, and later revealed it to ensure her niece would not have to sign her soul to the Dark Lord if she did not want to. Hilda wishes to protect Sabrina and maintain her empathy. She has even attempted to secretly guide Sabrina down the Path of Light against Zelda's wishes.

Ambrose Spellman[]

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Hilda and Ambrose

Ambrose is Hilda's nephew. She has known him for more than 75 years. For a time, Hilda moved to England to take care of Ambrose, and it was during that time that she acquired her British accent. After Ambrose was arrested for conspiring to blow up the Vatican, he was placed under house arrest in Hilda and Zelda's residence. She's been known to assist him in various affairs; she helped Ambrose perform an astral-projection spell in order to go on a date. She also helped Ambrose escape imprisonment at the Academy. She predicted that the Weird Sisters would use the bones from the chicken she cooked to torture Ambrose, which is what they did, allowing Ambrose to use those bones to make a skeleton key to free himself.

Dr. Cerberus[]

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Dr. Cerberus and Hilda

Hilda met Dr. Cerberus while applying for a job at Cerberus Books. He hired her as a barista. It didn't take long for feelings to manifest, though Dr. Cerberus was reluctant to engage with Hilda as he was hiding a secret of his own and turned down her advances. After some sisterly advice from Zelda, Hilda prepared a glamour to win over Dr. Cerberus' affection. Hilda approached Dr. Cerberus yet again with intentions to seduce him. Dr. Cerberus rejected her advances once more, though not out of disinterest. He revealed that he was possessed by an incubus — a sex demon. This was why he couldn't be near Hilda. She excited him too much. However, Hilda eventually revealed that she was a witch and the two would peruse a relationship. Not long after, he proposed to Hilda.

Appearances[]

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina[]

Part 1[]

Part 2[]

Part 3[]

Part 4[]

Riverdale[]

Season 6[]

Trivia[]

  • Hilda mentioned that she attended Queen Victoria’s Coronation where she got drunk.[6]
  • Hilda once attended a dinner party hosted by Virginia Woolf.[7]
  • Hilda hates Fawlty Towers. [8]
  • Hilda has an English accent because she lived in England for a while to take care of Ambrose.[5]
  • Hilda is 500 years old.[9]
  • Hilda likes baking and romance novels.
  • Hilda‘s hobbies are knitting, baking, reading, and writing.
  • According to Zelda, all the Spellmans have been baptized under a Blood Moon, ie. October.
    • Sabrina's Dark Baptism was special because coincided with the eclipsing of a Blood Moon, which is stated to only occur once every 66 years by Zelda.[10]
  • In the Archie Comics, Hilda is the most strict and mean of the two aunts.
    • In the 1971 comic series, she was a scrawny redhead dressed like a stereotypical witch with a purple dress and pointed hat, and always cooking up some nasty potion against mortals.
    • In the 2014 comic series, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa reinvented her as a plump brunette wearing glasses. Between the two, she is the kindest towards her niece Sabrina.
    • She is the blonde, spirited and fun aunt in the 90s sitcom, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, although in the 1996 made-for-TV movie that launched the sitcom, she was the strict redhead aunt.

Gallery[]

See also: Category:Images of Hilda Spellman
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Hilda Spellman's Gallery Can Be Found Here. The Gallery May Consist of Promotional Images, Screencaps, and Video Clips Released By Network Officials

References[]

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