Princess Hilda



Princess Hilda later known as Queen Hilda is a non-player character from Final Fantasy II. She is daughter of the King of Fynn and the leader of the Wild Rose Rebellion, to which the main characters belong.

Story
At the beginning of the game, Hilda finds the wounded Firion, Maria, and Guy after the Palamecian Empire attacked their hometown of Fynn and killed their parents. She takes them to the rebel base in Altair, allowing them to be healed back to full health with the help of her assistant, Minwu. The party soon finds out that she is the leader of the Wild Rose Rebellion. Firion asks to join the resistance, and Hilda refuses him, feeling that the party is too young to join. She is sympathetic to their plight however, and allows them to stay, teaching them the password of the rebellion, the "Wild Rose". Firion, Maria, and Guy leave Altair soon after and travel to Fynn, where they discover Hilda's fiance Scott, who has been taken care of and hidden in the basement of the pub after the conquer of Fynn by the Empire. He gives them his ring to give to Hilda after telling them that Borghen betrayed Fynn and that Hilda is the love of his life, and dies.

Upon returning to Altair, Firion and his friends show Scott's ring to Hilda, who allows them to join the rebellion and has them keep the ring. She then asks them to join her assistant, the White Wizard Minwu, and seek the source of the Empire's Mythril, which gives its weapons a great advantage. They succeed in retrieving Mythril from the Semitt Falls. As they return with Mythril to the base, Hilda asks the party to sabotage the construction of the Dreadnought at Bafsk, since the Dark Knight who supervisioned the construction was called back to Palamecia, due to the attack on the Empire's Mythril supply, and replaced by Fynn's traitor, Borghen.

However, the rebellion is tricked into believing the Dreadnought's construction was slowed down by Borghen's presence, which was only a guise. The moment Firion and his friends reach the Dreadnought's construction area, it takes flight and attacks most towns allied with the resistance. Back at the headquarters, Hilda asks the party to search for the Sunfire at Kashuan, which could destroy the Dreadnought from the inside. In order to enter Kashuan, Hilda suggests the party contacts Josef of Salamand, who may know the location of the Goddess's Bell.

As Firion and his friends, allied with prince Gordon of Kashuan, Scott's brother, manage to obtain Sunfire, Hilda and Cid are captured by the Dreadnought while trying to meet up with Firion's party in Kashuan Keep on Cid's Airship. Firion leads an effort to rescue her, but he is unaware that Hilda has been replaced in her cell by a disguised Lamia Queen, who is taken back to Altair instead of her. The disguised Lamia Queen tempted Firion but the pirate Leila sees through the disguise and intervenes just in time. After discovering the truth and killing the Lamia, Firion learns that the Princess is really being held at the Emperor's gladiatorial arena. The heroes enter the arena and defeat a monster, but the Emperor has them arrested. They are able to break out of their cell and also manage to rescue Hilda.

Hilda and Gordon organize the Liberation of Fynn immediately after Hilda's rescue, which Firion's party participates in. After reclaiming her throne and becoming queen, she asks the party to look for Minwu, who has gone to search for the Ultima Tome. When the party aqcuires the Ultima Tome, the Emperor's new weapon, the Cyclone had already destroyed most towns allied with Fynn, nearing the kingdom's capital. Hilda suggests that they use the mirror room at Fynn Castle to summon a Dragoon's Wyvern. After the succesful defeat of the Emperor of Palamecia, Hilda holds a celebration after the empire's defeat before finding out that the Dark Knight, Leon, has crowned himself emperor.

After the revival of the Emperor, Hilda invites Leon to join their ranks when Firion and Maria bring him back with them. However, after the definite defeat of the Emperor at Pandaemonium, Leon abandons the kingdom, after Hilda congratulates the party for their victory over the empire and plans to rebuild Fynn.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Hilda appears in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game with her official Yoshitaka Amano artwork and her Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls artwork.

Etymology
Hilda is the shortened form of any Germanic name that begins or ends with hild, or "battle".

Trivia

 * Hildagarde Fabool from Final Fantasy IX is a possible reference to Princess Hilda as Lady Hilda is also nobility, ruling Lindblum with her husband Cid Fabool IX.
 * Additionally, both Hildas have been held hostage by their game's main villain, Princess Hilda by the Emperor in the Gladitorial Arena and Lady Hilda by Kuja in Mount Gulug.
 * A Final Fantasy XII Resistance Airship, the Queen Hilda, is named from this character.

Prinzessin Hilda