Hildegard von Krone
Encyclopedia
, (ˈhɪldə) for short, is a fictional character in the Soul series
of video games. Created by Namco
's Project Soul division, she first appeared in Soulcalibur IV
and its subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise related to the series. She is voiced by Yūko Kaida
in Japanese, and Julie Ann Taylor
in English.
A princess in the fictional European country of Wolfkrone, in Soulcalibur IV she finds her kingdom under attack by Nightmare and his forces. With her father driven insane, she takes control of the kingdom's army and seeks to revive an ancient "Hero King", Algol, in order to bring peace to the land. In Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, the game's Gauntlet storyline (non-canon) revolves around her search for ingredients necessary to cure her father, interacting with various characters in the series. As a video game character, Hilde's fighting style is unique to others in the Soul series, allowing players to "charge" attack command inputs to increase the strength of their offensive strikes.
Since her introduction, IGN
heavily praised the character, citing her gameplay and stating approval for the contrast of her design against other female characters in the series. Other sources stated similar, with some such as Edge and Game Informer
describing her as the best new character introduced in the game or its predecessor, Soulcalibur III.
Hilde appears as a slender woman with long, red hair. Her primary appearance encases her fully in form-fitting body armor, with red and black fabric underneath. A wolf's head, the character's family symbol, extends from the right pauldron
and covers her helmet's visor, while the left pauldron is covered by red fabric, fastened to the center of her breastplate
's collar underneath a large brooch. Beneath the armor, a red coat covers her torso, the tail of which extends past her waist. Her alternate character design consists of a long, blue dress, extending to her feet and neck, exposing her shoulders and angled towards her right leg. White gloves, shoes, and stockings cover her arms and legs, while a darker colored sash surrounds her waist and midsection, also angled to the right.
In Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny
s Gauntlet storyline, a side story
set after the events of Soulcalibur IV, the plot revolves around Hilde and her ally Cassandra, who search for ingredients to develop a potion to cure Hilde's father. To this end they force the protagonist to assist them, and later recruit another person, Dampierre, after Hilde is briefly kidnapped.
but with the combination of her spear and short sword weapons allowing for both long distance and close-quarters combat. Control of her weapons is mapped to different inputs from the player's controller, allowing the attacks to be combined and create different horizontal and vertical strikes. However, as a result at long range Hilde's attacks become limited to entirely linear strikes.
Several of her attacks can also be "charged" by holding controller inputs, a feature unique in the series to the character. Doing so results in a stronger blow, but also creates a window of vulnerability due to the delay, negatable by performing the controller input during other attacks. Hilde's strongest attack, Mystic Star and Moonlight Dance, can be triggered through this method and will be both unguardable and do a high amount of damage if they hit the opponent, though at the cost of a twenty-five second delay while charging the attack.
joystick
s for the Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3
. To explain the new features of Soulcalibur IV, Namco released an omake
manga
featuring Hilde and Cassandra. Written in a humorous tone, Cassandra, representing a veteran of the series, "taught" Hilde about the game's features, while introducing the audience to aspects of Hilde's character. Hilde was also featured in a promotional comic bundled with the North American release of Soulcalibur IVs Premium Edition. Drawn by UDON Entertainment for DC Comics
, it served as a prelude to the events of the game.
IGN
listed Hilde as one of the series' top ten fighters at number ten. They cited her as a fierce opponent and "hell of a lot of fun to control", adding "...we tend to sit up and take notice when a new character shows promise...we expect she'll stick around for the long haul." They additionally stated her armored appearance makes her more alluring, as well as commented on her gameplay. Comparison was also made to the other female characters in the game such as Ivy, calling it a "stark contrast". Additional praise was given in their review of Soulcalibur IV, stating an approval of her design combined with her personality, and a preference for her over the game's unlockable characters.
Other publications have also praised the character. Game Informer
called her the best of any of the new characters introduced in either Soul Calibur III or IV. Edge described her as the best of the new characters in Soulcalibur IV, calling her fighting style a worthy rival to another series character, Kilik. iafrica.com described her as the "standout newcomer" of the title, describing her fighting style as unusual and "unwieldy to watch", but easy to get into. Ars Technica
also called her a standout addition to the game, describing her fighting style as good for skilled players. Good Game
described her as an interesting character, and further named her "the hottest [...] girl in the game". Shacknews
stated that her combination of close and long range attacks made for "a refreshingly dynamic fighting style". Topless Robot named her one of the "11 Most Dignified Videogame Heroines", suggesting that her presence in the game was added to offset the other female characters and praising the lack of "ridiculous romantic contrivances" in her character background. Neoseeker praised her design an "unbelievably awesome outfit", adding that despite the lack of exposed skin, "she will win you over". GameDaily
featured her as one of their "Babes of the Week", stating approval for her contrast to the other females, and praised the contrast of her fighting style to other characters in the series.
Soul (series)
The is a weapon-based historical fantasy fighting game series by Namco Bandai Games. The series revolves around a sword that, after years of bloodshed and hatred, gained a soul of its own, the Soul Edge, and the sword forged to counter it, Soul Calibur. The series is special in that each character...
of video games. Created by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
's Project Soul division, she first appeared in Soulcalibur IV
Soulcalibur IV
is the fourth installment in Namco's Soul series of fighting games. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on July 29, 2008, in North America, on July 31, 2008, in Japan, Europe, and Australia, and on August 1, 2008, in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.The game is notable for...
and its subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise related to the series. She is voiced by Yūko Kaida
Yuko Kaida
is a Japanese voice actress and theater actress from Kanagawa. She works at Ken Production. Kaida's most known roles include Neela Rasgotra in the Japanese dub of ER, Shimei Ryomo in Ikkitousen, Kyō Takamimori in Potemayo, Amane Ootori in Strawberry Panic!, Minako Tsukiyama in Maria-sama ga Miteru...
in Japanese, and Julie Ann Taylor
Julie Ann Taylor
Julie Ann Taylor is an American voice actress who is best known for her role of Ai Tanabe in Planetes, Mutsumi Otohime in Love Hina, Yukari Hayasaka in Paradise Kiss and Taiga Fujimura in Fate/Stay Night among others...
in English.
A princess in the fictional European country of Wolfkrone, in Soulcalibur IV she finds her kingdom under attack by Nightmare and his forces. With her father driven insane, she takes control of the kingdom's army and seeks to revive an ancient "Hero King", Algol, in order to bring peace to the land. In Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, the game's Gauntlet storyline (non-canon) revolves around her search for ingredients necessary to cure her father, interacting with various characters in the series. As a video game character, Hilde's fighting style is unique to others in the Soul series, allowing players to "charge" attack command inputs to increase the strength of their offensive strikes.
Since her introduction, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
heavily praised the character, citing her gameplay and stating approval for the contrast of her design against other female characters in the series. Other sources stated similar, with some such as Edge and Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
describing her as the best new character introduced in the game or its predecessor, Soulcalibur III.
Conception and design
Hilde's look derived from the development team's desire to make a fully clothed "sexy" female character for Soulcalibur IV, and encasing her in armor as a result. Her characteristics and personality were developed after deciding what weapons she would use, a spear and short sword. While fully armored, they endeavored to keep her appearing feminine, shaping the appearance of the armor thusly and giving "peeks" of her figure beneath it. When it was pointed out to lead animator Yusuke Shibata that her short sword and related attacks appeared to display her femininity, he agreed, though added that her spear was another matter entirely. After developing her appearance and character model, her backstory was developed by a team led by Yoshihiro Nakagawa, and during this process they worked out how to tie Hilde into the plot of the series. In interviews, Soulcalibur IV director Katsutoshi Sasaki has called Hilde "the 'most alluring'" female character in the title, designed as an opposite to characters such as Ivy and characters that "always have their boobs popping out". He added that he felt that as gaming became more accepted, characters similar to Hilde would become more common.Hilde appears as a slender woman with long, red hair. Her primary appearance encases her fully in form-fitting body armor, with red and black fabric underneath. A wolf's head, the character's family symbol, extends from the right pauldron
Pauldron
A pauldron is a component of plate armour, which evolved from spaulders in the 15th century. As with spaulders, pauldrons cover the shoulder area. Pauldrons tend to be larger than spaulders, covering the armpit, and sometimes parts of the back and chest...
and covers her helmet's visor, while the left pauldron is covered by red fabric, fastened to the center of her breastplate
Breastplate
A breastplate is a device worn over the torso to protect it from injury, as an item of religious significance, or as an item of status. A breastplate is sometimes worn by mythological beings as a distinctive item of clothing.- Armour :...
's collar underneath a large brooch. Beneath the armor, a red coat covers her torso, the tail of which extends past her waist. Her alternate character design consists of a long, blue dress, extending to her feet and neck, exposing her shoulders and angled towards her right leg. White gloves, shoes, and stockings cover her arms and legs, while a darker colored sash surrounds her waist and midsection, also angled to the right.
In video games
Hilde is the daughter of the king of Wolfkrone, a fictional European kingdom under assault by series antagonist Nightmare's forces. After her father was driven insane, she took up the responsibility of protecting its people, leading her armies in the front lines against Nightmare. As a desperate measure, Hilde seeks the Sword of Resurrection, Soul Calibur, to bring back an ancient king who once restored peace to the world. In her ending, Siegfried stands before her and requests to be executed for his responsibility in causing Nightmare's creation and the events of the series. She instead pardons him, telling him to live for the future instead of the past.In Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny
Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny
Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny is a fighting video game in the Soul series for PlayStation Portable . It was announced by Namco Bandai on April 28, 2009. It uses many of the features of Soulcalibur IV, including its character customization mode...
s Gauntlet storyline, a side story
Side story
A side story is a story that occurs alongside established stories set within a fictional universe. As opposed to a prequel, sequel, or interquel, a side story takes place within the same time frame as an existing work....
set after the events of Soulcalibur IV, the plot revolves around Hilde and her ally Cassandra, who search for ingredients to develop a potion to cure Hilde's father. To this end they force the protagonist to assist them, and later recruit another person, Dampierre, after Hilde is briefly kidnapped.
Gameplay
Sasaki described her fighting style as revolving around her dual weapons, comparing her to previous series character CervantesCervantes de Leon
is a fictional character in the Soul series of video games. Created by Namco's Project Soul division, he first appeared in Soul Edge and its subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise related to the series...
but with the combination of her spear and short sword weapons allowing for both long distance and close-quarters combat. Control of her weapons is mapped to different inputs from the player's controller, allowing the attacks to be combined and create different horizontal and vertical strikes. However, as a result at long range Hilde's attacks become limited to entirely linear strikes.
Several of her attacks can also be "charged" by holding controller inputs, a feature unique in the series to the character. Doing so results in a stronger blow, but also creates a window of vulnerability due to the delay, negatable by performing the controller input during other attacks. Hilde's strongest attack, Mystic Star and Moonlight Dance, can be triggered through this method and will be both unguardable and do a high amount of damage if they hit the opponent, though at the cost of a twenty-five second delay while charging the attack.
Promotion and reception
Hilde is visible on both Soulcalibur IV arcadeArcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
s for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. To explain the new features of Soulcalibur IV, Namco released an omake
Omake
means extra in Japanese. Its primary meaning is general and widespread. It is used as an anime and manga fandom term to mean "extra or bonus". In USA, the term is most often used in a narrow sense by anime fans to describe special features on DVD releases: deleted scenes, interviews with the...
manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
featuring Hilde and Cassandra. Written in a humorous tone, Cassandra, representing a veteran of the series, "taught" Hilde about the game's features, while introducing the audience to aspects of Hilde's character. Hilde was also featured in a promotional comic bundled with the North American release of Soulcalibur IVs Premium Edition. Drawn by UDON Entertainment for DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, it served as a prelude to the events of the game.
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
listed Hilde as one of the series' top ten fighters at number ten. They cited her as a fierce opponent and "hell of a lot of fun to control", adding "...we tend to sit up and take notice when a new character shows promise...we expect she'll stick around for the long haul." They additionally stated her armored appearance makes her more alluring, as well as commented on her gameplay. Comparison was also made to the other female characters in the game such as Ivy, calling it a "stark contrast". Additional praise was given in their review of Soulcalibur IV, stating an approval of her design combined with her personality, and a preference for her over the game's unlockable characters.
Other publications have also praised the character. Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
called her the best of any of the new characters introduced in either Soul Calibur III or IV. Edge described her as the best of the new characters in Soulcalibur IV, calling her fighting style a worthy rival to another series character, Kilik. iafrica.com described her as the "standout newcomer" of the title, describing her fighting style as unusual and "unwieldy to watch", but easy to get into. Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
also called her a standout addition to the game, describing her fighting style as good for skilled players. Good Game
Good Game
Good Game is an Australian video gaming talk show television programme created by Janet Carr and Jeremy Ray currently on ABC2. It premiered on ABC on 19 September 2006...
described her as an interesting character, and further named her "the hottest [...] girl in the game". Shacknews
Shacknews
Shacknews, commonly referred to as "The Shack", is a website offering news, features, editorial content, and forums relating to computer games and console games. Shacknews and its sister site, FileShack, are currently owned by GameFly...
stated that her combination of close and long range attacks made for "a refreshingly dynamic fighting style". Topless Robot named her one of the "11 Most Dignified Videogame Heroines", suggesting that her presence in the game was added to offset the other female characters and praising the lack of "ridiculous romantic contrivances" in her character background. Neoseeker praised her design an "unbelievably awesome outfit", adding that despite the lack of exposed skin, "she will win you over". GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
featured her as one of their "Babes of the Week", stating approval for her contrast to the other females, and praised the contrast of her fighting style to other characters in the series.