TW: This post contains discussions of child physical abuse.
Hi all! Thought it was about time that I got around to making a big old main post explaining my one and only fanfic, the Boy in the Photo (BITP), which takes place in the world of Hilda, a graphic novel series created by Luke Pearson that explores stories based off Scandinavian myths and adapted into a brilliant cartoon Netflix! (See the flair? Go watch it!)
I talk more about the premise below, but if you are a Hilda fan already/want to jump in right away, you can find the BITP right here!
This post and the BITP fanfic itself will contain spoilers for about the entire Hilda show, so if you are watching the show at all, I'd advise that you click off now and finish watching it. Or don't, I'm not your parent.
WHAT IS THE BITP?
The BITP is based on a simple premise and one that the Hilda fandom has seen a few takes on before: What if Hilda had a sibling? In the BITP, that sibling is a twin brother named Harry!
In the BITP AU, Hilda and Harry were born in Trolberg to their Mum, Johanna and their Father, Tadgh. Tadgh is a member of the Tuatha de Danann, figures from Irish mythology who inhabit the Otherworld from which he claims to have escaped, as leaving the Otherworld is allegedly strictly forbidden.
The first two years of the twins lives pass with relative bliss, until one day Tadgh and Harry vanish off the face of the earth. Johanna is absolutely devastated, but commits herself to attempting to find them. In the BITP, I have made Johanna a Witch in exile, mentor to Kaisa and student to Matilda Pilqvist (Tildy). It is after a horrible nightmare that Johanna ends up in the old cabin in the Wilderness with Hilda, her magical abilities greatly weakened and suppressed by the trauma of Tadgh and Harry’s apparent kidnapping.
The name "Boy in the Photo" comes from the one piece of evidence that Hilda has had of her brother and Father throughout her life, with Johanna refusing to talk about them thanks to her guilt. With each passing Father’s day, Hilda’s resentment towards her Mum builds, until finally she can't bottle it up any longer..
YOU THINK YOU KNOW SOMEONE
However, Johanna has had the wool pulled over her eyes from the very beginning. Tadgh wasn't kidnapped: he just upped and left with Harry when he took him out for a walk one day. Since Harry was 6 years old, Tadgh has subjected him to a brutal home-schooling regime in the Otherworld, intent on securing his "legacy" through his son. When Harry under performs or dares to step out of line, Tadgh has no problem inflicting horrible beatings on him to put him in his place. The only "blessing" to these is that when Tadgh is sober, he knows when to stop. When he's had a little too much to drink? Well..
AN ABUSED KID NAMED HARRY?
Yes yes yes I know I know I know, Harry's name and situation are pretty similar to another well known kid and book series. I can't deny that I wasn't subconsciously influenced by HP in some way (it was the first real big book series I ever read) but the BITP differs in other ways..
WHY SHOULD I READ?
In the spirit of Hilda, the BITP is full to the brim with Irish mythology. The Otherworld, home of the Tuatha de Danann, is introduced to the reader early through the eyes of Siobh, a girl the same age as Hilda whose family hosts her and Johanna when they arrive. Famous aspects of Irish myth present in the BITP, which I have tweaked somewhat, include the Gods Lugh, the Dagda and Brigit (who are present in some form or another 😉), the mighty Fianna (who serve as a broad, informal army) and the Sons of Tuireann.
Heretical murderers, the Sons of Tuireann were believed to be wiped out by the Fianna during a brutal war that shook the Otherworld, however now a band of them have descended on Siobh's sleepy village to carry out their revenge and are fully prepared to resort to brutal violence against those who stand in their way.
If Hilda and Johanna are to survive and return to Trolberg with their family (and lives) intact, they will have to confront a myriad of truths and decisions, they must trust each other utterly, lest the Otherworld become their graves and the graves of those that they hold closest to them..
(4/11/25) The Boy in the Photo is now COMPLETE!
☆ Next up - Patch Notes!☆
Most of the wonderful Harry art that you see in this post (apart from pic 2) is by the very talented @lazyottercat and @spinosaurusaegypticus ! You can find their Tumblrs below:
they/he - ya call call me Ottercat/Ottie Artist, fan of multiple cartoons n’ such, esp. Hilda creator of ottercat’s (the creatures) for more
Another AU which sees Hilda get a sibling (this time an older sister named Lauren) is the absolutely phenomenonal "Plenism" by Blaithne, which you can find here:
That's about all from me. Should you decide to read the Boy in the Photo or any of the other fics here or not, I hope at the very least that you will watch Hilda on Netflix!! :D
Hey gang, have an update for ye 😅 you can probably tell from the pic but ill go into more detail below..
Patch notes are still ticking along ofc, Im about part way through Chapter 14, but I'm giving myself a break due to burnout and working on the sequel a bit. A good thing too, since I realised that the sequel (the "Hilda Chronicles") kind of has too much going on at once 🥲
Basically, I want to focus on Harry's development as a character, how hes managing to cope with his past, how hes getting used to Trolberg, etc. Ive realised I wont be able to do Harrys development justice and be able to tell the wider story at the same time; this was because the Chronicles were only going to take place 2 months after the events of BITP!
That brings us to the first big change: the Chronicles will now take place 2 years after the Boy in the Photo!
"But Irish!" I probably hear no one cry "Two years is a lot of time! Won't explaining what happened in the Chronicles take away from that story?" And to that I say, you're exactly right!
That's what brings to the next announcement: I'll be writing a whole new sequel focusing on Harrys early days in Trolberg!
And the good news here is that I actually already have a fic started that focuses on exactly this! You guys have actually already seen part of it; Harry and Siobh's last conversation in the Epilogue of the BITP is taken from this fic which right now is called Settling Down, though I might change the name at some point. Right now its on five chapters, but I think it will probably shrink at bit as I tidy it up to be the official sequel to the Boy in the Photo!
The Chronicles aren't dead by any means either; like I said I already have the story figured out, it will just be on the back burner for a while. I don't expect Settling Down to be a particularly long fic either, so I will probably be back working on the Chronicles sooner than I think :)
(oh, and the art isnt mine! Hoping to get a name I can credit soon!)
I just binged Hilda s2, s3, and the movie all in like...11 hours maybe? And I'm not ugly crying, you are!!! fucking nerd....
SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT
But uhh yeah that was like 99% the perfect finale but it still doesn't explain why Johanna (Hilda's mom) has brown hair and half fairy, but Hilda has the fairy given blue hair and 1/4 fairy
I mean unless I'm stupid with media literacy levels in the toilet, but I really don't think so lol
This was going to be a shitty Anders joke but it spiralled, oops.
This is my pure headcanon with no/little proof, but we know that when Johanna was born she got crazy sick, and since she only hot better after her parents made a deal with the Entity, I dont think its too much of a stretch to say that It was responsible for said illness and therefore Johanna not being "imbued" with the magic.
It could also be that the fairy magic just reacted negatively by itself to Phinium and Lydia's relationship; remember what Kaisa said about not mixing Human and Troll magic?
Anyway as for Hilda I dont really have a good idea for that 😅 it could be that since Johanna wasnt *pure* fairy (shes half, Hilda is a quarter) that the diluted fairy magic wasnt enough make Hilda crazy ill and but was enough to give her the blue hair. If we go down the road of the Entity being responsible for everything, it could be that the Isle was so isolated it didnt know; maybe Hilda had too much human in her for it to give a shit.
For all the flak Anders rightly gets and which I love to give him at any chance, he did genuinely love Hilda and her him - hence why Tadgh remained the Dad character in BITP after S3 came out
my son (and the old sketch im using as a ref) i am not a good 3D modeller lmao so I had to simplify some of the shapes quite a lot for my own sanity.. and some of the topology is wonky like near the base but hopefully i can sand off and paint over any little imperfections when he's printed :>
3D printers print from the bottom upwards and if anything overhangs onto thin air it needs supports (which you can break off after, but they leave little imperfections on the print itself which I want to avoid as much as possible). so cutting him up into 1 million pieces and lying everything flat was my best option 🥲 now he’s printed I can start reassembling him
the paintwork is kinda messy and his arms and legs are so spindly I had to be REALLY careful with him until I got a few layers of paint and varnish down (warhammer paint is the best I love this stuff). also I regret assembling him pre-painting bc peppercorn being there made some of him really hard to get a brush to 😭 so I learned a lot!! and I have some ideas for how I would approach this type of thing better next time. but he’s done 😌
and now he gets to hang out on my desk w my other minis :D
Hello everyone! The latest **Patch Notes** for the Boy in the Photo have been released on Ao3! They include grammar corrections and plot tweaks for Chapters 10, 11 and 12, while Chapter 13 has been completely rewritten as The Rovers!
Hey gang, got something extraaa special today to share with ye! I commissioned the extremely talented guynamed.reg on TikTok to draw a scene of Hilda and Siobh chilling in Siobh's room after a long day, and think its clear from the final product that they COOKED! 🔥
They unfortunately don't have a tublr for me to plug, but do go follow them on TikTok for more cool art and their OC Rhafa :D
As for the BITP, I'm still very much in the trenches College wise but I am also very close to finishing the latest batch of chapters for the Patch Notes and will hopefully be able to post them sometime this week, likely the weekend! Hopefully I'll have some new notes to give you guys as well 💔
I'm making the Hilda comic the traditional way now. To be honest, it would be much faster in digital, measuring the margins of each panel is annoying and requires careful work so it doesn't end up crooked. But the feeling is totally different, having the physical artwork in your hands is really rewarding.
The BITP comic lives! Grateful beyond words for Token's dedication to this project, never did I think when I started the BITP that it would lead to something like this!
And of course shout out to everyone else like @lazyottercat and @spinosaurusaegypticus whove drawn me BITP art over the past year ❤️
