Thunderbird (Hilda)

Thunderbird
Naming
Others	The Great Raven
Personal information
Species	Thunderbird
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Unknown
Age	Over thousands of years old
Current status	Alive
Biology
Body type	Avian
Diet	Omnivore
Abilities	Lightning generation Size-shifting
Sentience	Sentient
Sapience	Sapient
Behind the scenes
Universe	Hilda
Created by	Luke Pearson
Designed by	Luke Pearson
Performed by	Cory English

The Thunderbird, a.k.a the Great Raven, is a magical creature who appears in Hilda.  

Biology

The Thunderbird is a gigantic ancient bird whose body is covered in black feathers, and has an ability to change his size to a more average raven, but only when feeling discreet. He can also produce lightning from his body.

History

Centuries ago, the Thunderbird visited the place where the city of Trolberg was built. On one such occasion, he rested on the shoulder of a statue representing the god that was worshiped by the Trolberg populace.

The people gathered in awe around the majestic bird, who bore an uncanny resemblance to the legendary avian messenger of their god, and on that year, by pure coincidence, the harvest was plentiful. Since the Great Raven received credit for the good fortune, he continued to visit the city each year, leading to the annual celebration known as the Bird Parade to honor him. One year, however, the Raven forgot to come to Trolberg, and by pure chance once again, the year was marked by a particularly poor harvest.

Shortly after Hilda and her family moved into Trolberg, she ran into an amnesiac talking raven who later turned out to be the Thunderbird of legend. The Raven had lost his memories after having been hit by a rock thrown by a boy named Trevor. Hilda, along with Alfur, took care of him, and tried to help him remember his identity.

Thankfully, the Raven regained his memories right in time to appear over the Bird Parade, bringing hope and happiness to the people. Afterwards, he remained good friends with Hilda, Alfur and Twig, and provided assistance on other adventures, often in the form of transportation, allowing his friends to ride on his back.

When Trolberg was hit by a devastating storm, the Great Raven carried Hilda and David to the weather station on top of the mountains to meet with meteorologist Victoria Van Gale. He later flew to the clouds with Hilda, so that she could moderate the Weather Spirits' heated discussion, which was discovered to be the source of the snowstorm. However, the weather station was destroyed when a Weather Spirit went to rescue her baby, who was being kept captive by Van Gale.

Due to the destruction of the weather station, Hilda was lost, and ended up being carried away by the Weather Spirit to the valley. The Great Raven came looking for her and they were reunited eventually, at which point Hilda, the Wood Man, Alfur, the Great Raven and Twig all ended up trapped inside a magic house that could materialize anything they wished. After many failed attempts to escape, Hilda wished to be returned to her real house in Trolberg, and the House released them.

When Hilda, Twig and Johanna were lost in the Trolls' mountains, the Great Raven came looking for them, and found them just in time to save them from a landslide.

Appearances

• Hilda and the Bird Parade (2012)
• Hilda and the Stone Forest (2016)