Hilbert/Hilda

Hilbert/Hilda
Species	Human
Hair color	Dark Brown
Eye color	Brown (Hilbert) Blue (Hilda)
Age	14 (Black/White)
Base	Nuvema Town
Relatives	Mother
Voiced by	Griffin Burns (Hilbert, 2019) Erica Mendez (Hilda, 2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions

Hilbert and Hilda are the potential identities of the protagonist of Pokémon: Black and White Versions. As in most Pokémon games, the player must select the protagonist's gender at the beginning of the game, with Hilbert being the male character while Hilda is a female character. The gendered character not chosen by the player ends up appearing in a minor role as a battle partner in Multi Train battles at the Battle Subway.

Background

Hilbert/Hilda lived at Nuvema Town in Unova with their mother. Their friends since childhood were Bianca and Cheren. One day, their mothers decided that the three youths were ready for their first Pokémon journey and made a request for Professor Juniper to give them Pokémon. Professor Juniper sent Poké Balls containing three Pokémon (Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott) to them. They opened the box and chose their Pokémon in Hilda/Hilbert's room. Hilbert/Hilda got the first choice of Pokémon, after which Bianca picked for both herself and Cheren. Hilbert/Hilda proceeded to have their first Pokémon battle against Bianca, followed by Cheren, and made a mess of their bedroom in the process. The three trainers then went to Professor Juniper's lab, where she gave each of them a Pokédex and began teaching the trainers lessons about Pokémon. They then set off on their journeys and stayed in contact with the Xtransceiver.

In Hilbert/Hilda's journey, they took on the eight gym leaders of the region in order to earn the badges needed to face the Elite Four. They also met up with Bianca and Cheren throughout their journey and battled each of them several times. Along the way, Hilbert/Hilda also came into conflict with Team Plasma, a group that claimed to be liberating Pokémon from people, but they were actually stealing Pokémon for their own ends. This included several meetings with N, a mysterious young man who revealed himself to be the king of Team Plasma. They battled N several times and learned more about his philosophy while he also came to question what he believed about the separation of people and Pokémon. N later beat them to resurrecting a Legendary Pokémon from a stone at Dragonscale Tower (Zekrom from the Dark Stone in Black or Reshiram from the Light Stone in White). An effort was then mounted to find the stone of the opposing Legendary Dragon-type so that there could be a chance of stopping Team Plasma from taking over Unova. Profressor Juniper later discovered the other stone at the Nacrene Museum, and Lenora let Hilbert/Hilda have it, but they did not know how to awaken it.

Regardless of the threat posed by Team Plasma, Hilbert/Hilda finished the gym challenge and went on to challenge the Elite Four. They defeated all four members, but the champion was already defeated by N, who raised his castle from the ground. Hilbert/Hilda made their way to the castle and confronted N at the throne room. It was then that their stone finally reacted and revived the other Dragon-type Pokémon (Reshiram in Black or Zekrom in White). Hilbert/Hilda proceeded to catch that Pokémon and used it to battle N. Hilbert/Hilda successfully defeated N and convinced him that he was wrong. It was then that Ghetsis arrived to verbally abuse N and revealed himself as the true master of Team Plasma, who had manipulated N. Ghetsis wanted to silence Hilbert/Hilda in order to hide N's defeat, but Hilbert/Hilda was able to defeat them in a Pokémon battle. Ghetsis was then escorted away by Alder and Cheren. N then said farewell to the trainer before leaving with his Legendary Dragon-type Pokémon.

Afterwards, Looker enlisted Hilbert/Hilda's help in rounding up the remaining members of Team Plasma. They could also explore the rest of the Unova region and challenge the Elite Four again in order to truly become a champion of the Unova region. Hilbert/Hilda was also able to meet Cynthia at Undella Town.

Two years later, Hilbert/Hilda did not appear in Black 2/White 2, but they were mentioned by other characters. According to their mother, they were exploring another region in search of N.

Pokémon Roster

As the protagonist, Hilbert/Hilda can choose one of three Pokémon as a starter (Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott). As with all protagonists, their other Pokémon are a variable decided by which Pokémon the player catches. Their only other canonical Pokémon is Reshiram/Zekrom, although it is possible to skip catching even that Pokémon if the player's party and PC boxes are both maxed out when defeating the Pokémon.

As the Battle Subway partner, Hilbert/Hilda uses randomly-generated Pokémon from a pool that includes Excadrill, Conkeldurr, Sawk, Krookodile, Darmanitan, Archeops, Reuniclus, Vanilluxe, Escavalier, Eelektross, Chandelure, Haxorus, Beartic, Cryogonal, Accelgor, Mienshao, Druddigon, Golurk, Bisharp, Bouffalant, Braviary, Audino, Amoonguss, Jellicent, Alomomola, Musharna, Gigalith, Throh, Lilligant, Scrafty, Cofagrigus, Gothitelle, Ferrothorn, Klinklang, Mandibuzz and Durant.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters, both Hilbert and Hilda appeared as playable trainers who could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature. Hilbert's sync partner was Oshawott and Hilda's was Tepig. Their Pokémon could evolve through sync pair stories in which they had to battle other trainers. Hilbert had to battle Brendan for the first evolution, while Hilda had to battle Flannery, and they each had to battle Cheren for their Pokémon's final evolution. Within the game's Main Story, they were both featured as opponents in Chapter 18. Hilbert and Cheren were competing together as a team for the Pokémon Masters League tournament and deiced to recruit Hilda for their team. Their team was defeated by Scottie/Bettie's team, and afterwards Hilbert convinced Cheren to join the other trainer's team. In this game's version of events, Hilbert had the role of the Black/White protagonist character, and Hilda was only known as a trainer who had experienced a similar journey.

Other Appearances

Canceled Appearances

• Unused text found within Black 2/White 2 indicates that Hilbert/Hilda was initially intended to appear as a competitor in the Pokémon World Tournament. This would have made them the only protagonist character aside from Red to reappear in another game.

Other Media

• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, characters based on both protagonists were featured in the Black/White arc. Black was based on Hilbert and was an excitable trainer whose dreams of becoming champion were so overwhleming that he needed his Munna to regularly drain his dreams from his head. A character named White was based on Hilda and ran a multimedia company called the BW Agency.
• In the Pokémon Generations manga, Hilbert made a brief non-speaking appearance at the end of one episode, where he was seen arriving at the Giant Chasm to help N in battle with Ghetsis and White Kyurem. This was based on a scenario from Black 2/White 2, except that Nate/Rosa was present instead of Hilbert, who did not appear in the game.

Trivia

• Hilbert and Hilda's Japanese names are Touya and Touko, which are both based on a Japanese word for "fight". Their English names are derived from names with Germanic origins that refer to "battle", and Hilbert's name is also derived from one meaning "bright".
• As with other Pokémon protagonists, their name is chosen by the player, and their official names are revealed by the names used for the non-playable version of the character from the Battle Subway.
• Cynthia mentions that they have an uncanny resemblance to a trainer she's met before, in reference to Lucas/Dawn.
• In Black 2/White 2, Hilbert/Hilda's mom briefly confuses Nate/Rosa for their child. If the Memory Link is activated, she would refer to her child by the name that was chosen in the original Black/White file.
• Cheren mentions having known Bianca for ten years and knowing the player character for their entire lives. This suggests that they likely did not meet Bianca until they were around four years old.
• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, one of the alternate costumes for the female Pokémon Trainer has a color scheme based on Hilda's outfit.