Jilda

Jilda is the strongest fighter from Lakluun, a Norse-descended island community in the Faeroes. She joins the Master’s Trial at Sinanju, falls in love with Remo Williams, and later becomes the mother of his daughter Freya. Her life is shaped by a conflict between the warrior traditions she inherited and the family and community she tries to protect.

As Lakluun’s best fighter, Jilda is expected to take part in its ceremonies. The Sacrifice of Nine sickens her: every nine years, her people kill nine of each male kind of animal and nine men taken from fishing boats, then hang them in the Sacred Wood. Jilda questions the old ways and argues that her small, declining people should not destroy one another in the Master’s Trial.

Jilda travels to Sinanju as Lakluun’s contestant even while trying to end the Trial. She attacks Ancion during an argument and admits that she started the fight, then sees the contest continue because, as she puts it, the challengers are afraid to be afraid. Her resistance is not a simple rejection of her people: she is their champion, but believes the traditions are putting them at risk.

Jilda meets Remo and the Welsh challenger Emrys ap Llewellyn, who has brought his son Griffith. She argues that all three can refuse to fight, both to stop the ritual and to spare Griffith, whom she sees as kind but unsuited to be a warrior. Emrys agrees to travel with them. When Griffith swims after their boat, Jilda dives into the sea and carries him back; she insists he come along, and Emrys accepts her decision.

Jilda and Remo fall in love during the journey. She explains that her parents named her Gullikona and that she chose Jilda as an adult. Remo is drawn to her, but both understand that neither can easily belong to the other’s world without giving up the way of life that defines them.

After the events in Sinanju, Jilda says she will stay in Wales with Griffith, whose upbringing she believes needs people who understand him. She tells Remo that she wishes to spend her life with him, but believes the sacrifice would be too great because of their people and his Sinanju destiny. When he asks her to say she does not love him, she does; then she runs away.

Chiun later tells Remo he believes Jilda is pregnant, based on observing her manner, and reports that she asked him not to tell Remo. He says her choice also protects her people, Remo’s responsibilities as a future Master and the unborn child from the Dutchman, Jeremiah Purcell. Remo is devastated and returns with Chiun rather than following Jilda. The book gives Chiun’s belief and explanation, not a direct conversation between Remo and Jilda.

Jilda returns to Sinanju with Freya just before Remo is to marry Mah-Li. She identifies Freya as Remo’s daughter, and the two parents embrace their child. Jilda refuses to let Chiun begin training Freya without her permission. When Remo returns to America, Jilda and Freya stay behind; Jilda says she will not join him while he remains in CURE, but may consider Freya’s Sinanju training when Remo and Freya both want it.

Jilda raises Freya apart from Remo. In the novels, Freya is later shown in a Toronto kindergarten, and Remo remembers her living far from his dangerous work. He believes Jilda later took their daughter to Canada because she thought it would be safer and that they would not cross paths; the books give that as Remo’s conclusion rather than Jilda’s confirmed explanation.

In White Water, Remo and Chiun confront a masked woman called Mistress Kali. Chiun kills her before Remo recognizes that she is Jilda, and Remo realizes that the woman he loved is Freya’s mother. He and Chiun later find Freya in a temple, where Kali’s spirit is acting through her.

After the temple collapses, Remo revives Freya and carries her out. He also removes Jilda’s body and brings both women to the Sun On Jo reservation. Jilda is buried near Red Ghost Butte without a marker. Remo says their lives did not fit together and that he believes she had taken Freya to Canada for safety.