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Sif is best known for her romance with Thor, but she had an important friendship with the goddess Hildegarde that revealed new sides to her character.
Marvel’s Thor comics of the 60s and 70s featured Thor embarking on many epic adventures, often with male warriors at his side such as Balder the Brave and the Warriors Three. However, these comics did not feature very many female characters. Though the goddess Hela and the sorceress Karnilla sometimes served as antagonists to Thor, the most significant recurring female characters in these comics were the human nurse Jane Foster and the goddess Sif, who were both Thor’s love interests. As a result of this scarcity of women in Thor comics, there were no significant female friendships to be found in these stories.
This changed with Thor #195 (by Gerry Conway, John Buscema, Vince Colletta, and Artie Simek), which introduced the female warrior Hildegarde. Odin tasked Hildegarde to protect Sif and accompany her to the faraway planet Blackworld for her protection. Hildegarde and Sif soon became friends and found that they made a good team in battle as they fought off their enemies side by side. Though Hildegarde and Sif were very different in personality and appearance, as warriors they shared a love for battle, and they could relate to each other as women. This representation of a friendship between two women marked an important development in Thor comics, as the comics began to portray women as more capable and three-dimensional, with lives outside of their relationships with men.
Hildegarde and Sif were visually very different, and they had different personalities as well. Hildegarde was tall, large, and muscular, a body type for women that was particularly rare in superhero comics at this time. She also had blonde hair which she wore in braids. Sif, on the other hand, was short and slender, with dark hair which she wore loose. While Sif had a more conventionally feminine appearance, Hildegarde appeared more masculine. Hildegarde was also more bold and boisterous, whereas Sif tended to be more gentle and polite. In many ways, the two women appeared to be opposites.
Yet Hildegarde and Sif shared some similarities as well. Both women were skilled and capable warriors, Sif fighting with her sword and Hildegarde generally preferring to fight with her bare hands. As Sif journeyed through Blackworld with Hildegarde, she became reminded of her love for battle. Though Sif had long been a formidable warrior, it had been some time since she last engaged in battle, and her adventure with Hildegarde reawakened the part of her that loves combat.
Both Hildegarde and Sif also shared a love for certain male Asgardian warriors. Sif was in a dedicated and loving relationship with Thor, and Hildegarde hinted that she has feelings for one of the Warriors Three, though she doesn’t specify which one. While in Blackworld, Sif was feeling gloomy because she was away from Thor and worried about how he was faring on the quest Odin sent him on. She confided in Hildegarde about her worries regarding Thor and his safety. However, doing battle alongside Hildegarde helped Sif take her mind off her faraway beau. These shared interests allowed Sif and Hildegarde to forge a strong friendship with each other.
The friendship between Sif and Hildegarde helped to develop both characters and proved that they are much more than the accessories of the men they love. By showing that Sif has a life outside of Thor, she became a better and more well-rounded love interest for Thor, and a more compelling character in her own right. Though this friendship has been mostly forgotten by later comics, it was significant for Thor comics of the time and marked a different and more thoughtful approach to the female characters of Thor comics.
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