With the conclusion to the How To Train your dragon films among us we can finally start to speculate what Dean Deblois and his team were getting at in regards to Hiccup (main protagonists) and the rest of the characters story arc and how well it is (or isn’t) wrapped up.
p.s this will mainly focus on Hiccup, him being the main character, but other characters will be here seeing that they also have relevant story arcs.
At the start of the first film we are introduced to Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III the heir to the harry hooligan tribe, son of the chief of berk (Stoick the vast) and resident loser, idiot, nuisance; really any name Berks bullies call him. The viking world prides itself on creating generations of physically inclined people, what they lack in brains they more then make up for in brawn. Hiccup, Hiccup is different he is a small scrawny boy who has no physical strength whatsoever. This, as one would imagine sets him apart from the other vikings, and although in our world he would be celebrated for his differences in his own he is shunned and made fun of by not only his tribe but his father. That brings me to my next point, Hiccup was never one to take what other people said too seriously but when his own flesh and blood treats him like the rest of the village does his self esteem and body image issues become prevalent. The only person he can really confide in (at the start of the first film) is Gobber The Belch Hiccups mentor and fathers oldest friend. It becomes very clear that Hiccup is painfully aware of his shortcomings, when Hiccup confides in Gobber saying
Hiccup: He never listens. (talking about his father, Stoick)
Gobber: Oh yeah it runs in the family.
Hiccup: And when he does it’s with this disappointed scowl like someone skimped out on the meat in his sandwich. <mocking Stoick> Excuse me, barmaid, I’m afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with meaty arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fish bone.” (rotten tomatoes httyd 1 quotes)
Hiccup is a 15 year old boy with a very, VERY low opinion of himself and that is who we are introduced to at the start of the first film, an underdog in every sense of the word. What these movies do best is relationships, ones that evolve throughout the course of the franchise. At the start the first relationship we are introduced to is Hiccup and Stoick, the contrast in Stoick being the perfect viking and Hiccup being the complete opposite.
Stoick the Vast, who is voiced by Gerard Butler who has a very thick heavy Scottish accent. Even with the choice of the difference in voices is a very telling part of the relationship. Stoicks voice is loud and when he laughs you feel like hes gonna cause an earthquake half way across the world. Hiccups voice is the complete opposite he has a scratchy borderline squeaky voice that further reinforces his societal status.
At the start of the movie Hiccup wants to go out and kill dragons even though this is something he has never done. Now why would a boy with Hiccups strength even go near such things. He seeks his fathers approval. At this point all we see in Hiccup as our younger selves, needing our parents approval is something all of us have seaked, some of us just have had an easier time fulfilling that need. It isn’t really until he finally shoots down mid air (using one of his genius contraptions) the rarest and most mysterious dragon known to vikings the “Night Fury”. He tells his dad about his conquest but he’s laughed off by villagers and screamed at by his father. He, despite being told by everyone that he’s crazy, goes out and looks for the Night Fury.
Now here we are, THE most defining moment of Hiccups life, the moment that TRULY showed just how different he really is. He stands there with the Night Fury shot down, any moment he could kill the animal. But then. He looks into the animals eyes and just…can’t kill it. This not only makes viewers earn a new respect for his character but also changing the course of not only his life but all of Berks.
We get to see Hiccup and Toothless really grow into their friendship. Hiccup ended up shooting Toothless right into a cove (not on purpose) and inadvertently caused toothless to lose his left tail-fin, making him unable to leave the cove. Yet another show of Hiccups expertise in regards to building cool and effective machinery is when he decided to build Toothless a prosthetic tail. We get a nice Montage of him putting the fin on and then learning Toothless cant control it himself, which leads him to an integral discovery, riding dragons. Que the montage in which there is an “A and B plot”, switching between Hiccup and Toothless to Hiccup and his training, the both plots have such a sense of symmetry and relevance to each other with lines seeping into the opposite plot. For example when Hiccups over curious self asks to many questions about night furies in the ring whilst a dragon is attacking him and his peers Astrid ends up almost dying and in anger and general disgust says
Astrid: Our parents war is about to become ours, figure out which side your on!
The montage ends with my favorite scene in cinematic history, a 5 minute scene with close to no dialogue and just a beautiful soundtrack behind it that ends in Hiccup putting his hand on Toothless’s nose, signifying he HAS chosen a side and that deep down he knows its the right one.
For the rest of the film he juggles a double life trying to be two people. The man his father wants him to be and the boy he is. Whilst playing with Toothless he is able to gain efficient knowledge of the dragons, far more then his fellow Vikings could dream of and this gift helps him be top in his “dragon killing class “
At this point another thing to note is he is resourceful using both situations to help the other, he’s not failing classes, he’s making his dad proud and when no one is around he can embrace this other side of himself. Everything is going smoothly but nothing lasts and inevitably he is faced with an impossible decision. Should he, as his final test, kill a dragon and be revered by his fellow villagers or to do the opposite and be scorned by his fellow villagers. His first reaction is to run away, he isn’t some hero who’s goal is to change his villages mind he’s just a little kid who just realized he’s in way over his head. Funny enough the thing that got him to change his mind is the girl he has been crushing on since the start of the movie, possibly even before. Astrid, who is now baffled by Hiccups sudden jump to first in class. Before all of this she was easily the toughest of all of her peers being scary ,determined and very goal oriented. This unbalance in the hierarchy leads her to tracks Hiccup down and stumbles upon Toothless. She, confused and just all around aghast runs away only to be caught by hiccup and toothless and taken on a moonlight flight around Berk as a way to show her that maybe dragons aren’t as bad as everyone made them out to be. The first person who Hiccup has affected in such a way is Astrid his new found love for dragons has proven to be one he can spread. He might not be an overly righteous hero but he does know when to do the right thing and with the help of Astrid and Toothless he builds up the strength to go to his exam.
Now in the ring he calmly leads the dragon out of its cage whilst saying “They’re not what we think they are, we don’t have to kill them” with that he takes his helmet off saying “I’m not one of them” leaving Stoick obfuscated enough that he screams “STOP THE FIGHT” and throws his axe into the protective rings around the arena, which startles the monstrous nightmare enough that it starts to attack Hiccup, spitting fire from its large mouth. With this every character with a strong relationship to Hiccup goes in to save him, Astrid runs in to help, Toothless hears Hiccups scream all the way from the arena and he attempts to escape the cove and Stoick opens the gate to help lead Hiccup away from the Monstrous Nightmare. The only one successful in saving Hiccup is Toothless who shoots a plasma blast into the rings fence and starts to fight the Monstrous Nightmare. The villagers are bewildered by the sight of a night fury seeing as they had only ever heard stories of them, once Toothless overpowers the Monstrous Nightmare Hiccup urges him to leave before the other vikings attack him but it became to late and Toothless is taken.
Hiccup, now feeling completely defeated, is thrown into a darkly lit room and yelled at by his father, who is furious to find out about this double life his son is leading. I’ve always thought of Hiccup and Toothless as the Romeo and Juliet of friendships; both of them forbidden from each other, but nonetheless their destinies stay intertwined.
(in the great hall after Stoick finds out about Hiccups double life.)
Stoick: so everything in the ring. A trick? A lie?
Hiccup: I screwed up. I should have told you before now. Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please… just don’t hurt Toothless..
Stoick: The dragon? That’s what your worried about?! not the people you almost killed!
Hiccup: Hes not dangerous!
Stoick: they’ve killed hundreds of us!
Hiccup: and we’ve killed THOUSANDS of them!
Despite Hiccups pleading Stoick shoves him back and goes on to find the dragon island to get rid of the pests once and for all. Everything has fallen apart and everything Hiccup built and worked towards gone in a split second. As I said before what I think to be these movies greatest ability is the relationship between characters and with Stoick and Toothless gone the only one to pick him back up at his worst moments is Astrid who up to this point has been shown to not really have a soft side but in this moment their relationship is solidified in the most beautiful way.
HICCUP
Why couldn't I have killed that
dragon when I found him in the
woods. It would have been better
for everyone?
ASTRID
Yep. The rest of us would have done
it. So why didn't you?
HICCUP (angry, loud) Oh for the love of -- I was a coward! I was weak. I wouldn't kill a dragon.
ASTRID You said 'wouldn't' that time. HICCUP (BLOWS UP) Whatever! I wouldn't! Three hundred years and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon! ASTRID First to ride one, though.
By the end of their heart to heart an idea that might just be crazy enough to work dawns upon him and off he goes to formulate his rescue attempt. We switch to a scene in which Hiccup is leading out the same dragon that tried to kill him in the ring to his other classmates and they, although horrified also seem to form a connection with the dragons.
After hiccup has given his peers a crash course in “training your dragon” he sets off to go save toothless leaving Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins trailing not to far behind.
Once the dragon riding teens come to the island that the adults are on trying to fight a dragon the size of three t-rexes called the “red death” although the adults are doing a miserable job of killing this dragon. That’s when the kids start attacking the large dragon with their own dragons. We follow Hiccup to where he finds Toothless, stranded on a boat that’s sinking. Its moments like these that highlight the strong bond that they have and when Toothless and Hiccup fall over board Hiccup still tries to save Toothless until he has fallen completely unconscious. Expecting nothing less from these movies the great opportunity for a character redemption is offered and they take it allowing Stoick to not only be the one that takes Hiccup out of the water but to have him jump back in to get Toothless.
What a beautiful moment where we get to see Stoicks less overbearing chief side and more of his soft fatherly side. Director Dean Deblois stated that “this movie isn’t just a story about a boy and his dragon but one about a father and his son.” Actions speak louder then words and the action that Stoick took to not only save Hiccup but Toothless who Stoick knows Hiccup cares deeply about is one that strikes a cord in audiences hearts. This movies goal was never to show that parents are always going to stand in the way of the kids, but that they just always have your best interests at heart.
Before Hiccup saddles up to go fight the red death alongside his fellow vikings his father grabs his hand and says “i’m proud to call you my son” Every kid needs to here their dads say that “i’m proud of you” and as a kid watching this film you feel the same joy and sense of accomplishment Hiccup does because you stand in the same place he does (more or less). Those words were what gave him that rush, that ability to be brave enough to do what he did in the climax.
Hiccups brain has always been his super power and after shooting pointless plasma blasts at the red death he sees it has wings, he shoots the wings and leads the huge dragon up, up into the sky a safe distance from berks townspeople. After a dangerous battle he once again uses his brain and just as the gas is releasing from the read deaths mouth he has Toothless shoot a plasma blast in the direction of the gas. Which causes the red death to internally burn and fall to its doom. Leaving Toothless and Hiccup vulnerable. As the large dragon falls to its doom Hiccup and Toothless try to get out but unfortunately Toothless-es left tail fin (because its made of cloth) is burnt off and Hiccup and Toothless fall into the fire.
The scene switches to a desperate Stoick holding his half dead son in his arms and when theres a sign of life in Hiccup Stoick turns to Toothless knowing fully well that his son would be in pieces if it wasn’t for the once thought to be enemy. A small but beautiful moment where Stoick is shown to not only understand his sons ideology but to appreciate the beauty of the befriended creature.
The scene switches once again to Hiccup waking up in his home to find Toothless jumping around, he at this point doesnt know he’s convinced his village to give dragon/viking coexistence a shot, so he freaks out. Just as he’s about to get out of bed he puts his feet on the ground and we see he has a medal leg. Now I’d like to take a moment to truly TRULY appreciate such a brave move from Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders having an animated kids film show a serious repercussion of a childs actions is one that rings true to our own reality. Decisions have consequences not believing that is a fools lunacy. He is now forever both mentally and physically connected to not only his cause but Toothless whose left tail fin is also no more . Hiccup grabs onto Toothless to help him walk over to the door only to see the village now has done an overnight integration allowing Dragons to peacefully coexist, full-filling exactly what Hiccup set out to do. In the end he gets a sweet little kiss from Astrid and approval from not only his father but his entire village
IN CONCLUSION
The movie allows every character to complete a chapter in their respective arcs. Hiccup, a young scrawny kid with low self esteem and an unparalleled naivety is taught that the world is harsh and that he’s not untouchable, but also that he can effect real change, HE this tiny boy can make a difference and that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, just because everyone says something doesn’t make it so.
Stoick, a character thought to of been stricken with a more then underperforming son finds out that brain over brawn isn’t some modern smushy garbage forced down the cowardess mans throat but something to be treasured and appreciated, something that can not only revolutionize minds but hearts.
Astird: A tough girl who was single minded and had the one goal of beating everyone else and being the best of the best learns that maybe she can care about things other then being #1 and that there is more to people then what we see on the outside, by the end we see her be the ONLY one left with Hiccup, and despite her ruff exterior she’s shown multiple times that she has a heart bigger then what people give her credit for.
Toothless: Yes this films brilliance reaches so far that it is able to give a NON TALKING DRAGON a story arc as-well. He, much like the villagers, is scared of Hiccup but he to takes a journey from being fear full and almost filled with hate for the vikings to willingly almost die for one. He forms a bond with what the rest of his SPECIES believes to be stone cold killers.
Villagers/ rest of the gang: Although the top four characters are the ones with the major arcs the villagers and Hiccups classmates share one common arc, going from being brainwashed with the idea that killing dragons made you more manly, or in some cases womanly, but by the end they all learn that love is the way to go compassion over fear and pride is the lesson they took away from the events that conspired during the film.
ON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE
I’ve ranked this to be my favourite film of all time for a multitude of reasons, I originally saw it at the tender age of 7 years old and I felt so inspired by Hiccup and the change he effected. All of us could learn from him because most of us sit around in self obsessed bubbles despite knowing we all have a spark to effect the world in the most positive way, leaving it a better place then before, the real challenge is keeping the spark alive.
(This is probably going to be a 3 parter for the 3 movies and since they are close to me I’ll write something extra personal for the third.)
Muz's bog 
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