How to Train Your Dragon Analyses

In the first movie Hiccup flies with toothless just because it was possible. There is no greater plot or purpose that is more important. He just does it because it was possible and was an amazing thing to experience with Toothless. 

Moments like the test flight are drenched in wonder. Even the final fight is kind of majestic, with all the Vikings gaping in awe because it truly is awe inspiring. 

And I think that’s the main thing that the next parts lack. They’re not about just the two of them. The first movie is about finding that someone who gets you, it’s the dream of the lonely kid. Their relationship is the plot. In the other movies the plot is something else they go against. And yes, in the first movie they do go against the dragon, but that’s not the point. The main obstacle of the movie is the things that are stopping them from being together, so to speak. The final fight isn’t about beating the thing, it’s about them beating it together, them proving to everyone, to hiccups father, that they can be together.

So, Gobber tells Hiccup "a dragon always goes for the kill" and then Hiccup says "so why didn't you?" to Toothless, because Toothless didn't kill Hiccup, even when he had the chance. And obviously this line is all about Toothless and Hiccup coming to realize that dragons aren't like he's been taught by everyone.

But it's ALSO about Hiccup and Toothless realizing Hiccup isn't like the rest of the Vikings. Because the Vikings also always go for the kill - they always kill dragons. But Hiccup didn't kill Toothless.

Night furies are actually perfectly evolved for hunting and killing other dragons and the only reason they aren't a dragon-hunting species like the death song or deathgrippers are is because DreamWorks couldn't have their adorable main character dragon be a "cannibal"

(below I'm gonna try to summarize what we've figured out in a convo with friends on discord)

(also tw animal death via predator)

allow me to demonstrate with this crappy animatic I put together while procrastinating on my thesis

Valka didn't return to Berk because she didn't believe people could change. She believed the people of Berk would always hate dragons, and that trying to persuade them otherwise would be futile.

Hiccup probably would've thought the same thing as his mother, had he not been able to bring Astrid around to his side. Astrid, the most devoted among her peers to her training to one day protect Berk by fighting the dragon menace, was able to change her mind about dragons. If Hiccup could change her mind, he could change his whole village's mind.

only now am i like consciously noticing the absolute *genius* writing that is krogan and his singetail vs viggo and his skrill

Having a httyd marathon rn (movie and tv show) and I never used to like Astrid's whole aggressive and man-handling behaviour in the first movie. But I just realized that, unlike the rest of the gang, she needs to pass the exam and to have the right to kill a dragon. Because in 'Fright of Passage' she revealed that her family name is literal shambles, nobody respects it after her uncle's confrontation with the Flightmare.

something that really stands out to me in how to train your dragon is how the vikings of berk go from being a very ableist, and just hostile in general to any perceived difference, society to one of the most inclusive and committed to supporting its citizens needs settlements we see throughout the entire franchise, and how this is shown to be to the benefit of everyone involved.

hiccup, in the first film, is very arguably disabled even before he loses his leg at the end of the movie. he's less physically able than his peers, and disadvantaged and mistreated and resented because of it. the opening scene literally shows him using an aid he developed himself in order to enable him to manage to contribute in some way to something his community values despite his physical limitations. and when nobody sees his success, nobody believes it possible, and his insistence that he just wants to be like the others - just wants to be accepted and included - is met with scorn.

but then hiccup meets toothless, and realizes that he has doomed the dragon to a slow, undignified death, and he empathizes - as he says at the end of the film, he looks at toothless, and he sees himself. hiccup begins to realize that the rules his community are governed by are no way to live - they're the opposite, in fact, and the first to feel it are those like him, and those like toothless. those who cannot survive alone, without help. if the people of berk continue to live the way they do, they will not survive. and the people of berk, on some level, likely know this - but they don't care. they only care about their goal of wiping out what they perceive to be a threat to their community, the dragons, and so they do not see the real threat - their own stubborn unwillingness to change.

so hiccup uses his greatest skill - his innovation; his willingness to change and adapt born from his need to in order to survive, but motivated by compassion - to provide toothless with mobility aids that will help him to manage his disability. and, more than that, he provides toothless with the support and care he needs to manage it, to reach he best quality of life possible for him. and at the end of the film, and throughout the franchise, toothless returns the favor.

but hiccup and toothless are not alone, either. at the end of the film, they're joined by the people of their community, who finally see what hiccup has been trying to tell them - that they must work together and embrace their differences and recognize each other's needs in order to not just survive, but live and thrive. there are still things that hiccup and toothless, and others like them, struggle to manage alone due to their disability, but now the people of berk accommodate for that. they look out for each other. and because of that, they create progress. their once dark and cold island is full of color, light, and warmth, and happy, well-fed, long-lived people whose needs are met, allowing them to pursue their passions and celebrate the joy of living.

gobber is really interesting because his existence does show that the people of berk are capable of making accommodations for everyone on the island, whatever conditions might affect their ability, but he does still also suffer from the lack of sufficient support available.

it's heavily implied that gobber very much "makes do" with his situation; he's mostly relegated to the forge unless the village needs an extra hand defending itself against the dragons, and asked to stay behind and take care of the kids (an important job, but one that doesn't have the same glory attached to it as fighting dragons) while the others search for the dragons' nest.

gobber is a really interesting and important character because without him, the rest of the film's events would likely not be possible. when hiccup laments to him that he just wants to fight dragons, gobber tells him to "stop trying to be something you're not", foreshadowing how hiccup will realize that the way forward is not destroying the dragons, but learning to live with them, and helping each other. gobber is also the one who taught hiccup the necessary skills he needs to be able to make toothless' prosthetic tail by apprenticing him in the forge, and it's very likely he made his own prosthetic limbs, given that he's the one who makes hiccup's new leg at the end of the film.

i'm watching how to train your dragon right now and the parallels between the piece that plays between hiccup and toothless bonding and then the piece that plays when toothless saves hiccup from the other dragon during his final exam?