Dakona

It happened spontaneously, but I love AU. So… Avatar Hiccup. Hiccup considered himself an ordinary person before meeting Toothless. (Dragons can be equated to spirits, i mean relationships between people and them). Then he discovered his talent as an airbender and Toothless became his teacher. Later, other talents were discovered, which made it clear that Hiccup was an avatar.

Astrid became his waterbender teacher. Snotlout was an adept of firebender, but he sincerely did not understand how to teach, because he himself used magic on a subconscious level. Fishlegs is an earthbender, but he did not go beyond the amateur level and could not become a teacher. The twins are always on their own wave. Ruffnut is a master in airbending and can perform techniques with clouds of gas, while Tuffnut is not a master, but is ready to set fire to the gas with his sparks at any moment. The twins always come in a set.

Brothers Grimborn! Lord of Fire Viggo. The aesthetics of blue flame and lightning were created for him. So I couldn't resist. The hottest flame and deadly techniques of lightningbending made him the most terrible opponent for the young avatar, but in the future, he will become the teacher of fire magic for Hiccup. I endowed Riker with explosion magic, as for me, it suits him perfectly. An explosive mixture of rage and bloodlust.

I’d love to talk about these three!

Even early on in the franchise, you can see that Snotlout “groups himself” with Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The dragon riders tend to separate into two natural camps of three people each: on one side, Astrid, Hiccup, and Fishlegs; on the other side, Snotlout and the twins. When Hiccup creates a game of dragon trivia in “Animal House”, the two teams are Fishlegs and Astrid versus Snotlout and the twins. Because the division is unfair (Astrid and Fishlegs are more studious than the other three), it suggests that the youths grouped themselves, so Snotlout by some degree associated himself with the Thorstons (Hiccup even calls it “Team Snotlout”). For further evidence, this grouping happens again in Dawn of the Dragon Racers, and Snotlout is enthusiastic enough about the group that he gives them a team name: SNOTNUTS.

Now, this division does not entail strongly-bound triangular friendships, and honestly, I wouldn’t say that Snotlout and the twins are VERY chummy in their early to mid teenaged years. They associate with one another and do have a sense of unity, but it’s not close-close friendship yet. Snotlout is far more likely to insult the twins and complain about them than anything else. For instance, when Snotlout is snagged by the Changewing and Hiccup tells the twins to save him, Snotlout whines, “You’re giving me the twins?” The twins, on their own part, don’t charge worriedly up to rescue Snotlout: they sit back, tease the dragon some, and bide their time until Hiccup can return. Their entire plan, in fact, is to stand aside and let the chief’s son do all the work. The twins and Snotlout are not very close at this point.

But, at the same time… Snotlout somewhat harps on the twins less than individuals like Hiccup and Fishlegs. Snotlout’s greatest headbutting definitely happens against Hiccup and Astrid; their personalities clash and they get into some major disagreements. However, the twins and Snotlout never get into any heated disputes. The most you get is the twins pranking Snotlout in “Fright of Passage” by refusing to let him into the shelter unless he provides them a list of ridiculous items. And you can tell they know one another better than Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Astrid know them… the only person who can comprehend post-lightning Snotlout is Tuffnut - because he’s been around it before. There is a sense, embedded within the Thorstons and Snotlout, that they are a “unit” within the dragon riding team, and that they understand and relate to one another better than they do the other youths. There is definitely the groundings of friendship within these early interactions.

It is probably around the time of Dawn of the Dragon Racers that emotions begin to shift to more notably friendly. It’s not just an implied relation we see in the background. Snotlout and the twins very intentionally choose to be their own team. They have the first pick of teammates, and they quickly form that team, coming up with a name, before they even tell Hiccup that the competition will involve teams:

Hiccup: The sheep start at Silent Sven’s farm. The racers will be at the Academy. On the start, the sheep are released. Once caught, we drop them into baskets. Any other suggestions?Snotlout: Teams.Hiccup: What do you mean “Teams”?Snotlout: We should have teams.Hiccup: Really? And how do you propose we pick these teams?Snotlout: We already did. Me and the Twins against you, Astrid, and Fishface.Tuffnut: We even have a team name.Ruffnut: Snotnuts.Astrid: Wow, how did I not think of that first?

That definitely says something about them relating to one another and thinking about one another on positive terms.

By the time of Race to the Edge, the friendship is even more notable. You still see Snotlout griping (as he does with everyone), but it’s got less edge. You also see him legitimately enjoying times with the twins. It is at this point that, as you say, Snotlout looks like old friends with Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Over years of flying dragons together and going through harrowing adventures, and now sharing an island together in the middle of nowhere… attachments have definitely formed and grown. You can even see it in the little things… like the twins giving Snotlout the one cool job in “Reign of Fireworms,” while the rest of the youths get terrible jobs like poet laureate, brush clearer, and stableboy. Was that an accident? No. The twins like Snotlout.

The most notable instances in which you see Snotlout and the twins relating to one another are “Maces and Talons Part 1″ in S2 and “Follow the Leader” in S3. In the first episode, Snotlout and Tuffnut immediately hit out as best friends. There is a little sense of prematurity in how they act as sudden bros… while they know one another and can relate to one another, this sudden “best friends” business comes out of a sudden emotional high that they can’t sustain. There are times where you see Snotlout and Tuffnut sitting together, awkward and silent, because they’re not actually at the point of being best friends yet. They’re at a point where they’re realizing how much they have in common, but there’s prematurity yet in this episode in how they energetically overdo it in the moment.

It’s one reason why I really love the follow-up, of sorts, we see in “Follow the Leader.” The platonic bromance, awesome as it was in “Maces and Talons,” was a little forced. But here, in “Follow the Leader,” the three are legitimately enjoying one another’s casual company. There’s nothing forced in any way, shape, or form about it. They can be themselves, they’re relating with one another, and having a WHOLE lot of fun.

The truth of the matter is, there’s a lot Snotlout can appreciate from the twins, and vice versa. The twins are individuals who are intelligent but find far more interest in enjoying themselves rather than doing anything studious. Snotlout himself might brag about his talents, but he’s not someone who usually practices (sure, he works out in his parents’ basement. sure, he practices for Thawfest. but on a given day, Snotlout is not Mr. Perseverance). These three individuals have the same sort of general life philosophy: don’t restrict yourself too much. Snotlout furthermore might not be a prankster, but he’s someone who can enjoy a good joke at someone else’s misfortune. The twins are happy to supply the pranks and laugh alongside Snotlout. These three aren’t too interested in being regimental like Hiccup is, they like hanging out and being carefree, they can have some good times together - as we see here.

Dude, just look at the screencap. What happy nerds!!

What I love the most is that it’s still definitely Snotlout and the twins. They’re not going to get along one hundred percent of the time… and the truth is, the twins are going to prank Snotlout just like they’ll prank anyone else. They’ll be willing to talk about setting Snotlout’s house on fire… even though Snotlout himself would NOT want that! That’s why it’s so hilarious to see Snotlout’s face immediately slip into something distraught. That’s exactly how the relationship is going to work. So long as Snotlout is not the bunt end of things, he’s going to laugh. As soon as the twins turn on him (and they’ll even turn on themselves, let’s be real… no one’s safe)… Snotlout’s going to be a little unhappy.

An expert? <3 Aw, thank you so much!

So I’ve made a timeline and explanation post before, but I’m actually going to change some of my answers based upon conversations I’ve had with other great fans, as well as adding new observations I’ve made since that last post. Let’s erase the old answers I gave (you can look them up on my analyses page if you really want to) and I’ll put up something new and (hopefully) more accurate. As always, I’m happy to hear other discussions and thoughts about timeline placement because it’s sometimes a little messy and easy to overlook things in the DreamWorks Dragons fandom.

The way I try to date events in How to Train Your Dragon is by matching internal consistencies (Do the dragon riders know about exploded eggs yet? When does Hiccup quit using his first flight harness?) and by trying to observe the passing of the seasons. It is true that Berk “snows nine months of the year,” which makes it a little challenging to place seasons, but there are times characters make comments about an “early storm” or the “start of spring.” These are extremely helpful. Lastly, to date Hiccup’s age, I will look at the weather and guess whether or not it is after February 29, which is Hiccup’s birthday in the books and might as well be in the movie!verse, too.

I will give a quick rundown and then go through explaining each timeline placement more thoroughly:

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (flashbacks)

How to Train Your Dragon / How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular

Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon

Book of Dragons

Gift of the Night Fury

DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk (Episodes 1-12)

Riders of Berk graphic novel 1

DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk (Episodes 13-18)

Wild Skies

DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk (Episodes 19-20)

Defenders of Berk (Episodes 1-13)

Riders of Berk graphic novels 2-6

School of Dragons

DreamWorks Dragons: Defenders of Berk (Episodes 14-20)

Dawn of the Dragon Racers (flashback)

Dawn of the Dragon Racers

DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Rise of Berk

How to Train Your Dragon 3

Oh and if anyone needs a list of canon materials to make sense of this timeline, here you go.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (flashbacks)Season: SummerHiccup’s age: 6 months

I am no expert on babies at all and have not even held one in my entire life; the only thing I know, as a linguist, is their speech milestones. Hiccup might be about six months old given that he’s doing some laughing and giggling and babbling but not showing any complicated reduplications yet. He’s showing some signs of fear but they’re not coming quickly, which I think happens about six months old. At any rate, Hiccup is an infant, and these flashbacks take place about twenty years ago.

How to Train Your DragonSeason: SummerHiccup’s age: 15

The first movie is the pretty obvious starter of the franchise, aside from flashbacks. Hiccup states that How to Train Your Dragon 2 takes place five years after the events of the first movie. Since Gobber explicitly says Hiccup’s age is twenty in the second movie, we can subtract five years and know that Hiccup is fifteen.

I am guessing that the first movie takes place sometime around the summer. The weather is nice and green. The skies are often overcast, but that looks like it’s rain and hail they’re getting, not snow. The summer is progressing along quickly enough that Stoick is preoccupied about getting enough food before the weather turns worse, pointing out to Hiccup he has to feed his village.

This means that, if HTTYD is in the summer, Hiccup has only been fifteen years old for a few months.

Legend of the Boneknapper DragonSeason: Early fallHiccup’s age: 15

The idea for placing Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon comes from treepelt, who pointed out Hiccup wears his first flight harness here, so it is unlikely this is during later times like Riders of Berk where he quits using that flight suit. I think that Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon takes place fairly quickly after the events of How to Train Your Dragon. The Hooligans are good enough at riding dragons that they can use it to put out a fire, but they are not inundating the homes and streets of Berk as they do by Gift of the Night Fury. It is true the opening takes place during the night, so we might not be seeing as many dragons for that reason alone, but it seems like the Hairy Hooligans have forged a closer bond with the dragons by LOTBD. At least my impression is the dragons are being useful but they’re not at the cuddly pet stage for some people yet.

If Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon does not take place long after the first movie, then the time is probably about early fall. The movie shorts that take place after it also influence what season it can be. I will talk about them below.

Book of DragonsSeason: Early fallHiccup’s age: 15

It makes the most sense if Book of Dragons takes place between LOTBD and GOTNF because of the amount of dragon knowledge Hiccup and his companions share. They know some general tips about how to train dragons because they’ve started training them. They even talk a bit about the Boneknapper. While the Boneknapper is in the Dragon Manual in HTTYD, Hiccup does not believe it exists until after LOTBD, indicating that Book of Dragons happens after that short.

Fishlegs makes no comment about Meatlug’s gender, meaning he might think Meatlug is still a male. And since the youths make no comment about the eggs exploding when they talk about the five stages of dragon growth, it seems they do not know. In fact, the animation only shows an egg breaking in half… not exploding as the youths later find out dragons do. This suggests BOD takes place before GOTNF.

Gift of the Night FurySeason: Late fallHiccup’s age: 15

People who have followed me a while will notice I’m placing GOTNF in a very different place than I have put it before. On my FAQ page I have given a long explanation of GOTNF placement options and their pros and cons, which I will paste in part here. Note that GOTNF is probably one of the most difficult-to-place media in the entire franchise, so I am not too extremely caught up or preoccupied with where it must be.

Snoggletog is a holiday that occurs during the cold months, but since Hiccup states Berk “snows nine months out of the year and hails the other three,” we can easily plop Snoggletog anywhere between September and May. Most fans’ intuitions are that Snoggletog occurs in late December because it is reminiscent of Christmas. Technically Hiccup lives in a pre-Christian society, so any similarities between Snoggletog and Christmas are “incidental,” meaning we do not have to technically date Snoggletog as a December holiday.

We would have to do that if we go with this option of placing Gift of the Night Fury before the events of Riders of Berk because Riders of the Berk begins in autumn (I will discuss that later). This means Snoggletog would probably be in September if we want to insert it in between HTTYD and ROB. It is not an intuitive placement and might make people uncomfortable if they want to give Snoggletog a December date. But this is what you would have to do if you want GOTNF to take place before ROB.

And we really want to put GOTNF before ROB because otherwise there is a very strong canonical error. In Gift of the Night Fury, Fishlegs learns that his dragon is female. In the very first episodes of Riders of Berk, Fishlegs already knows Meatlug is a female.

Of course it’s not that easy. More difficulty with this placement I’m suggesting is that the Hairy Hooligan tribe’s disposition toward dragons is one where everyone is very comfortable with dragons in their homes. They appear to be able to train them and interact with them peacefully. This suggests some time has passed and that this occurs after the chaos of the first Riders of Berk episode. The Vikings are still only barely forming bonds with their dragons at the start of ROB and even are willing to shoo the dragons off the island.

Still, this can be reconcilable and is not an explicit canon error like the Meatlug gender issue. We can talk about the fickle disposition of humans toward dragons in the early stage, where in GOTNF they are at a loving high, while at the start of ROB they are a little more fed up. This sort of swing of opinions is very frequent in the Hooligans and happens several times during ROB anyway.

I once thought that Snoggletog is supposed to canonically take place a year after HTTYD and thought that the makers said so themselves. However, at this current time, I can locate no explicit text, twitter, or confirmation for this from any official source or name. So it can be disregarded as bogus unless anyone brings up real solid proof otherwise. It makes more sense (at least to me) for GOTNF to be here than for it to take place a year or two later. I will briefly mention alternate locations for GOTNF as this timeline continues, though.

Riders of Berk (Episodes 1-12)Season: Fall to springHiccup’s age: 15-16

Riders of Berk is wonderfully easy to date. Several episodes make references to seasons that allow us to track Hiccup’s life. In the early episode “Animal House,” Stoick comments that they are experiencing an early storm, which means that this is probably early autumn. The episode “Thawfest” is all about the Vikings having a competition when the snows thaw - which would be about spring. This means Hiccup’s February birthday passes during the events of Riders of Berk.

Note that because winter passes, we could also try to date Gift of the Night Fury here, though it runs into the problems I already discussed. The one really intuitive thing about this placement is it lets us locate Snoggletog in December rather than some weird autumn month.

Riders of Berk: Dragon DownSeason: Early springHiccup’s age: 16

The first Riders of Berk graphic novel takes during ROB events. Alvin the Treacherous has become Hiccup’s main enemy and gives the youths some trouble in the first comic, “Dragon Down.” Wonderfully, one of the very first pages of the comic also gives us a season; Hiccup says, “Spring is in the air for sure.” This means that “Dragon Down” takes place around the same time as “Thawfest.”

Note that this comic cannot take place a year after “Thawfest” and Riders of Berk because, by that point in time, Alvin and Stoick have made peace, and the Outcasts are no longer an immediate threat to Berk.

Riders of Berk (Episodes 13-18)Season: Spring to summerHiccup’s age: 16

It is only logical to assume that Riders of Berk sails forward smoothly chronologically. I am putting somewhat arbitrary seasons here. We can assume we are continuing through the spring… and that it goes to… whenever. It’s probably summer or autumn.

Wild SkiesHiccup’s age: 16

No one really talks about the game Wild Skies, but I figure I might as well. The trainable dragons in this game are the Deadly Nadder, Gronckle, Hideous Zippleback, Monstrous Nightmare, Night Fury, Scauldron, Typhoomerang, Whispering Death, Smothering Smokebreath, and Changewing. With this list of dragons, we can assume that the first eighteen episodes of Riders of Berk have taken place and Hiccup knows first-hand about dragons like Smothering Smokebreaths and Changewings.

Riders of Berk (Episodes 19-20)Season: SummerHiccup’s age: 16

We are still just moseying forward with ROB events in the order they are aired. We finally get to finish the season here. I am not sure what the season is for “We Are Family,” but I am just putting “Summer” as a placeholder.

Defenders of Berk (Episode 1-13)Season: Summer to fallHiccup’s age: 16

The events of the first episode of Defenders of Berk, “Live and Let Fly,” show the immediate aftermath of what happens in the Riders of Berk season finale. It makes complete and utter sense for events to be only a few days after the last ROB episode “We Are Family.”

However, the next episode, “Gronckle Iron,” seems to be a little further down the road. Snoggletog is approaching according to a comment Gobber makes. This makes it around autumn. 

After this episode is a technical third placement for Gift of the Night Fury, but it’s even more problematic than the other placements.

Riders of Berk: Dangers in the DeepSeason: Late fallHiccup’s age: 16

Yet again we have someone comment about the seasons in the graphic novels. They are wonderful like that. A worried Viking remarks that winter is approaching in the earlier pages of the graphic novels.

Riders of Berk: The Ice Castle and The StowawaySeason: WinterHiccup’s age: 16

The characters comment it is wintertime in the third comic, so wintertime it is.

The third comic, “The Ice Castle,” cannot take place a year later than where I have dated it; it must occur around Defenders of Berk times. In this comic, after all, Arngrim Dammen estimates that Stormfly is two years old. Assuming he is right, this means mathematically that Stormfly was about a year old in How to Train Your Dragon. So making the events of “The Ice Castle” happen a year later than where I’m placing it would make Stormfly too young to be a full-grown adult by the first movie… if indeed she would have been born at all.

The fourth comic also cannot take place a year later because, as I explained with book #1, the Outcasts are still a problem and threat to the Hooligans.

Apologies to people for not placing the fifth comic “Ragnarok,” but I haven’t purchased or read it yet!

School of DragonsHiccup’s age: 16/20

I talk a bit about School of Dragon’s placement here and about how I constitute “canon” in the HTTYD franchise. For SOD, many of the storyline arcs take place nicely during Defenders of Berk times. The dragon riders we see look like they do in HTTYD 2, yet once they were animated younger, and the fact that Stoick still has Thornado and things like that makes the stories more place-able towards an earlier timeline.

Defenders of Berk (Episodes 14-20)Season: WinterHiccup’s age: 16

The fourteenth episode of Defenders of Berk is “Frozen,” during which an ice bridge forms and leads the Speed Stingers to Berk. This suggests “Frozen” takes place during the heart of winter.

Dawn of the Dragon Racers (flashback)Season: SpringHiccup’s age: 17

You might have seen my separate post here about where to date the DOTDR flashback. As I said in that post, we do not know Hiccup’s age, but this appears to be one of the first times ever Stoick leaves Hiccup in charge as acting chief. I am guessing that since the Regatta would need fair weather, it is in the spring and Hiccup has just turned seventeen. He must be about to hit his growth spurt. Note that Dragon Racing does not occur in either ROB or DOB, suggesting it has not been invented yet and that DOTDR occurs after the second season of Dragons. And as httydgirl1992 points out, Silent Sven very obviously broke his silence in the last episode of DOB, and now he is talking even in the Dawn of the Dragon Racers flashback. DOTDR continues the timeline after the second season of the television series.

Dawn of the Dragon RacersHiccup’s age: 18

Hiccup is probably about eighteen and a half years old. I believe that this takes place before RTTE because Hiccup is not much taller than Astrid and he still has his old prosthetic. He is in fact a little taller in RTTE than he is in DOTDR.

Race to the EdgeHiccup’s age: 19

Race to the Edge takes place around three years after the events of Riders and Defenders of Berk, as several characters comment in their dialogue. RTTE is supposed to happen about a year and a half to a year before HTTYD 2, making the youths around eighteen and nineteen years old. I have not thoroughly checked the dialogue for hints on seasons throughout the episodes and will probably only do that once more episodes have been released, anyway.

All episodes from seasons three and four of DreamWorks Dragons will take place before How to Train Your Dragon 2.

How to Train Your Dragon 2Season: FallHiccup’s age: 20

Many trees around Itchy Armit have goldish or yellowish leaves, suggesting that we have entered the fall. And Gobber himself remarks straightforwardly that Hiccup is twenty years old.

Rise of BerkHiccup’s age: 20

The game Rise of Berk includes events from How to Train Your Dragon 2 and then continues to the aftermath. It shows Hiccup’s first days of being chief, making it take place directly after HTTYD 2.

How to Train Your Dragon 3TBD

YO BARF AND BELCH TOTALLY APPROVE OF ERET

And it makes me sad :( A Ruffnut study

There is so much more to her character that COULD be that the franchise never explores. Insecurities, strengths, development, personality, or simply more comic relief. She's confident and straight-forward with what she wants/thinks and with who she is and what she does... and yet in the very few Ruff-centric eps she is very insecure about her abilities (being a wingmaiden, training Scauldy.)

A lot of her involvement in HTTYD boils down to "Haha. Girl, but ugly!" jokes. (And she's not- but that's another worm can) In the shows she's usually just the setup/yes-and to Tuffnut's punchline or just a background quip. (Or the aforementioned 'Girl Ugly' jokes.) Today, we examine deeper!

Summary

After a devastating winter, the warring tribes of Berserkers and Hooligans forge an unlikely alliance to save their people from poverty and starvation. United in purpose, they sweep across the northeastern Frankish realm, bringing war and terror to the local villagers.

Fourteen winters earlier, the pagan wife of Veltheim’s village priest gives birth to a girl: Irmina. She grows up in an age steeped in dark superstition, which her father battles with merciless zeal. The strangeness of her nature and the Saxon blood of her mother make her an outcast among her own people. Just as her devilish curiosity threatens to become her undoing, the village of Veltheim falls victim to a crime so unprecedented it will change Irmina’s fate forever.

Since the death of his mother and unborn sister, silence has reigned between Snotlout and his father. Spitelout knows not what to do with his overzealous son and prefers to avoid his paternal duties altogether. Yet when he sets out on a raid to the southern lands, Snotlout could never have foreseen that the scrawny, unremarkable girl his father drags home as war booty would change his view of the world forever.

After all, she is nothing more than a slave

⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣⍣⚛︎⍣

Snotlout x oc

It happened spontaneously, but I love AU. So… Avatar Hiccup. Hiccup considered himself an ordinary person before meeting Toothless. (Dragons can be equated to spirits, i mean relationships between people and them). Then he discovered his talent as an airbender and Toothless became his teacher. Later, other talents were discovered, which made it clear that Hiccup was an avatar.

Astrid became his waterbender teacher. Snotlout was an adept of firebender, but he sincerely did not understand how to teach, because he himself used magic on a subconscious level. Fishlegs is an earthbender, but he did not go beyond the amateur level and could not become a teacher. The twins are always on their own wave. Ruffnut is a master in airbending and can perform techniques with clouds of gas, while Tuffnut is not a master, but is ready to set fire to the gas with his sparks at any moment. The twins always come in a set.

Brothers Grimborn! Lord of Fire Viggo. The aesthetics of blue flame and lightning were created for him. So I couldn't resist. The hottest flame and deadly techniques of lightningbending made him the most terrible opponent for the young avatar, but in the future, he will become the teacher of fire magic for Hiccup. I endowed Riker with explosion magic, as for me, it suits him perfectly. An explosive mixture of rage and bloodlust.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY + JOHNNY DEPP as PIRATE KING ELIZABETH SWANN + CAPT. JACK SPARROW in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, DEAD MAN'S CHEST, and AT WORLDS END (2003 - 2007)