Dragons Posting

Starts with word from Viggo inbound of rumors about a real isle of night, things happen a little earlier in the timeline so it’s set before httyd3 would have taken place

Ideally there’s a small group of surviving furies adapted to living on a snowy isle, thus having evaded Grimmel.

Two things that I feel held a Lot of weight are some of the biggest visual parallels they use to set up that relationship in the first film. (And coincidentally didn’t end up translating to the live action, which was devastating)

First, when Hiccup finds Toothless and says “I did this,” and Stoik parroting that line at the end of the movie. Not because he heard Hiccup say it and is remembering it in that moment like you might expect from common movie tropes. It’s just an innate sentiment to him in that moment, and it’s the same feeling Hiccup had, so he says the same thing. Acknowledging their responsibility in the end result, regardless of intent.

Hiccup didn’t want to scare and hurt a dragon when he shot down Toothless, he just wanted to kill one, but because of how it happens he’s forced to face the reality of the creature he’s hunting. Likewise, Stoik only ever wanted to protect Hiccup and his people, but he realizes too late that he’s sent them into a battle they can’t win and his son has to clean up his mess. He didn’t tell Hiccup to fix it, didn’t make him go up there, but the fight is because of him. “I did this.”

Second, the helmets. When they introduce Hiccup’s helmet they very plainly tie it to being a Viking, but more importantly they tie it to his mother. It was her armor, it’s her memory that’s protecting him, keeping her close is what keeps him safe. So when he throws away the helmet in the ring, he’s not just shirking his protection or his status as a Viking, but literally tossing aside the memory of her and what dragons have done to her. Stoik takes that hard, clearly, I personally assume that’s why he reacted as strongly as he did.

And then, in that end of battle scene again, when he picks up Hiccup. It’s such a subtle thing, but he has to take the helmet off to check if Hiccup is alive, to cast aside his fear of dragons and memory of what he’s lost in order to really embrace his son. It’s something I wasn’t sure if the animators/writers did on purpose but it still has that impact when you notice it.

Overall the movie is about both of them learning to listen to and trust the dragons as much as each other. Hiccup learns it throughout the course of the movie bit by bit and we get to see that, but it isn’t by listening to Hiccup that Stoik learns it. Stoik has to do that himself, from using Toothless’s instincts to find the nest, to seeing he’s panicked and realizing there’s something bigger inside, all the way to the end of the battle, where he has that mutual understanding with Toothless finally, having unwittingly trusted his guidance and then seen him in action.

“You keep most things on your bad side, not just people, why?”

“The same reason you keep others on your good side: to protect them.”