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As established before, Fishlegs is taking over the role of both Eli and Toby :) I’d imagine that he hangs out a lot with Blinky at Trollmarket needing out together. He’s taken a strong interest in wanting ALL about Troll culture ever since Hiccup becomes Trollhunter.

I’m not too sure how I want the twins’ backstories should be as Akiridians, since they barely really have one in canon. But so far I got three options :

I do think that when the twins are in their human disguises at school, they immediately latch onto the most interesting person they find, that being Snotlout. They cause him so much grief by annoying him half to death and dragging him into weird situations.

The Zippleback twins are notoriously known for being tricksters who keep stealing jewelry and bedazzling themselves with it. They’re technically banned from Trollmarket but keep somehow appearing anyway, and Vendel has long since given up on trying to find out how and keeping them out

Very random headcanon, but Barf’s real name is Bartholomew, and that’s why people call him Barf. That’s all I had to say.

Someone else on TikTok also just opened my eyes to Wizard Heather. I was initially going to make Dagur a changeling, but I thought it would be infinitely funnier if he was actually just some regular ass guy who EVERYONE thinks is a changeling purely based off his behaviour.

Snotlout is probably going to be an antagonist for a short bit after he finds out about both his and his father’s true nature, because Spitelout convinces him that the Trollhunters are their enemy and Snotlout doesn’t know anything and just assumes he’s telling the truth.

Potential backstory for Hookfang which might end up being too outlandish to use hut whatever : one of the reasons Hookfang is one of the only ones to not care Snotlout is half changeling is because he also used to be part of a Gumm Gumm experiment to combine Stalkling biology with regular Troll biology, which earns him a bit of a bad reputation in Trollmarket. Because of this he lives pretty much on the very outskirts of the market, and understands Snotlout’s struggles.

Some very basic lore I got going on is that Toothless was a former Gumm Gumm soldier who went rogue and was essentially faction-less for a while. I might change this later but Toothless defected from Gunmar BEFORE canon starts, so Hiccup isn’t the reason he went rogue. BUT, he IS the one who convinces Toothless to actually officially join the Trollhunter gang as an ally (and later friends who would die for one another). Toothless is going to have a little bit of Draal vibes to him in the beginning.

Snotlout is a half changeling! Don’t even know if it’s possible but this is my AU so whatever. He discovers way later in the story that his father is secretly a changeling who is working for Gunmar, and at the same time also finds out about the whole Troll situation. (He’s the last one to actually be told about the Trollhunting business in the gang)

He and Hookfang get close because Hookfang is the only one in the entire Trollmarket who doesn’t give him too much shit about being part changeling. They still smack each other around like in canon though, they are so stupid <3

So far I’ve decided to switch :

Hiccup -> Jim Lake

Astrid -> Claire Nuñez

Ruff n Tuff -> Aja and Krel (3Below)

Fishlegs -> Eli & Toby (I’m combining their roles so Fishlegs is both the “Nerd” and also gets to wield the hammer and stick by Hiccup’s side in the beginning. I think their friendship is underrated alr, they need development)

Snotlout -> Steve Palchuck

So, as all Snotlout fans know, he and Hookfang have a soft spot for baby dragons. They fought off the Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare to save Girl Hookfang's eggs, they take excellent care of the Fireworm Queen and her babies, and in the mini comic Litter Sitter Hiccup literally says Snotlout has a soft center.

And going back to the Fireworms, we have Real, Canon in RTTE proof that Snotlout is exactly the kind of person who would sing to a baby dragon.

And yet, in this episode, the writers chose to make his gimmick of the week be faking a bunch of traits that Hiccup listed to try and impress Heather. And he's only interested in caring about Garff when he sees how dedicated Heather is about taking him in.

That's all fine, actually, as I would argue Snotlout views the Nightmares and Fireworms as "his" because of the connection through Hookfang, who is his dragon, so he probably wouldn't care about a random baby Death Song.

However, a Death Song is the only dragon that Snotlout could actually care for while not faking any of his (or Hookfang's) natural abilities. After all, he calmed the baby Fireworms by singing to try to keep them hidden from the Cavern Crasher and Monstrous Nightmare gel is perfect for getting out of Death Song amber. Snotlout is, funnily enough, the perfect babysitter for Garff.

So, my proposed rewrite:

This is a Heather and Snotlout centric episode. The others can have their songs still, but Snotlout is shown after each of them to be the best at keeping Garff content and very smugly frees the others from the amber Garff spits up after they each try to sing. Heather sees this and is genuinely taken aback by the non faked traits that Snotlout possesses and compliments him on his sincerity and vulnerability with Garff. And Snotlout is taken aback by that, because it is so rare that anyone gives him a genuine compliment (Especially a girl). The others react to that with interest and Fishlegs is freaked out, and there'd be a fight between the two over Garff (which is really the two of them fighting over Heather). All the fighting causes Garff to start screaming again, and Heather takes him out of the room with an annoyed look at both of them.

Hiccup plays mediator as he does, but not before Fishlegs directly accuses Snotlout of faking with Garff just to impress Heather. Snotlout storms off and thinks about that, having a one sided argument with Hookfang as they go to find where Heather is with Garff. Snotlout insists he's not faking, and talks himself through the fact that he actually does want to take care of Garff (I'm sure Mr Daddy issues here would love to heal his inner child by caring for something more than his father ever cared for him)

So once he finds Heather he gives a short Snotlout style half apology, tells her Fishlegs wants to talk to her, and that he'll watch Garff while she goes. Then he starts contentedly rocking Garff and singing to him. Heather lingers then, figuring that Snotlout was probably lying about Fishlegs and decides to talk to Snotlout instead. She decides, based on his reaction from before, to try complimenting him again.

"You're overbearing, and boar headed, and you can't read a room to save your life, but you always made sure I knew I was welcome wherever you were. In your own way. Even after I told you to stop a hundred times."

(Snotlout responds in a way that only Snotlout can) "Well not everything's about you, okay. Just because you're pretty and obviously head over heels for me; part of me did all that because I sometimes feel like the others don't really want me around. Like, if there had been any other kid our age to ride Hookfang against the Red Death I never would've gotten the chance to join. Who knows where I'd be now if they didn't forgive me every time I opened my big, stupid mouth."

"I had no idea. You always sound so completely sure of yourself, like you're a gift to mankind from the gods themselves."

"Yeah, well, somebody has to be sure of me. Nobody else is going to."

Then there's a moment were Heather sighs and shakes her head, to which Snotlout adds: "And you can never tell the others, got it? Because I am better than all of them, and they should remember that more often."

Heather laughs and rolls her eyes "I really do appreciate you taking care of Garff with me, he needed the home here as much as I did."

Unfortunately, Garff interrupts to start screaming again (as they both stopped singing a while ago) and Snotlout brings up the unfortunate reality that his home is in the wild with other Death Songs. Heather is sad but relents (which could actually foreshadow her leaving to be with Dagur and their people later) The episode proceeds as normal with them taking Garff to the adult Death Song, but the conflict has only Heather and Snotlout going back and forth with songs they know to try and find one the adult Death Song likes (To show them working and succeeding together as friends). It works, Garff is finally home, and Fishlegs completely expects his worst fear to be true that Snotlout has somehow stolen Heather's romantic interest away. he rushes up to where Snotlout and Heather are standing side by side, only to hear Snotlout saying:

"Now Garff is at home where he belongs, and we're free to go back home to the Edge."

"Yeah. And that's were both of us belong, Snotlout. No matter how many times you open your big, stupid mouth. Friends?"

"Friends."

At that does really mean a lot to Snotlout, who sort of has to assert himself as the best and most important time and time again. He was never as smart or strong or important or funny as any of the others, and his father had instilled the belief that you have to be the best at something to be liked. And now he actually did get to be the best at something while babysitting Garff, but Heather didn't ask him to be friends until after Garff was no longer in the picture. That meant Heather really did want to be friends with him.

And I think that would mean a great deal to Snotlout.

So, after that, Heather smiles at Fishlegs and he realizes Snotlout isn't after some idealized concept of a relationship anymore so he doesn't have anything to worry about as far as that is concerned.

It would also mean that the writers would have to come up with different things for Snotlout to be doing besides pestering Heather and Astrid after this hypothetical episode, which is a big reason why I think Snotlout has so many random funny bits in season 5 and 6 (Except for Snotlout's Angels, but that episode was shit and poorly written beyond the way Snotlout behaved). The writers didn't want him to flirt with Astrid now that she's officially taken (which is a whole other can of worms, but I'm glad for any reason that gets him to stop) so they give him a lot of of random shit to do instead.

In fact, a Snotlout that is officially (just) friends with Heather could have a lot of incredible moments with her as well (the singular line about them racing back in Family on the Edge makes me yearn for a reality where we got to see them in friendly competitions more often) and with the others. (Dagur and the Snothat debacle could be even funnier with a Heather that decided to be mischievous and wind them both up, or was the one to assure Snotlout that Dagur did secretly think he was cool too) Snotlout's serious and comedic moments with Hiccup are some of the best for both of their characters (Sandbusted my beloved) Return of Thor Bonecrusher is probably one of my top 5 favorite RTTE episodes because I am so desperate to see actual friendship between Snotlout and the other riders. Like, FOR THOR'S SAKE, we should've had any content where Snotlout and Ruffnut interact at all without Tuffnut stapled to his sister. (I get that they're twins and that's the bit, but I'm struggling to remember a single conversation that Ruff and Snot even have together. But really that's a problem with the writers sidelining Ruffnut in general)

ANYWAY. I started rambling at the end there... The point is, Snotlout had some great development in RTTE (More than even Hiccup I would argue, but that's a post for another day) but I would've liked to have seen him actually learning to get along with the other riders. And if they had set up a friendship with him and Ruff that would maybe make the stupid, lazy fucking love triangle thing from HTTYD2 more bearable. But I'm rambling again.

HEATHER AND SNOTLOUT ARE BUDDIES TO ME!!! IN MY ILL LITTLE BRAIN THEY ARE FRIENDS!!!!

The transformation happens during the raid at the beginning of the movie; in the chaos of everything, the most anyone knows is that Snotlout screamed and then nobody could find him afterward. Astrid kind of saw it happen, in that she saw a bunch of dragons swarm a spot before flying away. She sees a helmet in the mouth of one kind of scampering away on the ground, and without thinking, throws her bucket directly at its head, stunning it.

This is, of course, Snotlout in dragon form, panicking and confused. But nobody knows this, so once the raid's over, Snotlout's added to the list of those who died in the raid to be mourned the next day :[

Gobber has Snotlout added to the kill ring for a few reasons: 1) juvenile dragons rarely appear on raids, so it's a rare opportunity to teach new dragon fighters that dragons are dangerous at any size and age; 2) he can also use the undersized nightmare as a way to better prepare and hype his students to kill the full-size nightmare at the end of their training; 3) he's pretty sure this is either a weird mutation or maybe even a new subspecies, given the unusually dark scales, pale blue eyes, and the horn shape.

From nose to tail tip, Snotlout's about a foot longer than Toothless; of course, with the way Nightmares are proportioned this actually makes him overall smaller than Toothless, since his neck and tail make up the majority of that length.

His scales mostly range from a dark brown to black, with some dark red in his stripes. His underbelly is probably the same pale yellow as most other Nightmares, or I might make it a cooler shade.

Rounder features, blunter spikes, smaller wings than the average nightmare his size. Overall shape and size just screams "baby" to other dragons, though he's more comparable to a young adolescent.

Spends most of the first movie losing his mind in the kill ring! He's locked up in a small dark space, completely alone but for the fact that he can hear and smell the other dragons in the kill ring (which! isn't comforting for him! because he's still in the "dragons are the enemy" mindset!), he's stuck in a body he's not used to (and that's also been The Enemy of Berk for longer than he's been alive, so that's not fun for him, either), he's fed the bare minimum,,, and then there's the lessons.

Oh, sure, Snotlout's used to violence in only the way that a teenager who grew up on a Berk that gets regular dragon raids, but there's a difference between running around with a bucket of water during a raid and being chased around by his peers in a small arena + that stress in compounded with the stress of the rest of his situation is. Not Good for him.

Also, speaking of the other dragons: they're all sympathetic to each others' plight, but they are also. Quite annoyed by the way Snotlout spends most of the first two days in his cell screaming and yelling and caterwauling about how he's not supposed to be here, let him out, this isn't fair—! and so on. Hookfang in particular is annoyed because at least Snotlout gets let out of his cell to run around the arena, instead of being locked away waiting to be killed—!

They all get more sympathetic after Hiccup throws the eel in with Barch because by that point the situation they're all in feels more hopeless than ever. This is also around the time that Snotlout finally figures out how to flame up,, not that it really helps him.

Hookfang realizes at this point that huh, that weird screamy fire-scale really is little. Idiot didn't even know how to flame up (all the dragons are crooning through the walls to comfort each other at this point, but this is where Hookfang and Snotlout finally start to kind of bond. kind of. Snotlout's still sort of ignoring the other dragons (but not for much longer)).

At some point during the lessons Astrid scores a strong hit on one of Snotlout's wing-claws, at the very least fracturing some of the bones. Gobber stops the lesson there but also commends Astrid for going for the wings, giving his "a downed dragon is a dead dragon" speech. Snotlout would probably feel more hurt about being used as little more than a living prop for lessons if he wasn't writhing in agony.

This does mean that Snotlout still can't fly by the time the plot advances past Toothless' reveal, so when Hiccup gets the other teens onto the arena dragons Snotlout kinda has to stay behind out of necessity. Hiccup does make sure to leave his cage and the arena entrance open, though, so while the final battle's happening Snotlout runs off into the woods. He manages to catch and eat one (1) boar after multiple attempts (and then kinda cries over feeling like little more than a wild animal, how he feels so diminished from the viking he used to be).

Final battle happens, Hiccup & Toothless kill the Red Death, ships sail back to Berk, and Hookfang finds Snotlout out in the woods. It's the second time they've met face-to-face. Hookfang huffs, then moves up alongside Snotlout and tucks him under his wing. Fine then, he grumbles, since you need someone to look after you.

This is the point where Snotlout finally transforms back. Hookfang is just as surprised as Snotlout, who's kind of flailing under the scale hide now covering him and his torn-up clothes. There's twigs and leaves in his hair, mud and dried blood staining his clothes, the knuckles on his left hand are still fucked up, and exhaustion deep in his bones.

He wanders out of the woods, a still-bewildered Hookfang following alongside him, and stumbles (limps, from where one of the twins got a lucky hit on his leg during one of the lessons) into the village, scale hide rolled up under his arm. He's a mess and he looks it, still out of it even as he's recognized and kind of swarmed by surprised vikings. Everyone assumes that whatever dragon tried to carry him off in the raid must have dropped him in the woods, and that he managed to survive out there until he made his way back.

Snotlout does not correct them on this, at least in part because he's definitely dissociating in place. And swaying a little—oh, yep, he just fainted, right as Spitelout arrives.

And that's pretty much the first movie! Hiccup's definitely surprised to see Snotlout after waking up, but also accepts the explanation the village came up with. Snotlout's injuries heal, he hides the scale hide somewhere deep in his room where he doesn't have to think about it, and within a few weeks he's acting like nothing ever happened to him at all! (it is almost entirely bluster and bravado. bc Spitelout told him to "stop moping!" and Snotlout would rather ignore the Horrors than address them). Surely, everything will work out from here!