#(adjacently)

maybe I'll expand on a proper meta someday but as much as Stoick is the chief of Berk and represents tradition, he does not actually represent Berk thematically. Astrid does, esp in the first and third movies (although interwoven into the second just the same). We see this in the way she literally results in being what keeps Hiccup from running off in the first film, being the first of a new generation to believe in his ideas ("I was the first to believe in you"), how she keeps him grounded to other people and not just dragons (so he doesn't become Valka at her worst), always has Berk and Hiccup's concerns closest to her heart, and how she evolves over the course of the films to be continually the best of Berk... who also steadfastly supports Hiccup because she knows he is what is best for Berk.