#rtte analysis

I sat bolt upright a few nights ago and wrote this. Stay with me, because I think I’m onto something here!

Defenders of the Wing

The Grimborns are able to sneak onto the island and steal the Eruptodon with no one seeing them carrying a huge-ass dragon to their ship. There's no way that they did that without some kind of inside help. Throk is following Mala around, but he is captain of the guard (or at least second-in-command to Mala). He would have been capable of incapacitating the guards, or ensuring those loyal to him were 'on guard' at the right time. "There should be guards here," says Mala when they discover the Great Protector is missing – we never find out where they went. Likely they just abandoned their post or went with the Grimborns, on Throk's command.

The face of a guilty man

Like, Snotlout from the very beginning is this kid whose been raised to be a fighter, to do whatever it takes to be at the top. He's rude and he's doing his best to be what he thinks is expected of him. And on some level he knows that he doesn't know what's expected anymore. The archipelago is no longer torn with dragon war, and where does Snotlout fit into Hiccup's world? Hiccup changed everything, and the place Snotlout was raised to take doesn't exist in the same way anymore.

All the while, his father makes it seem like he needs to be a winner in every competition, even when it isn't a competition. His father gives him generally horrible life advice, like rest is for the weak. His father makes it seem like he's always one failure away from being a disappointment to him, in ways that aren't fair.

On the other hand, we have Hiccup. Hiccup always goes after Snotlout even when he's disappointed, even when he has good reason to be angry at Snotlout. Hiccup is always there to help, always there to give counter-advice. It's Hiccup, more than any other rider, that acknowledges what it is that Snotlout has to deal with in his father, even when Snotlout doesn't fully understand what it is he's dealing with at all. It's Hiccup that let's Snotlout win when the competition doesn't matter. It's Hiccup that backs Snotlout's decisions when it should be Snotlout's decision to make. It's Hiccup that sticks around, that tells Snotlout through his actions that he's worth sticking around for. Hiccup didn't know that he was in a two-man war over the man Snotlout would become, but he was.

And then we get to Not Lout, where this has never been more obvious. Spitelout tells his son that his friends aren't really his friends, they're competition, all trying to get in good with Hiccup so they can be higher on Berk's ladder of power. And Snotlout essentially panics about this, spending the rest of the episode trying to prove that he's the better leader. He tries to prove that he ought to be higher on the ladder than he appears to be. He puts his friends in danger to prove this a few times in the episode and it all comes to a head in the emotional climax of the episode.

Like yes I know the scene I'm about to talk about takes place not even halfway through the episode but hear me out.

Snotlout barges into Hiccup's hut and tells him that he will not be left behind, he's "just as good, if not better, than the other guys" and he wants to lead the dragon riders when Hiccup becomes chief. This clearly lays out all of Snotlout's insecurities, and in response Hiccup says "Okay, but you can't force yourself into a leadership position. There are things you need to work on." And he proceeds to tell Snotlout that each dragon rider has their expertise. Astrid and battle strategy and Fishlegs being a dragon encyclopedia. Snotlout needs to either grow his capabilities in all the categories, or learn to look to his friends to help fill in his gaps so be can maybe make better decisions for the group.

Snotlout takes Hiccup's words the wrong way, but the seed's been planted. Hiccup literally just laid out for him that if he wants to climb this nonexistent power ladder, what he needs to do. If Snotlout wants to be the next Hiccup, this is the way to do it. And Snotlout repeats his father's philosophy, that Jorgenson's don't ask permission to be great, and leaves.

The episode proceeds with more of Snotlout being a bad leader and Hiccup gives Snotlout the opportunity to lead a training mission, which goes horribly. Snotlout gives up on himself, grounding himself from future missions. He can't gain his father's approval by climbing the ladder, and in his mind he can't gain Hiccup's approval either because he just failed massively.

The rest of the gang go on a mission to get rid of the Hunter's stash of dragon root, and they become in great danger. Snotlout catches onto a trap, shows up, and in the heat of the moment, successfully leads them all out safely. He deals out tasks to those who are best suited for them, he's determined in his position to protect his fellow riders, and he goes out of his way to protect Hiccup, the one guy who more so than any other in the group doesn't seem to need the protection and ends up saving his life. He lead and he did it well. Snotlout gains Hiccup's praise when Hiccup tells him that he saved his life and it's a good moment, but it's not the emotional resolution.

The following scene, the last in the episode, is so beautiful to me. The riders are finishing the job on the ground and Hiccup and Snotlout are in the air watching. Hiccup tells Snotlout that he's proud of him, that today he did good as the leader Snotlout said he wanted to become, but who knows what the future holds. Hiccup implies he can't promise him that when he becomes chief that he'll give Snotlout the leader of the dragon riders position. And Snotlout says, yeah I've been thinking about that. "Whatever greatness I end up doing, and trust me, it will be great..." and he laughs a bit, "it's gotta be what I want to do. Not what my dad wants me to do."

And the music in the background sounds like the lightbulb turned on. Snotlout realizes that his father doesn't really know what he should be doing with his time, or his life. His father has consistently given him bad advice and caused him to do things against people he cares about to fulfill these goals he never really set for himself. And all the while, Hiccup and dragon riders have been patient with him. They never abandoned him. Because they are his friends, and they love him and want what's best for him. And maybe he feels that now, he lets himself believe it. He will be great, not with Spitelout's permission, and not with Hiccup's, but he will be living in Hiccup's world. Hiccup will be chief and he's already changed the world they live in to create his own. A world of peace where they can ride on dragons. And Snotlout wants to be great inside this new world, standing next to these great people he gets to call friends, and be one of them, not under them or above them.

And Hiccup sees this in Snotlout, he smiles and says "You know, we may not be so different after all." And he doesn't need to explain what he means, he just flies away, and Snotlout knows.

Snotlout's face in those last frames are such a thing of beauty, at first there's confusion as he takes in the words. Then, a large smile, as he realizes what Hiccup meant. That Hiccup too dealt with his father wanting him to be something he wasn't and now he's made himself great, and it's in something he wanted to do. And finally, a quick look of determination as he too flies away to follow Hiccup into the sunset. Because Snotlout did it, he gained the only approval he needs. Approval as a friend, a comrade, as someone worth taking with you into whatever greatness you achieve.

I gotta say, an element I am very glad they included, is what Viggo became just before he was killed. Redeemed before we’re left to assume he died. (I don’t believe he did, but that’s my bias.) He tells Hiccup:

“I spent my whole life hunting dragons. Killing them. Now I’ve come to respect them as equals. You taught me that Hiccup.”

Throughout a majority of Race to the Edge, there was a strong demonstration of how Viggo was a threat that couldn’t be swayed, and the only way the war would end was either the elimination of the Hunters, or the elimination of the Riders. Given the endgame was supposed to be what we see in the second HTTYD movie, we already knew how it would end. But the writers worked very well in keeping us reeling as to how.

Hiccup never expected Viggo to change. He never actively tried to convince him otherwise. As we see in RTTE, as well as RoB & DoB, the enemies the Riders engage, none of them ever considered that they would come to be on their side. No longer threaten dragons and instead accept them.

So we see Hiccup’s shock when he says that. That this enemy he was obsessed with eliminating for months that he drove his friends to the point of exhaustion, suddenly sees dragons as equals. The additional fact that Viggo credited it to Hiccup.

He ingrained in Hiccup’s mind, well I mean I guess you can take into account Alvin, Dagur, and even Stoick too but they vary, that it was possible to change someone’s mind if they’re antagonistic toward dragons. I guess I should explain why for the other three as well.

Stoick wanted to eliminate the nest, and Hiccup tried convincing him that the war wouldn’t end if they continued killing one another. Actively trying to convince his dad.

Alvin was a threat in that he wanted to tame dragons, but then use them for malicious means, and developed the inane belief that he needed Hiccup in order to do so. It wasn’t until a more larger threat, Dagur, stepped into play that he came to be on Hiccup’s side as well.

Dagur was part of a dragon-killing tribe as well, stubborn in accepting that dragons could be tamed and an enemy toward the Berkians because he considered them soft for befriending the dragons instead of killing them. He directly threatened the Berkians, and he remained a larger threat even after three years because he could continue to target the Berkians and other tribes. Dragon killing no longer a necessity, gravitating to the Hunters, yet still remaining an enemy to dragons. Yet it was after Viggo was revealed, that Dagur switched sides, another threat thereby cancelling him out.

I believe that it was because of the Riders dealing with Viggo, and just how much of a high-stakes war it was, that turned Hiccup into the pacifist we see in HTTYD 2.

He never looked for an opportunity of telling Viggo that dragons weren’t enemies and didn’t deserve to be hunted. For literal months, best I can a guess a freaking year, Hiccup and Viggo remained in that cycle of attempting to overturn the other. Viggo trying to get Hiccup and the Riders to back down, and Hiccup attempting to dismantle the Hunters which were an extreme threat to dragons. Even during Shell Shocked where they were temporary allies, Hiccup didn’t tell Viggo, “Hey dragons are friends, not creatures from which to reap a profit,”. All he cared about was making sure Ryker was defeated and the Shellfire liberated. Always too much at stake for Hiccup to realize he could try to change Viggo’s mind.

In Viggo’s last moments, Hiccup had been told that even after everything they’d been through, he’d changed his greatest enemy’s mind. Without actively attempting to do so.

And this is partly why Homecoming is so precious to me, where Hiccup is a soft leader. Like at first viewing I was like this is a bit odd but then I think of how Hiccup hasn't seen a battle for ten years at that point, and the time I was with him that I cherished the most were those years on the edge, where he was leading a war against dragon hunting.

And it's further interesting to rewatch rtte and think about which bits of Hiccup's relationships with the other riders and members of Berk are permanent. As in, Hiccup during rtte was strong and capable, and his friends respect him and there are whole episodes dedicated to each of them wanting to prove themselves to Hiccup and gain his respect. Rtte spent the time to develop each character with Hiccup so we knew what each relationship was like. And I love thinking about how that's stable for Hiccup. Like in Homecoming he's gonna be soft because he doesn't need to be stronger, because it's peacetime. His friends will remember the rtte years, and they will remember all that Hiccup went through and they will know that they owe their lives to this man who never left them behind when it got hard. And they will respect him ten years later just as they did in rtte. And I think that's so beautiful. I realize Homecoming was short and there wasn't much to go on, but Hiccup never once received actual disrespect (I realize the Stoick thing is a thing, and I have different thoughts on that) but it was just regular dragon rider banter and fun.

I'm so happy Hiccup's happy and I love rewatching the hardest battles and thinking about how it was there that Hiccup built these relationships that will last him a lifetime, so far beyond earning their love and respect that everyone tries to earn his instead.

And thinking about it, I want to say that for he worked with Johann so he could buy his freedom.

Triple Cross did get me thinking about it the most. Johann held the biggest intention in wanting to find the King of Dragons for their buyer (Drago), and then becoming the richest person in the Archipelago. The scene I am thinking of specifically is when Krogan and Viggo argued about how to go about Hiccup’s “capture”. Krogan berates Viggo, saying:

“Have you forgotten about the King of Dragons, and our buyer? This will only slow us down.”

He says our buyer. In that instance not acknowledging that they were securing a dragon for his master. He also mentioned a time crunch, and to be honest I feel if they had gone thru with demanding the lenses for Hiccup they would’ve been able to find the Bewilderbeast all the more quicker. I do also see why Krogan shot down the idea though, since the last time he took Hiccup prisoner it didn’t work in their favor. 

But Viggo’s previous statements did throw me off. He had told Hiccup that Krogan was employed by a mysterious buyer from the north. Then later on Johann’s base he threatens to tell that same “buyer” of his star pupil’s consistent failure. Which leads me to two lines of thinking. He implied that Drago had ordered Krogan to find the King of Dragons for him, but had also tied Johann into it as well, or Johann had extended the offer to Krogan and he in turn relayed it to Drago. But in Viggo threatening Krogan it also suggested that he knew more than what he let on, and didn’t bring Hiccup in light of it.

It also displays how Johann managed to keep both Krogan and Viggo under wraps. As Krogan so helpfully pointed out, Hiccup had decimated the Hunter empire. Which may have also been a family business, given that the Dragon Eye had belonged to an ancestor of the Grimborns. Viggo was technically at Johann’s beck and call and as also said, had Johann let him know the full details he would’ve struck him down to take the contract for himself. He relied on the pay that would come from helping to find a Bewilderbeast. It seems that Johann enlisted the two into his service, by promising a cut of what they would gain from the exchange.

For Krogan, it probably was the promise of freedom. Wealth that would liberate him, and that he no longer had to be afraid of Drago. We see that distinctly enough, when Viggo threatens him, and he comes close to strangling the guy. Disobeying Drago Bludvist meant death, and we also see this in HTTYD 2 when Eret is nearly killed for having led the Dragon Riders to them, or so he thought. Also in that single scene we see where Krogan disappears after the battle and is brought to Drago, we see that he begged for his life and that some of the Flyers were under Drago’s service. Possibly having been put into their ranks to keep an eye on Krogan and make sure he was completing what Drago desired. It does make sense in why Krogan mentioned the ‘only going to slow us down’. He already knew he was being watched.

And then I also realized that Midnight Scrum fits into this as well. Remember that extra heavy price Viggo was offering for Hiccup? The one person who delivered him to Sleipnir island, was Krogan. With how much gold Viggo was promising for Hiccup, and as we could guess alive, Krogan probably could’ve bought his freedom and been free of Drago’s hold with the amount written on that poster. Because if you think about from another viewpoint which wouldn’t follow this, it doesn’t make sense. We can think about how Krogan acquired dragons for Drago, but participating in the bounty, how would that benefit his master? I really don’t think he would’ve gone to the extent that he did just for a promised amount of gold. Then Ryker dumped that sack of rocks in front of him, and what does Krogan do immediately afterward? Tell them that no pay, no prize. And even after he defeated their men he tried to take Hiccup to Hunter Isle. With what we could guess, if he literally dumped the one person Viggo was desperate for at his feet, he would be able to get the gold he wanted from Viggo. But given that Johann expected to come into large wealth from selling the King of Dragons to Drago, that gold Krogan could’ve gained from the bounty wouldn’t have benefitted Bludvist. What one can deduce is that he meant to use the gold for his own means.

Oh my God. That was a doozy of feels. This was Dagur’s episode, start to finish, and Thor, what a finish it was.

Right from when he showed up in Hiccup’s hut, Dagur stole the show. After winning over  Toothless and Hiccup’s trust in episode 1, it was time for him to win the rest of the gang’s trust. And he did well, considering his history. He showed himself capable of friendship, with each of the varied personalities that make up Dragon’s Edge, from Fishlegs to the twins to even Astrid. And Shattermaster’s immediate trust of him was another point in his favor.

Are those all specialty tails in the back?!

It was really interesting to see Heather working through her feelings about her brother. Even though he freed her, it seems that time away from him has hardened her heart toward him. She was ready to slice him in half, but couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. Ultimately it took the ultimate sacrifice—the ultimate redemption— for her to believe him.

That last scene, with its amazing background score, was SO incredibly emotional. There was one exact moment when I went from cheering ‘YES, Dagur!’ as he attacked those ships, to shouting 'NO, Dagur!’ as his dagger fell into the sea and he was no more to be seen.

And Heather reading the letter at the end, with her voice phasing into his, then back into hers, and her tears staining the parchment as the sky rained down, was just beautiful and SO SO sad. My poor heart.

Heather! We finally got some answers about what happened to her, and boy am I glad she’s okay. Heather is Edgy and mysterious, and adds a lot of interest to the Edge.

I enjoyed the humor in this episode, mostly courtesy of Snotlout. The Mrs. Lout/Mrs. Legs quips and the finger-guns-flirting were hilarious, as was Tuffnut’s appreciation for fine dining.

No girl ever said no to the ol’ finger guns

“Muchas gracias, muchacha, por una cena mas”

Windshear was SO beautiful in this episode. She was truly the star here. Her fierce protective instincts toward Heather coupled with her having been raised in isolation were skillfully revealed in a gradual manner. Windshear in action, shooting ice blue flames and taking down those dragon hunter ships, was a treat to watch.