How to train your Dragon x tales of Arcadia. P2
With that all said and done, now is onto personal headcannons of mine.
But one last thing: Archie and Charlemagne.
They are Dragon’s we meet in TOA, and look different from the dragons we know. But just like trolls, dragons are very diverse in there appearance, it would make sense to assume that Archie and Charlie’s appearance is in accordance to their species, which to make things simple I call Shiftwings. ( due to Archie’s shape changing ability.)
As for why they are still here and not in the Hidden world, I headcannon they found safety in entrusting their loyalty and companionship with wizards. A class of humans who were equally demonised by the rest of human kind.
And over time, they changed, sharing there magic, making bonds with Wizards to becoming familiars, understanding common due to those bonds and later speaking it themselves. And discovering and harnessing shapeshifting abilities to blend in among a shifting world.
Essentially becoming the last existing, and in some ways thriving species of dragon, left on the surface. While every single other, slowly disappeared, becoming nothing more than legends, in the eyes of all humans.
But what about trolls?
-
What happened? How did every single dragon just disappear like that? we only know of Berks dragons retreating to the hidden world, so what happened to the rest of the world? and what impact did it make on the magical world as a whole?
This is where my head cannons come in.
I head cannon Dragon’s had a very important roll in shaping the history of the magical world, it just hasn’t been relevant yet.
We know dragons are a very respected and powerful species of magical creature, Wizards wouldn’t dare cross one provoked. As with Douxie and Charlemagne. As well as dragons having a deep connection with a Wizards magic. As with Melins brief correction on the difference between Draconic and Ancient Draconic, the very language of the dragons.
We can also gather that dragons as one if not the most ancient species of this world. If we take into account there longevity and our own history, with very similar reptiles in dinosaurs, ruling the earth for far longer then humans, ands by extension trolls ever have. So by extension dragons did for the magical world, what dinosaurs did for the mortal one. So we can assume dragons are a big deal, also taking into account there depictions in so many cultures all over the world!
So what is that history? and what do they mean to Trolls?
Well, what is one thing that connects both trolls and dragons, without a them being in the same cave.
A Heartstone.
I want to quickly divert to something els for a moment and highlight the importance of individual species to the balance of nature.
Take bees.
A single species that serves as essential pollinators, crucial for our plants reproduction, and food production.
Wolfs are essential in controlling prey populations
And beavers are ecosystem engineers, which modify their environment to support other species.
Decomposers like worms and fungi are essential in breaking down organic matter.
Even large animals like Elephants, influencing vegetation by digging for water and grazing as ecosystem engineers.
Magic is emotion, is tied to the same rules as the natural world itself, so it’s safe to assume it abides by those rules too.
So why are Dragons essential, what is their impact?
Well, what is the very problem that’s been explored throughout the entirety of the TOA story line.
Balance.
With their absence there is imbalance.
Dragons acted like a bridge, they were the bridge. Creatures that conquered the land, the seas and the sky. Creatures of flesh like humans, but magic and long life like trolls, acting as the third primary apex predictor along side humans and trolls.
But they disappeared.
And while most humans celebrated, dethroning the dragons and becoming the top apex predators of this world. Trolls had other opinions, and were quick to retaliate. Breaking the barrier between the two species, leading to war.
War, that lead to Trolls going underground, and humans forgetting magic even existing.
But why would trolls care what happened to dragons, surely they would be happy too?
But that’s the thing, Dragons never stole a throne to begin with.
They not only drew the line between magic and mortal, but also sentience.
A dragon has deep understanding of magic, and the emotions of all other living beings. An empathy that did not discriminate, dragons were willing to live along side humans, as they did with Berk, so who’s to say they hadn’t already done so with trolls.
And what if they also helped them. In the words of Ruffnut and Tuffnut themselves.
Symbiosis.
What if dragons established a symbiotic relationship with trolls, in accordance to protecting and rejuvenating there heartstones. Using both species impeccable magics, trolls geological understanding and the prowess and power, that comes from Draconic magic.
In that sense, they are essential to the ecosystem of magic and nature, as are trolls as natural guardians of the special gemstones they are born from.
So when one essential species disappears from the world, what happens to the heartstones of the surface? And the trolls who since the first moments of there emersion, have established deep connections and generational history living along side such creatures?
They morn, but then get angry and have clear evidence of who to blame.
Leading to the events of the present, to wich the very primordial beings of this world, deem past the point of redemption. And doom every living thing to the fate of extinction in the case it will be better.
So, what were to happen, if the Trollhunters and the Ninth configuration find a way to prevent that, and dragons came back?
Well remember what hiccup said.
“it's the dragons letting us know they're still here. Waiting for us to figure out how to get along.”
Dragons can only return, when we figure out how to get along. What if it’s not just humans, but trolls and the world of magic and moral alike, in that sense it becomes a whole lot harder. But it just takes one spark, to light up something remarkable.
Just like it took one human, to liberate the world of trolls, and a team of all kinds of creatures, to save the world.
Perhaps it takes one dragon, to spark up another adventure.
One that could save the fate of the world, the Arcane Order dreamed, inevitable of its end.
-
Ok, Wow that was a lot, but those are my thoughts and I’d love to hear yours.
I love these two franchises and will continue to love them beyond there on screen appearances. And fanfics and Art is exactly where that can continue.
And exactly where I plan to explore these ideas. So keep an eye out.
