A Dragon and His Boy

Hiccup’s pure selflessness. Not a selfish bone in that skinny boy’s body. Yeah he’s creating a dragon utopia FOR dragons, and then he gives that up and let’s his best friend go so THEY can live free and safe forever in the hidden world.

(I’m in love with that boy)

Friendship vs. romantic love. Yeah, big controversy here. I value friendship so much and am suspicious of romantic love, especially when friendship is downplayed in its favor. Did HTTYD do that here? On some days, I think so, and sometimes I see through that and find the power of the story. There was a lot of romance in HTTYD3, but the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless was always displayed so strongly. The first day after HTTYD3 (back in Feb 2, early showing), I was so upset that Toothless left Hiccup for a love interest. I’m still wondering about that. But there’s no doubt in my mind that Hiccup and Toothless love each other deeply. They are the deepest friends I have ever imagined or seen in this world. And I won’t give that up lightly. Furthermore, we gained something very special in THW: We heard them say “I love you” to one another for the very first time. It’s official. They love each other. And that’s the kind of love that I believe in.

Hiccstrid wedding, Hiccstrid children, Night Fury/Light Fury babies. Everything we’ve headcanoned for years is true.

Hiccup still a beat-up dweeb as chief. HTTYD2 Hiccup had it easy. HTTYD3 Hiccup, now that he’s technically the number one boss, has everyone putting him down as if to remind him that he’s not a natural at this. Imagine yourself as a villager -- all your life the chief’s son was a laughing stock, you had a few years seeing him in a whole new light and actually admiring him and being grateful for the dragons he brought into your life -- and now he’s chief. He’s still as twingly as Hiccup always is. I think it must have been weird for the people of Berk and especially the kids to answer to Hiccup as their chief. That’s why all the butt-slapping, and beard-thrusting, and tossing-chief-Hiccup-into-the-air. It’s the way everyone’s coping with having the runt of the litter be your new Commander-in-Chief.

(Hiccup being thrown in the air by his people and feeling sick is one of my favorite scenes! Throw chief Hiccup!)

Badass raid to start the day, the most badass Night Fury with glowing dorsal spines, the most badass peacemaking demon with the hottest face EVER

Hiccup has grown incredibly handsome. yep. There’s one piece of hair I really like that sticks out of his head, and then he has those bright, explorative, and gentle eyes that makes his whole face beautiful. I like his face and his skinny waist. He feels so small to himself, but he’s such a badass to us. 

I got mad and sad and upliftingly overwhelmed with peace and turmoil with the separation scene. I saw this back in Feb 2, I felt like my world was ending the next day and that Toothless didn’t miss Hiccup enough and that they wouldn’t ever be together again. I felt that their separation was done wrong with the Light Fury love interest. I still have mixed feelings about it, but there’s no denying how this is incredibly strong storytelling to have them choose to separate and grow because of it. It’s an amazing storytelling choice all the way from Cressida in the books, and I’ve sort of anticipated it since then, though I didn’t know how serious it would be. How they say goodbye to each other is one of the most movingly emotional scenes, ever. Hiccup and Toothless said goodbye. Hiccup touched Toothless on the nose, that special touch, one last time. I really can’t believe it.

The wildness of Toothless and the maturity of Hiccup in the final reunion. Hiccup actually isn’t too much older in the last scene, since if you shave off his beard he still looks like our Hiccup. But he isn’t flying dragons. He’s taking the slow path ... sailing on a ship, which takes days instead of hours to travel to other lands. How slow ships must feel for Hiccup. But I think he got used to them. Astrid looks incredibly beautiful, with her curls -- and then the children! JUST then they sight Furies on an ice flow -- wow, it felt incredibly real to me, in that mist, like scenes from a nature show when we’re just squinting to see undisturbed nature living its beautiful life. The Night Fury notices the ship, the people -- he does more than notice, his ears perk up. I think, he is starting to remember that there’s something familiar on that ship. He flies to it -- and HOW CAN I TALK ABOUT HICCUP AND TOOTHLESS AT THE SAME TIME? Hiccup is so damn respectful of Toothless. He stands there so tentative yet warm, introducing himself to Toothless so carefully without ever assuming that his best bud remembers him. Hiccup treats Toothless like a DRAGON -- a being to utterly respect. And the LOVE that Hiccup feels -- you can feel it, too, the way his eyes try to hide how elated he feels that he is seeing Toothless for the first time in years. This is the FIRST TIME in years that Toothless has looked this wild ... this unsearchable ... that’s what I loved about Toothless. When we first met him, he was this captured beast with eyes full of meaning, a beast screaming in Hiccup’s face, this beast flying disjointedly and formidably into the misty forest. Toothless was wild, and you couldn’t always know what he was thinking with his face, though you ALWAYS knew that there were thoughts and intentions behind his eyes. I felt that HTTYD2 Toothless and ROB/DOB/RTTE Toothless had lost that wild mystery and intelligence, and that Toothless had been essentially domesticated. But his look on that ship returned a lot of what he had lost. Toothless’s face, as he pauses with his claws laced onto the bow of the ship, is neither aggressive nor welcoming, but there is yet both distance and warmth and curiosity in it. That’s the wonderful unspoken ambiguity with Toothless as an animal who cannot speak human language. We must interpret what he is saying. And I think at this moment, not even Toothless quite knows what to think as he stands there. I believe that he feels that someone he knows is on that ship, but he can’t quite be sure. Something is so very familiar, whether it’s the way the boy talks, his mannerisms, the eyes. Toothless has become unaccustomed to people, so just seeing a human being again is a lot for him. But he smells Hiccup -- and THAT’S IT! He’s totally certain that his friend has returned and he gives him the most crazily excitable welcome ever. Their love is displayed right there.