History WesternAnimation / HowToTrainYourDragonTheHiddenWorld

--> '''Snotlout''': (''to Hiccup'') Who died and made you chief?

* FlightOfRomance: Toothless and the Light Fury engage in one after the former gets his fin fixed. Since the movie is set in the GrimUpNorth, the flight doesn't miss to include a romantic WintryAuroralSky. The scene surprisingly averts MidflightWaterTouching though when both dragons fly close to the surface of the water.

** Toothless's [[AllAnimalsAreDogs doglike mannerisms]] are much more pronounced here, and his snark and intelligence are far less prominent. Hiccup even speaks to him in a baby voice, the way people often do when speaking to their pets -- something he rarely did in previous films.

* TokenAquaticRace: Berk is shown to have at least one Tidal Class dragon in its dragon population, which is a Scauldron. Fittingly, it is seen sitting half-submerged in a water tower.

** One of the descriptions Hiccup read of the Night Fury in the first film was "the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself...". This film shows a literal evidence for this.

* BrokenAesop:
** Hiccup decides that dragons and Vikings should be separate for their safety, and the dragons can return when humans "deserve" them. This is meant to be a hard choice made for the greater good demonstrating what love is. But the movie never really demonstrates exactly why this choice needs to be made. There are antagonistic figures like Grimmel and the warlords, but they are defeated, and aside from them, it's not shown what the world at large thinks about dragons. This gets even worse in the follow-up special ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonHomecoming'', which shows the next generation of Vikings have grown fearful and superstitious of dragons, specifically because of their absence. Hiccup tries to make a pageant to convince them otherwise, but this ends up a near-disaster, and in the end, [[spoiler:it only succeeds because Toothless returned]]. So the separation between Vikings and dragons is shown to be the wrong choice, which has deepened the divide, and only the dragons' return fixed that divide.
** The movie concludes that wild animals should live free and undisturbed in the wild. Also, that we as a human race need to be better so that dragons will come back and we can play with them and ride on them again.

* NeverTrustATrailer: Due to the movie being rushed out, a ''very'' substantial portion of the first trailer is made up of cobbled together scenes that outright didn't happen in the film. This includes, but is not limited to, Hiccup rallying the Berkians on a cliff, the Light Fury growling in a cage, Toothless and the Light Fury meeting in a clearing, and Hiccup affectionately telling Toothless that, "It's you and me, bud...always." There's even a clip of Hiccup expressing astonishment that Toothless isn't the only Night Fury, although in the movie proper, he is.

* OffModel: When Toothless stares down the Hobgobbler playing in the soup, he is completely missing his saddle.

* InformedAttribute: A common criticism levelled against the film is that, despite intending to show Grimmel as a [[{{Chessmaster}} strategic genius]] who's always a step ahead of everyone else, most of his advantages come from the other characters making mistakes that he has no control or knowledge of.
** Drago's warlords kick off the plot by hiring Grimmel to capture Toothless alive. Even though he holds them in clear contempt, openly states that he is a dragon ''killer'', and is famously responsible for [[spoiler:the almost complete extinction of the Night Fury species]], they still decide to trust him with this task, and [[spoiler:he promptly betrays them the moment he finally has Toothless in his grasp]].
** During their first confrontation, Grimmel heavily implies that Hiccup's idea for peaceful co-existance with dragons could easily spread, which would spell disaster for people like himself who make a profit off capturing and killing them. Instead of actually ''trying'' to convince other cultures and people of his progressive ideals [[note]]If the TV series is canon, he was already able to do this with the Outcasts, Berserkers and Defenders Of The Wing[[/note]], Hiccup and Toothless go out of their way to ensure that no one else can ever take them up.
** When Valka returns from her scout mission to report on the enemy fleet, Hiccup decides to [[spoiler:lead the riders to hostile territory to capture Grimmel, despite not knowing the place or if Grimmel is actually there. The mission ends in failure and also results in Ruffnut being captured]]. The riders don't even notice that [[spoiler:Ruffnut is missing]] until after they've already returned to New Berk, [[spoiler:including her brother Tuffnut, even though the two of them share the same dragon]].
** Ruffnut, [[spoiler:when captured, casually lets it slip that the Berkians have relocated to a new island, and doesn't question Grimmel when he suddenly decides to let her go. She doesn't even look back to see if she's being followed, and ends up inadvertently leading Grimmel and the warlords to New Berk, resulting in the capture of Toothless and the other dragons]]. It's rather irksome that she [[IdiotHoudini never gets any meaningful consequences for her moronic actions]].
** Hiccup and Toothless learn early on that Grimmel's weapons of choice are his InstantSedation darts. [[spoiler:Upon seeing the Light Fury hit by one, Toothless' strategy is to run up and stand there slowly charging a plasma blast inches away from Grimmel, getting himself easily shot in the process.]]
* InformedFlaw: Grimmel reasons that Hiccup hasn't taken the dragons North because Night Fury dragons cannot survive in the cold. Toothless showed no aversion to the cold when staying in constant cold environments like Glacier Island in the tv series, at Valka's ice sanctuary in the second film, and in this film, both Toothless and the Light Fury are shown flying high in the clouds, where the temperatures would be very low.
** In addition Grimmel also says that Night Fury dragons cannot fly for long distances without resting because when traveling they need to take breaks. Toothless frequently flies long distances in every appearance he's ever made, and has never shown signs of fatigue.
** Hiccup's love for Toothless, and the Berkians' love for their dragons in general, is portrayed as detrimental to their wild nature -- side materials outright call it corruption -- and a state of captivity they need to be set free from. The dragons of Berk, in this movie and every other appearance, have always come and gone as they pleased, completely unrestrained.

* BrokenAesop: Hiccup decides that dragons and Vikings should be separate for their safety, and the dragons can return when humans "deserve" them. This is meant to be a hard choice made for the greater good demonstrating what love is. But the movie never really demonstrates exactly why this choice needs to be made. There are antagonistic figures like Grimmel and the warlords, but they are defeated, and aside from them, it's not shown what the world at large thinks about dragons. This gets even worse in the follow-up special ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonHomecoming'', which shows the next generation of Vikings have grown fearful and superstitious of dragons, specifically because of their absence. Hiccup tries to make a pageant to convince them otherwise, but this ends up a near-disaster, and in the end, [[spoiler:it only succeeds because Toothless returned]]. So the separation between Vikings and dragons is shown to be the wrong choice, which has deepened the divide, and only the dragons' return fixed that divide.

* TheyDo: [[spoiler:Hiccup and Astrid marry near the end of the film.]]

* MatingDance: The Light Fury initiates one with Toothless, who makes a complete mess of himself as he's trying to adapt the mating practices of various other dragons due to him not actually knowing how Furies mate with ''each other''. [[spoiler:They eventually meet in the middle and combine both their courtship approaches into an exchange of prancing and gurgling.]]

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: At the end of the film [[spoiler: Hiccup and Astrid finally tie the knot after all their years as both friends and lovers. Also during the wedding Ruffnut ends up choosing Fishlegs as her love interest.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After the final battle, [[spoiler:the final fate of the warlords is never revealed.]]
* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: The Deathgrippers are intimidating predators with powerful venom and scorpion tails, and thus we're not supposed to care that Grimmel is mind-controlling and abusing them or that Toothless murders them in the interest of rescuing the Light Fury -- who incidentally is being controlled by the exact same substance.