Book II, Chapter 1
Draconic social structures grew, much as human social structures, based on the general social and communal nature of the species. Much like humans, dragons have a distinct tendency towards obedience to social authority and power structures. However, unlike humans, draconic society was vastly affected by the species' dependence on breeding nests in order to incubate their eggs. These rare locations, the only ones suitable for the raising of dragon whelps prior to Hiccup Haddock's creation of artificial Brooderies, rendered dragons vulnerable to human hunting parties. A successful attack by dragon hunters could wipe out an entire cohort of young dragons with ease. This location-based dependency also made them vulnerable to control by powerful individual dragons.
Case in point for this last aspect was the classic example of the Green Death; this dragon controlled a single breeding nest for nearly three centuries in the Alban Hebrides. The dragon operated by essentially demanding food as rent in order for prospective breeders to be allowed to access the reproductive potential of the nesting site—and, according to primary sources, she also did not hesitate to use more direct force to get her way, up to and including the use of deadly force and cannibalism on her subjects if they failed to pay up.
— The Dragon Millennium, Manna-hata University Press, Ltd.
Tropes That Appear In This Chapter:
- Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: Hiccup invents the chimney (or as he calls it the skorsteinn), one hundred and forty four years before they were invented in real life.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Twiglet is very open for her contempt for Heather, thinking she is entitled to have Fishlegs because she was born into the tribe while Heather is a freedwoman. It bares mentioning that she mentions this before the whole "Heather betrayed our trust" bit.
- Distracted by the Sexy:She appeared at the base of the stairs and started to climb up. "Well, what would you want?" she asked, smiling as she reached the last stairs."Um..." He thought, and then blinked as Astrid, now smirking, started to pull her shirt off."Oh, I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?" she asked innocently, dropping her shirt to the floor.He laughed and kissed her.
- Double Standard: Lopsides had a daughter out of wedlock and people seem to give her a lot of flack for it, especially since she would not admit who the father was. This of course comes from the same village that would not give Hiccup and Astrid a hard time for their "premarital relations."
- Rags to Royalty: Downplayed. While not exactly destitute, the fact that Hákon and his wife became nobles over a vassal city on Stoick's behalf when they were just ordinary members of their village a year ago is not lost on the two of them.
