When Hookfang is drawn to a female Monstrous Nightmare, Snotlout tries to break them up before he loses his friend forever.
Tropes:
- 10-Minute Retirement: Snotlout retires from dragon-riding after Hookfang quits as well, planning to "sail" back to Berk from Dragon's Edge.
- Big Damn Heroes: Hookfang's Titan Winged rival manages to defeat him, and Snotlout doubts he and "Girl-Hookfang" stand a chance at fighting him. Luckily, the other riders appear and drive off the offender.
- Call-Back: Snotlout at first tries to get rid of "Girl-Hookfang" by using eel.
- Call-Forward:
- Fishlegs mentions that dragons can go feral. Hiccup innocently asks Toothless, "You won't ever do that, will you, Bud?"
- Also Ruffnut saying she never saw two boys fighting over a girl. In the movie, she will.
- Character Development: For Snotlout, realizing how well he and Hookfang work together as a team. It's shown when during his battle cry, he includes his name AND Hookfang's for the first time.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Dome big time. Snotlout uses it, combining brains and brawn, to help defeat Hookfang's rival.
- Continuity Nod:
- Astrid refers to the time that Snotlout rode Stormfly and discovered a new ability.
- Dragons are fiercely protective of their eggs, including the mothers.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Hookfang, big time.
- Evil Is Bigger: The Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare is visibly more than twice the size of Hookfang and "Girl-Hookfang". Snotlout turns this against him in their final confrontation.
- Foreshadowing: Hookfang's encounter with, and near-abandonment of Snotlout, for "Girl-Hookfang" ultimately happens for real to Hiccup and Toothless when the latter meets the Light Fury, and the prioritization of the dragons' safety drives the riders' dragons to leave Berk twice in the third movie.
- Heroic BSoD: Snotlout when he thinks that Hookfang has deserted him for "Girl-Hookfang".
- Innocently Insensitive: Hiccup and the riders when they try to help Snotlout by getting him a new dragon as a Replacement Goldfish and when Fishlegs casually remarks on Hookfang potentially going feral.
- Large Ham: Ruffnut and Tuffnut are even more this than usual, treating everything going on as entertainment theatre.
- Mama Bear: "Girl-Hookfang" has eggs, and another male Nightmare wants to destroy them. She's prepared to protect them to the death.
- Papa Wolf: As it turns out, Hookfang. He was protecting the female Nightmare from a male that wanted to destroy her eggs. When Snotlout realizes this, he also helps.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Hookfang's Titan Winged rival has this color scheme, so one look at him and Snotlout knows he's bad news.
- Replacement Goldfish: Attempted. Hiccup and the riders gather a bunch of Monstrous Nightmares after Hookfang leaves for Snotlout to try, and they suggest that he can go with other dragons as well.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Justified; Hookfang's rival will only leave if it's clear he's not the dominant male of the Monstrous Nightmares in the area, meaning the other riders can't help Hookfang and Snotlout defeat him.
- Too Fast to Stop: The Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare, pursuing Hookfang inside the cave, ends up slamming against a wall as the other dragon dodge upward.
- Weirder Than Usual: When Snotlout tells the others that Hookfang is not acting like himself, they counter that Snotlout and his dragon had always tended to butt heads. But Hiccup later admits that Snotlout knows his dragon better than anybody, and if he says that Hookfang is acting weird, then he must be right.
- Would Hurt a Child: Hookfang's Titan Winged rival, who is trying to smash "Girl-Hookfang's" eggs, most likely for mating rights.
