Recap / The Dragon and the Butterfly Chapter 22

Chapter 22: An Axe to Grind

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Tropes That Appear In This Chapter:

• And There Was Much Rejoicing: Snotlout organized a "Goodbye Useless" party when Hiccup left, and most of the village is glad that he (along with the Night Fury who led most of the raids) is gone.
• Berserk Button: Even implying his son's name in any way snaps Stoick out of auto-pilot and into a rage.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Astrid decides to take initiative since the dragons raids have accelerated to the point where Berk can't make up for the damages between them.
• Five Stages of Grief:
  • Stoick is stuck in the "Denial" stage; pretending that things are going as they always have, ignoring the worsening raids, plummeting standard of living and Gobber's anger towards him.
    He acted as if it was business as usual on Berk, every day. No matter what was happening.
    He wasn't totally distant, he still attended to his chiefly duties. But it felt more like he was going through the motions. All with that vacant look on his face.
  • Gobber is in "Anger"; he refuses to do his job, ignores demands and gives Stoick an ugly look every time he sees him.
• Laser-Guided Karma: To all of Berk. After years of ignoring, berating, or even beating Hiccup, they celebrate when he rides off with Toothless...only for the raids to get worse, their weapons to fall apart (thanks to Gobber's Heroic BSoD), and for the food supply to diminish.
• Meanwhile, Back at the…: This is the first chapter showing what's happening at Berk during Hiccup's time at the Encanto.
• Mythology Gag: In order to prevent the chief from flying off the handle, the Vikings come up with an unspoken rule.
  We don't talk about Hiccup.
• Took a Level in Cynic: With Hiccup gone, Gobber had gone from a Deadpan Snarker to a bitter drunk who refuses to do his job.
• Vetinari Job Security: With Hiccup gone and Gobber bitter over it, weapon quality had dropped to an all-time low.

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