History TearJerker / HowToTrainYourDragon2

** Meta-Worse is how different it is compared to other deaths in animated films. In most animated films, deaths are often offscreen shots, with the audience only seeing the reactions of the different characters. Here, it's onscreen. The audience sees the blast and the aftermath. The fact that the villain gloats after seeing Stoick's body drives the nail into the coffin.

** More meta-worse! All of this happened when the film was released just a few days before Father's Day!

** On top of all that there is a wider perspective. In the first movie after over a lifetime of despising dragons more than most people for terrorizing his village and taking; and from his view more than likely eating, his wife, his son finally convinces him that dragons are not the mindless, evil, beasts he thought they were. Now in this movie, after five years since then, he comes to love dragons as much as everyone else has, and because of the events of the movie; after around twenty years, he finds his wife alive and well and his family is finally whole again. These same events also transpired to cause him to do one thing he'd never thought he'd ever have to do again; fight a dragon to protect his family, and save his son from the very dragon he trusted with his own son's safety, now turned into the mindless beast he believed they were for most of his life.

--->'''Gobber''': May the valkyries welcome you and lead you through Odin’s great battlefield. May they sing your name with love and fury, so that we might hear it rise from the depths of Valhalla. And know that you’ve taken your rightful place at the table of kings. For a great man has fallen: A warrior. A chieftain. A father. A friend.

* The trailer for the sequel has [[spoiler:Stoick being reunited with Valka, his wife and Hiccup's mother.]]
-->'''Stoick:''' [[spoiler:You're as beautiful as the day I lost you.]]
** The lead up to this line is just as heartwrenching, as [[spoiler: Valka is half-ranting, half-pleading with Stoick, afraid that he was angry with her for deserting after 20 years, and seeking asylum with dragons after all they've done. Just think, for 20 years she believed that Stoick would never accept her new way of life and that he would hate her if he saw her again. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Thank goodness she was wrong]].]]

** Pay close attention to Toothless' face and body language during that scene. He is barely able to keep his head above the water with only a thin piece of ice to cling to, and is calling out for Hiccup as he watches him get taken away. When the other dragons take him underwater, Toothless isn't acting aggressive towards them. Instead his ears are flat against his head, his eyes are wide with terror, and he even whimpers before he gets smothered by one of the dragons' wings. Toothless is one of the most powerful dragons ever, and seeing him so miserable and scared for both himself and his rider is pretty upsetting. The music also does its job well to make it all so much more effective.
* [[spoiler:Stoick's death is sad all by itself but it's made even worse by the fact that the death blow was delivered by a [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind-controlled]] Toothless. Worse still is that Stoick had asked Valka to come back home to Berk so they could be a family again -- and she'd said ''yes''. Their love not only survived a 20 year separation, it picked up where it left off, only for them to be so cruelly and painfully parted. Stoick doesn't even get to say goodbye to Hiccup. He is killed instantly.]]
** On top of all that there is a wider prespective. [[spoiler:In the first movie after over a lifetime of despising dragons more than most people for terrorizing his village and taking; and from his view more than likely eating, his wife, his son finally convinces him that dragons are not the mindless, evil, beasts he thought they were. Now in this movie, after five years since then, he comes to love dragons as much as everyone else has, and because of the events of the movie; after around twenty years, he finds his wife alive and well and his family is finally whole again. These same events also transpired to cause him to do one thing he'd never thought he'd ever have to do again; fight a dragon to protect his family, and save his son from the very dragon he trusted with his own son's safety, now turned into the mindless beast he believed they were for most of his life.]]
** Meta-Worse [[spoiler: is how different it is compared to other deaths in animated films. In most animated films, deaths are often offscreen shots, with the audience only seeing the reactions of the different characters. Here, it's onscreen. The audience sees the blast and the aftermath. The fact that the villain gloats after seeing Stoick's body drives the nail into the coffin]]
** [[spoiler: Hiccup just got his mother back. After 20 years of thinking she was dead, he got her back. His father meets her again, and they're happily dancing and singing while eating dinner, like a real family. He gets his mother back... only to lose his father soon after.]]
** Valka's broken expression [[spoiler:when she realizes Stoick is dead.]]
** Toothless [[spoiler: snapping out of the Alpha's mind control, waking up to a puzzling sight of a motionless Stoick and a grieving Hiccup and Valka. He doesn't appear to have any idea of what he's just done, and when he sees Stoick lying there motionless he is totally unaware that he's the one who caused it. He tries to sniff Stoick's hand, but Hiccup pushes him away, afraid and uncertain of what might happen next. Both the pain and anger in Hiccup's voice when he pushes his best friend away, and the fact that Hiccup has broken to the point that he pushes his best friend away, is good enough to bring the waterworks. It's a good thing Valka was there to reason with him.]]
---->[[spoiler:"NO! GET AWAY FROM HIM! GO ON! GET OUTTA HERE! GET AWAY!"]]
*** [[spoiler:[[http://ashleybenlove.tumblr.com/post/97137418956/roverrash-inxquitous-snowballs-n-funtimes The entire scene is even sadder with the commentary.]]]]
*** [[spoiler:It's still worse when compared with a [[http://nefertsukia.tumblr.com/post/100529982838 similar scene]] from the prequel.]]
*** Worse still when you remember how much Toothless [[spoiler: and Stoick's relationship had changed from the first movie. If you take the television series into account, they had been forming a bond of friendship for years. And now Toothless lost someone almost as important to him as Hiccup.]]
** All this is capped off with [[spoiler: Stoick's VikingFuneral, where Gobber gives a tearful speech in his best friend's memory as a heartbreaking instrumental reprise of "For the Dancing and the Dreaming", the love song Stoick and Valka sang to each other earlier in the film, plays in the background.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Gobber''': May the valkyries welcome you and lead you through Odin’s great battle field. May they sing your name with love and fury, so that we might hear it rise from the depths of Valhalla. And know that you’ve taken your rightful place at the table of kings. For a great man has fallen: A warrior. A chieftain. A father. A friend.]]

---> '''Hiccup''': [[spoiler: I'm sorry, Dad.]]
---> [[spoiler: '''*shots of Fishlegs, the twins and Snotlout with tears in their eyes*''']]
---> '''Hiccup''': [[spoiler: I'm not the chief you want me to be... and I'm not the peace keeper I thought I was. I don't know...]]
---> '''Valka''': [[spoiler: ... You came early into this world. You were such a wee thing. So tiny. So frail... I feared you wouldn't make it. But your father... he never doubted. He always said you'd be the strongest of them all. And he was right. You have the heart of a chief... and the soul of a dragon. Only you can bring our worlds together. That... is who you are, son.]]
---> '''Hiccup''': [[spoiler: I was so afraid of becoming my dad, mostly because I thought I never could. I mean how do you become someone that great, that ''brave'', that... selfless? I guess... you can only try.]]
** More meta-worse! All of this happened when the film was released just a few days before [[spoiler: Father's Day!]]
** The names of the tracks during this scene? [[spoiler: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezXrT9K3n50 Stoick Saves Hiccup]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY49xEQGqMw Stoick's Ship]] ]]

* Hiccup explaining to [[spoiler: Valka]] the deal with his leg and how Toothless's tail ended up with a prosthetic, too, is a little sad when you realize he might just be joking to cover up the pain for [[spoiler: his mother]]. He's at least pretty obviously regretful that Toothless will have trouble flying the rest of his life without his rider, [[FridgeHorror which taking into account how long dragons typically last in stories...]]

** It gets better in ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonTheHiddenWorld'' where [[spoiler: Hiccup constructs a tail fin for Toothless that is fireproof, painted black and allows him to fly on his own, essentially restoring the form and function of his original tail.]]

* The way Hiccup [[spoiler:tries to get through to a BrainwashedAndCrazy Toothless is just heartbreaking]]. It's mainly the tone of voice that does it, making Hiccup's desperation so painfully clear, and how he tells Toothless that [[spoiler:Stoick's death isn't his fault. His entire dialogue below is just ''moving'']].
--> [[spoiler:Toothless? Hey it’s me, I’m right here, bud. Come back to me.. It wasn’t your fault, bud.. They made you.. do it…… You would never hurt him, you would never hurt.. me! Please, you are my best friend, bud. My best friend..]]
* The sanctuary's Alpha dragon [[spoiler:being gored to death by Drago's Alpha.]]

* After Eret is saved by [[spoiler:Stormfly]], you can see a look of surprise on his face, implying that he never [[spoiler:thought of the dragons as a semi-sentient species, and is only now getting the message]].

** In addition to this, the Dark Alpha's seemingly plot-induced ineffectiveness is another trait of abused animals--there are many, many times it could have ended the fight simply by attacking in an obvious moment of weakness, which on a first watch can be incredibly frustrating to the viewer. On a second or third watch it becomes clearer; the poor creature is incapable of making decisions for itself. It ''never'', in the entire movie, acts without a direct order from Drago--even to save its master's life, it waits until Drago has signalled it. It's clear the dragon has learned that doing anything without explicit permission is a ''very bad idea''.

* It's small, but there's the moment when [[spoiler: Stoick is singing his love song to Valka, and just for a few seconds it looks like she won't join in. Of course, she does and it turns into a CMOH instead, but still.]]
* It's subtle, but Hiccup's ascension to [[spoiler: chieftain]] is also this. The moment Elder Gothi taps him to get his attention his smile drops and he looks tired and unhappy. The entire time she draws the symbol he looks solemn. And at the beginning of the cheer he's ''forcing'' his smile. It becomes a real one by the end, but he is still very much affected by [[spoiler: Stoick's death]].

[[TearJerker/HowToTrainYourDragonNonCanon Click here]] to view non-canon work.

---> '''Hiccup''': [[spoiler: I was so afraid of becoming my dad, mostly because I thought I could never could. I mean how do you become someone that great, that ''brave'', that... selfless? I guess... you can only try.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_inline_my864f6a891rs05fo.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:I'm sorry, dad.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Life can be cruel.]]

* It's subtle, but Hiccup's ascension to [[spoiler: chieftain]] is also this. The moment Elder Gothi taps him to get his attention his smile drops and he looks tired and unhappy. The entire time she draws the symbol he looks solemn. And at the beginning of the cheer he's ''forcing'' his smile. it becomes a real one by the end, but he is still very much affected by [[spoiler: Stoick's death]].

* It's subtle, but Hiccup's ascension to [[spoiler: chieftain]] is also this. The moment Elder Gothi taps him to get his attention his smile drops and he looks tired and unhappy. The entire time she draws the symbol he looks solemn. And at the beginning of the cheer he's ''forcing'' his smile. it becomes a real one by the end, but he is still very much affected by [[spoiler: Stoick's death]].

[[TearJerker/HowToTrainYourDragonNonCanon Click here to view non-canon work.]]

** The lead up to this line is just as heartwrenching, as [[spoiler: Valka is half-ranting, half-pleading with Stoick, afraid that he was angry with her for deserting after 20 years, and seeking asylum with dragons after all they've done. Just think, for 20 years she believed that Stoick would never accept her new way of life and that he would hate her if he saw her again. [[CrowningMomentofHeartwarming Thank goodness she was wrong]].]]

* It's small, but there's the moment when [[spoiler: Stoick is singing his love song to Valka, and just for a few seconds it looks like she won't join in. Of course, she does and it turns into a CMOH instead, but still.]]

* It's small, but there's the moment when [[spoiler: Stoick is singing his love song to Valka, and just for a few seconds it looks like she won't join in. Of course, she does and it turns into a CMOH instead, but still.]]

!!Meta
* [[http://nefertsukia.tumblr.com/post/95929078058/ukinea-im-so-sorry What if]] [[spoiler:Hiccup was killed by Toothless?]]
** [[http://ashleybenlove.tumblr.com/post/96000297771/treepelta113-fangirltothefullest Here's part two.]]
* ''Beware of Spoilers'': [[http://ashleybenlove.tumblr.com/post/104294263756/faragonart-so-here-it-is-my-comic-drabble-of Keep it together.]]
* ''Beware of Spoiler''. Hiccup with his dad: [[http://naruhina-8.tumblr.com/post/108789116059/whitelyte-dragons-on-mars-this-just-breaks Through the Years.]]
* "[[http://nefertsukia.tumblr.com/post/108641600833/itistimetodisappear-australet789-guys-i-have You Didn't."]]

---> '''Hiccup''': [[spoiler: I'm not the chief you want me to be... and I'm not the peace keeper I thought I was.]]
---> '''Valka''': [[spoiler: You came early into this world. You were such a wee thing. So tiny and frail... I feared you wouldn't make it, but your father never doubted. He said you'd be the strongest of them all. You have the heart of a chief... and the soul of a dragon.]]

* ''Beware of Spoiler''. Hiccup with his dad: [[http://naruhina-8.tumblr.com/post/108789116059/whitelyte-dragons-on-mars-this-just-breaks Through the Years.]]

* ''Beware of Spoilers'': [[http://ashleybenlove.tumblr.com/post/104294263756/faragonart-so-here-it-is-my-comic-drabble-of Keep it together.]]

* [[spoiler:Stoick's death is sad all by itself but it's made even worse by the fact that the death blow was delivered by a [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind-controlled]] Toothless. Worse still is that Stoick had asked Valka to come back home to Berk so they could be a family again -- and she'd said ''yes''. Their love not only survived a 20 year separation, it picked up where it left off, only for them to be so cruelly and painfully parted. Stoick doesn't get to say goodbye to Hiccup. He is killed instantly.]]

* [[spoiler:Stoick's death.]]
** Made even worse by the fact that [[spoiler:the death blow was delivered by a [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind-controlled]] Toothless.]]
*** And worse still that [[spoiler:Stoick had asked Valka to come back home to Berk so they could be a family again -- and she'd said ''yes''. Their love not only survived a 20 year separation, it picked up where it left off, only for them to be so cruelly and painfully parted]].
** Even more so if you consider that [[spoiler:in the first movie after over a lifetime of despising dragons more than most people for terrorizing his village and taking; and from his view more than likely eating, his wife, his son finally convinces him that dragons are not the mindless, evil, beasts he thought they were. Now in this movie, after five years since then, he comes to love dragons as much as everyone else has, and because of the events of the movie; after around twenty years, he finds his wife alive and well and his family is finally whole again. But events also transpired to cause him to do one thing he'd never thought he'd ever have to do again; fight a dragon to protect his family, and save his son from the very dragon he trusted with his own son's safety, now turned into the mindless beast he believed they were for most of his life.]]
** What makes it even more worse is that unlike many movies [[spoiler: Stoick doesn't get to say goodbye to Hiccup. He is killed instantly.]]
*** Even worse still is [[spoiler: how different it is compared to other deaths in animated films. In most animated films, deaths are often offscreen shots, with the audience only seeing the reactions of the different characters. Here, it's onscreen. The audience sees the blast and the aftermath. The fact that the villain gloats after seeing Stoick's body drives the nail into the coffin]]

** Toothless [[spoiler: snapping out of the Alpha's mind control, waking up to a puzzling sight of a motionless Stoick and a grieving Hiccup and Valka. He doesn't appear to have any idea of what he's just done, and when he sees Stoick lying there motionless he is totally unaware that he's the one who caused it. He tries to sniff Stoick's hand, but Hiccup pushes him away, afraid and uncertain of what might happen next. Both the pain and anger in Hiccup's voice when he pushes his best friend away, and the fact that Hiccup has broken to the point that he pushes his best friend away, is good enough to bring the waterworks. Good thing Valka was there to reason with him.]]
*** And we have this from Hiccup during the above-mentioned scene:

*** [[spoiler:[[http://ashleybenlove.tumblr.com/post/97137418956/roverrash-inxquitous-snowballs-n-funtimes ''Dear God''.]] The entire scene is even sadder with the commentary.]]
*** [[spoiler:Gets worse when compared with a [[http://nefertsukia.tumblr.com/post/100529982838 similar scene]] from the prequel.]]
** And all this is capped off with [[spoiler: Stoick's VikingFuneral, where Gobber gives a tearful speech in his best friend's memory as a heartbreaking instrumental reprise of "For the Dancing and the Dreaming", the love song Stoick and Valka sang to each other earlier in the film, plays in the background.]]

*** And of course, Hiccup and Valka's dialogue.

** And all of this happened when the film was released just a few days before [[spoiler: Father's Day!]]
*** Even worse for countries where the early preview of the film was [[spoiler:Father's Day.]]
** And the names of the tracks during this scene? [[spoiler: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezXrT9K3n50 Stoick Saves Hiccup]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY49xEQGqMw Stoick's Ship]] ]]
* [[http://youtu.be/rD2BTAhRt0k While]] no where near as tearjerking as above examples, Hiccup explaining to [[spoiler: Valka]] the deal with his leg and how Toothless's tail ended up with a prosthetic, too, is a little sad when you realize he might just be joking to cover up the pain for [[spoiler: his mother]]. He's at least pretty obviously regretful that Toothless will have trouble flying the rest of his life without his rider, [[FridgeHorror which taking into account how long dragons typically last in stories...]]
** It's also worth noting that Hiccup never explicitly told Toothless what happened in the original film, which makes you wonder how/when that particular admission came about. Granted, Toothless might have worked it out on his own, but...
*** Then again being the GeniusBruiser breed that he is, the fact that only Hiccup was searching for him in the forest as opposed to an entire group of Vikings would've been major clue for Toothless that Hiccup was the sole person responsible for his injuries.
*** There's also the fact that Hiccup literally stood over the fallen Toothless and said "I did this" in the first movie. Pretty big hint, there.
* Drago makes a particularly cruel comment to Hiccup when they first meet, mocking him as the "Dragon Master," the son of Stoic the Vast, and "what shame he must feel." Given how Hiccup actually believed this in the first film, it's definitely a low blow.

** When Hiccup [[spoiler:finally breaks Drago's control over Toothless, Toothless looks up at Hiccup as the sunrise bursts through the clouds and gives him a massive smile accompanied by a cry of pure, unadulterated joy. Keep in mind that the last time they saw each other, Hiccup had basically chased Toothless away and blamed him for his father's death]]. It doesn't help that John Powell synced this scene with one of the most emotionally climactic pieces of the entire soundtrack.
*** And the name of that particular track? [[spoiler: "Toothless Found".]]

* That poor, traumatized Bewilderbeast. See how majestic and serene the white one is, and then compare it to the aggressive, neurotic mess Drago has created. It is not evil, it is simply beyond broken.
** The worst part of this is that a lot of the behaviors the 'Dark Alpha' exhibits are TruthInTelevision; it is ''extremely'' reminiscent of an abused elephant in particular. One of the most heartbreaking parallels is the chains around its tusks, which are almost identical to a cruel "training" method used on baby elephants; if you chain their leg to a pole as a baby, and keep doing it throughout the elephant's life, by the time it's an adult it will have stopped fighting the chain even though it could easily rip it out of the ground. Drago has taught a proud, powerful creature to feel ''helplessness''.
** In addition to this, the Dark Alpha's seemingly plot-induced ineffectiveness is another trait of abused animals--there are many, many times it could have ended the fight simply by attacking in an obvious moment of weakness, which on a first watch can be incredibly frustrating to the viewer. But on a second or third watch it becomes clearer; the poor creature is incapable of making decisions for itself. It ''never'', in the entire movie, acts without a direct order from Drago--even to save its master's life, it waits until Drago has signalled it. It's clear the dragon has learned that doing anything without explicit permission is a ''very bad idea''.

** [[http://ashleybenlove.tumblr.com/post/96000297771/treepelta113-fangirltothefullest Here's part two.]]

*** And worse still that [[spoiler:Stoick had asked Valka to come back home to Berk so they could be a family again -- and she'd said ''yes''. Their love not only survived a 20 year separation, it picked up where it left off, only for them to be cruelly parted]].

** Valka's expression [[spoiler:when she realizes Stoick is dead.]]
** Toothless [[spoiler: snapping out of the Alpha's mind control, waking up to a puzzling sight of a motionless Stoick and a grieving Hiccup and Valka. He doesn't appear to have any idea of what he's just done, and when he sees Stoick lying there motionless he is totally unaware that he's the one who caused it. He tries to sniff Stoick's hand, but Hiccup pushes him away, afraid and uncertain of what might happen next. Both the pain in Hiccup's voice when he pushes his best friend away, and the fact that Hiccup has broken to the point that he pushes his best friend away, is good enough to bring the waterworks. Good thing Valka was there to reason with him.]]

* After Eret is saved by [[spoiler:Stormfly]], you can see a look of surprise on his face, implying that he never [[spoiler:thought of the dragons as a sentient species, and is only now getting the message]].

** And the names of the tracks during this scene? [[ [[spoiler:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezXrT9K3n50 Stoick Saves Hiccup]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY49xEQGqMw Stoick's Ship]] ]]