History FanFic / TheLongRoad2015

* InTouchWithHisFeminineSide: As mentioned above under Foil, Jack is a frequent subverter of Viking gender norms: Jack is a magic-wielding healer-in-training who enjoys looking after children and making things for them, all of which is considered the women's role and work. Interestingly, while some of Jack's traits might be considered ''slightly'' stereotypically feminine to the audience, they're more definitively feminine-coded within the story due to Viking gender norms, to the point where a young child claimed that Jack had to be "Odin ''or'' a woman, one or the other" because as far as he was taught, men ''couldn't'' be like Jack. Of course, rather than Jack ascribing to any particular gender roles, traditional or otherwise, it's more accurate to say he just doesn't care. After all, [[WildChild what society considers normal has never had any affect on him before]].

** Besides showing Hiccup, the time machine plays scenes from ''Brave,'' ''Frozen,'' and ''Tangled.'' Later, an old woman heavily implied to be the Bear Witch shows up to deliver a magic compass.

** Camicazi, from the original ''How To Train Your Dragon'' novels, appears in chapters 13 and 14, though she is somewhat changed: before, she was the heiress of the Amazon-like Bog Burglar Tribe; now she is a lone burglar on Breakneck Bog and the Bog Burglar Tribe does not seem to exist.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Hiccup and Jack's small fight in chapter 10. Hiccup thinks Jack's reckless (true), and Jack thinks Hiccup's getting a bit too controlling (also true). Underlying the conflict is the fact that Hiccup has a massive crush on Jack and is thus ''crazy protective'' of him, and he feels that Jack's nonchalant risk-taking means that Jack doesn't care about how worried this makes Hiccup; likewise, Jack's been forced to be entirely self-reliant for 300 years and isn't familiar with the concept of others trying to care for him, so, oblivious to Hiccup's feelings, he takes offense at Hiccup trying to push seemingly irrational restrictions onto his behavior and then getting angry at Jack when Jack rejects them - he sees it as Hiccup not only ''not believing'' in Jack and thinking instead that Jack is incapable of taking care of himself, but usurping Jack's right to make his own decisions by demanding Jack follow his seemingly irrational orders. Jack apologizes when he realizes Hiccup was only doing this out of concern, but Hiccup still doesn't think he himself did anything wrong.

* AlternateTimeline: The story acts as one to the events of the TV series. WordOfGod explains the CanonWelding of the crossover by setting both series within the same world--the difference is that Jack's presence allows the Vikings to be ''aware'' of the more supernatural elements around them--thus, Jack's presence is the direct and indirect cause of all deviations from canon events; were he not there, the events would have unfolded as they did in the show.

* WasOnceAMan: Learning this about Jack surprises Hiccup greatly. On the other hand, learning this about [[CompleteMonster Perun]] deeply disturbs Jack.

* WolfInSheepsClothing: What Jack is to the humans not in the know, though he's a benevolent example and it's very much played with. Jack is already an unusual example of this trope because the WolfInSheepsClothing is rarely the point of view character, but his Frost Giant disguise introduced in Chapter 7 makes this even more complex. The "Frost Giant" is a "Wolf" facade in this analogy, and curb stomps all the humans around him in combat, but beneath the disguise is the peaceful and playful Jack (the "sheep"), whom most would think is a relatively normal teen. However, because Jack really isn't human and the power is absolutely genuine, beneath the everyday "Sheep" presumption is a true "wolf." Therefore, when playing the role of the Frost Giant, Jack plays with the WolfInSheepsClothing by being what is essentially a benevolent "wolf" playing the role of a "sheep" disguised as a "wolf"). Visually this is punned upon by Jack's wolf-skin cloak, which he is given by Stoick but doesn't usually wear - except for when he includes it in his Frost Giant disguise, or when he's sleeping in the Winter Cove and doesn't have to pretend to be human.

* BirdsOfAFeather: Jack and Hiccup's mother, Valka, especially if the backstory revealed in the second movie is also true here. They're both eccentrics who [[SpeaksFluentAnimal Speak Fluent Animal]] (although Jack to a far greater degree), melodramatically dress up in spear-wielding, inhumanly masked alter egos to face their enemies, and have spent long durations of time outside of human society and thus have to take time adjusting to how it works again.]] They're both very gentle, nurturing people despite their skill in battle, with wild and untamed independent streaks in their personalities, and they're comfortable with sleeping anywhere and in any position, to the confused exasperation of the people who know and love them. They both have made children toys, specifically of dragons. [[spoiler: They've both caught the romantic eye of a clever, leaderly, incredibly stubborn, overprotective, socially-awkward Haddock]]. Even without being aware of most of these similarities, Stoick is still the first to realize a likeness in Jack's and Valka's personalities and quirks--enough so that interacting with Jack often makes Stoick appear "haunted."

* AmbiguousSituation: One has been noticably created with Jack's characterization, due to the CanonWelding of the film and book series. Despite [[WordOfGod the author of the Guardians of Childhood series, William Joyce]], claiming that both stories are part of the same fictional universe, the book and film seem to operate on slightly different characterizations of Jack. The differences include things like backstory, relationships with other immortals, and a far more extensive list of powers than were on display in the film--and because of this, the extent of Jack's abilities in ''The Long Road,'' as well as his relationships with other immortals, is unclear even to the reader.

* TheRedBaron: There are hints that Jack's Frost Giant disguise will become this; not only are his actions implied to be inspiring the stories of the legendary Jokul of Norse myth, but he's appeared in this form before three of the most prominent clans and their leaders and wiped the floor with all who stood against him in spectacularly dramatic fashion--there's very little chance that the stories won't spread.

* RealityEnsues: Having lived as an invisible observer outside of civilization, Jack behaves as something of a WildChild when interacting with the Vikings. He sees no reason to value money or shelter or new goods beyond the simple fun and pleasure he could have with such items, and while he can at times be perceptive about others' situations, he has little awareness for expectations their society may have for him.
** Having been raised in a heavily hypermasculine society with clearly defined gender roles and a major moralizing emphasis on tradition, Hiccup's realization that he's attracted to Jack makes him terrified and disgusted with himself.

* RealityEnsues: Hiccup ''is'' very progressive and mold-breaking for his day--but he's still a product of his culture, and even when breaking from tradition, still thinks of his culture's standards as the norm. As such, his accepting and compassionate personality often struggles to find middle ground with the cultural norms and beliefs he's been taught all of his life, and he can occasionally slip into the role of TroubledSympatheticBigot. This comes out especially in his relationship with Jack, who is not only from a different culture, but isn't human--Hiccup often flounders when it comes to logically justifying which standards he holds Jack to and which standards he excuses Jack from (for example, Hiccup expects Jack to follow his lead and let Hiccup take on the primary risks and role of protector, which has been Hiccup's standard relationship dynamic with the normal, human citizens of Berk since the fight with the Green Death, but Hiccup also accepts Jack's flouting of the gender norm with the excuse that Jack isn't human, and so human standards of behavior don't apply). Notably, the DoubleStandard this sets up allows Hiccup to mentally treat Jack as another human without having to confront or challenge the authority and righteousness of Viking moral teachings and social norms--proving that despite being friends with Jack, Hiccup's not ''as'' instantly accepting of deviations from Viking norms as some might think.
** This is further enforced by the ignorantly homophobic InternalizedCategorism Hiccup demonstrates after realizing he's sexually attracted to Jack--it never ''occurs'' to Hiccup that he, or any man, could have a morally acceptable, emotionally healthy sexual interest in another man, because as far as he knows, sexual relations between men are exclusively a forced humiliating punishment and mark of shame--the implication being that if you ''want'' that, there's something ''wrong'' with you.

* WildChild: Used to emphasize Jack's NatureSpirit [[IncrediblyLamePun nature]]. It's downplayed and played with in that Jack's not feral, just so alien to the idea of being a visible, functioning part of society that he has no experience with the idea of social forces and customs being a limitation on his behavior. He actually displays many stereotypically "tame" and "civilized" social and domestic interests, such as advanced language skills, sewing, and childcare, and never actively opposes "civility," but he shows little to no initial awareness or respect towards social ''structures,'' and given that he's used to total behavioral freedom, it rarely seems to occur to him that others would feel responsible for his wellbeing or expect that ''he'' should be responsible for conforming and contributing to their society as a whole. Jack rejects the idea of anyone having unquestioned authority over where he should be or how he should behave, although he does cooperate when others' wellbeings are at risk, and whenever possible he refuses conforming to the hallmarks of human society that he views as unnecessary or unwanted for who he is, such as the use of beds and shoes. He's become aware that others see this as something to pity--the Guardians apparently were sad for him when they found out the reason he doesn't prefer beds, and the Riders found it awkward when Jack openly admitted to owning nothing humans would consider valuable--but Jack sees nothing wrong with this, because he has no reason to see those things as valuable and thus no reason to see his situation as lacking anything important.

* WildChild: Used to emphasize Jack's NatureSpirit [[IncrediblyLamePun nature]]. It's downplayed and played with in that Jack's not feral, just absolutely inexperienced with the idea of social forces and customs being a limitation on his behavior. He actually displays many stereotypically "tame" social and domestic interests, such as sewing and childcare, and never actively opposes "civility," but he shows little to no initial awareness or respect towards social ''structures,'' and given that he's used to total behavioral freedom, it rarely seems to occur to him that others would feel responsible for his wellbeing or expect that ''he'' should be responsible for conforming and contributing to their society as a whole. Jack rejects the idea of anyone having unquestioned authority over where he should be or how he should behave, although he does cooperate when others' wellbeings are at risk, and whenever possible he refuses conforming to the halmarks of human society that he views as unnecessary or unwanted for who he is, such as the use of beds and shoes. He's become aware that others see this as something to pity--the Guardians apparently were sad for him when they found out the reason he doesn't prefer beds, and the Riders found it awkward when Jack openly admitted to not owning basically anything humans would consider valuable--but Jack sees nothing wrong with this, because he has no reason to see those things as valuable and thus no reason to see his situation as lacking anything important.

* TalkToTheFist: In Chapter 5 ("How to Speak Dragonese"), Hiccup's already furious over Mildew's attempts to kill the dragons, but when Mildew begins frantically insisting that Jack is unnatural and should be left to die, Hiccup's self-control breaks and he silences him by delivering a single punch so hard, Mildew immediately falls unconscious. This is so unexpected (for a [[BadassPacifist variety]] [[WeakButSkilled of]] [[OutOfCharacterMoment reasons]]), it stuns everyone else into silence.

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11008800/1/The-Long-Road The Long Road,]]'' by fanfiction.net author Dire Kumori, is a WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians and WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon crossover first published in January of 2015 and not to be confused with [[NamesTheSame Drakthul's]] [[Fanfic/TheLongRoad Dragon Ball fanfic]] of the same name.

* TroubledSympatheticBigot: Hiccup may be forward-thinking and open-minded for his time, but he's still a product of his culture, and there are many instances when he ignorantly makes judgments based off little more than the ingrained cultural prejudices he's been raised with. For instance, when explaining the Viking prejudice against men who use magic, which roots itself in sexism and the Vikings' hypermasculine ideal, Hiccup feels increasingly petty and embarrassed and briefly struggles to come up with a reason why (instead of the prejudice being wrong) such a slur simply doesn't apply to Jack--and in doing so accidentally lands on ''another'' thing he's been insensitive about before, which is that Jack isn't human and thus human standards of behavior and gender norms don't apply. Furthermore, this ingrained heteronormative, misogynistic thinking drives him to being prejudiced ''[[InternalizedCategorism against himself]]'', once he realizes he's sexually attracted to Jack, believing that he's a terrible person for having such feelings as well as a horrible friend.

** Stoick has a less extreme and more quiet conflict at the end of Chapter 5 where he contemplates what little he knows about Jack and what that could possibly mean. He's obviously troubled by the possible origins of Jack's differences, but also does not wish harm to come to a child just because he's different. It's clear that he's learned from what he put Hiccup through, and that his ''culturally' constructed concept of right and moral (Viking culture) is struggling against his ''experience'' constructed concept of right and moral (he ponders on whether Jack might just be a "little different" like Hiccup - i.e. whether Stoick rejecting Jack because of his differences would be the right thing to do, or a repeat of the same mistakes he made with Hiccup).

* TemporalMutability: This comes into play because Jack doesn't know which of the time travel theories is true, and so is ''trying'' not to affect things too much just in case. He's failing, sure, but he's trying his best to avoid a ButterflyEffect or TimeCrash. It's also possible YouHaveAlreadyChangedThePast, in which case Jack's efforts are kind of pointless, but it never hurts to be careful.

* PaperThinDisguise: Played for comedy, most of the time. Jack should ''not'' have been able to pass for human for as long as he has, especially since villagers keep pointing out the physically impossible things about him... and then just ignoring them, apparently. To wit, the first and only discussed thing they find strange about him is the fact that he doesn't wear boots--despite the fact that he's perpetually ''covered in frost.'' The lack of boots alone would cost a human their toes and the skin of their soles within a day. Stoick privately ponders whether he's human after learning he can speak to dragons during the events of chapter 5, but nothing comes of it and the more ''obviously'' inhuman aspects of Jack never seem to cause concern to the adults (with the exception of Mildew).

* ParentsAsPeople: Just as in the series, Stoick has difficulty understanding his son and his decisions but acknowledges his own flaws and struggles to make up for this. He doesn't take action against Jack's display of clearly supernatural language prowess, for example, due to fearing a repeat of his mistakes with Hiccup and ostracizing another well-intentioned, if unusual, child. Confusing the mess more is the fact that [[BirdsOfAFeather Jack's personality and habitual quirks strongly remind Stoick of Valka]], making it sometimes emotionally difficult for him to interact with the boy despite clearly caring about him.

* SilentAntagonist: Jack's an inversion, as he's a ''protagonist'' acting as this kind of character to his friends' enemies. When acting in his Frost Giant disguise, Jack almost never speaks in front of those who do not know his identity, instead preferring to be intimidatingly, eerily silent. The only exception was a whispered [[StealthHiBye "Boo"]] spoken right in someone's ear during the disguise's first appearance.

* RealityEnsues: Hiccup ''is'' very progressive and mold-breaking for his day--but he's still a product of his culture, and even when breaking from tradition, still thinks of his culture's standards as the norm. As such, his accepting and compassionate personality often struggles to find middle ground with the cultural norms and beliefs he's been taught all of his life, and he can occasionally slip into the role of TroubledSympatheticBigot. This comes out especially in his relationship with Jack, who is not only from a different culture, but isn't human--Hiccup often flounders when it comes to logically justifying which standards he holds Jack to and which standards he excuses Jack from (for example, Hiccup expects Jack to follow his lead and let Hiccup take on the primary risks and role of protector, which has been Hiccup's standard relationship dynamic with the normal, human citizens of Berk since the fight with the Green Death, but Hiccup also accepts Jack's flouting of the gender norm with the excuse that Jack isn't human, and so human standards of behavior don't apply). Notably, the DoubleStandard this sets up allows Hiccup to mentally treat Jack as another human without having to confront or challenge the authority and righteousness of Viking moral teachings and social norms--proving that despite being friends with Jack, Hiccup's not ''as'' instantly accepting of deviations from the norm as some might thing.

* MayflyDecemberRomance: The primary romantic focus of the story is between Hiccup, a 15-year-old human teenager, and Jack, the immortal personification of Winter merriment.

** It's implied that part of the reason Hiccup so strongly advocates for secrecy is because, despite deeply loving and respecting his father, he still has trust issues over Stoick's initial reaction to Toothless, and doesn't want to chance something happening that can't be taken back. Hiccup's shown to have a number of learned behavioral scars from his long mistreatment at the hands of the tribe, chief among them being a tendency for secrecy. He's explicitly stated that he fears the tribe will hunt Jack if they know.

* ConvenientlyPreciseTranslation: Averted. Though Jack has the ability to understand all forms of language, words with implied, rather than direct, connotations don't translate well (for example, "seithmathr" ''can'' be translated as "sorcerer," but the very idea of a man practicing magic is so heavily negatively gender-coded that it doesn't translate because "seithmathr" and "sorcerer" communicate very different cultural attitudes, despite referring to the same literal thing). Also, nonhuman entities frequently communicate in other mediums that don't translate well into human speech, like the quasi-empathic mode of communication the Sandman and Flee the Moonbeam seem to have, or the scent-movement-sound hybrid language the dragons use. These communications of nonhuman mediums are rendered as sentence fragments in-story, making it difficult to tell the extent of Jack's abilities - but, his abilities ''do'' seem limited to the language medium that the individual he's talking to uses (for example, there's no indication that he'd able to start speaking Atlantian around Hiccup and his friends, because despite his ability to understand and communicate seemlessly, a point is made in chapter 1 about how he can't actually speak Atlantian). These communication issues also show up in how Jack is referred to throughout the story: Jack is called "Icicle" by dragons because, since he can't often register the differences between the languages, he doesn't realize his name is a pun on the word Icicle in Norse.

* TheGenerationGap: The children and teens of Hiccup's generation seem to be developing a completely different set of beliefs and values from those of their parents', judging by their lack of faith in many of the adults' social and cultural mores. While rebellion is a bit more expected with Hiccup's age group, even Hiccup is surprised at how okay the younger kids are with deceiving their own parents. Seemingly every young child we see find out about Jack instantly (and ''independently'') both accepts Jack for who he is and concludes that the adults cannot be trusted with such knowledge. It's not a good sign for the parents' relationship with their children that no one needed to tell them to keep their mouths shut.

* HellYesMoment: Chapter 7, end of the line, bottom of the ninth, Alvin's successfully ransomed Heather and her parents' lives to capture Hiccup, Heather's been slapped with a hot blade that blinds her eye, and she's collapsed on the ground, brokenly giving up... when suddenly, a familiar "sound like windchimes" comes over the wind, it slowly begins to snow, and Heather, despite the circumstances, ''smiles.'' And with a single [[PreAsskickingOneLiner "Boo,"]] [[StealthHiBye onto the scene arrives]] [[BigDamnHeroes Jack Frost.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The fic goes out of its way to highlight some aspects of Viking culture that the series glosses over or doesn't represent completely. For example, the hypermasculinity the Berk Vikings have in canon is taken to its [[NobleBigot logical extreme]], and no attempt is made to dodge the UnfortunateImplications and DoubleStandards set up by this.
* DidYouJustHaveTeaWithCthulu: Snotlout, having insisted that Jack is some kind of man-eating monster or giant or something, is not happy with how the rest of the Riders quickly accept Jack into their number, and can't ''believe'' Hiccup would ''willingly invite'' him.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Early on in chapter 3, Hiccup thinks about how he wants to keep the knowledge of Jack's existence to himself because he misses having secrets and had grown fond of the personal seclusion that comes with them during the time when Toothless was unknown to the village. He realizes how ''selfish'' this is, but he still misses it. Almost immediately he's burdened with several huge secrets: the growing presence of the magical immortal ice spirit within the village runs the risk of having the spirit hunted if exposed for what he is, Hiccup himself is subsequently more often than not getting into magical shenanigans as much as dragon shenanigans behind the adults' backs, and what is arguably Hiccup's biggest personal secret, the fact that he is growing increasingly romantically and sexually interested in said magical ''male'' best friend. The last one he's told ''no one,'' though he's so transparent Toothless has already figured it out and Astrid's pretty suspicious. Instead of giving him the romantized personal seclusion that he wants, each secret really stresses him out.

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11008800/1/The-Long-Road The Long Road,]]'' by fanfiction.net author Dire Kumori, is a WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians and WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon crossover first published in January of 2015 and not to be confused with [[NamesTheSame Drakthul's]] [[Fanfic/TheLongRoad story]] of the same name.

* TheGenerationGap: The children and teens of Hiccup's generation seem to be developing a completely different set of beliefs and values from those of their parents', judging by their lack of faith in many of the adults' social and cultural mores. While rebellion is a bit more expected with Hiccup's age group, even Hiccup is surprised at how okay the younger kids are with decieving their own parents. Though Hiccup wonders if this is Jack's influence, FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you realize that by proving that the adults had long been wrong about dragons, Hiccup himself probably majorly contributed to this by both undermining the authority of tradition when he spared and befriended Toothless, and introducing the idea, even to the youngest children, that their society's widely-held cultural values and the adults who support them may be completely wrong--and, logically following, that the authority parents have on what is "true" and "right" should be questioned. This certainly seems to be the case, considering seemingly every young child we see find out about Jack instantly (and ''independently'') both accepts Jack for who he is and concludes that the adults cannot be trusted with such knowledge. No one needed to tell them to keep their mouths shut - they all made the same exact decision on their own.

On a mission to protect Father Time's mechanical observatory from the interference of Pitch Black, Jack is tossed through his time machine and back into history, where he is taken in by a tribe of--what else?--dragon-riding Vikings.