History Fridge / HowToTrainYourDragon

* I went to see ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', having been a fan of the original books, and thoroughly enjoyed it, despite both being rather different. The first time around, I didn't really think about the [[ChekhovsGun Checkhov's Gun]] used during [[spoiler:the battle with the Red Death]] (of [[spoiler:dragons being internally combustible]]) that much. It was only upon seeing the film for a second time, and reading the original book again that I realised - [[spoiler:both movie-version and book-version of the Red Death die in a very similar way! They both attempt to breathe fire, but it backfires (not literally) on them, causing them to explode]]! - @/{{KingSonnDeeDoo}}

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'': Sure, Night Furies are incredibly rare. Toothless is the only Night Fury seen in the movie... yet he doesn't look like he's a very old dragon, so his parents would hypothetically still be alive... except we never see them. Taking that into consideration, along with the facts that he seems to have been around the area for a long time--if not his entire life, and that the [[BigBad Red Death]] actually ''ate'' two dragons on-screen...

** And they've learned over the years that they'd better be bringing back something to feed to the Red Dragon, or else.

* If you think about it, the dragons [[spoiler: were indirectly protecting the Vikings from the Green Death. If the dragons had not stolen the food from the Vikings to feed the Green Death, the beast most likely would've attacked the village.....killing all of them.]]
** Actually, the only reason dragons were raiding Berk was because of the Green Death. Once ''that'' threat was eliminated, they reverted to their actual, more docile personality.
* No one ever saw a Night Fury before Hiccup. When Toothless brings Astrid and Hiccup to [[spoiler:the Green Death's lair]], he flies over the pit, but unlike [[spoiler:the Gronkle and its little fish]], he is not attacked. Why ? Because it never was his job to bring back food, Night Furies merely act as snipers covering other dragons, which is fitting considering their huge firepower and speed. Thus, ''they never have to land, which explains why no one ever saw one before''.

* Why does the [[spoiler: Green Death explode]]? Well, before it, they had shown how the Zippleback ignited the fire: one head put sparks to the other's gas. Gas that looked exactly the same as [[spoiler: Green Death's mouth's content before Toothless attacked it. Assuming the dragons can "direct" their fire out, Toothless ruined the attack and turned it against Green Death by creating a gas explosion inside it!]].

* Hiccup does indeed prove himself to be a Viking by killing a dragon [[spoiler: the Green Death]] ultimately saving his people, but only with the ''aid of a '''dragon''' itself'' can he do so.

* I went to see ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', having been a fan of the original books, and thoroughly enjoyed it, despite both being rather different. The first time around, I didn't really think about the [[ChekhovsGun Checkhov's Gun]] used during [[spoiler:the battle with the Red Death]] (of [[spoiler:dragons being internally combustible]]) that much. It was only upon seeing the film for a second time, and reading the original book again that I realised - [[spoiler:both movie-version and book-version of the Green Death die in a very similar way! They both attempt to breathe fire, but it backfires (not literally) on them, causing them to explode]]! - @/{{KingSonnDeeDoo}}

** Look at how Toothless hits the tail of the Green Death. He hits it with his left side, where Hiccup's leg is. Hiccup didn't lose his leg to burns (although they probably wouldn't have helped), but instead to it being irrepairably crushed in the collision.

* A big one occurred to me earlier about the Green Death. Throughout the movie it was mentioned how long the war with the dragons was, extending to near Berk's founding. Near the end it was heavily implied the war was mainly because of Dragons catering to a titanic Dragon named "The Green Death" that had control over vast swathes of its smaller relative species. Now here is the horror: If it was the key figure in the war, then that must have meant it has lived for ''centuries'', with a reign of terror to match.
** The Green Death's size is a big indication as well. It would take many years for an animal to fully mature into a beast the size of a ''mountain.''

** On the other hand, the tail fin was pretty small relative to Toothless's wings, and birds who have lost their ''entire'' tail can still fly, albeit with crappy breaking skills and less maneuverability. Toothless smashing into the green death's tail and needing help with the high-speed maneuvering makes sense, but he should've been able to fly out of the valley and get around on his own (like how he was able to fly the last little bit and [[spoiler: save Hiccup from both the Nightmare and the Red Death's inferno]]).

* Just how did all the vikings get back after [[spoiler:killing green death?]] It burned all their ships in battle. Seems the only transportation available at that point were the teens' dragons.
** The time frame is left unclear, so a variety of options are available. They could have scavenged what remained from the destroyed ships to build a few new ones. They could have found a stand of trees on the other side of the island to build new ships. The kids on the dragons could have flown back to the village to assemble a rescue party with more ships. Or perhaps by the end scenes not everyone was back yet. Hiccup, being injured, would have been taken home first, perhaps flown. The village could still be in the midst of sending ships to ferry the remaining people back. (The most outlandish option - lots of the smaller dragons returned to the island after the destruction of the Green Death, were successfully tamed, and everyone flew back).
*** Stoick tells Gobber to get everyone to the far side of the island while the two of them distract the Green Death so that everyone can escape. So there might have been a second fleet behind the mountain we couldn't see.

** There were several derelict Viking ships near the Green Death's island. Presumably the Viking expedition included people who'd know how to repair them.
** If you look closely, the Green Death's fire doesn't seem to reach some other ships that are behind the others in the bay. Some ships in the fleet might have escaped the destruction.
* It's never made clear in the film, but if Astrid's observation of the Red/Green Death being the "queen bee" for the dragons, wouldn't that mean that the dragons would not last beyond this generation? Of course, if it were the case, it also means that the different "species" of dragons doesn't make much sense either. I'm just hoping Astrid's metaphor was a bit off.

* How does the Green Death fly at all? This problem exists for most of the other dragons as well. In order to fly, an animal has to be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_skeleton#Skeletal_system really freaking light]]. That's why birds have hollow bones - if they had solid bones, there's no way they could get off the ground. And before you say that dragons might be lighter than they look, keep in mind that the Green Death shrugs off catapults and FREAKING CRUSHES STONE PILLARS INTO PIECES. Something with hollow bones can do that? Yeah right. Especially with those skinny, flimsy wings, that thing should have never been able to get off the ground.

*** Due to the Cube Law it should be more distressing that a freaking giant lizard like the Green Death exists without collapsing in on itself. By all means it should not be able to move, let alone fly.
*** Fishlegs' scan points out that Green Death's skull and tail are the main dangerous points of its body, due to their purpose being heavy armor and crushing respectively, so while it could shrug off headshots and its fair share of dragon-based attacks, there's nothing else to say its bones were all too heavy for it to fly. Otherwise it couldn't have reigned over the other dragons as long as it did.

* [[spoiler: Courtesy of the tumblr site, midnightdragonriders, we learn that every dragon is a perfect representation of their rider]]:

* If you think about it, the dragons [[spoiler: were indirectly protecting the Vikings from the Green Death. If the dragons had not stole the food from the Vikings to feed the Green Death, the beast most likely would've attacked the village.....killing all of them.]]

* Why does the [[spoiler: Green Death explode]]? Well, before it, they had shown how the Zippleback ignited the fire: one head put sparks to the other's gas. Gas that looked exactly the same as [[spoiler: Green Death's mouth's content before Toothless attacked it. Assuming the dragons can "direct" their fire out, Toothless ruined the attack and turned it against Green Death by creating a gas explotion inside it!]].
** Furthermore, the crash probably smashed it's face in, compressing the gas, leading to an explosion, and not just a fireball.

* About Aurora; the he film takes place on an island, and the Shetland and Orkney Islands are all Scottish territory, significantly north of mainland Scotland, so the Aurora could be seen from there. The Northern Lights have been seen as far south as Calgary, which is further south than the Shetlands. In rare cases (every 11 years, most notably after the [[http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/quirks-quarks-blog/2012/01/weathering-a-solar-storm.html recent solar storm]]) the Aurora can be seen [[note]] although not nearly as well as farther north[[/note]] as far south as ''Ottawa'' which is farther south than most of Scotland.

** Being forced to use your non-dominant hand is rather taxing on your concentration and coordination. Stoick remarks how Hiccup has the attention span of a sparrow and his clumsiness is established early on. When he spends time with Toothless and starts making thir equipment Hiccup can use his domnant side as he wishes - and this immediately takes effect in him being more focused, a good deal more sure on his feet and subsequently more confident. He was getting comfortable in his own skin at last. Lefties who were forced to use the "good" hand growing up can relate.

** Another thing to consider is that, like Toothless, these dragons have spent a significant amount of time away from the Red Death and it's thrall. The dragons are shown at the end to be mostly peaceful and willing to coexist with the humans, so it's possible that Gobber had to incite the dragons he is keeping to attack the teens during training. This would also partially explain why he is so nonchalant about the danger they are in: if the dragons are naturally peaceful, there probably aren't too many training injuries/fatalities, so he has grown complacent about it.

*** Plus i saw a viking in one of the dragons claws

** It also seemed kind of interesting how she was clinging to Hiccup for safety during the scene. Kind of obvious, since he was the one with the safety line and it as just natural instinct to grab onto him, but it also signals that she had to trust Hiccup with her life in tht moment and initiates a level of respect and admiration that wasn't there before.

** According to the second movie: [[spoiler: The signs were that Hiccup turned out almost exactly like his mother: scrawnier than usual, (Valka wasn't the typical ApronMatron unlike the other Viking ladies, much like Hiccup, very reluctant to fight head-on when confronted, and most importantly, saw something different in dragons that other Vikings didn't see.) His first utterance of 'should've seen the signs' were that Dragons took a loved one away from him, Valka in the literal sense, Hiccup in the sense that dragons took his son's alliegance to Berk from him.)]]

** There might be another layer of brilliance there about the smile they share when they start bonding. For most animals able to even recognise that expression (apes, felines, dogs are the ones I'm almost sure of), baring your teeth is an act of agression and can make them attack. Here, Toothless not only does not become agressive, he ''replicates the clearly unfamiliar expression'' : he has understood what it means ! Another way to show just how smart he truly is.

* When Stoick dives into the sea to rescue Toothless at the climax battle, Toothless isn't panicking at all when Stoick reaches him, instead he's simply hanging with his head like "Great, I'm stuck here". Toothless' design is partly based of an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axolotl Axolotl]], the water amphibian. Being based off that creature, Toothless might be adaptable to being underwater, explaining his lack of panic.

*** First peaceful physical contact between Hiccup and Toothless is when Hiccup places his hand on Toothlesses' head. Likewise, Stoick makes a first peaceful contact with Toothless by placing a hand on latter's head, and repeats the same with Thornado in the series.

*** Hiccup and Toothless are both good Guille Heroes, and like to troll people (just see Toothless dealing with a Terrible Terror in the first movie, and Hiccup dealing with dragon wranglers in the second).

*** True, its normal for one to be ''slightly'' bigger, as in ones a D cup and ones a C. One being a B cup and ones a DD cup...not so much. That said it's likely that the helmets where just made of the ''metal'' from her breastplate, and not the actual, to proportion, well, cups. Still weird, but not the weirdest.

** Also, it's revealed the dragons attacked Berk because they were trying to feed a giant dragon so they themselves don't get eaten instead. But what if they took more than just food and livestock? Who said the Red Death would object to eating HUMANS?!! If so, that may explain why Stoic is so determined to end the lives of all dragonkind and destroy their nest, disregarding Gobber's doubts of he and his men surviving such an assault.
* All right, so [[spoiler: Hiccup lost his leg]]. But how? We saw him and Toothless smash into the Red Death's tail, so that might have [[spoiler: shattered the bones of his leg]] pretty badly. And it ''was'' the correct side. But they were both still in one piece when we last saw them, falling into the fireball, and giant fireballs don't have that kind of precision... speaking of which, it's a good thing Toothless can snatch people out of the air by their l... wait. ''[[EurekaMoment Wait.]]'' ... [[NauseaFuel Oh, geez.]]

** There sren't. Imagin the bio-electricity powering this beast up like an ornithopter, it's receiving energy from the lava. The Red Death is very possibly even maintaining inside itself a small fission reaction.

*** People from countries with bad weather tend to exagerate how bad it is for comic effect. (And "it snows nine months out of the year, and hails the other three" isn't accurate even for Scandinavia).

* The two lead actors for the adult roles are Scottish. The lead actor for the childrens' roles is Canadian. It makes more sense to make the people in supporting roles match the leads' accents rather than make lead actors who can't do accents very well do crappy fake accents.

* Gobber (and one of the other tropers) mentioned that a downed dragon is a dead dragon. When Hiccup tells Astrid about why he didn't kill Toothless, he says it's because he looked as frightened as Hiccup was. Before that, he also points out to his father that the dragons have killed hundreds of Vikings and the Vikings have killed thousands of dragons. Most Vikings, excluding Stoick, need a weapon when fighting a dragon or they'll be killed. This means when Hiccup dropped his knife and released Toothless or during the fish offering: he was totally defenseless. The brilliance is: Hiccup released Toothless because he was scared shitless and ''[[NotSoDifferent Toothless spared Hiccup because he was also scared shitless.]]''

* At the end of the scene where Hiccup and Stoick talk in the smithy (aka "the breast hat" scene), Stoick leaves and accidentally bumps into a bunch of weapons and such and scrambles to catch them all. When I first saw the movie, I thought that was just supposed to be a display of Stoick being awkward and didn't think much of it. Then, after buying the movie and watching that scene again, I realized something. Before Stoick knocks over all that stuff, he and Hiccup strike the exact same pleased pose. It's showing that, [[NotSoDifferent for all Stoick's posturing about being a "true Viking", he can be just as clumsy, awkward, and unsure of himself as Hiccup can be.]] I wouldn't be surprised if Stoick were a lot more like Hiccup when he was a kid, but had it squashed out of him by his own father. Just after Stoick knocks over the weapons, he puts his hands on his hips and does a "Thank Thor that's over" sort of sigh. Cut to Hiccup inside the smithy, who does the exact same sigh (in the same pose)!