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General
A reclusive tribe native to Caldera Cay, the Defenders of the Wing are unlike most others in that they do not fear dragons, nor do they seek to take advantage of them. Instead, they worship them, particularly the Great Protector which allows their village to thrive.
- Animal Wrongs Group: The Defenders are arrogant, self-righteous, and have an overwhelmingly one-track mentality, especially on the topic of dragons.
- Expy: The design of the Defender villagers bears a strong resemblance to the stock ninja design from the Mortal Kombat franchise.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: The defender's love for dragons stem from their worship of the Great Protector, an eruptodon that lives in their island's volcano, protecting the village from lava.
- Dragon Rider: Subverted. They actually see Dragon Riding as enslaving dragons.
- Good Taming, Evil Taming: While the Defenders neither ride nor live among them like the Hooligans, the Defenders worship dragons and have learned ways of pacifying them without harming them.
- McNinja: Despite being a part of the Barbaric Archipelago - an area inhabited by vikings - the Defenders look and act suspiciously like a Ninja clan, from the way they dress to their stealth tactics, even to their high opinion of dragons.
- Only Six Faces: Aside from Mala and Throk, every villager there are just reused Hiccup and Heather models dressed in obscuring ninja outfits.
- Throw 'Em to the Wolves: Specifically, Speed Stingers. Because one of the most aggressive of all dragon species will do anything besides kill those thrown into their nest, right?
Mala
Appearances: Dragons: Riders of Berk
Voiced by: Adelaide Kane
Human leader of the Defenders Of the Wing, Mala takes both their way of life and their safety seriously. Under her leadership, the Defenders have their first contact with Berk.
- Accentuate the Negative: If you're a Dragon Rider, she will do this to you at every possible opportunity.
- "Ass" in Ambassador: A rare heroic version. Mala assumes the worst several times, such as antagonizing the riders on and off again at the slightest provocation. This antagonizing can even lead to self-fulfilling results, such as when she was twisting Hiccup's words against him at every opportunity during the trial.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: She is a very skilled fighter and can take out dragon hunters twice her size.
- Boyish Short Hair: She is the first female character in the series portrayed with short hair.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She is initially determined to see the Dragon Riders as guilty and sentence them to death at any opportunity. Upon later observing the close bond they share with their Dragons and then them saving her tribe by rescuing the Eruptodon, she gains a greater respect for them, declaring them as allies of the Defenders of the Wing.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Queen Mala first accuses Hiccup and the other riders as being dragon hunters and enemies of dragon-kind. Shortly after Hiccup manages to convince her that they are friends with their dragons, Mala immediately goes back to trying to kill Hiccup and declares war on all of Berk because Hiccup realized that Viggo had tricked them into being an Unwitting Pawn.
- Hero Antagonist: She wants to protect dragons just as much as the Riders do. Except she sees dragon-riding as a form of enslaving dragons.
- Kangaroo Court: Presides over one.
- Knight Templar: A somewhat softer version in that she will listen to reason (after extreme effort on part of reason), but it doesn't take much for her to default back to this.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Wields a sword that looks suspiciously like a katana.
- Rescue Romance: Mala picks Snotlout as a potential suitor after he indirectly saves her from an arrow, claiming that her future king would be foretold to do the very same. Downplayed, since she seems to think so pragmatically, neither offended or disappointed when he avoids the trials and then fails them later on.
- Skewed Priorities: When the Great Protector is kidnapped by Viggo and her village is in imminent danger of being flooded with lava, she decides the best use of her limited time left is to try and kill Hiccup and declare war on Berk.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: She and Dagur start out bitterly divided over their battle strategy, and she says their romance literally started with them hitting each other.
- Took a Level in Kindness: By Season 7 (season 5 of RTTE), Mala is openly friendly to Hiccup and his friends, allowing them to stay on her island while they regroup after the hunters run them off the Edge).
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: While "ugly" might be a little much, Dagur's features are much more exaggerated and cartoonish compared to Mala's.
Throk
Appearances: Dragons: Riders of Berk
Voiced by: James Arnold Taylor
A trusted subordinate of Mala's, Throk takes a more military role in protecting the Defenders and leads them in patrols of their island to intercept those who would land by stealth.
- Axe-Crazy: Has shades of this, if him grinning at the possibility of Fishlegs being beheaded and the disappointment afterwards was any indication.
- Defrosting Ice King: Similarly to Mala, despite his initial approach towards the Dragon Riders (See below), he later becomes much more open-minded and gallant towards them.
- Hate at First Sight: While all of the Defenders hate the riders, Throk has an especially intense bitch face, ready to execute the intruders upon his queen's orders.
- I Owe You My Life: After he saves Ruffnut from an incoming rock, taking the blow to the head instead, he ends up thinking that she saved his life, thus believing he a life debt. He tags along with her and saves her from all danger and becomes her willing servant. When Tuffnut has enough and tells him the truth, he does not believe him.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Despite his desire to have Ruffnut as his wife, he tells her that he can't, saying that she and her brother have an unbreakable bond that isn't meant to be broken.
- Lady and Knight: A Bright and (possibly) platonic version. He is extremely devoted to Queen Mala, always going out of his way to protect her, and ready to carry out her orders as well.
- Number Two: He is Mala's second-in-command.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Subverted. When Throk arrives to Dragon's Edge to ask for Ruffnut's hand in marriage he wants to "ask" her by taking her over his shoulder and taking her to his island where she will be his wife whether she wants to or notnote . This gets a rather humorous reaction from Astrid, who becomes so enraged by his sexist traditions that Hiccup has to keep her from coming at him with an axe. However, while the tradition itself is sexist (with Throk not really noticing) he is fully willing to win Ruffnut over willingly using less regressive, more "modern" methods (poem reading, flower-giving and simply asking her), leading away from the idea of him being an active misogynist. Plus he is fully devoted to his strong, independent and unmarried queen, so he gets points for that.
The Great Protectors
A pair of Eruptodons, one mothering the other, who succeeded it, that feed on the lava in the volcano that makes up Caldera Cay, protecting the Defenders of the Wing village from destruction.
- Badass in Distress: The original Great Protector is abducted by the Dragon Hunters in an attempt to activate the Edge volcano and destroy their island and the Defenders of the Wing in one go. Later, the new Great Protector must be shepherded off of Caldera Cay when it comes under attack.
- Big Damn Heroes: The original Great Protector repeatedly filled this role for the village, and fills it in other capacities twice during the series: First, it recovers from laying its egg just in time to rescue Throk from the volcano, the second time it drives off the Sentinels long enough for the Dragon Riders to escape from Vanaheim.
- But Now I Must Go: The original Great Protector, once the newborn has settled into its role, leaves for Vanaheim, the final resting place of dragons, to live out its final years.
- Killed Off for Real: It is heavily implied that the original Great Protector passes away shortly after the end of 'A Matter of Perspective.'
