The Dragon Journals
is a fanfic which retells the story of How to Train Your Dragon from the point of view... of the dragons. The story is surprisingly detailed, with a very good interpretation of the dragon thought process.
Prospective readers be warned, the story is currently unfinished, and the author has recently stated on her DeviantArt page that she will not be finishing the story. Withdrawal will ensue.
Beware of Viewer Gender Confusion because this is written before Riders of Berk is released.
Story has not been updated since December 2011 and is presumably abandoned.
Tropes Featured in The Dragon Journals:
- All-Loving Hero: Hiccup's kindness is even more emphasized in this story. Toothless actually fears that other dragons will steal Hiccup because he gives so much food away.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In the early chapters, Toothless casually wonders if he can eat Hiccup if pressed.
- Continuity Nod: The dragons call Stoic "The Great Head Ripper." In the first film, Hiccup mentioned that it was said that as a child, Stoic once popped the head off of a Nightmare, backing this up.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The dragon-grass seems to be a mixture of catnip and alcohol, leaving dragons with hangovers once it wears off.
- Eldritch Abomination: Dragons see the striped eels at this, refusing to go anywhere near them and expressing astonishment that the humans can touch them at all.
- Fantastic Racism: Dragons of one species sometimes clash with another. Toothless is known for being particularly mean to Terrible Terrors.
- First-Person Peripheral Narrator: The dragons collectively become this, with Hiccup's progress seen from their points of view, and with all their various opinions on him.
- Humans Through Alien Eyes: Dragons have their own names for each other and the various stuff associated with "Mans." Weapons are universally referred to as "teeth", and they don't understand the concept of making things. Toothless assumes Hiccup is somehow growing all the new "tails" he needs for his harness, and that Hiccup sheds skin to change clothes. Toothless freaks out when he sees Hiccup taking off his shoes, but then dismisses it as just another weird thing humans do.
- Killer Rabbit: The Terrible Terrors are the smallest species of dragon, but very quick to think up multiple death threats when Toothless won't let them near Hiccup.
- Insufferable Genius: The Terrible Terror in the arena comes off as this. More of the later from his perspective, and the former from the other dragons.
- Ironic Nickname: Because of his habit of throwing his weapons aside before engaging them, the dragons in the Kill Ring start referring to Hiccup as "Toothless."
- Name From Another Species: Hiccup gets called "Fishbone" by Toothless (making him, yes, a "talking fishbone"), and all of the dragon training students get nicknames from the dragons fighting them. After some time, Toothless recognizes his name from Hiccup (which to him sounds like "ember-hiss, footstep"), and is shocked to realize that humans grasp the concept of naming things.
- No One Gets Left Behind: The Terrible Terror/Venom-Hisser in the kill arena says he could escape at any time he's let out, but stays behind to try and help the other dragons escape.
- Perspective Flip: The whole point of the story, particularly the chapters from Toothless' perspective.
- Religious Bruiser: Since they're all Pintsized Powerhouses, all of the Terrible Terrors qualify. Apparently they have a religion of their own, prayer, and some form of gods (or at least psychopomps). Toothless references their afterlife, so it's possible that dragons of other species share the same beliefs, but the Terrible Terrors reference religion the most (even the Insufferable Genius in Dragon Training references icons of their religion when he/she curses).
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Remember that cute scene in the film where Hiccup taught Toothless how to (sorta) draw? Well, that scene was an equally important character bonding moment for Toothless: from his perspective, that was how he taught Hiccup how to dance.
- Samus Is a Girl: The Nadder in the kill ring has particular respect for Astrid's fighting talents and is constantly warning the other dragons about "Yellow-Head". The reveal that she's female causes him some embarrassment.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: The Terrible Terrors are prone to this, especially in their internal monologues (compared to the other dragons). They also tend to get an Overly Long Name.
- Unusual Euphemism: The Terrible Terrors "sing the names" of whatever they kill.
- Xenofiction
