Fanfic / Dark Valkyrie

Dark Valkyrie is a How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by harrypanther taking placed in the Race to the Edge timeline. The story starts out with a rescue mission for Hiccup by Astrid and the other riders. When they get to him, he has been tortured and poisoned by Viggo and Krogan, and the poison itself is set to kill him in seven days time. When efforts for the riders to find the cure prove to be difficult, Astrid loses all hope that Hiccup will make it and sets off on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Hunters.

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This fanfiction contains examples of:

• Badass Boast: Hiccup makes it very clear to the Council of Chiefs what will happen to anyone that takes Astrid away from him. He will rain death and destruction on them far worse than what Astrid did to the Hunters.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Rather than die a slow agonizing death that the Wine of Hela will inflict on him, Viggo falls on his sword.
• Big Damn Heroes: Astrid is able to rescue Snotlout, Fishlegs and the dragons with them from Johann's base even after a cave in blocks the original exit. The group is able to find another exit to escape.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: If he had just waited until the drug had knocked her out, Johann could have killed Astrid and ended her rampage. Instead he took the time to gloat while she was still conscious revealing himself as the true mastermind of the Hunters. She is able to escape in time before the drug can take full effect, which allows her to tell the Defenders of the Wing and Berk of his treachery.
• Bounty Hunter: With a bounty on Astrid's head obviously there will be those who want to collect.
• Break the Cutie: Astrid grows increasingly solemn as the story progresses and her actions take a toll on her. She even feels tainted and unworthy of Hiccup's love, especially after she resorts to killing both Krogan and his dragon; she knows how much Hiccup would never hurt even the dragons that belonged to the hunters.
• Broken Hero: Hiccup is understandably suffering from the torture he went through. He freaks out when Tuffnut insists on seeing his scars, which would mean he would see the slave brand.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: What Hiccup went through before the start of the story. Viggo, Krogan and Johann put Hiccup through a number of methods to get him to reveal the Dragoneye secrets he knows. They also put a slave brand on him and gave the Wine of Hela, a painfully slow-killing poison.
  • Johann stabs Heather in the leg when she defiantly tells him that Hiccup has friends that look out for him. When Hiccup arrives, and Johann brings her out as proof that he has the other riders captured, she is sporting a number of injuries on top of her leg wound.
• Continuity Nod: Mainly to the series:
  • Astrid flashes back to her and Hiccup's real start of their romantic relationship after her Temporary Blindness, betrothals to each other, and his idea about her new home on Dragon's Edge.
  • Heather sadly empathizes with Astrid's desire for revenge when she recalls the time her village and parents were wiped out.
  • Snotlout is clearly smug about not being the only one to get that unexpected punch from Hiccup when he hears about what happened to Tuffnut.
• Despair Event Horizon: When the other riders fail to return by Gothi's deadline, Astrid loses all hope that Hiccup will survive the poison and sets out on her Roaring Rampage of Revenge on the Hunters.
  • Hiccup becomes very agitated when Tuffnut gets curious about his scars, and, when he flees to Dragon Island, nearly lets hunters capture a group of Gronckles as he breaks down emotionally about both his weakened state and Astrid leaving him behind after the attack on Berk.
• Determinator: Absolutely nothing and no one is going to keep Astrid from her quest of vengeance.
  • Ditto for Hiccup: despite still needing time to recover from his Cold-Blooded Torture, he (with help from Snotlout, Fishlegs, Heather and the twins) is hell-bent on finding Astrid, both to assure her he still loves her and that they'll bring down Johann together.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • In canon, Krogan is killed by Drago Bludvist after he fails to capture the King of Dragons. Here, Astrid kills him by poisoning his Singetail mid-fight, causing him and his dragon to fall to their deaths.
  • In canon, Viggo has a Heel–Face Turn and sacrifices himself to buy Hiccup time to escape from his former allies. Here, he kills himself with his own sword after being poisoned by Astrid.
• Driven to Suicide: Viggo kills himself rather then go through a slow death from poison.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After all the hardship they've been through Hiccup and Astrid earned that wedding night
• The Exile: Astrid goes into a self-imposed one to keep Hiccup and Berk save from Johann. Even when she finds an island that will let her stay, she keeps herself apart from the village.
• Exactly What I Aimed At: Astrid aims three poison-coated arrows at Johann and just leaves him scratched... then it turns out that's all that was needed to kill him. It just needed a few hours.
• Find the Cure!: The Riders have a limited amount of time to find a cure for Hiccup or he will never recover from the poison that is killing him. It's implied he might not fully recover as he is still feeling the effects two months later.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With everything they've been through, the Riders do all they can to make sure Hiccup gets the cure. They stick by his side when they find out he was branded, and in solidarity they all plan to get a tattoo to help conceal his brand to reduce suspicion. As well as being more then willing to help him find Astrid.
• Foregone Conclusion: Anyone caught up with Race to the Edge already knows that the true mastermind behind everything is Trader Johann.
• Good Is Not Soft: Astrid and Hiccup are both still as good-hearted as they were in the series, but will resort to murder if pushed far enough (Astrid especially, with Hiccup much more reluctant). Various hunters found this out the hard way.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: Snotlout and the twins leaving the door to Frost Isle's Archives unguarded to look for the armory. This leaves Heather, Fishlegs and Gothi vulnerable to an attack by Krogan's Flyers.
• Happily Married: Hiccup and Astrid get married before her trial. They then celebrate for real back on Berk after the trial is over.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Remember that batch of poison that Viggo almost tricked Astrid into believing was a cure for Hiccup? Well, she decided to return it to him… in his drink to be exact.
  • Johann is brought down in this way as well, in a karmic Bookend: at the start, he watched and even aided in poisioning Hiccup, leaving him to die. When the trader learns that Astrid hit him with Slitherwing venom (which, unlike the Wine of Hela, is a fast-killing venom) and unsuccessfully begs to be saved, he is simply witnessed and abandoned by the riders to die in his escape boat.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Much of Astrid's justification on wiping out the Hunters was to stop them from hurting anyone ever again.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Astrid has Stormfly deliver a number of these throughout the story. Special mention goes to the idiot that said Hiccup got what he deserved while being surrounded by Deadly Nadders.
  • Hiccup also does this to a hunter who threatens Toothless on Dragon Island. And he also does this to Johann after Astrid keeps the latter from overpowering Hiccup by shooting at him.
• Innocently Insensitive: Tuffnut falls into this when he becomes curious about the scars Hiccup got during his torture. He gets an accidental elbow to the face from Hiccup and a series of scoldings from Heather, Ruffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs for the trouble.
• Irony: Lampshaded by Astrid to Viggo after giving him the Wine of Hela; she echoes back his Break Them by Talking speech and tells him he will suffer the fate that Hiccup would have. And she also tells him that the Riders might know how to make the cure for the poison, but Viggo's actions to stop them from gaining the cure helped to ensure that there will be no more ways to make a cure to save him.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Even with the Hunters decimated and Viggo and Krogan dead, Johann is still out to get Astrid. So, she puts herself into a self-imposed exile to keep Berk (and most importantly, Hiccup) safe. When Hiccup finds her, he's able to talk her out of it.
• Kangaroo Court: This was the attempt by a few of the Chiefs on the Council, as they were under pressure from the families of those killed by Astrid's attacks on the dragon auctions. Rather than tell them that their loved ones violated the treaty not to harm dragons, they pinned the blame on Astrid herself (which Hiccup rightly calls them out on). They still have the gall to vote in favor for a punishment, but only three of them actually call this vote. The other eight vote in favor of Astrid, seeing how much of a farce the whole trial really is.
• Kill It with Fire: With dragons on her side, Astrid attacks some of the Hunters this way.
• Leave Behind a Pistol: When Viggo begs Astrid for the cure for the Wine of Hela, she points to his own sword. After giving him a Breaking Speech and leaving the tent, Viggo soon uses it to end his own life.
• Leave No Witnesses: Astrid's initial attacks on the Hunter ships and markets leaves no survivors.
• Love Hurts: The very reason Astrid goes on her Roaring Rampage of Revenge is that losing Hiccup causes her such heartache she wants to make sure that the Hunters can never hurt anyone again. It gets worse for her when Hiccup lives, and she feels too tainted to be worthy of his love.
• Lured into a Trap: Viggo and Krogan were able to get a hold of Hiccup thanks to the so-called “tip” that Johann gave the riders.
• Made a Slave: Hiccup was branded during his torture and this means he can be claimed by anyone. Astrid makes sure the Hunters can never do so by destroying their tribe.
• Manipulative Bastard: Trader Johann, until Astrid finds out and tells Berk.
• Metaphorically True: When pressed for the name of Viggo and Krogan's leader, Hiccup states that he doesn't know, because their leader wore so many faces and names.
• Missed Him by That Much: While leaving a village, Astrid over hears the voices of the other riders coming from an ally. The final topic of their discussion being how they've tracked her to this location and are going to begin to search for her. Astrid quickly exits the village and leaves the island before they can even get started. She remains allusive for two months before Hiccup finally catches her.
• Moral Event Horizon: Astrid comes dangerously close to crossing this when she has the survivors of the Hunter Tribe cornered, most of whom are woman and children, and is ready to kill all of them until the Chief offers to dissolve the tribe.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: For some reason Stoick didn't give the full details to the riders on why Johann couldn't be trusted. Soon after Hiccup reunites with Astrid a Terror mail reaches them and tells them Heather, Snotlout and Fishlegs are traveling with him. Astrid is not amused that her warning seemed to go unheeded.
  • However, Hiccup is quick to figure out that they can use this to their advantage.
• Nightmare Sequence: Hiccup goes through a fever induced one where he sees Astrid being assaulted, killed or turned against him. The latter one however ends with her saving him and turning on Viggo and Krogan.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Astrid is willing to stay behind when Meatlug starts to get too tired to lift everyone through the exit in the roof of the cave, even making sure Stormfly escapes last. However, the other riders are not willing to let her pull a Heroic Sacrifice; Snotlout especially gets this point across to her twice earlier, and convinces her to climb up a rope they dropped down for her before Johann's men catch her.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Astrid corners some hunters for information on Viggo so she can find the cure for Hiccup they refuse to cooperate. She promptly kills one of them, sending a clear message to the remaining hunters that they are not dealing with a rider who avoids killing. One decides to be talkative when Astrid gets in his face.
• Papa Wolf: Stoick is this for Hiccup, but he's also rather reluctant to let Astrid go through with her plans for revenge on the hunters.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The description for Ruff and Tuff's trader disguises is that they are really bad. Especially the fake breads. On both of them. However, none of the villagers of Back-of-Beyond seem to notice.
• Price on Their Head: Johann puts one on Astrid after all the destruction she has done. She goes into a self-imposed exile over it to keep Berk and Hiccup safe.
• Properly Paranoid: Considering that there is no one to take the bounty of her head Astrid is understandably on guard in case someone comes to collect. This results in some of her fellow Berkians getting hurt by her when they come up behind her unannounced. Thankfully, they understand her reasons and don't hold it against her.
• Race Against the Clock: Gothi sets a time limit for the riders gather the ingredients for a cure to safe Hiccup or he will not survive. The time comes and goes and Astrid leaves for her revenge. However, Vikings are stubborn. Hiccup clings to live long enough for the riders to bring the ingredients and be given the cure.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Astrid tells Viggo that unlike Hiccup that there is will be no one that will care enough to go through the effort of making a cure to save him from the Wine of Hela.
• Revenge by Proxy: What Astrid is worried that Johann will do if she stays in Berk as he has already put a bounty on her head, and ordered the attack the Defenders of the Wing when they were housing her. So she goes into self-imposed exile, hoping to keep his focus on her and not Hiccup.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Much of the story is Astrid laying waste to the Hunters, spilling enough blood in Hiccup's name so he'll be accepted into Valhalla instead of going to Hel for dying of an illness. And when he lives through his poisoning, she continues her attacks to make sure no one can hurt him ever again.
• Sadistic Choice: Stoick has to contemplate whether to protect his future-daughter-in law from the Council of Chiefs or to give in to whatever their demands are for Astrid to keep Berk from being isolated.
• Secret-Keeper: The few people who see the slave brand on Hiccup are determined that no else finds out, since Hiccup could lose his status as heir if he did. His friends end up finding out anyway, and are determined to help him through it. They even come up with a plan to give him and themselves a tattoo to cover it up and make it less likely that anyone will figure it out.
• The Scapegoat: What the other tribes might force Berk to turn Astrid into or face consequences.
• Slipping a Mickey: Johann gives one to Astrid before he starts to gloat and plans to kill her. Fortunately, she escapes him and gets to Stormfly before it fully takes effect.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: After she has dealt with all of the Hunters and Johann, Astrid has had time to settle back on Berk. However, not being on the run also gives her time to think over everything she has done, and it all has a considerable emotional effect: she can see the faces of all those she killed. Hiccup is there to help her through it, reassuring her she did what she had to.
• Shoot the Messenger: Viggo sends out a messenger to deliver a letter to Johann before he kills himself. The messenger didn't get very far as Astrid reenters his tent with the letter in hand having killed said messenger.
• Spot the Imposter: Johann makes a vain attempt to trick Hiccup into believe he has brought his friends for negotiation with two figures with hoods on their heads. Toothless sniffs them out finding that neither of them are Snotlout and Fishlegs. So Hiccup calls Johann's bluff.
• Storming the Castle: Base after base and even the Hunters' home island is wiped out by Astrid and an army of dragons.
• Taking You with Me: Once he realizes that he has been poisoned and there's no hope that he will be cured, Johann makes a futile attempt at this on Astrid, who was the one that poisoned him, and tries to shoot her with an arrow only for Toothless to blast the arrow before it can even come close to her.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: They may be working with one another but Krogan, Viggo and Johann don't like one another and often mock each other over the plight of the destruction Astrid is causing.
• Temporary Blindness: Hiccup gains this by the first night back at Berk from the Wine of Hela.
• Time Skip: Two months pass between the Lost and Found chapters where Astrid has remained in hiding and running at any sign that the others are on to her. So they take up a trader facade to finally track her.
• Too Dumb to Live: Is it really a good idea to say a man deserved to die in front of his lover who has an army of dragons surrounding you?
• Viking Funeral: Surprising, the Riders give one to Johann after his death.
• Villains Want Mercy:
  • Subverted. When Astrid reveals that she slipped the Wine of Hela into his mead, Viggo stops trying to goad her and starts begging for the cure, even offering her his Dragon Eye and the lenses. She offers him the cure by pointing to his sword. When he realizes that there is no hope of a cure due to his own actions, he goes back to threatening her.
  • Johann starts begging for a cure from the Riders after they reveal Astrid's arrows had poison on them. However, since the Slitherwing venom is fast-acting, there is no chance that an antidote can be made in time; thus the riders leave him to his fate.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Even in death, Johann is still seen by man as a friendly trader. Only Berk and her allies know who he really was.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Astrid goes well past reasonable when she believes there is no hope of Hiccup surviving his injuries and poisoning, and sets out to destroy the Grimborn hunters and any other hunter tribe working with them. Even when she finds out he lives, she sets out to finish the job and kill Viggo.
• War Is Hell: One of Hiccup's defenses for Astrid during her trial is that they were at war with the Hunters and both sides did terrible things to each other.
• Watching the Sunset: Or in this case a sunrise. While off on her quest of vengeance Astrid watches the sunrise on the seventh day since rescuing Hiccup from Viggo and Krogan. This being the day that Gothi said he would die from the poison he was given. She marks this as the first day in a world without Hiccup. She is unaware that the others succeeded in getting him the cure in time for him to live.
• What Have I Done: Averted, Astrid is aware that she is crossing a number of lines with her actions but as long as Hiccup is safe, she'll endure the consequences. That said, in the days following Johann's defeat, she's been having flashbacks of the hunters she did kill in the previous months and realizing that some of them had families to think of or were Just Following Orders.
• Worthy Opponent: In his final moments Viggo admits that Astrid could have become a worthy Maces and Talons player. That's quite a compliment from him.

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