"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you."
WARNING: Spoilers Off applies to this page. Proceed at your own risk.Movie
- Hiccup and Astrid's relationship has grown in the past five years.Astrid: What you're searching for isn't out there, Hiccup. (Laying her hand on his chest) It's in here.
- She does this twice with the same line, the second time around comes with a great laugh at his expense, but is followed up by Hiccup pulling her in for the Big Damn Kiss. The animation speaks entirely for itself, a young couple ready to take the world.
- During Hiccup's lament to Astrid, right before Astrid delivers the line for the first time, if you pay attention to Astrid, her expression is one of sympathy, but also a healthy dose of loving exasperation. She's watching him beat himself up when she knows he's so much more than he thinks he is.
- As well, during Stoick's Funeral, after Hiccup starts his eulogy with "I'm sorry dad,", we get a glimpse of Astrid, who gives a bittersweet but clearly exasperated, smile. Even through sad times, she still can't understand how Hiccup can be as hard on himself as he is.
- Their relationship is simply adorable. She mimics how he talks and knows all his little quirks (he moves his shoulders a lot when he talks), and the way they hold each other just shows how much love there is between them even after so many years.
- They also know each other well enough where words aren't always necessary. For example, when Astrid first joins Hiccup on the cliff he and Toothless crashed onto, he begins telling her about the conversation between Hiccup and Stoick. Astrid quietly extends her hand and Hiccup immediately hands the pen he's holding without stopping his explanation. Astrid also immediately knows that Hiccup is going to leave to find Drago before he makes any movement to do so.
- When you consider the TV series, it makes the two's relationship where they are now all the more heartwarming, and Stoick even supports it, praising her in the beginning of the movie as his future daughter-in-law.
- Astrid clearly trusts Hiccup unconditionally now. When he surrenders to Eret in order to meet Drago, Astrid clearly is not sold on the idea (going so far as to ask, "How is this a plan?") but follows Hiccup's lead.
- All the above boils down to a palpable level of ease in their interactions. There is no real nervousness or hesitation anymore, and they don't even need to act outright romantic for one to see how in love they are. Its hard to explain but one gets the sense they are "meant to be together" when watching them that wasn't really present before, a subtle way of showing how their relationship has matured.
- To put it simple terms, they're obviously in love without needing to be obvious about being in love. You can see it in how casually they enter each other's personal space.
- The fact is there's no one moment, outside of the explicit moments (the various kisses, particularly) that speak to their romantic inclination. It's the many small moments between the two that slowly reveals how much they love each other without ever making a big scene out of it.
- In fact, if you look closely at the side of Hiccup's helmet and the red marking on his strap, it's a Deadly Nadder. The dragon that his girlfriend of five years rides on. In other words, Hiccup put those on his suit to remind him of his Astrid.
- At the ending, when Chief Hiccup is participating in the dragon racing game with Alpha Dragon Toothless, he puts the winning sheep in Astrid's basket.
- DeBlois announced that in some recent editorial news, that Hiccup doesn't actually like the braids in his hair, but puts up with it for Astrid's sake.
- Which makes it even more adorable when watching her braid his hair in the movie.
- Hiccup even gives a tiny, subtle smile
◊ when he notices Astrid is braiding his hair.
- Toothless and Hiccup play-fighting. Nothing looks and feels more adorable than seeing it and it goes to show just how much their friendship has grown since they first met!
- Complete with Forbidden Friendship playing in the background.
- Their first flying scene illustrates Hiccup and Toothless' bond perfectly. At one point, they turn upside down and freefall back down, all while Toothless has a big grin on his face, confident that they won't crash.
- Every time Hiccup tries side-gliding with Toothless. He never once acts as though he's afraid Toothless won't catch him. Two crash landings end with Hiccup pleased with the experience and eager to go again, despite clearly annoying the worried Toothless. The absolute trust between the two is so strong that it looks very much like Hiccup was confidently prepared to use another dangerous flight demonstration to show Eret what happens when you earn the love of a dragon, before they were interrupted.
- When Hiccup is taken by the unknown rider and Toothless subsequently falls to the icy water below as he cannot fly without him; Toothless tries surging up immediately to no avail, his eyes fixed on and concerned for Hiccup despite his predicament.
- Similarly, Hiccup's main concern despite being kidnapped and tossed into a cave filled with possibly hostile beasts is still Toothless and his safety, calling out not to be freed but to be allowed to go to his dragon.
- When Hiccup and Toothless are facing off against an unknown dragon rider who turned out to be Hiccup's mother, but they did not know it yet and a number of seemingly hostile dragons, one of first things that Toothless does is to wrap his tail around Hiccup, showing again than Hiccup's safety is his first priority.
- The big reveal:
- The way Hiccup and Valka get to know each other, and find out just how similar they are, and how much love they instantly feel for each other...
- The whole sequence where they spend time together. Valka does a series of acrobatics across multiple dragons just to ruffle Hiccup's hair.
- In a way, Hiccup showing off his wingsuit to Valka is this. You know how little kids get really excited to show off things they can do to their parents? That jump off Toothless's back is twenty years of showing-off condensed into one.
- Even more heartwarming? Valka actually is impressed and spends a minute marveling over the wingsuit. She's so proud of him!
- Something else about that scene which was a really cute reaction was the smirk that Toothless had when Cloudjumper looked over to him when Hiccup began to glide, he quickly goes back to a straight face but for a moment he has a look that just says "yeah, that's my rider".
- Stoick's reaction when he finds Hiccup's helmet floating in the water. Stoick or not, the desperation in his next line is impossible to miss.Stoick: Find them, Skullcrusher!
- Look at how Stoick holds Hiccup's helmet. Despite the incredible speed his dragon is flying at, and despite the fact that it was in freezing water, he holds the object gently and with both hands. It's especially heartwarming considering how large Stoick is and how it contrasts that tender hold. That one action says so much about how concerned Stoick is for his son's safety.
- Toothless and Cloudjumper's relationship. It evolves from Cloudjumper being annoyed by everything Toothless does, to him taking on a more parental role. He even spits up food to share with Toothless like a parent bird would do for its baby.
- And in the end he bows to Toothless with obvious pride at the power and leadership the young new Alpha dragon just displayed/awakened.
- It is a bit understated and more of a funny one, but when Drago claims to be the only and greatest Dragon Master, Astrid and Co. just scoff at the idea. They may have and still do bicker with Hiccup and sometimes pick on him, but they both recognize his talents and abilities and trust him to kick Drago's ass.
- The reunion between Stoick and Valka. When they first see each other, Valka assumes that he'll be angry and stutters defensively while he quietly approaches. Once he's close enough, the big man only touches her face, says the line below, and then gives her the sweetest kiss ever.Stoick: You're as beautiful as the day I lost you.
- The heartwarming begins as soon as Valka lets out a small "oh" as she lays eyes on Stoick.
- The following scene where Stoick begins whistling an old song they used to sing before they were married, which soon escalates into an upbeat duet between Valka and Stoick (and Gobber).
- Even if Valka had gone away for twenty years (ultimately leaving her husband to raise Hiccup by himself) and her husband and son have every right to angry and resentful towards her, they're not—in fact, after Valka had been absent for twenty years and fearing that she was dead, Stoick and Hiccup are just happy and relieved that Valka's still alive, which likely vastly outweighs any kind of rage and resentment they may feel towards.
- While Valka is trying to keep Stoick calm, assuming that he would be angry, even though he isn't exploding by this point, you can see dragons slowly crawl into the scene, as though getting ready to protect her if they need to.
- This exchange at Stoick's funeral.
- Hiccup: I'm sorry, Dad.[shots of Fishlegs, the twins and Snotlout with tears in their eyes]Hiccup: I'm not the chief you wanted me to be... and I'm not the peacekeeper I thought I was. I don't know...Valka: ...You came early into this world. You were such a wee thing. So tiny. So frail... I feared you wouldn't make it. But your father... he never doubted. He always said you'd be the strongest of them all. And he was right. You have the heart of a chief and the soul of a dragon. Only you can bring our worlds together. That... is who you are, son.Hiccup: I was so afraid of becoming my dad, mostly because I thought I never could. I mean, h-how do you become someone that great, that brave, that... selfless? I guess... you can only try.
- Eret going to free Stormfly after she'd swooped down to save him from getting killed by Drago's men earlier.Eret: Thank you for saving my life. Now let me return the favor.
- Followed by a Call-Back to the original movie where he holds his hand out to touch Stormfly and she meets him halfway.
- The initial save itself, Stormfly was the only dragon who sensed the hunters coming and managed to fly away and save herself. Not only did she stay close to Astrid, she swooped in and saved Eret of her own volition. Even curly herself around him, using her body as a shield.
- At Stoick's funeral, Eret is seen standing alongside the Dragon Riders in mourning, and joining them in firing flaming arrows at the barge.
- Stoick singing and dancing with Valka. You can really see that he's still so in love with her, and it's made even better when you see their son smiling as he watches. Hiccup's family is finally together again.
- Stoick did not just assume Valka would agree to be his wife again. He asked, very gently. He re-proposed. That is a phenomenal level of consideration on his part and shows just how truly he loves and respects her, that he'd give her that choice.
- Speaking of consideration, Stoick has every right to be upset with her, considering her disappearance can be intepreted as her abandoning him to raise their son alone so she can go frolic with dragons. But instead of feeling angry or betrayed, Stoick is the bigger man and forgives her and is just happy to learn she's not dead after all.
- The song itself, For the Dancing and Dreaming.
- Stoick did not just assume Valka would agree to be his wife again. He asked, very gently. He re-proposed. That is a phenomenal level of consideration on his part and shows just how truly he loves and respects her, that he'd give her that choice.
- In the climax of the film, when a furious Toothless challenges the Alpha Dragon, we have this exchange between Hiccup and Valka:Hiccup: He's challenging the Alpha!
Valka: To protect you! - When Drago attacks Valka's hideaway, Hiccup practically pleads with his father that the dragons must be saved. Stoick doesn't just not argue with his son, he's in full agreement, and is ready to help. In fact, Stoick had been the one to ask Hiccup what needed to be done, showing just how much trust the father really had in his son.
- In the end, after Toothless defeats Drago's Bewilderbeast and frees the other dragons from its control, the villagers all go to hug their dragons. It's a touching scene given how much they hated the dragons 5 years earlier.
- After Drago's defeat, Hiccup notices Eret standing with Skullcrusher, Stoick's dragon, and notes that Skullcrusher's going to need someone to look after him since at this point Stoick is dead. Eret says he'd be honoured to do so.
- Probably more of a funny moment, but the adorably goofy smile on Ruffnut's face after Snotlout and Fishlegs catch her mid-air after she falls a ways off of Barf; you can tell her mindset goes from treating them like abhorrent admirers to "Yep, those are my boys."
- Hiccup breaking the Alpha's control over Toothless by touching his nose, the same way they first bonded in the original movie. Before that, it was touch and go, but as soon as he makes that touch it shatters completely.
- Hiccup's entire dialogue is nothing short of being emotionally uplifting.
Toothless? Hey it’s me, I’m right here, bud. Come back to me. It wasn’t your fault, bud. They made you do it. You would never hurt him. You would never hurt me. Please, you are my best friend, bud. My best friend...- And Toothless' face. He looks like he's on the verge of tears, so happy and relieved he is to receive Hiccup's forgiveness.
- When the Riders of Berk (and the two soon to be Riders of Berk) return on their baby dragons as Drago is stealing all the dragons and trying to destroy Berk you can hear one villager yell "Hey look, it's Hiccup!" with a big smile and the people around him respond with a smile of their own. You can just see on their faces the moment they see Hiccup they just know he'll fix this... somehow. Compared that to the angry frowns on everyone's face just after the dragon raid in the first movie, it's enough to put tears in your eyes.
- Cloudjumper playing with baby Hiccup in Valka's flashback.
- Hiccup and Toothless hugging it out.
- The quote from the movie is listed elsewhere on here, but the scene it's from deserves to be mentioned again, because it's heartwarming AND awesome AND tearjerking all at once: Toothless challenging the Dark Alpha, not because he wants to be the new Alpha, but simply to protect Hiccup. And he doesn't just challenge the Dark Alpha, either. The Bewilderbeast attacks Hiccup... cue a VERY PISSED Night Fury going into One-Winged Angel mode.
- It's something of a subtlety, but compare the first Alpha with the Red Death of the first movie. Whereas the Red Death forced the dragons subservient to it to bring its food while rarely leaving it's lair, the Bewilderbeast is shown to have an active role in gathering food for its own nest. It's the difference between a greedy tyrant and a king that takes care of its subjects.
- One for the fans of Dragons: Riders of Berk is the Continuity Nod of Gobber being a dentist and the nature of Stoick's busy days helping Berk (which he tries to drag Hiccup into). Although the makers of the movie were not in full contact with the show, they still kept some details that fit to keep the continuity.
- Seeing all of Berk adapted to working with dragons. People not only tolerate them, but actively enjoy them, with everyone having a dragon now.
