Book 3, Chapter 39: The Third Principle Of Sentient Life
The New Year's Fire Rout was a pivotal military battle between the Pecheneg-led conqueror coalition and the Song Dynasty. While Song casualties were heavy—estimates range between 45,000 and 70,000 dead between the initial attack and the aftermath—they also dealt the Pecheneg coalition their first significant defeat after a string of unresisted conquests. Proportionately speaking the Pecheneg losses were heavier than that of the Song, and the complete rout of the Pecheneg forces and the subsequent political developments began a short-lived period of political infighting and consolidation among the coalition, buying the Song and their neighbors time to prepare a response…
—The Dragon Millennium, Manna-hata University Press, Ltd.
Tropes that appear in this chapter:
- Call-Back: Toothless remembers the Hydra Nest as he recalls practising his arguments for why other dragons should give Berk a chance.
- Category Traitor: The Screaming Death decides that any dragon who bonds with a human is a traitor and must be killed.
- Content Warnings:Chapter Trigger Warnings: Secondary Character Deaths, Explicit Mention of Torture
- Crossover: Downplayed. The heroic woman that forced the Pechenegs to flee in the previous chapter? She gives her name to the emperor as Fa Mulan.
- Death by Adaptation: Three examples happen this chapter.
- In canon the fate of the Screaming Death post-TV show is unknown; here he is killed by Toothless's sister Fearless causing a volcanic eruption.
- In canon, Toothless's Nemesis's (here named Mold) fate post-TV show is unknown; here he is killed when Toothless's sister Fearless sacrifices herself to kill her former nest-lord.
- In canon, Mildew's fate was left unconfirmed after Berk made peace with the Outcasts; here he is killed when Toothless's sister Fearless sacrifices herself to kill her former nest-lord.
- Deadpan Snarker: Magnus when him and Brand catch up with Hiccup and Toothless after their attempt to form an alliance with the Screaming Death against Mildew ended up with them being chased out of the nest with the Screaming Death in pursuit.“I take it that the negotiations didn’t go well?” Magnus asked dryly from his place on Brand’s back, sounding like he was recovering from near-panic.
- Death of a Child: Zigzagged. Valka is cured of her disease in this chapter, but Fearless believes that in his rage, her last remaining egg is almost certainly smashed by the Screaming Death.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Fearless sets off a volcanic eruption to defeat the Screaming Death that was once her nest-lord.
- Finger in the Mail: Discussed. Mildew was hoping to send Stoick Hiccup's various body parts when he had Hiccup prisoner.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Fearless sacrifices herself to stop the Screaming Death from killing everyone.
- It Can Think: The chapter title reflects the idea that only truly sentient beings are able to make the choice to put aside self-preservation instincts in the name of something they believe in, as Fearless sacrifices her own life to save her brother and his walker family.
- Killed Off for Real: Many named and developed characters die in this chapter:
- Kagan Berk dies from his injuries from the New Year Fire Rout.
- Fearless sacrifices herself to take down the Screaming Death in a volcanic eruption.
- Mildew and Mold are killed by the same volcanic eruption.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Fa Mulan is named after Hua Mulan.
- Outrun the Fireball: When Fearless sets off a volcanic eruption, everyone inside the volcano tries to do this. Hiccup makes it. Mildew and the Screaming Death...aren't so lucky.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Downplayed. Though the Song Dynasty manages to rout the Pechenegs, their casualties are huge, being measurable in the tens of thousands compared to several dozen Pechenegs and their dragons. However, the victory does buy the Song Dynasty and their neighbours time to prepare a response, so while the casualties from the New Year Fire Rout are costly, they have a chance to avoid more such casualties.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Mildew dies without a weapon in his hand and while fleeing from a battlefield (in this case, an erupting volcano), which disqualifies him from ever entering Valhalla.
- Royal Favorite: This chapter cements how much Kagan Berk liked Drago. Not only does he not blame Drago for their defeat in the previous chapter, believing his son and previous heir Kurya is dead, Berk declares Drago his heir before he can succumb to his wounds.
- Shout-Out: The title is a reference to Babylon 5.
- Slave Liberation: The combined forces of Toothless' and Fearless' groups free nearly all of Mildew's thralls, both humans and dragons.
- Uncertain Doom: Berk saw his son Kurya fall to his death, but the Song Dynasty captured several of the Pechenegs with the healers saying one has hope of surviving their injuries which leaves the question open as to whether Kurya is actually dead or not.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Fearless dies just she is reunited with Toothless and receives her name from Astrid.
