A terrible lightning storm ravages the island of Berk. Mildew quickly accuses Toothless of bringing about the wrath of the god Thor, when he is witnessed to attract the lightning, as the Night Fury is considered to be 'The unholy offspring of Lightning and Death itself'. He gathers supporters and calls for the dragon to be banished, while Hiccup attempts to convince the Vikings that Toothless is not responsible for the lightning strikes.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Artistic License – Physics:
- Having more metal in the village (thanks to the metal perches, and later statue) would indeed attract the lightning to them; however, the episode seems to imply that the increase in metal is causing the lightning storms, which would not actually happen.
- If Hiccup is touching a metal object that is struck by lightning, as he was here, he should have been far more badly hurt than he was. Then again, basically everybody on this show seems to be Made of Iron....
- It should be noted that, other than the above, the lightning physics displayed in this episode was portrayed properly.
- Ascended Fridge Horror: The villagers don't react well to the fact that their attempts to exile Toothless led to Hiccup nearly dying, again. They all stare in horror as Hiccup falls unconscious into the currents, and come the next day with baskets of fish and bread. Stoick even puts it the next day that everyone is lucky that Hiccup and the heir to Berk is alive.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: The Vikings believe that all lightning is a sign that Thor is angry. Mildew takes advantage of this belief to convince the villagers that Thor is angry by the presence of Toothless.
- Call-Back: To the first movie. Hiccup is knocked unconscious at the end, is badly injured, almost dies but is saved by Toothless, and wakes up in his house with Toothless at his side. When he wakes up, he checks to see that he still has his right leg, and comments to Toothless, "At least I didn't lose another one."
- Clear Their Name: Hiccup ends up having to do so to prove to the town that the increased amount of lightning in the village is not a result of Thor's anger at Toothless. He's eventually forced to take extreme measures to do so, which culminates in him being struck by lightning.
- Contrived Coincidence: The fact that a series of severe thunderstorms just happens to hit Berk right after they put up metal perches, and that said storms clear up immediately after the perches come down.
- Dramatic Irony: The people of Berk are stirred up over what they believe to be Thor bringing destruction upon them for harboring a Night Fury ("the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself"). Any viewer even marginally familiar with the behavior of lightning will realize within the first few minutes of the episode that the giant metal dragon perches they built at the start of the episode are the cause of the strikes. Hiccup eventually makes the connection.
- Evil Gloating: Mildew indulges in this once again after the villagers capture Toothless.You're only making it worse for your precious dragon.Say your goodbyes.
- Flat World: This episode shows that the people of Berk believe this. Astrid tells a story about an aunt who tried to sail off the edge of the Earth, but kept coming back from the other direction. Everyone assumes she got lost.
- Grumpy Old Man: Mildew as always, but this episode is especially bad. He'll stop at nothing to blame Toothless for the lightning storms and turn the townspeople against him. It's unknown whether he genuinely believed that Toothless was the cause of the lightning storm, or whether he simply jumped on another opportunity to get rid of him (or maybe a little of both, though more likely the latter).
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: Both Snotlout and the twins frequently make fun of Hiccup and/or make his life harder; however, they gladly take revenge on Mildew at the end of the episode for what he did to Hiccup and Toothless by relocating the Thor statue that the teens all built earlier to the "highest point on the island", which they "interpret" to be right outside of Mildew's front door (causing him to get struck by lightning repeatedly during the next thunderstorm). Hiccup even lampshades this, and SNOTLOUT is the one who makes it clear that he's interpreted it this way.
- Karmic Justice: Stoick instructed Hiccup to take the statue to a higher point on the island...which leads to Snotlout and the twins talking Hiccup into leaving said statue right next to Mildew's house. Despite voicing his concerns, the fact that Hiccup went along with it shows that he felt this was at least a little deserved.
- Kick the Dog: It's unknown whether or not Mildew sincerely believed that Thor was mad at the villagers for housing Toothless or not; however, his Evil Gloating once Toothless was captured was taking it too far.
- Licked by the Dog: To show that Toothless has no grudge against the townspeople for nearly exiling him, he allows a little girl to feed him fish and pet him.
- Made of Iron: Hiccup (and most of the characters on this show, really) is always this, but this episode provides an extreme example. The kid's struck by lightning, and not only does he not die, he wakes up the next morning completely fine.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The whole town acts like this once Hiccup proves that the lightning is attracted to the metal, bringing lots of fish and bread as an apology to the chief and his son.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: After Stoick and Gobber stand between the townspeople and Toothless and prepare to fight to defend the dragon, Mulch and Bucket join them. Bucket comments that they're on the side with fewer people, but Mulch replies that they stand with the chief.
- Near-Villain Victory: Hiccup and Toothless almost left Berk, which would have left the village without the dragon that Mildew hates the most, and Toothless was nearly exiled.
- Pass the Popcorn: The twins eat nuts as they watch "Thor" set fire to the village, cracking the shells on each other's helmets.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: A particularly satisfying one where the Viking teens deliver Thor's statue to Mildew's doorstep, so that the latter receives dozens of lightning strikes.
- Shoo the Dog: When the mob arrives at Stoick's doorstep, the chief tells Hiccup and Toothless to leave and hide. Hiccup actually plans to leave Berk and would have, if the lightning hadn't burned Toothless's tail-fin.
- Standard Female Grab Area: Actually happens to a male, Hiccup, in this episode; the townspeople grab him to pull him away from Toothless.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Hiccup invokes this at the beginning when Mildew starts the Witch Hunt, reminding the villagers how much Toothless has done for them. Even though Toothless has helped save the day and defend the village many times, Mildew manages to form the townspeople into an angry mob that turns on him, as well as Stoick and the kids, once they believe that he is the reason for the storms (Hiccup himself lampshades this). This results in them forcibly chaining Toothless up and trying to ship him off the island, and Hiccup gets struck by lightning trying to prove them wrong. Fortunately, they realize their mistake at the end and offer baskets of fish, pie and bread as apologies.
- Villain Ball: Mildew leading the mob to find Toothless after Astrid tells him the truth, that Hiccup has left. If he had just accepted that, he would have won.
- Witch Hunt: The townspeople, led by Mildew, basically start one of these to search for Toothless after Mildew convinces them that Toothless is the reason for Thor's anger with the village.
