Hiccup and Heather are shocked to discover that Dagur is not only alive but working with the dragon hunters. Snotlout undergoes the Trials, a series of tests he must pass to be Mala's king.
Tropes:
- Arrow Catch: One of the trials to be Mala's king involves her being shot at with an arrow. When Snotlout fails at this, Mala simply catches the arrow instead.
- The Bus Came Back: Dagur, who's revealed to be Not Quite Dead.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Averted. Snotlout has to cross a river of lava as the first trial, and while he never actually touches it, the heat it emits still burns his feet.
- Dark Horse Victory: Everyone expects Snotlout to fail miserably and need rescue, except for Mala. But turns out he doesn't just succeed at the challenges, he excels and rises to the occasion. He only loses in the end due to a technicality, though Mala is unwilling to give him another shot (apparently for Hiccup's sake).
- Disney Death: Dagur and Shattermaster are alive. They Never Found the Body, after all.
- Engagement Challenge: The trials Snotlout undergoes.
- Foreshadowing/Rewatch Bonus: Mala stated in the season premiere that it was prophesied a man who came from a foreign land and saved her life would become her king. Who saves her life at the start of this episode...?
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Snotlout somehow manages to defeat three giant eels and drag Fishlegs to safety, a feat so unbelievable that the other riders are too astonished to even explain how Snotlout did it.
- Taking the Bullet: The last trial is to jump in the way of an arrow fired at Mala and survive. Snotlout fails as the arrow misses him entirely, thanks to a little distraction by Toothless throwing off the shot. Mala plays Rules Lawyer and counts it against Snotlout despite having failed through no fault of his own.
- Troll: Ruff and Tuff once again take great pleasure in the promise of horrible pain befalling Snotlout, and repeatedly instigate him to keep taking the trials while trying to screw him up while they're happening - though they do begrudgingly go along with shadowing and possibly rescuing him if things go bad. When he actually progresses through to the bigger and badder trials, they're ecstatic.
