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What HTTYD Says about Forgiveness

A sense of strange optimism, or at least idealism, permeates the landscape of How to Train Your Dragon, be it novels or movies or the television series. Numerous tandem explanations describe why we can feel hope even when horrid events - even shocking deaths - happen. It’s the focus on friendship. The message of peace. The wonders of soaring, free, in the skies.

And it’s the story of forgiveness.

How to Train Your Dragon sings of forgiveness from the first movie to the latest published book by Cressida Cowell. And while none of the writers treat the action as easy or naive, a very positive outlook results from tales of Stoick apologizing to Hiccup in the first movie, or Hiccup forgiving Mildew in the series, and especially Berk’s new chief forgiving Toothless in the second movie.

For what the stories show is that forgiveness is powerful and that it should be shared even in the worst circumstances to anyone. And that it might not mend everything completely, but it can speak out very, very powerfully and bring out a better end. It brings forth, if nothing else, admirable nobility.

Forgiving a Family’s Failings

Both the first and second movies heavily focus on family. It’s a disjuct family, if one that means well. This storytelling concentration on the imperfect family inevitably means that mistakes come about and that the other participants must decide how to respond.

Stoick and Hiccup in the first movie have a very dysfunctional relationship, neither fully understanding the other, both disappointing or irritating the other, neither really able to talk to the other, but both loving and desiring to please the other. Thus, when they interact, it often hurts the other rather than augmenting and developing their relationship. Yet even that tiny fragment of a disjointed relationship is threatened when Hiccup’s friendship with Toothless is revealed during the Kill Ring scene. At this point, Hiccup defiantly declares, “I’m not one of them,” contrasting himself with his father’s culture, while Stoick on the other end ominously intones, “You’re not a Viking. You’re not my son.”

And thus the family is split. “You’re not my son” means there is no family.

There are of course very understandable reasons and motivations on both sides of this horrible separation. Stoick has lived a life where dragons are the enemies; he sees the fifteen-year-old boy as a traitor to the tribe for befriending Toothless. How could the boy ally himself with the very creature that killed his mother? Hiccup, on the other side, has come to realize that dragons need not be the enemies. There need not be war.

Then comes the Battle of the Red Death.

And Stoick seeing Hiccup and the other teenagers riding dragons.

And Hiccup and Toothless plunging into the ocean.

And Stoick saving… both of them.

A change in heart comes over Stoick as he realizes the truth about dragons and acknowledges the incredible nature of his peace-promoting son. So he apologizes - not just for the Kill Ring - but “for everything.” All the dismissive treatment he has given Hiccup, all his rudeness, all his imperfections. It is an enormously humbling statement to acknowledge how he has repeatedly failed in this area of parenthood.

Hiccup, in turn, says he is sorry for everything, too.

Even though neither family member speaks aloud the words, “I forgive you,” from the expression in their faces it is apparent they mutually do. They forgive each other.

It might not immediately right their relationship or make everything better. Indeed, while Stoick and Hiccup do become far friendlier with one another by the second movie, one can still see they sometimes operate on the same mistakes as the first movie. They still fail to listen to each other. Stoick still frequently misjudges his son. Hiccup still runs off and impulsively disobeys his father for his own ends.

However, that moment of forgiveness remains. And even though neither individual is perfect, their mistakes no longer harmfully harry the relationship to the horrid extent seen in the second movie. It has done great work and helped heal the bond between father and son.

A very mature, thorny event then arises in the second movie: it is found out Valka is alive, but essentially abandoned the family twenty years ago. From her dialogue, it is apparent she had the volition to return home. But… she did not. She consciously, intentionally avoided Berk and her family.

This is a very serious issue to confront.

Everyone realizes it, too. There is so much awkwardness when mother and son meet, and Hiccup barrels after her spewing out questions of where she had been and why she never returned and how she was even alive anyway. Valka emanates regret around both husband and son, solemnly, guiltily acknowledging that leaving Berk behind was wrong. She is even frightened of Stoick when he approaches, expecting him to shout at her for her choice.

The thing is, that is what we would normally expect as a response: shouts. Bitterness. Something. Almost anyone would be pretty bitter about a mother leaving behind her son for twenty years, upset that a woman never came back to her husband she supposedly dearly loved.

Yet while neither Stoick nor Hiccup dismiss the implications of this very serious failing on Valka’s part, they respond to her welcomingly rather than bitterly. Valka asks Hiccup, “Can you give me a second chance?” And he - and his father - both immediately do.

Valka might have had an enormous, hugely criticizable failing on her part, but no one else in the family lets that destroy their relationship with her. They seek to forge something strong with her rather than focusing on her wrongdoings. Hiccup and Stoick both choose to see the positive in the reunion rather than the negative.

Which is all about how forgiveness works. Acknowledging the bad but not focusing on it. Celebrating the good and recognizing that it is worth pursuing. Choosing to build for the better rather than let the wrongs of the pasts bar a future relationship.

Forgiving Enemies

Not only is family forgiven in How to Train Your Dragon, though. A repeated theme of forgiving even enemies emerges throughout the stories, especially in the books and television series, though this theme also can be applied to the movies, too.

Hiccup saving Mildew in “We Are Family Part 2” is the first instance that I feel forgiving an enemy comes greatly to the forefront. Hiccup himself says, “You better not make me regret this,” when he unlocks the traitor’s cell door. Even though Mildew constantly harassed Hiccup about dragons and turned him in to his worst enemy, Hiccup still gives Mildew the chance for freedom.

What’s interesting about this is that, unlike the first incidences with the family, there is no clear humble apology beforehand. Mildew moreso begs for help than admits wrongdoing when Hiccup escapes the Outcast prison. Furthermore, even if Mildew had expressed a very clear apology, he would not have meant it anyway. Hiccup was forgiving and rescuing someone who went off and immediately betrayed him again.

Does this mean Hiccup was wrong to forgive an enemy? Was this foolish of him?

Not necessarily.

Consider the moment Stoick forgives Alvin in “Cast Out”.

There are many reasons why this is incredible. First off, they used to be incredibly close friends until a breaking point - something that would sting for a long, long time. And indeed that grew them into enemies. Alvin attacked Berk on multiple occasions, harassed the Hooligans.

Oh yeah and did this.

Kidnapped and nearly killed Stoick’s only son.

Wow. Stoick gave an amending handshake to someone who did that?

There’s something significant here I want to point out. The effects of the past do not magically fade away as soon as Stoick and Alvin shake hands. In fact, that friendship shall never be reformed even though the two forgive each other - or at least come to some sort of respectful understanding. The impact of the past shall still haunt them and affect their decisions.

Nevertheless, forgiving an enemy, be it Mildew or Alvin or anyone else, can reap positive ends. It can create respect for the other. It can bring about a ceasefire rather than outright aggression.

And there’s even more, but that is seen most in incidences I have to mention next.

Forgiving the Unforgivable

I have already spoken in great detail about how the entire relationship between Hiccup and Toothless hinges on a highly unlikely bond, not just in terms of humans and dragons generally being enemies, but in terms of how the two of them specifically should have been enemies to one another. Yet a friendship grew nonetheless, and it remains strong even when it should have failed.

I’m talking about that time Toothless shot Stoick straight in the chest with a plasma blast.

Irregardless of intentionality, Toothless still directly committed the life-ending act. That in itself is enough to excuse hardened hearts, a broken friendship, and unforgiven sentiments. Many friendships have broken up for such a reason as, “Whether or not you meant to hurt me, it did. I can’t let that happen again, and I can’t forgive you for what happened either.” It can be difficult to forgive someone who makes even unintentional wrongs, and enormous questions of future trust need to be raised. It’s still a fault, a failing, in the other’s wrong.

And that wrong was still committed. However it was done, it happened and had severe results. So why choose to forgive? To continue trusting in Toothless after a nightmare? It indeed would have been prudent of Hiccup to henceforth avoid Toothless and treat the dragon as an enemy. Such would have been the safer course of action, for Hiccup could not predict if another unpredictable killing might occur. Toothless, under the control of the Bewilderbeast, very well again could have ended another life. He almost did, too.

But Hiccup, despite the fact he is more likely to die confronting Toothless than reunite a friendship, still tries.

“I won’t leave you. I won’t let you go.”

And this incredible loyalty, this incredible ability to forgive the absolute unforgiveable, to forgive someone killing Hiccup’s own father, is what wrenches Toothless from the Bewilderbeast’s control and reunites the two in the end. An impossible fracture in a relationship turns out to be amendable. Hiccup’s enormous gamble comes to a fruitful result. Here we see, then, than even the worst wrongs do not have to destroy a friendship. If both sides work to rebuild a bridge, then anything, anything at all can be forgiven, and a friendship can be mended even through the most shocking trials.

Forgiving the Unrepentant

Yet nothing, absolutely nothing, tops this moment of forgiveness at the end of “How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero”:

“Are you saying,” said Snotlout, wonderingly taking his face out of his elbow, “that you are still prepared to take the risk and trust me, after I have betrayed you again and again and again?”

“I know in my heart that you are a Hero in the making,” said Hiccup. “We all make mistakes. We all need second chances and even third, fourth, and fifth chances. Maybe you just needed to have that one last fight with me, and then you’d be able to join our side.”

I cannot even begin to count how many times Snotlout has bullied Hiccup or treated him poorly. It is hard to even tally how many times he has actively tried to kill Hiccup. Snotlout has created a disreputable history for himself as Hiccup’s main Hooligan antagonist over many, many years of poor actions. When Snotlout was only thirteen, he tried to kill Hiccup during sword fighting lessons. He tried to kill him many more times afterwards, too. And Snotlout exiled Hiccup’s father and best friend to the Amber Slavelands. Snotlout betrayed Hiccup to his worst enemies, leading the poor boy to be questioned, tortured, nearly killed, by Excellinor the Witch. Now, at this moment in time, when Hiccup is speaking of forgiving Snotlout and giving him third, fourth, and fifth chances, his cousin has just succeeded in besting him at a sword fight and is about to end the boy’s life.

So even before Snotlout has a change in heart, before Snotlout does anything to “deserve” it, Hiccup forgives him. He forgives Snotlout again and again and again - not naively, for he knows his cousin might still be foul - but he sees inside Snotlout his potential good, sees in himself his own imperfections, sees the good that comes from treating another fairly… and finds within him goodwill rather than bitterness.

This is where the gem of forgiveness in How to Train Your Dragon really comes to the forefront.

In incidences like Toothless killing Stoick or Snotlout attacking Hiccup, the hero is not forgiving a repentant individual. The hero is not forgiving someone who will necessarily change; in the incidence with Mildew or Alvin, for instance, they’re still enemies at the end of it all. And the hero is not expecting that person to change, either. Hiccup creates a “Plan B” one time after he has forgiven Snotlout and chosen to trust him, just in case when they enter Alvin’s hideaway his cousin tries to betray him again. Which Snotlout does.

Forgiveness, then, is not about what the other person has done. It is not about the transgressor’s heart. It is not about him feeling sorry for wrongs. It is not about him growing to become someone better after the wrongdoing. It is not about him being a good person at all.

Forgiveness does not have to hinge on the other person proving himself or herself in any way.

It can be done in any incident, and it can help regardless of how the wrongdoer responds.

Forgiveness is not about someone deserving it.

In the case of Snotlout, Hiccup repeatedly forgives Snotlout, and in this quote above, he states that people should be given not just second chances, but third and fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh chances. It’s the idea we should always give someone kindness seventy-seven times seven times… an infinity of times… because it can do good from the forgiver’s end even if the other individual continues to fail.

For think about Hiccup’s continued ability to forgive, be it movies or television series or books. His admirable ability to continue forgiving individuals for anything makes him the Hero he is. It builds an incredible sense of nobility in Hiccup, not making him a fool but someone to be revered.

The person who forgives in How to Train Your Dragon… is a Hero.

It does not matter when it happens. For really, I have only mentioned a portion of incidences from HTTYD. I could yammer even more about Astrid and Heather in “Heather Report Parts 1 and 2”, Hiccup and Snotlout in “We Are Family Parts 1 and 2,” Snotlout and Astrid in “A Tale of Two Dragons,” Hiccup, Eret, and Astrid in “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” Hiccup and Toothless in “How to Train Your Dragon 1,” Toothless and Stoick in “How to Train Your Dragon 1,” Hiccup and Camicazi in “How to Seize a Dragon’s Jewel,” Toothless and the Whispering Death in “What Flies Beneath,” Hiccup and Furious in “How to Break a Dragon’s Heart,” Hiccup and Snotlout in “Thawfest,” and on and even more. What we see here, over and over and over again, is a kindness of heart - especially on Hiccup’s end - through a variety of incidences.

How to Train Your Dragon does not treat forgiveness as an easy act. It does not treat it as the grand solution to problems. It does not treat the wrongdoer’s actions as negligible and forgettable. However, it does treat forgiveness as a heroic act, one of nobility and great character. It is to be bestowed on anyone regardless of the extent of the action or the intent of the wrongdoer.

And indeed we can come to understand that, while there may be enemies with armadas and armies and dangerous dragons and a whole host of seemingly unforgivable villains, “the voice of peace” will “bit by bit change this world.”

#which was of course ruined by thw #but it's true for before that #this is a nice blast from the past #9 yr old post reminding me of the good old days in the fandom #reminds me why i loved it #and what i miss #but honestly it makes it easier to forgive thw #cause that's the message isn't it?#can't change what happened #only try and move on

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