#HTTYD3 talk

[thereweredragonshere]

I want to hit Dean DeBlois over the head with a gift of the night fury shaped frying pan

[neytui]

I'm constantly fighting the cringy urge to self insert myself on httyd at least once

But today I dreamt about it and I'm still excited, like come on

[bio-on-the-side]

i rewatched the wild robot at my local cinema today and i feel like i've been conditioned to go crazy at this movie since watching httyd for the first time in 2010. the cinematic score, the great character design and animation but especially the story beats and the heart. i love all the parallels and i love every point where the stories diverge and become something totally unique

[cure-whimsy]

does anyone have like. full-body references of ruffnut's viking outfit from httyd3

I only have her dragon armour, and a waist-up shot of her viking outfit

[circusclownsam]

The transition from a lush orange forest to a dead decaying forest is absolutely beautiful.

I will always love HTTYD2. Also love how Astrid gives hiccup a “what the fuck, shut up” look when he’s mocking Eret while he’s talking about drago.

[tillyblogs]

Snotlout in httyd3 is a hate crime. He got butchered so bad it actually made me sick like holy mother of god how do you assassinate everything in 0.5 seconds

"Who died and made you chief?"

This line.

This line.

Makes me SO mad. Because in THW Snotlout is already ten times more obnoxious and dumb than any previous incarnation of him in any previous installation in the story. The third movie came out after Race to the Edge it should at least honor the character development it gave him.

Post RTTE Snotlout is still Snotlout, he still reads as the same character. The only difference being he's more respectful and more mature. Even if we're disregarding the shows, you expect me to believe that this Snotlout

THIS SNOTLOUT. The Snotlout who openly cried when his chief died and followed Hiccup as his chief back to Berk to fight Drago, who has been friends with Hiccup and seen what a strong leader he is since they were kids (especially if you count the shows) after all of his development is going to say sOMETHING LIKE THAT to HICCUP of all people???

He's older now. He's an adult. He's more mature. He's been friends with Hiccup since they were kids. He believes in Hiccup. As of Notlout, he's not interested in trying to force his way into a leadership position. He cried at Stoicks's wedding. Hell he's the one who collected the arrows. He followed Hiccup back to Berk as his chief. He would not, within the realistic boundaries of his character, say something like this. Because why would he???

It makes me SO mad. Third movie Snotlout isn't Snotlout I swear to GOD.

[hijacksecrets]

On my second watch through of Race to the Edge, and man, could you imagine if we'd gotten a villain like Viggo instead of Drago in HTTYD2? Like, instead of this big dumb brute who just wants power (that essentially is no different than the other types of vikings that Hiccup deals with every day), if Hiccup actually had an intellectual opponent who gave him a run for his money (and hell, maybe even some moral challenges?)

(don't talk to me about Grimmel, i know technically he was like that but Hiccup had 0 braincells in httyd3 and just overall this household is a zero httyd3 tolerance household, thank you. Also Viggo has way more charisma than Grimmel)

RTTE has its faults but overall the good moments in the show are REALLY good, and I love how they did Viggo - I just wish he were in something with a higher budget T0T

[astridhoff03]

Top 7 Hiccstrid Moments from httyd3 & Homecoming 🤗❤️

Also you have to watch Cinema Therapy, they analyzed Hiccstrids Releationship trough out the Trilogy and the most interesting is when Astrid gives Hiccup a talk before the battle.

[menthol--crush]

Everyone in the HTTYD fandom knows that THW is bad.

This is how I would have written the third movie.

So, in the second movie, we end with Hiccup as chief and Toothless as the alpha. I am gonna start my changes here.

Hiccup does indeed become chief, but Toothless does not become the alpha. The 'alpha' is a concept made by the Bewilderbeast being able to control dragons, something that is apparently a thing with the super big dragons (like the Red Death). Toothless is a cool guy but he just doesn't have that capability.

Instead, it's implied at the end of HTTYD2 that the alpha thing ends once Toothless defeats the Bewilderbeast, and the dragons under its control are now free to go and live as they were meant to.

So. Opening on HTTYD3, Hiccup is chief but still struggling with his wanderlust. We see him dealing with the mundane every day issues of being chief; settling disputes, distributing food, keeping track of the sheep and other Berk exports. He is obviously frustrated and antsy, wishing he could just up and leave like he could before he was chief.

Gobber is advising him, Valka is doing her best to do so as well, and Astrid is trying to help him see why he can't just go off and explore. Hiccup feels like he's lost part of himself.

Meanwhile, Toothless is feeling the wanderlust as well. He's unable to fly without Hiccup; Astrid flies with him on occasion, but they never go very far and it's never long enough, since she has her own dragon and isn't keen to leave home behind due to Hiccup struggling.

The other riders are feeling a similar restlessness, though a bit less intense than Hiccup. They're young and the world seems so much bigger and easier to get to once you can fly on a dragon, but none of them are able to get away from their obligations at home.

There would be a very sweet scene similar to the one in THW where Hiccup and Astrid talk on the cliff; Hiccup is ready for marriage, but Astrid isn't quite as ready. They talk about how much there is to do in Berk, how stressful running the village is, and how much easier life was before all this responsibility.

Eventually, Berk gets word (via Eret) of some foreign boats approaching from the south. It's a fleet of five or so ships, they don't necessarily look like war ships, but they're so different from Viking ships that it's hard to tell.

Hiccup jumps on this as a reason to get back out; he gathers the riders and they go out to scope out the situation, putting Gobber and Eret in charge while they're gone.

While flying south, Hiccup feels alive for the first time since becoming chief. He and Toothless are doing loops and drives and other crazy tricks while the others struggle to stay on path as this behavior makes Hiccup hard to follow lol

Anyway, they fly for most of the day, eventually stopping on an island to let their dragons rest and figure out where they need to go.

There's dissent among the riders as Hiccup doesn't appear to be taking this scouting mission seriously, just using it as an excuse to get away from his responsibility since he clearly doesn't like being chief. Hiccup's leadership is called into question, and Hiccup of course defends himself, saying that he wasn't ready to be chief but wasn't given much of a choice.

Their in-fighting is interrupted when they hear loud, distant booms. Hiccup goes up on Toothless to check it out, with Astrid following after telling off the other riders.

In the distance to the south they can see smoke coming from the mainland, implied to be Scotland if Berk is in the Faroe Islands as many have theorized.

Putting their squabble aside, the riders head south.

They find the ships; they're clearly pirate ships, and they're clearly trapping dragons.

Being this far south gives us the opportunity to see new dragons; I'm envisioning one that looks like a griffin with colorful feathers, a big one that gives off cow vibes, and a small furry one.

Seeing this, the riders decide that they don't have the firepower to go up against the pirates right now. Hiccup has to be physically stopped from diving into battle; Astrid has to cut him and Toothless off, reminding Hiccup that he has to think of all the people in Berk that depend on him. It's not just about his own safety anymore.

They head back and formulate a plan; with what they hear from Eret, who has been tracking the pirates, and what they saw themselves, they figure that the pirates are heading towards Berk, that they've likely heard about Hiccup and Toothless taking down a Red Death and a Bewilderbeast. If they're capturing dragons, they'll find plenty in the archipelago.

Hiccup is torn. He wants to protect his village, he wants to protect his people, but he took what Astrid said to heart and knows he can't just run into battle on his own, or even just with the riders.

After some deliberation with Astrid, Gobber, Eret, Valka, and the elder residents of Berk, they all decide that it's been too long since these Vikings have been to war. They've gotten complacent, used to a pastoral life, and the word of impending threat has riled everyone up.

It's decided that Hiccup (with help from Gobber) will lead the Vikings into battle against the pirates. Hiccup addresses the village, tells them what's going on, and says that this will be the first time Vikings will go to battle on dragons. The people of Berk are fully roused by the speech, and they get ready to go to battle.

After getting kitted out with armor and weapons, Hiccup leads the Vikings out to meet the pirates.

Their assumption was right; it's been a few days, and the pirates are spotted heading toward Berk. The pirates spot them approaching, mistaking them for a large migration of wild dragons, and we see the captain direct her ships to target them.

We get a good look at the pirate captain; she's an adult woman, Mediterranean in appearance. I'll call her Niobe.

Battle ensues, and the pirates use captured dragons against the Berkians. Hiccup wasn't prepared for this; he doesn't want to harm the dragons, but they can't get through the captured dragons to get to the ships. At some point, Niobe identifies Hiccup as the leader, and recognizes his Night Fury, and orders him shot down and brought to her.

Seeing the attacks centralize on Hiccup, Astrid, the riders, Gobber, and Valka try to draw fire away from him but are unsuccessful. Hiccup sees what's happening, and knows that if he doesn't do something, someone is going to get killed trying to keep him from going down. So he allows himself and Toothless to get captured.

The Berkians fall back to the island the riders rested at earlier, panicked at Hiccup being captured, but Astrid rallies the troops. They'll go after Hiccup.

Meanwhile, Hiccup meets Niobe, who isn't evil for the sake of evil, but still a villain. She captures dragons to sell across Europe for their fireproof skin, their strong bones, for entertainment, etc. She admits that she thought Night Furies were extinct, she's never seen one in person before.

Hiccup tries to reason with her, offers her gold or whatever else to let all the dragons go. Niobe laughs at this; there's no amount of gold Hiccup could offer that would recoup their losses if they let every dragon go free. Hiccup is taken below deck, seperated from Toothless.

While below deck, Hiccup meets people captured from different places, all of them speaking different languages. He does his best to rally them and the crew for mutiny.

Toothless is frantic without Hiccup in his sight; the pirates debate just killing him now and making a decent profit from Night Fury leather, especially when they notice his tailfin. They underestimate Toothless, since they don't know much about Night Furies, and Toothless breaks out.

While this is going on, the Berkians head out for another attack.

The attack is successful, with Astrid leading it, and Hiccup gets loose and starts setting dragons free. Every freed dragon joins the fight on Berk's side.

Finally, Hiccup and Toothless reunite and are back up in the air. Niobe is furious. The battle eventually ends with all five pirate ships sinking, and a few survivors fleeing on dinghies to the mainland. Niobe is among them.

Hiccup stops the Berkians and the wild dragons from attacking them; instead of sinking them, he calls out for them to spread the word that those who come to these waters with the intent of capturing dragons or attacking Berk will be met with Berk's army, and they'll fail just like Niobe has.

Battle won, they go back to Berk. Hiccup appoints Astrid as his general, and they finally decide it's time to get married.

The battle has awoken the deep-seated need to discover new lands in their Viking blood, and the Berkians excitedly begin planning to head south again (since, historically, Vikings did make their way to Scotland and Ireland and even the North American continent).

Having so many dragons in one place is clearly a siren call to poachers like Niobe, so they still set their dragons free, but they don't go hide in a magic cave for thousands of years. They come and go as they please. Hiccup does end up giving Toothless the automatic tailfin, and it's still bittersweet, but dragons are still coming and going. They're just not full time residents.

Hiccup vows to his people that he will remain focused on Berk's wellbeing. He starts plans for longboats, to set out into the world.

There's still a time jump to adult Hiccup with his two kids, and they meet Toothless again, who brings his own Night Fury kids. Hiccup is overjoyed at the implication that there ARE other Night Furies, or at least a species close enough for Toothless to breed with. Berk is thriving, the Berkians are discovering new lands, and the dragons still come around but are not kept like pets.

---

In this, I wanted to address the main issues I had with THW.

1. Hiccup not being much of a leader. He was solely obsessed with hoarding dragons, and didn't even think about how bringing hundreds of dragons to Berk would effect his people. This isn't at all in character for Hiccup; he does love dragons, but he wouldn't do something as stupid as stretch Berk's resources paper-thin to accommodate every dragon he's ever rescued.

2. Toothless. I don't know why they thought Toothless needed a romance storyline. I do like that he got to have a mate and have little Furies, but the 'dragon romance' felt really unnecessary to the plot. Like why did they do that.

3. Hiccup expands his view on the world with each film. In 1, he goes from following the expected path of being a dragon killer to sympathizing with dragons. In 2, he goes from being a reckless kid to being an adult. In THW, he didn't really grow as a person. He was clinging to Toothless, and to this suddenly very important magic cave story. Instead, I had him go from being hesitant to take on the responsibility of being chief to naturally falling into a leadership role in his own way.

4. Sending the dragons away. THW destroyed the message of the first two movies, that you should always stand up for what you believe, that there is ALWAYS a way to achieve your goals, that friendship will prevail. Instead, I had the dragons go free as the Vikings want to do Viking things like explore and discover and maybe a little conquering? 😅😁 The dragons are still around, but they live in their natural state as part of the ecosystem. THW went to the opposite side as the beginning of 1; they started out killing dragons, wanting to wipe them out. They ended in THW with sending them away. Both are bad.

5. I wanted more chiefly behavior from Hiccup. I wanted Astrid to be his second in command, not just his moral support. I wanted to see Hiccup falter a bit on being chief but find his footing by the end.

6. The theme of this as I've written it is Hiccup realizing his strengths, his leadership style, and becoming more confident as chief. He goes from relying almost entirely on Gobber and Valka in the beginning to trusting his own instincts. It completes his arc of coming of age and becoming an adult.

7. I don't know why they felt the need to get rid of dragons. Like I do get the idea of 'this could've been what happened! It could've been real!' But we know it's not. I don't see any reason to not have dragons stick around. I also see PLENTY of reasons why every dragon suddenly disappearing would be detrimental to the ecosystem, the food chain, and how it completely destroys the whole point of HTTYD1&2. They even had to invent an overpopulation problem to justify getting rid of them. Instead, I had them go back to being more or less wild, but still friendly to Berk.

[tillyblogs]

Holy shit all of this.

You know... as much as I hate the Light Fury, there's one thing after all these years that makes me genuinely feel bad for her.

The Hidden World sets her up as this poor abused, traumatized soul. She has been tortured and intimidated so much by humans that she can't connect with them. Just getting a glimpse of one makes her turn tail and flee for her life.

And yet, the movie robs her of her own revenge. She doesn't get to fight Grimmel, or the hunters. Leading up to and during the film's final battle, she's tranquilized, bound, has her life directly threatened, and then gets taken control of again and used against Toothless.

And she doesn't get revenge for any of it. She doesn't even get to fight in the armada battle. The one scene where she at least growls at her captors was animated specifically for the trailer, and isn't even in the final version.

You can argue that she got some form of control by choosing to save Hiccup and not Grimmel (thus killing him), but even so, there's no focus on her victory. It doesn't feel like a victory connected to her abuse, but instead, another setup that the movie forgot to pay off.

DreamWorks wanted a tormented, broken dragon, but forgot to let her fight for herself.

Even I can admit she deserved that much.

[1000dactyls]

So I wanna know, you'd true and honest thoughts on THW I think I remember you saying you didn't want to talk about it? I'm so sorry for this ask, but I'm curious because so much of the fandom doesn't like it, and while I agree everyone sees to have different reasons

there is quite a bit i dont like about thw, but the two most primary reasons are a) the artistic direction and b) the narrative's betrayal of the core themes set up by the first movie

a lot has already been said about the artificial smoothness of httyd3's rendering -- the textural smoothness of the dragons and skin, for one -- but it's the botox injection valka and the other ladies seemed to receive that irritates me the most. coming off the heels of two other movies less hesitant to show signs of aging as a natural process, the flattening of their wrinkles and fat feels shallow to me.

IMHO, the unnatural smoothness of movie mimics the hollow feel the third movie's narrative has, lacking the history and depth of the events the characters have lived through and the impact that history has on the characters' physical appearance. the movie instead has a dreamy, hazy quality to it. which would be fine in most movies, but not for a franchise dedicated to the physicality of the characters (which was the whole point of the first movie, that hiccup (and toothless) was visually distinct from the rest of the cast)

so not only is thw ugly to look at compared to the other two movies, it's also a narrative shitshow pitted against the other two movies. like, setting aside the objective masterpiece that the first movie is, how does httyd2 end with "come hell or high water i will always jump after you when you fall" to httyd3's "nah man let's let you go". how did we get here???? by completely assassinating everyone's character

and it's just extremely frustrating because httyd1 was about overcoming differences; that message was the flesh and blood of the series, the franchise's beating heart. httyd1 navigates complicated generational trauma to cease endless bloodshed. httyd3... puts off that conflict into some however many centuries into the future. and then the last 5 minutes of the movie even don't get the departure RIGHT hello???

the only good thing about thw is that john powell got to flex his muscles and compose "once there were dragons" and bring me to tears in 5 minutes and 46 seconds

[thereweredragonshere]

I'm obsessed with your art and would like to politely devour it like I'm a starving man 🤭

Also, I would love to see Valka in your fabulous style‼️

This woman.

This god damn woman and her absurdly high cheekbones.

Valka. Valka Haddock. Listen. You are an amazing character, your appearance perfectly encapsulates your personality and life experience (NOT talking about httyd3 Valka they BUTCHERED her) and I love almost everything about you. Except your cheekbones. On their own, they’re fine. But when you bring attempting to draw you for like, the first time in a few months.

VALKA.

WHAT THE FUCK.

WHEN I TELL YOU I SPENT A SOLID FORTY MINUTES CONSTANTLY DELETING AND REDRAWING A FUCKING HEAD BASE FOR HER I MEAN IT. I. MEAN. IT. THIS WOMAN AND HER FACIAL STRUCTURE, YOU TRIANGULAR FUCK (affectionate). TELL ME WHY THE WAY YOUR SKULL IS FORMED MADE ME FORGET HOW TO DRAW??? TELL ME WHY I WAS SAT IN FRONT OF MY PC, GOOGLE OPEN WITH PICTURES OF VALKA, FUCKING SWEATING MY ASS OFF SCRIBBLING ONTO THE STUPID PRO CREATE CANVAS BECAUSE I WAS UNABLE TO COMPREHEND HOW YOUR JAW IS SO FUCKING POINTED. GIRL YOU COULD SLICE SOMEONE OPEN WITH THAT CHIN.

Genuinely think I had several mental breakdowns trying to draw her and I very nearly gave up but boom. Final results. But I did end up giving her only moderately high cheekbones because oh my god my brain is fried.

Hiccup Haddock that you for not inheriting those stupid fucking genes🙏

[neytui]

Happy Leap Year + Happy Year of The Dragon + Happy Birthday Hiccup!!! 🎉✨

I know this is not confirmed on the movies or anything, but I guess it's the closest I can get to Hiccup's birthday so I'll take it.

I'll also take the chance to talk a lil about my feelings below, pardon meee

I've been liking httyd since it first came out, I remember being a kid and not understanding half what what's going on with the movie but there where dragons so I couldn't give a shit. I don't remeber my first time watching httyd2 but I fucking wish I did, the only one I remember watching for the first time is httyd3 cuz I went to the cinema and cried a fucking toooon, also got the only official merch I had and it's a pop corn bowl hell yeah.

Anyways, even when I have loved it my whole life, there have only been few times I've got hyperfixated on it, I think this is like the fourth/fifth time or smth, but it's the first time making content and posting :) and I didn't imagine there would be people out there who could care about it. I'm here to thank all that people, all of you thank you for liking my stuff and for reblogging with all that funny and caring tags, I read all of them, sometimes take some pictures of them bc of how much of an impact they made me feel, I wish there were a easy way to answer to them :') Httyd means a lot to me and I genuinely think it has formed some of me as a person through the years. I could write about it all day but this is getting so loNG IM SORRY, one day I could write more about it maybe, but till then, letting you know I care about this way too much and thank you so much for the support, love y'all ❤ Happy Birthday Hiccup

[ominousgradient]

Listening to High and Dry by Radiohead and it's such a Snotlout-coded song (specifically post httyd3):

Two jumps in a week

I bet you think that's pretty clever, don't you, boy?

The condescention and the "boy" reminds me of Spitelout, "Jump" can mean getting laid, Snotlout seeking validation through sexual encounters, he seeks partners not because he loves them but because he hopes they'll make him feel complete

It can also be read as his father minimizing the work the riders do, "jumps" could mean raids on dragon trapper ships

Flying on your motorcycle

Watching all the ground beneath you drop

Hookfangs horns were literally modeled after the handles of a Harley Davidson, flying puts distance between him and his worries

You'd kill yourself for recognition

Kill yourself to never, ever stop

The first part is self explanatory, Snotlout harms both himself and others in his desperate pursuit of acclaim, the second part could be read as him not wanting to stop being young and free, being afraid of settling down and facing the responsibilities of adulthood he feels he can’t live up to, maybe dreading living on Berk again after leaving the Edge

You broke another mirror

You're turning into something you are not

Becoming more violent and agressive in his youth and alienating his peers/coming to resemble Spitelout as he ages

he has all these emotions balled up inside that he can’t express properly so he lashes out, "turning into something he is not"

Don't leave me high

Don't leave me dry

The term "High and Dry" originally refers to a boat that is left stranded after the tide went out, when this happens there's nothing you can do but wait for nature to take it's course. It also refers to being helpless in a desperate situation.

Snotlout fears being abandoned, left alone and destitute like the boat

Drying up in conversation

You will be the one who cannot talk

(Refer to the point after this one for more details), loneliness has made him worse at communicating, his former friends all have moved on and they have nothing to talk about anymore

All your insides fall to pieces

You just sit there wishing you could still make love

Struggling to express love after not expiriencing it himself, maybe an older Snotlout growing isolated and becoming undable to show affection, "your insides fall to pieces" could be a about aging or about his mental state deteriorating without proper comfort, slowly growing more and more bitter

Reading "make love" as refering to lovers could mean that he has given up on finding a partner, romantic or sexual

They're the ones who'll hate you

When you think you've got the world all sussed out

The harmful ideas he's internalized lead him to act out and push others away so in turn they aren't kind to him, he ends up feeling hated, he's stuck in his ways even though he is aware that this is hurting him

They're the ones who'll spit at you

You will be the one screaming out

Again feeling hated, the screaming out could be a silent scream for help, he needs others help to get out of this rut but he remains unable to vocalize his pain

It's the best thing that you've ever had

The best thing you have had is gone away

Feeling abandoned and stranded after Hookfang leaves, lacking both his companionship and the freedom that having a dragon provided

Snotlout often confides in Hookfang even if it's just to complain about whatever is bothering him and they spent a lot of time together, without him his biggest source of comfort is gone

[cure-whimsy]

does anyone have any good refs of the gang's viking outfits from the hidden world?

I can't find any good renders of anyone besides astrid and hiccup, I can only find renders of everyone's dragon armour, which isn't what I'm looking for

[chaifootsteps]

Everything around HB/HH has me missing the days where the most offensive thing around was HTTYD3. Talking about bland heteronormative plots and how the Light Fury is just a fanfic/art knock off seemed like simpler times than having to deal with people like Viv

Oh god, I know, right? I never would have dreamed I'd ever say that a few years ago, but bring back the stupid Light Fury discourse.