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companion-of-the-dragonmark · 7 days ago

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Is Heather Based on a Book Character? (HTTYD)

Hello, my fellow Dragonmarkers! Today, we'll be talking about another character from the movie/TV franchise and the Books:

Could Heather be loosely based on a character from the books?

(Warning: Spoiler Alert to those who haven't read the books at all, but consider this an opportunity to see if the books are worth reading, eh? ;-) )

Now, I might be 100% wrong on my theory, but I'm still going to present it, and leave to you, my audience, to determine whether or not this is plausible.

Unlike other characters in the movie/t.v. show whom many fans think are similar to certain book characters (cough, cough, Astrid, cough), Heather might possibly have more in common with her other half, Barbara the Barbarian: a minor character that we see only in the last book of the series, How to Fight a Dragon's Fury.

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My Theory | How Heather and Barbara Are Similar:

What makes me think that Heather and Barbara are connected, if somewhat loosely?

Well, let me give you a few reasons:

1) She's a daughter of a Chieftain.

Both girls are daughters (or Princesses, as they're called in the books) of Chieftains — albeit Heather's the daughter of the late Chieftain of the Berserker Tribe, while Barbara is the daughter of the Chieftain of the Barbarian Tribe. They both have a level head on their shoulders and their equipment and even their dragons look somewhat similar, if loosely so.

They are also good leaders who lead their warriors well, and both of their fathers dote on them.

Both are superb fighters, being daughters of Chieftains. They are also intelligent, fierce, brave, kind, compassionate, and love their dragons dearly.

2) Both seem to be brunettes (though Barbara's hair and eye color is never mentioned).

3) Barbara, like Heather, seems to not have a mother, though it's unclear whether the mother died or if she was just not mentioned. The HTTYD books only have a few mothers who are mentioned and shown: Bertha (Camicazi's mother), Valhallarama (Hiccup's mother), Termagant (Fishlegs' mother), Excellinor the Witch (Alvin the Treacherous's mother), and Chin-hilda (Hiccup the Second's mother). Oddly, women are sorely lacking in the books. Maybe it's just because of the Viking culture in her books. In Viking culture, women weren't often mentioned except in folklore and sagas.

4) Both are staunch supporters and allies of their respective Hiccup the Thirds. Heather is a trustworthy ally who's often shown alongside Hiccup and the Dragon Riders in Race to the Edge along with Dagur.

She's always seen with the others around the Hearth giving suggestions and advice. Before she reconciled with Dagur, and when she lived with the Dragon Riders, she often flew with Hiccup and/or Astrid, and was usually the one to go with Hiccup and Astrid when he left to talk to someone — whether a villain or one of their allies.

She and Barbara have the utmost respect for their respective Hiccups and would gladly die for them if need be.

Barbara only nominated Alvin the Treacherous to be King of the Wilderwest, despite knowing the kind of person he was and having fought against him, and being Hiccup's follower, out of practical sense and battle fatigue, for the Vikings of the Wilderwest were close to extinction under the claws of the Dragons' Red-Rage Rebellion led by Furious, and she and everyone else had been fighting the dragons for two years at this point and were war-weary (even Vikings need a break from war once and a while). Only when evidence began to pop up that Hiccup is the Rightful Heir did she have hope again.

She was also one of the Vikings who knelt before Hiccup to swear their swords for his service as their King. And when Hiccup was going to duel Furious, Barbara offered to lend him her cat to take into battle — whether as a weapon, a lucky charm, or both.

And when Hiccup was in danger — and when Alvin incited the battle once again by breaking the Rules of Single Combat by entering the Ring when Hiccup and Furious were engaged so that he could steal the Dragon Jewel and kill Hiccup the Third for good — she flew on her dragon along with her comrades to enter the fray and showed great courage and bravery.

5) Both Heather and Barbara own battle horns.

Heather was given her horn as a gift from Hiccup's father Stoick when she was born. Perhaps Barbara did likewise, or her own father had given her it when she was older. As I've said, she's a minor character so not much is known about her at all; she's only shown in one book — the last one, and only in the middle of the last one.

Heather uses her own to call Windshear to her if they ever get separated. It's also possible that she uses it to call to any allies that are close to her. Barbara seems to use her horn similarly.

In fact, in How to Fight a Dragon's Fury, it says in Page 241 that: "...She brought out her foghorn and blew on it several times, making such a loud noise that the cat's fur stood up like the quills on a sea urchin and she immediately bounced back onto Barbara's shoulder."

So she seems to use it for her pet cat (I believe it was mentioned that the Barbarian Tribe used cats into battle. No clue why, but they do).

Another reference in Page 450 — well after this point, close to the end of the story — when the Second Dragon-Human War was ended and the Vikings were celebrating the new peace and the return of the Kingdom of the Wilderwest. Unfortunately, being Vikings, their celebrating eventually moved into fighting and arguing, and Hiccup eventually asks Barbara for her horn in order to break it up.

Hiccup says: " 'In the meantime, I know what will stop them from arguing... Barbara," said Hiccup now, 'could I borrow your foghorn?' King Hiccup stood up on his Stone, and blew the foghorn as hard as he could. The thrilling sound of the foghorn, when blown at full blast, was so magnetically loud that it hit the ears like an electric shock..."

We actually see this when Heather blows her horn to call Windshear to her in Edge of Disaster Part 2 in Season 2 of RTTE. The sound is high-pitched and loud.

Yet another — and final — reference is in Page 455-456, where, as the Vikings are singing songs during the Feast, Hiccup asks Barbara if she'd like her horn back, to which she replied that "he'd better keep it, as she thought that he was going to need it." (Vikings being Vikings, after all). Heather doesn't do this, but I was basically showing where the horn came from.

Now, it could be that this is just a coincidence, and that this doesn't make Heather loosely based on Barbara the Barbarian. It could be that the horn is just a little reference from the books like the eyepiece (telescope) you see Hiccup and other characters use throughout the Dragons series.

6) Both girls are love interests of their respective Fishlegs characters.

That's right. I'm getting to the JUICY stuff now! lol 😎🍿

Now Fishlegs in the movie franchise is vastly (pun not intended) different from Fishlegs in the books. Fishlegs in the books is small and skinny like Hiccup and has asthma, eczema, a squint, a limp, and numerous allergies, including one to reptiles. He wears glasses. And has red hair. And his dragon is a Deadly Shadow, a dragon not unsimilar to the Snaptrapper dragon — much cooler than a Gronkle, as the Deadly Shadow is a faster flyer, deadlier, and is a Stealth Dragon.

Fishlegs in the movies is... beefier than Fishlegs in the books. He also doesn't really have any allergies aside from Gobber's earwax (which they only did for comedy effect and the episode actually referenced Fishlegs' allergy to reptiles in the books, though Fishlegs seems to have gotten over that allergy as the books wore on). He doesn't have glasses, having perfect vision. He doesn't limp, he's strong, and doesn't squint. And he doesn't have asthma. And it seems like he can swim just fine, whereas in the books Fishlegs was a terrible swimmer and was only able to swim when he saw that Hiccup was in danger. He also has blond hair, not red. And he's a nerd when it comes to dragons, whereas Fishlegs in the books is an up-and-coming poet and bard with only the general knowledge of dragons.

Basically, he's a WIMP.

Fishlegs in the books is also an orphan, unlike in the movie, and also, unlike Movie Fishlegs, Fishlegs in the books also turns out to be royalty, being the son of Termagant, daughter of a Murderous Chieftain, and Alvin the Treacherous, making him the third cousin (according to the HTTYD wiki) of Hiccup and Snotlout. In the movie, Alvin is of no relation to Stoick, Hiccup, Snotlout, and Fishlegs at all, and Fishlegs is of no relation, in turn, to Hiccup. In the books, Fishlegs is also part Berserker on his mother's side, whereas Fishlegs has no such lineage.

One last thing: Fishlegs in the books was love-struck whenever Barbara was around, and couldn't form a coherent sentence together nor could think straight, often fainting. Fishlegs in the films and series never show any of that when with Heather. However, Fishlegs's secret letters to Heather could actually be a reference from the books where Fishlegs writes a secret love letter to Barbara the Barbarian against Hiccup's wishes.

In other words, he's a SIMP. 😂

(Heathlegs by NightOwl374 on Tumblr — though the account isn't around anymore and you can only find these on Pinterest)

Now, there are those who hope that someday Fishlegs and Barbara get together (personally, I don't) like how Fishlegs and Heather do in RTTE.

Another thing that the girls have in common is that both are older than their male counterparts — she is about a year or so (give or take a few months) older than Fishlegs, while Barbara is said, according to Camicazi, to be at least three years older than Fishlegs.

Two noticeable differences are, however, that 1) Fishlegs and Heather were a couple at one point, whereas with Fishlegs and Barbara, it was a one-sided attraction on Fishlegs' part and probably wouldn't be a thing regardless; and 2) both Barbara and Fishlegs were royalty, whereas only Heather is royalty and Fishlegs is just your average Joe (or IS HE? 😏).

But Fishlegs and Heather's relationship could've been a very loose reference to the possibility — and hope — of Fishlegs' infatuation with Barbara the Barbarian in the end of How to Fight a Dragon's Fury (come on, Cressida! Make us a sequel series!), and wanting Fishlegs to at least GET THE GIRL for once! lol 😂

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Conclusion:

Anyway, this is all that I have for you concerning this. What do you guys think? Do you think that Heather could be loosely inspired by Barbara from the books? Or do you think that I'm making mountains out of ant-hills and that these are just a bunch of coincidences! Tell me what you guys think! 😏

Thank you everyone for reading this article! I hope you guys enjoyed reading it! Until next time, my fellow Dragonmarkers! Have a great weekend!

Long Live the Wilderwest!

— Companion of the Dragonmark