#grimmel's deathgrippers

[nightfury-2001]

i think in HTTYD3 they should've had Hiccup and the riders free Grimmel's Deathgrippers. it would have been really cool and would have fit Hiccup's character and also if they did they could've had the Deathgrippers turn on Grimmel and devour him, which would've been a way more satisfying death than him just falling to his doom IMO. just another way they wasted the potential of the third movie

Hiccup actually acting like the real Hiccup and caring about drugged and abused dragons, Grimmel having a more interesting (and more thematically fitting in some ways) death, the Deathgrippers getting some justice.....yeah, I definitely vastly prefer this to what we got. It's honestly legitimately upsetting how the Deathgrippers were treated in the third film, they deserved so much better.

[sleepingboar]

I portrayed Grimmel's mother, to one of the fanfishes I read. I liked this character very much from the words of the author, although she did not appear in the story.

This bulky chair was not made by Grimmel. In addition, the symbolism of Mara, the patroness of ritual fire (burnt feet), is carved on the section of its armrests. The arbiter of the trial of those who transgressed the law (she gave birth to a bastard).

[countlessofvoids]

I know I'm five years late on this and frankly this conversation is really fucking annoying at this point, but I gained analytical skills just recently, got hyperfixated on HTTYD again and have few things on my mind;

There's a ridiculous amount of bad writing decisions regarding the third movie's main antagonist and even more in the entirety of the film. However in my opinion, Grimmel's character could improve even if you kept all other aspects the same by getting rid of one plot point. And that is "drugging deathgrippers with their own venom".

One the dumbest parts of THW, only beaten by Toothless & light fury's boring romance and the movie's message. But the difference between those is those at least serve some purpose. This could go unmentioned and much wouldn't change. Sure, it shows us Grimmel uses their venom for his crossbow arrows, other than that, the "slavery" aspect is useless. All it does is make him ridiculously evil. Because the audience forgot he's not nice, apparently.

What I'm getting at is - I believe a better alternative would be the deathgrippers serving Grimmel not because they're forced to, but because they want to. Make them have genuine bond like Hiccup has with Toothless.

In universe justification: Deathgrippers are said to be intelligent dragons, so they'd probably understand that working with some creature who helps them hunt is beneficial for them. And since they're pack animals, hunting also works as a bonding activity. This would be a perfect gateway for Grimmel to make them more loyal to him. They don't necessarily need to have Hiccup & Toothless' bond (although I would personaly prefer it that way). Think of it like the speedstinger in RTTE - Despite not liking Snotlout at all, it defended him against the other speedstingers because it considered him a part of it's pack.

Writing/narrative justification: Having a group of dragons take part in killing simply for their enjoyment portrays them as intelligent creatures, which emphasizes how similiar dragons are to humans. Some are assholes just because! Also it means them dying at the end isn't a horrible way of making your audience question your protagonist's morals, since in this version they kinda deserved it.

Grimmel being friends with a bunch of dragons while hating all the others gives him depth as a character - it makes him a hypocrite.

But most importantly, Hiccup and Grimmel being parallels would be much clearer. It shows how they're the same person on different paths, that he could be like Hiccup but choose not to. Or it could lead to him being a parallel to Valka. Older person who doesn't like other people and prefers living with dragons? Sounds like Valka to me!

Now this could create a plot hole with the whole Alpha thing, since in canon they don't listen due to being drugged. However I choose to ignore that because I don't like the idea of every dragon mindlessly following Toothless no matter what personality and concept of the alpha in itself.

[fandomblogs-posts]

Teaser time!!

A teaser of my next oneshot that will hopefully be published in the next few days after editing.

@mdoodlerfandomart I can’t wait for you read this since I got the inspiration from one of your fanarts. Super excited!

[worldwhightnight]

deathgrippers dont like ice because they become deathslipers

hehe

just fast sketch ^^

[burtonbabygirlguster]

“night furies can’t survive in the cold” meanwhile Toothless had been living on Berk for. like. 5-6 years (minus RttE). a place which has been described to “snow nine of the months and hail the other three”

[ziggityzigg]

This ate but i probably won’t finish it

[astridhoff03]

The most underrated dragon species and the joker of the night furies. They are equally dangerous yet so different and powerful in behavior and attacks. The Night Furies are the natural enemies of these cruel creatures.

[galacticspaceguy]

Httyd Deathgripper HCs!!! (Bc they’re like one of my favorite dragon)

(Most of these are supported by their wiki)

-They are very accurate when shooting their acid and saving it, but due to being extremely drugged by Grimmel, they are constantly eaither making to much, or not enough, throwing up way to much, making their aim very messy.

-Closely related to the triple stryke

-They love flight and are extremely strong, and can fly for longs periods of time, which is why they are able to care Grimmels airship around

-When sleeping, they tuck all their legs in, like a loaf cat

-They can mimic birds and other animals to mask their movements when hunting

-Female Deathgrippers eat their mates during mating season to ensure their eggs mature faster, due to Deathgrippers having a cannibalistic nature

-They hunt in packs and play with their prey

-Deathgrippers are extremely hard to train, better to start when they are young, so they think you are their mother. Of course you can train an adult, perhaps by earning trust by saving its life

-Deathgrippers don’t originate in the archipelago, given Grimmels accent (Russian) then they problem are native to Europe or Russia

[misterrttegrimborn]

(my job)

[beyondberkblog]

Updated refs for Nicolas and Grimmel (who goes under the pseudonym of Cyrus Rhodes in Beyond Berk: Aftermath).  These references are specifically for Aftermath, which is a sister server to Beyond Berk set 1500 years in the future after a modern, world-ending apocalyptic event. 

[nightfury-2001]

I still don't understand why the Death Grippers are considered evil. Is it because they were working with the antagonist? Well so were Drago's dragons, but they still got redeemed because they weren’t "bad", they were being controlled. Is it because they eat other dragons? So does a Death Song, and they're never portrayed as evil. I don't really see what makes the Death Grippers different than the other dragons we've seen.

Suuuper late reply but you're 100% right Anon, it's so silly how hard they push that Deathgrippers are evil when the Deathgrippers we see in the film are, you know, drugged and under control of the villain and all that, and like you said it's not like dragons that eat other dragons is some new concept either. And let's not forget how they REALLY tried to push that "dragons are wild animals with animal instincts" in THW and like do I even need to explain how stupid (and harmful!) it is to call literal wild animals evil? You can't have these creatures be legitimately evil/"bad" and also be literal wild animals (that have also been drugged/abused, don't forget) DreamWorks. Pick one.

I honestly think they tried to push that the Deathgrippers are not nice (even when not drugged) so hard so people wouldn't feel bad when Grimmel's airship thing crashes into the ocean with the struggling Deathgrippers still attached or when Toothless electrocutes the remaining Deathgrippers and you see their lifeless bodies fall.

[sleepingboar]

My first post, which scored 100, contained a Deathgripper. Well, for this occasion, I made a light sketch of the best dragon in this franchise.

[countlessofvoids]

The only way I'd accept THW's dragon romance plot is if instead of a light fury, it was a deathgripper.

[fandomblogs-posts]

and it's here!!!!

@mdoodlerfandomart @evilwriter37

[sophi-s]

I'm not great at drawing Deathgrippers but here it is 😂

Tag your favorite of the dragons and your favorite expression XD

@evilwriter37 I hope you have a lil laugh :)

I have a nice HC

Deathgrippers are pack dragons, right? I can imagine them huddling into piles when napping if it's cold around to keep warm.

And during a long hunt, Grimmel found out firsthand. Needless to say, he was stuck under a bunch of dragons for a bit, much to his chagrin

Ha! I can just imagine his reaction. It would be so funny. He'd be so exasperated.