How to Train Your Dragon 2
This movie truly expands the world of How to Train Your Dragon. It did come out before Race to the Edge, which was how they were able to bridge the gap so well. For those of us who are coming off the end of RTTE, it’s a few years later, a total of five years after the events of the first movie. The teens are settled back on Berk. They’ve made dragon racing more elaborate (as detailed in the short we watched before RTTE, Dawn of the Dragon Racers) and the whole village has turned out to watch them. Hiccup introduces “this is Berk” and explains some of the changes made, even more than we saw in RTTE (someone was busy once he returned).
The dynamics of the team have changed a little more. Both Snotlout and Fishlegs are interested in Ruffnut, though she’s not showing a preference between the two and Astrid even points out to Snotlout that Ruff tried to bury him alive. His come back? It was only for a few hours. Stoick cheers on Astrid in the race, remarking to Spitelout that she’s his future daughter-in-law (we witnessed their engagement in RTTE). However, Hiccup…is nowhere to be found. Gobber figures that Stoick chased him off. Astrid manages to win the race as Hiccup’s voice over comments that all of his hard work has paid off, and the world got a lot bigger.
We catch up with Hiccup and Toothless shooting across the ocean. Toothless climbs and Hiccup starts his new trick, decked out in a new flight suit and full helmet [most likely to improve aerodynamics]. Hiccup sets Toothless’ tail to glide while Hiccup falls off. They free fall for a while, then glide on their own. Toothless has to try to catch Hiccup when the Viking gets in a little trouble with an oncoming sea stack. Toothless catches him, but it’s a bit of a rough landing. We see Hiccup’s new leg, which can change which kind of foot he has. Hiccup’s not too phased by what happened, more excited to be out doing something, finding a new land. He and Toothless joke around and Toothless wins by collapsing on the Viking and licking him. “You know that doesn’t wash out!”
They’re joined by Astrid and Stormfly. The two dragons bound off to play and Astrid helps Hiccup with his map. He reveals that he’s hiding from his dad because Stoick brought up making Hiccup chief soon. Astrid’s excited for her boyfriend. Hiccup is not. He’s still figuring out who he is; Astrid has always known. She’s a warrior; she’s like Stoick. She leads the team when Hiccup is not there (and will make a good chieftain’s wife). But Hiccup is not his father and he never knew his mother. He still wants to explore more. He wants to find more Night Furies for Toothless. Then he spots smoke in the distance.
The couple checks the scene out and discovers a mound of ice blasts, but they’re interrupted by trappers catching Stormfly. Hiccup has also improved his sword since RTTE and uses it to great effect. The blade retracts, but also lights on fire. They meet Eret, son of Eret, and his trappers, who work for someone named Drago Bludvist (briefly mentioned at the end of RTTE). Eret thinks that the person who destroyed their fort and stole their trapped dragons works with Hiccup. This is the first Hiccup has heard of this, but he’s not keen on the news that Drago is building a dragon army. For now, they free Stormly and fly back to Berk.
Stoick is thrilled to begin training Hiccup as chief. Hiccup forcibly has to stop his father and tell him about Drago. Stoick knows Drago and instantly switches modes to defend the island. Everyone is grounded, no one is allowed off the island. He starts closing up the dragon pens. Hiccup wants to go out and find Drago and keep the peace, what he sees as his duty. Stoick disagrees. Drago is a man without conscious or mercy. He must prepare his son for war. A chief protects his own. Hiccup manages to fly out with Toothless and Astrid follows him.
They find Eret again and Hiccup turns them in, intending to hitch a ride to Drago (also showing off how he uses Zippleback gas as a distraction). Hiccup figures he can change Drago’s mind. [He’s managed in the show to change so many enemies’ minds; Alvin, Dagur, Viggo. He changed Stoick’s mind. Hiccup believes this is his path.] That notion gets knocked about when the rest of the team, along with Stoick and Gobber show up. Ruffnut is instantly attracted to Eret (it’s a little creepy). The argument between father and son starts back up. Hiccup is trying to prevent a war. War is what Dragon wants, Stoick answers. He tells the young adults about a gathering of chiefs where Drago promised he alone could keep everyone safe. The rest of the chiefs laughed him out and he shouted “see how well you do without me!” and the place erupted in dragon fire. Stoick alone escaped. “Men who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with,” he warns his son. Hiccup still wants to try and manages to fly off again. Stoick orders Astrid to take the rest of the team back to Berk. He and Gobber track down Hiccup.
Hiccup lets out some steam, but is surprised when a new dragon with a strange covered rider rises from the clouds. The dragon has four wings and is larger than Toothless. Other dragons come up and whisk Hiccup off of Toothless, who falls into the water. Water dragons eventually take Toothless away, but Hiccup is yelling at the strange rider that Toothless cannot fly on his own, he’ll drown. Hiccup is eventually let down amongst a herd of dragons, but he uses his flaming sword to calm them down, show the dragons that he’s one of them. The other rider is intrigued, but steps in before Hiccup can touch a dragon. Hiccup is relieved when Toothless is brought in and hugs his friend. Hiccup wonders if this rider is possibly Drago? Or the stranger who took Eret’s dragons? The stranger approached Hiccup but backs up when they catch sight of a scar on Hiccup’s chin. The stranger knows Hiccup’s name. They take off their mask; the stranger is a woman. “Should I know you?” “No, you were only a babe. But a mother never forgets.”
Skullcrusher finds Hiccup’s helmet and gets a scent; they’re on the trail for Hiccup. Gobber points out to Stoick that Hiccup is twenty and a Viking, off course he’s stubborn. Stoick remarks that Hiccup’s mother could never stay still either.
Hiccup’s mother, Valka bounds away to show Hiccup something and he follows [it reminds me of the scene from the Lion King where Rafiki is showing Simba something.] Hiccup has questions. Where has she been for twenty years? She got carried off by a dragon, what happened? Well, she lives in a dragon sanctuary. She’s helped rescue and tend to hundreds of dragons. They all live under the protection of the Alpha, the King of all dragons (a Bewilderbeast, and what the antagonists were searching for at the end of RTTE). Valka takes a look at Toothless and remarks that he’s the last of his kind and is Hiccup’s age, which must be why they get along so well.
She asks about Toothless’ injury and assumes it was Drago. Now it gets awkward. Hiccup admits he shot Toothless down, but “you got me back, right bud. You couldn’t save all of me, could you? You just had to make it even. So, peg leg!” He admits Stoick was able to change after what Hiccup did. Valka doesn’t believe Hiccup. In her day, Berk was a land of kill or be killed, but she couldn’t kill dragons either. Then, one night, a dragon broke into their house while Hiccup was in his cradle. Valka went to defend him, but found Cloudjumper being thoughtful and kind. He was startled, which left the scratch that scarred on Hiccup’s chin. When Stoick burst in, Cloudjumper took off with Valka, leaving a burning hut behind with Stoick and Hiccup. Hiccup is still trying to take everything in; “it’s not every day you find out your mother is some kind of crazy, feral, vigilante, dragon lady.” Hiccup meets the Alpha and finds out that all dragons listen to the Alpha; they are under his control as well as his protection. Well, the baby dragons listen to no one.
When Stoick and Gobber don’t return with Hiccup in short order, Astrid worries they may have been captured, so she takes the team to find Eret again and once again find Drago. In finding Eret, Stormfly plays fetch with the trapper. He finally agrees to take the Berkians to Drago. “Works every time,” Astrid remarks about her dragon.
Mother and son continue to bond. They fly with the dragons and Hiccup shows Valka his map. She draws another map for him, which prompts Toothless to draw in the snow (an echo of the first film). Hiccup shows off his flying suit, proving to be truly like a dragon. Until Toothless has to rescue him again. Hiccup’s still a daredevil and is thrilled even after Toothless dumps snow on him. Valka shows Toothless and Hiccup that there are a second set of finds on Toothless’ back that would help with tight turns. Valka realizes, “all this time, you took after me?” She asks to start over with her son. He agrees. And then wants Valka to come with him and speak reason to Drago. She also refuses, more concerned with protecting the dragons from Drago and his men. She will protect her own (an echo of Stoick saying a chief protects his own in regards to Vikings.)
Astrid and the team make it to Drago’s camp and are taken prisoner. Stoick and Hiccup aren’t there, but Drago manages to bend Hookfang to his will, more through brute strength and fear than understanding like Hiccup. He claims that he alone controls dragons. Well, the Berkians have a surprise for him. There’s another ‘dragon master,’ Hiccup, son of Stoick the Vast, heir to the chief of Berk. He will come rescue them on his Night Fury and take down Drago. He chuckles. Now he knows he needs to attack Berk. When Drago orders Eret to be killed, Stormfly protects him, to his astonishment. When the young adults are about to walk the plank, Eret returns the favor and helps them get free. They search for their dragons and Eret thanks Stormfly.
Since neither of his parents will listen to him, or try to help him, Hiccup plans to set out for Drago on his own. He’s stopped by Stoick and Gobber who have arrived. Well, now Hiccup has another surprise for Stoick. He’s stunned silent when he catches sight of Valka. She expects him to shout, demand why she stayed away from them for twenty years. “Stop being so stoic, Stoick!” Instead, the first words out of his mouth are “you’re as beautiful as the day I lost you.” Who knew that Stoick could be so soft and romantic? They kiss and all are happy with the reunion. This is the first time in Hiccup’s memory that he’s had both of his parents present. Stoick even sings a song to Valka, The Dancing and the Dreaming. She joins in and they dance around. They’re ready to be a family again. Gobber will cook.
Their happiness is interrupted by distress from the dragons. Drago has found the sanctuary. Everyone mounts up. The team escape with their dragons and start setting fire to the traps, rescuing other wild dragons. Fishlegs and Snotlout both save Ruffnut when she falls off Barf and Belch, (they attempt to look majestic…mixed results I’d say.) Astrid and Eret ride Stormfly together and then Hiccup bursts in. When Astrid asks what he’s been up to, “oh, just catching up with mom,” as Cloudjumper and the Bewilderbeast emerge. Now they know where Hiccup gets his dramatic flair. [The music is awesome here.]
Valka ends up on the ground and goes after Drago. Drago reveals that he too has a Bewilderbeast Alpha, that controls his dragon army. So Bewilderbeast faces off against Bewilderbeast. Stoick steps in to defend Valka and then faces off against Drago, in a mimic of the fight going on behind them. Ultimately, Drago’s Bewilderbeast kills Valka’s. Then he sets it to kill Valka. Stoick rushes off to save his long-lost wife. Hiccup is the next to face Drago. Drago’s surprised by Hiccup’s size and comments that Stoick must feel shame that this is his son. Hiccup ignores that comment and retorts that this is Drago’s effort to rule the world. He remarks that dragons are kind and can bring people together. Drago doesn’t believe it; he knows their cruelty; he shows Hiccup where he lost an arm and wears a prosthetic. Hiccup theorizes that Drago needs dragons to conquer other dragons, or is it other people? Control those who follow him and get rid of those who won’t. Drago admits Hiccup is a “clever boy,” [but with none of the genuine admiration that Viggo had for Hiccup, even at the height of their war against each other.] Hiccup presses that the world wants peace, and he can show Drago.
Drago has his Bewilderbeast ignore Valka and take control of Toothless. Then orders Toothless against Hiccup. “He who controls the Alpha, controls all,” and that true strength is strength over others. Stoick realizes the change and runs back to his son [he’s almost lost Hiccup how many times? He’s lived with this fear for twenty years; it’s been just the two guys.] Toothless advances on Hiccup and Hiccup can’t get his friend to snap out of it. Toothless prepares a blast and Stoick knocks Hiccup out of the way at the last second.
The music shifts and we all realize what occurred. Astrid rushes to her fiancé’s side and Drago strides away. Toothless comes back to himself and tries to nuzzle Stoick. Hiccup brushes him away with angry words. Valka comforts Hiccup; it wasn’t Toothless’ fault. “Good dragons under the control of bad people do bad things.” Drago then takes control of Toothless, who is having difficulty flying. When Hiccup hears his friends cry, his angry vanishes and he wants to go after Toothless, but all of the dragons are flying off to follow the new Alpha to attack Berk.
Stoick is laid out in a funeral ship, Gobber speaks the farewell words to “a warrior, a chieftain, a father, a friend,” and Hiccup leads everyone (including Eret) in lighting the funeral ship alight. Many of his friends, who we’ve seen act tough, shed tears. Heck, I cry during this scene every time (not helped by bagpipes playing). [And we wonder for a moment if all will be well; Stoick told Drago it takes more than a little fire to kill him.] Hiccup addresses his father: “I’m not the chief that you wanted me to be. And I’m not the peacekeeper I thought I was.”
Valka tells Hiccup he was born early; wee, frail, fragile. She wondered if he’d survive, but Stoick never doubted. “He always said you’d become the strongest of them all.” And words of wisdom for her son: “You have the heart of a chief, and the soul of a dragon. Only you can bring our worlds together.” Hiccup doesn’t have to choose. This is who he can be; who he was born to be. Chief, like his father. Dragon lover, like his mother. [But with a Hiccup flair thrown in.] [And oh, the art is beautiful here, where Hiccup stands in front of the light from the funeral pyre.]
I was so afraid of becoming my dad, mostly because I thought I never could. How, how do you become someone that great, that brave, that selfless. I guess you can only try.
His theme comes back as he turns to his friends and declares “a chief protects his own,” echoing his father’s statement earlier. Then he tells them they’re going back. They’re going to stop Drago. And he’s got an idea. A crazy one, but then all Hiccup ideas are crazy. They ride the baby dragons to Berk; they won’t get controlled by the Alpha. They’ll get Toothless back and kick Drago’s…that part gets cut off.
Drago arrives at Berk with his Bewilderbeast and takes control of the dragons there, then announces to the village that their chief is dead. And Hiccup is nowhere to be seen. But they cheer come the dawn when Hiccup rides in with the rest of the young adults. There are ice chunks now in the village and Drago is still in front of all the people. Hiccup sends his friends to distract the Alpha so Hiccup can get close to Toothless. They use the sheep launcher and Fishlegs even responds to its growls with a giant horn. They’re briefly successful, but Hiccup does get close to Toothless. Drago warns him that the Night Fury won’t miss a second time, after noting that the lad is hard to get rid of (yeah, several people in RTTE found that out.) Hiccup pleads, “you’re my best friend,” and understands that Toothless didn’t mean to hurt Stoick. Toothless would never hurt Hiccup. After several blinks, Toothless is back! [And cue awesome music!] He knocks Drago off and then falls without someone to control his tail. Hiccup dives after him. The pair right themselves before they crash and take off.
Hiccup makes sure to cover Toothless’ ears and eyes. “You and me as one,” he tells his friend. Astrid and the rest of the Berkians cheer Hiccup on. They separate again so Hiccup can surprise Drago and knock him off the Bewilderbeast. But now Toothless and Hiccup have to meet back up and they’re approaching a large dragon tail again. But the new fins help and Toothless catches Hiccup properly. They land and Hiccup faces Drago, but the Bewilderbeast shoots his ice at the young Viking. Toothless jumps around him and covers him, but they’re encased. Drago thinks he’s won. But the ice glows blue and bursts apart. There are bright blue spots on Toothless who roars loudly at the Bewilderbeast, still covering Hiccup. He spreads his wings (as many animals do to appear more threatening) and challenges the Alpha, as Hiccup notes. “To protect you,” Valka adds. Toothless’ barrage on the Bewilderbeast breaks its hold on the other dragons, who fly around to Toothless’ side and also begin blasting the Bewilderbeast. In the chaos, he loses part of a tusk, even while Drago shouts for him to take back control. Hiccup joins his dragon and tells Drago that this is what it truly means to gain a dragon’s loyalty. Drago loses his metal arm in all the firepower and the Bewilderbeast sinks back into the water. We don’t quite see what happens to Drago, if he manages to ride with the dragon or something else happens.
The rest of the dragons, led by Cloudjumper, bow to their new Alpha, Toothless (who looks very pleased with himself). Hiccup thanks his friend. The moment is lightened when Toothless licks him again. Hiccup takes the time to pass Skullcrusher to Eret; he’ll need someone to look after him. Astrid joins her fiancé and the two share a kiss. Gobber and Gothi come to stand next to Hiccup. Hiccup kneels for Gothi to place a symbol on his forehead in ash. Gobber announces to the crowd “the chief has come home!” and all cheer.
We see the village rebuilding, removing the ice, and even starting on a statue of Stoick. The young adults are dragon racing again, with Hiccup joining in. His narration tells us his view as chief:
Those who attacked us are relentless and crazy, but those who stopped them, oh, even more so. We may be small in numbers, but we stand for something bigger than anything the world can pit against us. We are the voice of peace and bit by bit, we will change this world. You see, we have something they don’t. Oh sure, they have armies and they have armadas, but we…we have…our dragons!
Cate Blanchett (Galadriel in Lord of the Rings and Hobbit, Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, the evil stepmother in the live action Cinderella, Marion in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, the antagonist in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and portrayed Elizabeth I in two movies amongst dozens of other roles. She’s won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, and three SAG awards) joins the cast as Valka, and Dijmon Hounsou (he’s Korath in the MCU and appeared in Eragon) is Drago, while Kit Harington (best known as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, I also watched him in Pompeii and Testament of Youth) is Eret.
It’s a toss-up between this and the original for my favorite movie of the franchise. I adore the soundtrack to this movie. I think I will definitely detail some thoughts on all of them in my wrap up blog in a few months. I will note that we hear bagpipes more in this soundtrack than the first. There’s still the humor we love from the first movie, but it is a little more of an adult story. Especially with the death of Hiccup’s father. Did not see that coming the first time around. As noted by the fandom when Hiccup takes off his helmet at the beginning of the movie: we were Neville Longbottomed by a cartoon character (nerdy kid matured to be good looking.)
I also dearly love the character growth shown in Race to the Edge that plays into this film. Hiccup faced challenges during their life at the Edge; he grew as a leader. He became a peacekeeper, always trying to show how dragons and people can live together. His friends support him as a leader. Astrid is unquestionably his second in command; we see that in this movie as well. They follow her to Drago’s camp. They follow Hiccup back to Berk.
Hiccup and Astrid are absolutely sweet in this movie. They’re settled as a couple. Astrid can tell most times what Hiccup is planning on doing and often follows and supports him. She gives him wise counsel that what Hiccup’s searching for in his life isn’t out in the great beyond, it’s in his heart. Hiccup easily wants Astrid along; he doesn’t argue when she finds him at Itchy Armpit. He doesn’t send her away when he tries to persuade Eret to take him to Drago. He’s not ashamed to initiate a kiss with her in front of the entire village at the end of the film.
Even in Race to the Edge, Hiccup was not keen on becoming chief of Berk anytime soon. He didn’t want to do it when Stoick was very hurt. He doesn’t want to do it now initially. He’s twenty; he still likes a life of adventure (we saw that even at the beginning of RTTE). But he will step up. He will do what is right for his people; a chief protects his own. And for Hiccup, that includes dragons as well as Vikings. He is a mixture of his parents, a lover of dragons, and a leader of Vikings. And Berk has grown to trust and follow Hiccup. They cheer when he comes to protect them from Drago.
This movie expands Hiccup’s family dynamics, with the reemergence of his mother, who has been gone for twenty years. The trio were blissfully happy for a few hours. And then Drago destroyed that. Hiccup will only ever know having one parent. His gained a mother, but lost a father. He lost the parent who raised him. He lost the parent that saw him through his trials and being an awkward kid and teenager, to coming through fire (literally) to change how their village and surrounding area views dragons. Stoick did not hesitate to protect Hiccup, leaving his long-lost wife to run after his boy. Many antagonists that Hiccup has met along the way comment that Stoick the Vast must be disappointed with his son. Known as the dragon master, but so skinny and unimposing. It’s Hiccup’s heart that is great. Hiccup remarks at the funeral that he’s scared to take over his father’s position; he knows he’s not his dad. Some fanfic authors have explored the growing pains that Valka and Hiccup go through after the film; getting to know one another after so long apart from each other.
I do have a bittersweet memory attached to this movie. It came out about the time a friend from faire went into hospice. She was an incredibly sweet woman, made sure to tell me as a newbie, peasant cast member, that I don’t have to bow and wait for the royal cast members to interact if they’re not paying attention. When I found out she had passed, I went to see this movie as something to do. Luckily, a coworker was also at the movie the same day and I managed to not cry through the entire movie. Still love the movie, but the funeral scene always twinges a bit more.
This film is a great addition to the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. Drago did pose a bigger threat to Hiccup and Berk because he had the literal army, both in men and dragons, to back up his claims. He has control of a Bewilderbeast and manages to land and attack Berk. He’s impervious to Hiccup’s persuasion. Hiccup has now met someone he cannot charm (well, he found a few towards the end of Race to the Edge.) Hiccup and his riders take on a literal army in this film, far more numbers than they have before. But they’re twenty now, not teens. And they have Stoick and Valka to back them up for a bit, plus a Bewilderbeast on their side. The battle still boils down to Hiccup taking on the main antagonist and this antagonist doesn’t roll over for the pride of Berk. His Bewilderbeast kills the other. He takes control of the other dragons, which our heroes have not encountered.
However, good does triumph over evil. And it is due to love. Hiccup may have initially been angry at Toothless for the death of his father, in those first few moments. But as soon as Toothless was in trouble, Hiccup wants to rescue his friend, his best friend. Hiccup’s love for Toothless, and Toothless’ love in return for Hiccup bring the pair back together and together they triumph over the Alpha and Drago. Toothless is tiny compared to the Bewilderbeast, but he doesn’t hesitate to get between his opponent and his boy. His roar brings the other dragons to his side and then acknowledge him as their new Alpha.
Up Next: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and a few ending shorts. After that will be a longer wrap-up of the fandom in general and my take on the music of the franchise (that may be a bit longer coming)
Dreamer in the Mirror 