The Alpha protects them all.
WARNING: Spoilers Off applies to this page. Proceed at your own risk.- The teaser shows an older Hiccup riding Toothless. He suggests trying something new, so he adjusts the setting on Toothless's saddle so he can drop himself off the dragon and show off a flying suit while Toothless is flying right next to Hiccup without a rider.
- The first scene of Hiccup riding Toothless, was in itself just as epic... especially accompanied by THIS
music. - A minor but no less cool moment from that first flying scene was Toothless using the hot air created by his blasts' explosions to give Hiccup lift. That looked amazing in 3D and was a clever thing to throw in. Toothless made his fireballs airburst exactly where and how yielding they needed to be to give Hiccup a momentary lift without harming him. Night Furies never miss.
- Another minor one, mostly Played for Laughs, but when the first test fails, Toothless clutches Hiccup and uses his body to shield him from the rock pillar formation they were going to crash into. They plow right through it and make a relatively safe landing and are no worse for wear... and the formation falls apart behind them.
- The first scene of Hiccup riding Toothless, was in itself just as epic... especially accompanied by THIS
- When Hiccup flew back to the village to warn them of the dragon trappers, the villagers greeted him and called him the Pride of Berk, and Stoick kept on interrupting Hiccup with trying to convince him to become the next chief. A long way in the first movie from the villagers calling him the embarrassment of Berk and Stoick wishing he was different, our boy Hiccup earned his Zero to Hero title.
- GIANT ICE DRAGONS. The Bewilderbeasts are just as big and powerful as the Red Death, and they're breathing ice!
- Hiccup's Flaming Sword, Inferno. It looks like a lightsaber and can also spew flammable gas.
- Hiccup shows just how much he's learned about dragons when completely surrounded. Unlike his slow but gradual taming of Toothless over a period of some time, he manages to calm a bunch of strange dragons in under a minute first by using his flaming sword to transfix some of the dragons, then doing an extremely cool kneeling spin to spray gas around him that he then ignites. Why does he all this? To convince them that he's a dragon himself!
- On the subject of that kneeling spin - he spins on his peg leg, which he is demonstrated to still not be wholly balanced and secure on even five years after losing his foot. Pretty impressive for such a clumsy kid!
- Valka's introduction. Badass outfit and mask? Check. Riding a dragon though the air while standing on its back? Double check. Able to tame any dragon with simply a touch? Check and mate.
- There is a real sense of majesty around the Bewilderbeast of Sanctuary. When it rises up from the water to look at Hiccup and Toothless, you feel the power and authority radiate off the Gentle Giant. Even Toothless, a stranger in these lands, bows his head and steals glances at the Alpha in clear submission.Valka: Every nest has its queen, but this is the king of all dragons!
- Astrid faces down Drago without breaking a sweat, proving that while her rescue attempt might not have panned out, she still is every inch the badass warrior she was in the first film.
- Eret pulling his Heel–Face Turn and kicking the asses of Drago's men and helping Hiccup's friends.
- How exactly he breaks free is awesome in and of itself. He pretends to still be on Drago's side, then does a kick flip over Astrid's head to grab a guard's spear and break his chains. The smug grin he gives afterwards speaks for itself.
- Toothless' 11th-Hour Superpower, in which almost his entire body glows blue and he's able to unleash his most powerful fire attack to defeat the Alpha. All done in defense of Hiccup, and it's wickedly cool-looking. He was strong enough before to warrant being called 'the unholy offspring of lightning and death', but now, we see what they REALLY meant by it - plus Toothless still has yet to become fully grown.
- And Godzilla fans would recognize Toothless's spines and mouth turning blue before shooting fire as the Atomic Fire Breath.
- Not just the glowing blue, either. Everything about Toothless, from his glowing fins to his expression to his body language, is a massive reminder of Godzilla. He channeled that "I'm the baddest motherfucker here and if I have to kick your ass to remind you I will" attitude that Godzilla has whenever he runs into Ghidorah perfectly.
- After the first movie, there had been a bit of debate in the fandom as to why Night Furies were considered the most dangerous. Yes, they're fast, hard to see at night, and their shots are precise and powerful, but Toothless' abilities never seem to be able to wreak wide-scale havoc like what the other other dragons can do, particularly when stacked up against Whispering Deaths and Thunderdrums. This one fight not only shows that Toothless is incredibly powerful, able to stagger a BEWILDERBEAST by himself, but also shows that he's still growing into his abilities, unlocking an intense but temporary boost to his plasma breath's force, meaning he's only going to become progressively stronger as he grows older. Now one just has to think of what a fully grown, completely healthy Night Fury with its full ability could do...
- Toothless standing up to and eventually defeating the Alpha. Bonus point for he and Hiccup working together.
- It starts with him telling the entire dragon pack to open fire on Drago's Alpha, creating an instant Macross Missile Massacre, all to a thunderous reprise of "Counter Attack". Against such an assault, even the Dark Alpha cannot stand long, and in his moment of weakness...
- Toothless capped the fight with BLOWING OFF THE DARK ALPHA'S LEFT TUSK, telling Drago and his now crippled Bewilderbeast: "There, now you match. Now get the FUCK off of my home and stay the HELL away from my family!"
- And please consider that Toothless actually showed the Dark Alpha mercy. That final plasma blast, if aimed at the Bewilderbeast's forehead instead of its tusk, could've just as easily been a kill. So, he didn't just assert his ability as Alpha to protect the dragon flock but also established himself as a merciful king.
- And caps it all with a moment of pure Kneel Before Frodo. Which Cloudjumper does right off the bat, and the entire flock instantly follows suit, Drago's, Valka's and Berk's dragons united as one mighty family under Toothless, their new Alpha.
- Toothless and Hiccup's respective Awesome Moment of Crowning.
- Special mention goes to Hiccup's for being so subtle and understated, yet being one of the most powerful and moving scenes in the entire movie. "The chief has come home!" indeed.
- While it's also somewhat frightening, Hiccup's mother making the dragons around her light up the cavern by opening their mouths one by one is an awesome sight.
- Valka's dragon knowledge in general. She really does seem to know everything there is to know about dragons, and all the scenes with her showing Hiccup how she's been living these past twenty years, not to mention the incredible things she can do with the dragons are incredible. The scene where she's doing parkour across various dragons' backs while they hover over a cliffside updraft really seals the deal, and the music that plays while she's doing it is just as stunning.
- Awesome Music: "Where No One Goes" by Jonsi.
- Let's give some props to Jay Baruchel for his performance during Stoick's Viking Funeral. It's hard to do teary voices right, and he managed to convey, not the wobbly voice or the breaking voice, but the voice where you're trying your darndest to not break down. The inflections he puts on certain parts of his sentences speaks louder than simply having his voice shake ever could.
- Running with that, the way he had Hiccup say this film's ending monologue; no longer a shaky young man, but spoken like a true chieftain- confident and strong, he makes the last line come off like a hardened battle cry.
- Another minor one but the fact that Hiccup manages to perfectly hit Stoick's pyre with an arrow. This is the same kid that five years prior couldn't throw a bucket of water hard enough to splash a dragon that was not even ten feet above him. Here he is shooting a target that is very far away (and the point itself is probably out of his field of vision) and he definitely hits it dead-on as the pyre ignites on impact.
- Also, if you watch Dragons: Race to the Edge, you know that Ruffnut attempts a much easier version of the shot and fails spectacularly. Here, she is shooting at least ten times that distance and targets it perfectly. So does everyone, for that matter, even though it is clearly shown that they have tears in their eyes.
- Also, Eret shooting an arrow along with the Riders. Even though he just joined the group and didn't even know Stoick, it's really awesome to see him show respect to a now deceased chieftain.
- The battle for the glacial sanctuary. Drago and his armies against the dragons defending the sanctuary and the Defenders of Berk. And until Drago killed the free dragons' Bewilderbeast, they were winning. Highlights include:
- The arrival of Berk's riders not already on the island. Drago opens the cages... and out rush the various dragon riders who proceed to blow up everything in their path. With reprises from the the first movie making a comeback to herald their arrival.
- The Twins covering an entire row of Drago's dragon traps and nearby troops in gas, followed by Stormfly igniting it, obliterating nearly all the traps and scattering the surviving infantry.
- The defenders gaining air superiority despite their foes wearing heavy battle armor meant for this kind of fighting once the traps are destroyed.
- Assorted Zipplebacks breaking out an absolutely badass melee attack by using their combined firepower to turn themselves into massive Catherine's Wheel fireworks, rolling through the enemy lines and traps as flaming wheels of death. And yet Drago STILL had traps specifically designed for this kind of attack!
- Hiccup and Toothless dance throughout the battle, providing close air support and destroying aforementioned large traps with single shots.
- The shot with Valka on Cloudjumper as the Bewilderbeast roars behind her is nothing short of breathtaking.
Astrid: That's your mother?
Hiccup: Well, now you know where I get my dramatic flair.- Stoick and Drago face off one on one, as do both Bewilderbeasts.
- And Stoick had the upper hand throughout the entire battle. As intimidating as Drago is, with his ability to force dragons into submission, Stoick is, well, Stoick. We only ever see Drago score a single solid hit with his spear against Stoick compared to the absolute beatdown Stoick gives to Drago right out of the gate, and Stoick doesn't even miss a beat in countering the one hit Drago did get in on him by slamming Gobber's prosthetic mace right into his jaw. If it it hadn't been for Drago's Bewilderbeast killing Valka's before he could finish the job, Stoick would have likely won.
Drago: You. I watched you burn!Stoick: It takes more than a little fire to kill me! - A minor one, but Hiccup manages to safely land the flight suit during the Riders' attack on Eret's boat, gliding in to catch and slide down the sail to land.
- With the reveal of how dragon Alpha challenges work, there's a retroactive one for the Berkian army in the first movie. The minute Toothless demonstrates that this isn't just a fight, it's a challenge, the Dark Alpha's control over the other dragons breaks, and they're free to do as they like—until the challenge is decided, of course. This establishes that a reigning Alpha does not maintain control over their flock while being challenged, which makes sense; otherwise they could just order the other dragons to mob the challenger, which would defeat the purpose of testing to see which dragon is better able to defend them. And then you remember that in the first movie, as soon as the fleet landed... the hypnotic crooning stopped, and all the dragons fled. Translation: They posed enough of a threat that the humans collectively counted as an Alpha challenger.
- It's also a combined CMOA/CMOH for the Berkian dragons, because this time around, when the Alpha's control is broken? They don't run. This time, they'll be damned if they're going to run and hide while Toothless and Hiccup risk their lives to defeat a tyrannical Alpha. They turn around and defeat it, together, claiming their own land and defending their loved ones. Toothless gave them the courage to fight for their own freedom this time. Is it any wonder they choose him as their leader, in the end?
- And at no point did Toothless use the Alpha command to order them to fight for him, either; he wasn't even Alpha yet. It's the perfect symbolic end to the movie's overall theme. The Berkian dragons love their home. They love their riders. They didn't have to be ordered to fight. Drago never understood that, and he loses because of it.
- "This is what it means to truly win a dragon's loyalty," indeed.
- A small one, but when Drago's prosthetic limb is shot off by dragon fire, it's Skullcrusher, Stoick's dragon, who's shown letting off a shot just before that. Considering that Drago is ultimately responsible for killing Stoick, this could easily be that Skullcrusher knows exactly who is to blame for his rider's death and is gunning specifically for Drago.
- Actually, it's not Skullcrusher, but one of Drago's armored dragons. All the same, it's poetic justice at its finest.
