Headscratchers / Dragons: Riders of Berk

Toothless flying

• In "Breakneck Bog" Hiccup jumps off Toothless while Toothless is in the air, and Toothless has no problem staying afloat. How the bleep is that possible?
  • The fin probably has a locking device in the case Hiccup and Toothless have to be separated while up high so Toothless can control his flight in dissension or straight forward flight.
  • Confirmed, as of the sequel.

Toothless being Stoick's flying practice

• In "How to Pick Your Dragon" why would Hiccup use Toothless to teach Stoick how to fly? It seems a little like teaching someone how to drive in a car with manual transmission when you know they're always going to be using an automatic.
  • It doubles as a method to get Stoick used to working with the dragon, and Hiccup may simply have simply been unwilling to stick Stoick on an untrained dragon right off the bat.

The fate of Thornado's friend

• What happened to Thornados friend, you know the purple Thunderdrum that he and Stoik saved from a pack of boars? You'd think after everything Tornado went through for him, (stealing the fish catches, escaping from the academy, fighting a huge group of boars with Stoik) they would be at least mentioned once or twice before Thornado had to leave Stoick to take care of the baby Thunderdrums in "Bing Bang Boom"

Mildew joining the Outcasts

• If Mildew hates Dragons so much, why did he join a Viking Tribe that wants to learn how to tame them so badly? AKA, the Outcasts...
  • At this point he's fueled not by his hatred of dragons but by his hatred of Hiccup.

The joint chief metting

• Stoick has Hiccup hide all of the dragons from Dagur, so as not to incite a war. But a few episodes earlier, he had no problems flying on Thornado to a joint chief's meeting, in which it would be logical to assume that doing so would alert everyone to Berk's dragon taming activities already. Also, once Dagur provoked him, he was more than willing to say "screw this" and nearly kill Dagur anyway. Sooo.... why exactly is hiding the dragons such a big deal by this point?
  • It could be that the Berserker Tribe is not represented at the Joint Chiefs Meeting and that all of those tribes are either friendly or weaker. The Berserkers and Dagur on the other hand, clearly are both stronger (By the fact that they have to sign the peace treaty on Berk-owned land. Peace Treaties are almost always signed on the losing side's land, especially in the old days) and more hostile (Dagur's willingness to declare war on them for simply having Dragons). And the odds are, even if Stoic did assassinate Dagur, that would still be a declaration of War (There are plenty of Berserker Witnesses, as well as the fact that the Berserker Society probably would expect the Berserker's home soon). Hiding the Dragons at least bides them time with the Berserkers. Not a lot of Time if they were actually found out, but time none the less.
  • This makes sense. Plus, Berk might have gotten the brunt of the dragon war. Certainly not the only ones as Alvin's Outcasts were also attacked, but Berk seems to be closest to Dragon Island and where most of the dragons seem to head to if not off one their own or going to Dragon Island. So, Berk being weaker than the Berserkers makes sense if the Berserkers did not need to deal with the constant attrition of dragon attacks. Thus, a treaty with them makes sense and prior to the dragon war ending the terms weren't that unreasonable (a general inspection and not being aggressive against the Berserker). Also, Oswald the Agreeable seemed to be a berserker who would understand Berk not being a threat to them with that. Stoick's concern probably was that WITH the dragons on their side and a cohesive Viking-Dragon combined arms force, Berk would have the literal firepower to take on the Berserkers even with the old attrition and would be a significant threat (Hel, Alvin's obsession with riding dragons should be a clue on how much of a game changer it is). Of course, Oswald might have been willing to renegotiate since Berk had held the treaty terms honorably in the past before this very outside context development occurred... Dagur just wanted a war and was going very much out of his way to provoke it. Stoick's hiding of the dragons quite well could have been he knew how strong Berk could be, but he did not want to start an unnecessary war. But Dagur killing a Berk resident would be crossing the line as I'm pretty sure that had Dagur wanted to use, say, Astrid's blood to sign the treaty, even if the dragon war was still on Stoick would tell him to take a long walk off a short cliff (or just push him over it) and damn the consequences. Of course, without a hard copy of the treaty (and the runes are apparently the Gettysburg Address in Old Norse, so that's out), it's hard to judge the details.

Screaming Death notes

• Where did Hiccup find that info about the Screaming Death after Appetite of Destruction? It was explicitly not in the Book of Dragons. Was there some sort of prophecy (which, given it's "hatch once every 100 years" deal would make some sense), or did Bork have notes on it somehow that he didn't put into the book?

• Bucket seems to be aware that his metal bucket attracts lightning in "Animal House", yet in "When Lightning Strikes" the villagers had no idea why Thor was angry at the metal.
  • Watch the episode Animal House again. The storm that was going to predicted in that episode was a snowstorm. It's possible Bucket's helmet only applies to snowstorms and not lightning.

• How do people keep getting to Dragon Island? In the movie, it was a plot point that you needed a dragon to make your way through the mists and rocks.
  • Maybe they just needed a dragon to find the place. Now that they have been shown the way, the Vikings probably remember the path on their own.

• How on earth did the clue to the treasure remain in the glacier? Glaciers move over the years, and shift and crack while doing so. Large chunks breaking off of glaciers that meet the Ocean are what create Icebergs. How was it that a) the trap and clue were so well preserved, and b) there was still a pathway to get to them?
  • Really cold climate of Berk and a really deeply buried clue that... well isn't so deep inside anymore for exactly the reasons you said anymore.

• If Mildew knew of a plant that poisoned dragons, why didn't he order them back when they were still at war with them?
  • Maybe it was discovered recently? Or maybe it was just too impractical to use in outright war but not so much when subtlety is called for.
  • Maybe Mildew saw Fishlegs book before Fishlegs did.
  • Or maybe he asked for it last time Johann was there, before they had made peace with the dragons.
  • The plant only affected dragons after prolonged exposure. Dragon raids were basically hit-and-run attacks, they got in, stole the food and got out. Under those conditions, such a plant would have been useless.
  • After the Race to the Edge Season 6 finale, we now know it's possible Johann, not Mildew, was the one who knew about blue oleander. When the Berkians were killing dragons, he had no motive to get involved or share the information with them. When they befriended dragons, he must have seen that as a potential threat to the thriving dragon hunting empire (since he had no other motive for working against them long before they met Heather, which was still years before they knew the Dragon Eye or lenses even existed), and one of his acts of sabotage against this potential enemy could have been telling the dragon-hating local about an effective type of dragon poison, under terms of strict secrecy, of course.

• Why didn't Stoick dive in after Hiccup when he fell into the water after getting struck by lightning? After so many Papa Wolf moments from him, it seemed odd he didn't go after Hiccup himself.
  • He was probably still in shock seeing what Hiccup was planning to do prior and even more so when he gets struck.

• In Thawfest, when Hiccup threw the final contest, why did Astrid call him a good Viking? One could argue that the action was morally good, but I'm pretty sure throwing the contest wasn't a very Viking-like move.
  • Speaking of Thawfest, we are told that Snotlout has won every year. Seriously, Astrid was never a contender? (The episode uses some very forced contrivances, like Astrid throwing her axe at the same time as someone else and having it knocked out of the way, in order to keep the struggle for winner solely between Snotlout and Hiccup.)
    • It looks like Astrid doesn't have the build to be much of a challenge to Snotlout in the sheep lugging event, and he's apparently good enough in the other events to either win or tie with her. Also, he takes the whole thing very seriously and he's helped by his father, while Astrid seems less concerned about those games than she was about dragon training and does everything by herself.
    • Also remember this: When Vikings were all about killing dragons, Snotlout was The Ace, while Hiccup was The Load. Since Hiccup discovered how to train dragons, however, the roles have completely flipped, with SNOTLOUT now being nigh useless and HICCUP now being The Ace. Since the Thawfest games were originally based on skills needed to kill dragons, Snotlout won hands-down: even though Astrid is the best all-around warrior & rider combined, she's still not as physically strong or fast a warrior as Snotlout (in combat, she makes up for this with agility, precision, and cleverness). Keep in mind that Snotlout was in contention with Astrid for Top of the Class (before dragon riding was even a dream), and Gobber hints that the only reason Snotlout didn't do as well as Astrid in combat training was that he was too busy being a loud-mouth show-off.

• Mildew's entire goal is supposed to get rid of Berk dragons, that's the whole point of his character. Yet he teams up with Alvin (effectively betraying his homeland) and learns how to tame dragons so he can teach the Outcasts to destroy Berk?
  • Nobody in Berk cares for him, and the dragons have become more accepted over time. Besides, a dragon war would probably be an effective way to rid the world of a lot of dragons.
  • As pointed out above, at that point he hates Hiccup far more than he hates dragons. He basically wants to prove that he is better than Hiccup at the very thing Hiccup is best at: dragon training.

• I hate writing this because I loved that moment, but if the Aurora Borealis marks when the Frightmare comes to Berk (every 10 years) and Astrid associates that with the death of her uncle and the soiling of her family name, then why did she love seeing it while riding on Toothless in the movie (and why was it there in the first place..?)
  • My guess is that it's more accurate to say the aurora just heralds the Flightmare itself rather than being something she associates directly with the whole mess with Fearless Fin. Remember that the Aurora Borealis was believed to be the rainbow bridge (Bifrost) that linked the worlds in Viking tradition. It's quite possible that she interpreted it as some nod from Thor or Odin that dragons aren't all bad... it's just that she REALLY has it out for the Flightmare and the arrival of 'Arvindal's Fire' (not sure if that's an alternate name for the Borealis or if its supposed to be something else entirely). So in the movie, she doesn't really have the Flightmare on her mind. But in Flight of Passage, everyone starts talking about it again and it gets her really riled up.
  • The Flightmare episode clearly states that "Aurvandil's Fire" (and the subsequent arrival of the Flightmare) only happens once every ten years. The Aurora Borealis does not only occur once every 10 years, nor did ten years pass between the first film and the Flightmare episode. Thus, whatever "Aurvandil's Fire" is, it is not the Aurora Borealis, nor could it be what Astrid saw flying with Hiccup in the first film, which therefore has no connection with the Flightmare and no reason it should bother Astrid.
    • The Sun's activity cycle runs on a 11 year cyclical pattern. During the Solar Maxima, when the sun is most active, it experiences an almost constant stream of Coronal Mass Ejections, huge solar flares that blow chunks of the sun's corona out into space. generally at least one ends up directed towards earth each solar maxima. when it is, the Aurora's not only get much brighter but also spread over a much larger area. which seems like a probable candidate for ""Aurvandil's Fire"". The Norse used a lunar calendar, and their years were measured more by the seasons than by the number of months so could be a bit variable, so 11 Gregorian years (modern calendar) equaling 10 Berkian Norse years would be plausible.

• In the Most Recent episode of Dragons, Gustav (The Little Kid Snotlout bartered for before) tries to become a Dragon Rider, but the Dragon Academy basically shoo's him off. But that got me thinking: There are only 8 people who know how to ride Dragons (Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Roughnut, Toughnut, Fishlegs, Stoic and Gustav) and the first 6 are in the Dragon Training Academy. They know that their Dragon Riding ability gives them the advantage against most (if not all) of their enemies... Why aren't they training more people to ride Dragons in Berk? Why do only 7 People get to ride Dragons in that whole village, when everyone there riding a Dragon would make the most sense militarily and socially?
  • This bugged me too. I figured their main objection to Gustav is he's very young compared to them; about the same size Astrid was when Fearless Fin got a face full of Flightmare and Gustav wanted to join as a full member flying around doing dangerous missions into Outcast territory and such. If Gustav just wanted to start learning and hadn't been playing around with that flamethrower armed sheep (and based on Hiccup's comment about it, that's not the first time that happened), I don't think there would have been as much objections besides maybe having the time between their other duties (home chores and missions for Stoick). I think the real objection was Gustav A) wanted to be in immediately on the long distance missions that would involve dodging crossbow bolts and siege ammunitions, B) went out and nabbed a Monstrous Nightmare on his own (which easily could have gotten him killed), and C) when told to stay put, he leapt into a dangerous situation and almost got captured then almost got Hiccup captured and as Snotlout saw, his guts broke pretty quickly as a result. Gustav was simply not ready to be a dragon rider yet and needed to spend time with basics. Unfortunately, it seems he kept the connection with the Nightmare, and I fear bad things will come of that... Maybe they'll address dragon training getting more common. I mean, they need to do that at some point since its clear that the end result would be most of the Berk Vikings being dragon riders.

• I know Snotlout got Hookfang because there was a limited selection of dragons to train and ride but wouldn't a Monstrous Nightmare be one of the worst dragons to ride, given their ability of catching themselves on fire? Without special precautions for the rider that most likely wouldn't have existed back then, either the rider risks serious burns every time he rides a Nightmare, or the Nightmare would be handicapped for his species because he cannot use his best attack.
  • I believe Nightmares can control which parts of their bodies they ignite. I recall that he's done some relatively controlled burns on Snotlout in the past that did not involve completely engulfing himself in flame.
  • Nightmares can absolutely control what parts burn. On several occasion's Hookfang lights the majority of his body alight, but his head and the part of his neck Snotlout sits on are left "Off" for lack of a better term.

• Why are there not more Vikings attempting to join the Dragon Training Academy? With all of the Vikings riding dragons at the end of the first film, it seems unusual that none of them are keen to continue learning. Was the ordeal in the first episode enough to put them all off it, even when they can see how useful and important the dragons could be to the community? Hiccup is a hero at the end of the film and Berk accepts and rejoices in their new friendship with the dragons, there is only one dissenter (Mildew), and yet there are NO dragon riders (or even those who want to be) other than the five teens, Stoik (eventually) and Gustav.
  • Granted this may be a guess but there could be several reasons. One is that until recently they were at war with the dragons, so there may be some lingering trust issues and resentment. Second is that the academy is still very new and and the five members are still learning everything they can about the dragons, so adding more members to learn dragon riding may hinder the academy's growth. Third, having too many dragons in the village may put a strain on the food supply.
  • Another possibility is that other Vikings have dragons (as seen in the end of Viking for Hire, but they already have full time jobs around the village that takes up their time while the kids are free to spend all their time on dragons and learning about it. It's quite possible that they figured that once they had the knowledge to teach it quickly and effectively, they would do some classes to help everyone figure out what they don't already know or learned on the side. A bit of a shame, as teaching a bunch of Vikings how to do it would have made for a nice episode or two.
  • Problem here is that there's a certain dissonance of continuity between the series, the films and the shorts. In the christmass especial is shown that almost every viking house has a pet dragon, also at the end of the first film and in the second film. The series overlooks this probably due to budgetary contraints (as they would need to animate all the other dragons) and plot reasons. Of course these are the meta reasons, the only in-universe explanation for this dissonance would be, as said before, that everyone except Mildew have a dragon but is more like a pet and they have other jobs.

• Why was Gobber out of a job in Viking for Hire if he's a BLACKSMITH? That's like, one of the most useful skills in the Dark Ages. Was the show just playing up the Proud Warrior Race Guy trope up with Berk again and limiting it to weapons instead of a host of useful tools like metal bands for barrels, parts of ships, and even small knives and the like? On top of that, Berk still had plenty of active enemies as indicated by Alvin.
  • Maybe the problem is not that he is a blacksmith but that he seem to be a blacksmith for weapons, and only weapons. Everything else he tries to build is weapon-like, makingit useless in some cases. Without the dragons the need for weapons diminishes and even with enemies like Alvin or the Berserkers, their attacks are too infrequent to justify such armery. And, at least in the case of Alvin, rarely attacks directly.

• Since when did Hiccup get so anti-change the environment in Quake Rattle and Roll? He showed no objections to moving dragons around when they interfered with viking life, but the moment there's dragons messing with other dragons, he says it's not their place? What's up with that?
  • It absolutely did feel OOC (maybe he was trying to brush the issue off for a while?) but I don't think it's a vikings and dragons sort of thing. Hiccup's totally been willing to interfere with groups of wild dragons before (i.e. Free Scauldy).
    • I always just sort of figured that it was just Hiccup not feeling up to it or something. I mean, think about what happened the last time he fought a giant dragon that was interfering with other dragons natural patterns. Sure, it's been a few years since he lost his leg, but that's still got to be a pretty traumatizing situation, maybe he'd been having some issues lately and just looked at the whole situation and went "Yeah no, we're not doing this again, I'm out, goodbye." The whole 'natural order' excuse really sounded like he had just pulled it out of his ass, especially since he's literally never had a problem interfering before, and refused to explain when the others asked how the situation was different. Just a theory, but it was a really weak excuse, and Hiccup doesn't really seem to be the type to want to talk about any problems he's having.
  • Actually, all the other times Hiccup and co. have interfered with wild dragons, it's only been because: they — the humans — were in danger, too ("Appetite For Destruction" and "Imperfect Harmony"); it was their fault the wild dragons were in danger in the first place ("When Darkness Falls" and "Shock and Awe"); their trained dragons got involved on their own ("Total Nightmare"); or there was something else they wanted to gain from it for themselves (Hiccup wanted to try to train the Speed Stinger in "The Next Big Sting," no matter how much he refused to admit it to Astrid or himself, and Stoick was determined to save Thornado's mate in "How To Pick Your Dragon" because he wanted to make friends with him). The one exception is "Free Scauldy," but what happens there? After they decide for no reason they'd like to help the injured Scauldron, they realize they're only putting themselves in danger and that the right thing to do is "let nature take its course." The only reason they can't is because their dragons refuse to let them. Also, keep in mind that all those cases were a matter of life and death. The Gronckles may have lost their land, but they were otherwise perfectly fine. Most of them got to the Edge with no problem — they could easily find yet another new home if the kids chose to chase them off that island just like the Quaken did. The Gronckles weren't in immediate danger of being eaten by predators like the other dragons they'd helped. They simply had no justification in this case for interfering — they weren't in danger, they had done nothing to cause the problem, and they had nothing to gain from it. What reason did they have to take the Gronckles' side over the Quaken's? Since the Quaken wasn't endangering them like the Deathsong or a pack of wild boars, what right did they have to treat the Quaken like the "bad guy"? I completely understand why Hiccup wouldn't think they had the right to interfere in this case (it was different from the previous cases), particularly since they pretty much learned that lesson in "Free Scauldy."

• There are multiple instances of Dagur ambushing them with the Gang eventually gaining the upper hand and chasing him off, despite outnumbering and outgunning him, they never bother to capture him, and are content to just let him flee and attack another day. It makes sense that there's no killing since its a kid's show, but they don't even bother to capture him?
  • They might've considered him too dangerous to transport, or believed that they couldn't hold him given the Berk Jail track record with Heather (Alvin doesn't really count since he was playing nice).
  • It also might be because they anticipate that his armada would come for him if he were captured.

• Hiccup's dragon riders were the ones that named the Typhoomerang and Night Terrors, yet the Dragon Hunters used the name later without ever being told. How can this be?
  • I think Trader Johann is the reason for this. He learned of Typhoomerangs and Night Terrors from Berk and then spread the knowledge of this dragon, along with its name, to the Hunters.

• Why does Hiccup try to intervene when dragons hunt one another, since eating each other seems natural for them. The show establishes that some dragons are prey animals to others, so by saving one dragon from being eaten, he's sentencing another dragon to starve.
  • It's not like he's holding himself to some sort of pure study, full non-interference policy when it comes to dragons. And it's a far cry from knowing that something happens, to letting it happen right in front of your face.
  • Outside of "Free Scauldy," he only intervened when he and his friends were in danger of being eaten, as well, or when they were the ones who put wild dragons in danger of being eaten — for example, letting wild Scauldrons eat the wild Sea Shocker you caught and penned up for no reason other than curiosity would not be fair.

• Who are the Outcasts? Are they former Berkians who were banished with Alvin for following him or something? Are they another tribe he joined? A group of exiles from different tribes who joined together? If they're not former Berkians, why join Alvin's crusade for revenge against Berk?
  • WMG but I always felt the Outcasts were indeed all Berkian criminals that are exiled instead of executed or kept in a prison forever.

• The Dragon riders are now all 18-19 and in the second film, they're in their early twenties. How are they all still shorter than their parents?
  • Maybe their parents are just really tall? By the second movie most of the Dragon Riders, save Snotlout and Hiccup, are the same height as Gobber. Hiccup's parents are pretty tall at 6'9"(Stoick) & 6'3"(Valka). Hiccup is also tall being 6'1" by the second movie. Not everybody outgrows or grows to be the same height as their parents.

• If the Defenders of the Wing consider even riding dragons with their consent to be enslavement, how do they justify feeding them personality-altering fruit that makes them docile and non-aggressive?
  • Well, they are fanatics. That is how cults often work. They don't see their own hypocrisy.

• Did Dagur know Heather was his sister? At the beginning of "Have Dragon, Will Travel Part II," he makes a joke about "a family reunion," and when Heather's about to kill him, he tells her if she does, she'll never know... which is when she gags him. Yet, when Hiccup gives the big reveal, Dagur's attitude towards Heather completely changes, as if that's news to him, too.
  • If Dagur and Heather did grow up together before Heather was adopted, he forgot with time. Hiccup's reveal likely brought back memories for him, which could explain his attempts to convince Heather to join him and his growing friendliness with her both during the times they worked for Viggo and the two times they reunited afterwards (and we know that, with Ryker's reasoning behind backing Viggo, this also contributed to his Heel–Face Turn.)

• In "The Night and the Fury," why doesn't Hiccup think it's weird when Dagur mentions his sister? Dagur and his father have been visiting Berk once a year for Hiccup's entire life. "Have Dragon, Will Travel" makes it clear that Heather disappeared when Hiccup was too young to remember that Oswald the Agreeable ever had a daughter. At this point in the series, Hiccup's reaction should have been, "What are you talking about? You don't have a sister."
  • For all Hiccup knows, Dagur could've had a sister who just never visited Berk.

• The Defenders of the Wing condemn the dragon riders for "oppressing" dragons by riding them, but have no problems drugging the dragons on their island to keep them calm. So riding dragons is bad, but slipping them some roofies is A-OK!
  • They are basically ideological/religious extremists. It is not the first time illogical behaviour would be justified by ideology.
  • The Defenders probably see the tranquilizers as beneficial medicine, not mind-control.

• Thor's hammer on Loki's helmet, Heather suddenly being okay with joining Dagur and loosing Berserker screams in Gold Rush. In one episode she goes from feeling the Riders are her family to deciding to go off into the unknown with Dagur? Seriously? Heather forgiving him could make some sense - you know, ignoring the fact he murdered her foster parents who she knew far more than Oswald the Agreeable - but even then he had clearly done enough terrible things against her that she didn't trust him. Yet we're supposed to believe that she suddenly trusts him enough to go off on some quest with him? Even if it was in search of Oswald... shouldn't that be something to build towards? Especially since the two ended up being Back for the Finale anyways, so it's not like they didn't have time to work towards it or let that be a build up.
  • This may be a case of Retcon to make the move more believable. Dagur being responsible for the deaths of Heather's adoptive parents hasn't come up again since the episode where it was first mentioned. In every case since her issues with Dagur have had to do with him "setting her adrift" (a rather vague description), and believing he killed her birth father, despite how logically her biggest issue with him should be that he killed or caused the deaths of her adoptive parents. Instead Heather has been treated as if she never had a family, hence her desire to learn about her heritage now.

• Was this an Actor Allusion or Plot Hole in "Defenders of the Wing Part 2"? Hiccup says Heather's "dealt with lava before." The closest we've ever seen her "deal with lava" is riding Meatlug, and if that qualifies someone to stop a volcano in Hiccup's book, Fishlegs would be the most qualified one. Did the writers just make this up on the spot, or was Hiccup referring to a time Mae Whitman had to deal with lava?

• Mala's story about the earthquake in "Defenders of the Wing Part 2": First, she says that when an earthquake stopped the lava from flowing, the Eruptodon almost starved to death and would have if the flow hadn't started again. Then she says the Eruptodon doesn't need an active volcano to eat because it can chew up the crust of a dormant volcano until it erupts and becomes active. So why didn't the Eruptodon do that after the earthquake? Couldn't it have made the lava start flowing again like it almost does to the Dragon's Edge volcano?
  • Perhaps the earthquake blocked the lava at a depth that the Eruptodon couldn't reach? And by the time it realized this it was too weak to get to another volcano.

• In "A Matter of Perspective" it is revealed each eruptodon serves as a guardian for about forty years before it is too old and leaves for the dragon equivalent of an Elephant Graveyard. Coupling that with the fact that each eruptodon lays an egg during its lifetime, then how come Mala didn't know about the Night Terrors being the ones to bring the egg to the hatching chamber. The whole point of the episode was that the only information was some cryptic drawings from ages past so no one knew what they were doing. But 40 years implies that their grandparents, maybe even their parents, had to go through this. Why did none of the people from those generations think to teach it to their children?
  • Its indicated that usually the Eruptodon itself is able to take the egg to where the night terrors can retrieve it. Presumably it had been so long since a human had needed to do it that the memory/record of it had been lost (perhaps due to a population loss from war, disease or natural disaster).

• One of the things people talk about is that the Bewilderbeast egg is or is not Valka's Bewilderbeast. Which is it?
  • Valka's line in the second film ("[Cloudjumper] must've known I belonged here, in the home of the Great Bewilderbeast") sounds to me like her Bewilderbeast was already king of his pack when Cloudjumper first brought here there, when Hiccup was a baby. If so, there's no way the egg in the series could become the Bewilderbeast that appears in that film — he's already born, grown, and ruling.
  • That being said, it seems unlikely that Drago doesn't have his Bewilderbeast, unless he managed to find one within a year and they grow ridiculously quickly. It's likely that Drago wanted to either remove the competition like he does, or in the case of the egg, train another Bewilderbeast to grow loyal to him, while Valka obviously just wants to keep the egg safe.
    • The above is supported by how Krogan knows how the Bewilderbeast is going to attack before anyone else, Johann even notes with suspicion "you knew it was going to do that." Most likely because Krogan had seen Drago's Bewilderbeast use its powers before. Perhaps what Drago wanted was for Krogan to find a King of Dragons that had control of enough dragons to make a dragon army (and thus his Bewilderbeast could kill it, as it does, and take command of them all at once), hence why he is seeking out the Glacial Sanctuary in the second movie.

• Also, Fishlegs or Hiccup mentioned there is no mention of a Screaming Death in the Book of Dragons. However, in later episode, Hiccup did mention there are notes about the Screaming Death. Anyone explain that?
  • Presumably, the notes are in there by the later episode because Fishlegs wrote them there. The Book of Dragons is a compilation of research notes and records, not a copyrighted textbook.

• So, where do baby Wingmaidens come from?
  • Recruited from outside, same as they tried to recruit Ruffnut. Probably most recruits are the younger sisters or nieces of Wingmaidens who were born on other islands, and for which it's a family tradition.

• One of the most frustrating things in the series is that the riders try to paint over the past, trying extremely hard to make us forget that the first time we met them was in the middle of the village's biggest event: trying to kill the dragons trying to kill them. While this is excusable a few times, it gets really bad when Fishlegs finds out that his ancestors were dragon hunters... and he's horrified and shocked that anyone from his family could do such a thing. Is this a case of total amnesia (the Establishing Character Moment for Fishlegs is him spouting RPG Mechanics for dragons in the ring- who he is about to fight) or just simple non-self-awareness?
  • Think of it as the difference between killing animals for food and big game trophy hunting — both involve killing animals, but one is considered noble and acceptable, and the other is considered dishonorable and shameful. There's a big difference between fighting in self-defense and actively seeking out and hunting down creatures for sport or glory. Fishlegs wasn't upset that his ancestors killed dragons that attacked Berk but that they hunted dragons — there's a HUGE difference between the hunting activities practiced by the dragon hunters, fliers, and trappers and the acts of self-defense done by the Berkians whenever their village was attacked and burned (even their voyage to find the nest was only to stop the attacks on their village, not a fun romp like big game hunting). Plus, his ancestors supposedly hunted one species to extinction, which probably worsened the blow.

• The glowing algae: "Fright of Passage" explains that it's Aurvandil's Fire that makes the algae glow, which is why the Flightmare always shows up during that event — to eat the now visible algae. Yet whenever the algae appears in Race to the Edge (ex. "Maces and Talons," "Buffalord Soldier"), it's glowing with no help from Aurvandil's Fire. Series Continuity Error, or did I miss something in "Fright of Passage"?
  • Possibly the algae in the old Archipelago only glows when the aurora is at its height, whereas the variety found in the Great Beyond does so all the time? That would explain why the Flightmare doesn't starve to death in between periods when Aurvandil's Fire is at its height: it normally grazes on the glowing rivers near the Edge, and only ever ventured near Berk when the algae there were glowing and easy to find.

• Why does Viggo use Drago's bloody fist logo on a bunch of different stuff when "Triple Cross" reveals he has no connection with the guy and doesn't even know who he is?
  • There seem to have been Hunters in business for many generations, long before Drago rose to power. Vikings, both in Real Life history and in the series, would often acquire epithets in lieu of their family names. It's entirely possible that Drago took his surname from the Hunter emblem, rather than vice versa.

The five Dragon Classes

• "Five dragon classes": The Tracker class was discovered during the series, but then which 5 of the 6 remaining classes (Strike, Sharp, Stoker, Tidal, Boulder, and Mystery) does the Dragon Eye use to show the King of Dragons, and why only those 5?
  • Tidal seems like the logical choice to exclude, as dragon fire seems like the default way of triggering the Eye's images. Flame is not something that sea-dwelling dragons are going to benefit from very much. Plus, the King of Dragons is a Tidal dragon, so all six classes are indeed represented in the finished product.
  • The idea of a "Tracker" class is one that the characters came up with. The Dragon Eye's creators had never heard of it, so wouldn't have factored them into the lens arrangement.

• During the series finale it is made clear that to find the king of dragons you need all the Dragon eye Lens' but Johann only had 1 lens. so how did he find out about the Titan Wing Dramillion?
  • That’s simple. The Titan Wing Dramillion isn’t the King of Dragons, the King of Dragons was a Bewilderbeast residing underneath Berserker Island. The one lens Johann possessed probably contained information about the Titan Wing Dramilion.
  • Actually he had enough lenses, as I recall Hiccup didn't succeed at taking them back when Viggo sacrificed himself.
• What happened to Dagur's first Dragon, the Gronkle Shattermaster? He replaces him with the Triple Strike at the end of Season 4, and we never see Shattermaster again.
  • He shows up again as a cameo during Dagur's wedding. Perhaps after Shattermaster was injured Dagur decided to keep him just as a friend and pet rather, especially since Sleuther the Triple Stryke was much more adept and experienced as a fighter.
  • Shattermaster got hit dead-on by a catapult, and he seemed to be in a lot of pain. Odds are the poor guy was crippled. You can't exactly fly a dragon when one of it's wings are broken.

• What happens to the Wingmaidens and Defenders of the Wing after the events of The Hidden World? Their societies revolved very heavily around the symbiosis of human and dragon. The Wingmaidens live in harmony with their Razorwhips, and the Eruptodon is what's keeping the Defenders from being dispossessed thanks to the volcano.
  • The Wingmaidens were recruited to the Razorwhips' service, not born to it, so they presumably have the option to return to their respective natal clans once they no longer had hatchlings to care for. The Defenders would've had to move to some other island, perhaps a human-suitable one that Hiccup's party had previously rejected as unsafe for their dragons.

• Why did Hiccup bring the Dragon Eye with him to Viggo's Island? He knew the Dragon Hunters were trying to reobtain the artifact. So, why didn't he hide it somewhere safe?