Book 4, Chapter 15: Rank And Privilege
The social structure of Berk when Stoick assumed the title of chief in the 1020s AD was, by the standards of the era and region, extremely egalitarian, with wide-ranging universal rights. The few reserved legal rights were primarily assigned to social offices such as chief and clanhead, instead of social ranks as was the case elsewhere. As a result, a new arrival on Berk from a lower class origin elsewhere would find themselves having access to a wide variety of rights that had previously been denied to them. This was partly policy on the part of the Hooligans, as a way to incentivize personal investment into and identification with their society by the newcomers, as their efforts were needed in defending against and repairing the aftermath left by dragon raids. This social structure had been stable for generations by the time Stoick inherited leading it, and thus he sought to continue spreading it as Berk’s territory and population grew.
—The Dragon Millennium, Manna-hata University Press, Ltd.
Tropes that appear in this chapter:
- Adopted into Royalty: Stoick succeeds in claiming the right to make people part of his royal family based on his say so without jumping through legal hoops the way the Allied Clans have to.
- Content Warnings:Chapter Trigger Warnings: Explicit Depiction of Depressive Thoughts
- Going Native: Invoked. The epigraph discusses how before they tamed dragons, the Hooligans implemented several policies to encourage newcomers to identify as Hooligans.
- Hypocrite: The Archbishop rants about the improperness of Wulfhild's legal triad relationship with Hiccup and Astrid only to then try and have sex with his mistress. His subordinate Ultan is shocked by the hypocrisy.Ultan: It's… how can the Archbishop say one thing and do another? It… bothers me.
- Wham Episode: Stoick finally admits he is a King in this chapter as part of a political move to get a specific proposal accepted.
