Berk's Mediavine: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III

The Main character of the series. A teenage Viking who lives on the Isle of Berk. Although Hiccup has a less-than-ideal Viking persona, he is an important and highly looked up to figure on Berk as the son of the Chief Stoick, the next in line for the chiefdom, and the Master Dragon Trainer after the events of the first movie. He is the head of Berk's Dragon Training Academy.

Role in the Franchise:

Hiccup is introduced in the first movie as a loner in Berk. Ignored by his peers and seen as a screw up in the eyes of the adults of the village (most notably his father), Hiccup would spend most of his time alone in his workshop and drawing. This fact didn't stop him from wanting to prove himself, even when he ended up destroying half the village in the process.

His curiosity and non violent ways soon triggered his friendship with Toothless, a fierce and the most mysterious dragon known the Vikings. Although his friendship with Toothless was considered blasphemy at first after he bravely defeated the Green Death and almost lost his life because of it he's considered a hero in Berk. Hiccup rides a Night Fury and also his best friend, Toothless.

Post-movie, Hiccup seems to have unintentionally gotten the reputation of the hero of the tribe, always going off with completely different intentions yet somehow "saving the day" anyway. This makes him highly respected and looked up to when it comes to dragon-related matters in the village. As seen in Gift of the Night Fury Hiccup was the go to person for the village when all the dragons unexpectedly flew off. They all crowded around him, asking where the dragons had gone like he was supposed to instantly know.

Hiccup in Riders of Berk

In Riders of Berk Hiccup seems to have become a Master Dragon Trainer and is head of the training facility to teach the other Vikings how to adjust smoothly to the cohabitation with dragons. Above all, he just tries to keep the peace in Berk during the transitional period as well as gaining new responsibilities within the tribe outside of Dragon Training such as being in charge of Bork's private archives.

Because of his ability to handle problem solving, in turn, Stoick now usually assigns the dragon related tasks and problems to Hiccup for him to solve, even some non-dragon related tasks such as in Viking for Hire when Hiccup is tasked with finding Gobber a new occupation.

Hiccup's success in training dragons has seemed to spread even off of Berk, though the rumor is misinterpreted as Hiccup being a "Dragon Conqueror", and his height and strength is also exaggerated that he is "10 ft tall with the strength of a dozen men." Despite some of the information being untrue, Alvin is still after Hiccup's ability to ride and train dragons.

Hiccup is also an only child. Not a lot is known about his mother Valhallarama, it's alluded to that she's passed away when Hiccup was very little. In the episode Breakneck Bog Hiccup receives an old dragon doll that his mother made for him.

Personality:

Hiccup’s personality is very non-violent and curious, and—as quoted from co-director of the movie, Dean DeBlois—Hiccup’s curiosity can “get him into trouble”. Despite this, Hiccup’s intentions are always good. He can seem flighty when it comes to taking the responsibility of one day becoming chief of the tribe, for he would rather go off on adventures with Toothless, Hiccup knows how to buckle down when needed and handle his business. He will soon come to terms with his eventual destiny of being chief in the sequel movies. And it's easy to assume that he's simply not ready for the responsibility due to his panic of not knowing how to handle people depending on him for answers in Gift of the Night Fury.

Although Hiccup frequently tries to prove himself in the first movie he still has a level of self confidence that penetrates his need to completely succumb to peer pressure. When he was getting attention for being the best in dragon training in the first movie, instead of basking in his glory, Hiccup preferred spending time alone with Toothless even though he was finally getting the respect he always wanted.

He’s also not afraid to stick up for himself and his friends and his village as a whole and shows selfless acts to protect both multiple times throughout the franchise. Hiccup also has a habit of speaking his mind and asking whatever questions he pleases, even if it annoys or confuses the people around him. This fact about him makes Hiccup extremely and openly sarcastic. He’s always the first to spew his sarcastic views no matter how rude or inappropriate to the situation they may be, so it’s easy to believe that he just can’t help himself in that respect. He even seems to hold his sarcastic attitude even when in dire situations, such as when he was captured by Alvin in the episode Alvin and the Outcasts.

Hiccup is also very observant. His keen eye for details was what helped him keep his secret of befriending Toothless and supposedly being the best in Dragon Training for so long. He actively watched Toothless's mannerisms and as was able to apply it to the other dragons, as well as using past knowledge to defeat the Green Death.

Based on some scenes in the movie, some believe that Hiccup doesn’t like the taste of meat, although he eats fish, whenever Hiccup is presented with meat he seems to pick at it more than eat it.

In Riders of Berk Hiccup seems to have retained his need to try everything his new way first, and always tries to keep things fair for everyone even if it's impossible, such as when he tried to find a place for Gobber in the training academy and resented firing Gobber for his bad work in Viking for Hire. Also, Hiccup still seems to have issues asking his peers for help, even thought they're all available. Such as in How to Start a Dragon Academy where he decided to try and manage all the misbehaving dragons on his own instead of asking for help from the other Viking teens. Still, his teaching skills have exhibited his patience in everyone learning all he knows about dragons.

And despite Hiccup proving himself in the first movie, he still displays a need to continue to due his new found respect and still prove himself to his father knowing that whatever the dragons do reflects on his ability to keep them at bay.

Because of his recent success and uncanny ability to escape near death situations, it seems Hiccup has become not only a tad cocky--or "smug" as Snotlout pointed out in Defiant One--but also irrationally fearless. His fearlessness when facing Alvin or any other dangerous situations--such as the treasure hunt in Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Man and getting struck by lightning in When Lightning Strikes--exhibits this. But his cockiness is definitely shown in the episode Heather Report, Part 1 where Hiccup took a liking to the new girl--Heather--half because of his ability to easily impress her with his knowledge of and skills with dragons. This new found ego has seemed to fog his brain a bit, especially when detecting danger from innocence, as he always tries to give new people the benefit of the doubt.

It's also heavily highlighted in Thawfest in which Hiccup finally is able to best Snotlout during the Thawgames with the addition of dragon events in the competition. He lets his victories go straight to his head only to snap out of it when his conscious and Astrid previous comments about him being a "lousy winner" got to him. And as well in What flies Beneath when--to get Toothless to understand that he needs him to fight--Hiccup throws himself off a cliff in hopes that Toothless will abandon the fight and save him, which he did.

In the episode Breakneck Bog Hiccup expresses the fear that he's had for forgetting his mother--since she passed when he was very little--and during the episode he had a reserved determination to get a dragon doll his mother had made for him when he was a baby back from a herd of Smothering Smokebreaths.

Abilities:

Hiccup has an impressive knack for blacksmithing and inventing contraptions due to him being sent to be Gobber’s blacksmithing student when he was 2-years-old. Before meeting Toothless, a lot of Hiccup’s gadgets included weapons that would make it easier for Hiccup to throw and wield the weapons he couldn’t pick up himself. After befriending Toothless, though, Hiccup has taken to fashioning tail modifications to Toothless’s missing tailfin in order for him to fly, such as the new tail he made for Toothless as a Snoggletog gift that allowed him to fly on his own in Gift of the Night Fury and many modifications he makes in Riders of Berk. His work can be considered in the clockpunk genre.

Hiccup also likes to draw. He’s frequently seen with his sketch pad, drawing anything he thinks is interesting, and in his workshop and his room there are tons of drawings of inventions and dragons all over the walls (See Hiccup's Drawings/Inventions, for more). Also, as seen in Gift of the Night Fury, Hiccup’s room is filled with paintbrushes and charcoal pencils. And he’s also good a sewing, for he made his own riding vest as well as the saddle Toothless wears while flying in the movie.

Appearance:

Hiccup is very skinny for a Viking and has brown-red hair, green eyes, and freckles. He’s always seen sporting a green, long sleeve tunic with a brown waist tie, dark green pants, a brown fur vest, and fur boots. One of the signature features on his face is the small scar he has on the right side of his chin. He does sport the horned helmet his father gave him in the first movie sometimes, but he’s not seen wearing it all the time. His left foot was injured and removed at the end of the first movie and replaced with a wooden prosthetic leg with a iron spring. Since his confirmed age is still unknown, it is not known whether Hiccup is short for his age or if he’s just still growing, but he is noticeably shorter than all of the other Viking teens. He’s also seen frequently wearing his custom and self-made brown leather riding vest which he fashioned to attach to Toothless’s saddle so he wouldn’t fall off. In Riders of Berk Hiccup's fur vest is replaced by a suede vest of the same color and his custom made riding vest is no longer present.

A notable change is that Hiccup loses his left foot after the events of the first movie. Although Hiccup had problems walking with it at the end of the first movie, in later short films (Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon and Gift of the Night Fury) Hiccup seems to have little to no problems walking and can even run with his leg on some occasions. His wooden/iron prosthetic still causes him problems though. As seen in Gift of the Night Fury the iron part of his leg causes him to frequently slip on the snow and ice during the winter time in Berk, and he seems to express annoyance towards this. And in Riders of Berk it is revealed that Hiccup can and does take his prosthetic leg off when he wants to (mostly at night).

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