WARNING: This description contains heavy spoilers for the entire episode
This episode opens with several Vikings straining to pull a
devastated ship to the docks. Stoick
looks on anxiously from the deck, jumping to land once the ship is close
enough. Immediately, he grabs a length
of the rope between the ship and the others and joins the effort to pull it to
shore. Toothless swoops in, landing on
the dock with Hiccup, curious to see what’s going on, perched on his back.
The wrecked ship safely on shore, Stoick casts the line
aside in frustration and stomps forward to fully inspect the damage. Hiccup watches, waiting for an
explanation. Gobber doesn’t hesitate to
deliver, turning to inform him that the rogue dragon struck again, making this
the second destroyed boat this week.
Hiccup and Toothless share a concerned glance, while Stoick turns to
Gobber, lamenting the fact that another whole catch had been lost—one they’d
have been able to save, had they gotten there sooner.
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| Stoick and Toothless "trust" |
Seizing the opportunity, Hiccup interjects that they could
have gotten there sooner. This is
clearly not a new conversation, and Stoick isn’t in the mood to have it
again. He rolls his eyes, muttering in
frustration, and turns away from his son, busying himself with a broken plank. Ignoring his father’s pointed lack of
interest, Hiccup follows enumerating the benefits riding a dragon would have
brought to the situation. Stoick remains
firm, stubbornly insisting that as the chief, he does things the Viking way. Exasperated, Hiccup details the flaws in that
plan, and Stoick prepares another rebuttal until Gobber jumps in, siding with
Hiccup. He points out how useful a
dragon would be in protecting the village, especially after Alvin’s recent
attack.
With Gobber on board, Stoick is willing to listen, but shuts
Hiccup out of the discussion, leaving him hurt and dismayed. Gobber paints an impressive picture of Stoick
commanding the village with a dragon by his side, and in no time, his mind is
changed entirely and he’s ready to start lessons. He turns to Hiccup for this, who, having been
left out for the whole conversation, quips sarcastically that Stoick should ask
Gobber. Neither man catches the tone,
leaving him more aggravated.
Later on, Stoick faces Toothless on a small cliff outside
the Dragon Training Academy. Kneeling
beside Toothless, Hiccup explains the new stirrup he made for Stoick to control
Toothless’ tailfin. Stoick immediately
takes this as a right to boss Toothless around.
Hiccup jumps to Toothless’ defense, explaining the importance of mutual
trust when riding a dragon. Stoick
appears to ignore him, but allows Hiccup to place his hand on Toothless’ snout
anyway. Impatiently, Stoick blows off
any attempt at bonding, insisting they just get on with the lesson. Hiccup climbs on behind him, instructing
Stoick to start slowly with a little nudge.
Stoick’s “little nudge” comes as a sharp kick to the leg, and Toothless
tears to the sky with a roar.
Hiccup tries to regain some level of control, giving the
commands for Toothless’ tail from behind Stoick’s shoulder, but it quickly
dissolves into bickering instead. The
gravity of Stoick’s refusal to listen quickly becomes apparent with the trio
narrowly dodging a massive outcropping.
In the struggle to recover, he only throws the flight further out of
control and they’re not so lucky with another set of rocks. The spinning continues with Stoick blaming
Toothless as they careen toward the sea.
At the last minute, he seems to get a grasp on thing, shifting the tail
open just in time to skim across the surface of the water. The smooth moment comes to an abrupt end with
Hiccup pointing out that they’re still flying too fast for a proper
landing. What Stoick thinks is his
control pedal turns out to be Hiccup’s leg and he’s unable to slow down in
time.
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| Hiccup and Stoick flying |
Toothless crashes hard, tumbling
across the grassy ledge, both passengers knocked from his back to do the
same. He stumbles unevenly over to Hiccup
who whispers an apology.
Stoick’s already walking away, having decided he’s had
enough and no longer wants to pursue dragon riding. Unfortunately, a giant rock wall stands in
his way—literally. With no way around
it, he finds himself back on Toothless, this time in the passenger
position. Hiccup seizes the opportunity
to show him what riding a dragon is really like, taking the scenic route over
Berk. With the aerial view, Stoick is
able to see the whole village—and the prospect of dragon riding—from a new
perspective. By the time they land, he
once again seems open to the idea.
Hiccup wakes the next morning to find Toothless’ bed
empty. His calls go unanswered and the
dragon is nowhere to be found inside, but when he opens the front door, he’s
met with an astonishing sight. His
father and dragon are both back in the sky.
The flight is still somewhat chaotic, and Astrid and
Fishlegs, carrying buckets of water, stop to stare at the sight. After crashing against a couple rooftops,
Stoick lands proudly in front of his home to greet a very confused Hiccup. He excitedly tells him they’ve spent the
morning all over Berk, his duties much easier from the back of a dragon. Hiccup attempts to explain that Toothless is
his dragon, but Stoick pays no attention, informing him he’s only back for his
hatchet. When Hiccup starts again,
Stoick cuts him off with the realization that he doesn’t even need his hatchet
now that he has Toothless.
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| Toothless enduring Stoick's chiefly duties |
As Stoick climbs back on board, Toothless sags in exhaustion
and wheezes miserable. Hiccup promises
him he’ll fix it, then they’re off again, leaving Hiccup to watch, hoping he
really can come up with a solution.
Stoick spends the whole day flying on Toothless, solving
various problems around the village.
While Stoick’s control over the tail improves, Toothless’ fatigue grows
more and more evident. Rather than let
him rest, Stoick urges him to go faster.
Flying becomes more difficult as the day wears on and by the time they
land beneath the setting sun, Toothless is completely exhausted. He rumbles forlornly at Stoick’s suggestion
that they’ll be doing the same thing the following day.
Hiccup watches sympathetically from the steps of the Great
Hall, turning to Astrid for advice. She
suggests the “honey and the hatchet” method—telling him something he wants to
hear first, so the part he doesn’t want to hear is easier to take.
Back at home, Stoick is once again looking for
Toothless. Despite questioning Astrid’s
violent nature, Hiccup decides her advice is worth a shot, first complimenting
his dad on his beard. Familiar with the
method, Stoick tells Hiccup to get on to the hatchet part. Again, Hiccup tells him that Toothless is his
dragon. Stoick is more receptive this
time, agreeing that’s fair. However, the
next part of his agreement is that Hiccup find him a dragon as good as
Toothless. Hiccup looks even more
troubled, but Stoick’s mention of the dragon training academy sparks an idea.
Inside the academy, Hiccup has the other teens show Stoick
the finer points of their dragons.
Snotlout starts, showing off his wonderful salesmanship skills, but
things quickly take a turn when his attempt to warm Hookfang up ends with
Stoick cooling his burns in a nearby water trough.
Astrid loses track of her spiel, talking about herself,
rather than Stormfly momentarily before catching her mistake. Nonetheless, Stoick seems impressed. Unfortunately, he approaches jumpy Nadder too
quickly, dropping a heavy hand on her snout before Astrid can stop him. He barely dodges her instinctive volley of
tail darts.
Too busy punching one another, the twins don’t even have
anything to say about their dragon.
Instead, Barf and Belch mimic their riders, snapping and biting at each
other until they end up setting off an explosion. Within seconds, Stoick’s calling to move on.
Fishlegs has plenty to say about Meatlug, however it quickly
becomes a bit overemotional. Stoick
decides she’s too much like a mother and not enough like a dragon for his
tastes.
Turning back to Hiccup, Stoick voices his disapproval of the
other dragons in favor of Toothless.
Hiccup agrees that he is the best, but he’s also the only one of his
kind—and he’s not willing to give him up.
Before the conversation can go any further, Gobber rushes in, yelling
that the rogue dragon is back.
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| Thornado is the "rogue dragon" |
Stoick gives the order to go, but he and Hiccup reach
Toothless at the same moment. After a
brief stare-off,
Hiccup relents, but he’s clearly disgruntled about it. He mumbles sarcastically, but Stoick doesn’t
notice, dashing off in pursuit of the dragon.
Out at sea, Mulch and Bucket are doing their best to fend
off the large shape circling their boat from the water beneath. The dragon breaks through the surface,
blasting them with his fearsome roar just as Toothless, Hiccup, and Stoick
reach them. Hiccup is astounded to see
it’s a Thunderdrum.
Toothless first fires a first bolt as a warning, then a
second, more defensively as the Thunderdrum takes a nosedive at them from
above. The second shot sends the
Thunderdrum back underwater and the trio lands on the ship, assuming they’ve
scared it off.
It’s imperative they get back to shore and Stoick begins
issuing commands, but a giant tail whips up from below, wrapping around him and
pulling him under. Hiccup, Mulch, and
Bucket watch in horror, but the Thunderdrum resurfaces quickly, Stoick clinging
to its face. A battle ensues on deck, in
the midst of which, Stoick shouts his intentions—this is the dragon he
wants. Once he has the dragon subdued,
he calmly informs Hiccup he’ll need him to train him.
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| "I've found my dragon, now all your have to do is train him" |
Back at the academy, Hiccup apologizes to the caged
Thunderdrum for muzzling him, while Stoick demands they get the lesson
started. Hiccup reiterates the
importance of making sure the dragon knows he can trust Stoick before opening
the gate. Stoick gives it a halfhearted
attempt, but the moment the wild dragon snaps at him, he punches it, forcefully
enough to send it flying back into the cage.
The Thunderdrum tries to make his escape, but Stoick clasps on to his
tail and pulls him to the ground, quickly clambering to onto his back. Just as he finishes gloating, the Thunderdrum
takes lifts off, circling the arena, then flying through the open gates, Stoick
still on board.
Outside the forge, Hiccup paces, lamenting his troubles with
his father to Gobber, while the older man has his head deep inside a Gronckle’s
mouth. Once the offending tooth is
removed, Gobber is free to give Hiccup his full attention. He explains that even though it doesn’t seem
like it, and he’ll never admit, Stoick really does listen, much more than
Hiccup realizes.
Before Hiccup can respond, Stoick returns, without the
Thunderdrum. Worried about his dad,
Hiccup rushes forward to lightly hug him, asking where the dragon went. Stoick informs him he flew off, and the two
momentarily quarrel about whether or not he enjoyed Stoick fighting with
him. Stoick ends the argument, insisting
they go find him and bring him back.
Exasperated, but with no other option, Hiccup follows along.
Once again, Hiccup is stuck as the passenger on his own
dragon, as Stoick leads the other teens on theirs in pursuit of the Thunderdrum. Hiccup begins directing the others, but
Stoick quickly takes control of that too, sending them each in their own
direction. Hiccup grows even more
irritated , his comments remaining unheard.
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| Thornado's friend is wounded |
With the gang split up, he again urges Stoick to approach
the dragon differently when they do find him, but Stoick completely ignores
him, instead pointing to a cliff below.
The Thunderdrum ducks into the shadows.
They land on the cliff, and the Thunderdrum, still muzzles, charges from
the cave he’d hid in. Toothless becomes
agitated, but Hiccup calms him, then tries to intercede with the
Thunderdrum. Instead, Stoick waves him
off, pulling out a giant battle hammer.
Before he can use it, however, he spies another Thunderdrum, this one
wounded, in the recesses of the cave.
With the realization that that’s why the rogue dragon was stealing their
fish, Stoick sends Hiccup off to find the others and tell Gobber to
prepare. Hiccup tries to protest, but
still finds himself unable to win an argument against his father.
Alone with the Thunderdrum, Stoick abandons his hammer and
stretches out his hand to attempt bonding, but before he can, the dragon
growls, staring at something behind him.
Stoick turns to see a sounder of red-eyed boars stalking toward
them. Immediately, he picks up his
hammer and sets to fighting them off, but there are more than he can handle
alone and they continue advancing on the wounded dragon. The healthy Thunderdrum joins in, batting
them away with a powerful whip of his tail.
He comes to Stoick’s aid, swatting one off of his chest before it could
get the best of him.
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| evil boars....? |
Just as they get the first wave of boars under control, more
creep out from the shadows. No time to
spare, Stoick holds out his hand and the Thunderdrum presses his face against
it, agreeing to trust him. He pulls the
muzzle away, and the dragon lowers his head, allowing Stoick to climb up. Together, they turn to the boars. The Thunderdrum unleashes a terrifying sound
blast with enough force to send the animals flying backward, winning the
battle.
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| Stoick and Thornado "bonding" |
Hiccup and the others return to find Stoick seated on his
dragon. Incredulous, Hiccup asks what
happened and Stoick explains they bonded fighting the boars and that when it
comes to dragons, it’s all about trust.
After a laugh, he finally admits he does listen to Hiccup.
They deliver the injured dragon to Gobber, and Stoick gives
special instructions to take good care of him as he’s a friend. The episode ends with Stoick happily
finishing up his chiefing on the back of his dragon so they can go flying with
Hiccup and Toothless.
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| Father and Son flying together |
- Hiccup has been trying to convince Stoick to get his own dragon for a while.
- Gobber still works as a dragon dentist on the island
- Toothless uses a "plasma blast" as well as fireballs
- Stoick now gains the dragon companionship of Thornado and this will carry on throughout the rest of the show (franchise?).
- Thornado was not given his name in this episode.
