Our world does not welcome wild things.

As a zoology student, this is a brutal truth I must face. We slaughter keystone predators, leaving ecosystems to rot, then ponder why we are so overrun by the animals they hunt. We destroy forests, jungles, prairies and marshlands, then wonder why these pests dare encroach on our land. 

We hunt rare creatures for their tusks, for their horns, for their skin, for their bones, forcing those that remain onto reserves, culling them when their populations grow beyond our control. Our highest-ranking political figures publicly delight in murdering endangered species for mere thrill of the hunt. If a creature is fierce, or frightening, or mysterious, or beautiful… we kill it. 

This is why How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is important. Grimmel is a trophy hunter. He kills dragons for the fun of it. Because Night Furies are beautiful and rare and dangerous and the world heralds him as a hero for it. He doesn’t need another reason for it, anymore than any of the trophy hunters of our world need a reason for shooting an elephant and proudly posing with its bloody tail other than it boosts their egos. 

“Our world doesn’t deserve you…”

…because our world destroys all that which is fierce and beautiful and wild. So until the day comes when mankind stops desecrating, polluting, and exploiting the natural world we are meant to protect, I hope the dragons stay hidden, where man cannot reach them. 

@jackthevulture These tags. THESE TAGS! THANK YOU!

Something I caught during my second viewing was that Grimmel deliberately pitted Toothless’s love for Hiccup against his affection for the Light Fury…. something that, sadly, I’ve seen many fans do. When that simply isn’t the case. Toothless would’ve stayed with Hiccup. He left to protect his kind. The dragons that he, as Alpha, is responsible for protecting.

This isn’t about Hiccup vs the Light Fury. It never was. It’s about the Goodness of Man vs the Evil of Man, about Love and Acceptance vs Fear and Hatred.

For now, Fear won out. We don’t deserve dragons. But maybe, just maybe, one day, we will.

YES! I honestly like. Didn’t even have to think about why Toothless left, It was really obvious to me? I’m no zoology student but I really love animals and nature and conservation have always been a presence in my life, and it felt so obvious to me that that’s what this was about. Berk was too crowded and a huge target before the Light Fury showed up.   The living conditions for both the humans and dragons there were going downhill, and Gobber brought this up. 

What the Light Fury IS though? Is a way back into the wild for Toothless. Like imagine how much sadder that goodbye would be if she wasn’t there by his side. He can have a future with her that’s more than just being an alpha. He didn’t leave for her, but she did make it easier, more fulfilling for Toothless. Because he does love Hiccup, and its clear he never would have left if if it weren’t life or death, not just for him but for every dragon in the archipelago. 

Sometimes its about losing a battle to win the war, living again to fight another day.  Hiccup and Toothless did the responsible thing for both of their people, but especially the dragons. Humans in the real world have a habit of putting their own desires to keep the wild close above the safety of the living things in question.  

its a reality a lot of people have a hard time accepting. We love these things and want to keep them close but sometimes we have to accept that we simply are not capable as a species of living along side the wilderness properly. one day maybe, but not yet. 

HTTYD has always had conservation at its core and this ending is just so fitting and RESPONSIBLE. 

It really hit me when I saw this scene : Hiccup saw the Vikings already made some house foundations on the New Berk after they got back from the Hidden World (after Love is Loss flashback).

That told me (and us) that even humans with the best intentions still have no place in THW (or alongside dragons), because humans’ necessity ultimately disturbs the nature and the ecosystem that the dragons already have.

Setting some facts straight

So, I am seeing several posts lately claiming that Dean DeBlois or anyone else at Dreamworks has said that the HTTYD TV series and Race to the Edge are not canon. I’m not sure where are they getting their “facts” from, because these interviews below demonstrate the contrary unless someone can provide concrete evidence to me showing otherwise. 

Putting screenshots under the cut since Tumblr no longer allows posts to show up with links (including internal ones, sigh!). 

Keep reading

Why the dragons left

Okay, I feel like a lot of people seem to be missing the point about why the dragons left: Part of the reason they left is because the people hunting them were getting smarter. Grimmel alone isn’t the reason the dragons left, it’s ALL of the villains we’ve seen throughout the series (except maybe the Red Death, since I’m talking about human villains who have tried to harm or manipulate dragons in some way.)

This idea of “the world is not a safe place for dragons” has been building up ever since Alvin. As Hiccup says clearly in the movie, “our enemies are getting stronger”. Grimmel is just the worst of the worst.

It started with Alvin the treacherous, some scumbag who just wanted to get revenge on Berk for making him an outcast and used Whispering Deaths to get his way. Then Dagur, who was a bit like Grimmel because he wanted to hunt down Toothless like he was a trophy. In RTTE, Hiccup is finally of introduced to all these dragon hunter/trapper organizations. It starts off with Viggo, the leader of the dragon hunters, then his army is taken over by Krogan, who is connected to Drago, a man who is building an army of dragons and using his dragon trappers to do so.

Then there’s Grimmel. He’s a smart, cunning hunter who has almost managed to take out an entire race of intelligent and powerful dragons, and has managed to get a group of warlords on his side. He has a venom that can control dragons and even make them resistant to the alpha’s command, plus he has an endless supply of this venom because the dragons he’s controlling are the ones who make it.

I feel like a lot of people really don’t take Grimmel seriously. Just look at what this bastard has managed to achieve, he killed off an entire dragon species that no one on Berk has even managed to lay a scratch on (until Hiccup).

Honestly, if I was in Hiccup’s shoes, this guy would definitely make me question if the dragons were really safe living on Berk.

Grimmel and the rest of the franchise’s villains are only a part of the reason for the dragons leaving, the other part is the Hidden World. The Light Fury leads Toothless to this legendary world, and when he doesn’t come back for a little while Hiccup and Astrid go out to find him. Then they find it; this amazing and beautiful dragon sanctuary that continues on for miles with no end in sight, where millions of dragons can live without the fear of hunters. Then Hiccup sees Toothless, acting as the king of this world.

We see it clearly in Hiccup’s eyes, and I’m pretty sure he’s also thinking about it when they return to Berk: The Hidden World is not a place for humans. It was obvious seeing as how human crops would probably never flourish in that environment, but it was even more obvious when the dragons began attacking Hiccup and Astrid and going into a huge panic only because of two humans in their sanctuary. Think about it; if they reacted this badly to two humans inside the Hidden World, how would they react to an entire village?

But at the same time, Hiccup sees that this place is safer for dragons. With all the hunters in the world, he realizes he would never be able to create a truly safe place for dragons no matter how many times he moved Berk.

He makes a decision that is best for his people and the dragons. It was a painful decision to make, and it means letting go of Toothless. But it means that both the dragons and his people will be safe.

HTTYD3 isn’t about Toothless abandoning Hiccup for a love interest. It isn’t trying to tell the audience “romance is more than friendship”. It’s about making decisions that are best for everyone, even if it’s not the easiest choice.

It’s really heartbreaking and extremely hard to accept, but even as strong Hiccup and Toothless’s friendship is, it isn’t enough to change the minds of the people who want to kill dragons. But that doesn’t mean their friendship has to end completely. At the end, ten years later, Hiccup finally finds the Hidden World again. He finds Toothless again. It takes a moment for Toothless to recognize him, but once he does he tackles him from how excited he is to see his best friend again, and it’s obvious that no matter how long they’re apart their friendship will always be strong.

I… I really felt the message of this film. (This is about to get really personal oof)

I had a dog when I was is 4th or 5th grade named Charlie, and he was the most energetic dog I’d ever met and he was my best friend. But there was a problem; we had to keep him in a crate quite a bit because my grandma didn’t want him tearing up the house. It was a stupid reason, but there wasn’t anything I could do to convince her otherwise. I was only 11 and didn’t know the first thing about dog training and neither did my sister. We did everything we could to make that dog happy with the rules my grandma had put up, we let him out as much as we could and we took him out on walks to the park and through our neighborhood. But it wasn’t enough, we knew he wasn’t as happy as he could be. My grandma couldn’t keep up with his energy and was practically getting dragged around every time she took him for a walk, and me and my sister were too busy with school.

Then one of my aunt’s friends offered to take him. I was totally against the idea, but I soon realized that Charlie would be way happier with her. She had three other dogs and a huge amount of land, she would give Charlie the life we would never be possible of giving him. So we let her take him, I wasn’t there to say goodbye but my grandma showed me a video of him in his new home, and he looked so happy running around and playing with his new friends. It hurt to have to let him go but it made me happy to see him so full of joy.

I’m sorry I made this post so long with that story about my dog, but this film just reminded me so much of Charlie. I tried to make him happy in a world where he couldn’t be truly happy. It’s kind of the same with Hiccup and Toothless, he was trying to make Toothless safe in a hunter-filled world where he could never be truly safe.

Thank you for sharing your story. You did the right thing for Charlie and I’m sure he’s happier now. 

I agree with everything you said about the film. It saddens me to see people say that the film indicates that romance is more important friendship. That not at all how I saw it. In fact, quite the opposite. The reason Hiccup lets Toothless go is because of how much he loves him. All he wants is what is best for him (and the other dragons) and that is in the Hidden World where his is safe and is where he belongs. It’s not what Hiccup wants (or what any of us want) but it’s what needed to be done. By the end, he realizes that the enemy is going to keep coming and is coming stronger, smarter, and with bigger armies. Like you said, it’s all about doing what is best for everyone and the people you love even if it’s not what you want. In a way, this decision shows just how strong the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless is. It further shows at the very end when Toothless is able to recognize Hiccup after 10 years. 

With Frozen II coming out this year…

I’m really nervous for DreamWorks right now

I mean Dean Deblois really, REALLY worked so hard for the finale of the Dragon Movies (HTTYD 3) and well deserved reviews that makes the final movie more possible to take home the Oscars…

Then I saw the trailer…

I think the story will get a bit darker like what the DreamWorks used to surpass the original movie like…

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

and HTTYD 2 (2014)

has many perfect review BUT STILL NEVER WON AN OSCAR!

MAN SERIOUSLY I’M REALLY SCARED FOR THEM!!!

IMAGINE…Two movies will go HEAD to HEAD on the Oscars on 2020!!!

Frozen II vs HTTYD 3: The Hidden World

To tell you the truth, In my opinion, an overrated song used in a movie doesn’t mean that the should AUTOMATICALLY WIN THE OSCARS, but how about the movies from DreamWorks?

DreamWorks style doesn’t really rely on songs but the STORY ITSELF…the VERY FOUNDATION OF EVERY MOVIE and not the songs that high lights every movie that makes them deserving to have an Oscar and for target audiences they both cater kids and adults like the very first animated movie they made like The Prince of Egypt.

Yes it has songs but songs that made the MOST IMPACT in every people lives but then suddenly it was forgotten. Compared to the songs in Disney that are just catchy tunes, easy to sing, or the song will have more impact just because its…Disney made those songs.

Anyway….

I really wish that the BIG award giving organizations (BAFTA and Oscars) for Motion Pictures consider for once to look deeper into the story and the visualization, not just the AUDIENCE NUMBER or IMPACT.

Be after the QUALITY and not the QUANTITY!

and of cource, I also hope that they should look at the movies like from this point of view…

I know the two big organizations are a bit (or largely) biased for the other animation company but HONESTLY, DreamWorks deserved better

Thanks for coming to my TED talk

#DreamWorksdeservesbetter

#DreamWorksfortheOscars

P.S I neee your insights and opinions on this one and Keep reblogging

I’ve honestly have had these same exact fears lately. I just feel it’s certain that HTTYD 3 is not going to win any awards because of the competition. Not only is HTTYD 3 going up against Frozen 2, it’s also going up against Toy Story 4. Because of the known bias that there is for Disney/Pixar, I don’t see how HTTYD 3 is going to beat them unless both movies are really terrible (which I honestly don’t see happening). There’s the other fact that both movies are coming out later in the year and award shows have a tendency to pick movies that are more recent. Not to mention that it’s been proven that the people choosing the Oscar winners don’t take animated movies seriously and just pick the winners based off what their kids like. 

I know I shouldn’t care so much about this sort of thing because it’s all rigged anyway and it’s all about who pays the most money, but you have to admit there’s a lot of recognition and importance when a movie can add  “Academy Award Winner” to it’s title. I truly believe that HTTYD 3 deserves this kind of recognition because it is an amazing conclusion to an amazing franchise but it’s not going to. It pretty much certain given the fact that the teaser trailer for both Frozen 2 and Toy Story 4 both were on Twitter’s top trending page while HTTYD 3 didn’t. 

Post-HTTYD 3 mood

Honestly? The Hiccstrid development in Race To The Edge caused me to think a lot about how I would like to experience my own romance one day. Before Rtte, I was all for a quick-burn, corny relationship like the ones we get to see in most movies. I thought there had to be a distinction between “friend” and “lover”.

But Rtte let me wish for more. Now I wish for a really, really good friend who I know is great because I watched him interact with other people for years without the pressure of romance stamped on anybody within our reach. I want to know his strengths and weaknesses and goals and quirks and I want us to have the same friends who are happy for us when we finally get together. I want to build on trust and on shared memories, not shy glances, butterflies and awkwardness.

This is a very valuable lesson Dreamworks taught me. Hands up if you’re with me.

And this is why it was so much better to have Hiccstrid develop gradually rather then have them be together early on. Rtte showed us a couple that developed authentically rather than rely on tropes and drama. 

my biggest problem with damselstrid isn’t really that they put her into precarious situations. I know that everyone gets into trouble, and with their way of life, it’s expected.

but it’s more on how when astrid is in trouble, the focus is rarely actually on her. except for night of the hunters, which is different because she wasn’t the only one in trouble.

here, let’s compare two episodes. Buffalord Soldier and Midnight Scrum. The former’s concept actually had me excited. astrid gets posioned, cool! we obviously know she doesn’t die, but it’ll be cool to see everyone’s reaction to the possibility. stormstrid!

instead I got the rest of them and dragon poop? it was so weird, like maybe at least give me one scene with astrid and stormfly? the rest of the gang being as desperate as hiccup is?

midnight scrum. another episode I was excited about. hiccup in trouble. bounty hunters. be prepared for badass astrid.

the rescue party focuses on stoick and most of the episode features hiccup being smart and figuring out how to escape. which isn’t BAD, but why doesn’t astrid get the same liberty? or even if she is rescued, why is there more focus on the rescuers instead of her?

(I know sexism is the answer, you don’t need to tell me).

this happens with ruffnut too, although even though she’s not put into a damsel role as often, there is barely an episode about her without feautyring tuffnut as well. I know the twins love each other, but 1.) I am tired of TJ Miller humor and 2.) I need Ruff to shine on her own.

infiltrate the hunters? ruff gets kidnapped, tuff saves the day. ruff suspects gruffnut is up to something? still tuff who actually fights him.

I swear, I was so fuckin annoyed when hiccup and ruff are going flying and tuff appears on toothless because like bOY BACK OFF AND LET HER HAVE DEVELOPMENT OUTSIDE OF YOU UGH

rtte is meant for kids, and from an average kid’s point of view, astrid and ruffnut SUCK. heather is the cool girl you should wanna date. fishlegs is the smart one. snotlout is right and astrid has an anger issue because she rejects him. ruffnut doesn’t exist without the funnier and more clever and brave tuffnut. hiccup is the hero who saves astrid who is either falling off her dragon or getting poisoned (don’t even get me sTARTED ON HER ALMOST FAINTING IN THE LAVA, IF IT WAS THAT BAD THROK SHOULD HAVE BEEN FEELING SOME EFFECTS TOO, AND THE CORRECT RESPONSE IS NOT TO MURMUR HICCUP’S NAME IT’S TO FOCUS ON STAYING AWAKE WHAT THE H E L L)

just…the writers or creators or whatever hate astrid. they’re part of team #SheDoesn'tDeserveHiccup because she was mean to him in the first movie. they like ruff a little more but not as much as they like tuff. fishlegs is the Nice Guy Better Than The Jerks and that’s why he gets heather. I swear to thor if hiccstrid wasn’t movie canon in the first movie and they didn’t want fans to riot, then hiccup and heather would have gotten together as a Mature™ couple who don’t dabble in silly astrid’s anger. think all those ridiculous harmione fics where ginny is a jerk to hermione with no canon base.

rtte is so sexist and it’s nearly midnight and I don’t even know what I’m trying to say except that my girls deserved better

While I do understand where you’re coming from, and do agree on that both Astrid and Ruffnut needed more episode focusing on them as characters, I do think you making big assumptions based on little information and not getting what you want. You’re only focusing on a couple of episodes when there are plenty of moments where we do see the girls shine. Some examples:

Astrid’s Team: This is such an amazing episode for Astrid. It shows how much Astrid cares about protecting the one she loves and her fear of not being there for them. 

Edge of Disaster: Not only do we see how badass Astrid is at fighting off an enemy attack, we see a fight between her and Ruffnut that goes into their relationship. While it was started because of Tuffnut, Ruffnut standing up to Astrid is big step for her character. There are plenty of times we see Ruffnut stand up for her brother because she cares about him so much. She’s protective of him and that’s just a part of her character. 

More examples include: Ruffnut tricking a guard in order to get the key to their cell, Astrid training a hostile dragon while blinded, Astrid worrying about Stormfly when she was taken by dragon hunters, the entirety of Ruff Transition, Astrid punching a poisonous snake dragon in order to save Stormfly, Ruffnut suspecting a traitor in the group which gives Hiccup the idea not to trust Johann, Astrid being a leader during that last episode of season six, Astrid keeping secret of Heather being a spy to Hiccup (which I know is not really a good thing, but it was good to show that she’s not perfect). 

I agree with you that Astrid and Ruffnut needed to be focused on more, some of your criticism are due to the fact that you didn’t get want you want. I’m not trying to be rude, but the was you worded it seems like that’s the case. 

With the Buffalord Soldier, Astrid was sick in the bed almost the entire time so it would make sense to focus on the others finding the cure as there wouldn’t be much there if it was focused on Astrid. I would of loved a little bit of stormstrid, but it would have been weirdly placed given the pace of the overall episode. In Mightnight Scrum, Hiccup who was able to be cleaver because he had the strength to do so unlike Astrid in Buffalord Soldier who was dying and had absolutely no strength. Mightnight Scrum wasn’t about Astrid. It was about Hiccup and it would makes sense that Stoick would be involved in rescuing him and be more focused on since Hiccup is his son. I am little bit disappointed that Astrid wasn’t more involved, but I don’t think it deserve any harsh criticism because of it. 

Like I said before, I completely understand where you are coming from and some of the criticism is justified. Did Astrid and Ruffnut need more focus and solo episodes dedicated to them? Absolutely! Do I think the rtte is sexist? Honestly, I don’t know. I personally don’t think it is but I get why people are saying that. Do I think that rtte staff hates them, and is on “#SheDoesn’tDerseveHiccup team” and would have wanted Hiccup to be with Heather. Absolutely Not. No offense, but your last big paragraph is a little BS and is making big assumptions out of exaggerating small evidence. 

I apologize if I’m being mean or rude. I just think you’re interpreting small moments as an extreme worst case scenario and ignoring some good parts of rtte that do showcase Astrid and Ruffnut’s characters, even if they are few and far in between, 

“I love you”

NEW CLIP 💕

https://youtu.be/xVNoUaHVlYI

Hiccup said I Love You!

“an unlikely ally makes a sacrifice for the Riders” Hmm

WHAT??!

I was actually thinking about this the other night. In httyd 2, we see Hiccup trying so hard to convince his dad that they should just talk to Drago and change his mind. Contrary in rtte, we usually see him be aggressive towards dragon hunters and people like that. So, what changed his behavior? I was thinking maybe he changes Viggo’s mind in the new season. He learns that just talking to someone instead of using violence could be more convincing. This would really explain his behavioral change between rtte and httyd 2.

Also, think about the quote that’s been going around in both the show and in the fandom. “The traitor always dies.” Now you would think that this would apply to Johann, but what if it applies to Viggo? It makes even more sense when you consider that the quote applies to Maces and Talons which is a game that Viggo likes and is associated with. 

There is a good chance that I am completely wrong, but it would make sense. 

AHHH NEW CLIP

OMG! We finally get to see Ruffnut kick ass! 

OH MY THOR!!! BEWILDERBEAST EGG!!!!!!!!!

Do you reckon this is the same bewilderbeast dragon from httyd 2? Because it makes the way he reacts after it was killed that more interesting

TBH I really hope it’s not a bewilderbeast egg. Both bewilderbeasts in httyd 2 seem to be grown up and, going by some of the dialogue in previous seasons,  I’m guessing season 6 only takes place a few months before. In httyd 2, it’s implied that Valka’s bewilderbeast has been then since she was taken. I can see it being Drago’s but just by looking at his it seems to have been through years of torture and abuse. So while it would be really cool to see it in the rtte, I hope that it’s not for the sake of continuity. And I really don’t want to see any more of the rtte haters screaming that rtte is not canon and use this as proof. 

I feel like the fandom just exploded…

Alright, I’m really looking forward to this battle.

SO MANY DRAGONS OMG! Noice!!

IT’S GONNA BE SO EPIC!!

YESSS

I’m shaking. I feel weak.

THAT TRAILER WAS EPIC. I AM SO HYPED.