How to Train Your Dragon

The film opens on the island of Berk. Hiccup (Mason Thames) narrates over how the island is practically uninhabitable, but the biggest problem would be the dragons. The Vikings of Berk, led by Hiccup’s father, Chief Stoick The Vast (Gerard Butler), rally together as a swarm of dragons attacks their village and begins to steal the sheep. Despite his hopes to join the other Vikings, Hiccup is seen as more of a liability. The other teens in the village – Snotlout (Gabriel Howell), twins Ruffnut (Bronwyn James) and Tuffnut (Harry Trevaldwyn), Fishlegs (Julian Dennison), and Astrid (Nico Parker), the most revered of the young Vikings and the object of Hiccup’s affections – lend their hand, trained under Gobber (Nick Frost). Hiccup goes up to one of his own inventions, a bolas shooter. Up in the sky, a Night Fury, the most feared and mysterious of all the dragons, fires a blast at the village. Hiccup fires the bolas, which strikes the Night Fury. However, he draws the attention of another dragon, which chases after him until Stoick bails him out by fighting it. The rest of the dragons flying away with their captured livestock. Stoick expresses his annoyance with Hiccup’s interference disrupting their efforts in stopping the dragon threat. Hiccup expresses to Gobber how he just wishes that he could be like the rest of the Vikings. Stoick leads a council meeting between the other Vikings. They have been searching for the dragons’ nest in the hopes to wipe them out for good, but their lack of success has started to bring down their morale. After giving a rousing speech and listening to the wisdom of Elder Gothi (Naomi Wirthner), Stoick proceeds to round up his fleets to sail out. Before leaving, he has a heart-to-heart with Gobber about Hiccup’s place in the tribe, and how he worries that he does not have what it takes to do what they do. Gobber proposes that Stoick have Hiccup undergo dragon training with the other teens. Desperate to prove himself, Hiccup goes out into the woods to try and find the Night Fury. He comes across the dragon trapped in his own net. Hiccup walks over and prepares to kill him, but after looking into his eyes and seeing his accepting his fate, Hiccup instead decides to let the Night Fury go. He roars in Hiccup’s face before flying away, but his tail fin is damaged and preventing him from achieving full flight. When Hiccup returns home, Stoick tells him about his dragon training, which Hiccup is reluctant to start. Hiccup joins the other teens with Gobber in the Trial of Flame. The others, except Fishlegs, mock Hiccup for his lack of skill and how he has frequently proved himself an embarrassment. Hiccup just fires back over how Ruffnut and Tuffnut were held back in dragon training (something they’re sensitive about) and how Snotlout’s name is dumber than his own (something he gets defensive about). For their first challenge, Gobber has them facing the Gruesome Gronckle. The teens are outwitted by the dragon, who has to get wrangled back into its cage by Gobber. Hiccup returns to the woods to look for the Night Fury and sees him struggling with his damaged tail. He later rejoins Gobber and the teens over dinner, where he hands them the Book of Dragons to study and understand the different types of dragons. Hiccup suggests to Astrid that there may be things about dragons that the Vikings do not understand, but Astrid has plans to become chief someday and thinks Hiccup would just be standing in her way. During their next round of training, the teens go up against the Deadly Nadder, which also proves a challenge to them. Stoick and his Vikings are sailing along a foggy part on the river. A small group of dragons proceeds to attack the fleets, prompting the Vikings to defend themselves. Hiccup finds the Night Fury alone and approaches him with a fish. Seeings the dragon’s retractable teeth, Hiccup names him “Toothless”. Toothless pukes up the fish’s head, offering it to Hiccup, which he reluctantly eats. After spending more time together, Toothless allows Hiccup to place his hand upon his snout. Back at home, Hiccup makes a prosthetic tail fin to attach to Toothless, which helps him fly again, but Hiccup still needs to help him manage his trajectory. In their next round of training, the teens face the two-headed Hideous Zippleback. While it chases the teens in the smoke clouds it emits, Hiccup surprises everyone by fending it off using a smoked eel, which he previously saw that Toothless recoiled at. Hiccup spends more time with Toothless in secret, trying to help him fly better, while also learning more about how to handle the other dragons. He causes the Gronckle to get thrown off by its allergies, and it scratches the Nadder’s neck to make it more docile. This makes him more popular with Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Ruffnut & Tuffnut, but it makes Astrid more suspicious of Hiccup. He later uses a reflected light to subdue the tiny Terrible Terror, which bites Tuffnut’s nose. Elder Gothi also takes notice of Hiccup’s improvements. Hiccup gets a “cheat sheet” to help him with Toothless as they take to the skies. They get high enough to fly across the land, but Hiccup loses the sheet in midair, causing him and Toothless to fall. Once Hiccup is able to regain control of Toothless, he throws the sheet away and lets his instincts guide him, and the two begin to soar and fly freely. Stoick returns to Berk with the remainder of his fleet, and he is surprised to hear about how well Hiccup has been doing. After expressing great pride in his son, he informs Hiccup that he must kill a dragon for his final test. Hiccup tries to run away with Toothless, but Astrid follows him to their hiding spot and discovers the Night Fury. The two bring an unwitting Astrid along for a ride to prove that he is harmless. Once Astrid tells Toothless she is sorry, he becomes more gentle and allows her to experience flight the way Hiccup did. Moments later, Toothless flies towards an island alongside other dragons. They are returning to their nest, where Hiccup and Astrid find their queen, the Red Death. After one Gronckle fails to bring sufficient food, the Red Death emerges and devours the dragon. They fly back to Berk, where Astrid wants to inform the other Vikings that they found the nest, but Hiccup fears that will mean they will kill Toothless. The next day, Hiccup is pitted against the Monstrous Nightmare, which can set itself on fire. Just as Hiccup tries to show the Vikings that the dragon is not dangerous, Stoick causes the Monstrous Nightmare to go berserk and start running around the place. Toothless senses this and flies into the arena to fight the other dragon to protect Hiccup. The other Vikings intervene, subduing and capturing Toothless despite Hiccup’s protests. Stoick pulls Hiccup away and argues with him over breaking from tradition, but Hiccup says that it is time they stopped killing dragons. He accidentally lets it slip that he found the nest and that Toothless can guide the Vikings there, but when he tries to stop Stoick, he disowns his son. After the Vikings set off, Astrid finds Hiccup alone. He laments the situation that he has put his best friend in and how the Vikings are walking into a trap. After Astrid encourages him, Hiccup gathers the other four teens and has them take the captive dragons so that they may fly towards the nest and save Toothless and everyone else. The Vikings arrive outside the nest’s location on the dragon island. Stoick orders them to break through the walls with their weapons. After breaking it open, the Red Death emerges and begins to incinerate the Viking ships. The teens arrive with their dragons to draw attention away from the Vikings, and even Snotlout’s dad Spitelout (Peter Serafinowicz) appears proud of his son for the first time. Hiccup goes to free Toothless, but Stoick, after witnessing his son become a leader, goes to break Toothless from his restraints after the ship sinks underwater. Stoick apologizes to Hiccup and lets him and Toothless take care of business. Hiccup and Toothless fly high enough and fire a blast at the Red Death to draw it up to the skies. They get high above the clouds, where the Red Death fires a huge flame blast, which causes the tail fin prosthetic to start to burn up. Thinking quickly, Hiccup and Toothless take a dive, with the Red Death following. Hiccup commands Toothless to fire a blast inside the Red Death’s mouth, causing it to burn up and crash into the side of the mountain, where it explodes into a giant fireball. Hiccup falls into the blast, and Toothless swoops in to grab him. When the flames have cleared, the Vikings gather at the fallen Toothless. Stoick is remorseful over what he said to Hiccup and he begins to mourn his son until Toothless reveals he saved Hiccup. Stoick and the other Vikings cheer at Hiccup being alive. Hiccup wakes up days later back at home, where he finds that he has lost his right foot and now wears a prosthetic. He finds Toothless greeting him and is later surprised to find that the Vikings flew back home to Berk with the dragons, and now everyone on the island has become friendly with the creatures. Astrid comes to find Hiccup and kisses him, initiating their new relationship. Gobber also comes out with a new fin for Toothless, allowing him and Hiccup to fly again. The teens then take their creatures up to the skies to fly around the island. Hiccup’s narration concludes that while Berk is still not a great place to live in, the best thing about it would be…DRAGONS!

Last Updated: June 17, 2025 at 08:26