How to Train
Your Dragon:
Is Toothless the Perfect Viking Pet?
Important pets mentioned in Viking materials…
1.
The Saga
of Grettir the Strong—some innocent mutilated creatures illustrating Grettir's wayward behavior in his youth that turned out to foreshadow a future just as scary as it seemed it probably would be at the time (of particular note: a flayed mare named Kengala) [27]
2.
Njal’s
Saga—Gunnar’s dog Sam [117]
3.
Egil’s
Saga—not really any noteworthy pets
4.
American
Gods—Hugin and Muninn, Mr. Wednesday’s sassy ravens, one of whom the main
character Shadow gets directions from [141]
Traits of the two key pets mentioned in these books…
«
Sam: intrinsic supernatural predictive abilities
benefitting his owner (biting those hostile to him/quick character discernment);
loyal to the point of death/dies at the same time that Gunnar does (harbinger
of his owner’s imminent downfall); defends his owner (this stated as his best
quality when given as a gift from a friend); large and intimidating (Gunnar
observes) [117, 125-126]
«
Hugin and Muninn (based mainly on Internet
resources, e.g., https://mythology.net/norse/norse-creatures/huginn-and-muninn/):
endowed by Odin with their supernatural abilities (not innate)—can fly around
Earth/Midgard in a single day, speak human languages, and are wise
informers and confidantes who are handy for scouting out battle terrain and
enemy movements, and their names (“Thought” and “Desire/Mind”) suggest that
they are projections of their owner’s consciousness; theorized by scholars to
be connected to Odin’s fate; defend him from hostile attacks; look like common
ravens
Shared traits…
Supernatural abilities that are advantageous for the owner, a lifespan
linked to the owner’s, defend the owner
The traits that distinguish Toothless, as pulled from the official hidden world of dragons (the How to Train Your Dragon website, https://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/explore/dragons/toothless)
“Playful, inquisitive, and intelligent, Toothless is
more Hiccup’s best friend than his pet. He is extremely protective of his Viking soulmate, and will stop at
nothing to guard him from all harm. As the last known specimen of the Night
Fury species, Toothless is indisputably special. He commands respect from
dragons and humans alike.”
And if you’ve watched the movie, you’re well aware
that what makes Toothless different from every other dragon, as a member of the
Night Fury group, is his insane speed-bolting
thing. He can power up like he just
ate a Mario Kart mushroom and zip across the sky so fast you can’t see him.
Also, being a dragon, he breathes fire.
The site lists an echolocation capacity
for him as well, something to do with plasma. Weird and useful.
The only thing left for Toothless to be able to do is
to prove that his destiny matches Hiccup’s. Real Viking dogs and ravens go down
with their warriors and/or deities. So does Toothless make the cut there?
Watch the video below and make the call yourself. Most
people would take a dragon any day because with him/her as your pet you can
roast not only your competitors, but also whatever nearby looks tastiest to
eat, vegetable or animal, and have excellent barbecue on the spot. But Toothless, in addition to having more
skills than most dragons and listing chef at the bottom of his long list of
assets, seems to have an opinion as to
whether he and Hiccup will meet the same end. (Earlier in the film, for
those who haven’t watched it, Hiccup accidentally tore half of the back of
Toothless’s tail off, by the way. That detail might come in handy while you’re
considering how similar their outcomes are in life.)
After reading what the shared traits are and watching the video clip (which made my day, btw) I have to say that Toothless is a close to perfect Viking pet. He and Hiccup share an equally amount of care and love for each other. Also, they both go out of their way to protect each other. As demonstrated in the video clip, Toothless helps Hiccup learn how to walk again after having his foot/lower leg removed. This parallels how Hiccup helped Toothless in the beginning of the movie by building him a prosthetic “tail-wing” and teaching him how to fly again.
ReplyDeleteToothless, is by far, one of my favorite animated characters. I would have to sit down and really think about how accurate Vikings are portrayed in How to Train Your Dragon, if I’m honest, but my bias says that Toothless is the best Viking pet out there. Or companion. However you want to see him. I think it’s interesting seeing him compared to a raven… they’re kind of similar in their intelligence and abilities, when you think about it. I’ll be excited to watch How to Train Your Dragon 3 when that comes out. Now that I’ve taken this class, I can think critically about representation when watching it, haha.
ReplyDeleteI love this movie. It always seemed to me that Toothless and Hiccup (both harmless names for a dragon and a Viking) share a deep connection as characters not just in their friendship. Hiccup lost a leg, Toothless lost a tail-wing. He really is a perfect companion for a warrior culture, like the Vikings. Detaching this from the kids story, I'm sure any Viking from the sagas would gladly take a dragon companion any day of the week. Imagine all the raids they do with a loyal dragon at their side. Fun to think about.
ReplyDelete