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.)