Hiccup Haddock III

''“... He's only the son of Stoick the Vast. The next heir to the throne of Berk, and the greatest Dragon Master this world has ever seen..”''

- Elsa reading Hiccup's story.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is the protagonist in the How to Train Your Dragon series. He is 15 years old in the first film, the three specials, TV series and the comics, 18-19 in Dawn of the Dragon Racers and Race to the Edge, and 20 in the second film.

Background
"One night a dragon broke into our house, finding you in the cradle. I rushed to protect you, but what I saw was proof of everything I believed. This wasn’t a vicious beast, but an intelligent, gentle creature who's soul reflected my own. You and your father nearly died that night, all because I couldn’t kill a dragon."

―Valka, explaining the events of her dissappearance

20 years before the start of the films, Hiccup was born prematurely to Stoick the Vast and his wife Valka. Although the new mother was worried that Hiccup would not survive his early birth, Stoick was confident that he would grow strong and Hiccup did indeed prosper. Valka would sew Hiccup a dragon toy with his name stitched into the sides. However, Hiccup would later become terrified of the doll, and eventually threw it in to the ocean while the family was out fishing.

One night, a dragon called a Stormcutter broke into their house, finding baby Hiccup in the cradle. Valka rushed to his rescue but the dragon was curiously playing with him, proving that everything about dragons that Valka believed in. The Stormcutter was startled when he noticed Valka's presence, accidentally nicking Hiccup on the chin with a wing claw when he turned to look her way, and approached Valka. After they had stared into each other's eyes, Stoick rushed into the scene. He and the dragon started fighting with each other, the results led to Valka being abducted by the dragon, leaving her husband heartbroken. Stoick became overly protective of his son while Valka formed a bond with the Stormcutter who abducted her, naming him Cloudjumper and became willing to spend the rest of her life staying away from Berk, including her family, fearing that her dragon might harm those she cares about.

Personality
Hiccup is a very witty, sarcastic boy. He appears very well-spoken but a bit shy at times. Despite the fact that his father is the chief, he is not accepted into his village and is seen as a nuisance, which makes him reserved. He is picked on by his peers for his weak nature, but what he lacks in strength he makes up for in intelligence and his kindness. Hiccup has a crush on one of the other teenagers, Astrid. He attempts to impress her many times but, much to his disappointment, fails. He also seems to be very good at crafting objects and weapons, which is seen as works as an apprentice to Gobber, the blacksmith, in his workshop.

Hiccup's strongest trait is his compassion and empathy. He was able to put himself in Toothless's place when he had the knife raised to kill him, and in his own words "I looked at him, and I saw myself". This empathy allowed him to understand and befriend Toothless, and through him other dragons. It is this empathy that changed the world of dragons and Vikings. It ended the war and began the Dragon Training Academy.

On The Masquerade Trio, Hiccup founded the Federal Heroes Inc. in searching for Elsa, which trns out to be successful making him a smart person. He was smart that he earned a degree on robotics despite of having many works in his hands.

Physical AppearanceEdit
In the film, Hiccup's appearance is slightly different from the books. He's rather scrawny for his age, compared to the other Vikings, especially since he has little physical strength as he's barely able to lift a large axe, and isn't very tall, just being barely aroundAstrid's height. He has auburn hair parting to his right with minor freckles on his cheeks. If you look closely, you'll notice he has a small, white scar just below his bottom lip (which he got from when he was a baby, the night Cloudjumper took his mother away). He's usually seen wearing a long-sleeve, light-green tunic and a dark brown fur vest that matches with his boots. When he rides Toothless, he takes off his vest and wears a flying vest to help him stay on Toothless. After Dragon Training, he starts to wear a Viking helmet given to him by his father as shown in Gift of the Night Fury, made from half of his mother's breast plate (Stoick owning and wearing the other half). Following the battle with the Red Death, Hiccup's left leg up to his shin is replaced with a prosthetic made by Gobber with a metal foot and spring, which is accessible for flying with Toothless.

If you look closely, you'll notice that his hair has slightly grown between Riders of Berk and Defenders of Berk and he is now wearing light brown vest and boot. In Dawn of the Dragon Racers, Hiccup wear a similar type of his armor which is dark brown along a long-sleeve dark green tunic with brown arm brackets.

In How to Train Your Dragon 2, Hiccup has noticeably grown considerably. He's now the tallest of the teens at 6'1" and his hair is somewhat scraggy and unkempt with two small braids behind his right ear. He seems to have gained a leaner, stronger build as compared to the first movie and is no longer considered a runt. His prosthetic is also different, as it's more mechanical and designed than before, making it like "a Swiss army knife for prosthesis", as Hiccup seems to have improved its ability (as he stated he would in the first movie). His outfit now is partly leather around his upper body with what appears to be a type of armor along with arm brackets that seem to all be designed by himself, making him look more like Toothless. When flying with Toothless now, he's also seen wearing a spiked masked when he glides in the air, as his outfit doubles as a squirrel jacket capable of gliding. His pants are dark brown and has straps around them with a leather boot for his right foot. He also seems to carry a weapon, a fire blade called Inferno.

Abilities and Talents
Dragon Training and Riding: Though he only discovers this ability during the first film, Hiccup has grown to become the best Dragon Trainer on the island. His dragon, Toothless, is the rarest and best dragon in the Academy. Hiccup openly claims to be the best Dragon Rider in the episode Thawfest. He and Toothless clearly have the strongest bond in the series. Because of his talents he has been made head of the Berk Dragon Academy. In the franchise, Hiccup is always the one looked to when dragon related problems or needs come up. He trained a wild Monstrous Nightmare in seconds in Defiant One. This is noticeably faster than even Astrid who had to train the same type of dragon and does manage to do so but takes longer. He's also able to keep an enraged Whispering Death from running over him by simply putting his hand forward in What Flies Beneath. Still, some dragon challenges (including said Whispering Death) are greater than his ability, but he can always rely on Toothless and the other teens to have his back. Hiccup has managed to devise a more effective method of calming wild dragons with Inferno as it produces the dragon fire of both a Monstrous Nightmare and a Hideous Zippleback. This makes the dragons consider Hiccup as one of their own as only a 'dragon' should be able to wield dragon fire.

Drawing: Even before Hiccup began to train dragons, he practiced drawing. He is practically never without his journal and a large charcoal pencil. His sketches are usually quick and slightly messy, but compared to most other Vikings he is quite good. He uses this talent often. He sketches Toothless upon his second encounter with him. He uses his notebook to copy the map to the Isle of Night (unfortunately). He uses his artist talent to aid him in making plans and inventions. His room is littered with drawings of Toothless.

Inventing: Hiccup learned a great deal about crafting from Gobber. His many years of apprenticeship have certainly paid off. He has created many ingenious devices throughout the franchise. He uses the forge well (despite his small size), and he's excellent at working leather. His devices were originally weapon like, and the Mangler cannon he designed allowed him to take down a Night Fury. After training Toothless he shifted in his desires and started working on a new tail for Toothless. This tail has been modified many times and is a work of sheer genius. He even created an auto tail using complex gear systems. Besides that Hiccup has managed to design a plethora of other objects, from winches to telescopes. He invented his own flight suit and his Dragon Blade, Inferno.

Intelligence: This talent is really at the heart of all Hiccup's other abilities. His intelligence is proven many times throughout the film and the series. He's almost always the one to come up with the solutions to the problems that the Riders face. He's shown to be very cunning, resourceful and perceptive and possesses a great aptitude for strategy and tactics. He's also fairly knowledgeable. Unlike Fishlegs who only spews out facts, Hiccup is able to use them for practical use and he does it very well. He was able to solve all the riddles on Hamish's treasure map even when under pressure and the feat is especially notable because it was said that only a most brilliant mind could solve those clues.

Fighting: Due to Hiccup's initial size, he's not much of a fighter. In fact, most weapons are too heavy for him and struggles to lift them. Hiccup usually fights along side Toothless. Their style is more about defense. The only time Hiccup and Toothless attacked first was against Alvin in We Are Family Part II. Other than that, it is easy for others to overtake Hiccup. In The Night and the Fury, Hiccup faces Dagur with his new shield. In Cast Out Part II, Hiccup fought Outcasts and Berserkers without a problem using his shield. While Hiccup does not do any direct fighting in How to Train Your Dragon 2, he does wield his Dragon Blade, Inferno, with great precision and skill, such as when freeing Stormfly or preventing Drago from reaching his bull hook.

Roar Call: He can make a roar noise that sounds similar to Toothless's roar, as a way for Toothless to find Hiccup.

Precision: Like Toothless, Hiccup has amazing aim, like when he was able to shoot Toothless down in the first film and hit a Deadly Nadder in the chest using his shield while flying in mid-air during Appetite for Destruction. He also managed to throw Inferno with enough accuracy that it landed right in front of Drago's hand just as he was reaching for his bull hook to control his Bewilderbeast.

Endurance: While it may seem hard to believe at first due to his small stature, Hiccup always manages to bounce back from a severe injury. For example, in When Lightning Strikes, he was struck by a massive and direct bolt of lightning to the head, and still managed to wake up just a day after. Also, in the end of How to Train Your Dragon, he was knocked off of Toothless by the Red Death's massive club-tail, and (with the help of Toothless, of course) managed to wake up about a week, (or longer), later.

Appearances
How to Train Your DragonEdit

At the start of the film, Hiccup was a embarrassment life to his father, Stoick the Vast, the chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. Too small to wield traditional Viking weapons and therefore unable to kill a dragon like the rest of his village, he works as an assistant to Gobber the Belch, the village Blacksmith. One night during a dragon raid, Hiccup leaves his indoor workpost and, with a bola sling named "The Mangler," manages to shoot down one of the deadliest and most feared dragons in the skies: the Night Fury. As no one has ever seen a Night Fury, no one believes Hiccup to bring one down.

When he goes to find his kill the following day, he discovers that the dragon is still alive. Despite his determination to prove himself to the community as a bona fide dragon killer, Hiccup is unable to kill it after seeing the fear in its eyes, and instead opts to free it.

Meanwhile, Hiccup is enrolled in Viking training, where he's expected to learn to fight and kill dragons. At first, he struggles to complete the simplest tasks and hold his own against even the most (relatively) benign dragons, earning the mockery of his fellow teenagers. However, after managing to get close enough to bond with the Night Fury he shot down, which he names Toothless after his retractable fangs, he gains valuable experience and deeper insight into the mannerisms of most dragons, such as the fact that it's possible to scratch a dragon into submission if it's scratched gently under the chin. He's soon hailed a Viking prodigy, the time he spends with Toothless allowing him to ultimately keep every dragon he encounters during training at bay.

he stress of living this double life is hard on Hiccup, however. The other Vikings, particularly Astrid, take notice of his unexplained absences after dragon training sessions. Eventually, Astrid follows him and discovers Toothless. She runs off to tell the other Vikings, but Hiccup and Toothless stop her, flying her around the area on Toothless to calm Astrid down. It's during this ride that Hiccup sees the Red Death in the very Dragons' Nest his father has been dying to find and destroy. When they land, Astrid kisses Hiccup for the first time and admires his loyalty to Toothless when he refuses yet again to tell the village about the Dragons' Nest and his bond with Toothless.

Soon, Hiccup has to fight and kill a Monstrous Nightmare as part of his final exam during dragon training. The task goes horribly wrong, however: when Stoick swings his hammer against the dragon training cage in response to Hiccup's blasphemous claims that dragons are good creatures, Hiccup's methods of dragon appeasement no longer work and the Nightmare moves in for the kill. Toothless, hearing Hiccup's scream, rushes to the scene and beats the other dragon back while at the same time revealing himself to all the Vikings. Though Hiccup attempts to explain why he went against the Viking way of life and befriended a dragon, his father fails to listen, disowns him as his son, and instead takes advantage of Toothless, chaining him to a ship and using him to reach the Dragons' Nest. As the adult Vikings leave in search of the Nest, Astrid encourages Hiccup to use his brains and do "something crazy". Astrid gathers the other Viking teenagers as backup, and Hiccup teaches them how to ride on the back of a dragon. They follow the adults, arriving just after the Red Death emerges from the Nest.

After freeing Toothless from his chains where his son could'nt, Stoick tells his son how proud he's of him just before Hiccup and Toothless fly off to confront the Red Death themselves. Hiccup manages to kill the Red Death by having Toothless shoot fire through its wings in mid-flight and nosedive toward the island so it can't pull up in time and crashes into the ground, its own flame triggering an explosion on impact. Hiccup and Toothless run into the Red Death's tail as they attempt to escape the resulting blast, however, and the two fall thousands of feet into the blaze below. As the village approaches the site of the explosion and finds that Hiccup is nowhere to be found, Stoick looks up to discover that, even without his makeshift tail, Toothless protected the Chief-to-be from the blast by folding him in his wings.

Hiccup is heralded as a hero in the tribe. Although he lost part of his left leg in the battle, he's fitted with a prosthetic that matches Toothless's makeshift tail. At the very end of the film, Astrid kisses Hiccup on the lips, this time seemingly as boyfriend and girlfriend, as the rest of the village accepts dragons onto the island as pets and companions.

Dragons: Riders of BerkEdit

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Hiccup in the TV Series.

Hiccup is known as the founder and head Dragon Trainer of the Berk Dragon Academy, starting it by confronting the problem of dragons causing havoc around Berk. Hiccup's role in the series is still unquestionably that of the main character since most of the plots revolve around him and his actions. Throughout the series, he, Toothless, the teens, and their dragons are forced to overcome many different kinds of hardships. Hiccup is looked up to by the teens as a leader, even if at times they don't like to admit it. Stoick entrusts great amounts of responsibility to Hiccup. In Riders of Berk, Hiccup's main difficulties begin with keeping the dragons under control. After that, the weather and harsh climate of Berk become a challenge that he must overcome. Mildew serves as one of his primary antagonists, and Hiccup is forced to go to desperate measures to keep the Vikings from falling back on the "old ways". Wild and rogue dragons are also either battled or trained by him during the series. Perhaps their most deadly enemy, Alvin the Treacherous, shares the role of his book counterpart as being Hiccup's nemesis. Hiccup is forced into conflict with him and his Outcast soldiers many times throughout the first season, but Hiccup usually emerges the victor, much to Alvin's frustration.

Hiccup has been seen to have mild character development throughout the series. He is given much more responsibility, and he usually handles it well. He has gained significant skills as both a teacher and a leader. He and his father have actually grown to appreciate each other more and more as the series has progressed. Hiccup has also been seen to develop creative ideas for using and training the dragons which now inhabit Berk. He has developed in his relationship with Snotlout considerably. When they compete in the Thawfest Games, both of them become rudely antagonistic towards each other. Hiccup snaps out of this with a little help from Astrid and his conscience, and he allows Snotlout to take victory for the sake of maintaining their friendship. Hiccup's sheer bravery usually winds up saving the day. He doesn't usually take risks unnecessarily, but he seems willing to risk everything for the sake of his friends, especially Toothless. Unfortunately this bravery occasionally becomes foolhardiness, and Hiccup has found himself in dangerous situations with no way to escape. Thankfully, he knows that he has Toothless and his friends to back him up, and throughout the series they are always ready to help him when he needs it.

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Five years after the Viking village of Berk has made peace with the dragons, dragons now live amongst the villagers as working animals and companions, and even take part in racing sports. Hiccup goes on adventures with his dragon, Toothless, as they discover and map unexplored lands and territories. Having come of age, he is being pressed by his father, Stoick the Vast, to succeed him as chieftain, although Hiccup remains unsure if he is ready for this responsibility.

While investigating a wildfire, Hiccup and Astrid discover the remains of a fort encased in a colossal blue ice formation and encounter a dragon trapper named Eret, who blames them for the destruction of his fort and attempts to capture their dragons for an insane conqueror called Drago Bludvist. The two riders return to Berk to warn Stoick about the dragon army that Drago is amassing, and Stoick orders the villagers to fortify the island and prepare for battle. Stoick explains that he once met Drago at a gathering of chiefs and found him to be an unreasonable madman, but Hiccup refuses to believe that war is inevitable. After Stoick interrupts their plan to get Eret to take them to his master, Hiccup flies off with Toothless in search of Drago, to try and reason with him.

They are captured by a dragon rider named Valka, who is revealed to be Hiccup's long lost mother. She explains that she, like her son, was unable to kill dragons, and so, after being carried off during a dragon raid, spent twenty years rescuing dragons from Drago's traps and bringing them to an island haven created out of ice by a colossal Alpha dragon called a Bewilderbeast, to whom all dragons answer. Stoick tracks Hiccup to the island where he discovers that his wife is still alive. Simultaneously, Astrid and the other riders kidnap Eret to find Drago, but they are also captured and Drago learns of Berk's dragons.

Drago and his army lay siege to Valka's sanctuary, where he reveals that he has his own Bewilderbeast to challenge the Alpha. A titanic battle ensues between the two Bewilderbeasts in a fight for control over all dragons on the island. Drago's Bewilderbeast emerges victorious by killing the Alpha and seizes control of all the dragons, including Toothless, using a strange form of dragon hypnotism attributed only to the Alpha. Hiccup tries to persuade Drago to end the violence, but Drago orders him killed as well. Toothless, under the influence of the new Alpha, approaches Hiccup and fires a plasma blast. At the last instant, Stoick pushes Hiccup out of the way, and is hit instead, killing him instantly. Hiccup angrily drives Toothless away when he approaches Stoick's body after the Alpha relinquishes control over him. Drago leaves Hiccup to his fate and, riding Toothless, again under the control of the Alpha, leads his now larger army to destroy Berk. Stoick is given a Viking funeral and Hiccup, now filled with grief and regret at the loss of his father and his dragon, doesn't know what to do anymore. Trying to encourage him, Valka tells him that he has a heart of a chief and a soul of a dragon. Inspired by her words, Hiccup decides that he will fly back to Berk to defend his people and live up to his father's legacy.

The dragon riders and Eret ride baby dragons, which are immune to the Alpha's control, and arrive at Berk after the Alpha had already attacked the village and taken control of the dragons there. Hiccup confronts Drago and a brainwashed Toothless while the other riders work to distract the Bewilderbeast. Drago again orders the Alpha to make Toothless kill Hiccup, but Hiccup succeeds in disenchanting Toothless. Drago then orders the Alpha to shoot the pair, and the Bewilderbeast successfully encases them in a large blast of ice, seemingly killing them. His victory is short-lived, as Toothless, now glowing with plasma, blasts away the ice, revealing that both he and Hiccup are unharmed. Toothless challenges the Alpha and repeatedly fires plasma blasts at the Bewilderbeast. This frees the other dragons from the Bewilderbeast's control and all fire at it, severely injuring the colossal dragon until Toothless fires a final massive blast, breaking its left tusk.

Defeated, Drago and his Bewilderbeast retreat into the ocean as the Vikings celebrate their victory. All the dragons now acknowledge Toothless as the new Alpha dragon, and Hiccup is made chief of Berk by the village elder. The film ends with Berk being rebuilt with a statue of Stoick erected in his honor, and Hiccup doing his duties as chief, proudly declaring that while others may have armies and armadas, Berk has its own dragons.