One thing I failed to discuss while reviewing How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is how cute the title creatures are depicted as being.  The main one, Toothless, a jet-black wyvern, is more like a cross between a cat and a dog but with wings.  Once they stop being menaces to the mythical Viking settlement of Berk, they become more like pets to the residents.  You know how they say that kids’ movies are more often made for the parents than the children?  I am guessing that is why these monsters are depicted so lovably.  The part of the story that is more about learning to accept them rather than killing them, while also a good lesson for the youth, I am guessing flies by over their heads.  This Catholic reviewer notes it, for Jesus is the way of peace.  I do wonder, though, whether the adults watching this, or How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), had this lesson register with them.  It is only one aspect of the plot I will draw your attention to among others.

At first in How to Train Your Dragon 2, Stoick the Vast’s (voiced by Gerard Butler) attention is on a dragon race going around Berk among the young warriors.  He is pleased with the progress in the competition by his future daughter-in-law, Astrid Hofferson (voiced by America Ferrera), but is somewhat disappointed by the fact that his son, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (voiced by Jay Baruchel), is not among the jockeys.  That is because Hiccup is off flying with Toothless, pushing the boundaries of their known world and mapping it in the process.  After her victory, Astrid manages to catch up with them, entreating him to return.  Before doing so, he notices something in the distance and they go to investigate. What they find is an ice shattered village and a group of people rounding up stray dragons.  They are led by Eret, son of Eret (voiced by Kit Harington), a trapper in the employ of Drago Bludvist (voiced by Djimon Hounsou).  Eret takes Astrid and Hiccup for being a part of a nation of dragon riders, but this is not the biggest revelation that interests our engaged couple.  Eret claims that Drago is collecting an army of fire breathers in order to take over the world.  With this information, Astrid and Hiccup manage to escape and make it back to Berk.  When Hiccup finally tells Stoick about their encounter with Drago’s goons, the chief orders that the village immediately prepare for war.  Thinking he can persuade Drago as he did his father as to the goodness of dragons, Hiccup vows to go to Drago and talk to him, hoping to avoid hostilities.  Hiccup is joined by Astrid and the other young Vikings, the idea being to confront Eret and have the trapper bring them to Drago.  Their attempt is disrupted by Stoick, who remains steadfast in his belief that there is no reasoning with Drago, having tried the same thing years ago and failed.  Hiccup remains determined to try and goes off on his own to do so.  On this leg of the journey, Hiccup encounters another masked rider who appears to be trying to get him to follow.  Momentarily separated from Toothless, he is taken to a cave where the person reveals herself to be Valka Haddock (voiced by Cate Blanchett), Hiccup’s long-lost mother.  She had been taken away from Berk during a dragon raid while attempting to stop the villagers from killing the beasts.  It is from her that he gets his affinity with the fire breathers.  Over the last twenty years, she has been living in a sort of dragon colony, all of them being controlled by a benevolent alpha leviathan that breathes ice instead of flames.  As he is processing all this, Stoick appears and attempts to bring his son back with him until he encounters Valka.  They renew their love for one another and the husband convinces his estranged wife to return to Berk.  As this has been going on, Astrid convinces Eret to lead them to Drago, believing that will be where she will find Hiccup.  Once there, they discover the size of Drago’s vast army, and the fact that they have an alpha of their own.  Drago is also not pleased with Eret, feeling like the trapper has not met the promised quota.  As such, Eret is lumped in with Astrid and the others.  Based on Astrid’s angry outburst about how Hiccup will come for them, and the skills possessed by Toothless, Drago is more determined to find them and include them in his ranks.  As Drago’s army moves towards Valka’s colony, Astrid and Eret are able to escape.  Still, the attackers get the colony just as Hiccup, Stoick, and Valka are preparing to leave.  Drago’s plan is to draw out the colony’s alpha, use his own to defeat it, and then have all the other dragons in the area come to his side with his leviathan’s psychic powers.  This is exactly what happens despite the collective efforts of the good guys.  The worst comes, though, when Toothless is taken over and forced to kill Hiccup.  Seeing the impending danger, Stoick rushes to his child in time to push him out of the way of Toothless’ fireball, dying in the process.  Toothless does not realize what he has done until it is too late, and Hiccup pushes away his best friend in anger.  Nonetheless, upon giving Stoick a Viking burial and getting a peptalk from Valka, Hiccup vows to return to Berk and defend it.  The key, unsurprisingly, is Toothless.  Once Hiccup frees Toothless from Drago’s grip, the Night Fury challenges Drago’s alpha.  Doing so frees all the other dragons from its control, and together they defeat the alpha.  With victory achieved, Hiccup becomes the new chief, and they set to work rebuilding Berk.

Hiccup becoming chief at the conclusion of How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the culmination of a little over an hour and a half of the young man wondering agonizing over his destiny.  It goes beyond his commendable commitment to peace.  In Matthew 5:9, as part of the Beatitudes, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  Hiccup’s stance is an interesting one.  He is a Viking, and his culture is one that, historically and in the confines of the movie, is in a constant state of preparedness for war.  Further, though it is against Stoick’s wishes, Hiccup is determined in thinking that he can change Drago’s mind.  A moment ago, I mentioned that Hiccup wonders throughout the proceedings about his destiny.  In short, he is trying to discern his calling, or what us Catholics would call his vocation.  God gives us gifts that we are to use for the betterment of others.  What should be highlighted is despite his dithering about what he is meant to do, Hiccup exercises the leadership required of a chief.  He thinks himself unfit for the role because he does not have his father’s skill in battle or strength.  None of that matters to God.  Throughout Salvation history, God has chosen some of the most unlikely people to carry His message to us.  Jesus, of course, is the epitome of this idea, born of a poor family and coming into this world in a stable.  This is not how people at the time envisioned the Messiah arriving on this world, which is part of the reason why people doubted Him while He was among us.  Time and again, God has brought us the last people we expect to be His harbingers.  The same can be said for Hiccup.  What I am drawing out here is not a new story.  Just know that even in a fantasy tale like this one, you can find a parallel to the life of Jesus.

There is another of these, but the franchise on Netflix only goes up to How to Train Your Dragon 2.  I guess How to Train Yours Dragon: Hidden World (2019) is on Disney+?  I do not know because I have not looked for it, but that is for another time.  For now, you can watch How to Train Your Dragon 2, or not, or whatever.