Alright, I've got enough time this weekend to finish up the analysis I started last week. Not sure if this will be the only post I do in the next couple of days or not. I guess it will depend on how much free time I get and how I choose to spend it (I do have a cute art project in mind!). Anyway, in this analysis I will continue to dive into the character arc we see Toothless travel through in HTTYD2... and this will be the more complex and significant of the two analysis.
In the first part of this, I talked about how Toothless doesn't really move the plot along very much during the first half, maybe even the first two thirds of the movie. He is a great character, and he is perfectly in character, but what he does mostly is follow Hiccup around and look adorable onscreen. He shows us that he has become undyingly loyal to Hiccup and that he and the boy have become even closer than they were five years ago. He shows us very clearly, pretty much by his lack of independent actions, that he and Hiccup have become one entity. Toothless practically wants nothing more than what he has in Hiccup, and that is beautiful. But that is the first half of the story, and in the second half we see Toothless actually growing and shaping the plot... possibly more drastically than any of the other characters.
Now, of course we must come to this: The Red Rage. I've discussed this scene a lot, and it is a sad, terrible topic, but we won't get any further in Toothless's arc if we don't travel through his lowest point. When Hiccup lands to confront Drago, Toothless stands behind him, menacingly staring Drago down. He understands that Drago could attack Hiccup, and he is protecting him even then. If Drago makes a move, Toothless is poised and ready. But what neither Hiccup nor Toothless grasp is the power of the Alpha's position. Toothless stooped to the presence of the good Alpha, and it looked like he almost didn't know why. When Drago points his spear at Toothless, the Night Fury takes a tiny step back, suddenly afraid of what might be happening. This wasn't an attack, this wasn't the shooting of an arrow or the throwing of a spear. All Drago did was point his spear, and Toothless suddenly almost cowers... because Drago isn't attacking him, he is claiming ownership, and Toothless must at that point have some sort of idea of what the Alpha can do to him. When the Alpha starts taking control, Toothless struggles violently against it. Something inside of him, inside of his head and chest, is gnawing at him, is coming out from deep, deep within his dragonish nature. He knows what it will do if he gives in. He shrieks as if in pain from resisting. I don't think Toothless has ever experienced this sort of control ever before, and he is terrified by it, it hurts him as it starts surging up, and he has no idea how to fight it. He thrashes around and scrapes his head against the ground. It is as if he is hearing the commands of the Alpha, and inside of him there is that deep, instinctual force saying that he MUST obey. He doesn't want to hear those commands, he tries so hard to block them out, but slowly the Red Rage starts taking over; soon his body is left stiff and rigid with only his head grimacing in resistance. But then he bows. Toothless loses to the Alpha, to Drago, and to his own instincts. His head comes up in a hideous, almost robotic trance. At this point, everything that makes Toothless Toothless is gone. His memories, as far as I can tell, suppressed. His love for Hiccup, his loyalty to him, gone. His elegance, grace, and ability to have creative, curious thought are all completely drowned out. Even his ability to see clearly is hindered. He is a pawn at this point, a pawn to the Alpha system. His soul has gone into shut down mode. In some ways, he really isn't Toothless anymore because the only thing left of Toothless is the Night Fury now. All he is is a dragon in the system, all he is is a weapon for his commander to wield. Some of his mind is still there, but only the parts that are useful to the Alpha (he is still clearly able to express an ammount of anger, move forward, and fire his blasts... all of which required his own mind to be working on a very low level. I believe the Alpha would be giving off a constant command for him to kill, kill, kill, but then it would be his own mind that actually controlled his movements forward and his choice of attack). So, we really do lose Toothless in this scene. He fought hard, but he was unable to overcome the power of his enemy. In doing this Toothless physically does things that his soul would never have willingly done. Toothless's body completely loses his innocence, whether he wanted it to or not. He turns on the one he loves most, stalks him into a corner, and heartlessly tries to snuff out his life. He misses, but only because of the heroic and sacrificial act of another. It isn't Toothless saving Hiccup, not this time. It isn't Toothless diving into the fire to pull his boy out alive, it is Stoick diving in never to come back... and this time the fire is Toothless's. Toothless kills the closest thing he had to a father, and he does it without even knowing. He's proven Drago's point, that only that cruel and fearful man can control dragons... even the most loyal and loving of dragons can fall to him. Good dragons, under the control of bad people, do bad, bad things.
When Toothless comes back you can tell he is exhausted. He's fought hard against the Red Rage, then under the Red Rage he's become furiously angry and fired a powerful shot, all of which made him exert a significant amount of physical energy. He is completely unaware of what his body has done. He looks as Astrid rushes to console Hiccup, and then in sad curiosity he coos out to the people he loves. He's confused, but he does know something awful has happened. He tries to go up to Stoick, tries to touch him and bring him back. He knows Hiccup loves his father, and Toothless loves Stoick as well. He touches the lifeless hand, needing to express grief. But he is forced away. Hiccup doesn't want him to touch him. Toothless's body killed his father, so why should Toothless's body be able to now touch him in grief? Toothless is shocked by this, still possibly not understanding. But Hiccup shouts and shoves him again. Now Toothless is desperate, apologetic, afraid. He calls out to Hiccup, trying to understand, and Hiccup shouts him off again. Toothless stoops, gives a horrified, hurt glance at the fallen Stoick, and then runs away. Though Valka tells Hiccup that it isn't Toothless's fault, Toothless doesn't know this. In fact I feel pretty certain that in that last glance at Stoick, Toothless finally grasps what has happened. Can you imagine the horror? To see a fallen man, to be shoved away by your best friend, then to notice the huge burn mark on the bodies chest, and then in absolute and appalling shock to taste the remnants of smoke and fire in your mouth? It would take something truly dreadful to make Hiccup come out against him like that, and Toothless isn't stupid. He has at least a small idea of what the Alpha control can do, and after being cast away it wouldn't take him more than a moment to suddenly feel it. Guilt. Toothless is a dragon with a tender, sensitive soul, and now he is running from Hiccup in a blinding fog of guilt. Where can he possibly go to escape this, to escape his own self? It is a sick and sad predicament for the dragon, and in this already weakened and turmoiled state he easily falls under the control of the Alpha again. And why shouldn't he? Why not? He has failed so miserably already in his own mind, he's betrayed everything that defined him even to himself, and he proved to himself that he really is nothing more than a pawn. If he doesn't believe he can be Toothless anymore, if he think Hiccup doesn't believe he can be Toothless anymore, why even try? He goes under the Red Rage and is brutally captured and ridden by Drago. He sinks into that mindless state yet again... He is stuck hearing only the thrumming, throbbing commands of the Alpha who now owns him... and perhaps Toothless is now tempted to believe that that ownership is valid.
Toothless watches unmoved as Berk is destroyed. The fact that Drago rides him back to his village must strike such terror into the hearts of the Hooligans. This is Toothless, this is the dragon who conquered the Red Death and made peace possible, and now he is the steed of their greatest enemy. When Hiccup comes, Toothless is unmoved at first. I really love this scene, the Toothless Found moment. I wrote a very extensive little analysis on it which you can read here if you haven't already. Anyway, it is at that point that Toothless is reminded so clearly by Hiccup of so many, many things. He is forgiven altogether for his actions... even if they were not his fault he is now completely free of the guilt which would still hold his soul in a strangled grip. And then Hiccup reminds him so beautifully of who he truly is, who they truly are. They are each other's best friends. Yes, they've both hurt each other, but that doesn't change what is true. They love each other, and Toothless starts to let that side of him, the side of him that is more than just a dragon, that side of him that loves and feels and cares, the side of him that Hiccup discovered five years ago, Toothless lets this side start to come out, and within a few moments it crushes his instincts. He comes back to Hiccup in a tsunami of affection. He's back, he's back! He has fought a war in his soul between his instincts and his heart, fought a war over what defined him, and he has won. He casts Drago off of his back and shakes himself like he's just tossed off some really nasty piece of filth. When he and Hiccup reunite in air, they are unstoppable. It is just them against a colossus of an enemy, and an enemy who can still try to bend Toothless's will, but as all of Berk watches Hiccup and Toothless, YET AGAIN, save them from the most massive and terrible of foes. They truly are heroic, and it is also neat to see them overcoming hurtles that would have one point defeated them... like the Bewilderbeast's tail!
But the really big moment for Toothless is yet to come. He's already conquered his own instincts to follow the Alpha, but he hasn't stopped growing yet. The plot will push him just a little further. When the Bewilderbeast blasts Hiccup with ice, he dives to cover him (side note: all the times Toothless dives in to cover Hiccup in this film are really beautiful! It is just such a great, self sacrificing kind of action). They are both caught in a cocoon of ice, and Drago laughs in victory. But then the ice starts to glow. It isn't just Toothless's mouth anymore, his whole body is livid in anger. He is literally burning in rage. I don't know exactly how the blue glowing works or is activated, but his anger here is what almost certainly kick starts it. Toothless bursts the ice to smithereens, revealing Hiccup curled up beneath his body. This is the maddest we have ever seen Toothless in the franchise. No question. It is almost as if the last straw has fallen. Toothless has been controlled, he's been forced to do awful things, he's killed someone he loved, he's been ridden by Drago, he's watched as his village was destroyed, and he has just barely escaped the control of the Alpha. But this last attack ends it. The Bewilderbeast got so, so close to killing Hiccup once and for all here. It was a behind the back, treacherous move, and it makes Toothless sick with anger. It is as if he has lost so much, and even after losing so much his enemy is trying to take the one thing that matters away from him. He looks up and roars a terrifying challenge. He has been pushed to the very edge by the Alpha, and now he is going to challenge not just the Bewilderbeast, but the entire dragon way. Hiccup is worth it to him, he sees that now, and the only way to keep Hiccup safe is to remove the threat of a wicked Alpha forever. If Toothless is Alpha, he can no longer be controlled by the Alpha, and he can keep Hiccup safe. So with that in mind...
Toothless challenges the Alpha.
In truth that may be one of the most significant growths for any character in the entire movie. Toothless has already rebelled against his instincts to come out from under the Red Rage, but now he is going the extra mile. He is a tiny, ridiculously incapable dragon compared to the Bewilderbeast. Small dragons don't become Alpha's, that just isn't how it works! In a way, Toothless's actions here really do parallel the actions of Hiccup in the first film. This tiny, courageous heart stands up against a system that is impossibly wicked, and he changes the world in a way that no one could believe. Toothless has rebelled against every instinct the Alpha system has to throw at him. Surely his mind must scream that he can never hope to challenge such a massive creature alone, but his roars of anger and loyalty scream far louder than his instincts... or even his common sense! And one of the most dynamic parts about this is that Toothless challenges the Alpha alone. Hiccup is not there to help him; he can't even fly! But he steps up, battles with a fury, and wins the allegiance of the other dragons. Even though Toothless is small and even though he is not like any Alpha ever seen before, the dragons realize that it is Toothless who is protecting them all, not Drago's Bewilderbeast. They leave their wicked commander and side with the Alpha who is acting like and Alpha should act. Toothless shows just how strong a dragon's loyalty can be. He stood alone against his instincts, his common sense, the Alpha system, and certain death... but he came away from all of those things victorious... and at the moment of victory he turns to allow Hiccup to embrace him. After all, it is Hiccup who was the motivation for him to do these great things. Toothless would never try to be Alpha for his own sake, but for the sake of the boy he loves? Well, that's a different story!
Drawing near to the end of this analysis... I would also just like to point out that Toothless doesn't seem hesitant to take up the mantel of Alpha. Hiccup has been afraid of authority this entire time, but necessity has driven both he and Hiccup into taking up their roles. Without Stoick, Berk needs Hiccup, and in order to keep both Hiccup and all of dragon-kind safe, the dragons need Toothless. He will now almost certainly have to make many more choices that are independent... because now he is a leader. The childhood of adventure and fun really has ended for Hiccup in Toothless, but both of them have grown closer as they have matured. Toothless now knows the depths from which Hiccup can pull him, and Hiccup now knows to what extremes Toothless will go to keep him safe. Toothless challenging the Alpha on his own is one of the most significant and drastic things Toothless has ever done. It totally turned the tides of the battle and transformed both the plot of HTTYD2 AND the plot of future HTTYD installments for ever. In many ways, it was Toothless's brave and unheard of actions that made this movie even able to have a happy ending. He stood alone, stood and made his own decisions that only he could make, and he made decisions that even Hiccup could not help him with. Little Toothless now has the weight of responsibility on his shoulders that even a massive queen dragon might have trouble bearing, but Toothless has taken it up, and he has done this because of love. He and Hiccup are now the two new Alphas, and together... bit by bit, they will change the world. In many ways Toothless's actions have changed the world of both vikings and now dragons in ways that can never be undone. This is the story of Toothless the Night Fury and his journey through both his darkest and most courageous moments. This is a story of a dragon driven by the power of love.
Where Toothless will go next, what choices he will have to make as Alpha, and whether or not he and Hiccup will truly be separated forever, only time will tell. But for now their heroic actions have left them with incredible insight into just how much they mean to one another. This friendship, Toothless's loyalty, Hiccup forgiveness, it was all tested so bitterly in this story, but boy and Night Fury shocked the worlds of both men and dragons. Perhaps Hiccup isn't the only one with the heart of a chief and the soul of a dragon after all... Perhaps he and Toothless share it in a way that others can only marvel at.
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