This isn't gonna be a long post at all really... but I might as well post something as opposed to nothing! These are just a couple of thoughts I had while Justoffravenpoint was staying with me and we marathoned through the best of the HTTYD film series. Hope you enjoy my thoughts, brief as they might be (and YES, I am still talking about a twenty minute short that came out nearly four years ago. GotNF is that good).
So, we have gotten quite a lot of HTTYD stuff. To be honest, we are really lucky! Three whole shorts, and two seasons of a tv series... and we got all that before we finally got our absolutely smashing sequel!
Now, I just have to toss out a disclaimer here: I do not consider ALL of the television series to be canon. In any episode where I see character's abilities misrepresented or their personalities compromised for the sake of the plot... well, I just tend to ignore those stories. Now, I liked quite a lot of what happened in the series, but let's just say that I wasn't heart broken to see only one real reference to the series in the second film. It was a fun time filler, but it wasn't on the same level as the films by a long shot. To be honest, Book of Dragons and Legend of the Boneknapper were much the same. Even though they didn't really take characters out of character, by nature of their plot they are not really all that important. Yes, I think they are canon, but... not all that significant.
So, where does that leave GotNF? To be honest, I think that short is pretty much FLAWLESS. I am dead serious when I say that. So... what does the second movie think? Does it make references to GotNF? Does it take into account events that happened there? Is GotNF a more significant part of HTTYD history than the episodes of the tv series? I think the answer to all of these things is yes.
As the images I am posting hopefully imply, GotNF and HTTYD2 share quite a few parallels. These are great treats for those of us who got to see the Christmas special before we watched the second movie. We see Hiccup and Toothless performing stunts that we saw them first learning in GotNF. It gives the second movie a really solid tie to the short, and it makes the short feel all the more significant. Now, you don't have to have seen GotNF to appreciate these stunts, but they are a lot more meaningful when you realize Hiccup first jumped off of Toothless after the dragon had come back to him on that wonderful Snoggeltog night.
Haha, even though he is now an armor wearing hero, Hiccup maintains the same dorkiness we saw him display in HTTYD1 and GotNF. That was something I really loved. But, aside from these parallels, there is one other element that is REALLY important that we first gleaned from GotNF.
"Milady"!!
Yep, we first saw Hiccup use that pet name for Astrid in GotNF, and apparently he has kept on doing so even as the years have passed. I feel like the arch of their friendship is a really charming and smooth one. Ahem, the series in many ways tried to complicate it in ways that GotNF in NO WAY implied (for instance, Hiccup and Astrid are not embarrassed around one another. There is no flirtatious awkwardness in GotNF, nor the second movie, but we get a lot of it in the series). So, since GotNF's take on Hiccup and Astrid's relationship is the one that found its way into HTTYD2, I think we can assume the series is not exactly correct on how their romantic bond grew. I just LOVE the way they both interact in GotNF. It is such a sweet and supportive friendship, and I was so happy to see Hiccup still calling Astrid "Milady" in HTTYD2. It was an affectionate title we saw Hiccup first used in the short, and I know I was only one of tons of people who really fell in love with it and were happy to see it return in the sequel.
So, this post is just to point out the little ways in which GotNF helped us bridge the gap between HTTYD1 and HTTYD2... and in many ways GotNF has its own subtle beauty that totally rivals the quiet wonder of the first film and the intense emotion of the second. It is its own masterpiece, and other part of Hiccup and Toothless's journey that we should all be so thankful to get to watch!
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