Ok, so I do want to address something right off the bat. Toothless didn't "start being scary" in the Red Rage scene of HTTYD2. He probably reached his peak of terror inducement at that point, but one reason that scene is so potent is that Toothless has always had the potential to be frightening. The Vikings of Berk considered the Night Fury to be the offspring of Death. It was considered to be a beast of purest terror and malice. When Hiccup finally meets Toothless, we discover that there is much more to him, and other dragons for that matter, than their ferocious, frightening exterior.
However, that doesn't change the fact that Toothless is a smart, big, fast, powerful, predatory animal. Toothless would be awe inspiring to meet in real life, but at the same time, I can guarantee that it would also be a tense and terrifying experience. I get nervous around other people's big dogs. I'm sure most of us are a little bit nervous handling snakes. If we are smart, we are even a little cautious around horses. Why? Because all of these animals have the potential to seriously hurt us. Toothless is all of those things wrapped together and more. He may have a kind and curious personality, but if he wanted to harm you, even for a moment, he could end your life very, very easily.
I think we, and sometimes the show-writers, forget that one of the best aspects of Toothless is that he does have a dark past. He lived in a world of war and blood, and he actively participated in the deaths of many. After falling in love with him after the Forbidden Friendship scene, it is easy to think that he's this innocent, beautiful soul. He's a victim forced into war by fear of the Red Death and the ignorance of the Vikings. Now, in part that's true, but I think it's an oversimplification. I doubt Toothless felt any remorse as he rocketed down and rained death on the Vikings of Berk. Maybe at first it bothered him, but I imagine that he saw them as nothing more than the enemy until Hiccup changed his perception forever.
Let's also address Toothless's diet. I think we'd be silly to assume he only eats fish (I know the series said that the dragons only eat fish... but then we get accounts of dragons eating sheep and Vikings... so I don't trust the series at all). Toothless isn't a person. He's a large animal with an unquestionably high metabolism. As awful as it might seem to our sensibilities, Toothless has probably preyed on all sorts of large mammals. I'm not saying he's ever eaten anyone (he seems to be pretty curious about Hiccup... perhaps he's never seen a human up close... or perhaps he's just never seen such a scrawny, nonthreatening human...), but he's probably killed and dismembered plenty of deer, boars, and sheep. It's certainly something that we would never be shown on screen, but it's just part of what Toothless is. He's carnivorous, and killing other animals, or even people, probably doesn't weigh heavily on him much, if at all.
The reason Toothless needs to be scary is because THAT is what causes the absolutely beautiful duality of his nature. If Toothless was just some big, cute, derpy thing from the beginning, Hiccup befriending him would be a completely trivial thing. However, when we get all this build up, showing him rain down fire on Berk, showing him pin Hiccup to the ground, hearing Hiccup eerily read the notes of warning in the Dragon Manual, we start to appreciate just how tense Hiccup and this dragon's relationship is. Hiccup is taking a HUGE risk. Not only is he defying generations of cultural laws, he's befriending something that could easily turn him into a pile of ash, or worse, a snack.
This tension is tangible in the first movie. When Hiccup enters the cove at the beginning of the Forbidden Friendship scene, we get the chilling view of Toothless stalking him quietly. The directors want you to worry, they want you to understand just how risky this is. Then after Toothless gobbles up Hiccup's fish, he begins to close in on Hiccup, eyeing him over. Again, the directors want us to worry. They want us to think, "Oh crap, what if this kid is the next thing on the menu?". Thankfully, that's totally not what happens, but that kind of tension is really, really engaging. Besides that, having Toothless feel tangibly threatening makes it all the more magical when his frightening exterior begins to change. It's a total triumph when Hiccup puts himself at complete risk and trusts this deadly creature as he reaches his hand toward Toothless's snout. That when Toothless touches finally disperses the suspense that the whole first half hour of the film has been actively been building up.
Still, that is not the end of Toothless's more terrifying moments. We are certainly meant to worry when he veers off course towards the sound of the Red Death, carrying both Astrid and Hiccup on his back. If you didn't feel even the slightest tinge of doubt when that happened, then you certainly weren't relating to Hiccup and Astrid's feelings as the young woman asks "What does that make us?". Then, in the kill ring, Toothless nearly kills Stoick. We've seen this guy beat down Monstrous Nightmares with his bare hands, and Toothless has him helpless in moments. All we can do is watch at the edge of our seat as Hiccup screams for Toothless to stop, barely halting the dragon's deadly coup de grace.
Then of course, we have the second movie. By this point, we are all super, super comfortable with Toothless, and why shouldn't we be? We've had four years of that dragon being straight up awesome. He's been unquestionably faithful to Hiccup. Those two have made it through thick and thin. Instead of being worried that Toothless might bite of Hiccup's hand, we are treated to a scene of the two of them dorkily wrestling around, reveling in the irony of their friendship. Sadly, this doesn't last. Toothless may have a kindhearted, loyal personality, but he is still something that is so, so dangerous by nature. It is not as if dragons and humans were meant to be at peace. They certainly can be, but they are totally different species, and one side will never fully be able to relate with the other. Toothless displays just how horrifying dragonkind can be when he stalks Hiccup into a corner and nearly kills him, taking the life of Stoick in the process. It's a horrible, gut wrenching scene.
I'm sure many of you will correctly point out that this was the act of the Alpha and not Toothless, but as I've tried to show in many, many analyses of how the Red Rage works, the reason Toothless obeys these commands is because of something deep inside him coming out. It's not the "normal" Toothless that we all know and love, but like it or not, that thing that came up and killed Stoick is part of what Toothless is. He's a dragon: a deadly, powerful, fire breathing reptile.
But AGAIN, the point of Toothless being scary isn't to drive us away from him. It is to make us feel the uncertainty and excitement that Hiccup must feel as he gets to befriend this amazing creature. In HTTYD1, Forbidden Friendship dispersed most of the stress. In HTTYD2, the Toothless Found scene is unbelievably well done. Toothless is absolutely terrifying in that sequence, but because of that, we get to feel that great triumph of relief and joy when our favorite dragon finally gains control of himself again. That scene would be shabby at best or non-existent at worse if Toothless did not look and feel frightening. He looks like a monster, but that is once again peeled back to reveal a dragon who is a wonderful and loving friend. It's stupendous, and it's by far one of my favorite scenes in the film.
So, there you have it. Giving Toothless presence, building him up to be frightening, showing just what he is capable of, all of these things only add to the richness and the power of his character. His darkness makes his light all the brighter. It's remarkable to watch a skinny, little boy befriend something so fearful... and then to be able to live with it without fear. That's why Toothless being scary is a good thing.
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