It feels like it was only yesterday that I saw How to Train Your Dragon in theaters. I remember dragging my older sister to see it with me. She didn't want to go because she thought it was going to be some lame kids movie. A couple days ago, the two of us went to see How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World together. We had to finish Hiccup and Toothless' journey the way we started it nine years ago.
Needless to say, the third and final movie in the How to Train Your Dragon series was an emotional ride. The filmmakers behind the movie definitely know how to tug (i.e. yank around like a rope pulley) on your heartstrings. If you have been a fan of these movies since the first one, like my sister and I were, then you definitely have to cap the experience with The Hidden World.
However, before you see the movie, you should be warned that there are a lot of things you can miss during Toothless' last, wild adventure with Hiccup. You have to keep a watchful eye and an attentive ear open during the movie in order to catch these things. (Anybody else enjoy putting captions on during a movie? It totally helps me catch unintelligible bits of dialogue.) There are callbacks to the first How to Train Your Dragon movie, surprise actors playing beloved characters, secret dragons hidden in the background, and puzzling plot holes that can escape your notice. Read on if you want to learn about all the things you might have missed while watching The Hidden World.
Toothless Rules The Hidden World From The Get-Go
The Light Fury that Toothless meets and falls in love with escorts him to the Hidden World. This place is a secret place where dragons can live in safety. When Hiccup and Astrid travel there to check up on Toothless, they see all the dragons paying obeisance to Toothless.
Seriously, they were all bowing à la The Lion King, as if Toothless were Mufasa. You know what that means, right? In the short time since Toothless arrived, he was made the Alpha dragon of the Hidden World.
What Is Gobber's Full Name?
Gobber has been a character in the How to Train Your Dragon series since the beginning. He was Stoick the Vast's best friend in the first movie, and he became Hiccup's steadfast mentor throughout the rest of the movies.
Despite his standing as a long-time character, few people know his full name. His complete name is Gobber the Belch. He must have earned some renown for himself after giving a thoroughly satisfying burp. Most of us just know him as Gobber.
The Lady Dragon Stands Taller Than Toothless
While you were busy going crazy over Toothless' adorable behavior as he courts the Light Fury, you may not have noticed that the Light Fury stands taller than Toothless. Her legs are more slender.
Toothless' legs are stocky, and they keep him low to the ground. The Light Fury, on the other hand, can stand quite tall on all fours. If you pay special attention to her posture, you can notice that her legs lift her body higher from the ground than Toothless'.
The Voice Of Tuffnut Changed
The character of Tuffnut was originally voiced by comedian T.J. Miller. For those of you who do not keep up with those kinds of things, T.J. Miller played Deadpool's bartender friend in Deadpool and Deadpool 2.
Miller lent his voice to Tuffnut in the first two How to Train Your Dragon movies. However, in this third and final installment, Tuffnut's voice actor was recast. So if you noticed something off about how Tuffnut spoke in The Hidden World, that's probably why.
The Title Of The Movie Is Not What You Might Think
I, like the rest of the world, have been calling this latest movie "How to Train Your Dragon 3." It makes perfect sense to call it that, especially since the movie before it was called How to Train Your Dragon 2.
However, that's not the way things go sometimes. The third movie in the series is actually called How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. There is no "number 3" anywhere to be seen in that title. That won't stop me from referring to it as such among my friends, though.
There Is A Surprise Dragon In The Hidden World
In the second How to Train Your Dragon movie, Hiccup and Toothless faced off against a massive Alpha dragon controlled by the villainous Drago. Drago forced his Alpha to subjugate the nice dragons of Berk, and it is only after Toothless assumed the role of Alpha on his own that the other Alpha was defeated.
However, don't think too badly of the other Alpha. It wasn't his own choice. And besides, you can catch a glimpse of him hanging out in the Hidden World with the other dragons in the third movie.
Toothless Uses Drawing To Show His Affection Once Again
When Hiccup was first growing close to Toothless, he was able to earn his dragon's trust by drawing a picture of him in the sand. Toothless then reciprocated this action by picking up a tree trunk and drawing Hiccup in the sand.
In The Hidden World, Toothless grows closer to the Light Fury with the same technique. You can't miss the fact that this courting practice worked for Toothless. But you might not have remembered the fact that this was a repeat of Hiccup's actions from the first movie.
Astrid Rode The Same Dragon The Whole Time
Astrid might have been on her way to becoming a professional dragon slayer in the first movie, but in the second and third, she is one of Berk's most accomplished dragon riders. As a matter of fact, the Deadly Nadder she rode in the first movie is the same dragon she used in How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The Hidden World.
She named it Stormfly, and she loyally rode that dragon the entire time. Astrid and Stormfly might not be as close as Hiccup and Toothless, but they were still buddies.
How Did The Furies Disappear?
The Light Fury has a neat trick of becoming invisible when she wants to. She eventually teaches Toothless how to do this trick. If you are especially observant, you will notice that she fires a blast of plasma and flies into it before disappearing.
What she is actually doing is heating up her scales so that they can take on a mirrored quality, which explains her invisibility. Toothless does the same thing when he attempts to vanish the way she does.
The Sleep Darts Are Used For More Than Sleeping
Grimmel, the bad guy of The Hidden World, uses large sleep darts to tranquilize dragons he wants to capture. However, you may not have caught this during the movie, Grimmel also uses the same liquid in those sleep darts to control his dragons.
If he injects a dragon with the dart, for some reason, he's able to mind control them. Honestly, that's a bit of a stretch. How can something used to put a creature to sleep be used to make them work for you?
A Different Film Studio For Each Dragon Movie
Only an extremely practiced movie-goer will have noticed this tidbit. Each How to Train Your Dragon movie was distributed by a different film studio.
The first movie was distributed by Paramount Pictures. The sequel was distributed by 20th Century Fox. And finally, The Hidden World was distributed by Universal Pictures. I don't care too much about these behind-the-scenes factoids, but I do find them oddly fascinating to consider.
Fishlegs Must Have An Excellent Constitution
At one point in The Hidden World, Fishlegs pretends to be Toothless, functioning as a sort of decoy. The bad guy, Grimmel, believing Fishlegs to be Toothless, shoots him with a sleeping dart.
Later on, Fishlegs, while not able to walk, is kind of able to talk and mutter incoherently. What I would like to know is how a human, albeit a large human, was able to take a sleep dart meant for a dragon. That sleep dart should have put Fishlegs out of commission for a week.
How To Make Your Own Dragon Paint
You may not have noticed what Hiccup was using as paint when he was making Toothless a brand new tail because Toothless was acting so darned cute. However, if you were paying attention, you would have noticed Hiccup crushing some black scales Toothless had shed.
Then, Hiccup asked Toothless to drool into the bowl of crushed scales. This pasty substance was then used to paint Toothless' new tail black. That's right. Toothless' tail was painted black using his own scales and saliva.
Hiccup's Big Character Change Doesn't Really Happen
During the final movie, Hiccup learns that he can't rely on dragons forever. If he wants to protect them, he is going to have to let them go. His mother, Valka, and Astrid try to tell Hiccup that he is a strong person even without Toothless by his side.
They encourage him to believe that they can all get by without dragons. And yet, when things go wrong, Hiccup and his friends solve the problem by freeing the dragons and having them fight alongside them. Some lesson.
Deathgripper Dragons Are A Danger To Themselves
The Hidden World introduces us to some fearsome new dragons. Grimmel uses these dragons called Deathgrippers in his fight against Hiccup and his pals.
The Deathgrippers have venomous fangs, and it is from these fangs that Grimmel gets the liquid to power his sleeping/mind-controlling darts. The real intense thing about this situation is that even the Deathgrippers are not immune to their own venom. Grimmel uses their venom against them.
A Game Of Thrones Voice In The Hidden World
Dragons are an enjoyable aspect to include in a movie. They are also tons of fun in television shows. One of the voice actors from The Hidden World has experience with both types of story-telling.
The character of Eret is voiced by none other than Kit Harington, the actor who plays Jon Snow in the hit television series Game of Thrones. So if you thought his dulcet tones sounded vaguely familiar, you must be another Throney. High-five!
The Hidden World Is Longer Than The Average Animated Movie
DreamWorks Animation has made a lot of animated films at this point. They are the studio responsible for Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda. The How to Train Your Dragon series, however, is one of their more successful franchises.
It is also one of DreamWorks' longest films.
The Hidden World is officially the DreamWorks Animation film with the longest run-time. Hey, if you're going to end a popular series, you need to give it all the time it deserves.
Valka's Staff Is More Than A Simple Stick
When Hiccup and his friends get caught in one of Grimmel's traps, it is Valka and her dragon, Cloudjumper, who save them. The group of Berkians are ensnared within a chain mesh. Valka swirls her staff around in a circle to call Cloudjumper to them.
You may not have heard it over the sounds of impending doom, but when Valka swung her staff, it emitted a deep whistle. It was this whistle, caused by holes in the staff's head, that called Cloudjumper over.
The Slow Growth Of Fishlegs' Facial Hair
When we first met Fishlegs in How to Train Your Dragon, he was a fresh-faced, beardless boy. In the sequels, we could see the beginnings of peach fuzz starting to emerge around his chin. The Hidden World saw an increase in Fishleg's facial hair.
He now has a full-on beard and mustache.
However, you may not have noticed this given how Fishlegs mostly keeps his head hooded, and your eyes are constantly drawn to the baby Gronckle he carries strapped to his stomach.
Hiccup And Astrid's Children Are A Mix Of Their Attributes
Yes, Hiccup and Astrid finally tie the knot toward the end of The Hidden World. We even get to catch a glimpse of their children in one of the most touching end scenes known to man.
It may have escaped your notice that Astrid and Hiccup's children share hair and eye attributes from each of their parents. Their daughter has Hiccup's hair and Astrid's eyes. Their son has Astrid's hair and Hiccup's eyes. It was nice to see both Astrid and Hiccup represented in their children.