So I’ve been thinking about the riders, and in particular, about what they’re scared of. After all everyone is scared of something, right? So, I thought it would be fun to have a little play around and see what I can come up with for what the riders fear! Buuut, I’m only going to do Hiccup and Astrid in this post, mainly because I’m feeling lazy right now, and I’ll try to do the other riders in the future! (Dam, I feel like I always say that). Also sorry for how long this post is! Alright, well, this is it!
1. Hiccup - I feel as though the most obvious answer would be losing people, or things important to him. If you think about it, he seems to keep losing important people in his life. To start, he lost his mother when he was only a baby. Then in the first movie, he arguably lost Stoick after he said ‘you are not my son’, and he also lost Toothless. As Astrid worded it, he lost everything - his tribe, his father, his best friend...Of course, he got their respect back and Toothless was safe and everything, but the events would still leave a lasting impact on him. Next, in the series, he nearly loses a lot of things, but he doesn’t really lose too much (that I can think of right now). But we can take into account his attitude towards the dragon toy that Valka made him - he obviously values it a lot, because he feels as if it brings someone he lost closer back to him. Also, in rtte, he values the Edge a lot, and would probably hate to lose it (I guess we’ll find out exactly how he would react in season 5, right?). Now, in httyd 2, we all know what happens - yep, Stoick gets blown up. Well, not literally, but he still dies. Anyway before that, Hiccup didnt lose something, he gained something. He got Valka back. The way he reacts to this - it’s clear that he is extremely grateful. But now - back to the point of losing things. He also lost Toothless for a short amount of time, when Drago’s Bewilderbeast took control of him. I feel like I’m dragging on about this too much though sooo I’ll round it off here by saying that I think we have some pretty good evidence for Hiccup’s fear (or at least one of them) to be losing people.
2. Astrid - A likely answer for Astrid might be failing. Astrid seems to feel the need to be good at what she does, to not drop behind or dissapoint anyone. But, after the first movie, and as time goes on, Astrid seems to get better at handling this, and seems not to care at all in httyd 2. So for Astrid this is a bit more difficult, because she seems to try and act strong and hide her fears. Then again, that could be her fear - that people may find out that isn’t as tough as she acts. To some, that may seem like a stupid fear, but it’s really not, and it’s one that a lot of people have. Allow me to explain - in Astrid’s eyes, if the other riders start to think she isn’t all tough, they might start to try and help her more. She then thinks of how the other teens may veiw this as a waste of their time (of course we all know it isn’t, but you can be your own worst enemy at times and your mind can lead to conclusions that others would think are completely irrational). Then she would think that this means the other riders would hate her. I have no idea if that made any sense, buuutt I tried. Anyway, now that I’ve explained that, let’s talk about Astrid in the first movie. She’s top of the class, and best at dragon fighting. She also seems to already be pretty well respected by the other teens. This may have made her feel as though she needed to act like what they saw her as - a girl who didn’t need help and could handle herself. Of course this isn’t true - everyone needs help every now and then, but I’ll try not to stray too far away from the topic at hand. Astrid always sets a good example for herself. Next I’ll talk about the series. She is shown on several occasions to try and make sure the other riders don’t worry about her. A perfect example of this is Buffalord Soldier. She keeps telling the others that she’s fine and to not worry about her. Honestly, she’s clearly dying, but she’s still all like ‘oh no I’m fiiiine don’t worry about me nope I’ll just go coLLAPSE ON THIS BED OOPS NOPE THAT DOESN’T MEAN I’M SICK SERIOUSLY GUYS STOP WORRYING’ (seriously Astrid, you’re fooling no one). Anyway Fishlegs also says in that episode that she’s Astrid, of course she’d say there’s nothing wrong (yeah it’s not the exact quote but oh well). So this all supports the idea of Astrid not wanting others to worry about her, not wanting them to think she needs them (note: this isn’t her being rude or anything, she’s doing it to try and save the other riders from worrying because she thinks they have better things to do). Now then, there isn’t much we can say about httyd 2, as the plot revolves mainly around Hiccup and Toothless. So I won’t talk about it (also because I’m aware of how long this post is getting). But anywayyy, what I’m trying to say is Astrid always seems to act tough, and she does this to stop the other riders from worrying. Her fear is that she might waste their time and they’ll hate her for it.
Ok that’s about it! Sorry for such a long post, but I hope you liked it! 😊💕
