#dragon flower

[perialolli]

 Antirrhinum 

[sovakati]

SOVAKATI

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Sunday 9 June 2024

Providing early colour in an herbaceous border is Lamium orvala (balm-leaved red deadnettle, dragon flower, Hungary deadnettle). The clump-forming growth habit of this plant means it remains where it is placed and for best results it grows in a moist, well-drained soil in partial shade.

Jill Raggett

[000marie198]

This guy brought smothering smokebreaths to Berk. He also delivered false info about Dagur's weapon a few episodes back. He also brought to Berk baskets upon baskets of blue olienders. And I have a suspicion that he was the "excellent authority" Dagur mentioned who delivered the news of Berk having made peace with dragons to the Berserker chief in the first place. I'm starting to see a lot of red flags here which were previously unseen even though he wasn't created to be an antagonist for RoB/DoB.

[ashleybenlove]

Astrid nearly gets impaled by Stormfly's spineshots and then says "It's okay, Stormfly. I'm a soldier, I've been shot at before."

She's a 15 year old.

[thejewellerybox]

Dragon Flower ring by Anna Hu, 2011

Set with two rubies, pear-shaped diamonds, white and yellow diamonds, and multicoloured sapphires.

As worn by Scarlett Johansson at the 2011 Oscars.

[noctusfury]

Chief of the Shivering Shores (HTTYD/Riders of Berk)

Hello, my fellow Furians! Welcome to another article for the HTTYD Fandom. Today’s topic will dive into an interesting scene of dialogue in “Dragon Flower” in Riders of Berk. In this one scene, we hear Stoick say this:

“I’m heading off to my yearly meeting with the Chief of the Shivering Shores...”

Now, the interesting thing about this is that this is literally the only mention of this “Chief of the Shivering Shores” fella in the entire franchise. Neither the rest of the DreamWorks Dragon series, nor Race to the Edge, nor the short films, nor the other films, not even the comics or video games ever mention this guy after this episode. The Shivering Shores is used as the setting for the comics and video games when it comes to dragon root and dragons and the like, but after “Dragon Flower” there is no more mention of the Chief of the Shivering Shores or the Tribe he heads.

Personally, I think this was rather stupid and bad writing. One shouldn’t introduce us to a character or a place that’s apparently “important” for the plot, and then never have them show up again. The guy literally was a straw-man plot-warmer whose only function was to get Stoick out of Berk so that the dragon flower incident would happen for THIS episode. And they had the audacity to make this guy sound like an important guy as well! Like, to the level of a jarl/earl or something. In writing, you NEVER introduce us to a person or place via mention or appearance unless they’ll be important to the plot later on. It’s just a waste of story and a plot hole.

Now, perhaps I might be a bit biased because I personally wanted to see this “Chief of the Shivering Shores” and see what the guy’s like. (I say this, but there’s no way I would’ve accepted him if he was in the comics or video games, since they’re inaccurate as catapults. XD) But oh well... I suppose I shall have to do it myself, eh? ^_^

Anyway, I’m digressing.

What’s really interesting to take note of is the only info — literally — we get on the Chief of the Shivering Shores is this:

“The last man who showed up without a gift left without a head.”

I mean, this may be the only info we get, but this is probably the most important piece of info we will probably get on the guy. Why? Because this gives us some insight on the politics in HTTYD, as well as to the implied importance that this character holds, if only in the Inner Isles or the Western Archipelago.

In HTTYD 2, Stoick mentions “a great gathering of chieftains” which was assembled to discuss the topic of the dragon scourge which plagued the Inner Isles/Western Archipelago. Essentially like the Assembly at the Thing, a historical gathering during Viking Times where Norse communities came together with markets and the like, and leaders discussed important topics and settled legal matters. Think of it like a combo of a festival, congress, and court system all at once.

In this case, this is probably purely just a gathering similar to an individual community’s Council of Elders, but with the gathering of Chieftains, with the possibility of their own Elders and Heirs attending as well. However, based on the events of Stoick’s story, it’s implied that it was just the Chieftains and they all died except for him, leaving the Heirs, which had remained unscathed, to pick up the mantles of their fathers’ chiefdoms and pick up their lives again. Obviously, Osvald the Agreeable wasn’t in this Gathering, since he died several years later after this event — either implicating that Osvald was unable to attend, or Berserker Island isn’t part of the Western Archipelago or Inner Isles (which, in fact, would be canon, since the Island of Berserk in the Books is in the Eastern side of the Archipelago).

Now, as to why what Stoick said in “Dragon Flower” concerning the Chief of the Shivering Shores is so significant is the fact that he was able to behead someone simply for not coming with a gift — and with no repercussions, at that — and that Stoick had to go to the annual meeting with the Chief of the Shivering Shores, as in actually go to the Shivering Shores at-location. And he does this annually! 

“I’m off to my yearly meeting with the Chief of the Shivering Shores. The last man who came without a gift left without a head.”

From this, we know 2 things from the implications of this statement:

1) Vikings coming to the gathering are expected to come with a gift to present to the Chief of the Shivering Shores.

2) This gathering of chieftains happens every year, and is always held on the Shivering Shores. 

With these two points, we can assume, then, that the Chief of the Shivering Shores must either be a High Chieftain, Jarl, or Petty King of the region, and holds a significant amount of power and influence in the political sphere of the Inner Isles/Western Archipelago. He would have to be in order for these meetings to always be held on the Shivering Shores AND to have the right to kill whomever he pleases if they don’t come with a gift or some other offense — to the effect of affecting other Chieftains, particularly Stoick, to take gifts with them when they travel to Shivering Shores.

Another reason to support this theory is the scene in the flashback we see in HTTYD 2 as Stoick tells his story with his encounter with Drago. 

Obviously the quality is rather blurry regardless, as it’s a flashback, and it’s difficult to see clearly, but the one detail we can see clearly is a bearded Viking sitting on an elaborately carved chair / throne of two dragon heads intertwined. When you compare the throne to the others in the rest of the cutscenes, you’ll notice that they’re not as elaborate as the one that one Viking is sitting.

Even Stoick’s throne is rather simple in nature compared to the “Dragon Throne”. Then there’s the dozen or so Vikings that are sitting on tables, though we can’t be certain whether they’re chieftains or retainers belonging to those chieftains. No details are said nor shown.

Regardless, this scene, if we take what we’ve gleaned from “Dragon Flower” and HTTYD 2 thus far, both in quotes and in scenes, we can make an educated guess/assumption that the Viking in that elaborate throne might possibly be the Chief of the Shivering Shores.

Due to this, I headcanon that the Chief of the Shivering Shores rules over either the Inner Isles or the Western Archipelago, and the other chieftains are his subordinates. Or, at the very least, has enough strength, influence, power, and charisma to cause other chieftains to defer to him as an authority-figure. Because there is no way in Helheim that he can decapitate a man for not bringing a gift without retribution unless he’s a powerful authority-figure who can get away with it.

I also headcanon that the reason — or one of the reasons — for the gift-giving is as a security measure. Since Drago came along and killed all the chieftains at the gathering 10 or so years before, and with dragons no less, and did all of this without presenting any gifts, it’s obvious that from now on, anyone who comes without a gift is obviously a spy working for Drago, and thus should be eliminated. And the others, who also lost their predecessors, would mostly likely agree to this, not wanting a repeat of what happened last time.

There’s also the possibility that the Chief of the Shivering Shores knows about Berk living with dragons, since Stoick was able to fly to the Shivering Shores and back on Thornado unscathed, without any Vikings trying to kill them. Though, whether this means that they know and accept (or tolerate) this or Stoick hid Thornado and kept the fact that he flew to the Shivering Shores on a dragon a secret will never be known. Though I’m not sure how he’d be able to do so without anyone raises a few eyebrows. But whatever. I guess it’s up to us to decide on what happened there.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about the Chief of the Shivering Shores. I had a fun time writing this article and I hope you enjoyed it, too. Thank you for reading. ^_^

What do you guys think? Who do you think the Chief of the Shivering Shores is as a character? Do you agree with what’s written in this article, or do you have a separate idea of what he’s like? 

If you have any theories, headcanons, ideas, etc, concerning the Chief of the Shivering Shores, please reblog and give us your two-pence. ^_^

See you in the next article! Have a marvelous New Year!  

Long Live the Night!

— Noctus Fury

[tasiaadams18art]

Dragon Flower. Year Of The Dragon 🐲.