#ent speech

[common-or-garden-blog]

One of the many great things in the HTTYD books is the existence of Fishlegs. Most of the boys are big, rough-and-tumble tough guys raised in a warrior society and you probably wouldn't meet many like them in real life. And of course there's Hiccup, maybe not someone of your usual Viking mold but he's a polyglot and a great sword fighter who is really great in a crisis, so he's exceptionally talented in ways you probably also don't encounter IRL.

But Fishlegs breaks the genre. He was born to be a band and choir nerd but he was born more than a millenia too soon. And so we see his suffering as a typical nerdy kid tries to survive Viking society. With modern medicine his asthma, knock knees, poor vision, etc. could be corrected and he could fit in with most of his peers and find a nerdy friend group, but since he's a viking, he's just painfully inadequate.

It's fortunate that he and Hiccup build a better society where not only the strong can belong.

[ent-maiden]

In Lord of the Rings, a book known for it's very long landscape descriptions, for me, this has to be the most memorable "landscape description":

"...they came to a wide, almost circular pit, high banked upon the west. It was cold and dead, and a foul sump of oily many-coloured ooze lay at its bottom. In this evil hole they cowered, hoping in its shadow to escape the attention of the Eye."

It's this disgusting environmental disaster of a hole that they hide in to escape detection, and it's considered better than the previous place they tried to rest which was the shadow of a mound of slag with "foul fumes." It's utterly miserable, and it is for some reason the landscape I remember most clearly.

It comes close to (and is on the same page on) my favorite "description" quote in the Lord of the Rings

"The sun was up, walking among clouds and long flags of smoke, but even the sunlight was defiled. The hobbits had no welcome for that light; unfriendly it seemed, revealing them in their helplessness--little squeaking ghosts that walked among the ash-heaps of the Dark Lord."

I don't understand why these depressing descriptions are my favorites, but it is one of the reasons I really love The Lord of the Rings. Frodo and Sam are on a lonely, desparate venture, they are in a hostile land. It is fraught, yet they continue to hold on and survive.

[common-or-garden-blog]

Cressida does a typo in "How To Speak Dragonese" (I think it was that one) where Horrorcow speaks Norse. This is, of course, a typo, because otherwise Fishlegs would probably be like "You could speak Norse the whole time?" However, it would be hilarious if she could speak Norse and just didn't bother to because she didn't see a reason to make a big deal out of it.

[common-or-garden-blog]

I read a comment that said that book Hiccup was made king at 14 which was the same age that movie Hiccup was when the first movie came out. I think that kind of explains why movie Hiccup has the usual "get the girl, glow up" teenage plot while book Hiccup has a hard lime difficult time. Even though movie Hiccup is more competent and respected by his peers by the end of the first movie than Hiccup was at the end of the first book, by the time book Hiccup is at the age that movie Hiccup is, he finishes his hero arc and becomes a super cool king.

[common-or-garden-blog]

Perhaps it is a rude question to ask, but as an artist, it is my duty to be interested in every tiny detail of physical description I can so I can draw as accurately as possible. Except it's not a tiny detail because it is said at least once in every book. By different people. This is the first thing many people notice.

Why do people say Fishlegs has a face like a fish? Especially a haddock somebody trod on.

I mean, out of all the vikings illustrated in the books his face has to be the most normal looking of the bunch.

Here is a haddock. The only resemblance to Fishlegs that I can see is the very large eyes that look kind of like he is wearing glasses. Also, Fishlegs doesn't breathe the best, just like a fish out of water.

Fishlegs' face confirmed? Maybe if you flatten it out?

So, here is my invitation to you: If you have ever seen someone and thought "wow, that person's face looks really fishy" please tell me what specific details led you to that conclusion.

Because I have never thought that. In my life.

[common-or-garden-blog]

Interesting how in the movies, Hiccup so inventive and produces all sorts of new technology.

Book Hiccup is not inventive in terms of technology (though there are other ways in which he is very inventive...)

But techonologically, it's the recurring villains who are inventive...

Norbert the Nutjob uses his inventions for exploration, and Alvin uses them to inflict pain and suffering (and to replace his body parts, of course.)

[common-or-garden-blog]

In the first books Fishlegs is a little sarcastic and persuasive but as the series continues, he gets progressively more sardonic and silver-tongued.

Meaning we get hilarious quips like

"Do you think I'm stupid?" said Stoic the Vast.

"No, sir," said Fishlegs. "You're just a little on the slow side, sir."

(ad lib Book 6)

Fishlegs is truly coming into himself.

[ent-maiden]

Bilbo Baggins is kind of hard to draw because he is invisible (or in pitch darkness) for so many of his scenes you kind of have to choose drawing him for fun over realism.