Hiccup: Years ago, in the middle of the night, I had a nosebleed so bad, I was covered in blood
Hiccup: So I went to wake my dad up. He opened his eyes to see a bloodsoaked boy in the dark saying, "Please help," and to this day, I can still hear him screaming
Headcanon that Grimmel lied about hunting down the night furies, with evidence from the series.
I've made a few posts on why I hate thw, I don't believe I need to go into that but one of the reasons was how OOC the main cast was. That further evidenced by characters making decisions which they normally wouldn't, especially with their experience and the context of the series that this franchise built over the years.
Now then, keeping above in mind, let's talk about Grimmel, namely his claim of having hunted down all the night furies.
Under the cut because the post has gotten long
Here's the thing, he provides absolutely zero evidence regarding this claim. It's been years and never throughout the entire franchise we have heard a peep of who Grimmel even is. You'd think a hunter as feared as him who was responsible for the extinction of an entire highly elusive and feared species of dragons would be more famous. Like Drago was famous, even his name or hints would have the older characters preparing for war, feeling dreadful. He was even hinted at multiple times during rtte.
Grimmel though? Nada. Nothing. We learned about him for the first time in THW and nobody knew of him beforehand.
As for his claims, I need everyone to study Grimmel's fit.
Does it speak of someone who could've hunted down night furies?
Think back. Dagur in his crazy era kept claiming he'd wear Toothless' head as a hat after killing him and kept the skull of the monstrous nightmare he'd killed, Alvin's outfit constituted dragon hides, Krogan's did too, and Drago's. And Ryker's as well. And Viggo's, even Eret's.
Look at all of them. The scales and the hides of various different dragons are clearly visible, even in the clothes of random hunters and flyers.
Heck even the riders' fits in the 3rd movie indicate they're wearing armor made from dragon scales.
Hunters and riders alike have their fits made of at least something from a dragon whether it be the hide or scales, sometimes claws, sometimes spines, sometimes armor. Literally anything. (Heck, Mildew had Zippleback boots and a staff made of monstrous nightmare claws stashed in his closet.)
Now look at Grimmel.
This guy's fit has nothing in it except a stylish flowy coatail and tons of belts with leather for both fabric and armor.
Nothing dragon on this; even his textured tunic has no indication of any scales.
If this guy really had hunted a night fury, ever, don't you think it would reflect from his fit? A hunter of any kind or in any time carries a part of what they had hunted as a trophy. Grimmel is carrying nothing, just confidently claiming that he's killed off night furies. Dude doesn't even carry lethal weapons like other antagonists did besides a crossbow. Hiccup made a cooler crossbow when he was 15.
And what gives weight to his claim? His alleged knowledge of night fury habitats or behavior?
Bro, remember that Toothless was majorly ooc in the movie for plot purposes. I bet everything Grimmel was saying had nothing to do with night furies, it was just assuming what applied on Nubless would apply on night furies too. Which. No. One is clearly a nocturnal creature while the other isn't and light fury honestly looks more tidal class than strike (Yes I know she's a strike class, I'm simply saying this based on her physiological appearance).
I bet everything Grimmel was spouting was scrounged together from what he learned from Nubless or gathered from abandoned habitats or remains. (Bringing out the geologist in me, paleontologists can gather and put together information about a species habitat, diet, habits etc purely from the fossilized evidence and marks left in the earth. Who's to say he couldn't have put together something from there)
My headcanon? Grimmel lied.
He never hunted down the night furies, he was just claiming it to pressurize Hiccup. Why target Toothless specifically?
Because he is the only known record of a night fury in the archipelago. Hundreds of vikings have encountered him and know about him. Wild night furies? They are unknown. This isn't the first time someone has targeted him for his species. It's been happening throughout the franchise for years now.
The reason Toothless is so well known isn't for his lack of stealth though, it's because he's always been at the front lines with Hiccup every time a battle with dragon hunters has occured. We've seen how stealthy he truly is and wild night furies who won't really need to show themselves at daytime and live who knows where? They can remain as elusive as they've always had. There is no known record of night fury or information about them even in the Dragon Eye, which, mind you, is way older than Grimmel.
Toothless doesn't remember where he came from though or he wouldn't have acted the way he had in the RoB finale (We Are Family part 1; Besides, Toothless wasn't even excited at the prospect of meeting more night furies if you remember correctly. Hiccup was more eager and Toothless was just there for his friend.) It's probably because he was caught by the Red Death's influence at some point in his life that he never went back and eventually forgot. It's canon that he only attacks when he is needed and never steals food. He's basically air support in that regard, always protecting even before the events of first movie.
It's a mystery where he came from and why he forgot but I doubt Grimmel has solved that mystery.
This guy acts like he's this know-it-all big bad hunter feared by everyone even though nobody has heard of him before. He's trying to cosplay two dreadful characters at the same time and failing miserably. Hiccup would never have fallen for half of what he says if the characters weren't cursed with ooc-ness for plot reasons.
Hiccup has handled Viggo and has seen almost all of Grimmel's strategies in action before, heck even countered them in the series. Drawing Toothless in and trapping him? Hellooooo? RoB season 1 finale, the Death Song fiascos, Buffalord episode, Viggo's plot to bait Hiccup with Heather's safety, Heather's ploy to steal the Book of Dragons and plenty of other instances. Dodging a dart that would've instead hit the one behind him? Dagur the Deranged sinking the ship his friends was stuck on. Following Ruffnut to where they are? *Sigh* People, the gang has both experienced this trick and done it themselves multiple times wtf- (remember how Astrid let that dragon hunter go after lying in front him Abt having found out the location and then followed its terror mail to Viggo's base? In the presence of twins might I mention) The twins are way smarter than that. Also remember Screaming Death? 15 year old Gang predicted its moves and managed to plan ahead and same people as adults couldn't think of anything to counter Grimmel except running away and abandoning their whole island with all their supplies at once and zero plans? Remember how much scouting they did for the Edge? Also, younger Hiccup would never have let Berk overrun by dragons like it's shown in the movie. Remember how they stopped screaming death so its path of destruction doesn't force all dragons who keep losing their islands to take refuge on Berk?
You know what I can see happening? Grimmel claiming these made up things about night furies and Hiccup who has a night fury for a best friend who'd give anything for him and vice versa pulling the "You really don't know your oleanders, do you?" Because guess fucking what? He knows night furies more than anyone, he's lived with one for years and been through so much with his dragon.
Hunted Night Furies. Yeah right. This same night fury had constantly tried to convince Hiccup to not go to Isle of Night cuz he didn't care about meeting more of his species, Hiccup mattered more. This same night fury ate an eel, was willing to drown in order to not leave his friend, broke out of a cove he couldn't escape from, broke out of a cage he couldn't break even at risk of death from a giant dragon, broke a bewilderbeast's mind control with strongest and sharpest focus solely directed on him, has jumped into infernos for Hiccup. He rejected his freedom of an auto tail to show his best friend that he loves him more.
This night fury ignoring the same person whom he stuck with through everything for a generic girl bait? OOC like nothing you've ever seen, they massacred him for a plot that didn't make the slightest bit of sense.
Sorry, I got carried away.
Anyways, TLDR is, Grimmel didn't hunt down the night furies, he lied about it. There is no evidence anywhere to what he's claiming (he doesn't even have assistance of hindsight evidence that Johann does have in surplus for his character) and I headcanon that he doesn't really know much about this species either and has only been testing what he learned from Nubless on Toothless.
Also, Hiccup in his right mind wouldn't have fallen for anything that happened in the movie. Why he believed Grimmel's lies I can never tell when Hiccup has had multiple antagonists lie to him or trick him before and he learned not to believe them. Especially he wouldn't just believe Grimmel after having dealt with Alvin's treacherous ploys, Dagur's insane ultimatums, Johann's cleverly crafted long term game (and he wasn't shocked at that reveal either) and finally, Viggo's mastermind strategies.
Reason #173 why I choose to believe The Hidden World isn't canon: we were robbed of Hiccup being a competent, respected chief.
In the books, Hiccup doesn't want to be the chief or king, but he recognises that no one else (not even his Dad) will do The Right Thing in that position. So he steps up and takes the responsibility, not because he wants it but because it's the right thing to do.
Hiccup in the shows/films also doesn't want to be chief. RTTE and HTTYD2 make it clear that Hiccup would much rather just wander. He wants to explore, to discover, to learn - but in RTTE when Stoick points out that they're stronger together and he needs to start taking more responsibility, he does the right thing (but not the thing he wants to do) and returns to Berk to learn how to be chief.
In HTTYD2, he is clearly resisting, preferring to be exploring and avoiding taking responsibility. BUT when shit hits the fan and Stoick dies, Hiccup steps into the gap. 'A chief protects his own.' He puts aside his own feelings and saves Berk, then accepts the mantle of chief when it's offered to him, despite clearly still dealing with his grief.
AND THEN. We get to THW. I know it's only been a year, but Hiccup seems to have learned NOTHING. He's still flitting around, desperate to be out exploring. He's still longing for adventure, longing to be in the sky and on the move rather than grounded in his village.
And that's his character! I love that about Hiccup! But there is something extremely powerful about a leader doing the right thing even when it's hard. THW Hiccup doesn't do this.
He takes no responsibility for the issues on Berk, like the overpopulation and overcrowding. He dismisses the issue, doesn't want to talk about it (RTTE Hiccup would never).
He lures Grimmel to his house to hear what he says rather than just stopping/capturing him.
He makes an impulsive decision to lead his people away from their home of generations. It's also selfish - HE wants to find the Hidden World, so he uproots literally their entire way to life to find it, with no regard for how anyone else would feel about this.
When they get to New Berk, no one really respects him. We see no evidence of Hiccup leading or being listened to. He has no plan beyond 'find the Hidden World'. He's not thinking about his people ('protecting his own'). He's only thinking about himself and Toothless.
Even the decision to send the dragons to the Hidden World feels like a decision a weak leader would make. RTTE/HTTYD2-Hiccup would fight for the world he wants to see. THW Hiccup just lets it slip through his fingers because it's hard.
It's maddening. Hiccup was set up to be a GOOD CHIEF. We didn't even get a Hiccup desperately trying to do the right thing and getting it wrong. All we got was a child.
