Something I noticed this year in my annual httyd1 rewatch that's really interesting: Astrid never talks to Snotlout.
When he's flirting with her, she's not replying to him. She just makes dismissive gestures and leaves. Even his "dragon-esque figure" line only gets a punch, no dialogue. She does say "hey!" when he pushes her out of the way in the Nadder maze sequence, but no actual conversation.
So uh. Can we really blame him for just staring at her in sheer wonder when she encouragingly yells "you're the Viking!!!" I've always laughed at him for getting distracted and falling here, but. Can we really blame him under these circumstances. It's not only that he's never heard a kind word from Astrid, it's that she's never verbally acknowledged him at all
(And this makes her act 1 interactions with Hiccup even more interesting, honestly. Because he warrants verbal rejections from her. "Nope, just you" and "read it" are firm and clear but not cruel. It fascinates me that she won't even speak to Snotlout but she will bother to talk back to Hiccup, even in a funny way that first time)
okay it's time for the helmet symbolism in httyd1 post
are you ready bc this is gonna be a doozy. I started thinking about this a few months ago when I was pondering Stoick characterization, and I began to realize that all of Stoick's most fascinating moments in httyd1 involve something going on with his/a helmet. I paid attention to this during my annual rewatch and hoo boy I've got Thoughts.
If Viking helmets are symbolic of belonging to Berk/"the Viking Way," then not wearing a helmet is symbolic of Hiccup's Way.
Okay, this is pretty surface-level analysis. But here's the fun part: you can see the friction between the Viking Way and Hiccup's Way represented in how Viking helmets are treated in HTTYD1. The moments when they are absent or discarded all correspond to these two perspectives clashing...and then at the end of the movie, the world has changed such that the Viking Way and Hiccup's Way are no longer contradictions, and you see that by the helmet symbolism too!
(don't ask me about Astrid...though one could argue that her kransen, which is cultural Viking headwear that existed irl unlike the fucking horned helmets, represents a middle ground between Stoick's and Hiccup's sides...)
Okay, interested? Great. Let's go!
When we're first introduced to Stoick, you can't help but notice how his helmet is significantly Bigger and more Majestic than everyone else's.
(side note, this is so fucking funny. Why have we never capitalized on this as a viral meme format. This could break containment)
A sharp observer can note even from the intro sequence that every human in this movie has a Viking helmet except for Hiccup and Astrid. What does this mean? :)
When Stoick's plot brings him back into Hiccup's plot in this scene, we get another interesting detail: wrestling the Monstrous Nightmare knocks his helmet askew. We see him wrestling other dragons earlier with no issue, so it's fun to read this metaphorically: proximity to Hiccup's Way is threatening to the Viking Way. Hiccup's actions are causing trouble in the village, and this is reflected by what happens to Stoick's helmet.
Before resuming his fistfight with the Monstrous Nightmare, he takes a moment to straighten it.
Is it so his helmet won't fall off? Is it intimidation? Whatever this detail is, it's entertaining to me.
Regardless, his helmet is firmly back in place as he chews Hiccup out in front of the village, as he announces "one last search" for the nest, as he and Gobber discuss "what a Viking can do" and how Hiccup is different from everyone else. Some key dialogue I'd like to pull out here:
You can't stop him, Stoick. You can only prepare him. Look, I know it seems hopeless. But the truth is you won't always be around to protect him. He's going to get out there again. He's probably out there now.
Keep an eye on this "protection" bit, it'll come back later.
(Side note, do you think child Stoick was wearing a helmet when his dad told him to bang his head against a rock? Food for thought.)
That brings us to the Hiccup & Stoick scene at the house. Stoick has taken Gobber's advice to loosen up and give Hiccup what he wants, in the hopes of giving him the tools he'll need to survive. Hiccup, on the other hand, is slinking home after freeing the Night Fury he shot down.
oh, look at that. No helmet!
This is the first of several scenes I find interesting. This scene is a departure from the way Stoick's always conducted himself and his family––he feels strongly that Hiccup needs to be kept safe by keeping him away from what interests him so much. But he's giving him a chance now, even doing it when he himself won't be on Berk. He's still not listening––he won't learn that until act 3––but he thinks he is, because he is finally giving Hiccup what he's always wanted, and honestly, because Hiccup is not doing a great job of explaining himself. Stoick is meeting Hiccup halfway here, and to represent that, his helmet is off.
We'll get helmet-specific dialogue later but I wanna pull out what Stoick says about the axe here:
When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. That means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more of...this.
From this we see definitively that Berk places a very high value on conformity and community. Hiccup would've been ecstatic to get this speech earlier that day, but he's realized very suddenly that no matter what he does, he will not be able to conform.
The axe is not particularly symbolic in this movie; Hiccup carries it around for a while and it dies an ignoble death in the Focus, Hiccup! scene, never to be mentioned again. (I think we can apply the general sentiment here to helmets though, too.)
However, as Stoick closes down the conversation and instructs Hiccup to train hard, he grabs a bag for his trip to the nest...and his helmet, which was on a peg on a nearby rafter.
He was really trying in this scene, even though he's missing the mark. And when he's done trying, he puts his helmet back on and leaves.
Nothing to note during the Helheim's Gate scene, or the scene with Gobber after they've returned: he's wearing his helmet, as is everyone else.
But then. Oh boy is there a lot to talk about about the scene where he comes to visit Hiccup at the smithy.
Stoick comes in behaving....really fucking weird, let's be honest. It's very clear to me that Hiccup gets his strange sense of humor and his ~ dramatic flair ~ from Stoick, who will be doing something that approaches stand-up comedy later in this movie. For some godforsaken reason, now he's doing a bit where he's pretending Hiccup is in trouble, when the truth is, he's very happy with Hiccup's success in the ring and newly elevated status.
When Hiccup can't conversationally reciprocate, Stoick becomes just as awkward as Hiccup is and pulls out The Helmet. Now things get interesting.
To keep you safe in the ring.
Oh, there's the "protection" thread from earlier. So the helmets supposedly have a function and they're not just cultural symbols. In this case...why didn't he give it to Hiccup before dragon training started?
Your mother would've wanted you to have it. It's half of her breastplate. Matching set. Keeps her close, you know?
Oh ho. So. Stoick's helmet that he wears every day is half of his dead wife's breastplate. It has not only cultural significance, but personal significance. And he's kept another helmet made from it––which is clearly not intended for him, bc the top of Stoick's head is smaller than it!––because it "keeps her close," but even though he says she'd want Hiccup to have it, he has not given it to him, nor ever told him it existed. The helmet's sentimental value is more important to Stoick than its potential protective function...up until Hiccup has proven he is not "the worst Viking Berk has ever seen."
Wear it proudly, you deserve it.
Not really sure how else to interpret this as Stoick deliberately kept it, the protection and the cultural signifier, from Hiccup until now because he thought Hiccup didn't deserve it.
And the thing here. The thing here is that Hiccup, while concerned about the web of lies he's gotten himself into, doesn't really even react to this implication. He's just happy.
They awkwardly say their goodnights and then both take a breather to recover from the conversation:
It's a very cute moment that shows how similar they actually are. Hiccup definitely learned this body language from Stoick! And then...
Stoick knocks everything over, in a very Hiccup-like example of not paying attention to his surroundings. His helmet is once again knocked askew, but this time, instead of his cool-as-a-cucumber one-handed adjustment from brawling with the Nightmare...Stoick panics, grabs his helmet with both hands, and furtively leaves the scene of the crime without picking anything up.
This is really interesting to me. Not a moment after we see him gifting Belonging to Hiccup that he's finally "earned," an emotional sacrifice from Stoick, we see this. He's very defensive about the way he replaces his helmet here, and immature in how he runs off! Proximity to Hiccup's plot and themes unseats his helmet. Perhaps the Viking way of life is not as natural as one would assume, and it requires constant reinforcement!
This brings us to This Time For Sure. Hiccup is wearing his new helmet now, but it's not comfortable for him, slipping down:
And the moment a dragon gets near...
It's off.
This takes place offscreen, so it's interesting to speculate what happened. Based on what we'll see later, I think it's likely he dropped the axe and shield, but his helmet was knocked off unintentionally. Regardless, we can read this as proof that for Hiccup, at least right now, there is no way to be both a friend to dragons and a Viking. (It'll be a little while longer before Hiccup comes to this conclusion, though.)
Hiccup is not wearing his helmet and does not seem to have it with him during the next few sequences, where Astrid meets Toothless and they find the dragon's nest...but he's got it as he prepares to make his big statement in the final exam.
Notice that it's not on. He's carrying it. And the camera cuts to him holding it as Stoick (helmeted, as expected, in his standup routine/introduction) says that he's proud of him––remember him instructing Hiccup to "wear it with pride" earlier?
Hiccup will keep holding it as he and Astrid talk ("it's not the dragon I'm worried about"), only putting it on when Gobber comes to get him.
They could've written this so he had it on the whole time, but they didn't. I find it interesting that putting on his helmet is grouped with him selecting a shield and a weapon (tiny knife). We the audience know Hiccup has no use for shields or weapons, so why is he availing himself of these options?
There's such an element of performativity here. He's dressing up like a Viking and the reason for it is so he can discard all of these signifiers to gain the Monstrous Nightmare's trust. He only gets a shield and a weapon so he can drop them to prove he's not dangerous.
And the helmet is included in this strategy, though unintentionally: the Nightmare is not fully appeased by him getting rid of the shield and knife. Hiccup removes his helmet, and it snorts to the side, signaling that it wants Hiccup to toss it too.
This is what the script says:
Hiccup: "It's okay, it's okay."
The dragon continues to pace, focused on...HICCUP'S HELMET. Hiccup realizes, then reaches up and removes it. Taking a breath to acknowledge the point of no return, he tosses the helmet aside. It hits the ground.
Hiccup: "I'm not one of them."
Juicy!!! I want to call out Jay Baruchel's voice performance here, which really lays on some emphasis that's not in the script––more of a "I'm not one of them."
This is the part where he loses Stoick. This is where Stoick first says "stop the fight." He won't yell or hit the bars until Hiccup says they don't have to kill dragons, but he's already not listening, because before he has a chance to disown Hiccup, Hiccup's already disowned him first.
He knows exactly how valuable that helmet is to Stoick and he threw it on the ground while declaring he's not a Viking!! It makes sense Stoick is losing his cool here. This is wild behavior.
It's not clear whether Stoick realizes that he is the one who creates the danger in the following sequence, that his hammering the bars spooks the Nightmare. But to his credit, he goes to clean up his mess and gets his ass in that ring to get Hiccup out, even shielding Astrid with his own body at one point.
The camera's not on Stoick while Toothless is defending Hiccup from the Nightmare, but presumably he's hanging back because it's too dangerous to get close. But after the Nightmare submits and Hiccup is trying to urge Toothless to run, Stoick is on the way in:
We see Toothless spot him and categorize him as a threat, and he leaves Hiccup's side to stop it.
While he just knocks people in the way over, Toothless tackles and rolls Stoick, lmfao, in a mirror to the way Stoick tackled and rolled that Nightmare in the opening sequence. (Both to protect Hiccup!)
But unlike earlier, his helmet isn't just displaced––it falls off completely. This is the most violent collision of the Viking Way and Hiccup's Way and Stoick's helmet is the main casualty.
His helmet is just gone this whole time. You can see Hiccup's helmet between him and Toothless in the wide shot after they subdue Toothless:
But not Stoick's.
Now here's the moment that made me realize there was something cool going on with the helmet symbolism. They subdue Toothless and someone offers Stoick an axe to kill him right there:
(Notice how some of Stoick's hair came out of his braid, too. We don't see him disheveled any other time!)
And he...pushes the axe away and says to put Toothless with the other imprisoned dragons.
This is so fucking interesting to me! Why did he make this decision! It's not that he thinks Toothless has tactical value––he won't learn that a dragon can lead them to the nest until Hiccup slips up in their argument in the next scene. He has the opportunity to kill a dragon that's at his mercy, and he...just doesn't.
I do think he's starting to put the pieces together here, because Hiccup is yelling "please don't hurt him" and by the time we get to their big argument in the Great Hall, Stoick has already grasped that "everything in the ring [was] a trick, a lie."
Which kind of makes you wonder. Why he spares Toothless here. He's a very impulsive man––as we will see in the next scene!––so why turn down the opportunity to get rid of Toothless? It's hard not to wonder if it's because he is trying to avoid hurting Hiccup more. He grants this mercy and the lack of helmet shows a momentary possible concession towards Hiccup's Way.
He's majestically helmeted again by the argument scene:
But I can't help but notice that, while he's furious, and he's furious that Hiccup is worried about Toothless instead of "the people [he] almost killed," he's...actually giving Hiccup a lot of space to talk in this dialogue. We've seen how he can be when he's shutting down a conversation, and he's allowing Hiccup to yell back at him here.
Notice that Hiccup says "He was just protecting me! He's not dangerous!" and Stoick, despite being very concerned with Hiccup's safety, slides right past the protection motif (and his own role in the danger Hiccup was in earlier––he's saying Hiccup is the one who caused the danger) to forcefully remind Hiccup of all the harm dragons have caused.
Of course, this is a hugely emotionally charged encounter for both of them. Stoick would've been biased against anything Hiccup said to begin with, but he's especially rankled considering Hiccup opened his argument by throwing his helmet down. Hiccup is frantic and terrified and doesn't realize he's saying too much until it's too late, and the moment he mentions the nest it's all over. Stoick is no longer having a conversation.
Like Astrid, it's not so much Toothless that Stoick finds objectionable––it's that Hiccup has been to the nest and has critical information about it and chose not to share it. Like Astrid, he perceives there to be "sides" of this war that one can be moved between if negligent enough. And so we get:
You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Viking. You're not my son.
Harsh, but...in context I see why. Hiccup did, in fact, just publicly announce in front of the entire village that he wasn't a Viking, that they didn't need to kill dragons, and then his dragon friend almost killed a bunch of people including Stoick, who honestly maybe hasn't even realized Hiccup saved his life by begging Toothless to stop. The helmet needs to be back on here for the most aggressive enforcement of The Viking Way that we'll see in this story.
Stoick of course is helmeted as they go to the nest and start the assault there. He and Gobber are distracting the Red Death to give the others time to flee, and their lives are saved by the arrival of Hiccup and the teens on the dragons from Berk. We see Stoick and Gobber staring up at them in wonder and then they disappear for a while as the camera follows the teens distracting the Red Death while Hiccup goes to rescue Toothless.
Then Hiccup is drowning and Stoick is back on the scene!
No helmet.
We don't see what happens to it. It's just not here. He is not wearing it when he saves Hiccup's life. And he is not wearing it when he dives back in to save Toothless's, his first really premeditated submission to Hiccup's Way:
The thing here is...that we know for a fact Stoick saves Toothless out of altruism. We know for a fact that it is not because he has realized Hiccup and Toothless together are the only chance of surviving the Red Death (it's not even clear if Stoick even realized Toothless is disabled; surely he would've removed his saddle and tail if he had!), because in a minute he will be telling Hiccup that he doesn't have to fight the Red Death. He's saving Toothless because it's the right thing to do, or because this is all his fault, or because he knows it's what Hiccup wants. And Toothless saves him back.
Hiccup is not engaging with Stoick here. He doesn't thank him. He doesn't look at him. He runs straight to Toothless to join the fight. The shoe is on the other foot; now Stoick is the one who needs to try, to make an effort. Stoick's had some extreme character development since they arrived at the Nest––his "I was a fool" clearly communicates he realizes that Hiccup was right all along and for once in his life he should have listened to Hiccup's "I promise you, you can't win this one"! Now instead of Stoick cleaning up Hiccup's messes, Hiccup's got to clean up Stoick's, and what a fucking mess it is. (It's a fun mirror that Stoick created this problem by not listening, just as Hiccup's created a million "disasters" also! by not listening!)
So then we get Stoick giving a heartfelt apology, insisting that it's not Hiccup's responsibility to risk his life to stop the Red Death, and telling him he's proud to call him his son––but unlike the other mention of pride in their awkward smithy conversation, Stoick is finally on the same page and sees Hiccup for what he is. Stoick is proud of Hiccup's actual self.
No helmet.
Hiccup and Toothless take off and we see that Stoick has regained his helmet by the time he rejoins the others to spectate the battle. They kill the Red Death and crash, and Stoick leads the efforts to find them... and this is where, thematically, the two Ways start to slide together.
Of course, everyone has already pointed out the other interesting things about this scene––that, like in Astrid Goes for A Spin, Toothless only opens up his wings to reveal Hiccup once Stoick apologizes. That, like when Hiccup finds Toothless in the woods, Stoick looks upon what he's wrought with grief and disgust as he says "I did this."
What's interesting to me about this is that he's mirroring Hiccup and Astrid scenes....the two un-helmeted characters who are shown to be the most ideologically flexible. After the plot we've had so far, after Stoick's forceful character development, Stoick is finally able to express this un-Viking-Way sentiment...and he's able to do it while wearing his helmet.
But just a second later, now Stoick is the one who's flinging his helmet off, so he can listen for Hiccup's heartbeat. The Viking Way is not as important as Hiccup is.
He does not put it on again in this scene, which means he's not wearing it when he touches Toothless kindly for the first time, when he thanks him for saving Hiccup's life. (Cute family photo here lol)
Stoick has regained his helmet for the final scene of the movie, however, as he welcomes Hiccup into the new, more progressive world they've created while Hiccup was asleep. We can see based on the attitudes, the architecture, the other Vikings riding dragons that the Viking Way and Hiccup's Way are no longer contradictions!
Stoick proudly tells Hiccup in front of witnesses that what Berk needed was Hiccup, his way of doing things. God, look at him. He's so happy and proud!!
Here's my favorite bit of this analysis, though: Gobber hands off a new saddle and tail saying "welcome home." It's really saccharine but...it's just the cherry on top of The Themes and also this analysis, lol.
Because the symbol on Toothless's new tail is a stylized skull that incorporates the horned helmet symbolism!!!
This is symbolism that Hiccup will not discard. The symbol of friendship between the two of them is literally entwining the symbols of the two different positions in this movie. The Viking helmet symbol is now part of Toothless's body. The two opposing worldviews are now one, and the two opposing peoples are now one.
I just... really love the helmet symbolism in this movie 🥹🥹🥹
The strategy for the finale is so ridiculous when you think about it
The kids' primary goal in this battle is to rescue Toothless
The other kids are like, kinda? Keeping the Red Death occupied? But we know that this was never supposed to deal real damage, because the second Stoick frees Toothless, Astrid directs the other kids to stop???
Like the whole thing seems predicated on the idea that Hiccup and Toothless are the only ones who stand a chance
BUT
Hiccup didn't even think of the plan until like 4 minutes into this scene
Like we have had a full operatic drama already and then Hiccup notices the wings
So I can only assume the like. Offscreen conversation here was something like "literally just buy him time to rescue Toothless and then they'll fuck em up somehow"
