Is Gobber an Outsider? (A HTTYD Theory)
Hello, my fellow Furians, and welcome to another HTTYD lore article. Today we'll be talking about something that I've been wondering about for the last few years. I had meant to write this a while ago but just never got around to it.
Keep in mind that this could very well be wrong since there's just so many gaps and missing links concerning Gobber's past. But this is simply an observation I've noticed and just want to humbly share with the rest of you.
In the Riders of Berk episode "How to Pick Your Dragon", Stoick says this after Hiccup asks this question:
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Stoick: A friend, huh? Like me and Gobber? Hiccup: Yeah, perfect. What did you do when you two met? Stoick: That's my wife you're talking to, you one-legged lout!
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From this conversation, two clues can be ascertained. One, that the first time they met, Stoick had to tell him whose wife it was, when, if Gobber had been a native, he should have already known since weddings were community events. Two, Gobber was one-legged already when they had met.
And then there's the fact that that was their first meeting. If Gobber had been a Berkian native, then Stoick, the chief's son, would've known him almost from the beginning, despite them being 5 years apart.
What's interesting is that in the "Legend of the Bonenapper" short film, Gobber tells the gang of his misadventures in his younger days — exaggerated they may be. Throughout the entire franchise, most of his stories had him outside of Berk and around the Archipelago.
He may have been a wanderer who couldn't settle anywhere for long on account of him always being chased by the Bonenapper for the "treasure". He eventually settled on Berk, and after some decades, felt that he had finally escaped it, only for it to come again in the film. It's also noticeable that nobody believes Gobber when he says that the Bonenapper is after him (of course, it didn't help that Gobber always changes his stories the more he tells them).
Again, we have to take some of it with a few grains of salt on account of his history of telling tall tales. However, that doesn't take away the fact that Gobber and Stoick didn't know each other in their younger days. In "Cast Out" Gobber tells Hiccup about Alvin and Stoick's relationship as if he had heard it second-hand from either Stoick or somebody else, rather than as a bystander who witnessed those events with his own eyes.
Another theory could be that Gobber was Berkian but was gone a lot due to visiting external family or his family wanted to be away from the dragon raids until their son was older. Could be also that Gobber had the travel bug and enjoyed visiting other places. Who knows. 🤷♂️
What do you guys think? Think my theory is plausible? Let me know what ideas you may have about Gobber's origins.
Long Live the Night!
— Noctus Fury