Rewriting&Redesigning Dragons: the Nine Realms — Part 2/4
She’s the only character in the show that’s amazing as is. Maybe what could first clue her into the fact that Erik and his mom are keeping something secret would be that Alex was checking over security footage she hacked into and sees how Olivia really deterrents the scientists from going near the cave that she had helped Erik find.
I should probably note; Olivia is the reason these scientists aren’t finding the dragons. She’s established to be a sweet talker in the first episode. So she’s able to reverse phycology these guys into searching in areas away from where the dragons are. And if any evidence are found on the Icarus drones, she’s able to swipe and delete them before anyone gets to see. Which Alex takes over the task of doing after she joins dragon club since she’s the hacker and to lighten Olivia’s load. She’s doing so much as it is.
I would also add things to Alex like her showing Erik the scar from when the dog bit her has a kid and how she’s into tech because her moms are engineers. (They never explain what her moms do, I kinda just assumed because they have uniforms while Olivia and May —the scientists— don’t.) Also note that she’s a killer gamer. And maybe she’s into sewing, so she likes to add decor to her clothes like Mirabel from Encanto. Alex didn’t go outside at all anyway so she’s gotta regulate her screen time somehow.
In fact I think that would be a great lead up into how they make the suits of armor.
Audrie Greywind also had the idea that in the post Skrill battle (which in this rewrite, would be the season 2 prologue), that instead of finding a random spearhead, they find Hiccup’s shoulder-pad from httyd3 instead. Because not only would it make for an actually good callback, but because it had the symbol and was made from Toothless’s scales. So it would’ve been the perfect confirmation that Erik’s ancestors knew Thunder’s in some way.
Erik and Alex could worked together to make the saddles because Erik’s the blacksmith and Alex is superior at sewing. But then when they find the shoulder-pad, this could immediately inspire Jun to design them all armor from their dragon’s molted skin (which the dragons shedding skin would be pointed out in an earlier episode, at random, when the find some in their cave — after all Olivia wants to study these things) and Erik + Alex would work together to make them.
The conversation would start with Jun suggesting to design these just for fun, not thinking much further from that. But then one of the others would immediately recognize that the suits would most likely help them explore the fire realm since their dragons are fire resistant. A convo like this would make this plot progression feel much more natural.
Also I should mention that this could symbolize how Erik and Alex would get together. I don’t really care too much about the shipping but if Erik has to be with anyone, I’d say Alex. Like I said, Jun just works more as a sister figure for Erik, especially in this rewrite. And I can easily see Erik and Alex having crushes on each other; Alex after Erik helps her with her PTSD and Erik after Alex gives him the inspirational talk in ‘Downpour.’
And I’m gonna put this here, the reason why Erik doesn’t tell the others about his heritage isn’t going to be “just because,” but rather that he’s just bad at communicating XD. It’s not that he’s a ‘lone wolf’ or whatever angst, he just jumps before he looks, including with information, and he just didn’t think to tell the others. Just like how he told Jun about his discovery without thinking about how she could’ve immediately ratted him out to Rakke Corp. Like I said, they’re dumb teenagers. Olivia can be the same way, like how when she chose to keep the dragons a secret from the corporation, she didn’t think about what could happen if she were discovered to have withheld and tampered with information. And the others aren’t going to get mad when they find out about his heritage, because why would they? They’re just kinda annoyed that “this has been the reason you were acting weird?”
D’Angelo: So you’ve been acting weird because you found out an ancestor from, like, a thousand years ago may have known a dragon?
Alex: And this would make you act weird because...?
Erik: Because they didn’t know some random dragon, they may have known Thunder’s ancestor specifically and... I don’t know, the chances are one in a billion of something like that happening, right?
Jun: Okay, I know you’re super proud about your heritage but isn’t that a bit of a stretch?
Alex: And you didn’t think to explain this to us beforehand, because...?
Remember when I said in Tom/Erik’s section that he’s one of two I changed names? Yeah, Eugene is the second. “Eugene” just doesn’t fit him and just felt super random compared to May and Jun. But then I thought of something; it almost seemed like the two women were named after months of the year specifically. That was most likely a coincidence —given that Jun’s name doesn’t have an E at the end— but still, I felt like that would be a cool angle to look at it. So in choosing a new name, I decided on “August.”
For the reasons why he acts the way he does, I believe could stem from his relationship with their father. Given that their dad is so close to Jun, maybe the reason why that was, was because their dad just couldn’t figure out how to connect with August. He’s not neglectful by any means, but because August isn’t into legends, cultures or history, the only way he feels he can compensate, is by giving August whatever he wants. And in turn, August has become a bit spoiled. But now he tries to get attention from strangers on the internet —via; Instagram or Tiktok— because he feels ignored by their dad (since he doesn’t know why his dad doesn’t really talk to him.)
I would also make it apparent that August was protective of Jun and that they were super close as kids but drifted apart as they got older because of August’s attention-seeking habits embarrassing Jun in public or at school and such.
After joining dragon club, he would be trying to make amends to Jun and I would even make an episode where he thinks that Jun romantically likes Erik. So he constantly tries to get them alone together or confess despite there being nothing to confess. It would all come to a conclusion when Jun finally takes August aside and yells at him because, at this point, she’s pissed off at the way he’s been acting all day. He’d then be sad and explain what he’s been doing and why, which would make Jun feel soft that he tried to do something for her, before explaining that she doesn’t see Erik that way.
Instead of having Thunder’s arc being that he’s looking for other Nightlights, I would have him being half Skrill. I made a post about this being a theory of mine and I think it could make for Thunder getting a story similar to Heather and Dagur’s in rtte. The Skrill he fights could be like his half brother. There could be more Skrills that the Vikings didn’t know about, in the Hidden World (like maybe they went into hiding there after they were being hunted down.) And maybe because Thunder is part Light Fury, the Skrill’s kicked him out of their herd, so now they have beef with one another because of that. Maybe it could be Erik’s idea to go looking for the other dragons that he is mixed from (i.e. the Light Furies) but then he realizes that Thunder was never looking for a biological family because he made a family through dragon club. I think it would make for a very sweet arc, in learning that family doesn’t have to be blood.
For Jun’s dragon, I decided to make a whole new one. Because I’ll admit, giving the one asian girl a clearly asian dragon does feel a little weird. I do like the idea of dragons based on other cultures though, so I figured, I’ll make a dragon that has the general silhouette of a Chinese dragon and is related to water but literally everything else is off. Kinda like the Bubblehorn being the human’s inspiration for unicorns, except that it and the Spiderwing do not exist in this rewrite. Jun’s dragon will be an adorable dumbass though.
Plowhorn and Feathers basically stay the same except for somewhat different looks and I’d rename Feathers to be “Pluma.”
For the Skrill they fight, instead of it just walking away to never be seen again, I'd have so that Olivia wasn’t there for the fight but manages to track down the kids after she gets out of work and eventually help the injured Skrill and therefore bond with it. That way, she and Erik both have electric dragons. And through this, over the course of the story, Thunder and the Skrill would come to care for one another by the end. Again, kinda like Heather and Dagur.
Instead of August befriending a whole new dragon, I’d have him befriend the Monstrous Nightmare the riders used to test the fire suits. (Recolored, of course, so it’s not just a Fanghook copy.) And I will say they are NOT using Monstrous Nightmare gel to glue the suits together because no. Crushed up scales, dragon spit and stitches, that's all they need. Instead of the kids louring the dragon to their cave to test the suits, they do successful tests near the fire realm entrance and the then the dragon just gets excited and follows them out the cave because it wants more fish. Leave it at that.
Instead of the earthquakes being caused by a new dragon called the Fault Ripper, I’d have it be a herd of Whispering Deaths. It would’ve been an amazing call back and they do the exact same thing as the Fault Ripper except they actually have a reason to dig unlike the discount Shrek dragon. Because Olivia is in on the secret in this version, her plan to detonate bombs would actually be a cover up plan to attack and get rid of the Whispering Deaths, via the missiles. Erik isn’t going to feel bad about this because no. And then the season 3 finale (my version, season 2 finale), instead of yet another new large dragon for the final boss, we get a Screaming Death. What I would do is half way through season 2, have the kids discover a large egg that seems to have been abandoned and after it hatches, they choose to take care of the baby. Even as it starts to get really big. The dragons don’t like this baby dragon for some reason (except Jun’s dragon because he’s a sweet dumbass) but the riders ignore it. Until the two-part finale when part 1 has dragon club coming to realize that the baby dragon is an offspring of the Whispering Deaths they drove away and the ending leaves with the Whispering Deaths finally coming back after hearing the calls from the baby. Part 2 has the riders finding a way to reunite the Screaming Death with it’s mother.
It’s a multi set up and pay off that you can even save money with because you’d just be reusing the past models.
The way they brought in the Razorwhip was stupid. You want a dragon that can create a fire tornado, fit within the realm it resides in and make the battle even more riveting with other kinds of attacks? Literally would fix the entire thing by making the cameo be a Dramillion. It already had so little screen time in rtte, it would’ve been really nice to see.
Now you may be wondering, “where’s Dr. Sledkin and Buzzsaw in this?” Exactly... they doesn’t in this. Leonard’s so useless and so unthreatening that it’s hysterical. He’s literally the only aspect of this show that I wish would just die.
For Sledkin, I think I’d make her a redeemed character. It’s made apparent that she and Olivia knew each other back in the day and I would like to dive into that at some point. They knew each other in college. Sledkin was in the top of her class until Olivia came along and beat her at the game. Olivia obviously didn’t know this and doesn’t understand why Sledkin hates her but she hates her back for the way she’s now being treated. This goes on for years and the only reason Sledkin rose in the Rakke Corp ranks so quickly is because her uncle is at the top and helped her along. Once that happened, it’s been a handful of years since she’d seen Olivia until Project Icarus. And in those few years, she realized how childish she was and wants to try and make it up to Olivia. So she starts taking more of the hard-to-do assignments from Olivia so the mother can have more relax time, which unknowingly gives Olivia more free time with the dragons and kids but also takes away from Olivia being able to direct the scientists away from the dragons and puts them at more risk of being found. Because Sledkin's intentions aren't relayed to the audience yet, this makes Olivia and us think she’s doing this for selfish reasons. So she can try to take credit for any possible discoveries.
Then that would all come to a head in season 2 or 3 when Sledkin and Olivia are... doing fieldwork? I don’t remember what or why in the original. But because Leonard is no longer with us, I’d have this be the scene where they finally talk about why Sledkin has been taking so many assignments and how Olivia is angry about the grudge that she thinks Sledkin still has. This would be where it’s revealed to her and the audience that she thought Olivia was happy to have more time with Erik and was just trying to do something nice. This would make Olivia a bit more sympathetic towards her and agree to forgive her if she stops taking her assignments and communicate better, then maybe they could even be friends someday. If I had my way I’d even go so far as for Sledkin to have a crush on Olivia, but that’s more subjective. Idk they feel like an enemies to lovers trope, even in the canon show.
But with the redemption of Sledkin and the deletion of LeoNerd then what antagonist are we going to get? Just Rakke Corp's presence. That’s not gonna be interesting enough. Well, I have a batshit crazy idea that this show could do and I think no one would see coming while also leaving the audience floored.
Have Icarus scientists find the frozen body of Traitor Johann and discover him to still be alive.
Listen, I have even looked into this and no, it is virtually impossible to be frozen in time Captain America style. However, Johann was frozen instantly rather than over time and we have no idea what kind of substance’s are in the Bewilderbeast’s ice. Ice usually isn’t green after all.
If Johann were to come back, it would make for an actual tie in to the original franchise and could invoke consequences to Erik and Olivia being descendants of Hiccup. An actual narrative reason for them being descendants. If Johann were to find this information out as well as the fact that, even 1300 years later, they are still friends with dragons, he’d no doubt try to take revenge or even kill them. I think he’d figure out exactly what Rakke Corp wants and try to find a way to reveal the dragons in order for them to be exploited. Then he’d probably try to push Erik and Olivia into the fissure, to their deaths, but then they could be saved by the Screaming Death making its comeback. Or maybe its mother, in gratitude that they took care of and returned her baby. In similar vein to RttE when Hiccup and Snotlout were collecting Screaming Death scales and its mother stopped it from hurting Hiccup, for similar reasons.
Again, it’s a batshit crazy idea that I feel could really work in this series.
Now parts 3 + 4 will be the redesigns.
Links: Part 1, Part 3, Part 4
