I loved how Dagur helped Heather in Maces and Talons Pt 2. I showed so much about him as a person and more importantly as a brother. However, with that change of heart towards his sister, do you think maybe Dagur is the traitor that Viggo is referring to? Do you think it will be Dagur and not Heather who has been foreshadowed to die?
It’s really cool to talk about Dagur as the traitor at the end of Maces and Talons. I like the idea Dagur is in risk of dying because of the actions he took here, and that other future choices of his might seal the deal. TGoing against Viggo and Ryker might put him into an increasingly tight position until there’s nowhere safe to end up.
I’ll admit I’m not aware of any mention by Doug or Art that Dagur will grow close with the riders; I know they mentioned this of Heather, though. That said, I haven’t tried to read every single interview they’ve been in, either, so it’s always possible that I don’t know everything about what they’ve said they intend. I’ll admit I’ve historically always been skeptical about Dagur being any sort of anti-hero or character with a redemption arc, in part because he’s always been painted as a pretty black villain with clear psychopathy.
His choice with Heather at the end of Maces and Talons Part 2 is new development for him, though, and affects my predictions and thoughts about how his character story might go. As wholockdragons pointed out, it shows some crazy things about Dagur. While Dagur is someone who probably will never feel a lot of conscience and consideration for others, he demonstrates he’s capable of it when he releases Heather. When he lets Heather free, he’s 1) showing sympathy to someone who’s against him, 2) going against the will of his allies Viggo and Ryker, and 3) demonstrating unselfish actions that have strategic disadvantage for him. All three of those actions are things Dagur just has never done… until now. Dagur has never shown any loyalties for anyone until now - and yet the fact he’s held true to Heather in this time means he might do something like this again. If he makes enough of these choices, his allegiance will become confused, and because Heather is allied with the dragon riders, some of Dagur’s actions might end up being indirectly helpful to Hiccup.
So it means that Dagur has the potential of doing some huge traitorship in the future.
Dagur already plans on betraying Ryker and Viggo eventually so that he can get the good deal. As he says to Savage in “Edge of Disaster Part 1,” he’s planning on letting Ryker lead him to the Dragon Eye, and then coming up with a horrible, painful way to get rid of him and his crew. Dagur is already planning something traitorous. The question is: does Viggo know or suspect that?
The conversation when Viggo and Heather are alone is the only place which might give us clues, and I’m afraid there is no clear answer to this query.
In this scene, Viggo tells Heather, “Forgiveness, not really a sound business practice now, is it, Heather? Trust, however, is imperative, Heather. And this simply cannot be… a traitor among us.”
As soon as he mentions the word traitor, Heather stiffens and her eyes bulge out. And Viggo notices. The satisfied expression on his face indicates that he has found confirmation of what he has suspected: that Heather is the traitor. Therefore, it seems as though first and foremost, Viggo is referring to Heather, not Dagur, in his speech.
Of course, Viggo subsequently tells Heather that he needs her assistance “in exposing this wrongdoer who is in our midst.” Heather feels relieved, believing that Viggo actually doesn’t suspect she’s the mole after all. That’s not true; Viggo’s entire conversation here is used to bait Heather into going on a voyage with just the two of them, where he can pounce on her and Hiccup’s gang both, and get rid of all these enemies at once. It’s an elaborate scheme Viggo has set up to first confirm Heather is the traitor, and then use her to get access to his other adversaries.
The first name that Viggo mentions as the “possible traitor” is Ryker. I doubt Viggo is actually suspicious of his brother, but this set-up seems like a clever ploy by which he can tell Heather a potentially intentionally double-meaninged message. He talks about how unacceptable it is to turn against one’s own family, which is exactly what Heather is doing by being the traitor.
Less directly, Viggo suggests Dagur might be a problem. “See, your brother claims to know these dragon riders well, yet they always slip through his fingers.” Heather gets the meaning, and realizes Viggo is suggesting Ryker and Dagur both are the main suspects.
It seems that Viggo could have gotten away with his analogy and stress the importance of sticking to family by just talking about Ryker as the potential traitor. Yet he brings in Heather’s own brother, Dagur, too. Why? For starters, it’s a way to get Heather and Viggo to relate to one another, because they’re both in a position by which they have to suspect their own sibling. It’s meant to subtly suggest he and Heather have solidarity (it helps her believe all the more she is safe going with him to get the Flightmare).
But I think there’s one other thing that MIGHT be going on here. It’s very frightfully manipulative and clever if this is what he’s doing. Viggo couldn’t know if Heather is the traitor or Dagur is the traitor. They’re both on Ryker’s ship in the same time in the same place for basically any major event. Viggo has probably narrowed down that Heather and/or Dagur is his infiltrator(s), but it’s not until he meets with Heather that he can determine if the sister is innocent or not. Once she tenses, he can tell she is the problem. Now he has to check to see if just Heather is the traitor, or both she and Dagur are the traitors, so he brings up the idea of going against flesh and blood by giving the analogy to Ryker… and then bringing Dagur into the equation.
See what it seems he’s doing? He’s subtly fishing for information. He makes Heather think about the idea of flesh and blood subtly by talking about suspicions of Ryker first. That’s non-threatening to Heather, and she can talk about it fine. Ryker isn’t her brother, after all. But then he turns the same concept to something more personal: her own brother. If Heather knows Dagur is “in” on the traitorship, too, then he thinks he might be able to gauge it in her reaction. This is how Viggo can test to see if both Heather and Dagur are dangers by casually talking with one person.
The thing is, Heather does a pretty good job of hiding the fact she fully knows Dagur wants to kill Ryker in the end of this adventure. It’s because Heather thinks about being a traitor differently. She’s acting as an informant to a group of people who are wholly opposed to Ryker, to Dagur, and to Viggo. Dagur might plan to be a traitor, but he’s still in the “enemy zone,” as it were, from where Heather stands. So she doesn’t really react too horrifically when Viggo brings Dagur into the list of suspects. It’s not fully on her mind that her brother could legitimately be in the danger zone.
It means I can’t tell if Viggo thinks Dagur might be a traitor or not. I think it’s highly possible that he suspects Dagur is the traitor, but I think that what he’s referring to here, and MEANS to refer to here, is just Heather. Viggo singles Heather out - why her? Because he went into the conversation already planning on giving her the offer to go on their two-person Flightmare mission. And if he was already planning on doing this conversation, then he had to have huge suspicions she was the problem moreso than Dagur, and used this moment to verify his thoughts completely about the traitor before giving her this offer. Viggo means that Heather is the traitor in this moment.
Now is Viggo talking about a different traitor when he symbolizes to Hiccup that the traitor always dies? I don’t think so. The message that the traitor always dies is a message for Hiccup and is meant for bait to get Hiccup to try to save Heather. This entire message about the traitor dying would not mean much if Dagur were the person he was talking about; he knows Hiccup is thinking about Heather, he knows he’s thinking about Heather, and Dagur isn’t a part of this equation. I don’t wish to disappoint people by saying Viggo has very little pragmatic purpose to be indirectly, secretively meaning Dagur will die in this sentence… but the point of the matter is that when Viggo says the traitor always dies, he is not talking about Dagur dying in the future.
However, it doesn’t mean this sentence can’t have extra embedded meaning from a meta perspective of the show. It could be the case that the statement, “the traitor always dies” becomes fulfilled in future episodes… by Dagur dying. Dagur and Heather are both traitors, and Viggo is an insanely smart man who knows how things go in life. And he knows the traitor always dies. I don’t think Heather will die… but it could be the case that Dagur is going to go. So while Viggo doesn’t mean to refer to Dagur when he first talks about traitor deaths, it doesn’t mean this won’t be what happens.
I suspect that if any character on this show dies, it would indeed be Dagur. And it is possible that someone might die, given this really vague twitter message by Douglas Sloan.
So that’s a really long and winding answer to these thoughts! To quickly recapitulate:
I don’t think Viggo was talking about Dagur being the traitor who always dies, though I think Dagur could still ironically end up becoming the traitor that dies. This could be a foreshadowing moment for Dagur dying.
Viggo knows that Heather is the traitor and he might have some suspicions that Dagur is not to be trusted, either.
Dagur’s characterization suggests he might do more kind actions to defend Heather. It might not get him to the level of being an anti-hero, but it’ll get him to the point where he’ll make a mistake, show himself to be clearly against Viggo and Ryker, and have nowhere safe left to turn.
