“A destroyed house is not the reason”: why did Astrid Hofferson leave the Dragon Riders team?
Warning: Good command of English has never been my strong point :(
Some were confused by Astrid’s behavior in “Team Astrid”. Before the release of this series, it seemed that fires and the destruction of houses for Berk’s Vikings were commonplace. After all, they have been waging a war against dragons for a long time, and this caused real chaos in the village!
Yes, then came peaceful times, but do not get your hopes up – the dragons remained dragons. In TV shows and movies, we have been shown many times that since then they have not acquired grace and good manners. However, so are the Vikings themselves.
At the beginning of the first film, Hiccup says that all the huts in the village are new, as they constantly had to be rebuilt after the attacks of dragons. So, for the Vikings, this is a familiar thing – it wouldn’t be difficult for them to build a new hut. Then why did Astrid Hofferson, who has a genuine Viking mentality, get so excited about a house that has been destroyed many times? Why did she decide to leave the team of riders? I have a couple of thoughts on this.
In order to understand this, I propose to plunge into Astrid’s childhood. Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about her parents. But thanks to the deleted scene, we know that Astrid got the battle axe from her mother. Also, in another deleted scene, Astrid is seen hugging her father before he sails off in search of the Dragon’s Nest with other Vikings. From this we can conclude that Astrid’s parents were warriors.
“Is this some kind of joke for you? Our parents’ war is about to become ours. Find out whose side you’re on” (Astrid)
This suggests that Mr. and Mrs. Hofferson were very busy people – they had to defend the village from dragons (mother) and sail away on long business trips in search of a Nest (father). And, since Astrid was the only child in the family, no one else could take care of the safety of the home during the attacks. (Among Astrid’s mentioned relatives there is also an aunt, Uncle Finn, grandmother and grandfather, but they were probably involved in protecting Berk from dragons like all adults. In addition, Astrid’s aunt and uncle most likely had their own families and homes that also needed protection).
Thus, we can conclude that the care of the house from an early age fell on Astrid’s shoulders. By “caring” I mean extinguishing fires and repair. We all remember how deftly she wielded a hammer in “Gift of the Night Fury”:
Do not forget that before becoming a warrior, Astrid worked in a fire brigade with other teenagers. She continued to help the tribesmen in extinguishing fires even after the end of the war with the dragons, as shown in “Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon”.
The Hoffersons’ house was razed to the ground, burned to the ground by Dagur’s men, and it’s great luck that Astrid’s parents went to the yak races. They lost a roof over their heads and they could have lost their lives. It’s not that it’s easy to fix, but that it shouldn’t have happened at all. Since childhood, Astrid had been accustomed to the fact that protecting the house was her duty, and she believed that by flying away from the island, she had framed her parents.
One more detail – initially Astrid organized Dragon Riders’ Auxiliary NOT because she understood that she could not do all the work alone. This reason was just a cover. Astrid was strict with her students not because she was a “domineering coach” and not because they were worthless. She planned to deliberately stretch out their training so that the Hofferson house would be under her watchful eye for as long as possible. And only in the end did she realize that the A-team could really be trusted, that she would not be able to “be in charge” for the rest of her days.
One of the most important advantages of Astrid Hofferson is her amazing sense of duty. She is ready to make many sacrifices for the sake of her family and what is dear to her. Despite the fact that over time Astrid learned to trust people and became less ruthless to herself, she will forever remain the first defender of the Hofferson house and its main mistress.
