I was rewatching how to train your dragon and I found myself getting extremely emotional again over the romantic flight scene, but this time only purely because of Astrid.
Here are some facial expressions of our viqueen in the film's first half.
Astrid is an ambitious and determined young girl. She carries this weight on her shoulders that is becoming a warrior and protecting her village.
"Our parents ‘war is about to become ours (...)"
Throughout the movie, she´s just so focused and hardworking. She has her mind set on accepting the responsibility that is to fight. She´s a perfectionist. She´s hard on herself, (sometimes making her feel frustrated) and on her performance. She’s practising continuously with her axe as if it was a vital part of her. I have wondered whether she thought she would live a short life considering their circumstances and the price of going into battle.
Her face is always wearing a frown. Her posture is stiff.
The first time we see Astrid smile is during romantic flight.
It´s like as soon as she took flight, opened her eyes and let herself emerge into the splendor of her surroundings, she let go of that pressure. Seeing her admiring the colors, the clouds, savoring the wind on her cheeks… GAH I just started to bawl my eyes out. You could see the weight being lifted off her shoulders. She became lighter, like the air around them. The way she was just touching the sky, spreading her arms and leaning back, feeling FREE!
Up here there is no war. Up here she can be who she wants to be. She was just smiling and feeling happy, seizing the moment and acting her age. AHHH ;-;
Look at all these beautiful facial expressions on the second half of the film I...
I just really love Astrid's development. She was the prime example of your ideal viking and she was the first to believe in Hiccup, to believe in change and she gained so much from that mutual trust that these teens developed. Sure, they achieved peace, but Astrid built such a beautiful and strong connection with Stormfly, she engages in her friendships, she makes jokes, she's more affectionate (at least with dragons and the love of her life), she laughs more, she's more expressive, she's just lighter...Like she's finally found that joie de vivre, which is also cleverly translated through her character design (hair, clothes...). Some people say she looks more feminine and thus less a baddie but I still see my warrior queen who's just happy with where she in life.
Seeing her throughout the franchise blossoming into the incredible powerful woman she is just makes my heart grow three sizes.
Bonus: RTTE Astrid <3 Bless her loud laughter in the series
