Rant time !
I’m gonna be explaining my take on these 3 takes/opinions that base solely around Astrid & hiccup & their relationship.
For context this just my opinion on this take I saw at midnight while scrolling & felt the urge to write my opinion, because well I it’s the middle of the night so why not. Also for context this is all my opinion, you may have a different opinion or perspective on this and that’s okay, I lowkey wanna hear different takes & perspectives on this.
Also note I wrote all this at like way past midnight & also that I have severe dyslexia so if the wording, grammar or even if the sentences looks like it’s missing words in between sentences, I severely apologize in advance. I promise I’m not stupid, my disability just makes it look like I am unfortunately.
Anyways now with the rant ! -
Explaining why I believe this first take isn’t that great, in my opinion.
Okay so for one astrid did not simply go from bullying to magically bring head over heels with hiccup. The main bullies were snotlout & the twins who out right made fun of him for his small size & “un-Viking” ways, which imo helps joke that it’s ironic cause the twins are just as skinny as hiccup but because they’re considered more Viking like they get a pass unlike hiccup.
Back to my point, if you watch through the movie Astrid simply just Kept herself away from hiccup, she saw hiccup as just someone who didn’t follow the Viking ways, she never truly out right bullied him, sure you could say that the scene was where she yelled at hiccup in the arena was her bullying him, when really she wasn’t, she, throughout the entire movies & series always had an aggressive personality, plus in that scene she was both upset & angry that hiccup got in her way during the dragon training & simply couldn’t understand why he just couldn’t have the same mind set as everyone else.
You might also think, “what about that scene in the great hall where Astrid pointed out his flaw” yes and no, Astrid was simply pointing out what hiccup flawed at in dragon training, which she also did for herself when asked what she flawed in, that’s not bullying. Now you could also say that her saying “Alreaey read it” and waking away while when hiccup hinted at them reading together is bullying, yes and no, Astrid was simply following what the others in the group were doing, none of them besides hiccup wanted to read that night. And yes while it is true that, that can come off as being mean & Astrid should have been nicer, you gotta remember. Astrid at that time had the mindset of everyone else, follow the Viking way.
Plus if you actually follow the movie, Astrid never participated in the bullying, basically just like fishlegs, he never participated in the bullying that snotlout and the twins were doing, but at the same time avoided hiccup just like the rest. Not only that, Astrid was the type of person to do things on her own, there are multiple scenes where even while with the group she kept to herself, while she advoided hiccup the most she also stayed away from the rest of the group to do her own thing, such as training with her axe or walking around on her own. That was just how she was. She wasn’t being a bully, she just has a more aggressive personality which came from the idea that not only had she have to follow the Viking way but also to succeed in that.
Another point of the “she bullied him the whole movie and magically became head over heels with him after one flight with toothless”. No
If you watch throughout the movie, plus actually look at how Astrid reacts, she like I said wanted to do her own thing to succeed at being a Viking. Plus in scenes like in the arena before confronting hiccup she looks concerned at the fact that she hit Stormfly before quickly switching back to her preferred personality.
Not only that Astrid was the first one to actually listen to hiccup after watching him.
She’s the first one to actually look into what hiccup was doing, she saw how hiccup acted differently & was suddenly getting better at dragon training. She was both annoyed but curious at hiccup.
That all finalized when she saw hiccup with toothless & trusted hiccup enough to go on a flight. Yes she originally ran to tell everyone but at the same time she was scared, the unholy dragon was right there & hiccup knew, she was a scared Viking, scared enough that she forgot to grab her axe, but when she saw how calm hiccup was she trusted him. Even if she smacked his hand away. Now at first toothless does plays tricks with flying crazy but toothless does it so Astrid apologies, which she does. & when she does toothless listens for hiccup again. And not she doesn’t magically become head over heels with him after the flight, the flight shows her what hiccup was experiencing with toothless and being in the air with a dragon, she realized what hiccup was trying to say. Plus her and hiccup together both find out the reasoning for the dragon raids, they both together realize that dragons weren’t attacking them on purpose, it’s because the red death gave them no choice, and after finding that out Astrid like before wants to go tell everybody but hiccup stops her, & when hiccup tries to explain she confronts him again thinking hiccup just wants to keep toothless safe, and when hiccup admits that instead of making excuses & defenses, he admits it, that’s what sells it for her.
Hiccup isn’t trying to explain away why he’s not telling the rest of the Vikings, especially, stoick about toothless and the dragon nest, he admits with a simple yes that he wants to protect toothless. That’s was fully tells Astrid that he is serious about this, he knows the risks, he knows what could happy, he knows about toothless, that’s what convinces her to help him with keeping this a secret until they figure out what to do, especially regarding the dragon fight with hookfang the next day.
Astrid doesn’t magically become head over heels for hiccup, she now fully understands what hiccup was seeing and feeling reguardonf everything within both the dragons and the Vikings of berk, that’s what makes her want to help him, and no her aggressive & “bullied” ways doesn’t magically go away, which was proven since she still punched his arm.
But she is still proven to become the first person to truly understand hiccup and what he is thinking, not Stoick, nor gobber, Astrid.
That’s what sets the start of their future relationship.
And no I don’t believe that Astrid is just a plot device because her character helps us as the watchers of the movie show that someone’s perspective of something, such as the dragons, can be changed.
Such as this, She is the first outsider & other Viking that Hiccup introduces to the wonder of dragons. Her shift in perspective also mirrors the audience's, aka us, cause in the beginning we are to believe that dragons were bad creatures when in reality they aren’t as bad as they make out to be, and astrid’s character helps validate Hiccup’s choices that we see and proving that dragons can be allies & aren’t the harmful dangerous creatures that the Vikings of Berk believe they are.
Now you might think, well doesn’t that prove that she’s a plot device, well no,
Astrid’s character as a whole helps bring the central conflict to life, such as forcing hiccup to show that dragons can be allies rather than running away. Cause without Astrid being curious over what hiccup is up to, hiccup would have flown away with toothless, turning the main conflict of the red death away.
Plus, as a whole Astrid’s character helps us understand the perspective of someone who believes in the traditional Viking ways be shown that it’s not all what it seems. We are also shown that Astrid also grows as a character within the movie, she believes that because she is a gifted Viking that she has to be the best to help defend Berk from the dragons, & that as a result she must follow the Viking ways.
& at first when she is shown the idea that dragons are allies she’s scared & aggressive, such as any regular Viking would have been, but when shown that it’s not what it’s seems, she grows to realize that dragons can be allies in the same way as say Berk being allies with another Viking tribe.
Astrid is not just a plot device, her character as a whole helps not only us understand the Vikings but also helps hiccup & the other Vikings of berk improve.
And the idea that she was there just to help the main character only is untrue, because now like I said, that she believes in what hiccup has been seeing with toothless, she goes against the other Vikings with hiccup. Her helping hiccup gives the Vikings plus the others, fishlegs, snotlout & the twins, (which btw I’ll mention them soon cause they’re equivalent to this) to turn their heads and actually look what’s going on. While yes of course the adult Vikings attack toothless once hookfang was dealt with because of their deeply ingrained Viking beliefs, it still gives an open eye to them.
Cause like okay imagine this, imagine at school there’s something that everyone hates including you because everyone thinks it’s bad, but only one kid that nobody really likes or talks to believes that it isn’t, and then suddenly out of the blue, one of the most well known person in the school suddenly agrees & defends said kid. That obviously makes eyes turn.
Basically my point is because Astrid as one of the top talented warrior Vikings helping hiccup even after hiccup blatantly states that he isn’t one of the Vikings and throws his helmet away gives into the first act of defiance in showing that they can change their ways.
And after yk hiccup believes it’s over because the Vikings & Stoick took toothless to find the nest Astrid helps him believe in what he can do again & that this doesn’t have to be the way just like hiccup did for her.
& back to my point with Vikings changing their ways, is how, (told you I was bringing them up) convinces fishlegs, snotlout, and the twins to help hiccup, because Astrid is the top warrior in their group they are incline to believe in what she also believes in, which is how she is able to get them to help hiccup with the conflict that is about to happen.
Basically my whole point for this first main topic on Astrid’s character. Is that she isn’t a plot device used to help hiccup, aka the main character, make his story more interesting & to move HIS story forward for his gain. She is a complex character with her own ideals, her own growths, her own flaws and strengths that she uses to help the other characters around her. Not only that she as a character helps the audience understand that Vikings perspective on things such as how they feel on dragons & the Viking’s main ideals other than hiccup’s.
TNow you could say that Astrid changed within race to the edge, which yes obviously she did, race to the edge takes place when the gang are all 18, obviously characters would act differently in way compared to when they were 15, It’s normal, and no if you watched rtte you would see that Astrid is not “head over heels” for hiccup. Through out the series they work on their relationship more than they did in within the riders & defenders of Berk series, & even then Astrid’s personality and ways from the first never truly go away, such as her aggressive attitude & wanting to be the best warrior. Plus the two don’t even fully start dating until late into season 4 so the idea that Astrid is head over heels for hiccup is a stretch.
Plus also To be fair none of the gang really become a plot device for one another, they all work together as a group and grow as characters in the series together, which is why besides the movies, rtte is considered in the fandom plus me agree that rtte handles their characters, their growths & flaws the best.
NOW I can start one my next point & opinion on this next take now, & I can defend my son.
For one, the first part saying “dumb dude gets smart and becomes hero” doesn’t apply to hiccup.
For once hiccup was always smart, that part of the reason he was scene as an outsider/outcast within Berk. He built traps, machines, dragon shooter nets (it’s 2am & i forgot what those were called), multiple versions of toothless tail fin, a saddle that connects to the fins to help fly toothless easily, etc.
and the Vikings plus Stoick saw all that and instead of seeing how good a builder & hiccups skills could be use to help them they only saw that they would fail the first try and get upset with him. His smartness and ability to create & build those things is what made him and outsider, even to his own father. Hell in the beginning of the movie when we’re first introduced to gobber hiccup explains that he has been working with gobber since he was “little-er” and hiccup was only 15, meaning that at such as young age he knew how & learned how to do all that.
So like I said hiccup doesn’t apply to the “dumb dude becomes smart..” part.
And for the “ suddenly become a hero” doesn’t really apply to him. Hiccup was going to leave Berk, & even with toothless at the beginning he didn’t truly see himself as a hero or though he could with toothless, he became a hero for defeating the red death to protect both the dragons & the Vikings of berk. So hiccup didn’t suddenly become a hero, he just did what he thought was right in protecting the people he knew and the dragons he grew to understand.
& for the “..and suddenly gets the girl that’s bullied him the entire time.” Part, like I’ve been saying both hiccup and Astrid’s characters as a whole, helped each other, & plus like I said Astrid didn’t inherently bully him the entire time.
Also I can see where the trope-y part is coming from but at the same time can’t.
Now for the last take,
their opinion that it dumbed down Astrid’s character. Now okay idk if they mean like in the 3rd movie (which to be far dumbed down almost everybody’s character, Astrid included) or if they mean rtte, the second movie or even the first movie, or even the entire franchise, but I can say that in some aspects that Astrid was indeed dumbed down in 3rd movie, in the 2nd movie slightly but at the same time her character could have changed how they between the 5 year skip, and within rtte I would say like, hmm, actually idk really, cause like i said in rtte all the the gang’s characters improved and had flaws throughout the series, even Astrid and hiccup’s relationship had flaws, but that’s what makes it good in a way since no relationship is 100% perfect. And no I’m not trying to say that Astrid and hiccup’s relationship is perfect & or trying to glaze it, I just believe that their relationship isn’t one that is just empty and generic, it has its flaws & it has its strengths, which is how it grows within the storyline.
Anyways that’s just what I believe from my perspective, these are my opinions & thoughts on these takes, if you have a different opinion than me, please explain why, don’t just say you have different opinions without reasoning & such, also because it helps me understand other people’s perspective on takes like this.
Anyways, the reason i even wrote all this was because i saw this while scrolling on TikTok at like midnight when i was in a middle of a hyperactive episode & i felt like that if i didn’t type something out my brain was gonna continue going crazy. So this also helped me calm down enough so I can take my ass to bed & sleep, at least not before posting this but ykwim.
Anyways good night
