How to Train Your Dragon (novel series)

This article is about the book series. For the film based on the book, see How to Train Your Dragon (film).

How to Train Your Dragon is a series of eight books set in a fictional Viking world. The books were published in 2003 as children's novels written by British author Cressida Cowell and published by Hodder Children's Books. In the United States, the series is published by Little, Brown and Company.

1. Hiccup the Seasick Viking (2000) Children's picture book
2. How to Train Your Dragon (2003)
3. How to Be a Pirate (2004)
4. How to Speak Dragonese (2005)
5. How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse (2006)
6. How to Twist a Dragon's Tale (2007)
7. A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons (2008)
8. How to Ride a Dragon's Storm (2008)
9. How to Break a Dragon's Heart (2009)
10. How to Steal a Dragon's Sword (2011)

There are currently eight books in the main series, the titles of which all include a reference to dragons with the exception of How to Be a Pirate.

Cowell has also "translated" one of the books into How to Train Your Viking (2006), which was written for World Book Day, supposedly by her dragon character, Toothless.

Cowell cites the Inner Hebrides of Scotland as an inspiration for the book.

Characters

• Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is the main character in these books. He is an unusual Viking who thinks before he does anything. He has red hair and is very thin. He is one of the only people ever to understand and be able to speak Dragonese, the language of the dragons. He is abnormally clever for a Viking, and a good sword fighter. His hunting dragon is Toothless, a small dragon that is a common or garden dragon. Hiccup's best friend, Fishlegs, claims that Hiccup's dragon is a Toothless Daydream, a mythical and rare type of dragon, to fool Hiccup's father Stoick the Vast and those around him.

• Toothless is Hiccup's hunting dragon. He appears to be a common or garden dragon, although Fishlegs spread the (false) story that he is a near extinct, more vicious relative of the Monstrous Nightmare breed called the Toothless Daydream and possibly the offspring of the mighty dragon ruler King Daggerfangs. Toothless is green and red.

• Windwalker is Hiccup's flying dragon. Hiccup adopted him as he knew no one else would choose him, since Windwalker had a limp and appeared to be weak and traumatized. At first the dragon couldn't speak, so it was hard for Hiccup to communicate with him, but he later turned out to be very helpful and faithful to his rider.

• Fishlegs is Hiccup's best friend who is allergic to carni-dragons, like Monstrous Nightmares. He has a squint and asthma. He's a bit of a wimp but he has shown himself to be quite cunning when he needs to be. He is also a Berserk, meaning that in the midst of battle he is overcome by bloodlust and becomes extremely dangerous. His dragon is a Basic Brown named Horrorcow.

• Horrorcow is a Basic Brown Dragon. She is named 'Horror' for effect, and cow because she isn't dangerous and sleeps a lot. Fishlegs suspects she is a vegetarian. She is three times the size of Toothless and is his best dragon friend.

• Stoick the Vast is Hiccup's father and leader of the Hairy Hooligans. He has two dragons: Newtsbreath and Hookfang. Unlike his son, he is incredibly strong but rather unintelligent.

• Snotlout, or "Snotface Snotlout" is Hiccup's much despised cousin. He bullies and bosses the others around, especially Hiccup who he addresses as useless. He is top class at 'bashyball', 'rudery' and 'everything else'. His dragon is a brilliant scarlet Monstrous Nightmare named Fireworm, who because of her breed should technically belong to Hiccup (as son of the chief) according to ancient Viking law.

• Fireworm is Snotlout's completely immodest dragon. She is a red Monstrous Nightmare and immensely dislikes Toothless, often jeering in Dragonese, prodding and attacking him.

• Dogsbreath the Duhbrain is Snotlout's friend and sidekick, usually carrying out his dirty work. He isn't very intelligent and doesn't talk much. His dragon, a Gronkle, is named Seaslug.

• Valhallarama is Hiccup's mother. She loves questing.

• Mogadon the Meathead is chief of the Meathead Tribe, close neighbours of the Hairy Hooligans. A man with a fake leg and an eyepatch, he shares a sometimes vicious rivalry with Stoick.

• Thuggory is Mogadon's son, and very like Snotlout. Although he is large, muscular, well-respected and has a huge silver Monstrous Nightmare dragon (very similar to Snotlout) he stands up for Hiccup and works with him in the first book.

• Alvin the Treacherous is Hiccup's arch enemy. He used to be chief of the Outcasts. Although he is a fantastic sword fighter, he is always losing parts of his body. So far he has lost all of his hair, a hand, a foot, a nose and an eye. His various evil plots have included using the Hooligans to steal Grimbeard the Ghastly's treasure, using the Romans to burgle all the dragons in the archipelago and controlling the deadly Exterminator dragons.

• Camicazi is a fierce sword fighter from the tribe of female warriors known as the Bog-Burglars. She is a good friend of Hiccup's. She is the heir to Big-Boobied Bertha. Though she is very skilled at escapes and burglary, she doesn't think deeply. Her dragon is a rare Mood-Dragon named Stormfly.

• Norbert the Nutjob is the chief of the Hysterical tribe, and Hiccup's second arch-enemy. Norbert's father, Bigjob, once went to America and retrieved a potato, but Hiccup took it to cure Fishlegs of Vorpentitis. Norbert later died at the hands of a Leviathorgon dragon on his own expedition to America. As his name suggests, he is insane, and uses his giant axe, one gold side one black, to decide everything.

• Stormfly is a Mood-Dragon, but there is one strange thing about her, which is that, unlike most dragons, she speaks in Norse. Mood-Dragons change colour depending on their moods. For example, if a Mood-Dragon is angry, she will turn blue-black. Stormfly is a pathological liar, but Camicazi can tell when she is lying because she turns violet. Stormfly is usually golden. Toothless develops a crush on Stormfly when he meets her for the first time.

• Humungously Hotshot the Hero is as his name says, a hero who has been trapped on the island of lava-louts for 15 years. He went out on a quest to find the fire stone for Hiccup's grandfather, Old Wrinkly so he could marry Hiccup's mother Valhallarama.

• Big-Boobied Bertha is the leader of the Bog-Burglars and the mother of Camicazi.

• Gobber the Belch is in charge of the Viking Initiation program as well as the Pirate Training Program.

• Madguts the Murderous is the chief of the Murderous tribe. A vicious, frightening, vile smelling man covered in skull tattoos and with "Hate" on both his knuckles, he is considered one of the scariest men in the archipelago. He also never speaks (though in the fifth book he talks to Mogadon the Meathead). He has a stealth dragon stolen from him by Bertha and intends to kill her, and later tries to kill Stoick and Bertha. Both times he is stopped by Hiccup. Camicazi supposedly burgles from him regularly.

• Excellinor is Alvin's Mother. She is pure evil though and wants Hiccup's sword. It is said that she never took any good care of Alvin the Treacherous and never loved him either.

Plot synopses

How to Train Your Dragon (2003)

This book is about the adventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the ten-year-old son of a Viking chief, who must capture a dragon for a rite of passage. Set on the Island of Berk, a group of ten youths of the Hooligan tribe are being led by "Gobber the Belch" to perform their first military operation; to catch their own dragon. Those who are not able to catch and train a dragon are exiled from the tribe. This military operation has to be done by every Hooligan.

At the eastern coast of the Isle of Berk is an area known as "Wild Dragon Cliff" and among the youths is Hiccup himself, his friend Fishlegs, Tuffnut Jr., Speedifist, Wartihog, Clueless, and both of Hiccup's enemies: Snotlout and Dogsbreath the Duhbrain. Since the early morning, Hiccup had felt ill and felt no better in this snowy area, but Gobber placed Hiccup in charge regardless, much to the dismay of Snotlout and Dogsbreath who refer to Hiccup as "Hiccup the Useless". By using their dragon baskets, each enter the cave to catch their dragon.

Hiccup manages to get a Common or Garden Dragon and is forced to rush out of the cave because Fishlegs' allergies caused him to sneeze. His sneeze caused one of the dragons to wake up. However, Hiccup's best friend, Fishlegs, escapes without a dragon. Hiccup doesn't want his friend to be exiled and thus hands him his dragon and runs back in to get another.

With all the dragons awakening, the Vikings have no other option but to jump off the cliff and into the sea. On returning to the village, Hiccup notices his dragon is incredibly small. Gobber advises the youths to train their dragons by using the How to Train Your Dragon book he stole from the Meathead Library.

However, the book has only a single page saying, "yell at it; the louder the better." This does not help at all for Hiccup, who can barely yell, so he has to find another way to train his dragon. He first tries yelling, which fails. He then puts together a list of supposed characteristics of dragons that can be used in training. The list also fails and, despite the insistence by Fishlegs that it will not work, he resorts to pampering his dragon.

After a run-in with his father's dragons, Hiccup brings Toothless down to the beach to practice hunting with Horrorcow (Fishlegs' dragon). At first Toothless refuses to budge and constantly complains, but Hiccup takes out his list yet again and runs through the drills. After crossing out all the options on the list he resorts to Jokes and Riddles Talk, marked, "Only if Desperate!" Toothless agrees to a deal. This includes one joke for every fish caught by Toothless.

Later, on Thor's Thursday, during the final part of the rite of passage, Toothless offends Fireworm (Snotlout's Dragon) and there is a fight between all of the dragons. This means that they have all failed and will be exiled. However, because there is a huge storm coming, Stoick the Vast (the Hooligan Chief, and Hiccup's father) allows them one last night on the island. During the storm, two Sea Dragons are washed up on the shore of the island. A Viking named Badbreath the Gruff discovers them. The bigger one eats the smaller one, and after watching this, Stoick called a meeting.

Finding that the H.T.T.Y.D. Book's advice, along with Gobber's Viking Strength, is useless, the Vikings all look to Hiccup for advice, on the sole condition that the boys are no longer exiles. Hiccup goes to speak with the Dragon, who calls himself the Green Death. The monster states that he is peaceful, but nevertheless intends to kill the Vikings and the Dragons, because since he will be eaten by worms when he dies, a Singing Supper as he puts it, he decides everyone else should be eaten.

When Hiccup tells the Elders, they all squabble and fight with each other over what to do. Hiccup decides to use this time to gather the boys and their dragons together and come up with a plan; the dragons will carry home-made feather bombs and drop them on the Green Death to make him not kill anyone. Toothless, however, decides not to go along with this, as he thinks the plan is suicidal and he dislikes the Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus. The other dragons agree, but, they decide to run if they may lose.

The plan seems to be working. A Purple Sea Dragon the boys discovered earlier, and have used the same tactic on, goes to kill the Green Death. The Green Death, however, wins the fight but suffers mortal wounds. In an act of revenge, he swallows Hiccup whole. Hiccup lands on a spear jammed in the monster's throat. When Toothless sees that all the wild and domestic dragons have left, he concludes Hiccup is his only remaining family and saves him by making the Green Death sneeze. Before Hiccup is sneezed out, he jams his helmet into the Green Death's fire-producing orifice.

When the Green Death tries to breathe fire, the pressure builds up and he explodes. A singing sound is then heard.

Three hours pass and Hiccup wakes up to find that Toothless has "died" from his wounds. Hiccup correctly guesses he is only in a coma and goes to save him from having a traditional Viking Funeral, which involves being burnt. Because of his bravery, Stoick proudly calls his son "Hiccup the Useful."

How to Be a Pirate (2004)

This book, the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon, is about how Hiccup and Fishlegs find a coffin out at sea. When they open it, they find out that it contains a living man, soon to become Hiccup's worst enemy, a man named Alvin the Treacherous. He tells them of how he found the coffin when he was farming, and when he opened it, it snapped his hand off. He shows the Vikings that he has a hook to replace it. He then tells them of a riddle that shows where to find the treasure of Grimbeard the Ghastly, the world's greatest pirate and Hiccup's great-great grandfather.

The Vikings go to the island mentioned in the riddle, the island of the Skullions, and find a small chest filled with treasure. However, Grimbeard has booby-trapped the chest with a smell that would wake up all of the Skullions on the island, who are huge dragons that have no ears or eyes but have an excellent sense of smell. Hiccup is nearly killed by one, but is saved by his father. They all run to the ship with the treasure and sail away happily. But the Vikings begin fighting over the treasure. As they fight, they are boarded by a group of cannibalistic Vikings. The ship sinks shortly after they board and everyone abandons it, everyone except for Hiccup, Fishlegs, Alvin and Toothless. The ship sinks almost immediately to the bottom of the sea, and hits the bottom. An air pocket is trapped under the capsized ship, Toothless finds a way out into an underwater cavern.

The pocket of air is running out, and at the last second they escape into an underwater cavern, filled with air. They walk around for a little and then Toothless finds a door. Alvin quickly takes control, threatening Hiccup with death if he doesn't open the door. Hiccup does, and they enter a cavern filed with gold and jewels. Alvin turns on Hiccup and tries to kill him. Toothless brings Hiccup a battered sword and Hiccup discovers he is left-handed. But in the middle of the battle, Alvin steps on a pile of treasure that rears up and grabs him.

Hiccup discovers that there is enormous Monstrous Strangulator in the cave, an octopus-like creature . Alvin is quickly eaten and then Hiccup tricks the Monstrous Strangulator into poisoning itself. They escape the cave, but Hiccup decides that the world wasn't ready for the treasure. They soon surface with the aid of Toothless, and the book ends with Hiccup and Toothless and Fishlegs all getting back to the village. Everything ends well. In the epilogue, Hiccup tells us that he unscrewed a little knob in the sword that he used to fight Alvin and out popped the last will and testament of Grimbeard the Ghastly.

How to Speak Dragonese (2005)

The third book in the series is about Hiccup and Fishlegs going to raid a ship for their latest pirate lesson. But because Fishlegs thinks he sees Sharkworm dragons and can't see through the fog, they raid a Roman ship by accident. While on board, Hiccup rescues the self-described nanodragon god Ziggerastica and they overhear the Romans' plan: They intend to kidnap the heirs of two Viking tribes, framing each tribe for the other kidnapping, so they can steal every dragon in the isle of Berk while the tribes are fighting. Hiccup's father doesn't believe him and soon the Romans kidnap him and Fishlegs and take them to Fort Sinister. There they discover Alvin the Treacherous working with the Romans and trying to learn Dragonese. Hiccup tricks the Romans into keeping them alive until the day they are supposed to be killed by gladiators. Until then, they are put in a cell, where they meet Camicazi, the wild female heir to the Bog-Burglars Viking tribe. Hiccup calls on Ziggeristica and his army to form a plan to rescue the three of them and they are taken to the arena. Hiccup, Camicazi and Toothless struggle against shark-like dragons until Hiccup launches his plan and makes the spectators believe he is Thor, with the help of tiny dragons propelling him in the air, and orders them to leave the Viking islands forever. He and his friends escape to find the search parties from both tribes, and the two make a sort of peace.

However, it is revealed at the end that one of the heroes was stung by a venomous dragon, hinting at the book "How To Cheat a Dragon's Curse."

How to Train Your Viking (2006)

This was a book written for World Book Day from the point of view of Toothless the dragon.

Toothless was the truly unremarkable dragon of the truly extraordinary Viking hero, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. But it wasn't always like that. There was a time when Hiccup was finding it hard to be a hero, while Toothless was finding it even harder to be a hero's dragon. Being disobedient and cheeky is not as easy as it looks.

Toothless always thinks that.

How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse (2006)

This book is the fourth in the series. In this story, Hiccup and Camicazi are go on an adventure to save Fishlegs, who appears to be suffering from Vorpentitis from a venomous dragon sting. The only cure for Vorpentitis is the potato, and the nearest one is owned by Norbert the Nutjob, Chief of the Hysterics tribe. Norbert keeps the potato in a box of ice with an arrow in it. But the potato is eaten by a Doomfang, a huge underwater dragon who had Vorpentitis too. Hiccup arrives home without the potato and only the arrow. Once Hiccup gets back, he realized that Fishlegs is not suffering from Vorpentitis, but he is. He desperately mutters "OOOOOOOT ME!" a few times before Fishlegs gets what he means. Fishlegs shot the arrow, which had been soaking in the potato all of those years, and hits Hiccup's foot. Hiccup then recovers.

How to Twist a Dragon's Tale (2007)

The fifth book in the series. The story begins with the children on a herding exercise for their Pirate Training Program. They are distracted by a huge fire rolling down the mountainside. The fire is found to be the doing of the Extermintators, big evil fire dragons. While most of the kids escape on Gobber's riding dragon, Goliath, before he is killed by the Exterminators, Hiccup and Gobber are left to defend themselves. Hiccup and Gobber are saved by a mysterious man in a fireproof suit, whom they at first believe to be a man from the treacherous Lava-Lout tribe. The man soon reveals himself to be Humungously Hotshot, one of the greatest heroes on the planet. Although Hiccup's father, Stoick, begins to regard Hotshot with jealousy, he hires him as Hiccup's "Bodyguard".

After that, Hotshot saves Hiccup from several deadly situations, all of which are later revealed to be his own doing. Later on at night, Hiccup wakes up to Hotshot looming over him with his swords, arguing with himself whether or not to kill Hiccup. He ultimately decides not to, and Hiccup asks him what he's doing. Hotshot begins to tell Hiccup his story, of how he fell in love with a Viking woman, but her father wanted her to marry someone clever. The woman's father sent Hotshot on a quest to find and bring back the Firestone. Hotshot traveled to the volcano where the Firestone was hidden, but he was captured soon after by the Lava Louts. After a few weeks, he became friends with a jailkeeper named Terrific Al. He asked Terrific Al to bring a half of the ruby heart to his love because she vowed to save him if she received the ruby heart. Terrific Al disappeared for fifteen years and comes back to tell Humongous Hotshot that his love threw the heart out of the window and married somebody else who had already brought back the Firestone. Humongous vowed to Terrific Al (who mysteriously has lost a hand, half a leg, an eye and all of his hair) that he would kill Hiccup. After Hotshot finishes his story Hiccup figures out that the woman Humungous is talking about is Hiccup's own mother, who had thought he was dead, and that Terrific Al is really Alvin the Treacherous. Hiccup, Fishlegs, Hotshot and Camicazi travel to lava-lout to put the fire stone inside the mountain and are attacked by Alvin and Exterminators. Hiccup manages to put the stone into the volcano. But on contact with the lava, the fire stone hatches into a fire dragon. The dragon kills all the Exterminators. Hiccup and his riding dragon, Windwalker, run down the island away from lava and fall into the sea. Hiccup's father and others rescue him and everything works out well. In the epilogue, Hiccup tells us that Windwalker turns out to be his faithful flying dragon.

A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons (2008)

The sixth book in the series is the only one not to have How to in its title. But it is also named How not to Celebrate your Birthday. Its cover name is named only A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons after Hiccup's informative book inside this book.

Hiccup is lost in the Library Labyrinth and the Driller Dragons and Madguts the Murderous are on the prowl, all because of a book! Hiccup's birthday is not going to be the quiet affair he might have hoped for. This book contains an open-up map of the Barbaric Archipelago, a Dragonese Dictionary in the back, Dragon Profiles and "Conversations with Toothless".

This story is about a burglary competition between the Bog-Burglars and the Hairy Hooligans. Stoick is going to show Big-Boobied Bertha How to Train Your Dragon, the only book allowed on the Isle of Berk, but Toothless has eaten Stoick's copy, along with his new throne. Hiccup, Camicazi and Fishlegs go to the Island of Forget Me to visit the Meathead Public Library, but the Hairy Scary Librarian catches them stealing a 2nd Edition of How to Train Your Dragon. Hiccup Finds a book that was written by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the II called A Hero's Guide To Deadly Dragons which was exactly the same book that Hiccup the third wrote, which had been taken from him earlier that morning, and finds that it had been raided by Poisonous Piffleworms, which had destroyed more of the book.

Hiccup takes back the second edition of How to Train Your Dragon to the Isle of Berk. Meanwhile, Madguts the Murderous visits Bertha for stealing his Stealth Dragon and the Hairy Scary Librarian shoots Stoick with a Northbow but Hiccup's handwritten book saves Stoick's life and Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Camicazi come from the sky and squash the Librarian flat with the Stealth Dragon. Hiccup persuades Stoick that books are useful and books are unbanned by order of the Thing.

How to Ride a Dragon's Storm (2008)

This is the seventh book in the series. The story starts at the beach near the Murderous Mountains. There is a swimming race, and all the warriors from the tribes of Hooligan, Bog-Burglar and Murderous are competing. It is an annual race to celebrate the "Saga of Grimbeard the Ghastly and the Swimming Race". The winner is the warrior who returns last. This warrior is awarded one request from the losing chiefs. Unfortunately, Big-Boobied Bertha and Stoick the Vast are tricked into returning to the beach three minutes and twenty-two seconds after the race has started. Hiccup, Fishlegs, Camicazi and the dragons, Toothless, and the Stormfly (Camicazi's dragon) are kidnapped by Madguts the Murderous, Norbert the Nutjob and Gumboil, Madguts' personal assistant, and taken to America on the "American Dream II". On the way, they encounter Polar-serpents who try to eat them, but then end up waking a Levithorgan dragon. It is kept from attacking the ship by a machine that emits a very loud squeaking noise that humans and smaller dragons cannot hear. Hiccup falls down the Slave-Hatch and is branded with the Slavemark. Then the slaves escape. But then the machine breaks. Back on Murderous Mountains, Madguts is going to sacrifice Bertha and Stoick, who are under temporary custody of Madguts, who was dropped off the ship three days after Hiccup was kidnapped, but they will be killed if Hiccup and co. do not return to the beach within three months, five days and six hours. Suddenly, the dragon, a Leviathorgan, bursts out of the water and tries to eat the boat but is killed by a lightning bolt that goes through Norbert's axe, down the mast and into the fire-holes of the Leviathorgan. The boat sinks but Hiccup, Fishlegs, Camicazi, Toothless and the Stormfly are saved by the slaves in boats. And they travel back to Murderous Mountains and save Stoick and Bertha two minutes before they would be sacrificed to Sky Dragons. Because they are the last people back they tell Madguts to sing a love song at the next Thing while dressed up as an "ickle pretty shepherdess".

How to Break a Dragon's Heart (2009)

This is the eighth book in the series. When Fishlegs is caught sending illegal love poems to the daughter of Ug the Uglithug, Hiccup and Fishlegs must complete the Impossible Task or else face death at the hands of the Berserks. Meanwhile, Alvin the Treacherous's mother has been imprisoned deep in the Berserk forest for years holding a dark secret that reveals the truth about the Lost Throne of the Archipelago, as well as some shocking truths about Hiccup's past. Hiccup must battle Berserks, outwit Alvin the Treacherous (again), and save Fishlegs from being fed to the Beast.

How to Steal a Dragon's Sword (2011)

This is the ninth book in the series. Bad times come to the Archipelago, and ever since the woods of Berserk burned down it is as if the world is cursed... And dragons are revolting against their masters. Old Wrinkly is missing, the waters have risen, flooding fields and washing whole villages away. But worse still, the wicked witch Excellinor (Alvin the Treacherous's Mother) has returned. And she wants Hiccup's sword. Can Hiccup hold on to his sword, find Old Wrinkly AND stop the witch revealing that he has the Slavemark?

There will also be a Competition set in Flashburn's School of Swordfighting to find out who will be the next king of the Wilderwest.

Film

The rights to the How to Train Your Dragon film were purchased by DreamWorks. Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (the directors of Lilo & Stitch) directed the animated feature. The film was released on March 26, 2010.

Gerard Butler played Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's father, and Craig Ferguson played Gobber the Belch. Jay Baruchel provided the voice talent for Hiccup.

Differences from the book

The film was created as an epic re-telling of the first book in the series. As such, there are numerous differences between the two media. These include a new plot, minor and major character changes, as well as a few adjustments to the overall setting. The greatest change is that the Vikings in the book have the custom of capturing and training dragons even before the story begins - but in the film, they are fighting a fierce war against the dragons and only switch to training them after Hiccup shows that this can be done. However, Cowell stated in her blog that she felt approvingly that the film remained "true to the spirit and message of the book." Cowell also explained that she felt that the changing of media (novel to film) triggered a necessary change in plot and characters.

The most notable character who appears in the film but not in the book is perhaps Astrid, a fierce Viking girl and Hiccup's love interest. However, Astrid may represent the female character Camicazi, who is present in the series of novels.

External links

• Template:Bcdb title
• How To Train Your Dragon official site
• How to Train Your Dragon
• How to Train Your Dragon Wiki