Gift of the Night Fury

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First off, apologies for making one post after another in quick succession. I generally like to limit myself to only one post a day, and these posts were actually meant to be released over the next few days but... I'm watching a certain YouTube video right now about HTTYD, but I've paused it because I wanted to post these first before I continue watching that and be influenced. So, I decided to post these now. Basically, this is just me being weird. Anyway... As I said, I LOVE the first movie. The second movie may not have been as great, but I love the franchise so... I like the TV series as well. I just finished catching up with Race to the Edge, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. But the other one I really LOVE other than the first movie is one of the shorts - a Christmas special titled Gift of the Night Fury. (Linkie below. Enjoy!) I think of it now because in that short, Hiccup made Toothless a new tail so that he can fly on his own, without needing a rider. And if the Vikings and the dragons do go their separate ways in the last movie... ... ... Well, I just hope Hiccup makes that tail for Toothless again. (And here it is again - the unnecessary but apparently inevitable rambling that follows. ...Or perhaps Toothless doesn't need a new tail to fly on his own. There's a scene in the trailer, when he's doing this lightning skrill thing, where it seems he is high up in the air, but seemingly without a harness. Couldn't see any red where his tail should be, either, so... Tbh, I love the story, the movies, the shows, but the flying issue is something I was never able to fully explain. And it seems a central part of the story, but I was willing to let it go and just chalk it up to my own limitations when it comes to knowledge of aerodynamics. But from my point of view (and lack of knowledge), my understanding in the beginning was that the tail fin injury rendered Toothless unable to fly on his own. He can 'fly' (or hop?) short distances at low heights but he will lose his balance and fall if he tries to go higher. It was also apparent, when Hiccup first attached the tail he made, that the artificial tail fin needs to be controlled to be effective. This is why Toothless needs a rider, and they have to work together as a team. Now, that all makes good sense, but I was a little confused when, in the second movie, Drago (the villain) rode Toothless. I was confused because I had this idea that flying Toothless is not as easy as just riding him. The other dragons, you just sit on them and they'll do all the flying themselves. You can push and pull to steer them a bit, but most of the work is done by the dragons. But for Toothless, a lot depends on the rider. At least, this is what I thought. I mean, there were 6 positions in Hiccup's cheat sheet. (This actually makes that whole first flight scene even more amazing because when they had that unexpected turn of events and they started falling at high speeds, Hiccup abandoned his cheat sheet and they both decided to rely on instinct and trust, and they maneuvered through those sea stacks brilliantly.) So, how can someone who is not Hiccup know what position to use? Astrid alluded to needing to fly Toothless when Hiccup becomes Chief and becomes too busy, but that's ok. Astrid and anyone from Berk could probably learn to fly Toothless with some instruction from Hiccup. But how did Drago, the enemy who they just met, fly Toothless? Then again maybe, Drago just wasn't flying Toothless to full potential. I may need to rewatch the second movie but I guess, Drago was mostly just making Toothless flap his wings and hover, so maybe he just kept the tail fin at one position. Or... could it be that Toothless could fly on his own if he really really wanted to, but just felt more confident if he has a rider and so chooses that? I don't really know anymore. Haha. And I guess it doesn't really matter. What matters is that those two - Hiccup and Toothless - are great together. It will be sad to see them go their separate ways... Just don't forget the tissues! ) And now it's time to unpause that YouTube video. I'll be back. .