| NOTE: For the book version of this character, click here. |
| “ | We're Vikings! It's an occupational hazard! | „ |
| ~ Stoick's most famous quote |
Stoick the Vast is one of the two overarching protagonists (alongside Valka) of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
He is Valka's late husband, Hiccup's late father, Zephyr and Nuffink's late grandfather, Snotlout's late uncle and the short-tempered chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. He hopes his son will mature and become strong enough to be chief himself one day, but fears that he is not suited to the Viking life. Stoick has a large horned helmet (supposedly one-half of his wife's breastplate in the film) and is a friend to Gobber the Belch. Stoick the Vast is also the creator of The Viking Song.
In the TV series, Stoick's dragon is a Thunderdrum named Thornado, but he released Thornado so that he can raise three adolescent Thunderdrums in the episode Bing! Bam! Boom!.
In the second movie, Stoick has a new dragon; a Rumblehorn named Skullcrusher. He reunites with his long lost wife Valka, who was stolen by a dragon when Hiccup was a baby. During the climax of the movie, Stoick sacrifices himself to save his son from Drago, and his role as chief of the tribe was given to Hiccup in honor of his sacrifice. Toothless, who was hypnotized by Drago, blew fire at Stoick and killed him. After Drago has left, Hiccup and his friends hold a funeral for Stoick the Vast. Hiccup and his friends fire flaming arrows at Stoick's corpse. Afterwards, Skullcrusher became Eret's dragon.
In the films, he was voiced by Gerard Butler, who also played Leonidas in 300 and Mike Banning in Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen. In the TV series, he was voiced by Nolan North. In the Japanese dub from the movie, he was voiced by Masahiko Tanaka.
Personality[]
Stoick's personality is different between the books and the movies. While in the books he is an unintelligent raider, in the movies and series he is shown as a wise and capable leader whose main priority is protecting his people (in the movies) and keeping the peace on Berk (the series). Though his stubbornness and headstrong attitude make him seem unintelligent at times, he is shown to be able to listen and take advice and even use it when needed.
Stoick's personality has developed significantly during the first season. He is at first still uncomfortable with the dragons, and in "In Dragons We Trust" he actually banishes them from the island. He starts the series out determined to do things the Viking way. He also is still fairly callous towards Hiccup. All of this changes as the series progresses. Hiccup and Stoick grow closer and closer, and Stoick becomes more and more willing to trust the advice of his son.
Stoick's idea of dragons changes dramatically after he trains one of his own. At first, he was still willing to order a dragon to be killed just because it was on a rampage. Now that he has trained Thornado, all that has changed. He quickly rushes to Toothless's aid even when the whole village disagrees with him, he's extremely attached to his own dragon, he stands up for the dragons in a newfound strength, he has grown to the point of trusting them as much as he trusts his people, and he was willing to risk war with Dagur the Deranged for the sake of the dragons on Berk, preparing to attack Dagur to stop him from killing Barf and Belch.
He also treats them more like people as enemies as shown when he walked up to the Alpha Speed Stinger and asked him "remember me?" as if he was talking to a human enemy, and referred to it as him when he ordered the Riders to get it off Berk.[7] This amount of development has greatly enhanced Stoick's role as Hiccup's father, and the two continue to grow closer as the series progresses. This is seen when he talks to Hiccup as an equal in "A Tale of Two Dragons", giving him the three options to get Astrid and Snotlout to work together.
This and other instances show that in a way Stoick is slowly training Hiccup on how to be a leader of Vikings as well as dragons, possibly readying him to be chief. He also proves himself to be quite crafty. Overall Stoick is a stubborn, headstrong man who changes to a more compassionate thoughtful person and he will always protect his people, to the extent that he bonded with both of his chosen dragons when he and the dragons recognized each other as fellow protectors.
He can be called something of a hypocrite, however. He wanted Hiccup to be a successful Viking and future chief but at the same time, he was the one who sheltered him the most from the world and any sort of experience that would have been helpful, not allowing him to even join the fire brigade when they were still fighting dragons. He also claimed that it was his personality that he disliked (although to a certain degree that was true) and not his lack of muscle and fighting skills, but later, when Hiccup was doing exceedingly well in Dragon Training, he was overjoyed that his son wasn't, in his words, the worst Viking Berk had ever seen, and that the years while he was were very rough and that they finally had something to talk about when Hiccup seemingly had incredible dragon fighting skill.
It was shown throughout the film and series that Stoick very likely has low emotional intelligence, as he could be blunt to the point it's hurtful to the one he's speaking to without intending to be, like Hiccup. As it's already mentioned he could be very unperceptive of other people's emotions with the victim mostly being his son as he didn't notice his discomfort and sadness when he talked to him in the forge before the dragon training finals, when he made Bucket draw him much more muscular than he really is and when Mulch said that the muscular image of Hiccup is how a real chief's son should look like and Stoick enthusiastically agreed while Hiccup was still there and listening. Besides this, he's willing to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of his son, wife, and anyone he loves. In the sequel, he completely melts out and has more compassion but remains overly protective.
Stoick takes pride in being a chief. He always tries his best to keep Berk peaceful and safe. In the episode How to Pick Your Dragon, he commented that he had spent his entire life on Berk and was determined to make Berk a better place. He tries to chief his village every morning and would go to great extents to do so. He was trying to look for a reliable and suitable chief to run the village after he steps down, as seen in Cast Out Part II and the second film when he complimented that Hiccup would be a great chief. But as a chief, he adheres to certain "Viking ways" at times as he believed that it was better for the village. This shows that Stoick takes his role as a chief very seriously and is a responsible person.
Stoick had shown in Crushing It, that he was very aggressive to everyone on Berk until he sees his son return as he was very happy to see him as he misses him a lot, but he also miss his beloved Thornado. But on Dragon's Edge when he was asked help from his son about the rogue dragon that attacked their huts, he was acting a bit like his son about dragons, as he was trying to figure out what caused the Rumblehorn to attack everything, as he quickly understood after seeing dragons flying off the island, meaning their departure was going to be troubled, as he was right about this heroic dragon.
Physical Appearance[]
Stoick is a big man with green eyes and red hair. Like almost all Viking men, he has a muscular figure that intimidates those who cross his path. If you look closely he has freckles, a trait that his son inherited. His red hair is braided at the back and the trend of braiding carries on his beard, which is intricate in its many strands. His usual attire consists of a large fur cloak crapped over his shoulder, a chainmail tunic with striped pants, and fur boots. He also wars spiked braces over his wrists. During his appearances in the TV series, Stoick does not wear his cloak.
In the second movie, he altered his beard to have the front portion tied to one knot in front of the rest of it, and his hair had begun to noticeably turn grey. He maintains his previous look's former features, having a brown fur cover-up.
Biography[]
How to Train Your Dragon[]
Stoick is pictured as the perfect leader of the tribe of Vikings on the island of Berk: strong, big, and stubborn. Unfortunately, Hiccup, his overzealous son, is almost the exact opposite and often causes grief for the villagers when his desire to slay a dragon-like the others gets the better of him. Stoick is pictured as being uncertain about what to do with him.
During a dragon raid on the village, Hiccup inadvertently causes the hoard of dragons that are attacking to escape with the Viking's livestock while attempting to shoot down the dreaded Night Fury. As Hiccup attracts the attention of a Monstrous Nightmare, Stoick has to fight it himself to stop it from killing his son. Frustrated at Hiccup, Stoick wishes to find the Dragons' Nest so that the dragons tormenting his village will leave once and for all. Before leaving to search for the Nest, he confers with Gobber about what to do with Hiccup. Gobber believes that since Hiccup wants to slay a dragon so much, he should be put into training. After getting over some initial hesitation, Stoick agrees. He makes Hiccup promise him that he will one day kill a dragon and places him into the class before he leaves to find the Nest.
After a few weeks, Stoick and the other Vikings return home in their ravaged ships, having been unable to successfully locate the Nest. Despite this, he is overjoyed when he hears that Hiccup has blossomed into the most promising dragon slayer in his class and when he is later given the honor of slaying his first dragon in front of the entire village. Unbeknownst to Stoick, Hiccup's sudden emergence as a dragon-slaying hero stems from the time he has spent with Toothless, the Night Fury he shot down and subsequently became close friends with, even learning to fly on Toothless' back with the help of an artificial tail created by the former. Unaware, but still eager to reconnect with his son, Stoick takes the opportunity to speak with Hiccup where he gives him his own Viking helmet crafted from his mother's breastplate.
The following day, the village is invited to watch Stoick's newfound pride and joy take on his final dragon training exam against a Monstrous Nightmare. However, when Hiccup attempts to explain that dragons are not at fault for their seemingly malicious actions mid-fight and tame the beast, Stoick angrily slams his hammer against the metal cage surrounding the arena to silence him, frightening the dragon into attacking Hiccup. Toothless, hearing Hiccup scream from the cove in which he hides, swiftly comes to his human's aid and defeats the Monstrous Nightmare, incurring the wrath of the rest of the fearful village.
Stoick is enraged when he realizes that Hiccup has been spending his time with Toothless all this time, going back on their deal to have Hiccup kill a dragon. Hiccup attempts to reason with Stoick that the dragons are not what they think they are but accidentally reveals that Toothless knows the location of the Dragons' Nest and that he has been there himself. Thinking Hiccup has betrayed his people, Stoick disowns Hiccup as his son and accuses him of siding with the dragons and orders the village to set sail, ignoring Hiccup's warning of the monstrous Red Death waiting in the Nest. With Toothless strapped down in the center ship to guide them to the Dragons' Nest, Stoick sails away.
Stoick and the Vikings reach the Nest through directions from Toothless and break into the mountain rousing the dragons within. However, when Stoick attempts to attack the dragons inside, he is surprised to see that they are all fleeing from the scene. The Red Death then smashes its way out of the mountainside and immediately sets fire to their ships (with Toothless still bound to the center ship), stranding the Vikings. Stoick and Gobber decide to sacrifice themselves to buy enough time for the villagers to reach shelter on the other side of the island when Hiccup and the others arrive on dragon-back, much to Stoick's amazement.
When the Red Death's rampage causes the ship to which Toothless is chained to sink into the sea, Hiccup dives into the water in a desperate attempt to free Toothless. After he almost drowns with his dragon, Stoick, realizing his mistake earlier, swims down and carries Hiccup out of the water. He then dives back in to break the chains binding Toothless apart, to which Toothless swiftly takes Stoick to the surface. As Hiccup mounts Toothless to fight the Red Death, Stoick apologizes to Hiccup for not listening to him and tells him he doesn't have to partake in the battle. When Hiccup repeats his father's words: "We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard," Stoick tells him how proud he is to call Hiccup his son. Toothless and Hiccup then quickly take to the skies to take down the Red Death.
After the Red Death has been destroyed, Stoick seeks out Hiccup, but only finds Toothless lying on the ground with his saddle and tail-fin burned and scorched. Stoick bows his head, believing that Hiccup died in the fight and blaming himself for letting it happen. Toothless sees Stoick's grief and opens his wings, revealing an unconscious Hiccup. Stoick places his ear on Hiccup's chest and finds out that Hiccup has survived, to his joy and relief. Stoick thanks Toothless for bringing back his son alive, rejecting his initial beliefs that dragons are simply violent beasts. After the battle at the Dragons' Nest, Stoick welcomes the dragons to live in the village as companions. Stoick stands proud as he watches his son fly with the other dragon riders, proud of who his son is and what he has become.
How to Train Your Dragon 2[]
Stoick, now 50, has also changed ever since the war with the dragons ended. He now has a Rumblehorn named Skullcrusher after setting Thornado free. It is revealed that he would like to retire and is confident that Hiccup is ready to become the next Chieftain of Berk, due to his great deeds. Hiccup, however, isn't happy about these new responsibilities and avoids his father as much as possible. When Hiccup tells him about dragon trappers working for Drago Bludvist, Stoick has all the dragons grounded and orders the island to be fortified, despite Hiccup's objections. Stoick, Gobber, and the other riders then go after him finding him on Eret's ship, where he tells them of his first meeting with Drago where he killed all the chiefs except him. Despite this, his son continues on his mission.
Searching for Hiccup and reuniting with Valka[]
When Hiccup disappears, staying in Valka's Ice Cave, Stoick tracks him by using Skullcrusher to pick up his scent from his helmet. After finding Hiccup, he is overjoyed that Valka is still alive after 20 years. He doesn't say anything and silently advances towards Valka and touches her cheek, claiming she is 'As beautiful as the day he lost her', which causes her to cry. After rekindling their love for one another by singing their song, Stoick asks if Valka will be his wife once more, coming with her to Berk. Valka agrees with this, but before they can, Drago attacks with his Army. Drago's Bewilderbeast defeats the Alpha, thereby ending the fight by becoming the new Alpha and taking control over all the dragons, including Toothless, who has now been hypnotized by the Alpha and will not respond to Hiccup's command. Drago gives the order for the Alpha to kill Hiccup, and it decides to send Toothless. Drago leaves Hiccup to his fate as he prepares his now larger army for the invasion of Berk. Even Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug, Barf and Belch, Cloudjumper, Grump, and Skullcrusher succumb to the Alpha and joined Drago's army.
Death[]
Stoick and Valka see Hiccup in trouble and rush to rescue him. Toothless prepares to fire a fatal plasma blast at Hiccup while the latter tries to smack the former out of its trance but fails. As the fire lights up within Toothless's mouth, Stoick cries out and leaps in front of the possessed Night Fury. Toothless lets loose the huge blast of plasma, killing Stoick instantly. Valka and the other dragon riders rush over to Hiccup and Stoick; after Valka listens to Stoick's chest, the look of sadness on her face reveals that she couldn't hear his heartbeat, making Hiccup sadly shocked. Toothless is then released from the Bewilderbeast's control. The Night Fury then attempts to help Stoick but is told to leave by an angry and grief-blinded Hiccup. The Alpha gains control over Toothless again and Drago rides Toothless to lead the final invasion of Berk.
Aftermath[]
| “ | May the Valkyries welcome you and lead you through Odin's great battlefield. May they sing your name with love and fury, so that we might hear it rise from the depths of Valhalla, and know that you've taken your rightful place at the table of kings. For a great man has fallen. A warrior. A chieftain. A father. A friend. | „ |
| ~ Stoick's funeral |
Hiccup, Valka, the Dragon Riders, and Eret hold a Viking funeral for Stoick as Gobber conducts the service. Hiccup, now filled with regret at the loss of his father and capture of his dragon respectively, decides that they will fly back to Berk and defeat Drago once and for all.
Once on Berk, Drago announces to the Berkians that Stoick is dead, much to their shock and sadness.
After the Battle of Berk, Hiccup looks over the horizon in remembrance of Stoick and decides to carry on his father's legacy. He is officially appointed chief by Gothi the Elder, and Gobber proclaims that the chief has finally come home as the villagers cheer. At the ending, Skullcrusher bonds with Eret, and a monument in Stoick's honor is in the process of being chiseled out of the cliff outside the entrance of the Great Hall, even as the village is being repaired.
Gallery[]
