Actions Have Consequences: The Realism of Fantasy in “How To Train Your Dragon” (2010)

Because you don’t need a realistic setting to make a story believable.

Even after 11 years, How to Train Your Dragon continues to invoke a nostalgic response in audiences across the world for its incredible voice acting performances, awe-inspiring animation, invigorating cinematography, and its soaring score by John Powell. However, I rarely see enough praise about the story as well as its creative choices.

Like most “buddy adventure” movies, Hiccup is a friendless, teenage outcast who is finally given an opportunity to prove himself by killing the elusive Night Fury dragon. When Hiccup initially captures Toothless, the Night Fury, he injures the dragon’s tail. Out of guilt, Hiccup works to secretly manufacture a prosthetic for Toothless. While the filmmakers could have easily given Toothless some ambiguous “healing abilities” to show their audience “Look! Hiccup apologized AND Toothless is unharmed! This means Hiccup’s actions are justified,” Toothless dons the mechanical tail for the remainder of the franchise.

Again, in the pursuit of the final boss-level dragon, the Red Death, Hiccup loses his leg. Much like Toothless, Hiccup uses a prosthetic leg for the remainder of the franchise. The filmmakers neither condemn nor praise Hiccup’s self-sacrifice and recklessness. In fact, many of these scenes seem to abide the natural laws of the How To Train Your Dragon world so fluently that it is difficult to remember that someone consciously made these creative choices to allow Hiccup to (partially) fail.

Oftentimes, we are blinded by movie magic in which we are assured that our protagonist, despite making mistakes, will always come out as victoriously just. It is a human trait to deliberately avoid criticism and the ramifications of our actions. Nevertheless, it is an equally human trait to stumble and fall. The franchise holds Hiccup accountable for what he had done to Toothless, instead of contributing to the protagonist’s glorification. This creative choice makes Hiccup much more relatable and renders a more natural story structure.

How To Train Your Dragon beautifully illustrates that not everything in life is fair because everyone makes mistakes. Allowing the audience to encounter Hiccup’s consequences was a risky bet, but it eventually paid off.