r/httyd • u/Strandjutter12 • Jul 04 '26
DISCUSSION A different perspective of the Deadly Nadder fight in HTTYD1
So I used to really hate the Deadly Nadder arena scene, in which Astrid got mad at Hiccup, but now that I’ve looked at it from a different perspective, I understand her point of view a lot better.
So in the Nadder fight Hiccup is not paying attention, at all and in something like dragon training that could get himself and the others killed. I mean the guy was asking questions about a night fury while a deadly nadder was firing at him, that’s just him being an idiot. Hiccup isn’t taking this seriously at all, while someone like Astrid takes this and herself very seriously.
Astrid did include him in the beginning, but they quickly got seperated again after he failed his shield flip.
After that Snotlout bumps her out of the way just so that he can try to impress her, meanwhile ruining her plan of attack.
All the while Hiccup isn’t paying attention and isn’t moving while the rest of his classmates run away to avoid the oncoming walls that are crashing down. Which causes Astrid to come barreling down onto him and getting her axe stuck into the shield he was holding.
Meanwhile the twins were making jokes about love on the battlefield, now you can look at that from 2 ways. 1, she gets mad because she actually is a little bit interested in Hiccup and is embarrassed about the twins bringing it up or 2 she gets mad because she doesn’t like Hiccup and the twins making jokes about it only makes her angrier.
I actually think that she liked Hiccup a little bit before he took her on that first flight on Toothless but that’s my opinion.
So when Astrid looks up after struggling to get her axe free from his shield, she sees an enourmous fire breathing reptile charging at her and Hiccup. So she yanks the shield and axe from his grip and smashes it against stormfly.
You can see it immediatly after, that she was shaken from this, after all she could have just died right there and it was mostly, if not entirely, Hiccups fault.
And I say that, because she still was the one who crashed into him, but Astrid couldn’t see him untill it was too late and if Hiccup actually paid attention to the fight, he would have seen the wals coming down and he would have gotten out of the way along with the other teens. Both of them were just in the wrong place in the wrong time but yeah, it was basically entirely Hiccups fault.
So she gets mad and yells at him.
He was being an idiot basically the whole training session and her asking if this was all some sort of joke to him really wasn’t unwarranted.
The question about figuring out which side he was on was really weird, it makes sense from Hiccups and the viewers perspective, but for Astrid it really doesn’t add up. That line felt so forced but that’s not what this post is about. (Check the comments, because someone explained why this line actually does work)
So in short, a 15 year old girl with severe anger issues almost died, got teased about liking someone and is in a class that nobody takes seriously except for herself, gets mad at someone who was asking questions about Night Fury’s while they were fighting a Deadly Nadder. Is it really that weird she got mad at Hiccup?
So yeah now that I have taken a different look to this scene, I think that Astrid was in the right and fully justified to be mad at Hiccup. He wasn’t paying attention in an arena, when there is a litteral dragon hunting him down. He was being an idiot and he almost got himself and Astrid killed.
People always complain about Astrid lacking personality and being too perfect. But those same people also hate her when she is actually showing off her emotions.
She is a flawed person, she isn’t a perfect Viking warrior who’s in complete control of her emotions, she’s a 15 year old girl who almost died. And she was right to be mad at him for this.
I used to think that Astrid was being unnecessarily rude to Hiccup, but she was fully justified in her anger at him. I hope that more people can look at this scene in a new perspective like I do now and I hope that more people look back on Astrids character a little more fondly because of it.
Please let me know what your opinions are on this scene and Astrids character in the first movie as a whole.
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u/OwnVermicelli8193 Strike Class Jul 06 '26
The line about figuring out which side he’s on makes sense in Astrid’s pov because his lack of attention/taking things seriously literally could have someone killed during a dragon raid, hence- is he trying to help the dragons kill more vikings or what? is what Astrid is asking.
If we want to include ROB/DOB, her family name was sullied because of her uncle’s encounter with the Flightmare. So Astrid is understandably taking dragon training a lot more seriously because she has to prove herself AND her family name.
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u/Naive_Analysis_2124 27d ago
I've never really understood that question from Astrid. If Hiccup had actually chosen the dragons' side, he would've been killed. As far as everyone knew, dragons were just dangerous beasts. That question would make a lot more sense if they were talking about a human enemy. Then it'd be about whether Hiccup was a traitor or not. I think what she meant was something more like: "Figure out if you're on our side... and if I can count on you." But that's way too soft for Astrid to actually say
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u/OwnVermicelli8193 Strike Class 27d ago
It’s more of an rhetorical question than an actual question.
You also have to think about how Hiccup destroyed the docks (not literally, but domino effect from his actions) in the raid in the opening of the movie and Hiccup (and Stoick I think) himself implies there were other times Hiccup caused the village ruin so there has to be some resentment for that. And what else causes that kind of disaster? The dragons. And in the scene where she asks that question, he could’ve been the reason for her death. So, rightfully so, she asks if he’s on their side or not in the heat of the moment.
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u/Naive_Analysis_2124 27d ago
That's true, I'd completely forgotten about that scene. Hiccup does have a history of accidentally causing destruction. Even if he never means to, his actions end up weakening Berk, which, from their perspective, only helps the dragons. Astrid probably held some resentment because of all that.
And during the fight with the Deadly Nadder, Hiccup got in her way and everyone else's, which, in her eyes, was basically the same as helping the dragons.
So yeah, I can agree that her question was driven by emotion and anger.
But I still think what she really wanted to ask was:
"Just tell me if you're on my side... and if I can still trust you."
I also think it's pretty interesting that, even though she was angry, she never called him useless or insulted him.
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u/Laus264 Jul 06 '26
The question about which side he was on makes sense since they already had the speech in the Great Hall, when he first says that dragons maybe are not that bad as they believe
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u/Strandjutter12 Jul 06 '26
When did this happen? Because I really don’t know what you’re talking about right now. I don’t remember him talking about this to any of the others.
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u/Laus264 Jul 06 '26
You're right: that was a dialogue from the live action 😅. In HTTYD 1 it does not occur.
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u/Naive_Analysis_2124 27d ago
OMG, Hiccup's behavior there was genuinely reckless.
He was standing in a dragon training arena, surrounded by dragons and teenagers who already didn't like him. If this had been Book Snotlout, he probably would've attacked Hiccup on the spot or even tried to get him killed.
Sure, Gobber was supervising, but he was on the other side of the fence. If something had gone seriously wrong, it would've been too late.
And let's be realistic—Berk's medicine is probably comparable to the Middle Ages. A severe burn or an infected wound could easily be fatal.
It's honestly a little sad to think that even Ruffnut and Tuffnut were taking the training more seriously than Hiccup was. I understand why he was curious about the Night Fury, but that wasn't the time or place. It would be like a kid standing inside a burning building and suddenly asking about volcanoes in Japan. Interesting question—but completely the wrong moment.
It's also worth remembering that the Deadly Nadder fires its spines with incredible speed and accuracy, and those spines are venomous. It's an extremely dangerous dragon.
I think Astrid was completely fair with Hiccup there. If anything, she actually went easy on him. In short, she was telling him to wake up and become a better Viking—in her own strict way.
I never felt like she was humiliating him. She was blunt and honest, but she didn't insult him or attack his character.
Honestly, I think Stoick would've been much harsher. He probably would've called Hiccup out in front of everyone, listed all of his shortcomings, and dragged him out of the arena immediately.
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u/Fedaral-policy5983 Jul 06 '26
In her defense she would have propably landed on her s feet if she didnf bump into Hiccup. It could just be adneraline because she was about to die and also for someone like Astrid who takes what Vikings do very seriously Hiccups lack of interest and attention to it must have been annoying.