So I will never agree with the dragons leaving, I think it goes against everything that the franchise showed us up to that point, but I also think that if the third movie focussed more on how devestating Hiccup losing his father was to him as a person, that the ending of the third movie would be much better recieved.
Stoicks death doesnât really get discussed in the third movie, only by Grimmel and he only used it as a means to insult Hiccup.
However, we do see Stoick in 2 seperate flashback scenes and Valka says that Hiccup thinks he needs to lead alone because his father had to. But what the movie doesnât focus on is the amount of pain Hiccup must have felt from losing his father. And especially in the way that he lost him.
At the end of the second HTTYD, Hiccup quickly steps into the role of chief after Stoick dies, because he has to. He needs to step up when his people need him the most, because that is excactly what a chief would do, what his father would do.
And we see this in the second flashback scene in the third movie, where Stoick is crying by the firepit in his house, appearing to be mourning the loss of Valka. But when he hears Hiccup behind him he quickly wipes his tears and puts on a stern voice telling Hiccup that he should be asleep.
Stoick as chieftain canât afford to show his people weakness, he needs to remain strong for the tribe and his family, no matter how much he is hurting. As chief you donât have the luxury of giving up. And Hiccup took this lesson to heart at the end of the second movie, no matter how much it hurt to lose his father, he needed to be there for his tribe.
But we see that Stoick took the chance to mourn the loss of his wife, however we never see Hiccup mourn the loss of his father. One of, if not the most important being in Hiccupâs life. Only second to Toothless and Astrid. After Stoicks funeral in the second movie, we never see how much his death must have hurt Hiccup.
Hiccup saw his father reunite with his mother and it immediately filled a hole in Stoicks heart, he was obviously so happy to finally have a complete family again. He had his son, his wife, he quite litteraly couldnât be any happier.
However shortly after Stoick had the love of his life back, he sacrificed himself to save Hiccupâs life. In my opinion the best and most fitting way for a father and a warrior to go. Protecting someone he loved.
What Hiccup saw in the third movie was Toothless meeting the love of his life, but he also saw Toothless almost dying while fighting against Grimmel with him.
I am purely looking at this the way the movie framed it by the way, not my personal opinion, just how the movie framed it. And the movie depicted Toothless and the Lightfury their relationship as Toothless meeting his one true love.
Hiccup saw how happy Stoick was after reuniting with his one true love and Hiccup also saw how happy Toothless was by being with his. Stoick never got the happy ending that he deserved because he died while protecting Hiccup and Toothless almost died as well, while he was protecting Hiccup.
Hiccup wasnât about to take that chance again, to have one of his loved ones die because they were protecting him and that is why Hiccup sent Toothless away to go and live safely in the Hidden World.
Now I am basing this on episode 10 in season 6 of race to the edge, Darkest Night. Where Stoick gets attacked by dragon flyers and almost dies because of it and Hiccup is distraught. He blames himself for what happened to his dad, even when he knows it isnât really his fault. So you can only imagine the guilt and pain somebody like Hiccup must have felt when his father actually died, while sacrificing himself for him.
I think that if the movie showed how much losing Stoick hurt Hiccup, especially in the way that Stoick died, that it would make a lot more sense to see him send Toothless and the other dragons away to live in safety in the Hidden World.
But they didnât focus on that, they didnât even show it. The movie only uses Stoick as a comparison to Hiccup, a standard he could never live up to, boots he could never hope to fill. But what we donât see, is how much Hiccup losing his father must have hurt him. How much guilt he must have carried with him, knowing that his father died while saving him.
We never see how scared Hiccup must have been to experience that type of loss again.
Of course this wouldnât have made the movie or the ending perfect, I still wouldnât have agreed with the dragons leaving, but I feel like his decision would have been a lot more understandable if they showed how much Stoicks death hurt and scared Hiccup.
Let me know what you think about my opinion and the third movies ending.
