The Viking village of Berk is situated on an island and plagued by dragon attacks. Because of this all the children train from a young age to fight these monsters, using captured dragons for training battles.
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Young Hiccup is the son of the chieftain, but unlike his father he is awkward and relatively weak. He is technically minded and smart, though, and works with the blacksmith to build devices. His father doesn't understand this and clearly wishes his son were a big strapping boy instead of a nerd.
During a dragon attack on the village, Hiccup uses one of his devices to shoot down a dragon. However he also accidentally frees the dragons that have been trapped by the villagers for training.
Desperate to prove his value, Hiccup chases it down to were the dragon he shot landed in the woods, and finds it's a Night Fury, one of the most dangerous known species of dragon. He intends to kill it, but feels sorry for it when he looks into its eyes and realizes it is as intelligent as he is, and aware of its fate. He befriends the dragon instead and builds a prosthetic device for its damaged tail, which allows it to fly again as long as Hiccup is riding it to control the prosthetic.
Spending more time with the dragon, nicknamed Toothless, he also gets to see other dragons in their natural environment and generally finds them to be friendly and intelligent creatures.
Hiccup uses the knowledge he gains from spending time with Toothless to excel in his fighting training and soon arrives at graduation. Unfortunately to graduate he will have to kill a dragon in front of the while village.
As he struggles with this idea he goes to visit Toothless, and is discovered by one of his classmate, a girl called Astrid who he has a crush on. He convinces her to ride with him on Toothless to prove dragons are good, and during the ride they discover the secret of the dragons; they are ruled over by a massive evil dragon that forces them to bring it food. This is the only reason that the dragons raid the village in the first place and Hiccup and Astrid realize that if they can defeat this monster then the conflict between dragons and humans can end.
Hiccup tries to show the villages a new way by showing up for his graduation but making friends with his opponent instead of killing it. It almost works, until Hiccups father bursts in and enrages the dragon. Toothless hears the confrontation and rushes in to save hiccup, and is captured in the process. Hiccup tries to explain but his father ignores everything he says except the revelation that Toothless flew him to the dragon stronghold.
Hiccup's father has been running expeditions to find the dragon breeding grounds in order to destroy the menace once and for all. Now he uses the captured Toothless to guide them to the site. Hiccup and Astrid have to find a way to prevent the massacre and bring peace between dragons and humans.
Best part of story, including ending:
I loved the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless.
Best scene in story:
The first time Toothless flies again.
Opinion about the main character:
Hiccup is very clever.
