my take on Hiccup’s missing armour piece (spoilers!)

eynvie:

Okay, while there were a huge amount of stuff I’d l o v e to yell about from the HTTYD 3 trailer, there was one shot that got me wondering:

I might be overthinking, but I feel the missing shoulder is very significant to Hiccup’s character growth in HTTYD3 and in the series as a whole. (I haven’t seen all of RTTE yet but if this relates to it too? Yay!)

Some part of me believes that Hiccup building the Night Fury armour is a manifestation of his insecurity when it comes to feeling whole and valuable without Toothless, that isn’t to say it doesn’t look totally badass, but I feel like it’s strongly linked to what Dean discussed about Hiccup dealing with this issue throughout the course of the movie. Maybe he feels he’s useless without his dragon, so he attaches as much of his identity as he can to Toothless perhaps because he feels he can’t be strong for both himself and his people without him. I don’t? really know how people’s minds work, I haven’t taken a phycology class in my life so I’m just basing this part on the fact that ya boi did kinda the same thing years ago whilst I was dealing with insecurities about my appearance BUT anyways, this is just my hot take on the situation. Or hiccup just really wants to be a dragon. Or both. 

Now as for this shot in particular? Hiccup is exposed, the shoulder piece has been ripped off as what I think is a signifier of how by the end of HTTYD 3, Hiccup might’ve confronted his self worth issues and realized that Toothless does not make him whole. Sure, he’s an incredibly important factor in who Hiccup is and his journey, but he isn’t what makes Hiccup valuable as a character. The other shoulder pad still remains, but the balance between the bare shoulder and the covered shoulder could be a metaphor for how Hiccup learns to let go of the idea that his identity is defined by Tooth and allow his true self to be exposed, and in the process learns that he can let go of toothless should he have to leave. I mean, the armour piece that’s taken off is the one with the Night Fury symbol. I don’t really want to take it as a sign, because it kinda confirms what I really Did Not Want to happen by the end of this film, but as @howtodrawyourdragon reminded me, HTTYD has always been full of symbolism, so it’s probably a sign? God, this movie is going to end me.

Or! Dean could’ve purposely thrown that shot in there to throw us off entirely, and nothing bad ever happens to Hiccup and Toothless ever, the end.