Tuffnut Thorston

Tuffnut Thorston is a teenage member of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. He is the fraternal Twin of Ruffnut Thorston  in the movie franchise and they are constantly arguing with each other, often to the point of physical violence, though never seriously enough to separate them for too long. In the first film he's 13 years old, then 14 years old in the series, and 19 in How To Train Your Dragon 2. His Dragon is a Hideous Zippleback named Barf and Belch, which he shares with his sister.

Personality
Although never said throughout the show, Tuffnut seems to be slightly more dominant twin than his sister and has a more prominent role, especially in the TV Series. Together, he and his sister love to get into trouble, even if it means getting scolded by the chief of the village. Tuff likes the idea of Ruff being in danger (as he stated that when Ruff was on fire one time, he just watched for a while before he decided to help put her out). Tuff enjoys the chance to argue and wrestle with his sister, although it usually ends with Ruff overpowering him, either verbally or physically. He shares many similar traits with his sister. The only thing that seems to be apparent in difference, is he enjoys gross things as opposed to his sister (as seen in Gift of the Night Fury, when he smiled as Toothless but Hiccup's drool-covered helmet on his head). Despite having a close sibling relationship, Tuff is frustrated when he has to share everything with his sister, but he's willing to make amends with Ruff to save his Dragon. Although sharing rivalry with his sister, on occasion, he will help her if she is in trouble. He often thinks highly of his own skills, claiming that he was the world's deadliest weapon. In the TV series, Tuff appears to show a thrill-seeking and masochistic personality, displaying an attraction to dangerous situations and seems to enjoy or looks forward too whatever bodily harm he receives (usually by his sister).

Appearance
In both the TV Show and the first movie, Tuff wears a dark brown long furry animal vest with a very light pale green tunic that goes all the way past his hip. Around his waist, there's a brown sash-like belt that is tied around. He also wears light grey-blue pants and dark brown furry boots. On his arms, he wears a long brown arm cloth arm band that starts at his elbows and ends at his wrists. His helmet is studded with four horns: the top two are bull-like, and the bottom two resemble Ox Horns. Without his helmet, his long blond hair, that ends with a brownish tint, is unevenly divided in the middle and appears to look like dreadlocks, particularly in the second film his teeth are somewhat uneven. His necklace's pendent is a large claw or tooth that may have come from a Dragon. He's relatively skinny and tan skin with dark-blue eyes. His vest is slightly lighter in the TV Series. In the second film, it is confirmed that Tuff will have an older appearance as well as new clothes. As seen in a How to Train Your Dragon 2 book cover and the second How to Train Your Dragon 2 Trailer, it is revealed that he has adopted a dreadlocks hairstyle.

Skills & Abilities
He and Ruffnut are almost equal in terms of strength and speed. They are both skilled in fighting, usually sparring violently with each other when they are arguing. In the TV Series, Tuff is shown to be slightly worse at fighting than his sister, often being overpowered by her in sparring matches and duels, as well as losing verbal arguments. Tuff even states that her slaps "are like a guy's", even to the point of tears. On the other hand, Tuff is strong enough to carry his sister for a sum of time without getting too tired. The twins share the same preference for the same weapon, which is a double-ended spear. It has been shown in the TV Series that the twins are the only ones who are not affected by Barf's gas, which can cause disorientation and a sick feeling, possibly because they are either immune or have gotten used to it.

Tuff does not seem to be too bright. He's unable to sit still and pay attention without fighting and/or getting into trouble with his sister, causing most of the other Viking Teens to doubt their abilities. Often, the others of the group have to explain to him (and Ruff) when they're about to execute a plan. Despite his inability to pay attention, he always knows how to make people or dragons angry, often proving helpful for him to act as a distraction or bait. Recently in the TV Series, Tuffnut has been shown to often have outbursts of intelligence and a smarter outlook on life, alongside Ruff, revealing that the twins are much more intelligent than they initially seem.

The twins also have a strange ability (purposely or not) to get in trouble no matter where they are, even in an empty room. Tuff, as seen as "A View To a Skrill Part II", seems to have some ability in humor and acting, as he was able to convince Dagur that he was a Berserker and more so, for Dagur to like him even more; however in The Night and the Fury, Ruff could easily see through Tuff's lies and is able to pry him open of the truth without much effort. Tuff is also able to speak "post-lightning Snotlout" (which is gibberish that Snotlout may speak after being struck by lightning), and is the only known Viking to speak it.

He is moderately skilled in training Dragons, as shown in several episodes. Ruffnut trained a Terrible Terror and taught him how to ram heads with his sisters. Tuff showed impressive skills in training a Typhoomerang (Torch), despite being caught in a trap at the time as well as being able to teach him basic hand signals and simple obedience.

How to Train Your Dragon (Movie)
Joining the same Dragon Training class as Hiccup, at first Tuffnut delights in taunting Hiccup over his poor performance although he doesn't have much success either due to the fact that he couldn't get along with his sister in battle. Later, however, when Hiccup displays an amazing talent for subduing the Dragons, he becomes his avid fan (often pushing and shoving Ruffnut to be the first to talk to him). The twins decide to help Hiccup fight the Red Death and bond with the Zippleback that had been trapped in the training arena before.

To confront the Red Death, the twins mount a Hideous Zippleback, which fits their fractious relationship, the two naming the Dragon Barf and Belch. Each head seems to agree with one of the twins in particular- Ruff taking Barf and Tuff Belch, and they ride it to great effect in the final battle and afterwards. Notably, they were the only ones not forced from their Dragon in the final battle.

Riders of Berk
Tuff is a dragon trainer of the Berk Dragon Training Academy, having joined to help Hiccup train Dragons.

He experienced a brief falling-out with his sister in episode 15: Twinsanity, when their conflict reaches the point where they attempt to issue separate orders to each head, Tuff in particular noting that he was tired of the two of them always sharing the same things, but eventually reconciled when Barf and Belch were in trouble, accepting that they would always share their Dragon even if they could find other individual interests.

Defenders of Berk
Tuff has a more prominent role in the episode, Zippleback Down, when the team attempts to disable traps that were left over from the time that they killed Dragons. Tuff attempts to dislodge a netter trap, but ends up being caught in it. Tuff calls out to his sister to undo it and she decides to go to Berk and find Hiccup. While Ruff attempts to go find Hiccup, Tuff encounters a Typhoomerang, later revealed to be Torch. Barf and Belch attempt to protect him, but they get trapped as well. After bonding with Torch, he teaches him some basic hand-signals and officially training him. Hiccup then goes to find them, only to be thrown down when Toothless' prosthetic tail was burnt off. When a forest fire appears, Hiccup almost decides that it's too late, but Ruff and Tuff figure out a way to keep the fire away from Berk by "fighting fire with fire". They returned to Berk, riding on Torch, where he leaves after saying good-bye to Tuff. Despite their amazing feat, the twins are to have learned a lesson by releasing themselves from the trap without help. Despite their combined efforts, both of them end up being trapped again.

Tuffnut again has a prominent role in "A View to a Skrill Part I" and "A View to a Skrill Part II". The twins and Snotlout were the prime cause in the release of the Skrill and they help Hiccup and the gang to tame it. After splitting up into two groups, the twins attempt to drive out the Skrill by causing a big explosion by Barf's gas and Belch's spark, but the plan fails. After saving Hiccup from the Skrill, they're chased by the Skrill and Hiccup and Toothless narrowly make it to block the blast of lightning with a plasma blast. The explosion was so great, it knocks the twins out of the sky and away from the group. They land on an outcrop of land and spot Alvin capturing the Skrill. They decide to follow the ship. Meanwhile, their disappearance causes the other Viking Teens to search for them, leaving all dragons but Toothless too exhausted to fly. Hiccup goes to find them and meets up with them on Outcast Island, where they were spying on the Outcasts. Tuff goes undercover to find out about the Berserkers' and the Outcasts' apparent truce. He then helps Hiccup to find the Skrill, but it was too late as Dagur managed to get to it first. After Hiccup duels with Dagur as well as the Skrill (after it's been freed), the twins help seal the hole and encase the Skrill in ice once again. After the chaos had ended, the twins and Hiccup return home to Berk.

In the episode, The Eel Effect, Ruffnut is shown to be slightly more clever than Tuffnut when she convinced him to slap himself by saying that it would hurt her too (since they're twins), clearly just saying that because she enjoyed watching Tuff hurt himself. As well as this, in Frozen, Ruff also manages to convince Tuff that he has a tail, and can be stung by the Speed Stingers on said tail, enjoying watching him believe he was paralyzed.

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Tuff briefly appears in the second trailer, along with Barf and Belch. Tuff also appears in the third trailer.

Ruffnut
Ruffnut and Tuffnut have a strong love/hate sibling relationship. Although most of the time quarreling and fighting over trivial things in life, they show an inseparable bond with each other and rarely spend too much time apart. They both enjoy the feeling of pain, especially if the pain is inflicted on the other twin. Tuffnut in particular has even stated that he had merely watched Ruff when she was caught on fire once before deciding to help her.

On ocassion, Tuffnut is willing to help his siter. Tuff showed concern for her, asking her to leave Scauldy behind when the Changewings were approaching and was happily riding Belch afterwards, watching his sister who was safe, despite the sacrifice she made for Scauldy to make. After she says good-bye to Scauldy she starts to feel sad, but Tuff quickly teases her about her looking like a boy, in which Tuff succeeds in making Ruff smile again.

As twins, Tuffnut and Ruffnut share a strong invisible connection towards each other. They have the ability to understand each others thoughts and ideas without speaking, as shown several times to finish each others sentences or to have the same idea at the same time. They also have the ability to stay together as they are rarely too far apart for a long time. Wherever one twin goes, the other twin is never far behind, even if they intentionally try to stay away from each other. Ruff and Tuff also work incredibly well together (when they want to) and can synchronize themselves to do the same actions at the same time. It's also possible that they are able to sense where the other is and what happened to them, as other twins are able to do.

Barf and Belch
Being their dragon, the twins had to share riding it. The twins care tremendously about their Dragon, although not as much as Hiccup. One head is loyal to each twin (Barf and Ruff, Belch and Tuff) and on occasion, the heads will fight each other when the twins fight each other. Usually the heads will work in unity if they feel that their riders are in danger and feel that their rider's constant quarreling is annoying. Both Dragon and rider are willing to risk their necks to save each other. Tuff even states that Barf and Belch is his "totally awesome Dragon" that he shares with his "totally un-awesome sister". Several times during the TV Series, Barf and Belch are seen to be extremely protective of their riders when they are in danger, as shown as they are willing to fight a several Enemies, such as a wild Typhoomerang and Scauldron, to defend Tuffnut in Zippleback Down and Ruffnut in Free Scauldy, as well as leaving the cave in The Night and the Fury to search for Ruff.

Hiccup Haddock
Not a lot of screen time is shown between the twins and Hiccup. Most of the time, they follow Hiccup's commands, although not always done in the right way. On occasion, they disobey him or misinterpret his orders. Despite Hiccup doubting their abilities most of the time, he acknowledges their abilities to work together if they want to. He gains respect for the twins when they figure out the idea to "fight fire with fire" in "Zippleback Down" and Tuffnut's ability to train Torch. Although finding them annoying from time-to-time, Hiccup is shown to care for them as he and the other Viking Teens attempt to find them after their disappearance in "View To A Skrill Part II" and was relieved to find out that Ruff and Tuff were both okay. He also acknowledges their decision to follow Alvin's ship to spy on him. They also care about Hiccup, (even though it's hard to tell), like when they, along with the other riders, were very happy to see that he was alive after the battle with the Red Deathand when he fell down a hole, (then came out okay later), in Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Young Man.

Astrid Hofferson
Although they rarely interact in the show or movie, they remain neutral to each other and will work together when it comes to it. Most times, Astrid will get angry if they do something wrong, especially if it's because they're not paying attention or just being silly. Like Hiccup, she doubts their abilities as Dragon Trainers due to their inability to pay attention, although it is assumed that she gained respect towards the twins when they put out the fire and trained Torch. On occasion, she will punch Tuff if he angers her, although Astrid is never shown on-screen to hit Ruffnut. Astrid was one of the Vikings who attempted to find the twins after they were blasted out of the sky in "A View to a Skrill Part II". It is presumed that off-screen, she had attempted to find them although Stormfly soon grew exhausted, showing that she does indeed care for the twins.

Snotlout Jorgenson
Snotlout and the twins share a close relationship. Often times, the twins will follow Snotlout and act as one of his supporters when he bullies Hiccup and possibly Fishlegs as well in the first film. In the game, they listen to Snotlout's plan to cheat in the competition against Hiccup/Astrid. Snotlout often thinks the twins are incredibly dumb and in return, they sometimes exclude Snotlout from their ideas, as seen in "Fright of Passage". Although sometimes siding with Snotlout, they occasionally bully him back, like how they fooled him into thinking he was dying in "The Flight Stuff". In View to a Skrill, it's presumed that Snotlout had attempted to find the twins (as stated by Hiccup) after they disappeared after being blasted out of the sky, which shows his apparent caring personality towards them.

Fishlegs Ingerman
Fishlegs and the twins rarely show any screen time together. Sometimes, the twins are seen to bully Fishlegs because of his size, although Fishlegs bests the twins in terms of knowledge. The twins, particularly Tuff, find it annoying that Fishlegs knows a lot of things. In View to a Skrill Part II, Fishlegs attempted to find the twins after they were blasted out of the sky, along with Meatlug, but ends up over-exhausting his Dragon. Even so, he offered to join Hiccup on his search again and shows worry when Hiccup tells him that there was no sign of them.

Stoick the Vast
Stoick is well aware that the twins are capable of causing dangerous accidents and pranks, as well as notorious for causing mischief. Ruff and Tuff show a level of respect for Stoick, possibly because he's Hiccup's dad, but also like to make fun of him when he's not around. He's the one who possibly created the saying "Where there's smoke, there's the twins".

Trivia

 * Tuff is a character from the book How to Train Your Dragon, but Ruff is an original character created for the film, seemingly to provide contrast to both Tuff and Astrid, the only other female in Dragon Training.
 * The twin's names may indicate the phrase "Rough and Tough."
 * In the video game, it's said that Tuff is the older twin by five minutes, but Ruff is slightly taller.
 * They appear to be based off of Jackal and Hyena from Gargoyles
 * In the books Tuff has the same name as his father (Tuff Senior), so his name in the Book Series is Tuff Junior, which, ironically, means his name would be T.J Thorston, the same first name as his voice actor.
 * Tuff's vest is a different shade of gray in the series.
 * Tuff is the only character from the movie who did not appear in any of the Racing for the Gold clips.
 * Ruff and Tuff are one of the only Vikings on Berk who has a known sibling in this case, each other. The other only known Viking siblings are Gustav and Hildegard. Dagur also said he had a sister.
 * In Zippleback Down, Ruff and Tuff both mentioned that they have a large amount of back hair and that they love it dearly, although Tuff said that his back hair had went up in flames while flying over the forest fire.
 * Ruff and Tuff are one of the only Vikings on Berk to have more than two horns on their helmets (The twins have four horns). The only other person to have more than two horns on their helmet is Mildew with six horns (but he joins the Outcasts later on).
 * Tuff is the only known Viking that speaks "Post-Lightning Snotlout" (which is a gibberish language developed by Snotlout after he has been struck by Lightning)
 * In A View to a Skrill Part II, Tuff, under the alias "Buffnut the Berserker", hasn't told Dagur that he was in league with Hiccup and lived on Berk so it's possibly that Dagur still believes that Tuff is a Berserker.
 * Tuff is the only other Viking Teen other than Hiccup to encounter Dagur face-to-face alone.
 * Both Ruff and Tuff have trained a large dragon and later released into to the wild. It's also possible that the dragons they trained (Torch by Tuff and Scauldy by Ruff) are counterparts to each other.
 * Scauldy was trained by Ruff, Torch was trained by Tuff.
 * Scauldy is a Tidal Class dragon (dwells within the water and sprays water), while Torch is a Stoker Class dragon (dwells on land and manipulates fire and air to attack).
 * Scauldy was hostile and a danger to the Viking teens, while Torch was more civil and friendly from the beginning.
 * Torch was the one who (partially) saved Tuff and Ruff was the one who saved Scauldy.
 * The twins seem to show a level of intelligence when they caught the Eel Pox in The Eel Effect, doing experiments on air resistance, inventing ice cream, and speaking with advanced vocabulary.
 * In the episode Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, he develops a crush on a mace. That's right; a mace

How To Train Your Dragon

 * "Quite the performance."
 * "I hope I get some serious burns!"
 * "Oh, great. Who let him in?"
 * "Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?"
 * "Get your hands off my shield!"
 * "Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers."
 * "He didn't get eaten."
 * "Wait, you mean read?"
 * "Yeah. That sounds great. There was a chance I was gonna read that..."
 * "It's not a tattoo, it's a birth mark!"
 * "Yes, it was! You've just never seen me from the left side until now."
 * "Your butts are getting bigger. We thought you were a Dragon."
 * "Oh! I am hurt! I am very much hurt!"
 * "Ha. It's like the size of my-- [Terrible Terror attacks him] Ah, get it off!"
 * "You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon. It's me."
 * "LOOK AT US! WE'RE ON A DRAGON! WE'RE ON DRAGONS! ALL OF US!!"
 * "Everyone knows I'm more irritating!"
 * "Bride of Grendel!"

Gift Of The Night Fury

 * "What's that smell? [shoves Ruffnut] Is that you?"
 * "Ew, if I drink that, I'm gonna yak nog all over the place."

Legend of the BoneKnappper Dragon

 * "A... What-Knapper?"
 * "I don't hear anything..."
 * "Ugh, his tailbone is hurting my tailbone!"

How to Train Your Dragon (Video Game)

 * "My Dragon is tough!"

Dragons: Riders Of Berk

 * "THIS IS AWESOME AND SCARY!"
 * "Got it! Help Dragons blow things up! We can totally do that."
 * "You're right. She's sorry."
 * "Night patrol! I love it! What is it?"
 * "Yeah, I gave up thinking. Never been happier."
 * "Be quiet. Maybe they don't see us."
 * "Harder! I said I want to see stars."
 * "Okay. Think, think, think, think, think. Think, think... I forgot what I was thinking about."
 * "Serpents? I hate serpents. Those are reptiles, right?"
 * "I know I'm sweating like a Dragon in an eel party."
 * "Yeah, but how hot can the sun really be?" [puts Fireworm Dragon on his hand; the Dragon burns him] "YEOUCH!! OW AUGH!"
 * "Yeah, we got them from Trader Johann. We had to give him our great-grandfather's skull. We got to keep his clavicle."
 * "I wanna be a pirate! Or a fish cleaner. I'm still on the fence."
 * "Stupid pirates! I'm definitely gonna be a fish cleaner!"
 * "Oh, Astrid's jealous of the pretty one, right?"
 * "Signal! Ugh, darn-- I mean, FIRE!"
 * "Usually we hide... until the chief finds us. Then we get in trouble."
 * "I get the rings and the fire part... but where's the death? I feel cheated."
 * "Ooh! Rock to the face! Heh, I love a good rock to the face."
 * "Nobody blows stuff up like Thor."
 * "Whatever it was... I want one!"
 * "Somebody hold it still. I wanna pet it!"
 * "Why does he always have to speak in RIDDLES?!"
 * "Your Dragon? Puh-lease. You've been breathing in Barf's gas again."
 * "Belch, eat Ruffnut!"
 * "I... I don't know. Don't rush me. Just, uh...uh. I'll tell you tomorrow!"
 * "Yeah, it's so over it's under!"
 * "Hey guys! Need a haaaaaaand?"
 * "I don't even want to know what part of his body that came from! Or do I?"
 * "Well, if my chicken had horns he'd be my yak.
 * "Yeah, we taught 'em that! We didn't teach them that, did we? Nah, I didn't think so."

Dragons: Defenders of Berk

 * "Hey! Don't we know that boar?"
 * "You leave Bjorn alone!"
 * "You're on your own, Bjorn!"
 * "That's right! You heard that! Boss Man! Head Honcho! The big... boss-honcho... guy. The Honch-Boss."
 * "Look, I get it. You're worried about your other half. I feel your pain. Well, not really. I kinda like it when Ruffnut's in immanent danger. One time, she was on fire and I just watched for a while."
 * "You can beat me with your tail, you can barbeque me with a plasma blast, you could lightly massage my shoulders and neck-- you really could, I need it. But, I will not shirk my responsibilities to the--" [The Dragons fall asleep] "Sleeping? You're all sleeping? Huh. Not a bad idea." [Falls asleep]
 * [Dreaming] "Give it back, it's my blanket..."
 * "Tuffnut sneaks up on the Zippleback to teach him a lesson..." [Ruffnut kicks him hard in the butt] "OWW!"
 * "Screaming Death, I love it!"
 * "Yeah? Well, I heard Gothi can de-bone a yak just by looking at it."
 * "Oh, I thought we were playing the "I heard" game. And, by the way, Terrible Terror thing, totally true. I tried."
 * "Hold on! Nobody move! I don't see it?..."
 * Ruffnut and Tuffnut: "A Sturgeon dressed like Stoick!"
 * Ruffnut and Tuffnut: "Singing Terrible Terror!"
 * "Hey, I want a glowing Dragon!"
 * "If you two girls are done doing each others hair, there's an Outcast ship you might want to attack!"
 * "Don't look at us; if we had green paint, you know where it would be."
 * "Actually, we can get into trouble pretty much anywhere. Remember that empty room?"
 * "I'm way more dizzy than usual. I LIKE IT! Wait, why are we getting rid of these traps, again? They're awesome!"
 * "You-- you look so familiar! WAIT A MINUTE! Uh, were you ever on Outcast Island? No, no, no, no, that's no it. Uh, how 'bout Breakneck Bog? Dragon Island? Dragon Bog? Breakneck Island?"
 * "Bad Typhoomerang! Now you barf out Hiccup, right now!"
 * "THIS IS AWESOME AND SCARY!"
 * "Hey, guys? As awesome as this fire is up close, I think my back hair just went up in flames! And you know how much I love my back hair! And how much of it there is!"
 * "STOP SAYING WHAT I'M SAYING, NOW!!"
 * "YOO-HOO! Remember us? Gas me, Ruff!"
 * "So, did I mention how much I hate Berk? Hey, directions to Berk: North till you smell it, West till you step in it! Am I right, people? Come on!"
 * [Singing] "Hooligan tribe, won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight. Hooligan tribe won't you come out tonight, or die by the light of the moon. Oh, by the light of the moon, oh, by the light of the moon. Remember to use your fork, your knife, and also use your spoon!"
 * "The plan is to smash those dirty Berkians to pieces with both fleets! It's gonna be awesome!"
 * "Uh, hang on a sec. I'm pretty sure Dagur threatened to cut my legs off."
 * "How do you get a one-armed Berkian out of a tree? You wave! [laughs] That's assuming he isn't just sitting on a branch!"
 * "I am gonna miss some of those Outcast guys. They could really carry a tune."
 * "That doesn't even make sense to me, and I am foxy like a badger."
 * "I have no idea, but everyone's shouting and I am totally into that!"
 * "Everybody shake your fists! Now, look to the sky!"
 * "When can we start yelling again?!"
 * "You are on FIRE, Snotlout!"
 * "YELL AS LOUD AS YOU CAN! HA-HA, YEAH!"
 * "Oh, whoa. Is that your skin in his mouth?"
 * "Ha! That's it! We need to find a really tiny island, and a really big rope! Who do we talk to about that?"
 * "Ha. And you thought my tiny island idea was dumb. 'Dragon Root'. I mean, a rope can be infinitely big."
 * "I know! I want to live here."

How To Train Your Dragon 2

 * [About Ruffnut] "Nope, still hates you!"
 * "Let's blow this place, Belch! Alright!"
 * [To Ruffnut] "Quit trying to steal all my glory!" [The twins fight over who should score the Black Sheep and win the race] "It's my glory! NO SHEEP, NO GLORY!"
 * "I'll bloody his fist with my face if he tries to take my Dragon!"
 * "Ah! What is with all the nets?!"
 * "Good one!"
 * "Uh pathetic. You could still jump."
 * "SURPRISE! YEAH!!"
 * "Dragon riders coming through!"
 * "We can't fly these things!"