Hobgobbler

"Hobgobblers will literally eat anything. When they team up in a pack, they can tear through warships, Viking houses, Gobber, and anything else that crosses their path."

- Fishlegs

The Hobgobbler is a small Mystery and Stoker Class dragon that first appeared in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

Official Description
"Pug-nosed, wide-eyed and drooling, Hobgobblers would be cute — if they weren't so destructive! They love to devour everything in their paths like airborne piranhas."

- Dragonpedia stat card

Development
The Hobgobbler's name was revealed at the 2018 Annecy Film Festival preview of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, along with the fact that they are based off a bullfrog, a French bulldog, and a beachball. They were pictured and mentioned again by Dean DeBlois on a Twitter post. According to Dragonpedia, the Hobgobbler's ability to eat anything while in a feeding frenzy is based off a piranha.

Egg
Hobgobbler eggs are purple with darker spots covering them.

Hatchling to Adult
Hobgobblers are small, plump dragons that are slightly larger than Terrible Terrors. They possess a single nasal horn, short legs, small spines on their back, and a mouth that takes up a large amount of their physical size. Their coloration is mainly purple with darker spots and yellow undersides.

In Dreamworks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders, the Hobgobblers that appear are generally purple with pale underbellies. However, a trio saved from Dragon Trappers appear to be green with dark green markings after taking up residence on Havenholme.

Incendiary Slobber
The slobber of the Hobgobblers possess incendiary properties that can burst into flames. Hobgobblers also tend to coat themselves with their own slobber so that they can slip out of tight spots.



Feeding Frenzy
When Hobgobblers are hungry, they will enter a state of frenzy and will devour whatever they see. A flock of Hobgobblers can easily strip the planks off a ship's deck within seconds.



Jaw Strength
Hobgobblers possess a powerful set of jaws that enables them to chew and devour almost anything. When they bite down on something, Hobgobblers can be lifted in the air and even moved around with no sign of letting go, as was the case when the Rescued Hobgobbler wouldn't let go of Gobber's prosthetic leg.

Firepower
School of Dragons reveals that Hobgobblers are able to launch balls of orange fire from their mouths.

Strength and Combat
Hobgobblers use their jaws as their primary weapons. Despite their small size, Hobgobblers are strong enough to carry Vikings on their backs.

Behavior and Personality
As their name suggests, Hobgobblers possess a huge appetite, and they tend to devour almost anything they see. Hobgobblers appear to be rather mischievous, which is indicated when the rescued individual and his pack have a tendency to surprise Gobber the Belch with their sudden appearances at random occasions. They also tend to coat themselves with their own slobber so that they will be able to slip out of tight spots.

As seen in School of Dragons, Hobgobblers behave in a similar way to frogs, with several individuals being seen croaking in order to communicate. They are also commonly seen licking their eyes with their tongues in a similar manner to geckos.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
The Dragon Riders rescue a trapped Hobgobbler on one of their missions and bring it back to Berk, much to Gobber's dismay.

Gobber is terrified of Hobgobblers, believing that they bring bad luck, and this belief worsened for him when more of them come to live with the rest of the Hooligan Tribe. His opinion about the Hobgobblers change when a flock of them rescue him from Ragnar the Rock, whom they (possibly) ate alive offscreen.

When the battle ended, Hiccup realized that the only way the dragons can be safe from humans was for them to go to the Hidden World. After Toothless gave the command to the dragons of Berk, all of them, including the Hobgobblers, said their farewells to the Vikings and flew off to the Hidden World.

School of Dragons
Hobgobblers were added to the game on July 31, 2019 as part of the "Curse of the Hobgobbler" expansion pack.

Dreamworks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders
Eir Stormheart has captured several wild Hobgobblers and poisoned them with a concoction made of Grimora venom and dragonvine. Scribbler encountered some of them and freed them. The Hobgobblers could later help Scribbler in fight, if he chose to call them with the Horn of Dramillion.

Dragon Trappers also held three Hobgobblers captive on Wildweed Woods. This trio, once freed by Scribbler, take up residence on Havenholme.

A single Hobgobbler icon is also used to notify the player that the game is auto-saving his or her progress in the game.

Trivia

 * According to the Urban Dictionary, the Hob Gobbler is a creature from Appalachia folklore that grants wishes as well as plays tricks on humans. It also can turn into a turkey.
 * The Hobgobbler‘s name may also be derived from a type of fairy or goblin from the folklore of the British Isles called a Hobgoblin. This spirit or creature resided in homes and was helpful to the resident family, but could also wreak havoc if they were offended. Though the Hobgoblin is not specifically mentioned, elves and fairy folk and other such beings do figure in Norse Mythology.
 * The Hobgobbler is the second dragon to be categorized into two classes, with the first being the Submaripper.
 * The Hobgobbler's ravenous behavior is somewhat similar to that of the Scraplet from the Transformers Prime series.
 * According to The Art of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Hobgobblers are the most feared dragons on Berk to date.