Gronckle (Franchise)

"Gronckles are tough. Killing one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend."

- Hiccup, opening narration in How to Train Your Dragon

The Gronckle is one of the toughest (and slowest) dragon in the dragon world, and more than lives up to its looks in the battlefield. It is a Boulder Class dragon and has appeared ever since the first film.

Appearance
The Gronckle can be a slow, lazy, and cranky bulldog-like dragon; it has been known to fall asleep mid-flight, waking only when it plunges into the sea or crashes into a mountain. They spend the majority of the day sleeping.

Because of its tremendous weight and small wings, it would seem impossible for them to fly. However, because the wings of a Gronckle beat at a speed similar to that of hummingbirds' dragonflies', or bees' wings,  it is possible for one to sustain flight. In fact, a Gronckle can fly backward, sideways and even hover in place.

Its tail can be mistaken for the head if little attention is paid.

It is also prone to dragon acne. Because of its large stout body and clubbed tail, the Gronckle somewhat resembles an Ankylosaurus. It has huge jaws which it uses to hold food when carrying it to the dragon mound. It has a rather blunt nose horn and fairly stubby toe claws. Its legs are practically useless in battle, and due to its short tail it has a fairly small attack range.

Abilities and Weaponry
As eggs, they have shown to be rocky like shape that shows of their Boulder Class dragon. Once they hatch the egg will explode like grenades can cause destruction.

As baby's they are able to make up of their tiny wing size with tremendous flapping velocity, like hummingbirds. Just like the adults hatchlings are able to fly forward, backward, and sideways. Haven't been confirmed, although they tried to fly, but they handle the strong winds. Baby Gronckle needs a lot of naps just like children. As they were observed to fall asleep in mid-flight.

Baby Gronckles, are said that their bark is far worse then their bite. Although they bellow and open their mouths to display their growing tusk as their teething, as they use to seldom attack one another but this hasn't yet been confirmed.

The Gronckle can launch a devastating fire attack, but is limited to six shots at a time. Both its fire attack and hovering flight pattern make it a very dangerous dragon. It can simply hover slightly out of reach of the Vikings and then blast them with its powerful fire. Unlike the other dragons, the Gronckle can refill its so called shot limit fairly quickly. Most dragons use a flammable gas, but the Gronckle eats rocks and then melts them in its stomach. So as long as there are edible rocks in the area, the Gronckles will be one of the few dragons to be able to refill their shot limit. The Gronckle's lava depends on the type of rocks they eat. They are able to produce regular flaming hot lava, lava coated rocks, Gronckle Iron, a transparent material and lava of different colours.

Like all Boulder Class dragons, Gronckles have extremely strong jaws, being able to crush boulders with ease. They are able to hold large boulders in their mouth to shoot back to their enemies as shown by Meatlug in the episode of Heather Report Part II. They are also able to hold 3 fully grown sheep in their mouth.

They have shown to have some strength able to lift heavy Vikings and some extra weight of objects, but as expected the Gronckle uses its heavy weight showing its brute strength instead as their advantage when fighting its opponents, whether they are being Vikings or Dragons. This was demonstrated by Meatlug several times like a herd of Gronckle's have shown this against the Screaming Death and proven by Meatlug to make a powerful warrior like Stoick the Vast stun on the ground for a short period of time. Wild Gronckle even try to fight off Nightfury, but they were proven to be very easily get defeated.

The Gronckle has few hidden abilities as one interesting fact about a Gronckles stomach is that it is able to melt down any type of rock and metal like a forge. By mixing certain minerals and ores, it is able to create an alloy called Gronckle Iron, which can be shaped into weapons and instruments that are lighter and stronger than those made of pure iron. Meatlug was able to create a large amount of Gronckle Iron, though she is unable to do so again since no one knows exactly what she ate at the time. Other mixtures allow them be magnetized and create glass (sandstone alone).

Gronckles second hidden ability is that they are possible few of known dragons that are immune of Dragon Root, possibly because of their mineral-based diet. Therefore, it might be possible that the Hotburple might be immune too.

Also, their third hidden ability is that when they are provoked or surrounded, the Gronckle will inhale deeply, the bumps on their bodies will blast off and scatter in every direction for self defense. This hidden ability, however haven't been shown yet.

Interesting enough, Gronckles are much faster on the ground than in the air. They are very maneuverable in the air, being able to go backwards, sideways and even hold still to hover. As Meatlug have shown to be able to stand on their hind legs to walk.

Gronckles have extremely tough scales, that can withstand many attacks from enemy dragons and Vikings. This makes them one of the most toughest dragons, in terms of defense of their armor body. According to a Webisode, they can survive a crash into a mountain or fall at high altitudes.

They have physical weaponry, body of armor with bumps, sword like teeth, sharp tusk, club tail, noise horn, claws, and they can use their head. Well, for Meatlug shown a useful weapon that's powerful enough against her enemy's that can stun dragons for a short period of time is their gas attack such as the Screaming Death as she shown to able to use it anytime mostly when needed. Their club tail is short is actually quite a strong weapon, against both Vikings and dragons. Meatlug demonstrated this in battles with a Whispering Death and Typhoomerang.

In the books, they are said to be quite stupid. But in the series the Gronckles are shown by mostly Meatlug to be proven to be much smarter than they appear as Fishlegs was able to teach her many skills and able to show how to stop Dragon Island to others of her species to use their lava blast.

Gronckles have a stronger sense of smell than Nightfury, which was demonstrated several times when Meatlug found hostile Outcast Vikings from a far distance, or when she found a Changewing egg under the sand of a beach.

Despite their small wings and laziness, their stamina doesn't seem to be as bad as their speed, as Gronckles (mainly Meatlug) have been shown to fly the same amounts of time as other dragons.

Gronckles can be easily distracted by food, much like other dragons, and they butt heads in territorial displays like mountain goats.

Weakness
Gronckes have some weakness as being able to eat many rocks that are many different stones that could make them overheat or they can become magnetic for weapons. They are one of the slowest and laziest dragons that they can be left behind possible from their herds if they fall down from falling asleep in mid flight. They are shown some lack of strength that's why they make this up for their brute strength.

Description
The official Website describes the Gronckle as follows: "One of the toughest dragons in our world is the GRONCKLE. Gronckles have gigantic heads, short bodies, and round tails. Gronckles are lazy, and spend most of their time sleeping in communal heaps. They have been known to fall asleep while flying, waking only when they crash into the ocean or the side of a mountain. Gronckles have relatively small wings that beat as fast as a hummingbird's. They are slow in the air, but make up for this with their maneuverability. A Gronckle can fly backwards, sideways, and even hover. Gronckles attack from the air, where their primary weapon is most effective. Gronckles chew rocks, melting them in their bellies and firing them as balls of molten lava."

"With its bulbous shape, tiny wings and laid-back demeanor, the wart hoggish Gronckle is proving to be a fan favorite." says Sanders, ''“He is a series of round balls, including warts. He’s just lazy, cantankerous and grumpy, and that makes you like him even better. The critter is known to doze off even in mid-flight as he floats about like the Goodyear blimp. But there is no denying that his fire packs a lethal punch."''

Also mentioned in Book of Dragons, "A Gronckle has five phases of growth, just like all other dragons." Only three phases have been confirmed: first being Egg, second being Hatchling, and fifth is Titan Wing.

In the Film
The Gronckle is the first dragon that the Viking Trainees have to fight in the arena. It is used to teach them how to use the shield to block attacks and shown to have a six shot limit. One almost blasts Hiccup, but he is saved by Gobber the Belch. Hiccup learns from Toothless that dragons love garlic grass and uses this to calm down the same Gronckle in a later training session. The Gronckle is used to determine who will kill the Monstrous Nightmare and is seen subdued by Hiccup (presumably through scratching a particularly sensitive spot dragons have), earning him that right. Hiccup later gives the Gronckle to Fishlegs during the attack on the Red Death and during the battle, she hovers beside the dragon's head, allowing Fishlegs to distract the Red Death by banging on his shield. This also confuses the Gronckle and causes her to crash and flip upside-down, pinning Fishlegs who ends up being okay. The Gronckle and Fishlegs are nearly crushed by the Red Death's foot, but thanks to Snotlout's antics, it barely misses them and the Gronckle is later seen flying around the village as Fishlegs' pet dragon, Meatlug.

Gronckle Eggs
Gronckle eggs are the smallest of all the species. They are very rough and have dark brown color. They also bounce around like jumping beans. In Gift of the Night Fury, they are shown to explode when they hatch. Although the eggs are supposed to be barely larger than a marble, Gift of the Night Fury showed Meatlug's eggs to be just a bit smaller than the average Viking head and snuggly fitting inside Viking helmets.

Behavior and Training
As mentioned before, Gronckles are lazy and sometimes cranky dragons. They fly slowly due to their small wings and bulky bodies, but their fire attacks are devastating. They can be sweet natured at times, especially towards their hatchlings or their riders. They are faster on the ground and if they need to move quickly, they prefer to run. But this is in the film and TV series.

They apparently love to play catch as they bit of dog like personality. As they love to get their belly rub but according to Fishlegs they don't like to get their chins rubbed.Also they can wine liek dogs when their upset as well as shown by Meatlug as she gets upset.

They love to eat dragon nip and feeding them rocks can help one train this dragon. Their main diet is rocks, but they can be fed fish.

Gobber found out of being dragon doctor that these dragons hard skin as weak spot under their belly to be tickle by feather.

Trivia

 * The Gronckle's wing-to-body ratio would mean it would have to beat its wings significantly faster than any hummingbird would need to flap its own wings. It would have to beat approximately 4.1 times faster than any hummingbird.
 * To train a Gronckle, one must feed it Dragon Nip or rocks.
 * They are the slowest flying dragons so far in the franchise, but are relatively fast on the ground.
 * Concept art shown a Gronckle to have horn like Monstrous Nightmare on their noise and tail stinger like a bee. Possible early drawing.
 * The Gronckle's tusk-like canine teeth make the species in a sense, the warthog of the dragon world.
 * The Gronckle's wingspan is definitely not as wide as it is long.