Hookfang (Franchise)

Hookfang is the Monstrous Nightmare belonging to Snotlout in both the film and the television series.

Appearance
Hookfang is a Monstrous Nightmare. In the movie he is 61 feet long with a 68 foot wingspan (though he is actually much longer than his wings are wide). According to Snotlout, Hookfang weighs around 5,000 pounds but this might be a lie he used in order to impress Heather. Hookfang is a perfect example of a typical Monstrous Nightmare. He has large shiny grayish-black horns that curve slightly outwards on the edge. He has bright reddish-orange scales with darker spots scattered around. His underside is a light tan, and he has yellowish orange eyes like most other dragons. Hookfang is the most commonly seen Nightmare, so most stock images are of him. His color scheme is fairly common in the movie, and Snotlout has even mistaken other Nightmares for him. Hookfang's horns lack extra antlers coming off of them, which does help to distinguish him from other Monstrous Nightmares seen in the film. He seems to be fully grown, and no Nightmares have yet been seen that are notably larger than him. In the books, Hookfang is owned by Stoick the Vast and described as being the size of a full-grown leopard. Aside from this, nothing else is mentioned.

In the Books
In How to Train Your Dragon, he mocked Hiccup's new dragon Toothless for his small size when he first saw him. He is not mentioned in any other book except the first one. In the books, Hookfang is one of Stoick's dragons, along with Newtbreath the Gronckle.

In How to Train Your Dragon
In the film, like the other main characters' dragons, he was kept prisoner at dragon training and the top of the class would've had the 'honor' of killing him. Hiccup was given the chance and instead, tries to connect to him and show the Vikings that dragons are not monsters, but after an outburst from Stoick, he becomes startled and begins to attack Hiccup in defense, until Toothless comes and protects his friend from the much bigger dragon, having no difficulty in subduing the enemy. Later, when Hiccup is trying to get his friends to connect with the dragons and help fight the Red Death, Hookfang is the first one he brings out. Everyone is astounded by this, except for Astrid.



Ironically, Snotlout is terrified enough to prepare a broken end of a spear as a weapon, in case Hookfang starts attacking, but Astrid nudges him to put it down. When Hiccup brings Hookfang closer to the others, he grabs Snotlout's arm so he can touch the dragon. Snotlout, obviously still frightened tries to resist, until Hiccup calms him and places his hand on his snout and he begins to growl in a purring manner. Snotlout's fear turns to amazement as he has made a connection, until Hiccup starts walking away to grab rope to "hang on" to the dragons, as the camera moves to reveal that the Gronkle, Deadly Nadder, and Zippleback are out of the cages, ready to be tamed. During the final battle of the Red Death, Snotlout is seen riding Hookfang.

When it is seen that Hiccup and Toothless have defeated the Red Death but Hiccup is no where to be found, everyone is upset. Toothless reveals that Hiccup is alive and everyone is overjoyed. Hookfang makes a brief appearance as he bows his head between two Vikings and is seen to make a "woo" sound with his eyes closed. The Vikings stare at the dragon in amazement. At the end, Hookfang roared in front of Hiccups house when he opened the door. Then Snotlout and Hookfang join the other dragons and trainers as they rode into the sky.

In Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon
In this short film, Hookfang makes a very short appearance. He's seen along with Snotlout, pouring water on Gobber's house, in an effort to put out the fire. Other than this, Hookfang did not make any further appearance.



In Gift of the Night Fury
In the short film Gift of the Night Fury, he becomes a father. He's even the one to fly Hiccup back home with the other dragons and their hatchlings. When they get home and land, Snotlout runs over and hugs his snout, as they are both ecstatic to see each other. At the Snoggletog party, Snotlout is seen playing with one of his children.

Riders of Berk
In Riders of Berk, Hookfang is shown to disobey and neglect Snotlout (the only Viking from the main cast that can't control his dragon). Hookfang behaved aggressively and Gobber was going to kill him. But after seeing that he only had a toothache, Gobber quickly fixed this by pulling it out. Hookfang then ran off to chase a bird as soon as he was put on Dragon Island, unlike the other dragons. Snotlout and Hookfang have a unique relationship. It is shown that Hookfang does hold some affection for his owner, but Snotlout's immaturity and idiocy leaves him holding disrespect (mimicking Snotlout's "respect" for him). It is often implied throughout both series that Hookfang's disobedience and willingness to undermine Snotlout may partly be to keep his rider's overabundant ego and self-righteousness in check, as he often acts out when Snotlout attempts to assert his superiority over him or the others.

He also seems to take callous pleasure in making Snotlout scream when they are out for a flying ride. He disobeys Snotlout most of the time, however, Snotlout says to go North when Hiccup says to go South. Wanting to keep on go with the others, Hookfang doesn't respond until Snotlout looks his dragon in the eye and says, "Hey, you work for ME!" Later, Hookfang is seen carrying Gobber as an attempt to save Snotlout, Hiccup, and Toothless from Outcast Island. Hookfang also gets distracted easily, like chasing a seagull or watching a leaf fall. He may have learned this behavior from Snotlout, as well as his rebellious, deliberately disobedient attitude towards his rider, which mirrors Snotlout's attitude towards Hiccup in the academy.

Defenders of Berk
Hookfang was shown to be train very hard by Snotlout as he was told by his father "Rest is for the weak" made his dragon sick when Hookfang's flame goes out due to exhaustion, it put his life at risk. It's shown that Hookfang did really care for Snotlout, proving this when he throws the Fireworm gel instead of consuming it, to save Snotlout from getting killed by the Fireworm Queen when he stole Fireworm gel to save Hookfang's life. Hookfang showed a definite amount of impertinence towards Snotlout, as evidenced by the look he gave Snotlout as he entered Ruffnut and Tuffnut's secret hideaway.

Hookfang was in contact with dragon root that cause him to become aggressive to attack Stormfly which later he was switch to have Astrid as his rider temporary for a day. Which he shown off his abilities to Astrid that she shown to enjoy. Hookfang shown off his new hidden ability thanks to Astrid help finding out he has powerful attack to creat Wing Blast. As he was shown to use this attack to take down Barf & Belch. Hookfang then assisted in looking for the Skrill and later on the twins. He and his rider disobey a direct order that causes Astrid to get hurt. When suspended from the Academy by Hiccup, they leave berk to find a island of their own to claim is their Snotloutland. As Hookfang shown to use flamethrower on different objects to claim is theirs. While they were investigated a outcast ship they met the Screaming Death. As Hookfang saved his owner but failed when he got attack by the by the large dragon that he was trying to wake up his rider from being unconscious that he was upset thinking his rider was killed but shown to be safe thanks to the former leader of the outcast. He gave the former outcast leader lift to Berk. Later in the second part he and Snoutlout defeated Dagur the Deranged by creating Wing Fire Blast attack that he even saved the Screaming Death mother from harm.

In Race to the Edge
Hookfang was among the dragons that were captured by the Death Song. However, his gel was able to free himself, Snotlout, the other riders and other dragons.

Hookfang was even being offered by Snotlout to give to Fishlegs when he was Bonecrusher. As he was showing how powerful are Monstrous Nightmares but Bonecrusher has said Monstrous Nightmare isn't that great to him. Hookfang had even manage to save Snotlout from drowning as he was promised to never given away.

In Total Nightmare, Hookfang was shown to help a female Monstrous Nightmare as he was answering her distress call. He protected this female dragon from the harm of the Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare; this dragon is much stronger and more aggressive. Hookfang made the other dragon riders believe he was going feral as he was shown to be territorial towards Snotlout.

Dawn Of The Dragon Racers
This special was shortly after Silent Sven had broken his silence. While the teens got older as we see that Hookfang had a competitive side just like Snoutlout. As he was able to successfully catch the black sheep before Toothless. Later, Hookfang and his rider caused an accident with Astrid by slamming themselves into each other which caused Astrid to break her arm. Hookfang was very eager to catch the regular sheep before Toothless could get it in the sea but was unsuccessful. Until the flash back was over he sees his rider being upset about not making to the dragon race so he showed his concern to his rider. Until his rider was excited about his new invention, the sheep launcher, Hookfang was happy for him and was getting ready for another race with other dragons and their riders.

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Hookfang is shown to have three barbels under his chin, showing that he has aged. His color of his skin became much brighter of scarlet and lost his stripes, become dark spots. He was able to use his tail whip on Meatlug to release the sheep so Snoutlout can have it. He is even shown to grin at her and her rider. He has been seen attacking Drago on sight, trying to burn him. However, Drago was able to break him using his knowledge of dragons and his enslaved bewilderbeast. Like all dragons, he was overjoyed to be reunited with Snotlout and bowed down before Toothless as the new Alpha dragon.

Relationships

 * Snotlout Jorgenson: Hookfang and Snotlout bonded with one another, before they went to fight the Red Death. Even though they seem very cold and harsh towards one another, with Snotlout often trying too hard to enforce his authority and Hookfang sometimes ignoring Snotlout's commands, they care deeply about one another, as they were both willing to sacrifice their lives for one another, especially when Snotlout risked his life trying to acquire a fireworm to save Hookfang's life and Hookfang in return being willing to sacrifice the fireworm when the mother fireworm tried to attack Snotlout to get it back. They are very in sync, both being very proud, stubborn and rude. Despite his loyalty towards Snotlout, he didn't want to be buried alive with him. (Although this could also be because he knew Snotlout wasn't really going to die). Hookfang was really upset and looked devastated when he thought that the Screaming Death killed him. Snotlout, seeing that Hookfang was always with Girl Hookfang, thought it would be best to release him. Though it was a misunderstanding, Snotlout was willing to give the best for Hookfang, if it made him happy.


 * Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III: Hiccup and Hookfang first met in the Arena, where Hiccup was assigned to kill Hookfang, but instead tried to train him, in order to show the Tribe the truth about Dragons. Even though it seems to work, Stoick interrupts. Startled, the Nightmare attacks and almost kills Hiccup. However, he was saved by Toothless. Despite this rocky start, Hookfang easily allowed Hiccup to lead him out of his cage without threatening or trying to harm him shortly after he tried to kill the young Viking and Hiccup introduces him to Snotlout, helping them bond. Hookfang even shown concern that Hiccup was alive from the Red Death. During Snoggletog, Hookfang gave Hiccup a lift back to Berk when he was accidentally taken to the dragon nesting ground.


 * Astrid Hofferson: Astrid first met Hookfang in the Kill Ring, where she tried to save Hiccup from him. Astrid then temporarily switched dragons with Snoutlout. Even though she doesn't like it at first, she is quickly impressed by his firebreathing and strength. Astrid even discovered the hidden ability of 'Wing Blast'. She became very fond of Hookfang, to the point where she wanted to feed him breakfast behind Snotlout's back.


 * Toothless: From the moment he met Toothless, the two have been rivals. Toothless saved Hiccup from Hookfang in the Kill Ring, and later worked together with him in order to defeat the Red Death. In several episodes, such as Thawfest, they were shown to be rivals. About 5 years later, Hookfang shows his respects to Toothless when Toothless establishes himself as the new Alpha dragon after defeating Drago's Bewilderbeast.


 * Barf and Belch: Hookfang and Barf and Belch have shown to be fighting one another in several episodes, for various reasons. As shown to be fighting at each other for various reasons they could have bit of the same relationships with their owners.


 * Gobber the Belch: After the event in the Kill Ring, Gobber was the one leading Hookfang back into his cage. He was also the one who managed to cure Hookfang's toothache, and he has been seen riding Hookfang temporarily.


 * Stoick the Vast: Stoick was the reason Hookfang went on a rampage during the Kill Ring, because he startled the Nightmare Stoick briefly rode him, before he burned said Viking's rear. Stoick calmed him down after he returned without Snotlout.


 * Spitelout Jorgenson: Seeing how Spitelout treats Hookfang and Snotlout, its safe to imply Hookfang has a dislike towards Spitelout. He was shown to comfort Snotlout, after Spitelout had made him upset at the Thawfest Games. Later, Spitelout revealed he thought of Dragons as simple weapons, comparing Hookfang to a sword that can be easily replaced.


 * Meatlug: Hookfang is bit like his rider for teasing Fishlegs. As he shown to be bit of bully to her for hitting with his wing for great distance showing no concern to her at all and even grin at her for getting the sheep from her rider using his tail whip on her from the second film. A few years before the second movie, Hookfang had help her to be trained to become fierce dragon with their owners as well.


 * Fishlegs Ingerman: Hookfang dosen't shown to interact with him at all. But he frightened Fishlegs and his dragon by using his shadow when he was behind the twins as they were using their shadows to scare them. Hookfang obey his orders when he misunderstood that he was ordering those orders for Meatlug. Also he was given comfort by Fishlegs when he was on Fireworm Island.


 * Gustav Larson: Gustav briefly became Hookfang's rider, when Snotlout thought he was going to die and chose Gustav to be his successor. Hookfang even help out with Gustav to get on his neck when he fall off. However, when Snotlout found out he wasn't going to die, Gustav got kicked out of the Academy, which lead to Gustav meeting and training Fanghook.


 * Fanghook: One could argue Fanghook's and Hookfang's relationship is a bit like Snotlout's and Gustav's. Hookfang seemed to have certain distrust and disdain for Fanghook, scaring him away once by roaring, most likely for dominance of being larger or having more experience with humans, like most animals do today. But that changed in the skirmish of Dagur the Deranged, when the two worked together.


 * Alvin the Treacherous: Considering Alvin had been a long-time enemy of Berk, it was only logical Hookfang viewed him as an enemy. However, that changed when he gave the Outcast Chieftain a lift back to Berk, in return for saving Snotlout from the Screaming Death.


 * Drago Bludvist: Hookfang was the first of the Berkian Dragons to meet Drago, and Hookfang instantly attacked him. When that didn't work, Drago attempted to exert his authority over Hookfang, forcing the dragon's head under his foot, but this attempt to exert control failed to keep Hookfang confined when he was freed by Snotlout.
 * Girl Hookfang:  Hookfang   answered   her distress call; at first, he had to try very hard to get to her cave because Snotlout interfered him as she was trying her best to make him stay and protect her eggs. Hookfang broke out of his cage when Snotlout locked him in, and he arrived at the cave and was protective over Girl Hookfang as he flung away the eel Snotlout gave to her to try to ward her off. In addition, Hookfang fought off the Titan Wing Monstrous Nightmare and asserted his dominance over the intruder.

Abilities & Skills
From hard training with Snotlout, some of Hookfang's abilities have become better than those of a regular Monstrous Nightmare, becoming a perfect dragon warrior for Snotlout.


 * Strength: Hookfang is shown to be a very powerful dragon. Hookfang has never shown any sign of struggle of lifting up any heavy objects in the air. He has shown to be carrying heavy Vikings, such as Gobber, Stoick, Alvin, and Fishlegs, plus with an axe, on his neck with an extra weight of Snotlout without any sign of struggle. Fishlegs can even stand on Hookfang's neck with Snotlout sitting on it as well.


 * Wing Blast: Hookfang's wings are strong enough to blast a fullgrown Hideous Zippleback, blow away Barf's gas, or move a pair of trees out of the way. Hookfang was able to combine this hidden ability and his fire in order to create a more powerful attack. He has been seen using this in the battle against Dagur the Deranged and used this to save the Screaming Death's mother from harm to set her free from the ropes.


 * Swimming: Hookfang appears to be a great swimmer. When swimming, he somewhat resembles an alligator, with his tail and body on top of the surface. Hookfang has shown he can swim in a high speed. He probably could have stayed underwater longer, if he wasn't burdened by Snotlout. He used this ability to help the fishers Mulch and Bucket.


 * Speed: Hookfang is a very fast flier. He shown to able to keep up with Toothless at the Thawfest race, though ultimately not as fast as the Night Fury. This may be the result of his hard training with Snotlout. This shows that he is faster then normal Nightmares. Snotlout had stated that Hookfang speed doesn't match up to Stormfly's speed, and he believes that Astrid's dragon is extremely fast. He has shown that he is also relatively fast when running and swimming.


 * Acrobatics: Hookfang has proven several times to be very flexible and agile. He is able to make turns by spinning in the air in the Thawfest games. He is also agile as he dodged many of the attacks from the Skrill, but Snotlout was hit many times. Hookfang was able to perform dodging maneuvers, hitting Gobber's catapults in the proces.


 * Endurance and Stamina : Hookfang has shown to have amazing stamina and endurance even before being tamed by Hiccup and training hard with Snotlout. Hookfang has shown for his kind to have great stamina like as he was able to running out of his cage around the arena as he was also chasing Hiccup in the arena, he even got hit by the strength of Astrid's by throwing a hammer at his face able to chase her as well. But he focus on Hiccup again to attack him and then being attacked by Toothless, but he lost in brutal short fight and still be able to shown that he was in a perfect condition afterwards. Even when he became sick of the hypothermia in "Race To Fireworm Island", which was a result from Snotlout's hard training, he could still fly high to catch up to the dragons, but though with much trouble by his illness was getting worst by lower some altitude. He also recovered fairly quickly several times, such as when he was stun by the Screaming Death's sonic shriek, slam by Screaming Death, able to endure Meatlug tackle or fell into Mildew's house from diving full speed to save his rider from harm . He even was able to get back up from being thrown by a Titan Monstrous Nightmare and attack by this dragon to counting to fly full speed to engage combat against the other male.


 * Intelligence and Communication skills : Like most dragons he was able to understand that Hiccup wasn't trying to kill him by showing to take away his weapon and helmet. Also Hookfang is able to understand Snotlout's orders. Though this doesn't always mean he obeys them. The orders he knows are 'Annihilate' by hand singles and 'Wing Blast', that was latter being taught by Astrid . He even understood from Snoutlout to come closer but quieter to do a sneak attack . He even tries to be smarter then his owner by getting back on him for being mistreated.

Personality
Like his rider, he is somewhat of a bully and highly aggressive. Though Hookfang and Snotlout's relationship may look uncaring and cold at first sight, they had proved to be very close to one another. Though Hookfang often bullies Snotlout by disobeying him or attacking him, he has been seen caring for Snotlout as few examples are when Spitelout scolded Snotlout. Hookfang tried to comfort Snotlout, but said Viking wasn't thankful for that. When Hookfang was willing to sacrifice his own life for the cure to his illness for Snotlout's life, or when he saved him from the Whispering Deaths and Speed Stingers. Snotlout said in 'Fright of Passage' the last face he wanted to see besides his own face was Hookfang's face, though Hookfang himself didn't seem very thankful for this in fact he took a snap at his rider. He was shown to be upset when he thought the Screaming Death had killed Snotlout, but gave Alvin a lift to Berk for showing his gratitude, because the former Outcast Chieftain saved Snotlout's life. Hookfang and his rider are very in sync when it come's to personality. Both have shown to be proud, reckless, slightly selfish, incredibly stubborn, don't respect authority and pick fights for the heck of it. Much like Snotlout always teases some of the other teens (Mostly Hiccup and Fishlegs) Hookfang is shown to pick up fights with other dragons, such as Toothless, Barf and Belch, Fanghook, and Stormfly. The reason for Stormfly was because both of them were influenced by the Dragon root. They both have a rivalry with Hiccup and Toothless. For Meatlug he had shown to wing flap her by accident and tail whip her as well in the second film but not showing any sign that he cared. With Fanghook shown to dislike to him for being wild dragon but was able to help him to save Hiccup and Toothless from Dagger. Hookfang loves having his head rubbed, according to Snotlout. He even shown to be mostly mischievous as he joys to bite his rider or use his fire on him to get back on as his amusement that he even teases him during flight as diving full speed to scare his owner.

Trivia

 * Hookfang has a habit of letting his tongue dangle from his mouth.
 * While disobedient to Snotlout, Hookfang is more gentle to the other Vikings like Hiccup, Heather, and Stoick. He will even listen to Fishlegs' commands.
 * Like Snotlout and Hiccup, Hookfang has a rivalry with Toothless (though it is more downplayed and implied).
 * In How to Train Your Dragon 2, Hookfang does not have tines on his horns which indicates that he is still young or the tines have gone because he's an old Nightmare (or the tines could be a production goof or he might simply not have any, and it's just a random trait for his species). But instead of getting tines, he has barbels on his chin.
 * He may also have adopted Snotlout's dislike of authority.
 * The way Snotlout rides Hookfang is in a similar fashion to riding a chopper motorcycle.
 * According to the comics, Hookfang's favorite food is live rats.
 * Hookfang has a pretty close personalty of Pokemon of Ash's Charizard as both don't obey their trainer.
 * Hookfang was possibly the first Monstrous Nightmare to ever survive from the Kill Ring.
 * Since Monstrous Nightmare are used in the Kill Ring for Vikings to become into their manhood.
 * Hookfang was the first of the dragons to have an unofficial replacement trainer.
 * Hookfang was able to defeate Titan Monstrous Nightmare with help with his owner.
 * Hookfang is the second dragon to touch eel to protect the female Monstrous Nightmare.