User blog comment:Megadracosaurus/Someone Dies?!/@comment-26184563-20140530191514/@comment-24949049-20140531043226

As much as I'd like to see Eret die rather than Stoick, there most likely wouldn't be much emotion there, according to a reviewer who attended the Cannes Movie Festival, Tothless "Accidentally" kills someone. In which the reviewer continues onto say "Hiccup struggles with feelings of Anger and recognition that Toothless, poor bad dragon, can't help his true nature". Before that statement she said the most "Powerful scene" was when Toothless killed the character.

To be honest: why kill off a character like Eret who appeared in only one film to date? DeBlois is a Director, and  technically an author, to make a emotional and powerful scene you must sometimes kill a character beloved to fans. And Stoick is one of those beloved characters not to mention his death would leave a major impact on Hiccup compared to the death of a "Rival" like Eret.