Eret, Son of Eret

"I'm Eret. Son of Eret. Finest dragon trapper alive. After all, it's not just anyone who can capture a Night Fury."

- Eret introducing himself to Hiccup

Eret, introduced as Son of Eret, is a former Dragon Trapper who used to sell the dragons he traps to Drago Bludvist. He is one of the antagonists before becoming a tritagonist of How to Train Your Dragon 2 and is voiced by Kit Harington. He is confirmed to reappear in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

Official Description
"Eret, Son of Eret, 25, is the self-touted "Greatest Dragon Trapper Alive", selling a steady supply of dragons to the toughest customer of all — the ruthless Drago Bludvist. Cocky and charmingly cavalier, Eret has the showmanship of a cowboy and the shady ethics of an arms dealer. His rugged good looks and brawny physique appeals to Ruffnut's inner-most desires — which turn out to be quite shallow. But despite his boastful, brash charisma, Eret lives in endless dread of Drago's merciless wrath, and will do anything to save his own skin."

- Viking Guide

Physical Appearance
Inspired by the Sami and Inuit, Eret's apparel greatly differs from that of the other Vikings and is composed heavily of fur. Eret is a tall, broad-framed man with beefy arms marred with scars, presumed to be from his battles against dragons. He boasts a light blue tattoo on his chin and neat dark brown hair, with two bangs draped in front of his ears.

He wears a beige-white and white tunic under a thick, sleeveless fur vest with a metal owl brooch pinned on it. Two sheaths hang from his thick waistband, one behind his waist, and the other at his left side. He also wears two grey fur wristbands. Eret has a large symbol-like branding on his chest. He says Drago gave it to him the last time he failed him.

Personality
Eret initially comes across as nothing short of cocky and overconfident. He only appears to care about saving his own skin and resists Stormfly's attempts at bonding with him. The large scar on his chest indicates he might have had a rough, dark past which brought him to his current cynical and self-centered predicament. All of this, however, changes as soon as Stormfly puts herself at risk to protect Eret from harm. Recognizing the dragon's selfless act, Eret decides to repay the favour by helping her and the Dragon Riders escape from Drago's lair. He slowly switches sides from there forth, allying himself with Berk and its riders. This shows that Eret was always a good, brave and honest man at heart and that he has a strong moral compass.

In spite of his cavalier façade, Eret is rather charming, heroic and kind-hearted. He is also fully aware of his rugged good-looks, displaying a slight arrogance on occasion, but still doesn't appreciate Ruffnut leering at him. He seems to only bond closely with a few selected individuals, namely Hiccup and Astrid.

By the time of The Serpent's Heir, Eret is more or less Hiccup's right-hand man and demonstrates a deep loyalty and respect to him. Upon hearing about Hiccup's Chieftain role be challenged by the villagers, Eret stands up for him and tries to take the brunt of the blame. He is willing to defend Hiccup at any cost.

Abilities, Talents, and Skills

 * Dragon Trapping: Although not seen in great detail, Eret himself claims he's the 'Finest Dragon Trapper' alive. It's not exactly known how good Eret was at his work, but judging from the number of dragons in Drago's army, as well as the number of dragons escaping his fortress in the original deleted opening scene, he can be considered to be quite good at his job.


 * Dragon Training and Riding: Eret is very new to the concept of dragon training and riding. As such, his skills are understandably not extremely impressive. Nevertheless, he rode Stormfly quite decently for a beginner and didn't show to have any specific kind of trouble riding Skullcrusher either. He did struggle to control the Scuttleclaw he was riding, but so did everyone else.


 * Strength and Fighting: He has been shown to be skillful enough in fighting and knocking out Drago's men, Calder, and the people of Nepenthe who tried to harm the Foreverwings. He also appears to be very skilled with dual wielding swords.


 * Endurance and Stamina: He was able to take the attack from Gobber's weapon on the head that clearly didn't knock him unconscious, as he tries to get up, but Grump was able to pin him down.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
Throughout the duration of the second movie, Eret and Hiccup have never been the closest of comrades. However, after initially trying to trap Hiccup, and Hiccup successfully getting away, Hiccup then submits himself to Eret, and surrenders to him, much to the dismay of Astrid, who, being significantly more competitive than Hiccup, does not take kindly to the idea of being voluntarily captured. Hiccup is under the belief that he can get to Drago, and change his mind about dragons, just as he is trying to with Eret. Stoick the Vast eventually rides in to save Hiccup from Eret, and Eret goes on his way again.

However, after the initial battle with Drago, and the final battle with the Bewilderbeast, Hiccup sees potential in Eret, and they become good friends, as Hiccup trusts him enough to look after Skullcrusher.

One of the major differences Eret has from Hiccup's other enemies is that he never mocked Hiccup for his size. He is also surprised by how Hiccup stands for what he believes in.

Toothless
Toothless' relationship with Eret, son of Eret is very similar initially to Hiccup's. While Eret did originally try to capture Toothless and give him to Drago for his dragon army, they eventually become allies, and while Eret never rides Toothless, like many other former and current villains have done, they are shown to trust each other at the end of the film, even if their relationship only goes to "acquaintance" level.

Toothless, however, is shown to be quite relaxed in the company of Eret when Hiccup surrendered to him, and whether this is due to the fact that Toothless trusts that Hiccup has it under control, or whether he sees Eret as less of a threat, or perhaps sees his potential for improvement, he does definitely show his carefree side around Eret more along with many other characters.

In a deleted scene, Toothless saves Eret, and Hiccup, when the two were catapulted off Eret's ship into a sack of jagged rocks. It should be noted that Hiccup did not actually tell Toothless to save Eret and that it was his own choice.

Astrid Hofferson
"You really are full of surprises!"

- Astrid to Eret, who has saved Stormfly

Astrid's relationship with Eret is rocky at first, with Eret trapping Stormfly. Then, when Hiccup decided to surrender himself to Eret, she showed her reluctance to be captured while complaining to Hiccup. However, Astrid got much more time to get to know Eret than Hiccup did, as she managed to capture him quite early on in the film.

When Eret claims he captured the Riders for Drago, Astrid is visibly and understandably upset and feels betrayed. However, he does eventually save Stormfly, helps to bring down Drago, and joins the Dragon Riders' ranks.

Stormfly
"Thank you for saving my life. Now let me return the favor."

- Eret, to Stormfly

Eret's relationship with Stormfly is arguably the most complex out of any human other than Astrid herself. While her feelings for Eret show to be similar to her rider's feelings towards him, she shows a lot of independence of thought when it comes to how she greets him. For example, while Astrid feels pained when Eret originally tries to capture Stormfly, and Stormfly has the same feelings, Stormfly easily forgives Eret, and when they meet again after Hiccup surrenders to Eret, Stormfly's playful nature is seen clearly for a short time while Eret tries tirelessly to get rid of Hiccup's fire sword. When Astrid tells Stormfly to 'drop' Eret, she can be seen to be enjoying herself much more than Eret himself was at the moment, and she is confident that she can, and will rescue him.

Their relationship blooms from then on as Eret, finding Stormfly in one of Drago's traps, return the favor of her saving him, as he frees Stormfly and eventually rides her, along with Astrid.

Drago Bludvist
Eret's relationship with Drago Bludvist, the evil madman who was building a dragon army, is shown in many ways to be entirely 'professional', but that is not to say that it is not in any way emotional. In fact, as soon as he slips up at any time, he is punished harshly. Eret has a scar from when Drago punished him for not bringing enough dragons in a shipment, and Drago has promised not to be lenient for any other times when Eret disappoints him.

Eret is obviously terrified of Drago, and his motivation for catching dragons is so that Drago does not punish him. However, when Eret double-crosses the Dragon Riders and brings them to Drago, along with their dragons, Drago becomes enraged, trying to execute Eret and the Riders. Eret escapes with the Riders, and for the remainder of the film, fights against Drago.

Valka
Eret's relationship with Valka is not entirely clear. Evidently, he is intensely annoyed by her and her vigilante, 'do-good' work, and the fact that she will stop at nothing to save Dragons. However, while Valka says many times that she detests Dragon Trappers, she seems to have no personal quarrel with Eret, and at times, like at Stoick's funeral and when Eret fights along with the Riders to save Berk and the dragons, she is able to be alongside him without any hint of negativity.

Ruffnut Thorston
"Eret, Son of Eret was the man of my dreams. My everything!"

- Ruffnut

As soon as Ruffnut sees Eret for the first time, she is instantly captivated by his good looks and manly charm, even to the point of letting herself and Barf, and, consequently, Tuffnut and Belch, become caught and unable to fly for a while. Ruffnut is shown to be absolutely fixated on Eret, sidling up to him, rubbing her cheek on him, and even licking and kissing him, and evidently dreams of some sort of long-term, romantic relationship with Eret in the future. Her hopes are somewhat dashed when he appears to have betrayed the Riders by giving them over to Drago but she quickly regains her affection for him when Eret decides to help them escape.

While she evidently still finds Eret attractive, much to his annoyance, she seems to have become less vocal of her crush by the end of the film.

Tuffnut Thorston, Barf and Belch
While the relationship between Eret and the other three isn't as developed as that between he and Ruffnut, one can tell that all three are disgusted, embarrassed and perhaps concerned by Ruffnut's behavior towards Eret. When Ruffnut rubs her cheek on his arm, just before Stormfly is ordered to drop Eret, both Barf and Belch seem to flinch, Barf noticeably more so, and Tuffnut, evidently mirroring and vocalizing the dragon's distaste with her unseemly attitude, gives off a disgusted "Eww!" before leading the dragons and Ruffnut away slowly.

Snotlout Jorgenson and Fishlegs Ingerman
The relationship between the two rivals for Ruffnut's affection does not have a very developed relationship with Eret either but are perhaps slightly jealous of Eret's success in attracting Ruffnut. Beyond this jealousy, there is not much in their relationship other than a great distrust of him and his dragon-trapping ways.

Stoick the Vast
Again, Stoick and Eret's relationship is a very undefined relationship, since Stoick and Eret only met once in a normal setting, and that was when Stoick saved Hiccup from Eret after Hiccup surrendered himself to him. However, despite this lack of knowledge of one another, Eret attended Stoick's funeral and fired an arrow at Stoick's ship. Whether this was to do with Eret being there at the time, or whether this was due to an actual sense of respect for Stoick is unclear, but considering that Eret felt honored by being able to continue riding Skullcrusher, Stoick's Rumblehorn, one can assume that Eret had a certain degree of respect for Stoick.

Skullcrusher
Eret met Skullcrusher when the Dragon Riders came to rescue Hiccup and Astrid, though they didn't formally interact. After Stoick's death and Drago's defeat, Hiccup suggested that Eret should look after Skullcrusher. The Rumblehorn was able to tell that Eret is trustworthy enough to be his new rider, as the latter helped protect Berk even though it wasn't his home. The two quickly bonded in the end by flying together alongside the other Dragon Riders.

Trivia

 * The pin on Eret's fur vest resembles a Stormcutter.
 * Eret is similar in personality to Han Solo, according to Matt Paulson, the modeling supervisor of How to Train Your Dragon 2.
 * At the end of the second movie, Eret forms a bond with Stoick's dragon Skullcrusher after Stoick's death. This makes Eret the second Dragon Rider from outside the Archipelago, the first being Heather.
 * Eret has a few similarities with Heather.
 * They originally were "allied" with an enemy of Berk, but after getting to know the Dragon Riders, joined them instead.
 * Both characters also have black hair and have a friendship with Stormfly, who was the first dragon they flew alone.
 * They are also the only Dragon Riders not from Berk.
 * In Rise of Berk, Eret first plans to learn how to train dragons and give the information to Drago, similar to Heather giving information to Alvin the Treacherous in her first appearance.
 * All the dragons Eret rode on are associated with the Sharp and Tracker Classes. Though in Rise of Berk, he says he has a soft spot for Tidal Class dragons since he's a sailor.
 * Coincidentally, all these classes are associated with Hiccup's parents.
 * Eret is the only main male character without any form of facial hair.
 * Some of the names of Eret's crew are Ug, Teeny, and No-Name.
 * Coincidentally, there is a character in the books named UG, and No-Name is the surname of Fishlegs in the books.
 * After joining the Dragon Riders side, he refers to his former profession as wrangling instead of trapping.
 * However, he does jokingly say that Hiccup "would make a good trapper" at the end of the movie just before he receives Skullcrusher.
 * In an early promo reel for the movie, Eret says he comes from a long line of "sons of Eret", who were all Dragon Trappers.
 * Eret's sword is similar in appearance to Sting from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
 * In "Dragonvine", Eret is shown to have a Returnwing (a boomerang). This is unusual because the story takes place far away from Australia, where boomerangs were originally created to use for kangaroo hunting. This may show the amount of traveling Eret did while he was a Dragon Trapper.
 * In the book To Berk and Beyond!, it is revealed that Eret covers himself in Dragonberry juice, as it is the only thing Tracker Class dragons, like his own dragon, Skullcrusher, cannot smell.
 * It is unknown why he would want to do this though. However, it may have something to do with his time as a Dragon Trapper.
 * When Astrid asks Eret, "Don't you know anything?" it is a reference to Kit Harington's portrayal of Jon Snow in Game of Thrones.

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