Cast Out, Part 1

Cast Out Part I is the 19th episode of Dragons: Defenders of Berk. It is preceded by Bing! Bam! Boom! and is succeeded by the second part and the finale, Cast Out Part 2.

Overview
Hiccup temporarily suspends Snotlout from the academy after he nearly kills Astrid and he responds by running off; Alvin returns to Berk to make amends. Dagur the Deranged plants Dragon Root in the academy as a trick to make Hiccup trade Toothless for the safety of his friends. Stoick comes in to help but is captured by Dagur. Meanwhile, the Screaming Death returns.

Plot
Hiccup and the rest of the Riders are preparing how to handle an ambush attack exercise, where Gobber, Bucket and Mulch mans the catapults. Once they're in their field of vision, Gobber and the others fire the catapults, a while later Hiccup orders the Riders to retreat. But Snotlout's rebellious behavior by disobeying Hiccup and choosing to really engage the enemy, causes one catapult to fire a stowaway boulder, knocking Astrid out of her dragon. In the last moment, Hiccup and Toothless rescues Astrid from falling to her death.

Moments later, Astrid wakes up but heavily breathing, while Snotlout arrives cheering what he did prior, oblivious to what happened. Having had enough, Hiccup lashes out on Snotlout, so is Astrid, after his reckless actions in the exercises, as a result, he decides to suspend Snotlout from the Academy. Snotlout however, disobeys and rides his dragon behind Hiccup's back and sets off flying elsewhere. Meanwhile, on Outcast Island, Savage informs Dagur that the Dragon Root they tested has worked out perfectly, and they devise a plan to spy on the Academy and wait for the perfect time to plant the root there.

At the Academy, Hiccup sees Snotlout still not present, and notices the Twins preparing to merge Snotlout's pen with their's. The Twins justify their merging as they know Hiccup is left with a tough choice of permanently expelling Snotlout from the Academy or let him in again and risk losing the respect of the other Riders. Hiccup is left speechless but assures them he'll fix things by talking to Snotlout whenever he decides to return.

Meanwhile, Snotlout and Hookfang decides to abandon the Academy by fleeing to a tiny rocky island, proclaiming it to be their new home called Snotland. He claims every thing he spots in the island while Hookfang marks it by burning it, but then suddenly spots a wrecked Outcast ship on shore, and decides to check it out. On Berk, Hiccup asks his father for advise on his situation with Snotlout and the Academy, asking how can he be someone's leader while also be their friend, Stoick believes he can't, as one day, when he is chief, he has to make decisions not for his friends or himself, but for Berk.

Back on Snotland, Snotlout and Hookfang attempts to sneak up on the wrecked ship and attack, but when they jump in, they find no one present. Just then, an earthquake erupts and emerge the Screaming Death, Snotlout and Hookfang attempts to flee and warn the Riders, but Hookfang loses his grip on Snotlout and he falls down unconscious. The Screaming Death attempts to finish off Snotlout, but at the last second, a person jumps in to rescue him. Hookfang arrives thinking his Rider dead, but quickly finds him alive but unconscious thanks to the person who rescued him.

Hours later, Hookfang, along with the person who rescued Snotlout, return to Berk. The villagers find Snotlout to have died and happily preapares for a Viking Funeral, but is short lived when he regains consciousness. Hiccup and Stoick arrive to see what's all the commotion, and stunned to discover that it was Alvin who rescued Snotlout. The next day, Alvin is being held trial in the Great Hall, were he is convicted of his past crimes of Berk, where all is related to treachery. Stoick settles down the angered crowd, and declares that Alvin will be put into prison until a sentence can be properly filed against him. Despite Alvin telling Stoick he really did rescued Snotlout not for himself, Stoick still sees him as the same man before and Alvin's pleas are denied. Astrid and Fishlegs arrive bringing back information to Hiccup about Snotlout, that he witness the Screaming Death, and is closing in on Berk.

Hiccup, Fishlegs and Astrid are training their dragons hard to figure out a way to hold off the Screaming Death, while the Twins continue to decorate Snotlout's pen. Just then, Snotlout arrives expecting a warm welcome from the Academy as he brought back info of the Screaming Death's location and still claims he captured Alvin, despite this, Hiccup tells him that nothing has changed and is still suspended from violating the rules again. Consequently, Hiccup decides to lock up Hookfang in his pen despite Snotlout protesting. Meanwhile, from afar, Dagur sees it as the perfect time to put their plan into motion.

Hours later, Hiccup and Toothless arrive to Berk's jail where angered Vikings are expressing their hatred to Alvin. Hiccup arrives as Alvin requested him to come, Alvin makes a proposal for Hiccup, as he claims he is trying to be a change man after loosing his men and his island to Dagur and requests Hiccup to help him. Hiccup asks what's in it for Berk, Alvin tells him after the Beserkers are gone, the Outcasts will pledge allegiance to Berk. Hiccup leaves to think about the offer. At their home, while eating dinner, Hiccup questions his father of how Alvin was cast out in the first place, Stoick suddenly becomes angered hearing this, and only tells Hiccup furiously that Alvin will always be their enemy, and he leaves the table.

At the Academy, Dagur and the Beserkers enter the Arena where Savage places the Dragon Root in the center, as the other Beserkers open up their pens, and almost immediately, the dragons crave it and begins to tear apart each other. Meanwhile, Snotlout makes an unauthorized visit with Alvin, the two talk out their similarities as people don't appreciate their doings. Alvin then tells him that locking him up is wrong, as he saved Snotlout's life and in return is apprehended, he tries talk Snotlout to free him as his only desire is to get his island back and after that he'll disappear. Just then, a warning signal is heard throughout Berk as Astrid informs Snotlout that Dagur has been spotted and his dragon is in certain trouble. But before he begins to leave, Alvin tells him he'll help ward off Dagur by letting him out.

Hiccup and Toothless discover the Dragon Root and informs the Riders about it also, Snotlout then arrives trying to tell Hiccup something important, but Hiccup tells him not now as he assigns Fishlegs and Meatlug to go inside and attempt to grab the Dragon Root, while the other Riders try to distract their dragons' attention. Once inside, the Riders struggle to hold out the dragons' maelstrom, but Fishlegs manages to grab the Root and heads for the exit, but the Beserkers arrive stopping them, by shutting the exit. Hiccup and Toothless finds themselves surrounded and held at gunpoint by Dagur. Dagur demands to Hiccup to choose, by giving up Toothless to him or refuse and let his friends suffer terribly with their out of control dragons.

Luckily, Stoick, Gobber and other brave Vikings arrive in arms to fend off the Beserkers in order to help Hiccup rescue his friends from being slaughtered. In the ensuing skirmish, Stoick attempts to open the exit, but unaware that Savage is attempting to ambush and finish him off, luckily, Alvin jumps in and brutally kicks away his own second-in-command, Savage. Despite being the enemy, Stoick lets Alvin join and help the fight, Stoick finally opens the exit. Hiccup and Toothless provide Fishlegs cover as they fly to the exit, but Meatlug knocks out Stoick by accident. Hiccup and Toothless contain the dragons, stopping them from following the Root.

Dagur watches as his plan begins to crumble, the injured Savage requests Dagur to order a retreat. But Dagur is relentless, as he will not leave empty-handed, he then spots the pinned down Stoick alone and closes in on him. While the Riders reconcile with thier dragons, Gobber calls Hiccup and Toothless and discovers Stoick being held hostage by Dagur. Dagur orders them not to make any attempts to stop them or Stoick will be executed, and they begin to leave. In desperation, Hiccup tries to make a plan to stop Dagur taking away his father, but Alvin warns him that if he does so, his father will still be executed, and tells Hiccup to stand down as Dagur does not want Stoick but his dragon.

Meanwhile, Stoick is now being sent to Outcast Island as captive by the Beserkers and Outcasts. Alvin is still locked away but this time inside the Academy. Hiccup watches as he reassures that he'll rescue his father whatever the cost maybe.

However though, left unattended, the Screaming Death continues to close in on Berk, leaving a terrifying cross hair on the entire archipelago.

Transcript
The transcript for this episode is here

Trivia

 * Stoick directly addresses for the first time the fact that Hiccup will become chief in the future.
 * Alvin said he changed by saving Snotlout from the Screaming Death and Stoick from Savage.
 * Dagur kidnaps Stoick in this episode as a hostage to trade for Toothless.
 * This is the first time Alvin has ridden a dragon, though Hookfang most likely let him because he saved Snotlout.
 * Alvin was banished from Berk 20 years ago, though the reason remains unknown until the next episode. It did involve several forms of treachery (hence his name).
 * Stoick captured at the end is similar to the ninth book, when Stoick was captured by Excellinor.
 * Though Alvin has appeared in the first half of two-part episodes before, this is the first time he had a major role.
 * Alvin and Snotlout talking to each other might be loosely based on the books when Snotlout was working for Alvin.
 * The Dragon Root that Dagur planted must have had a much stronger effect on the Dragons than it did in A Tale of Two Dragons, because they were willing to attack their respective riders.
 * It's shown that not only the riders but the villagers also dislike Snotlout as they started celebrating when they thought he was dead and were thoroughly disappointed when he revealed himself to be alive.