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.

Official Desciption
"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

Early Life
Prior to the events of the film, Eret, son of Eret is a famous dragon trapper that used to work for Drago Bludvist. Eret sold hundreds of dragons to him to increase the bulk of Drago's dragon army.

He mentioned that he had ever turned up empty handed, and Drago 'rewarded' him by burning his insignia onto his chest.

However, Valka, along with her dragons, attacked his fort and the Bewilderbeast blasted it to bits with its icy breath, as shown in a deleted opening scene. Only one boat survived the catastrophe and a few men were still active, but lost all their trapped dragons. Despite the losses, Eret ordered his men to fill the boat with trapped dragons while heading back to Drago.

How to Train Your Dragon 2
"We've nowhere to go, nothing to sell, and no heads to call our own! If we don't turn up with dragons, and fast--"

- Eret to his men, moments before being grabbed by Stormfly

However, they spotted two dragon Riders who are Hiccup and Astrid. They hide and ambush them and they manage to trap Stormfly and are about to hold her captive, but Hiccup tries to stop them. Eret and his men are surprised to see another Night Fury, which they assumed were all extinct. Hiccup pleads to let go of Stormfly, but Eret blames them for the destruction of their fort, with Hiccup and Astrid becoming confused and they say that they absolutely have no idea how this happened. Eret tells them that he wants to capture their dragons and sell them for Drago Bludvist, as Drago is expecting a shipment from Eret and if Eret doesn't give him enough dragons, he'll double the pain and scar he gave to Eret when he didn't bring enough last time. While Hiccup claims that they are innocent and don't want any trouble, Eret signals his men to get ready and after he introduces himself, he orders his men to attack. Toothless, thinking quickly, fires the sharp solid ice and collapses towards at Eret. With time to spare, Hiccup quickly frees Stormfly and both of them manage to escape, though Eret warns them loudly that its not over and Drago is coming for them no matter what.

Later, Eret sets sail with his men and tells them that they must hastily fill their boat with dragons, to which they spot Hiccup and Astrid headed straight for them and orders his men to gear up. But, Hiccup claims to be surrendering and Astrid is shocked to hear it, and to make it easier Hiccup and Astrid volunteers to be the ones locked up underneath the boat because their dragons doesn't like cramped spaces. Eret is confused, and Hiccup suddenly gives his weapon to his men. Eret's men, curious, opens it up and sprays green gas which is actually Zippleback gas. Aware that it only takes a spark to ignite it, Eret flees out of the blast radius and is unharmed when it sparked. Furious, he throws it out and Stormfly fetches it. Eret asks Hiccup what is he up to, Hiccup explains that he wants to see Drago and persuade him to change his mind about dragons. Eret laughs and tells him that it's impossible to change his mind, but Hiccup tells him that he himself can change his mind also. But before he can do anything, Hookfang suddenly grabs Hiccup, and discovers that Hiccup's dad has located him, Eret tells Stoick that he has picked the wrong ship to land on, but Stoick responds by pushing him back, and Eret loses his balance and gets pinned by Grump, struggling to breath. Eret witnesses Hiccup and Stoick's argument with each other, and is a bit touched what Hiccup said of still trying to persuade Drago's mind and his father's too. He gets annoyed with Ruffnut after she tried to flirt with him, which he has no interest at with.

Hours later, Eret and his men are lost. They have no idea if they should go back or continue their journey to Drago, but they haven't trapped a single dragon. Suddenly, he gets lifted into the air and his men fail trying to set him free. It turns out it's Astrid and the gang again as they plot to kidnap him in order to find out Drago's location. But Eret keeps his mouth shut and would rather 'die'. Astrid agrees and lets Stormfly lets go of Eret, who, scared of plummeting to his death, finally agrees to lead them the way to Drago. Stormfly catches him in time. Later, they arrive at Drago's encampment as the Riders land, Eret tries to flee but gets pummeled by Stormfly and keeping him trapped to make sure he doesn't alert the enemy. Eret demands to be freed, to which Astrid replies never to take a Dragon's toy away.

After the Riders are discovered, Eret is taken prisoner by Drago's forces, along with the Riders and their Dragons. Eret claims he captured the Riders and their Dragons, and that he'll give them to him freely. However, after Astrid reveals that Berk has Dragon Riders, Drago becomes enraged at Eret, claiming he led them to his camp, despite Eret saying he doesn't need to worry about anything. Nevertheless, Eret is ordered to be executed too.

Eret, however, manages to escape with the Riders, and helps them find their Dragons. He finds Stormfly in one of the traps, and befriends her, claiming he wants to do something in return for her saving his life.

As the Battle at the Dragon Sanctuary starts, Eret rides Stormfly along with Astrid. After the battle, he too is present at Stoick's ship and shoots a burning arrow at it. Afterwards, he flies with the rest to the Isle of Berk on a Scuttleclaw. There, he helps to distract Drago's Bewilderbeast by catapulting sheep at it.

After Hiccup and Toothless defeat the Bewilderbeast and drive him and his master from Berk, Eret claims that Hiccup would be a good trapper, and he did some nice dragon wrangling. He is then approached by Skullcrusher, who Hiccup claims needs someone to take care of him, now that Stoick is dead. Eret happily accepts this, thinking of it as an honor and joins into the Dragon Race at the end of the film.

Burning Midnight
Sometime after Drago's defeat, Eret and the other riders were in a cave together, sharing stories about Stoick.

School of Dragons
In V.2.0, School of Dragons is updated for after the events of the second movie, adding Eret and Valka. He is seen by the docks at the Training Grounds or Auction Island.

Eret assists in the quest to find Harald Forkbeard. Thanks to his former profession, he takes the player to Auction Island. Not only do they retrieve a map to Harald's drop off point, but helps release a Singetail some Hunters had captured. When they head to Hobblegrunt Island however, there was no sign of him.

Eret later takes the player and Skulder the Archaeologist back to Auction Island when they hear about a tooth from the Red Death that could turn dragons to stone. It turns out the stone dragons were actually fossils, and they also manage to get some Sagefruit from one of the Hunters. Later on, Eret helps the player locate an Eruptodon for a solution to the build up in the volcano on DragonIsland that was creating a toxic fog.

Eret sneaks the player into the Hunters' hideout to retrieve the Dragon Cry, a device that can mimic dragon calls, as well as Berk's gold they lost to Viggo. They manage to get back the lost items, and use the Dragon Cry as a chance to escape.

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 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 facade, 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 seem to only bond closely with a few selected individuals, namely Hiccup and Astrid.

By the time of The Serpent's Heir, Eret is more of 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.

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 amount of dragons in Drago's army, as well as the amount of dragons escaping his fortress in the original deleted opening scene, he can be considered to be quite good at his job.

Dragon Training & 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 Skills
He have shown to be strong enough to handle Drago's men, to knock them out and his combat is excellent as well.

Endurance and Stamina
He was able to take the attack from Gobber's weapon on the head that clearly didn't knock him out of couches, 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 capture 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 riders' 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, returns 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 do 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 fire 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.

Quotes
"Is that what I think it is?"

"Dragon trapping is hard enough work without do-gooder dragon riders sneaking in to rescue them."

"(indicates his scar) This is what he gave me this the last time I showed up empty handed. He promised to be far less understanding in the future."

"You will never hold onto those dragons, you hear me?! Drago is coming for them all!"

"What game are you playing?"

"You won't be changing any minds around here."

"Get this thing... off me!"

"We've nowhere to go, nothing to sell, and no heads to call our own!"

"If we don't turn up with dragons, and fast . .."

"And help dragon riders sneak into Drago's camp?! Just kill me now."

"Alright! OK! I'll take you to Drago!"

"Why does this keep happening to me?"

"And as an added bonus, I also caught you their riders. No extra charge."

"Look's refreshing. Please, ladies first."

"So, we going to save your dragons and get out of here, or not?"

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

"Have you forgotten who you're riding with? There isn't a dragon alive that I can't wrangle! WHOA, except for this one!"

"That was some pretty fine dragon wrangling back there. You'd make a good trapper."

"(Hiccup suggesting Eret take care of Skullcrusher) Me? I'd be honored."

Trivia

 * E421da978d01716d86b53a9e4f466338-d7fy77i.gifut had a crush on him, though the feeling is not mutual.
 * The pin on Eret's fur vest resembles a Stormcutter.
 * Eret is similar in personality to Han Solo, according to Matt Paulson, the modelling 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 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 the Burning Midnight comic, Eret is shown to have 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.
 * Alternatively, it may be a copy of the Returnwing, a boomerang invented by Hiccup in Dreamworks Press: Dragons.
 * 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 from Game of Thrones.

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