Barf and Belch

"What we can't get you is another Barf and Belch."

- Hiccup to the Twins

Barf and Belch are Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston's Hideous Zippleback who first appeared in How to Train Your Dragon. Their names were first revealed in Dragons: Riders of Berk.

Official Description
"Much like the twins who ride them, Barf & Belch spend more time bickering than working in concert. The only time they do see eye-to-eye, however, is when enjoying a nice display of destruction — usually caused by Ruffnut & Tuffnut!"

- Dragonpedia

"A truly twin-sane Dragon! They only seem to see eye-to-eye when surrounded by destruction... usually caused by Ruffnut and Tuffnut!"

- Dragons: Rise of Berk

"Like many twins, Barf and Belch spend most of their time bickering. The only time they do see eye-to-eye, however, is during a full display of destruction - they can bite their own tails and set themselves on fire, taking the form of a flaming wheel."

- Dragonpedia stat card

Physical Appearance
Barf and Belch have the appearance of a normal Zippleback. Despite the heads' resemblances towards each other, there are minor differences between them. The horn on Barf's nose is slightly more curved than Belch's, and Barf's longest teeth are in the back of his jaw while Belch's are in front. Barf's skin is also slightly lighter than Belch's. The skin color and tooth differences disappear by the time of the second movie (from what has been seen in images, this is most likely a production goof). Barf and Belch are 66 feet long, have a 38 feet wingspan and weigh about 6,036 pounds.

Personality
"They say two heads are better than one; which is often true, but four heads? Eh, that's a few heads too many."

- Hiccup Barf and Belch have the personality of a normal Zippleback; however, they have a laughable sense of humor. They enjoy doing the tasks Ruffnut and Tuffnut tell them to do, but they are in constant quarrel because of the fact that they sometimes have to listen to two different commands they are unable to do. Despite this, they usually help the Twins with their pranks. Barf and Belch often get annoyed with their riders' constant bickering — which once led to them going wandering around Berk after the Twins started issuing contradictory commands to each head — but both are willing to protect their riders at any costs. For example, when Torch first approached Tuffnut as an adult, although the dragon only stayed because Belch didn't want to leave him, both were willing to fight what appeared to be a wild Typhoomerang in order to protect him and they left the cave that they were supposed to stay in during Astrid's harsh training session to find Ruffnut whom they felt was in danger. They are very in sync with their riders, mimicking several actions of them, such as their 'high-fives' and affectionate head-butts. They have also been seen fighting at the same time as their riders are bickering.

Abilities and Skills
Barf and Belch seem to have the normal abilities of a regular Zippleback, although some of their abilities and gain skills are heightened due to training under Ruffnut and Tuffnut.


 * Strength: Barf and Belch are very strong, for they have been seen to be able to lift up heavy objects with their claws. Both claws can lift up a weight of two heavy grown adult Vikings. They didn't budge when Toothless tried dragging them off the roof and they can carry heavy Vikings on their neck, like Fishlegs. Barf and Belch have strong jaws but can hold back their full strength. They are also able to carry the Titan Wing Dramillion with little effort and without the aid of other dragons.


 * Head-butt: Thanks to their long necks, Barf and Belch retract their heads then slam them into their opponents. They also use this to play "Bat the Nut," which is knocking their riders back and forth while they dangle from ropes. They are also able to knock down a massive Eruptodon statue to slow down lava from destroying the Defenders of the Wing's village. ("Defenders of the Wing, Part 2")


 * Agility: This is seen in the battle against the Red Death when they manage to avoid sudden bursts of fire. Despite claiming that Zipplebacks are bad fliers, they are surprisingly agile. They have a very flexible body, but they can tangle their neck by accident.


 * Speed: Barf and Belch have the speed of an average Zippleback, but they were also able to catch up with the Skrill, although the Skrill had been slowed down slightly by Stormfly and Toothless. Their speed was shown to be able to catch up Toothless when following their hero Hiccup. ("The Zippleback Experience")


 * Gas and Spark: Barf is able to breathe a large amount of green gas. This gas confuses and disorients people, with the exception of the Thorston Twins. Belch is able to release an electric spark. When combined, they can make a large explosion. There are able to use this to make protection for Astrid and Stormfly. Their fire seems to burn on ice without melting it.


 * Stealth: Barf lets out a green, thick gas, which they use in order to hide. From there, they sneak up on unexpected enemies or prey, attacking them.


 * Intelligence and Communication Skills: They always know when their riders have gone too far in fighting and often take charge if they are in trouble. But, like their riders, they often fight with one another. Despite having learned hand signals, they occasionally misunderstand it. Like all Academy dragons, including Torch, Barf and Belch are trained in the basics of hand signals. Although, Barf will only obey Ruffnut's hand-signals and Belch will only obey Tuffnut's hand signals, though at first, it was hard for them, their trainers finally work as a team to become successful against their enemies. They also are able to send out distress signals. They have even thought of their own plan on how to save Hiccup and Toothless from the Outcasts by releasing out a large amount of gas to spark it as to hold them long enough for Hookfang and Stormfly to save them as their owners were in shock of seeing this on their own. They could understand their owners' feelings about not being allowed to stop the flow of lava that was coming to the village of the Defenders of the Wing, as they used the statue of the Great Protector to hold it off for short period as they wanted to make their owners feel proud for training them.


 * Endurance and Stamina: Endurance and stamina, as was demonstrated several times shown to be good for their kind. They are shown to still get up after getting hit by the Skrill and Night Fury combination attack from falling in high speed on a sea stack to be able to fly well. Even got back on their feet from getting hit by Typhoomerang from a distance.


 * Stone Carving: As shown in "Crash Course", Barf and Belch have been trained to gas and spark certain areas in rocks, carving faces, and other objects into rock walls.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston
They met for the first time in the Arena, where Barf and Belch attacked them just like the other teens. Later, Hiccup helped the two of them to train Barf and Belch, forging a strong bond between the four. In the television series, not many episodes are focused on the relationship between these three. However, it can be assumed they care greatly for one another. The Twins were bickering over who Barf and Belch belonged to. When they couldn't get to an agreement, they both decided to stop with anything dragon or sibling related. However, in "Twinsanity", when the gang told them Dagur wanted to decapitate them in order to get their blood for the treaty, they were determined to save them. Tuffnut claimed Barf and Belch is his 'totally awesome dragon', which he shared with his 'totally not-awesome sister'.

Tuffnut once commented that he hated smart dragons, which is why he loves Belch. Despite each twin caring about their specific half of Barf and Belch, they do in fact care for both personalities of the dragon.

During the events of "In Dragons We Trust", the Twins are each shown hugging both Barf and Belch farewell after Mildew's trickery gets all dragons banished from Berk.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
Hiccup met them for the first time in the Arena, where Barf and Belch were in front of him about to attack him, but were afraid of the eel that Hiccup use as his defense against them. Hiccup used this eel to bring them back to their cage. Hiccup even tried to protect them from Dagur by hiding the Zippleback, but they wouldn't listen to him much at all. Hiccup was also able to get on both of their heads to free Tuffnut from the dragon trap, but he was unsuccessful in doing so.

In "The Zippleback Experience", Hiccup and Toothless save them from death from falling off a cliff, for which the dragon owes Hiccup a life debt. Throughout the episode, they show a huge amount of loyalty to him by offering him fish and protecting him from harm until they repay their debt by saving his life.

Hookfang
Hookfang and Barf and Belch have been seen fighting several times, though for unknown reasons. Nevertheless, they have a good friendship with one another. Though the Twins have once stated that Barf and Belch had been cutting it close to saving them since they had been hanging around Hookfang too much.

Toothless
Toothless mostly interacts with Barf and Belch by trying to stop them from doing something wrong. By biting on their tail when trying to make them stop misbehaving when Dagur was in Berk ("Twinsanity") or stop them from chasing after the dragon root. ("No Dragon Left Behind")

In "The Zippleback Experience", Barf and Belch are shown to have respect for Toothless when getting saved from falling off the cliff, as they are shown to give fish and lick him, and help him to save Hiccup from the logs.

When Barf and Belch grow anxious when their riders have entered the lair of a Titan Wing Zippleback, Toothless comforts them by nuzzling their heads. ("A Gruff Separation")

Near the end of How to Train Your Dragon 2, Barf and Belch acknowledged Toothless as the new Alpha Dragon.

Dagur the Deranged
When Dagur came to the Isle of Berk to sign a peace treaty with Stoick, he claimed they needed dragon blood in order to sign it. This leads them to hunt Barf and Belch. Though Dagur tried to decapitate them, Barf and Belch escaped and defeated him with the aid of the other Riders and their Dragons. Barf and Belch later assisted Toothless in defeating Dagur's Skrill, trapping it in the ice once again.

Barf and Belch also defeated Dagur again three years later when he kidnapped Hiccup from Dragon's Edge. ("The Zippleback Experience")

Snotlout Jorgenson
Barf and Belch saved Snotlout when he became stuck on top of the Red Death. He tried to ride on Belch with Fishlegs on Barf when the dragon flew away after the Twins' fight in "Twinsanity" but found it to be difficult. Also, Snotlout tried to save this dragon from Dagur but he still believed that Dagur was still a cool guy, which Barf and Belch disliked what he said so attacked him.

When Snotlout thought he had lost Hookfang in "Total Nightmare" and the Riders suggested he replace his dragon he commented that he wouldn't ride a Zippleback because of the two heads. However, in "Maces and Talons, Part 1" when he accidentally swapped dragons with Ruffnut he enjoyed being a team with Tuffnut.

Meatlug
Meatlug was head-butted by Belch when they didn't have their owners for while. But they have shown to like her when Ruffnut got married to Fishlegs by accident as they nudge her, thinking they're going to be a happy family.

Trivia

 * Barf and Belch were originally supposed to be ridden by Fishlegs, and he briefly rode on Barf after the dragon flew away without the Twins, along with Snotlout, who rode on Belch.
 * On some occasions, Belch is shown igniting Barf's gas in the process of it being spewed out, creating a flamethrower-like effect.
 * While the Zippleback is able to "zip" its necks together in flight, the Twins riding on Barf and Belch's necks prevent them from doing so.
 * In "The Next Big Sting", Barf is stung by the Speed Stinger and paralyzed, yet strangely Belch is unaffected and even displayed full control of the body (while Barf went completely limp and was dragged around spewing fumes). Only after Belch is stung by the Lead Stinger does the entire body become paralyzed.
 * While the dragon is male, Barf and Belch are commonly referred to as "them" or "it", most likely due to the two heads being individuals.
 * The only episode where they are referred to as "he" is "Dragon Flower".
 * Belch's spark is portrayed variously in the series: sometimes it is a small burst of flame, sometimes it is two consecutive electrical sparks, and sometimes it is a prolonged, continuous firecracker-like spark (as seen when Belch lights Ruffnut's torch during "Macey's" Viking funeral).
 * Barf and Belch are one of the two only known Zipplebacks that has riders, this might be because you need two of them, in this case, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The other one is the Zippleback Mulch and Bucket own. ("Team Astrid") This seems to be partially correct since Hiccup was able to ride Barf and Belch on the back. ("The Zippleback Experience")
 * In How to Train Your Dragon, when they were approaching Hiccup, Barf and Belch spread their wings and start hissing, which is similar to the behavior of the Dilophosaurus in the film, Jurassic Park. Barf and Belch are never seen doing this again.
 * Barf and Belch seem to chase their tails when they are bored.
 * Although Ruffnut and Tuffnut share Barf and Belch, Tuffnut seems to be closer to both heads overall; when he was briefly trapped with only Barf and Belch for company, Tuffnut expressed regret that he and Barf didn't socialize much, but in How to Train Your Dragon 2 Ruffnut actively shoved Belch away in favor of welcoming Barf back after Toothless defeated Drago's Bewilderbeast, even if she clearly cares about the dragon as a whole as well as an individual.
 * Tuffnut said he disliked intelligent dragons, and that it was why he chose them.
 * Out of all the six Dragon Riders, Astrid is the only one who has not ridden Barf and Belch.