Deathgripper

The Deathgripper is a medium-sized Strike Class dragon that first appeared in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

Official Description
"Deathgrippers are a monstrous species with their protruding tusks, foreclaw pincers, and poisonous clubbed tails. Traveling in packs like wild dogs, Deathgrippers enjoy hunting for prey and should be avoided at all costs."

- Dragonpedia Stat Cards

Development
"We want to make every one of our dragons interesting and intriguing, so the idea for the Deathgrippers was that they could reveal a scorpion pincer from the tail, or they could protrude their tusks and pull them in, or do other things to get themselves into a heightened, surprising state by changing aspects of their body."

- Simon Otto According to Dean DeBlois, the Deathgrippers were designed by Jean Francois Rey.

According to Simon Otto, Deathgrippers were inspired by scorpions, black widow spiders, and hunting dogs.

Egg
In School of Dragons, the Deathgripper egg is large and oval, with scale patterns all over it. It is red in color, with dark blue, almost black, circular stripes.

Hatchling to Adult
Deathgrippers are medium-sized dragons with long, sharp tusks protruding out from their lower jaws and a row of armored plates lining on their backs. They have yellow eyes and their coloration is mainly red with black spots and stripes. The tails of Deathgrippers are telescopic, just like a Razorwhip's, and are tipped with a venomous scorpion-like stinger.

In place of front legs, Deathgrippers possess jagged, razor-sharp pincers similar to that of a mantis. Its back legs are shorter and thinner with two claws on each of them.

Titan Wing
"A Titan Deathgripper embraces a mighty appearance, with its bold long tusks and a highly venomous pin-like tail used to spike their prey in a matter of seconds!"

- School of Dragons Titan Wing Deathgrippers are much bigger than the adults. They have two more tusks, one on the each side of their mouths. Their spikes and claws increase in size and are much sharper. Their stingers become longer and their tails become thicker, especially towards their ends.

Acid Blasts
"These dragons are no joke, Deathgrippers can launch green acidic blasts that are able to melt through nearly anything imaginable."

- School of Dragons Deathgrippers are capable of launching long streams of acid at their intended targets. The acid is green and highly flammable, often catching fire when exposed to oxygen, allowing it to destroy wood, stone, and metal very easily.

Venomous Sting
"Deathgrippers have a fascinating control over their own venom. One strike from a Deathgripper's tail paralyzes the prey. A second strike puts it out of its misery. A third strike makes the body of the prey poisonous to the touch!"

- World of Dragons Deathgrippers possess a scorpion-like stinger at the tip of their telescopic tails, which they use to inject their venom that has sedative effects on humans and other dragons. The sting is surrounded by four big scales, hiding it when not used.

The venom also boasts a potent hypnotic effect that expert hunters make use of to control their intended quarry. Through an injection apparatus strapped to the head, the Deathgripper's venom can warp the minds of the infected into helpless obedience.

Strength and Combat
Deathgrippers are considerably strong dragons, as four of them are able to carry Grimmel's airship over long distances with no signs of struggle. A single Deathgripper was able to knock Cloudjumper in mid-flight. Three of the hunter's Deathgrippers burst through the roof of a rock tower and tried to chase the Dragon Riders down with ease.

Endurance and Stamina
Deathgrippers are able to survive with almost no wounds after being buried under the wreckage of a rock tower.

They have large amounts of stamina, as seen by four of them, who are able to travel long distances while also carrying an airship, without showing any signs of exhaustion.

Retractable Tusks
Deathgrippers possess forward facing tusks that can retract backwards into its lower jaw to be hidden and extend to impale prey.

Speed and Agility
Deathgrippers are fast in the air and on land. They can fly fast enough to catch up to a Night Fury and move quickly to land deadly strikes on their victims.

Acute Senses
Deathgrippers have a well-developed sense of smell and hearing. They knew that Hiccup and the Dragon Riders were inside Grimmel's tower as soon as they entered.

Intelligence
Being Strike Class dragons, Deathgrippers have a high level of intelligence. This was demonstrated by Grimmel's Deathgrippers, who were able to understand commands through the hunter's whistles.

Weaknesses
Deathgrippers are not immune to their own venom, and it can even be used against them, such as when Grimmel used it to drug six of them into complete obedience.

Behavior and Personality
"They are highly attentive of their surroundings and prepared for the unexpected, allowing them to indomitable become leaders in the sky."

- School of Dragons Dean DeBlois describes Deathgrippers as "grotesque creatures" and "vicious dragon killers". They also tend to live and travel in packs, as well as play with their prey before killing it.

Training
As shown in School of Dragons, Deathgrippers can be trained. If a person saves a Deathgripper's life, the dragon will be grateful towards its savior, and even allow itself to be ridden.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Grimmel the Grisly managed to drug six Deathgrippers with their own venom, subjecting them to complete obedience so that they would only listen to his commands. The famed hunter was assisted by the Deathgrippers throughout his numerous hunting expeditions, including his quest to capture and kill Toothless. Ultimately, as they succeeded in forming a strong barrier around the latter and Hiccup in the sky, the Night Fury summoned lightning from the clouds that electrocuted the Deathgrippers and sent them falling into the ocean.

School of Dragons
Deathgrippers were added to the game in the update 3.0.0. as trainable dragons.

Trivia

 * The Deathgripper is the sixth dragon to have "death" in its name, with the first being the Red Death, the second being the Whispering Death, the third being the Screaming Death, the fourth being the Sweet Death, and the fifth being the Death Song.
 * It is also the second dragon to have the word "death" at the beginning of its name.
 * The Deathgripper bears resemblance to Cloudjumper's concept art and may also be based on it.
 * The Deathgripper is the fourth dragon that possesses a venomous stinger, with the first being the Speed Stinger, the second being the Stinger, and the third being the Triple Stryke.
 * The Deathgripper is the second dragon of the Strike Class that possesses a venomous stinger, and the first being the Triple Stryke.
 * The Deathgripper is the second dragon that possesses a telescopic tail, with the first being the Razorwhip.
 * The Deathgripper is the second dragon that possesses pincers as forelimbs, with the first being the Triple Stryke.
 * Coincidentally, they're both in the Strike Class, and so it is likely they're related.
 * The Deathgripper is one of the eight currently known dragons that is known eat other dragons.
 * The others are the Red Death, the Scauldron, the Changewing, the Death Song, the Slitherwing, male Razorwhips and the Grim Gnasher.
 * The Deathgripper is one of the nine dragon species that doesn't have forked tongue.
 * The others are the Flightmare, the Woolly Howl, the Snow Wraith, the Snaptrapper, the Dramillion, the Death Song, the Razorwhip and the Triple Stryke.
 * The Deathgripper's green flammable acid is similar to the properties of the wildfire from Game of Thrones.
 * The Deathgripper is similar to the Sabre-Tooth Driver Dragon from the books.
 * Coincidentally, one of Grimmel's Deathgrippers has a damaged eye as a nod and a resemblance to One Eye from the books.

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