Valka / Biography

Background
"One night, a dragon broke into our house, finding you in the cradle, I rushed to protect you. But what I saw was proof of everything I believed. This wasn't a vicious beast, but an intelligent, gentle creature, whose soul reflected my own."

- Valka, explaining the truth of her disappearance



During a battle on Berk against the Berserkers under Oswald the Antagonistic, she fought them with only her fists. After which Stoick and Valka celebrated their victory by singing a song and dancing together.("Burning Midnight") Stoick would later present to her a betrothal gift("Sandbusted") and then married her. Some time after they had a son, whom they named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. About 15 years prior to the events of the first movie, it was revealed Valka had spent years protesting against the war with the dragons but no one on Berk ever listened to her. During one particular attack, a large four-winged dragon broke into the Haddock house, prompting Valka to rush in to protect an infant Hiccup. When she saw the Stormcutter however, she realized that it was not attacking but was instead merely curious about the human infant, even if accidentally giving him a scar in the process. The dragon then approached Valka and the two appeared to make a connection as she saw that everything she had believed about dragons was true. Stoick burst his way into the room and threw an ax in between the Stormcutter and Valka, thinking the dragon was threatening his family. Most likely thinking that Stoick was actually attacking her, the Stormcutter grabbed Valka and flew off with her in its grasp, leaving Stoick and the rest of Berk to believe she had been killed.

Valka was instead taken to the Dragon Sanctuary, the home to a giant white dragon known as the Bewilderbeast along with thousands of other dragons. Valka decided to stay with the dragons, believing Stoick and Hiccup would be better off without her interference in the war between Viking and Dragon. Accepting the fact that Berk could not make peace with the dragon no matter how she had pleaded, Valka soon made it her life's work to rescue other dragons from Drago Bludvist and his trappers. With the help of the dragon who brought her there, Cloudjumper, Valka spent the next 20 years learning the secrets of every dragon species out there.

Prior to the beginning of the second film, Valka had managed to break into Eret and his trappers' fort where she, Cloudjumper, and her Bewilderbeast destroyed it and freed the trapped dragons.

How to Train Your Dragon (film)
Due to her presumed death, Valka doesn't appear in person during the first film or the subsequent television series, but is mentioned several times.

During the events of the first film, Hiccup is given a helmet made from half of Valka's breastplate armor as a reward for his success in Dragon Training. Stoick's helmet is made from the other half to keep her close. In Gift of the Night Fury, a passing dragon knocks the helmet off Hiccup's head when he and Toothless are out flying. After Hiccup gives him a new tail that allows him to fly solo, Toothless flies off for nearly four days looking for it. During Toothless' absence, Stoick tries to comfort Hiccup, saying he knows what it's like to miss someone you love, referring to Valka.

How to Pick Your Dragon
It is revealed Stoick met Gobber after catching him talking to Valka. His first words to him were "That's my wife you're talking to, you one-legged lout!".

Breakneck Bog
It is heavily focused on Valka. Hiccup and his friends search for a lost gift that she allegedly gave her son, a plush dragon toy with Hiccup's name stitched on the sides. When he was very young, Hiccup was afraid of dragons and resented the toy, prompting him to throw it in the sea one day while fishing. As Valka disappeared when Hiccup was still a baby, he later worried that he would forget about his mother, so the toy dragon now meant a lot to him.

Imperfect Harmony
Valka was brought up by Stoick when he and the council were discussing Hiccup's desire for exploring beyond the Archipelago. He mentioned how when she was taken away he never stopped searching for her and no one else stopped him.

Have Dragon Will Travel, Part 2
Stoick briefly mentioned how Valka was willing to feed him to wild boars when she found out that Gobber was making a baby-sized axe for Hiccup right after he was born.

Sandbusted
Hiccup mentions that the betrothal gift that he gives to Astrid had once been given to his mother by Stoick when they exchanged gifts at their betrothal.

How to Train Your Dragon 2
20 years after her abduction, Valka and Cloudjumper encounter another rider on the back of a Night Fury, mistaking him for one of Drago's men or trappers. Using some of the other dragons that are flying with her, she captures the boy and brings him to a cave at the Sanctuary with the intent to interrogate him. Valka is intrigued by the boy's knowledge of dragons as he gently calms down her own dragons as they approach him. One of her dragons brings in the Night Fury and she is amazed by how close the pair of them are. Valka approaches them both, pacifying the Night Fury in submission before she notices the small scar on the young man's chin. Valka realizes that it is Hiccup, the son she thought she would never see again, questioning how it is possible before revealing her identity to him.

Valka shows Hiccup all the things she's learned about the dragons, including the existence of the Bewilderbeast and her work protecting the dragons. She also reveals the truth of when she disappeared and helps both Hiccup and Toothless learn new skills to aid in their flying. Regretful for how she had not been there for him during his childhood, she asks her son for a chance to start over, a chance that Hiccup happily accepts. However, despite her renewed relationship with Hiccup, she refuses to help him in his quest to find Drago.

Later, Valka is reunited with Stoick and Gobber after the pair of them follow Hiccup in an attempt to bring him home. Expecting Stoick to be mad at her, Valka tries to justify her reasons for not returning home, that the people of Berk could not change and believing Hiccup would be better off without her. But Stoick is only moved to see her again, which causes her to cry. While Valka is still initially uneasy to be around Stoick again, her uncertainty fades when he begins to sing a song from years before. Stoick asks Valka to come home, which she accepts.

However, the family reunion is cut short when Drago and his army attack the Sanctuary. Valka, her family and the den's dragons join her to defend themselves against Drago and save the dragons under his capture. She has a brief skirmish with Drago who reveals that he has a Bewilderbeast of his own. After Valka's Bewilderbeast is killed in the ensuing fight between the two dragons, Drago orders his Bewilderbeast to finish her but she is saved from death after Stoick intervenes. From afar, Valka watches as Drago forces Toothless to turn against Hiccup thanks to the Bewilderbeast and becomes heartbroken when Stoick sacrifices himself to save Hiccup from the dragon's fire. She attempts to quell her son's grief, knowing that Toothless was forced to do the act against his own will. Valka acts as one of the Vikings who perform the traditional ceremony for Stoick, using her bow to set his ship on fire. Even with all the dragons being taken by Drago, as well as her husband's death, Valka still comforts Hiccup, encouraging him that he is the only one who can bring the world of Vikings and dragons together.

Valka, Hiccup and the other dragon riders ride the baby Scuttleclaws to Berk and sees that Drago has frozen most of the island with his Bewilderbeast. She watches with encouragement as Hiccup frees Toothless from Drago's control until the two of them are frozen in the Alpha's ice. Though Valka initially fears her son's death, she watches in astonishment as Toothless breaks Hiccup and himself free from the ice with a unique blast. She is again astonished as Toothless challenges the Alpha to protect Hiccup and eventually triumphs over Drago and his Bewilderbeast. Now reunited with Cloudjumper, Valka fulfills her promise of moving to Berk along with all her dragons from the Sanctuary.

The Serpent’s Heir
Valka then spoke to her son about the tribe's slow acceptance of Hiccup as their new chief. She then went with Hiccup and the other riders to Nepenthe to help it's people with the tremors.