Family on the Edge

Family on the Edge is the eleventh episode of Season 3 of Race to the Edge. It was released on Netflix on June 24, 2016.

Overview
When Dagur unexpectedly shows up on the Edge, Hiccup quickly scrambles up a plan to prevent him and Heather from discovering each other's presence.

Plot
Hiccup and the Riders are doing a daily battle training with their dragons as they prepare to execute a surprise attack on Viggo's shipyard. After the training, Hiccup and Toothless return to their hut in order to rest, but as they enter they shockingly discover Dagur inside, using Hiccup's Inferno sword, Hiccup asks Dagur what brings his presence in the Edge, Dagur tells Hiccup that he needs a dragon to cover more ground to find his sister, as a boat is frustrating enough to find her. Despite knowing that he saved their lives, Hiccup tells he cannot train a dragon for Dagur as he claims he's busy, Dagur easily understands and suggests that he instead goes on a tour of the island and meet and apologize to each of the Riders, Hiccup quickly pulls him back accepting that he'll train a dragon for Dagur as long as Dagur goes to the far side of the island and meet Hiccup tomorrow for training, Dagur happily agrees.

Moments later, Hiccup arrives by the main table in the Dragon headquarters just when Tuffnut has finished telling a funny story. Hiccup pretends to chuckle along with the rest of the Riders but then breaks the mood by asking of Dagur's whereabouts. The Riders appear to show little care for Dagur and wonder why Hiccup even brought him up. Hiccup reminds them that Dagur saved Heather from Viggo but Astrid calls it a ploy. Hiccup remains persistent and says it could have been Dagur's first step towards redemption. Heather reacts to Hiccup's words with anger, shocking everyone when she nearly splits the dining table in two with her axe. She doesn't believe for a second that Dagur could ever be prone to change, and reminds them that he was the one who killed her father.

After an awkward moment of silence, Heather suggests she should leave for patrol but Hiccup quickly reassigns her. He tells her to join Snotlout on another reconnaissance mission by the shipyard instead, in case of any last minute changes on their target. Both Heather and Snotlout seem unconvinced by his reasoning but nonetheless agree to go.

The next day, Hiccup and Toothless meet up with Dagur who is all eager to finally ride a dragon. Hiccup picks out a dragon for Dagur by calling it, Dagur is excited that the dragon he might get will be something epic and already creates a perfect name, Shattermaster. But Shattermaster is revealed to be a Gronckle, Dagur is not amused to ride it, but Hiccup reasons that he needs to start with the Gronckle first. On their first stage of training, Hiccup and Dagur make little progress although Dagur has finally earned the Gronckle's trust. When Hiccup, Dagur and their dragons crash in a flying exercise, Hiccup bends his prosthetic leg unable to fly Toothless, Dagur grabs it and tries to fix it but ends up destroying it instead. Hiccup then tells Dagur to stay put with Toothless and to not do anything until he gets back. As Hiccup and Shattermaster leave to return to the Edge, Dagur and Toothless share glances at each other on how to pass the time.

Dagur and Toothless fly throughout the woods, until Toothless recoils and Dagur crashes, but as he gets up, an axe appears dangerously nears him and discovers the Riders have found him, Fishlegs asks in a serious tone to Dagur of what has he done with Hiccup as he holds up a piece of Hiccup's old prosthetic leg. Moments later, Dagur is tied up and taken to the arena for interrogation, Dagur tries to tells them that he has done nothing to Hiccup but they are still in disbelief. Fortunately though, Hiccup walks in to break the feud as Astrid puts him under a lot of questions. At the Edge's main hall, Hiccup finishes telling the story of how he and Dagur met and how he saved their lives from the Hunters. Hiccup explains why he didn't tell them at first is because he wasn't sure of how they would feel when they hear it and so was he, Tuffnut then asks why is Hiccup training a dragon for him, Dagur answers saying that he's looking for Heather. As the Twins are about to tell Dagur that Heather is here, Hiccup cuts in telling Fishlegs would be now his new mentor to train Shattermaster for him, Dagur accepts and is excited to be taught by Fishlegs. Hiccup is relieved as he managed to prevent the Twins from telling Heather's presence.

Hours later, Hiccup and Astrid discusses on their plot to attack the shipyard in surprise with their own scale model of the location, but Astrid suggests that they talk about Dagur's presence instead. Astrid strongly objects Hiccup's claims that Dagur is trying to change himself, as she suspects that Dagur being nice is a ploy as a spy to lure them into the Dragon Hunters' hands. But Hiccup then adds that he is not blind of the risks his going, as he tells Astrid he trusts Dagur because Toothless trusted him to let Dagur ride him when Hiccup was about to be taken to the Dragon Hunters' ship. Astrid just hopes that their trust on Dagur is justified. Hiccup then asks Astrid to check on Dagur's progress with Fishlegs. To be safe, Astrid puts a blanket on top of their scale model in order to prevent Dagur seeing it, but unbeknownst, a single model of a Dragon Hunter ship falls to the floor.

As Astrid and Hiccup check on Dagur they discover he has made a significant progress on his training as Fishlegs describes him to be a fast learner, he even invents a new technique to the Gronckle called the Inverted drop and they both demonstrate it to Hiccup and Astrid, Hiccup is amazed while Astrid is not. Fishlegs suggests that this new move can be useful for their mission, Hiccup silently gestures to Fishlegs to not mention it with Dagur. Hiccup tells them that's a wrap for their training but Dagur is eager for more, Astrid agrees as she volunteers to train him instead. Although Astrid shows mistrust and mocks Dagur, Dagur remains calm as best he can, while Hiccup and Fishlegs fly back.

Hours later, Astrid is impressed as he's done much better progress than Snotlout, Astrid gives one last advise to Dagur by telling him to go into loops with his dragon with the Sun on his back so that his enemy will be blinded and achieving evasion. They finally decide to head back, while doing so, Dagur tells Astrid he really is trying to change but Astrid does show small sympathy as Hiccup trusts him, but he quickly adds that if he is proven wrong she'll gladly send Dagur to Valhalla herself.

That night, Dagur spends good time with the Twins and their chicken, while Astrid and Hiccup watch from a distance. Astrid asks Hiccup if he is going to tell Heather about Dagur's presence, Hiccup says it is impossible and suggests that making Dagur able to fly a dragon of his own before sundown is their only chance to avoid the two meeting. Unfortunately, Heather and Snotlout arrived early and Hiccup and Astrid gasps in shock as Heather spots Dagur immediately. When Dagur sees her he steps closer to her to give a hug but Heather instead angrily charges him with her weapon.

But Heather barely touches him with her weapon, instead she punches him hard. Moments later, Dagur is in disbelief that Hiccup kept Heather from him as he seems dearly worried for his own sister, but Heather is disgusted by his 'act', and then turns to Hiccup who is angrily disappointed in him by not only trying to keep Dagur away from her but also training a dragon for him, Hiccup reasons that Dagur save his life but Heather quickly disregards it and sees the same way as Astrid, setting them up in a trap for their big mission tomorrow. Furthermore, Heather summarizes everything Dagur has done wrong, including the murder of his father. But Dagur tells that 'most if not all' of Heather says about Dagur's actions were true but nonetheless pleads that he is trying to change. Heather quickly discards it angrily, saying he is a spy, Dagur again tries to deny it but he has no solid proof in how to show it, so he asks that they take his word, but Dagur realizes none will do so. With no other option to prove his change of heart, Dagur depressingly thank their hospitality as he suggests that he and his dragon leave and he walks out crying. Heather still shows no sign of remorse towards him, but Hiccup decides to talk with him before he leaves.

As Dagur wanders out on the Edge, he discovers the fallen scale model Dragon Hunter ship and uncovers the veil revealing the Riders' whole plot on the shipyard, Hiccup quickly discovers this and asks his doing. Dagur tells Hiccup that he keep hearing about their 'mission' so he suggests that he inspects it, he emphasizes that he does not want Heather in danger even though his sister hates him. Hiccup explains the location and the shipyard's status, Dagur sees that the shipyard is all too easy for an attack, making him believe that Hiccup is being too gullible by what he has observed about the shipyard. But before they could discuss it any further, Astrid discovers them and quickly charges with her daggers accusing Dagur that he is a spy but Dagur again tells him he's not and just giving Hiccup advise on the plot. Astrid then tells Hiccup that he has seen enough of their plan and suggests that he be lock up, Dagur does not resist and accepts imprisonment but marks Hiccup saying that if his sister is harmed in any way, he will grudgingly hold Hiccup responsible for it.

As Shattermaster and Dagur are locked up by Hiccup, Astrid and Heather, Dagur asks why are they attacking now as he guesses that the number of ships on the shipyard had gone up, Hiccup confirms his guess saying that the ship numbers have gone up from 8 to 12, Dagur shouts saying that it obviously has because Viggo and the Hunters were already expecting them from the start, but Hiccup does not believe Dagur's claim.

The next morning, Hiccup is still having doubts about their plot and that it maybe a trap implied by Dagur but Astrid and Heather tell Hiccup otherwise, still accusing him of a spy. Suddenly, news break out that Dagur and Shattermaster have broken out of their cell, Hiccup suspects Dagur is heading out to the shipyard and is supposedly going to inform the Hunters of the Riders' imminent attack. They catch up to him, and Heather quickly goes in for the kill but using what he has learned from the Fishlegs and Astrid, Dagur evades Heather easily but does not harm her. Dagur closes in on the shipyard, Hiccup suggests they go in now before they could react to Dagur giving out the message of their plot. As Dagur appears from the fog, he announces to the Hunters that he has a message for Viggo, but not of the Riders' plot, but instead says 'hello' menacingly and attacks the ships.

As expected, a number of hiding Hunters reveal themselves proving Dagur that it was a trap for the Riders but instead he decides to face it himself. Meanwhile, Hiccup holds their assault and realizes that Dagur was right all along as the Hunters exposes their ambush. Dagur and Shattermaster significantly deal damage to a number of crew and ships, but the Hunters fight back hard and Dagur and Shattermaster are beginning to struggle. Facing arrows and fireballs at every direction, Dagur and Shattermaster make their final stand as Dagur loudly tells his dragon to show the Hunters what they are capable of, they charge into the vast number of Hunters prepared to face them, a great level of destruction Dagur reigns upon them as thick smoke and explosions all around cover their battle, but inevitably Dagur and Shattermaster are both supposedly killed in the end, as a dagger from Dagur falls to the ocean confirms their "deaths". Seeing this, Hiccup becomes fearful and tries to go in but Astrid tells him it's too late and they both decide to head back, Hiccup feeling guilt-ridden. Heather remains and watches momentarily as she too heads back. Meanwhile, the cheers from the Hunters are heard as they managed to fend off their attacker while the destroyed ships continues to burn down.

Back at the Edge, Hiccup finishes packing all the scale model materials of the shipyard into a container signifying the conclusion of their mission there, he begins to feel guilty that he should have listen to Dagur and Astrid adds that Dagur still went in even though it was a trap. Snotlout tries to cheer them up a bit by saying they never saw his body go down in the water, and asks that maybe there was a chance of him being alive. Fishlegs tells the Riders that he will never forget Dagur's sacrifice to the Riders, but Heather suddenly jumps in saying that her 'brother' would never thought of sacrificing himself but actually he thought he would make it because of his ego, but Hiccup's only response was his surprised look and tells Heather that he never heard her mention Dagur as her 'brother'. Heather gasps and then suddenly suggests she needs some rest.

As she walks into her room she discovers a note written by Dagur left out on her bed. When she reads the note while walking outside, she discovers that Dagur intended to do the mission not just for them, but for his sister's own safety, even when he knew it was possible he wouldn't make it out alive. The note then says to tell their 'little brother' Hiccup, that if he wants to hurt Viggo, sabotaging his dragon auctions will do the trick. Lastly, Dagur finally reveals to her that their father, Oswald the Agreeable, was not killed by him but instead went missing, and when rumors spread that Dagur killed him, he accepted the story to be true in order to prove he could be a strong Cheif. Dagur confesses his past mistakes and says he could not rest in peace until he finally revealed to her the truth and then tells her to 'be safe' as the note ends.

After reading her brother's note, Heather realizes the truth as tears drip onto the paper followed by rain. She cries to herself as the rain falls harder, finally forgiving her older brother.

Transcript
The transcript for this episode is here.

Trivia

 * This episode reveals that Oswald wasn't killed by Dagur, but yet missing.
 * Shattermaster is introduced in this episode.

Errors

 * Snotlout appeared with Astrid, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut when they found Dagur in the woods, when he was really with Heather scouting for their mission.
 * Its possible Hiccup send Snotlout to distract Heather to give some time to explain to Heather about Dagur.