Monstrous Nightmare (Franchise)

"Only the best Vikings go after those."

- Hiccup talking about the Monstrous Nightmare. The Monstrous Nightmare is one of the most aggressive, powerful, and stubborn breeds of dragon known to Vikings. Before the Red Death was discovered, it was considered the most formidable dragon species.

Dragon Appearance
A Nightmare is usually purple, scarlet, or green and possesses a long, snake like neck and tail. Unlike some other breeds of dragon, it has no forelegs, and its ground-based locomotion is similar to that of pterosaurs; it can use its claw-tipped wings to "crawl" along the floor. Their horns might be used in the same way as other species of horned animals, use them, in order to fight other members of their species and as a visual display. Its stripe skin patterns seem to mimic that of a tiger's. Find more information on this here.

Behavior
By nature, the Monstrous Nightmare is fearless and proud. Nightmares are some of the strongest dragons around and they know it. They are extremely aggressive. In battle, they are the first to arrive and last to leave.

The best way to earn the trust of a Nightmare is simply to show it the respect it deserves. Placing a gentle hand on its snout and showing you are not a threat to it is the best way to go.

According to Gobber the Belch, the best way to engage a Nightmare is to clamp its mouth shut, leaving it unable to open its enormous jaws, much like a crocodile (however, the rest of the dragon is free to do whatever it wants). In Heather Report Part II, Snotlout revealed that the Monstrous Nightmare enjoys its horns being pinned to the ground, and Astrid was able to tame one by doing so.

Despite their name, Monstrous Nightmares are known to have a softer side. In Dragons: Wild Skies, their favorite food are scented flowers. In several points of Dragons: Riders of Berk, Hookfang occasionally dozed off or was distracted by butterflies or something else.

In the short animation the Bookof Dragons it is called by Gobber this beast.

Abilities and Weaponry
When born, baby Nightmares hatch fast and fiery. They are quick to be separated from the rest of the litter and assert their independence within minutes of their birth but this hasn't been confirmed as shown on the Dragon Breeding Island when some baby Nightmares were still with their parents. They were shown to be eager to join their parents when setting off the return migration to Berk but like all the others baby dragons, they are unable to fly due to their small wing and the strong winds that are preventing them to take off.

Just like their adults counterparts, baby Nightmares are skilled hunters and adaptive survivors. However, this hasn't been demonstrated in any known media yet.

While other baby dragons drools regularly, baby Nightmares are much different as they slobber packs of punch that their Kerosene gel composition makes it akin to lighter fluid.

Its signature attack is known as the "Fire Jacket". It engulfs itself in flames (according to Snotlout, by igniting the spit it coats itself in prematurely), resulting in an intimidating offensive and defensive maneuver similar in appearance to napalm or other gel-based incendiaries.

The Nightmare has also been observed to have a well developed sense of smell, as Hookfang was able to find Snotlout in 'Defiant One'. However, it is unknown how strong their sense of smell exactly is.

Nightmares, in terms of psychical weaponry, are supposedly one of the best armed Dragons known to Vikings. Their jaws are full of sharp, long teeth, which are said to be slightly venomous in the books. It is unknown if this is true for their movie counterparts as well. These jaws can also open wide enough to swallow a full grown Viking, as Hookfang demonstrated several times with Snotlout in the series. Their long, curved claws have also been to be used as weapons and have shown to be quite powerful, and they have been observed to use their tail as a club too. And although their horns could be a potential weapon, they haven't been seen using them in any known media.

Nightmares have shown to be quite fast, both on land, in water and in the air. Hookfang was able to catch up with Toothless in 'Thawfest', though it is very well possible that this was the result of Snotlout's training, and that a wild Nightmare isn't capable of this. Nightmares have also been observed to be fast and agile swimmers, as Hookfang proved. Its unknown how long they can stay under water, but it is possible Hookfang would have been able to hold his breath longer if he hadn't been burdened by Snotlout. Nightmares on land have been observed to be fast runners, although they have trouble making turns.

They have a hidden ability that Astrid discovered known as Wing Blast, when she temporarily became Hookfang's rider in A Tale of Two Dragons. They use their large powerful wings to create a blast of wind that is so strong, it can even bring a fully-grown Hideous Zippleback to the ground.

Nightmares have a very high stamina and endurance, as was proven multiple times in the series. In the first film, a Nightmare took hit after hit from Stoick during a raid, and Hookfang got mostly unharmed out of his fight with Toothless. In 'Defiant One', a Nightmare was hit by an arrow fired by some Outcast soldiers, yet wasn't harmed in the slightest. Though, admittedly, arrows are not a very powerful weapon to use against Dragons.



How To Train Your Dragon (film)
One was used as the last initiation test for the young Vikings (this being before the Vikings befriended the dragons). While in the books, they are described as being the size of a leopard, in the film they are portrayed as much larger. Despite their vicious nature and fierce combat abilities, it is shown that a Night Fury can defeat it through a brief but brutal fight.

== Dragons: Riders/Defenders of Berk == According to Bork and the Book of Dragons, when a Monstrous Nightmare loses it's ability to flame-on due to exhaustion and old age, they would die. The only way to restore its flame-on ability was to either eat the fire combs of Fireworms or be injected with the venom of the Fireworm queen. Hiccup, Snotlout and the others learned of this when Hookfang became sick and were forced to go to Fireworm Island to find a remedy.

Background Information

 * "No dragon is more ferocious, or feared than the Monstrous Nightmare. This gigantic dragon has a long, snakelike neck and tail, and is covered in red scales and long sharp spines. The Nightmare's gigantic head and mouth can swallow Vikings whole. It is highly aggressive, and will never run from a fight. Its fire is thick and sticky, clinging to walls and running down hills like a flaming river. The Nightmare also has a nasty habit of setting itself on fire."

According to the trivia track on the Blu-Ray version of the movie, a Nightmare measures 69 feet in length.

"This red-and-black creature with a huge wing span produces a kerosene gel fire. “He is the most dragony of the dragons,” Sanders says, “but the thing that we like is that he is the most showy. We always felt he was the Mick Jagger of dragons. He’s a natural-born performer who comes out engulfed in flames because they can set themselves on fire.”"

Trivia

 * In the Live Spectacular, the Monstrous Nightmare looks more like a traditional European Dragon, having four legs and two wings as opposed to the two hind legs and walking on its wings.
 * Some Monstrous Nightmares are shown to have tines on their horns like deer. The number of tines could indicate the age of the dragon. Hookfang does not have any tines on his horns, so he could still be a young adult Nightmare. Instead of getting tines for age, they get barbels on their chin.
 * Monstrous Nightmares have a tendency to spit fire at times, unintentionally, like coughing, sneezing or laughing.
 * In a similar manner, Monstrous Nightmares will unintentionally set its scales on fire while shedding them. This can be troublesome if a Monstrous Nightmare is flying above a village, the scales will become flaming missiles!
 * Monstrous Nightmares are said to grow to 70ft long. Hookfang, however, is only 61ft long with a wingspan of 68ft. This means Hookfang is either young, small for his species, its an error(most likely explanation), or 70ft is the maximum length for the species and most of them grow that long. This would explain why Fanghook is much smaller then Hookfang.