Astrid Hofferson

Astrid Hofferson is a young Viking girl of the Hairy Hooligans tribe who attends Dragon Training with Hiccup and the other Viking teens. She is striking, tough, beautiful and her determined and strong persona makes her hard to impress. Astrid is Hiccup's main love interest in the film. In spite of initially not liking Hiccup or his new found friendship with Toothless, she soon has her opinion changed and helps to try and keep Toothless a secret.

Astrid does not appear in any of the books in the original series and is an original character designed for the film. It is possible she is based on the character Camicazi from the books.

Role in the Film
Astrid is first seen at the beginning of the film during a dragon raid, helping in putting out fires with Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins Ruffnut & Tuffnut, while Hiccup (doing an introductory narration) introduces her to the audience. After Hiccup is sent home by his father after the raid, Astrid is among the group but does not joi in the mockery.&nbsp She is later seen with the other students in Dragon Training, along with Hiccup. During their first encounter with a Gronckle as their first lesson, Astrid is the shown to be the star pupil as the other students are knocked out of the lesson one by one. n the Viking's dining hall, the other students mock Hiccup's performance and Astrid doesn't hesitate to criticise him either.

Gobber hands the students a manual on dragons for the group to study and Astrid is one of the only ones to read it besides Fishlegs and Hicup. One night later, Astrid is listening to Gobber's stories about dragons with the others when she notices Hiccup suddenly leave without saying anything. Although curious, she thinks nothing of it. During the student's next lesson, this time against a Deadly Nadder in a labyrinth, Astrid again comes out on top. Angered with Hiccup getting in her way, she is quick to berate him by saying that they about to inherit their parents' war and angrily commands him to figure out what side he fights for.

At the next lesson, the students are facing a Hideous Zippleback in paired teams: Astrid with Ruffnut, Hiccup with Fishlegs and Snotlout with Tuffnut. Due to Snotlout and Tuffnut's antics, Astrid and Ruffnut lose their buckets of water, which they needed to douse the Zippleback's spark-breathing head. As Hiccup is only one left, Astrid is shocked to see Hiccup somehow frighten the Zippleback back into it's cage by merely motioning to it. As the lessons progress, t soon becomes apparent that Hiccup is becoming better and better, always seeming to have a way with the dragons and have control over them. He soon overtakes Astrid as the star pupil, which stirs her jealousy even further. After one particular lesson, Astrid vents her anger in the forest by throwing her axe into trees when she sees Hiccup sneaking around. She attempts to follow him but loses sight of him through the foliage.

Not long after Astrid and Hiccup are the only students left in the race to see who gets the right to slay their first dragon. They're faced with a Gronckle, where she threatens Hiccup to stay out of her way. Despite Astrid's best efforts, she still ends up losing when Hiccup immobilizes the Gronckle in little to no time at all. The Village Elder denies Astrid the right to kill a dragon and instead gives it to Hiccup.

This time, Astrid manages to follow Hiccup to the grotto he'd been visiting after training. Thinking that Astrid is a threat to Hiccup, Toothless reveals himself and is about to attack when Hiccup stops him in mid-pounce. After an introduction to one another, Astrid realises this is how Hiccup had beaten her in Dragon Trainig and runs off to tell the villagers. In the middle of the forest, she is swooped up and placed in a tree by Toothless and Hiccup. where he asks for a chance to explain. Hiccup manages to talk her into showing her instead and she climbs onto Toothless behind Hiccup. However, Toothless is not so trustworthy and deliberately scares Astrid with daring flyng maneuvers until she finally apologizes. Toothless finally stops and takes her and Hiccup on a flight above the clouds and Ber. Astrid is amazed by the flight and what she sees, realizing just how wrong she was about Toothless and Hiccup. During the flight however, Toothless suddenly flies towards parts unknown and the group soon find themselves in a flock of dragons carrying kill and food towards none other than the Dragon's Nest. Astrid is shocked to discover the dragons steal and raid from the village to feed a monstrous dragon called the Red Death in order to avoid being eaten themselves. When they get back, Astrid wants to tell the village about what they saw but Hiccup manages to talk her out of it for the time being, fearing the other Vikings will kill Toothless. She agrees and suddenly punches him on the arm "for kidnapping her" before kissing him on the cheek "for everything else."

The next day, Hiccup must take his final exam and kill his first dragon, a Monstrous Nightmare. Astrid wishes Hiccup good luck and agrees to make sure the Vikings don't find Toothless is something goes wrong. She watches as Hiccup faces the Nightmare and tosses aside his weapon, shield and helmet, intending to show the Vikings the truth of dragons. But Stoick, fearing for his son, screams for the match to stop, which frightens the Nightmare driving it to attack Hiccup. Astrid gets into the arena and tries to help Hiccup escape but ends up in danger as well until Stoick gets into the ring to help them.. Astrid manages to clamber out but Hiccup ends up in the Nightmare's claws before he is saved by Toothless. Toothless fights off the Nightmre but won't leave Hiccup, thinking the Vikings are threats and almost kills Stoick in the process. The Vikings swarm Toothless and Astrid has to stop Hiccup from interfering so he doesn't get hurt.

Astrid attempts to comfort Hiccup for his losses after the Vikings set sail for the Nest she asks why Hiccup didn't kill Toothless that first chance, saying she wants to remember why. Hiccup responds he didn't because at that critical moment, Toothless was just as scared as Hiccup was; for him it was like looking in a mirror. Astrid's words then motivate Hiccup to try and do "something crazy".

Astrid rounds up the other students and Hiccup teaches them enough about riding and controlling the various dragons. They fly off to rescue their tribe from the Red Death which has broken out of the Nest to attack. Astrid sits astride a Deadly Nadder and drops off Hiccup so he can free Toothless from his chains while she goes to help the others fight the Red Death. Astrid and her Nadder nearly end up getting eaten and she is knocked off her dragon. Thankfully, she is saved as Toothless catches her. Hiccup drops her drops her off as he and Toothless lead the Death into the sky where they fight it and send it plummeting to its doom in a fiery explosion.

When it seems that Hiccup has died in the fight, Astrid is brought to tears at seeing the sight before her. When Stoick announces that Hiccup survived, she in overjoyed at the news. hen Hiccup finally wakes up back on Berk to a new village of dragon and Vikings living together (along with a prosthetic leg), Astrid punches him on the arm again for scaring her and then kisses him on the lips tenderly. Astride her Deadly Nadder, Astrid joins Hiccup, Toothless, and the other Vikings with their dragons as they soar together into the sky.

Physical Appearance
Astrid is thin for a Viking but is given the advantage of agility because of this in Dragon Training. She has blonde hair with long bangs that cover the left side of her forehead, with a braided ponytail in back, and usually wears a leather band across her forehead. Astrid wears a skirt with spikes surrounding it with a pouch on her hip and also wears skull emblazened shoulder pads. She is rarely seen without her trusty battle axe.

Personality

 * "I'm more of an old-fashioned take it down with an axe and then lop its head off kind of girl." - Astrid

Astrid is shown to be determined and extremely dedicated to becoming a Viking Warrior. She is generally uninterested in the other teenagers, preferring to study and train on her own to become a better fighter. In the beginning, she has the most success in Dragon Training.



She quickly becomes jealous of Hiccup as his skills improve and is frustrated by his success over her. She also reveals her suspicious side, following and spying on Hiccup to discover his secret. Astrid also has a caring side, although this is hidden by an initial attempt at violence to cover it up. Astrid's name is North Germanic for "Divine Beauty", which seems suits her for her appearance and character role.

Relationship with Hiccup
Astrid, at first, doesn't like Hiccup for not being a real Viking like she considers herself to be. Her dislike for him grows into jealously when he becomes more skilled at "fighting" dragons than she is. Despite the initial problems in their relationship, Astrid later grows to become Hiccup's main love interest and kisses him twice (albeit after punching him on the arm both times).

Trivia

 * A female Viking with blonde hair was often seen in the company of Stoick, Spitelout, and Gobber, though not as much as Spitelout, and is possibly Astrid's mother.