Ruffnut Thorston

Ruffnut Thorston is a teenage inhabitant of Berk. She is the fraternal twin of Tuffnut. She is often arguing with her brother, often to the point of physical violence, though never seriously enough to separate them for too long. She is 13 years old in How To Train Your Dragon, 14 years old throughout the entire series, and 19 in the sequel.

Personality
In the first season of the TV series Ruff has a slightly more passive role than her brother, although she has a more prominent role in the second season. She's tomboyish in nature, mostly because she is a Viking, but she does tend to be slightly neater in terms of look and finds it offensive when Tuff negatively comments about her physique. Ruff is also seen to be extremely compassionate and selfless, as she was willing to cut her braids off in Free Scauldy so that they could serve as a substitute for rope without hesitation to save her friend. Ruff also stubbornly stood her ground when the gang tried to persuade her to leave when the Changewings were approaching, refusing to let Scauldy die. In the same episode, it's revealed that when they were little, while Tuff was afraid of the dark, Ruff was afraid of Tuff, although she outgrew this trait. While Tuff was talking with Barf about Ruff, he concludes out that she has a lot of rage and frustration because she feels trapped since she's "a woman in a man's world", as stated in Zippleback Down.

In the TV series, despite having tamed Barf (and technically Belch), she seemed to have a slight fear of wild dragons that could potentially kill her and would often panic in situations in which she encounters a wild dragon. In Free Scauldy, it's also shown that she might be afraid of dying, even to the point of naming the Scauldron "Please-Don't-Kill-Me" until realizing he was friendly. Also in the episode, she has a slight motherly side and is quick to comfort Scauldy like how often a mother treats her kids. Ruff loves punching and wrestling with Tuff, often proving herself stronger than him. Despite their quarreling, on occasion she is shown to pull herself and Tuff out of danger. Ruff dislikes having to share everything with her brother and had a brief fallout in Twinsanity, but they reconciled when they realized Barf and Belch were in danger. She also appears to be slightly more intelligent and serious than Tuff, explicitly shown in the episode Free Scauldy. In the movie, Ruff had a short-lived crush on Hiccup, but she seems to have dropped it because there is little evidence of Ruff having a crush on Hiccup during the TV series; however, in How to Train Your Dragon 2 Ruff has a crush on Eret.

Appearance
In both the TV show and the first movie, Ruff wears a light brown, animal skin-like vest and a dark blue tunic that goes a little over her hip and ends in tatters. She wears a grayish-brown short skirt that also ends in tatters. Around her waist, she wears a metal-leather belt with an unidentified metal crest in the middle of it. Ruff wears dark brown leggings and dark blue furry boots. On her arms, she wears a long dark-gray cloth brace that starts at her elbows and stops at the wrist. A bit of the cloth also goes through between her first and second finger. Ruff's helmet is studded with four horns, just like her brother's, albeit being longer and more slender: the top two are thinner bull-like horns while the two bottom horns are longer and curved. Without her helmet, her hair is evenly divided in the slightly to the side and short bangs across the left side of her face. She has two small braids near the top of her hair and longer braids that reach to her waist. There's also an additional braid on her back. Around her neck she wears a necklace with the pendant of a tooth or claw that may have came from a dragon. She's skinny for her age and has tan skin, just like her brother, along with a pair of pale-blue eyes.

In the second season of Defenders of Berk (Free Scauldy), Ruff sacrifices her braids so that they could serve as a substitute for the missing ropes to make Scauldy's splint. She had a short, rough boyish hair, in which Tuff says makes her look like a boy; however, in a tweet, the director of the show confirmed that this was only a temporary hairstyle. By the next next episode (Frozen), she has long hair again.

In the second film, Ruff will has an older appearance, along with a new set of clothes. She wears the same helmet from the first movie, along with a yellowish-brown dress that goes down to her thighs. Over that, she wears a dark blue tunic-like vest that covers her torso and stops at her waist opening in the middle with a red cloth belt around her waist along with another vest made of tan fur

. She wears brown leggings paired with dark blue furry boots that have thin red cloth wrapping them. On her arms she wears a long dark-blue, violet, and light brown cloth brace that begins at her elbows and ends at her wrists. A bit of cloth goes around her middle finger.

Skills & Abilities
Ruff is skilled in fighting, usually sparring violently with Tuff when they are arguing. In the TV series, Ruff is shown to be slightly better at fighting than her brother, often overpowering him in sparring matches and duels, as well as winning verbal arguments. Tuff even states that her slaps "are like a guy's", even to the point of tears. They share the same preference for the same weapon, which is a double-ended spear. It has been shown in the TV series that the twins are the only ones who are not affected by Barf's gas, which can cause disorientation and a sick feeling, possibly because they are either immune or have gotten used to it.

Ruff does not seem to be too bright, though she is often shown to have the intellectual edge over Tuff. She's unable to sit still and pay attention without fighting and/or getting into trouble with her brother, causing most of the other Viking teens to doubt their abilities. Often, the others of the group have to explain to her (and Tuff) when they're about to execute a plan. Despite her inability to pay attention, she always knows how to make people or dragons angry, often proving helpful for Ruff to act as a distraction or bait. Recently in the TV series, Ruff has been shown to often have outbursts of intelligence and a smarter outlook on life, alongside Tuff, revealing that the twins are much more intelligent than they initially seem.

The twins also have a strange ability (purposely or not) to get in trouble no matter where they are, even in an empty room.

Ruff can easily see through Tuff's lies and is able to pry him open of the truth without much effort.

She is moderately skilled in training dragons, as shown in several episodes. She (along with Tuff) trained a Terrible Terror and taught it how to attack. Ruff was also able to train Scauldy and quickly develop a strong sense of loyalty and trust to each other in a short amount of time. Despite her dragon training skills, she often has trouble riding Barf and Belch because one can't ride without another and the fact that she argues with Tuff over what to do and how they would do it.

How to Train Your Dragon (Movie)
Joining the same Dragon Training class as Hiccup, at first Ruff delights in taunting Hiccup over his poor performance although she doesn't have much success either due to the fact that she couldn't get along with her brother in battle. Later, however, when Hiccup displays an amazing talent for subduing the dragons, she becomes his avid fan (often pushing and shoving Tuff to be the first to talk to him). Ruff seems to develop a crush on him and flirts with him (before Astrid pulls her away). Ruff decides to help Hiccup fight the Red Death and bond with the Zippleback that had been trapped in the training arena before.

To confront the Red Death, the twins mount a Hideous Zippleback, which fits their fractious relationship, the two naming the dragon Barf and Belch. Each head seems to agree with one of the twins in particular- Ruff taking Barf and Tuff Belch, and they ride it to great effect in the final battle and afterwards. Notably, they were the only ones not forced from their dragon in the final battle.

Riders of Berk
Ruff is a dragon trainer of the Berk Dragon Training Academy, having joined to help Hiccup train dragons.

Ruff experienced a brief falling-out in episode 15: Twinsanity, when her conflict with Tuff reaches the point where they attempt to issue separate orders to each head. They eventually reconciled when Barf and Belch were in trouble, accepting that they would always share their dragon even if they could find other individual interests.

Defenders of Berk
Ruff has a more prominent role in the episode, Zippleback Down, when the team attempts to disable traps that were left over from the time that they killed dragons. Tuff attempts to dislodge a netter trap, but ends up being caught in it. Tuff calls out to his sister to undo it and she decides to go to Berk and find Hiccup. When she attempts to fly Barf and Belch, they quickly crash land since you need two riders to ride a Zippleback. She decides to go on foot and tells the Zippleback to watch her brother while she was gone. Hiccup then goes to find them, only to be thrown down when Toothless' prosthetic tail was burnt off. When a forest fire appears, Hiccup almost decides that it's too late, but Ruff and Tuff figure out a way to keep the fire away from Berk by "fighting fire with fire". They returned to Berk, riding on Torch, where he leaves after saying good-bye to Tuff. Despite their amazing feat, the twins are to have learned a lesson by releasing themselves from the trap without help. Despite their combined efforts, both of them end up being trapped again.

Ruff has a prominent role in "A View To A Skrill Part I" and "Part II". The twins and Snotlout were the prime cause in the release of the Skrill and they help Hiccup and the gang to tame it. After splitting up into two groups, the twins attempt to drive out the Skrill by causing a big explosion by Barf's gas and Belch's spark, but the plan fails. After saving Hiccup from the Skrill, they're chased by the Skrill and Hiccup and Toothless narrowly make it to block the blast of lightning with a plasma blast. The explosion was so great, it knocks the twins out of the sky and away from the group. They land on an outcrop of land and spot Alvin capturing the Skrill. They decide to follow the ship. Meanwhile, their disappearance causes the other Viking Teens to search for them, leaving all dragons but Toothless too exhausted to fly. Hiccup goes to find them and meets up with them on Outcast Island, where they were spying on the Outcasts. Tuff goes undercover to find out about the Berserkers' and the Outcasts' apparent truce. He then helps Hiccup to find the Skrill, but it was too late as Dagur managed to get to it first. After Hiccup duels with Dagur as well as the Skrill (after it's been freed), the twins help seal the hole and encase the Skrill in ice once again. After the chaos had ended, the twins and Hiccup return home to Berk.

Ruff has a main role in the 13th episode of Defenders of Berk, Free Scauldy. The riders find an injured Scauldron on the beach of Changewing island and the smell of her hair calms it down. She says she puts fish oil in it which reminded the Scauldron of his home. After trying to train him, they quickly bond, naming him Scauldy and singing a lullaby that her mother sang to her when she was little. Changewings start heading their way to attack and the gang make haste to get Scauldy free. They manage to get the rocks of his wing, but it is broken, but Fishlegs proposes that they make a splint. After gathering the materials, one of the vines they used to act as rope snaps and they are unable to finish the splint. Getting an idea, she takes out her knife from her vest. Later it's revealed that had cut off her braids to use to substitute as extra rope to finish the splint and enable Scauldy to fly and more importantly, to swim. Ruff then is sad to see Scauldy go and tells him to come and visit. Tuff then comments about her looking like a boy now, in which they argue. Scauldy then makes his way to freedom.

In the episode, The Eel Effect, Ruff is shown to be slightly smarter than Tuff when she convinced him to slap himself by saying that it would hurt her too (since they're twins), clearly just saying that because she enjoyed watching Tuff hurt himself.

Tuffnut
Ruffnut and Tuffnut have a strong love/hate sibling relationship. Although most of the time quarreling and fighting over trivial things in life, they show an inseparable bond with each other and rarely spend too much time apart. They both enjoy the feeling of pain, especially if the pain is inflicted on the other twin.

On occasion, Ruff is willing to help Tuff. In Zippleback Down, Ruff showed concern for her brother after realizing there was a forest fire approaching towards his location as well as when she saw a wild Typhoomerang (Torch) right next to her brother. She also was willing to stay up late to help Tuff out of the trap he got caught in (though it ended in failure). In the movie, Ruff is seen dragging her brother out of the Deadly Nadder's (Stormfly) blast of fire, in spite of their argument.

As twins, Ruff and Tuff share a strong invisible connection towards each other. They have the ability to understand each others thoughts and ideas without speaking, as shown several times to finish each others sentences or to have the same idea at the same time. They also have the ability to stay together as they are rarely too far apart for a long time. Wherever one twin goes, the other twin is never far behind, even if they intentionally try to stay away from each other. Ruff and Tuff also work incredibly well together (when they want to) and can synchronize themselves to do the same actions at the same time. It's also possible that they are able to sense where the other is and what happened to them, as other twins are able to do.

Barf and Belch
Being their dragon, the twins had to share riding it. The twins care tremendously about their dragon, although not as much as Hiccup. One head is loyal to each twin (Barf and Ruff, Belch and Tuff) and on occasion, the heads will fight each other when the twins fight each other. Usually the heads will work in unity if they feel that their riders are in danger and feel that their rider's constant quarreling is annoying. Both dragon and rider are willing to risk their necks to save each other. Tuff even states that Barf & Belch is his "totally awesome dragon" that he shares with his "totally un-awesome sister". Several times during the TV Series, Barf & Belch are seen to be extremely protective of their riders when they are in danger, as shown as they are willing to fight a Typhoomerang to defend Tuff in Zippleback Down as well as leaving the cave in The Night and the Fury to search for Ruff.

Hiccup Haddock
Not a lot of screen time is shown between the twins and Hiccup. Most of the time, they follow Hiccup's commands, although not always done in the right way. On occasion, they disobey him or misinterpret his orders. Despite Hiccup doubting their abilities most of the time, he acknowledges their abilities to work together if they want to. He gains respect for the twins when they figure out the idea to "fight fire with fire" in "Zippleback Down" and Tuffnut's ability to train Torch. Although finding them annoying from time-to-time, Hiccup is shown to care for them as he and the other Viking Teens attempt to find them after their disappearance in "View To A Skrill Part II" and was relieved to find out that Ruff and Tuff were both okay. He also acknowledges their decision to follow Alvin's ship to spy on him. They also care about Hiccup, (even though it's hard to tell), like when they, along with the other riders, were very happy to see that he was alive after the battle with the Red Death  and when he fell down a hole, (then came out okay later), in Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Young Man.

Astrid Hofferson
Although they rarely interact in the show or movie, they remain neutral to each other and will work together when it comes to it. Most times, Astrid will get angry if they do something wrong, especially if it's because they're not paying attention or just being silly. Like Hiccup, she doubts their abilities as Dragon Trainers due to their inability to pay attention, although it is assumed that she gained respect towards the twins when they put out the fire and trained Torch. On occasion, she will punch Tuff if he angers her, although Astrid is never shown on-screen to hit Ruff. It's assumed that Ruff and Astrid are on mutual friendly terms as they are the only girls in the group. Astrid was one of the Vikings who attempted to find the twins after they were blasted out of the sky in "A View to a Skrill Part II". It is presumed that off-screen, she had attempted to find them although Stormfly soon grew exhausted, showing that she does indeed care for the twins.

Snotlout Jorgenson
Snotlout and the twins share a close relationship. Often times, the twins will follow Snotlout and act as one of his supporters when he bullies Hiccup and possibly Fishlegs as well in the first film. In the game, they listen to Snotlout's plan to cheat in the competition against Hiccup/Astrid. Snotlout often thinks the twins are incredibly dumb and in return, they sometimes exclude Snotlout from their ideas, as seen in "Fright of Passage". Although sometimes siding with Snotlout, they occasionally bully him back, like how they fooled him into thinking he was dying in "The Flight Stuff". In View to a Skrill, it's presumed that Snotlout had attempted to find the twins (as stated by Hiccup) after they disappeared after being blasted out of the sky, which shows his apparent caring personality towards them.

In How to Train Your Dragon 2, Snotlout is shown to be flirting with Ruff, although she merely just grunts in annoyance.

Fishlegs Ingerman
Fishlegs and the twins rarely show any screen time together. Sometimes, the twins are seen to bully Fishlegs because of his size, although Fishlegs bests the twins in terms of knowledge. The twins find it annoying that Fishlegs knows a lot of things. In "A View to a Skrill Part II", Fishlegs attempted to find the twins after they were blasted out of the sky, along with Meatlug, but ends up over-exhausting his dragon. Even so, he offered to join Hiccup on his search again and shows worry when Hiccup tells him that there was no sign of them. Although being slightly annoyed at them at the start of the episode, Fishlegs compliments Ruff in Free Scauldy for her great work with the Scauldron.

In How to Train Your Dragon 2, Fishlegs is shown to be flirting with Ruff, although she merely just grunts in annoyance.

Stoick the Vast
Stoick is well aware that the twins are capable of causing dangerous accidents and pranks, as well as notorious for causing mischief. Ruff and Tuff show a level of respect for Stoick, possibly because he's the chief, but also like to make fun of him when he's not around. He's the one who possibly created the saying "Where there's smoke, there's the twins". In How to Train Your Dragon 2 along with the other riders, she searches for Hiccup being enforced by a worried Astrid, against Stoick's rule of no dragon flying while Drago is preparing for war. She also, along with the other dragon riders and Valka cries after Stoick's death and at his ship burial fires a flaming arrow to Stoick's sailing ship in honor of his chieftain legacy, and out of respect.

Eret
When the riders are rescuing Hiccup and Toothless, Eret shot a net at her and Tuff and she instantly fell for him as evidenced when she says (in slow motion) "Me likey." This is also shown when she is willing to become Eret's prisoner when she says (in slow motion as well) "Take me." Followed by her and Barf being caught in Eret's net. During the war between the dragon riders and Drago Bludvist's army, she gazes in awe of Eret's muscles as he sets one of Valka's dragons free from Drago's trap.

Trivia

 * Ruff is an original character created for the film, seemingly to provide contrast to both Tuff and Astrid, the only other female in Dragon Training.
 * Ruff is the only Viking teen not to ride Toothless. (Hiccup in the entire film franchise, Astrid in the original film, Snotlout in Defiant One, Tuff in Twinsanity and Fishlegs in The Iron Gronckle)
 * Her name indicates the phrase "Rough."
 * In the video game, it's said that Tuff is the older twin by five minutes, but Ruff is slightly taller.
 * They appear to be based off of Jackal and Hyena from Gargoyles
 * In the film, Tuff and Ruff were voiced by T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig, respectively. In the TV series, Ruff is voiced by Julie Marcus, while Tuff has the same voice actor. Ruff changes voice actor again in Defenders of Berk (Andree Vermeulen).
 * Ruff has the smallest role of all the teens. This is possibly because her voice actor does not sound much like Kristen Wiig, Ruff's original voice actor, although in Defenders of Berk, she and her brother share a more equal role.
 * Ruff seems the only teen dragon rider who did not have any clear communication with Heather.
 * Ruff and Tuff are one of the only Vikings on Berk who has a known sibling in this case, each other. The other only known Viking siblings are Gustav and Hildegard. Dagur also said he had a sister.
 * In Zippleback Down, Ruff and Tuff both mentioned that they have a large amount of back hair and that they love it dearly, although Tuff said that his back hair had went up in flames while flying over the forest fire
 * Ruff and Tuff are one of the only vikings on Berk to have more than two horns on their helmets (The twins have four horns). The only other person to have more than two horns on their helmet is Mildew with six horns (but he joins the Outcasts later on).
 * In A View to a Skrill Part II Ruff states that Outcast food gives her gas, although she has never been shown on-screen to be eating it, so it's quite possible that she was lying so she wouldn't have to go spy on the Berserkers.
 * In Free Scauldy, Ruff cut her hair to serve as ropes to finish Scauldy's splints, although her hair was its original length by the next episode. Since hair takes at least five years to grow from just above chin-length all the way down to waist-length, it's possible that Ruff made hair extensions for herself.
 * Both of Ruff and Tuff have trained a large dragon and later released into to the wild. It's also possible that the dragons they trained (Torch by Tuff and Scauldy by Ruff) are counterparts to each other.
 * Scauldy was trained by Ruff, Torch was trained by Tuff.
 * Scauldy is a Tidal Class dragon (dwells within the water and sprays water), while Torch is a Stoker Class dragon (dwells on land and manipulates fire and air to attack).
 * Scauldy was hostile and a danger to the Viking teens, while Torch was more civil and friendly from the beginning.
 * Torch was the one who (partially) saved Tuff and Ruff was the one who saved Scauldy.
 * The twins seem to show a level of intelligence when they caught the eel pox in The Eel Effect, doing experiments on air resistance, inventing ice cream, and speaking with advanced vocabulary.
 * At the end of How To Train Your Dragon 2, when Fishlegs and Snotlout rescue her, she may have fell for Snotlout, as she showed more attraction to him than Fishlegs.

How To Train Your Dragon

 * Ruffnut: "I'm hoping for some mauling, like, on my shoulder or lower back."
 * Ruffnut: "There's like a million shields!"
 * Ruffnut: *hits Tuffnut in the head with the shield* "Oops. Now this one has blood on it."
 * Ruffnut: *sniffs Tuffnut* "Ugh! Do you ever bathe?"
 * Ruffnut: "Hey! It's us idiots!"
 * Ruffnut: "While we're still alive?"
 * Ruffnut: "Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before."
 * Ruffnut: "You're crazy. I like that..."
 * Ruffnut: "That's my specialty!"

Gift Of The Night Fury

 * Ruffnut: "Must be nice."
 * Ruffnut: "Yeah, your boy dragon, is a girl dragon!"

How to Train Your Dragon (Video Game)

 * Ruffnut: "I can dance, but don't tell anybody!"
 * Ruffnut: "Girls Rule!"
 * Ruffnut: "My dragon is rough!"

Dragons: Riders Of Berk

 * Ruffnut: "We almost died!"
 * Ruffnut: "I volunteer Tuffnut!"
 * Ruffnut: "I'm too pretty for jail!"
 * Ruffnut: "Yes! We're up to thirty!"
 * Ruffnut: "Yeah, so?"
 * Ruffnut: "Let's sacrifice Tuffnut."
 * Ruffnut: "Whoah whoa whoa!"
 * Ruffnut: "Permission to shoot first and ask questions later?"
 * Ruffnut: "Don't you have anything better to do than stand here?"
 * Ruffnut: "Are you sure you like, want to do this?"
 * Ruffnut: "Okay. Thank you, Thor!"
 * Ruffnut: "And if I were weak and girly, I'd be my brother."

Dragons: Defenders of Berk

 * Ruffnut: I heard that if you sit on a Terrible Terror, you can make flames come out of your--.
 * Ruffnut: You're either in or you're out, pal, but you can't stand there.
 * Ruffnut: Did we say one rainbow colored chicken, we meant two rainbow colored chickens, sorry!
 * Ruffnut and Tuffnut: A Sturgeon dressed as Stoick!
 * Ruffnut and Tuffnut: Singing Terrible Terror!.
 * Ruffnut: They say competition is the very essence of life itself.
 * Ruffnut: It'd be easier to get around these woods if there weren't so many trees!
 * Ruffnut: Oh man! Your new dragon just ate Hiccup!
 * Ruffnut: "Fight fire with fire!" We should make that our catch phrase!
 * Ruffnut: And that's why we don't work! It accomplishes nothing!
 * Ruffnut: Oh yeah! Good idea. Hello, nice dragon. You can be my friend. My leg fell off. All of the dragons are my friends.
 * "You were afraid of the dark, not me! I was afraid of you!"
 * "Hush little Viking, don't you cry... Or the Beserkers will stab you in the eye... Don't let the enemy see you afraid, or he's gonna gut you with a rusty blade...
 * Ruffnut: Uhgnn...wait! *pulls out a knife* I have an idea!
 * "I'm going to miss you, Scauldy, but look, anytime you visit, I'll just kick out Tuffnut to make room. No problem okay?"
 * "Whoa! This is chaos on a level I've never seen before!"

How To Train Your Dragon 2

 * [After Snotlout hit on her] "Ugh. Come on, Barf. It's starting to stink around here."
 * "Yeah! The black sheep!"
 * "You're always ruining everything!"
 * "Astrid!"
 * "Take me."
 * Eret son of Eret was my world! My everything!"
 * [After Astrid kidnaps Eret] "Yay! Can he ride with me?! Can he?! Can he?" [Bites at him, as Tuffnut pulls her away.]
 * "Get 'em you son of an Eret."
 * "OK, I love you again."