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Listen to me, kid. You're flying the Monstrous Nightmare, the most lethal dragon in the known world. You can do it, and you will do it. [src]
  — Snotlout to Gustav  

Gustav Larson is an original character from the DreamWorks Dragons television series. He is the son of Mrs. Larson and the first notable character in the franchise to be a child. His dragon is a Monstrous Nightmare named Fanghook. He first appeared in the episode "Gem of a Different Color".

Biography

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Physical Appearance[]

Gustav is about 12 years old in the first and second seasons. He's worn an off-white sleeveless tunic with Hiccup's stitching and Snotlout's vest, helmet, belt buckle, pants, and fur boots.

At the age of 16, he still wears the same helmet, but now his same tunic comes with Snotlout's stitching, and he also wears Ruffnut's old vest and blue boots, Snotlout's belt buckle, and wears Astrid's shoulder guards as knee pads. On his arms, he wears Tuffnut's old cloth bracers, and around his neck, an old necklace with a dragon's claw or tooth. He was briefly seen with Dagur's old helmet in "Something Rotten on Berserker Island".

Personality[]

Although young at heart, he shows a loyalty and faithfulness to his mother, despite the fact that she had traded him for a "stone of good fortune" and still remained close with her. This trait rubs off on his dragon, Fanghook, as he is loyal to Gustav. He admires Snotlout and his ability to train a dragon to the point where he gets his own dragon named Fanghook. Gustav often times mimics Snotlout's personality, although he is easily scared, mostly because he is younger, as shown twice to run away: once in "Gem of a Different Color" and he attempted to flee in "The Flight Stuff", although he was stopped by Snotlout.

Although much too young, he wants to become a Dragon Rider and often sneaks into the Training Academy to play. Even though he and his dragon, Fanghook, got off on the wrong start, both dragon and trainer show a close bond with each other.

Gustav tends to overestimate his abilities, which often gets him into trouble. He often tries to do things on his own instead of working with others, similar to Heather. Though unlike her, Gustav does this to prove himself. This usually backfires and he requires saving from his own actions.

Abilities, Skills, and Talents[]

Gustav is the youngest trainer at the Academy, and one could argue he is not the greatest either. Though he did learn some things from Snotlout. This led to him training Fanghook.

  • Dragon Training and Riding: Gustav is the youngest trainer at the Academy. When Snotlout was convinced he was going to die, he decided to recruit Gustav to be his replacement. Snotlout taught him about mounting, respecting, feeding, and eventually riding a dragon by using Hookfang as the example. Gustav, however, wasn't very good at any of this as he was inexperienced. Snotlout's teachings did, however, influence him to attempt to train his own Monstrous Nightmare, which he named Fanghook. Over the next few years, he became a more experienced rider by himself before being trained by Astrid to become a member of the Auxiliary Team.
  • Sheep Rider: He was able to ride a sheep, pretending it was a dragon.
  • Acting: He had shown as a young boy to be somewhat cunning. He tricked Hiccup and Snotlout into believing that he had released Fanghook back into the wild and was able to trick Dagur into going into an unstable cavern alone only to be ambushed by Hiccup.
  • Leadership and Teaching: As the captain of the A-team it can be assumed that the team follows Gustav's lead and have been taught more about riding from him since Astrid never completed their training.

Relationships[]

Fanghook[]

Fanghook! So what should we practice today? [src]
  — Gustav to Fanghook, as they secretly train in the forest  
Fanghook and Gustav

Gustav first encounters Fanghook when he was looking for his own dragon. At the time when he found Fanghook, Fanghook was hunting boars. After Gustav manages to get his attention, he attacks Gustav. After a while, they bond enough for Gustav to get on his back (although he was still too small to sit tight properly, especially without a saddle). After he and Fanghook help on the scouting mission, Hiccup tells him to release Fanghook into the wild, in which Fanghook unwillingly obliges, which saddens him and his dragon. After Hiccup and Snotlout leave, Gustav calls his dragon back and continues to train him in secret. Fanghook shows affection for Gustav by biting him, but not enough to hurt the young boy. Their bond for the next three years grows much stronger as shown to be really protective of each other now as Fanghook saves his life from falling off a cliff.

Mrs. Larson[]

Gustav is shown to not have a very close relationship with his mother. Yet he remained loyal and obedient to her despite the fact that she had traded him for the stone of good fortune. She also doesn't seem to pay attention to him as Gustav can be gone for three days without her noticing.

Snotlout Jorgenson[]

Hiccup-toothless-how-to-train-your-dragon-1 Main article: Gustav and Snotlout’s Relationship
Snotlout: "Ugh, poor kid. Ever since I let him into my inner circle, he wants to be just like his hero, me."
Astrid: "Gross and annoying?"
Gustav: "No, a Dragon Rider!"[src]
   

Gustav is shown to admire Snotlout, often times mimicking his action and personality.

Hookfang[]

When Snotlout was convinced he was going to die, he wanted to train Gustav to ride Hookfang, becoming his replacement in the Academy. Though Gustav really did his best and was shown to like Hookfang, this plan didn't work. This made him find his own dragon and train it. Since the training he has done with Hookfang, he met a wild Nightmare after Snotlout said that Monstrous Nightmares are the most lethal weapon of the known world and named him after it, possibly a way to show Hookfang his way to be thankful for his help.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III[]

Gustav: "Hiccup, I'm really sorry."
Hiccup: "I'm sorry, too, Gustav. You're still irresponsible, immature and reckless, but the way you handled yourself with Dagur, maybe you do have what it takes to be a Dragon Rider... someday."
Gustav: "Someday? I will take someday."[src]
   

Gustav is shown to listen to Hiccup about being too young to be riding or training dragons. Though he has shown to dislike it a lot since he's really determined to have a dragon of his own. Though believing Snotlout was going to die, he was really excited to become a Dragon Rider for Hookfang. Everyone told Gustav he was still not ready, even Hiccup watched him to see his training from Snotlout, but it was a failure. He sadly told him to leave again which he went to prove himself to Hiccup that he will find his own dragon named Fanghook. Though still thinking this is still a mistake, he gave him a chance to see what he has to be a Dragon Rider. He even tries to encourage each mistake he made until Snotlout was revealed he wasn't going to die and he watched Snotlout throw him out of the Academy. Gustav overheard about the mission about Dagur's new invention to try again to prove himself, but came failure when he was caught by the trap of the invention but Hiccup uses his battle cry to tell Gustav use for his dragon to set free from the trap. Which he escaped thanks to Hiccup but was frightened how dangers this was decided to leave but saw Hiccup get trapped by Dagur, but he still was afraid but Snotlout told him advice to save Hiccup which they were successful. But Hiccup told Gustav that he was still not ready to be a Dragon Rider so he made a deal with the young boy that he can learn by working in the Dragon Academy, which he was very excited. Though Hiccup told Gustav to release Fanghook back to the forest in which he watches how hard it was for Gustav to do so but he was very proud of him to do the right reason.

Astrid Hofferson[]

She sure is something... [src]
  — Gustav, admiring Astrid  

Gustav, like Snotlout, has a large crush on Astrid. This is very evident in Race to the Edge, where Gustav daydreams about Astrid. He also flirted with her while she was training him, which she called "creepy". He was so distracted by her beauty that he was unable to assist them at the time, due to him not being able to train, because of, as previously stated, Astrid's beauty. Despite Gustav's crush on Astrid, Astrid saw Gustav as one of the most experienced Riders of the Auxiliary, naming him captain of the Auxiliary.

Dagur the Deranged[]

Dagur obviously saw something in me that you didn't. Heroism. Loyalty. I spent a lot of time with him when he captured me and Fanghook. [src]
  — Gustav to Snotlout, about how he ended up in the 'apprentice program'  

While they did not interact in their first encounter, Dagur's men tried to shoot Gustav and Fanghook down. Even though he was scared, Gustav still fought back with Snotlout to save Hiccup. The two officially met when Dagur captured him. When Dagur told his men to feed Gustav to the eels, the young rider said he could get Dagur the Dragon Eye. Gustav managed to convince Dagur to use his plan of being a hostage instead of facing the Dragon Riders head on. It was later revealed he didn't really side with Dagur but tricked him into the cave he found earlier to get the Dragon Eye back. Dagur later takes Gustav in for an apprenticeship at Berserker Island. However, this was proven to be fake and was only part of a plan with Stoick to keep Gustav away from Berk for a little bit.

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