“ | Night Fury. Speed: Unknown. Size: Unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you. [src] |
” |
— Hiccup as he reads through the Dragon Manual |
The Night Fury is a medium-sized Strike Class dragon that first appeared in How to Train Your Dragon.
Quick Answers
What was the original inspiration for the Night Fury's design?
What animal's movements were used as a reference for the Night Fury's animation?
What is the personality and behavior of the Night Fury based on?
What class does the Night Fury dragon belong to in 'How to Train Your Dragon'?
What is the connection between the Night Fury and the character Toothless?
Official Description
“ | The Night Fury was once considered to be one of the most mysterious and fearsome species of dragons. In fact, until Hiccup befriended Toothless, no one even knew what a Night Fury looked like because they preferred to attack at night, when their black scales allowed them to blend into the night sky, making them mostly invisible. Night Furies are classified as members of the Strike Class. They have the ability to "dive bomb," meaning that they can plummet from great heights, gaining speed as they continue downwards, then shoot a "plasma blast" at their target. For a long time, the only information that the Vikings had gathered on this rare dragon was the whistling sound of its speed cutting through the night sky, followed by a bright purple light, then finally a massive explosion. Physically, they are of medium build with jet black scales covering their body. Night Furies also possess retractable teeth (hence Toothless' name). Rather than firing like most dragons, Night Furies are able to shoot "plasma blasts" from their mouth. They are also extremely swift and use their speed and coloration to blend into the night sky. While they may initially seem like vicious, dangerous creatures, Hiccup's friendship with Toothless has increased our understanding of the true nature of the Night Fury. They are highly intelligent, loyal and fiercely protective of those they care about. |
” |
— School of Dragons website[1] |
“ | The rarest and most intelligent of the dragon species, the Night Fury is distinguished by its dark color and piercing yellow eyes. Toothless is one of a kind; the only Night Fury ever seen in Berk. | ” |
— DreamWorks Dragons: Wild Skies |
Development
“ | We had previously thought of him as wolf-like, but then we discovered a big cat worked better. [src] | ” |
— Dean DeBlois, Director |
The Night Fury was originally inspired by a black panther screensaver on one of the story artist's monitors. DeBlois says that the image was 'striking and electrifying, with those eyes staring out from the darkest black face'. Some of the Night Fury's movements were inspired by one of the animators cats and other animals.
The Night Fury's personality, appearance, and behavior is a mix of a horse, wombat, kangaroo, bat, snake, dog, cat, panther, and a bird of prey.[2] Night Furies were designed to be the most mammalian of dragons[3] and were made to be 'cleaner, sleeker, and stealthier' than other dragons. The Night Fury's pure black skin proved as a major difficulty, as the artistic team had to portray it under a variety of lighting conditions.
“ | We tested specularity and reflectivity to show detail that would read well in everything from crisp moonlight to foggy or smoky scenes. [src] | ” |
— Sabrina Riegel, Head of Surfacing |
Sabrina adds that they had created a texture in which the Night Fury's skin resembled more of that of a shark or stingray, instead of a reptile's. It was also said to be inspired by that of a bat.[3]
This dragon species was carefully crafted to make sure its intelligence and emotional personality came through without anthropomorphizing it. The Night Fury's behavior, similar to that of common pets, —cats, dogs, and horses—, were intended to evoke relatable emotions from viewers. To study its behavior in the making of Gift of the Night Fury, an animator stuck a ball of tape onto his cat's tail and filmed its reaction.[3]
The growls and croons of Night Furies and Toothless are a combination of various sounds, says Supervising Sound Designer Randy Thom, including his own voice, elephants, horses, tigers, domestic cats, and a jet engine.[4]
Considering that Toothless, the only Night Fury, as well as the main dragon character, needed to be very expressive, the Night Fury has significantly much more control on its face than other dragons, who are not shown to be able to smile (other than the Light Fury who shares this ability). As such, the team had much more rigging around its eyes, ears, and mouth. This allowed plenty of minute details, like the angle, shape, and size of the eye, to be altered.[5] The Night Fury has a total of over 4,000 controls for its CG model.[3] The Night Fury's first smile was inspired by Simon Otto's son's first smile.[6]
Physical Appearance
Egg
Night Fury eggs are oblong, almost similar to that of a chicken egg, and are smooth. To blend in with the night sky, they are jet black albeit with lighter blemishes.
In Dragons: Rise of Berk, a Night Fury egg is rounder, with a scale-like pattern covering it in its entirety. While black, it has a slight shine that makes the egg look grey in color.
Hatchling to Adult
The Night Fury is one of the fastest, smartest, and rarest of the known species of dragons. It is medium-sized and has a sleek, dark body with black scales. It also has faint lighter patterns similar to that of a manta ray.
The Night Fury somewhat resembles an axolotl, gecko, and black panther in general appearance and has one pair of wings with a shape similar to a bat; two pairs of tail-fins, one at the base of the tail and the other at the tip, used for control in flight; four mobile, ear-like appendages on the back of its head that show its mood and help it hear; as well as other small tendril-like appendages around their jaw depending on their age. Night Furies have a pair of large, yellowish-green, cat-like eyes and sharp retractable teeth. Unlike most dragon species, the Night Fury lacks any kind of horns, only having flaps and aerodynamic fin-like appendages. The tip of the snout is also prominent, resembling the rhinarium of a mammal. The dragon is 26 feet in length and has a 45-foot wingspan on average, 5 feet 9 inches at the shoulder, and weighs 1,776 pounds.
The Night Fury’s aerodynamic jet-like wings and sleek body allow it to fly at supersonic speeds, faster than any other dragon apart from the Light Fury. It uses the fins on its tail to help steer and maneuver, similar to an airplane rudder. However, a Night Fury will be incapable of flying if one of these fins is missing or destroyed, which shows that they are also used for ballast in flight. It is capable of taking flight from a standing start like a pigeon.
Abilities
Firepower
The Night Fury can shoot bursts of purple-colored flames, composed of ionized oxyacetylene. Plasma blasts explode directly upon impact, sometimes exploding in mid-air at higher altitudes because of the cut off oxygen supply.
The Night Fury can fire at different levels of power: For example, it can fire concussive blasts that can knock people off their feet, while at the same time being able to destroy entire battlements with more powerful blasts. They can use fire to bend the bars of the training arena in Berk, and can also stun dragons. As seen in the second film, it is shown that a Night Fury's plasma blasts, when they are serious, are able to kill a Viking, even for a Viking of Stoick's size, with one shot.
These blasts can be fired with pinpoint accuracy. The Night Fury also has the habit to light and warm up the place where it will sleep, as seen in the films and the DreamWorks Dragons: The Series. This fire is pretty strong, being able to melt down the arena's cage, and is said to be incredibly hot, and can ignite fireplaces, stoves, and lamps.
The Night Fury's plasma blast can sometimes be reflected off surfaces such as rock walls. They can use this as a tactic to take out fast-moving objects in tight, narrow spaces. It was shown when Toothless fires a reflective blast to take out Heather and Windshear. This was shown again in “Family Matters” where Toothless shot one Dragon Flyer and it reflected to hit another Flyer nearby.
A strange effect occurs when the plasma blast of a Night Fury hits the lightning of a Skrill, as displayed in "A View to a Skrill, Part 1". The two blasts combine in an electro-plasmatic reaction to form a sort of mid-air seismic charge or supernova. In "A View to a Skrill, Part 1", this blast is shown to be strong enough to knock both the Skrill, Night Fury, and any surrounding dragons out of the sky.
Unlike Light Furies, a Night Fury's plasma blast cannot be used as a cloaking device.
While their shot limit is unknown, it is implied to be six. There is a lot of uncertainty about the Night Fury's shot limit, even if most sources and Hiccup himself states that Toothless' limit is six. In the final fight of the first film, he was able to fire more than ten shots, with seven full-powered blasts in quick succession. Later, in the episode "Frozen", Toothless' shot limit was counted to be about 14-15 shots. These imply that Night Furies can recharge their blasts pretty quickly.
Flame Jacket
In The Stowaway, Toothless demonstrates the ability to set himself alight with blue flames, similar to a Monstrous Nightmare.
Dive-bombing
The Night Furies' main type of attack is dive-bombing. Night Furies fold their wings to create a streamlined, aerodynamic shape while they dive from the sky, helping them to achieve great speed while they accelerate downwards, and fire a powerful plasma blast. It has been observed that at the last moment, Night Furies open their wings to create the drag, then lift off. The blast can do great amounts of damage, as one has even been seen to knock a Red Death to the ground during the events of How to Train Your Dragon. If a Night Fury does this at night, it remains completely camouflaged and blends in with the dark sky so its targets can't see it coming. Furthermore, Toothless has been seen intentionally flying straight upwards, then diving down before changing directions such that he is parallel to the ground to gain speed for normal flight. The approach of a Night Fury is almost always accompanied by a high-pitched whistling sound.
Strength and Combat
The Night Fury is incredibly strong, being able to fend off Vikings like Stoick and several others at once, as seen in the first film. He can carry the combined weight of Stoick and Hiccup, over 400 pounds. Toothless has also shown to push a Whispering Death to the ground, which requires great force.
Toothless could also carry Hookfang by his tail with the extra weight of Hiccup and Snotlout. However, he was shown to be struggling to lift Barf and Belch with the extra weight of Hiccup. In "The Eel Effect", Toothless manages to lift and shrug off Meatlug even while she was sitting on him. Toothless' tail is flexible and very strong, as he has used it to knock out Outcast guards, push back a Razorwhip, strike a Triple Stryke onto the floor, push a large Singetail off, and easily knock Krogan unconscious.
Toothless is also a very capable and persistent fighter on the ground. He has easily taken out a Gronckle in a short amount of time, as well as holding his own with Monstrous Nightmares and Whispering Deaths. Even with the inability to fly, he is a capable fighter as shown in "What Flies Beneath". He has proven against a Triple Stryke, a dragon of a similar power level.
Tail Whipping
Despite having a small tail, Toothless is shown to use his tail to whip other opponents. He used this to take out Dagur in "The Night and the Fury" despite being restrained by bolas. He used this during his fights with the Fighter Razorwhip in "Stryke Out", knock a Dragon Flyer off a Singetail in "Chain of Command", and later used it to knock Krogan out in one hit. It appears that Night Furies tail seem to be prehensile or telescopic as Toothless once handed Hiccup his Inferno while being trapped in amber.
Wing Shield
Toothless is able to use his enormous wings to shield Hiccup from being burned alive or even killed. A notable example of this was in "Animal House", where Toothless and Stormfly used it to protect Astrid and Hiccup from being buried in an avalanche. Another example was in "Zippleback Down", where Toothless used his wings to shield Hiccup from Torch. Also in "Dragon Eye of the Beholder, Part 1", where a bunch of arrows bounced off Toothless' wing when he shielded Hiccup from them. This also happens in “A Time to Skrill”, where a dragon root arrow bounces off of Toothless. Toothless also used this in "Crash Course" to protect Hiccup from the Cavern Crasher's fire and in "Quake, Rattle and Roll" where he shielded both Fishlegs and Hiccup with both of his wings. Toothless' wings are also able to withstand a Small Shadow Wing lava blast as shown in "The Longest Day". Toothless' wings can even withstand the fire of a Singetail as seen with his battle with Deathlout in "The Wings of War, Part 2".
Accuracy
Being a Strike Class dragon, Night Furies have pin-point accuracy, so they hardly ever miss. Even when disoriented by the Screaming Death’s scream, Toothless was still able to hit the Screaming Death in the head with a plasma blast. Toothless was also able to hit a Snow Wraith while the dragon was fighting Gothi and didn’t miss or accidentally shoot the wrong target. In "Something Rotten on Berserker Island", Toothless was able to take out many Berserkers in few shots, despite being on the mountain and the Riders being on the ground.
Stealth
“ | Toothless, time to disappear! [src] | ” |
— Hiccup, to Toothless before he blends into the dark clouds |
The Night Fury's jet-black color and dark scales make it blend perfectly at night, dark areas, and dark clouds. The only warnings that it gives is the sound of the dive-bombing with a loaded blast, right before it attacks with a powerful plasma blast, as well as the stars disappearing behind it. The only way to spot a Night Fury flying at night is when it passes its flame-engulfed blast. Hiccup was able to shoot Toothless down as he flew past a burned catapult tower that he just shot. It works best under the cover of night.
Cloaking
Much like Light Furies, Night Furies are capable of cloaking. This allows them to blend into their surroundings. They do this in a similar manner to the Skrill, by summoning/absorbing lightning from the sky (i.e. from electric storms or clouds) to encase themselves in lightning to heat up their scales and turn them reflective, causing an electric aura to surround them and become temporarily invisible, although it has been shown to use up a lot of their energy. As a Night Fury enters its 'cloaked form', it causes a massive wave of electrical energy that electrocutes everything within a close radius, which is shown when Toothless electrocutes Grimmel's Deathgrippers that are clinging onto him and Hiccup, causing them to plummet into the sea. It is implied that this technique must be taught to a Night Fury by another of its species, as Toothless seemed unaware of this ability until he attempted to copy the Light Fury, but there are alternative methods to perform the cloaking, as seen by the Light Fury disappearing into its own plasma blast. This ability also surprised Grimmel himself as he didn't know Night Furies could do this, despite successfully hunting them down for years. Hiccup’s dragon suit being made of Toothless' scales, he was able to avoid being electrocuted and able to go in "cloak" form to stay temporarily invisible with Toothless.
Speed and Agility
“ |
|
” |
— The duo referring to a Speed Stinger |
The Night Fury is among the fastest known dragons. It is said to be the only dragon known to reach speeds that break the sound barrier. The Night Fury's streamlined sleek-shaped body and massive powerful wings help it obtain a speed limit higher than a real-life P-51 Mustang. Night Furies don't have sharp spikes or spines, instead, they have short and thin fin-like spines that prevent greater air resistance. This gives the Night Fury a huge advantage in high-speed flight.
Night Furies are incredibly agile dragons that can dodge many blasts from other dragons, arrows, and catapults. They also have a very quick reaction to an opposing threat. On land, they can outrun and outmaneuver most other dragons and even being able to jump to and leap from various objects like trees or walls as shown when Toothless was running to save Hiccup from the Monstrous Nightmare in the first film. They also have incredible reflexes as Toothless almost never got hit once by a dragon root arrow due to his expert dodging and weaving.
Many species of dragons are capable of rivaling the speed of Night Furies while in flight. Those that have been seen to do so are the Dramillion, the Deathgripper, the Flightmare, the Light Fury, the Screaming Death, the Singetail, the Skrill, the Small Shadow, the Snow Wraith, the Speed Stinger, and the Night Light. Even giant dragons, due to their longer wingspan, like the Red Death and the Typhoomerang are fast enough to catch up with Toothless in the air.
Claws
While the claws of Night Furies appear to simply be black extrusions of keratin, in truth they can flex on command and act as rudimentary fingers. In the first film, Toothless escapes the cove by being able to flex his claws and secure his grip past the edge of the cove wall, enabling him to pull himself up. In "Tone Death", the claws are also able to easily slash through Death Song amber that has been weakened by flaming Monstrous Nightmare gel.
Night Furies can climb any terrain such as cave walls, using their long sharp claws to grip the surface. They can even stay on a vertical wall facing downwards without problem. This was shown by Toothless several times as in “Stryke Out” he was on the Fighting Arena chain dome before the Triple Stryke knocked him down.
Acute Senses
Night Furies have an uncanny sense of hearing and they can hear long distances, as proven by Toothless when he was able to hear Hiccup yelling from the cove and when Toothless first heard a Scauldron in "Free Scauldy" and was the first to hear a wild Monstrous Nightmare flying pass the Dragon Riders cave while he was asleep in “The Night and the Fury”. They also have large eyes that give them excellent vision to see through fog or thick clouds, as seen in many episodes like “Twinsanity” or “A View to a Skrill, Part 1” and have night vision as they are adapted to fly at night. They cannot see well in complete darkness, thus they will use echolocation. When angry, or under eel influence, Night Furies will see everything in shades of red with their images becoming blurry and contorted.
They also have a good sense of smell, as Toothless tracked Hiccup by his sense of smell, but loses him when Hiccup takes to the air on the back of a Deadly Nadder. Hiccup mentioned in “The Night and Fury” that Night Furies can smell danger, as a lie to save a Monstrous Nightmare but it is later revealed that it was true as Toothless demonstrated several times, their sense of smell is also acute, though not near the levels of the Tracker Class dragons. In "Defiant One", Toothless was able to sense a wild Monstrous Nightmare that was nearby, in "Free Scauldy", Toothless smelled a Changewing pack despite them being invisible, in "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", Toothless sensed the Smokebreaths in the scrap of metal, and in "A Grim Retreat", Toothless sensed Grimora in a lagoon before the other dragons did. In the Rise of Berk game, he was also aware of the Sweet Death’s tree tongue and didn’t allow Hiccup to inspect the "tree" further.
Stamina and Endurance
Night Furies also have high stamina and durability. They can survive falls from the sky with fairly minor injuries as demonstrated in the films and DreamWorks Dragons: The Series. They can use their wings to repel weapons as also shown in the TV series, especially in "Dragon Eye of the Beholder, Part 1", where a bunch of arrows bounced off Toothless' wing when he shielded Hiccup from them. He can take attacks from his opponents and still look untouched, as after he was poisoned by the Triple Stryke he was still able to fight and defeat him. He also showed twice that he can endure loud sounds as in “Tunnel Vision”, “Appetite for Destruction”, and "The Longest Day", he was able to endure the loud screeches of the Large Shadow Wing and still hit the Screaming Death despite being disoriented by their scream, suggesting loud sounds don’t affect a Night Fury as badly as most other dragons. However, he was shown to be exhausted during the first search for the Skrill and after carrying heavy objects or someone heavy like Stoick for a whole day. Hiccup stated in "Live and Let Fly" that in the previous episode "We Are Family Part 2" Toothless was chained up for days without eating, but was still fit enough to run and fight after he broke out. In the second film, Toothless was able to instantly get back up despite fall from the sky and crashing into solid ice. It is also shown that Toothless (if he wasn't flightless at the time) he would have flown back to save Hiccup.
Night Furies are shown to have extremely dense scales, as only a Screaming Death's are shown to be tougher. A Night Fury's scales appear to be much tougher and stronger than the Light Fury's, to the point that Night Furies need something much hotter than just their own fire to cloak. It is also shown when Toothless uses his wings to shield Hiccup they suffer no damage.
Intelligence and Mimicry
Night Furies are extremely intelligent, surpassing nearly all known dragon species. In the TV series Toothless can almost completely understand everything said to him. He can understand verbal cues and nonverbal cues, as showcased in "Twinsanity". Toothless also displays an impeccable ability to learn, process, and remember various tricks like the "Barrel Roll" in "Worst in Show". In daily, casual conversations, Toothless also appears to be able to grasp Hiccup's words and comprehend a number of them.
Night Furies display a high level of emotional and sentimental awareness of both humans and other dragons alike. Toothless can sense emotions by picking up on oral and behavioral signals and act accordingly in response to them. For example, during the events of How to Train Your Dragon, he sensed that Hiccup was not out to hurt him and reciprocated by letting down his guard. However, his emotional awareness is not to be disregarded as mere obedience. Night Furies are wary creatures that are observant and evaluative and Toothless only trusted Hiccup after carefully assessing him and confirming that he wasn't a threat. Furthermore, in "Animal House", Toothless was the first to sense that the Riders were cold and suffering and took the initiative to shield them, showcasing a heightened awareness and empathy towards his surroundings. In "The Eel Effect", despite suffering from Eel Pox, Toothless stopped himself from shooting blasts when he accidentally hit Hiccup and ran away to protect his rider from himself. In "Free Scauldy" and "Living on the Edge", Toothless was shown to grieve for the dying Scauldy and Garffiljorg, despite not priorly knowing Scauldy and not having seen Garff since the Death Song was a hatchling.
In "We Are Family, Part 2", Toothless was captured and imprisoned in Outcast Island and he was able to outsmart two Outcast soldiers by himself by pretending to be unconscious and tricking them into taking off his mouth muzzle. In “The Longest Day”, Toothless immediately figured out the Small Shadow Wings were hunting and was able to use the Large Shadow Wing’s size against him, while Hiccup needed time to think of a plan.
Night Furies also seem to be one of the few dragons to show creativity. In the first film, Toothless was shown drawing after seeing Hiccup draw. In the second film, Toothless attempted to draw again after Valka drew a map in the snow. The range of his mimicry also includes human facial expressions, as displayed in the first film. Hiccup in DreamWorks Dragons: To Berk and Beyond! states that "Night Furies love to doodle!"
Echolocation
In Dragons: Riders of Berk, episode "We Are Family, Part 1", Toothless demonstrates the ability to use echolocation. When Night Furies are at locations where their sight is limited, making it hard to fly, they emit a sonic blast that has a special signal. This signal, taking the shape of purple-colored sound waves (likely containing some kind of weak plasma rays), bounces off of all objects and obstacles nearby and allows the dragon to avoid them, even in mid-flight. Unlike bats, this signal, or at least part of it, is still low enough to be within the human hearing range; humans can hear the dragon using the signal. Night Furies can also use this method when they are trying to find an object in open areas where visibility is low, such as when Toothless was trying to locate the Skrill in “A View to a Skrill, Part 1” and the Snow Wraith in a snowstorm in "Dragon Eye of the Beholder, Part 2".
Jaw Strength
Night Furies have a high jaw strength. They can also retract their teeth, to avoid chipping, breaking, or burning when not in use. The ability to retract his teeth is what earned Toothless his name. It unknown how strong a Night Fury's jaw strength is but it is shown Toothless left a bite mark on his nemesis's hide at some point in his past that left a large scar, but he was unable to break harden Death Song amber, as when he tried to free the Ambered Nadder.
Swimming
Night Furies are shown to be good swimmers as demonstrated by Toothless. He can swim at high speed and hold his breath for quite a while, but Night Furies do have a limited lung capacity and will drown unless they have access to air, as evidenced in the first film, second film, and several episodes. Although a great swimmer, Toothless can’t hold his breath for long or catch up to Tidal Class dragons like the Scauldron in "Big Man on Berk" or the Shellfire in "Shell Shocked, Part 1". In “Cast Out, Part 2” he was able to swim with the extra weight of Alvin and in “Dire Straits”, Toothless is able to use his wings and tail to help him swim. While in the second film, he was left wet and exhausted and had to be saved by the Seashockers. In this scenario however, he didn't have much time to gather air and hold his breath, and the icy water likely shocked him and made things more difficult.
Glowing Body
Similar to a Flightmare, Deadly Nadder, and Gronckle, by eating glowing algae, a Night Fury's body will begin to glow. This glow is deep blue, almost indigo. It can turn its glow on bright in order to scare off other dragons who are trying to attack it but does not seem to be able to turn it off until the effect wears off. This was shown in "Fright of Passage". However, this came with a drawback; usually, Night Fury scales would blend perfectly with the night sky, but since Toothless’ body started to glow, he was unable to hide from the Flightmare. It chased and attacked Toothless but lost him when he hid inside a cave. After some time, the glow wore off. The glowing algae also seemed to make his plasma blast glow brighter, as when Toothless tried to blast the Flightmare he seemed a bit disoriented in the eyes after using them the first time, but he eventually overcame it when he battled the Flightmare the second time.
Sagefruit Immunity
As shown in “Defenders of the Wing, Part 1”, while some Night Furies are affected by the calming effects of Sagefruit it is shown that Toothless is able to resist its effects to protect Hiccup.
Secondary Spines/Flaps
In How to Train Your Dragon 2, Valka showed Hiccup hidden spines on Toothless' back, that even the dragon himself didn't know about. After that, he can extend them at will. Those spines are flat, leathery fins, placed in 'V' shape and extending from his back to the end of his tail. They gave him more maneuverability and control in flight. Dragons acquire this ability when they reach a certain age as revealed in the film commentary.
Alpha Dominance Display
When the Night Fury's "Alpha" mode is unleashed, its spines, the ridge between its eyes, the inside of its mouth, and its nose glow with a translucent blue, reminiscent of the blueish plasma blasts it fires. Also, although this may just be natural video blurring, when Toothless fires shots, the now translucent blue parts of his body glow a little brighter. After having fired the shots, the glow slowly fades away. In "Alpha" mode, Night Furies also appear to not have a shot limit. Dragons: Rise of Berk calls this glowing effect Toothless' "Titan Wing" stage, while School of Dragons calls it his "Alpha" look, indicating the franchise is unsure what to call this effect.
The book DreamWorks Dragons: To Berk and Beyond!, written by Richard Hamilton, has revealed that every dragon is capable of entering this state when challenging an Alpha, but so far only Toothless was shown to do so.
Weaknesses
Dragon Root
A Dragon Root arrow could render Night Furies weak and vulnerable for a prolonged period of time, while other dragons can recover faster, as seen in "Enemy of My Enemy".
Strong Winds
The Night Furies' large wings make them vulnerable to intense/powerful sheering winds if they were to attempt a prolonged hover in such conditions like a small Sea Stack or rock formations off the coast of Berk, as stated by Fishlegs in "Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Man".
Sensitive Spot
Similar to Gronckles and Deadly Nadders, Night Furies, when scratched around their neck and chin will be easily calmed and scratching a specific spot under its chin can even make its eyes roll back and cause the dragon to collapse.
Tail Fin Dependency
The Night Furies' dual tail fins on their tails allow them to remain stabilized in flight. If one is damaged or missing, they will be unable to fly. As stated above their tails are one of the main sources of their flying ability, and altering the tail can change its abilities.
Cold Temperatures
According to Grimmel, Night Furies are unable to survive in consistently cold environments like tundras, snowy mountains, or arctic islands. This means that unlike most dragons, Night Furies cannot live in frigid conditions, icy cold water, and even cannot endure low temperatures, even lower ones. It is shown in the second film that if Toothless wasn't saved by Sailback and Valka's Seashockers, from the icy cold water, he would’ve likely died due to his flightlessness.
Flying Long Distances
According to Grimmel, Night Furies are also unable to fly for long distances without resting. When traveling they need to take breaks in some islands before they can continue on. When Night Furies are tired/sleepy, they are easy prey to catch or hunt down.
Dive Bombing in Confined Areas
Even though dive bombing is the Night Furies greatest strength, it has one major weakness: it can't be done in confined or small areas when in flight such as in tunnels or caves despite having enough room to fly, they can't access their full dive-bombing speed.
Behavior and Personality
“ | Night Fury, get down! [src] | ” |
— The recurring warning Vikings use upon hearing a night fury dive with a loaded plasma blast. |
According to the Dragon Manual, the Night Fury is considered to be so mysterious and feared, that it was often called the "unholy offspring of lightning and death itself." Night Furies are generally very aggressive to any form of threat that they find, similar to how most dragons used to treat the Vikings of Berk.
The Night Fury, unsurprisingly for its rarity, is an enigmatic dragon. Toothless, for example, came across as aloof and distrusting when Hiccup first met him. He is secretive and unwilling to engage in any form of contact, trying to avoid the boy repeatedly. Furthermore, in the first film, Hiccup says that a Night Fury "never steals food, never shows itself, and never misses." The Night Fury is a solitary dragon, never one to steal directly for his Alpha and unwilling to reveal himself.
Though they keep themselves closely guarded when they warm up to others, Night Furies are also curious creatures that attempt to understand new things they observe and are intelligent enough to attempt to recreate the actions that they see. They are also extremely playful and intrigued by the smallest of things like flying sparks. Night Furies seem to be social when it comes to other kinds of dragons. They are also brave and not easily daunted.
Night Furies are very capable of communicating, and seemingly understanding human speech: the best evidence of this is when Toothless makes a noise in agreement with Hiccup regarding the fact that the Red Death can fly or when Hiccup orders Toothless not to kill Astrid and Stoick. They are also fiercely loyal and protective.
Night Furies are generally expressive animals. Toothless also does not have a very hard time getting his emotions noticed: for example, Toothless growled when Hiccup stepped on his drawing or snarled in fear when he noticed Hiccup has put an eel in his dish. Toothless' pupils dilate when he is in a good mood, and narrow to cat-like slits when startled, aggressive, or controlled. Their ear nubs are also very expressive, constantly perking and dropping to signal their emotions and their opinions just like cats or dogs would do in real life.
The third film revealed that Night Furies are known to mate for life. However, the mating ritual of the Night Furies remains unknown despite how Toothless follows the Light Fury dancing.
Night Furies greatly resemble cats, dogs, and bats. Such behavior can be seen when Toothless licks himself and scratches himself, just like cats do. Night Furies resemble bats because they hang upside down when sleeping, are nocturnal, and use some form of echolocation. They also resemble dogs in how Toothless walks in a circle before lying down, and is playful and very loyal when trained, and know to focus on what humans are saying.
Outdoors, they will hang downwards from near the base of the tail, with the tail fins hanging directly in front of the face, and wings wrapped loosely around the body. They are also able to do so in caves, although it appears the tail is needed differently and does not hang downward. Sometimes when they are getting ready to sleep, they singe the ground with their fiery breath, while walking in a circle, much as dogs do before laying down.
Training
Hiccup was able to train his Night Fury without too much difficulty, partly because Toothless couldn't fly and was trapped in a cove. A wild Night Fury will likely just fly away and ignore you unless you catch its interest. It is preferable to catch it without hurting it. Another way is to find its egg and train it from when it hatches.
Night Furies are very reclusive and distrustful. If ever found, the first step to training it would be to gain its attention, as Hiccup did by presenting it with fish and drawing him in the dirt. Next, one has to gain its trust and show that you are of no threat which Hiccup had done by throwing away his knife. Like training most other dragons, training this dragon requires mutual respect and trust. After that, the good old method of strengthening a bond by placing a hand on his snout works best.
According to the How to Train Your Dragon game, training a Night Fury can be as simple as feeding the dragon Beef. In this game, there are multiple Night Furies and their favorite food is beef.
Comparative Statistics
Ultimate Book of Dragons |
Guide to Dragons Books |
Dragonpedia | Dragonpedia Stat Cards |
World of Dragons |
School of Dragons |
Other | |||||||
CLASS | Strike | Strike | Strike | Strike | Strike | Strike | |||||||
SIZE | 26 feet | 26 feet | 26 feet | ||||||||||
WINGSPAN | 45 feet | 45 feet | approx. 48 ft (PoHAaBM) |
||||||||||
WEIGHT | 1,776 lb | 1,776 lbs | |||||||||||
ATTACK | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 (Live) | |||||||
SPEED | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 20 (Live) 20 (WS) |
||||||
ARMOR | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 (Live) | |||||||
FIRE POWER | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 7.4 | 14 (Live) 14 (WS) |
||||||
SHOT LIMIT | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 (Live) 6 (WS) |
||||||
VENOM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (Live) | |||||||
JAW STRENGTH | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 (Live) | |||||||
STEALTH | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 (Live) |
Appearances
How to Train Your Dragon
- Main article: Toothless (Franchise)
A Night Fury is seen attacking Berk during a dragon raid during Hiccup's opening narration, letting out a blast and sending a watchtower to bits. In an attempt to prove himself, Hiccup shoots down the Night Fury with his bola launcher, sending it shrieking down the sky. During the crash, the dragon loses its left tail fin and remains stranded, bound in bolas.
Hiccup tracks the Night Fury down the next day, determined to cut its heart out and bring it back to the village, but ultimately can't bring himself to do it when he sees how scared the dragon is. After some thought, Hiccup decides to free it instead of killing it. The Night Fury pounces on Hiccup, and roars before fleeing, much to Hiccup's surprise, as he had expected the dragon to kill him.
Hiccup attempts to find the Night Fury the next day, only to find it stranded in a cove. He realizes it is missing a tail fin, and the dragon notices Hiccup on the edge of the cove.
That night, he reads the Dragon Manual, only to find that no information on the Night Fury can be found in it. All the book says is "Size Unknown. Speed Unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you." He then compares the blank pages to his sketch of the dragon.
The next day, Hiccup brings some fish over. The dragon approaches him. They hesitate for a moment and Hiccup holds the fish out warily. The dragon growls as Hiccup reaches for his dagger unconsciously but relaxes into a puppy-like sitting posture when Hiccup discards it. It approaches Hiccup warily as he holds out the fish. It accepts it, revealing his toothless mouth. But suddenly, he reveals his teeth and snatches the fish. The dragon demands for more, but after Hiccup explains that he doesn't have any more fish on him, the Night Fury regurgitates the fish that he just ate and offers it to Hiccup. Hiccup reluctantly eats a mouthful and smiles, and the dragon sees his smile and curiously attempts to imitate it. However, when he attempts to touch it, the dragon snarls and leaves.
The Night Fury makes himself comfortable at a spot, only to see Hiccup beside him. Grumpy, he leaves to sleep. When he wakes up, he sees the boy drawing in the sand. Curious, he walks over and watches his figure in the sand in satisfaction before uprooting a tree and drawing Hiccup. Hiccup, in amazement, stands up and walks to Toothless. Toothless growls whenever Hiccup steps onto his drawing. Soon, Hiccup makes his way to the dragon. Slowly, with his eyes closed, he reaches his hand out, and Toothless lays his head against it. When Hiccup opens his eyes, the dragon quickly leaves. Struck with confusion and awe, Hiccup leaves the cove.
The next day, he returns with a basket of fish and a prosthetic tail. While Toothless is occupied with the fish, he hooks the tail up. Toothless takes off immediately, with Hiccup on his tail and nearly crashes into the cove's walls. Hiccup quickly spreads the tail fin and the duo flies upwards. Toothless flicks him off his tail and they both crash.
The following days, Hiccup returns with new prototypes—tails, saddles, and more. He invented a saddle and tail fin that work in correlation. They spend a lot of time trying to fly and Hiccup ends up finding out more on the little quirks of dragons. One day, they head out the cove for a test drive. With his cheat sheet in hand, most of the test drive goes smoothly for them, until they fly higher and higher, and Hiccup loses his cheat sheet and the hook keeping him attached to the saddle unfastens and he falls off. The duo plummets toward the ground, both flailing wildly. Hiccup quickly grabs hold of Toothless and gets onto the saddle, clicking the stirrup. They fly safely, dodging sea stacks, and finally, triumphantly make their way to an island for a peaceful celebration.
Astrid, jealous of Hiccup's success in Dragon Training, confronts him. Only to notice his dragon. After a shaky introduction, Astrid runs away, only to be lifted by Toothless and Hiccup. Toothless, upset with her attitude, brings her for a wild ride against Hiccup's wishes, only slowing down when she apologized. They then go for what was dubbed as 'Romantic Flight'. However, Toothless is drawn to a sound and leads the Vikings to the Dragon Mountain. Astrid is tempted to tell Stoick of the Nest, but Hiccup stops her for Toothless would be killed.
On Hiccup's unfortunate initiation test where he was supposed to kill a Monstrous Nightmare in front of the entire village, Toothless breaks out of the cove and runs towards Hiccup's cries. He breaks into the Arena and faces off with the Nightmare to protect Hiccup. Eventually, the Vikings swarm in and attack him. They force him into captivity and use him to lead them to the Nest. Hiccup, with the rest of the teens, ride other dragons over to save Toothless.
Over there, the boat Toothless was on sunk, and Hiccup jumps in to save him but fails. Stoick rescues his son and jumps back to save Toothless. Returning the favor, Toothless brings Stoick back up to the surface. The duo then takes off and face off with the Red Death. After having defeated the Red Death, they attempt to escape the cloud of flames, but the tail fin catches fire, and Hiccup is knocked off Toothless' back. Toothless plunges into the flames to save Hiccup, wrapping him between his wings.
The fog clears, and Stoick stumbles around, desperately looking for his son. Seeing Toothless on the ground, but Hiccup nowhere to be seen, he falls to his knees, apologizing profusely to his son. Toothless then reveals Hiccup under his wings, safe, but with an injured foot. Stoick thanks Toothless with teary eyes. Both of them are then taken back to Berk to rest.
Toothless wakes first and greets Hiccup, who is surprised that he was in their house. Toothless looks down at Hiccup's left foot, replaced with a prosthetic, much like his own. This formed a physical bond between the duo, and he helped Hiccup walk to the doorway, where they revealed that Berk has allowed dragons on its grounds. They finally take off together, with the rest of the team and a new tail fin. This Night Fury has since become one of the main characters of the DreamWorks Dragons franchise.
Dragons: Race to the Edge
Season 2
At the end of "Maces and Talons, Part 2", when Viggo Grimborn uses a Terrible Terror to activate the Dragon Eye, a Night Fury is seen as a center of all the symbols in the projection. This could mean that every Dragon Eye lens can be found or is in some way connected to Night Furies, however, its meaning is still unknown, as the symbol was never brought up again.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
“ | When I was a boy and came upon a Night Fury, I killed it where it slept. That simple act of courage made me a hero in my village. So, I decided to kill every last one, bringing real peace to the people of this world [src] | ” |
— Grimmel explaining his backstory/The Night Fury Genocide to Hiccup |
It is revealed in this film that Night Furies were hunted and killed to near-extinction by the infamous dragon hunter Grimmel the Grisly and his six Deathgrippers, leaving Toothless as the last of his kind.
However, after the final battle against the Warlords, Grimmel's death, the dragons' departure to the Hidden World, along with Hiccup and Astrid's wedding, Toothless and the Light Fury became mates and had three hybrid offspring that the Vikings named Night Lights.
Dragons: Rescue Riders: Hunt for the Golden Dragon
A picture of a Night Fury is seen on the wall leading to the Golden Dragon. Leyla doesn't recognize it at first but guesses that it is part of Strike Class. When she does recognize it, she says that she knows virtually nothing about Night Furies because they are extremely rare.
Dragons: The Nine Realms
Season 1
In "Fault Ripper", after the members of Dragon Club leave their handprints on a boulder inside their secret cave, Thunder follows their example and uses a plasma blast to draw the Night Fury symbol on the same rock. It is later revealed that the same symbol is painted on Tom's Viking Helmet.
Season 2
At the end of "Follow the Lightning, Part 2", the Dragon Club discovers the entrance to a new section of the Hidden World. Upon doing so, they discover an ancient Viking spearhead which, like Tom's helmet, bares the Night Fury insignia on it.
Season 3
At the end of "The Sky Torcher", the Fault Ripper's digging accessed another chamber and inside the Dragon Club discover an ancient canister which, like Tom's helmet and the Viking spearhead, bares the Night Fury insignia on it.
Trivia
- The official measurements of the Night Fury, as released by DreamWorks Animation are 26 feet (7.92 meters) in length, and 45 feet (13.71 meters) in wingspan.
- While the Night Fury is adapted to hunting and flying in the night, Toothless is mostly active during the day. He likely adapted to diurnalism so that he could match his activities to the Vikings' and spend more time with Hiccup.
- The Night Fury's dive-bombing capability, as well as the shrill whine associated with it, appears to be inspired by the real-life Ju 87 dive-bomber used by the Luftwaffe in World War II. The Ju 87 was outfitted with sirens that emitted a high-pitched noise similar to that of the Night Fury as it pulled into a dive.
- There is a theory from YouTube by Hello Future Me that the Night Fury's natural habitat is caves, since Toothless is more willing to go in the tunnels than other dragons. Also, because he is able to echolocate.
- The Night Fury is the symbol for the Strike Class, and upon looking closely, the symbol only has one tail fin, suggesting that Toothless is the individual depicted.
- The How to Train Your Dragon game says Night Furies don't like fish, despite them liking fish in other media.
- In "A Time to Skrill", the Skrill was shown to travel up a lightning bolt towards the clouds at an insane speed, it appeared to travel faster than any dragon seen before, including the Night Fury.
- The Night Fury is the crest of the Berk Dragon Training Academy.
- The Night Fury's rounded conical face, large almond-shaped eyes, ear tendrils, and wide mouth containing peg-like teeth resemble that of the alien "Experiment 626" from the Disney film Lilo & Stitch. This is no coincidence, as both Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders were also involved in that film, and incorporated Stitch's features into Toothless, likely to make him seem both frightening at times and endearing in others.
- Since Night Furies primarily feed on fish, it can be deduced that they prefer to live near bodies of water.
- The Night Fury's Alpha dominance display bears a strong resemblance to the Japanese character Godzilla, as he also gains a blue glow along his spines when charging his atomic breath.
- It is heavily implied throughout the franchise that Night Furies were naturally rare and while they did show up in or near Berk, such occurrences were very rare. People having hunted dragons for generations, not sparing Night Furies, made these dragons even more scarce. This led to not only the Berkians as a whole, but even Bork the Bold to barely know anything about Night Furies. Gaining further knowledge on them was made almost impossible when Grimmel the Grisly made it his personal goal to finally drive them into extinction, continuing so for about 40 years, eventually eliminating all but Toothless.
- The Night Fury has a very strong resemblance with the Dark Dragon from Dragon City.
- It also resembles the dragons that chased the heroes in Dragon Country in the film Quest for Camelot.
- Night Furies made an appearance in the trailer for Minecraft's How to Train Your Dragon DLC, and have been put into the DLC as an obtainable, blocky, ridable dragon.
- As shown by Toothless, Night Furies can learn to glide on updrafts while missing a tail fin.
- In an interview, Randy Thom stated that if Toothless' eyes were to follow the laws of nature, the bottom half of Toothless' eyeballs would be in his mouth. The roof of his mouth would likely resemble those of a gecko as their have similar sized eyes.
- In the Dragons: The Nine Realms episode “Fault Ripper”, Thunder burns the Night Fury of the Strike Class symbol into a rock, suggesting he's familiar with it over a millennia later.
References
- ↑ Night Fury in School of Dragons.
- ↑ Otto, Simon. How to Create Your Dragon: The Inspirations Behind the Creatures. (July 10, 2014). Empire.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 DreamWorks TV. 100 Facts Only True HTTYD Fans Know |THE DREAMWORKS DOWNLOAD. (August 27, 2015). YouTube.
- ↑ How to Train Your Dragon : Creating Dragon Sounds and Roars. YouTube.
- ↑ The Making of How to Train Your Dragon - Animator's Corner. YouTube.
- ↑ Academy Originals.Creative Spark: Simon Otto. (November 16, 2015). YouTube.
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